Storm Goretti disruption - 8/9 January 2026

[Peterthegreat]

And if you think things are bad in the UK.

Special Event

Lightning strike Hamburg - Hanover: Long-distance services to and from Hamburg affected until Wednesday afternoon.

int.bahn.de

Many long distance services cancelled in Northern Germany.

"Long-distance services will not run on the following routes on Saturday due to the onset of winter:

Copenhagen <> Hamburg
Amsterdam <> Hanover
Westerland/Kiel <> Hamburg
Binz/Stralsund/Rostock <> Berlin
Norddeich/Emden <> Hanover / Ruhr area
As a precautionary measure, Deutsche Bahn has also reduced the maximum speed on individual high-speed lines. The following connections are currently affected:

Wolfsburg <> Berlin
Hanover <> Würzburg
Frankfurt <> Cologne"

 

[nilvaj395]

This is a big weekend at Edale on the Hope Valley line, the Montane Winter Spine; https://www.thespinerace.com/race/montane-winter-spine/

It's a very serious running event starting the Pennine Way at Edale with 7 different destination options walking or running. Some will go all the 268 miles to Kirk Yetholm. This is tough at any time, but even the shorter sections in this weather. You have to be very well prepared. The entrance fee reassures that maximum precautions are being taken and makes sure you will be very aware of what's needed.

Last year Edale was swamped with visitors, mostly arriving by car. Rail services fell apart with 2 hour delays and cancellations!

It would be good if the railway could be more positively showcased in 2026.

At the time the Hope Valley line was reprieved from closure one of the reasons suggested for retention was the poor road access at times like this - before 4x4s became so common, obviously!

That looks really lovely at Edale.

I think cancelling all the trains to Glossop and Llandudno was a massive over-reaction, especially because it has made so much extra work.

Clearly reinstating some trains to Glossop was doable and the same should have been done for Llandudno.

TfW and Northern very poor at communicating ticket acceptance, or no ticket acceptance or road transport in place, despite the roads being perfectly safe to use and barely even snowed on.

Clearly the total opposite is true on a lot of other routes where there was significant disruption.

Because Northern are/were using the do not travel to get out of providing RRBs, any ticket acceptance e.g between Glossop and Hadfield is also very inconvenient; going to Stalybridge or Ashton on the 237 and changing takes forever and is not good enough even if it technically gets someone there.

 

[nwales58]

No trains running for TfW

Incident: Storm Goretti TfW | National Rail

Storm Goretti is impacting Transport for Wales services today. Find details of all current incidents on National Rail Enquiries.

www.nationalrail.co.uk

And TfW's web site blames Network Rail for shutting the relevant lines.

Here on the Cambrian coast the temperatures are higher than inland and no snow at sea level, that is from Pwllheli to Machynlleth.

So did Network Rail really decided that we should have no trains whatsoever all day yesterday (Thursday), or today (Friday)?

 

[Starmill]

Because Northern are/were using the do not travel to get out of providing RRBs, any ticket acceptance Gat lossop and Hadfield-wise is also very inconvenient, going to Stalybridge or Ashton and changing takes forever.

Northern did provide ticket acceptance on the bus to Glossop, in the end. They didn't for Hazel Grove to Buxton sadly. Transport for Wales apparently haven't bothered at all.

No trains running for TfW

Incident: Storm Goretti TfW | National Rail

Storm Goretti is impacting Transport for Wales services today. Find details of all current incidents on National Rail Enquiries.

www.nationalrail.co.uk

I'm aware, but is the line closed or open?

 

[nilvaj395]

Northern did provide ticket acceptance on the bus to Glossop, in the end. They didn't for Hazel Grove to Buxton sadly. Transport for Wales apparently haven't bothered at all.


I'm aware, but is the line closed or open?

True, I think the other bus that was included was the 341 right? I dont think they mentioned anything about ticket acceptance being allowed from Hyde Central by getting the 341, but obviously I doubt any guard with a mind would turn down such a thing.

Buxton definitely needs RRB's, but I feel like the do not travel is used as a scapegoat of sorts.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Buxton (can't comment on TfW land) definitely needs RRB's, but I feel like the do not travel is used as a scapegoat of sorts.

There are service buses following the Buxton line from Stockport to be fair. 199 I think?

 

[Russel]

Fingers crossed you get some positive news mate.

Thanks, it's showing as running, GWR have told me via WhatsApp and over the phone that they believe it will run, with the usual caveats of course, so fingers crossed it'll be fine...

Worse case scenario GWR put me up in a hotel for the night and I get a nice redund and try again in a few weeks.

 

[nilvaj395]

There are service buses following the Buxton line from Stockport to be fair. 199 I think?

True, there is no ticket acceptance though. It also adds around an hour or more to the journey time (I accept theres not much that can be done to make that faster even if it was a RRB).

 

[Lewisham2221]

I'm aware, but is the line closed or open?

Closed.

There were reports last night of at least a couple of trees down and total loss of power at two signal boxes. As of this morning, at least one of the boxes was still without power - which was only restored within the last hour or two - and route proving still needs to take place.

 

[Krokodil]

I'm aware, but is the line closed or open?

I gather that the power outage at Dorrington has now been restored and route proving is underway.

 

[Starmill]

There are service buses following the Buxton line from Stockport to be fair. 199 I think?

Indeed and if ticket acceptance had been put into place with the 199 then absolutely fair enough to run as has been done.

 

[tumbledown]

There are service buses following the Buxton line from Stockport to be fair. 199 I think?

To be clear, trains are now running Buxton-Hazel Grove.

 

[Starmill]

Closed.

There were reports last night of at least a couple of trees down and total loss of power at two signal boxes. As of this morning, at least one of the boxes was still without power - which was only restored within the last hour or two - and route proving still needs to take place.

Thank you - I shall proceed with caution regarding trains running tomorrow then.

 

[sheff1]

The perception is that the towel was thrown in on the Hope Valley where all services today remain cancelled, whereas after previous heavier snowfalls trains continued to run.

Looks like Northern have started running through the Hope Valley and TPE are intending to start up, so some towels have been retrieved. EMR seem to have left their's in the ring.

 

[dk1]

Looks like Northern have started running through the Hope Valley and TPE are intending to start up, so some towels have been retrieved. EMR seem to have left their's in the ring.

Being totally reliant on Nottingham crews I’d say that anything happening with EMR will be very low if at all.

 

[bramling]

The biggest problem on this forum is that railway staff can't see that passengers most of the time are angry at the government, not the staff (I know their wording can be confusing but I think ultimately it's where the anger lies)

To the extent you really just invited people to basically come fight you...!

Not just angry at the government, but successive governments, who seem to have all contributed to what we have today, a country where nothing at all seems to function well, and everything seems to be on a deteriorating path.

 

[Starmill]

The biggest problem on this forum is that railway staff can't see that passengers most of the time are angry at the government, not the staff (I know their wording can be confusing but I think ultimately it's where the anger lies)

To the extent you really just invited people to basically come fight you...!

A lot of the criticism I've read in this thread has actually been of a) poor communication b) a lack of road transport, or ticket acceptance on the commercial bus services that are still running to the same places.

Clearly there could have been road transport arranged today for the likes of Llandudno, and it seems pretty clear that the reason for not doing it was actually because they didn't want to pay for it.

Yes, if the road is not safe to use, such as the A57, then no road transport can run. But what reason there could possibly have been to suspect that the roads in Llandudno would be too unsafe to use I have no idea.

 

[bahnause]

Not just angry at the government, but successive governments, who seem to have all contributed to what we have today, a country where nothing at all seems to function well, and everything seems to be on a deteriorating path.

Didn't all governments get elected promising no tax increases and no additional debt? It's not a bug, it's a feature. The majority seems to be happy with this. Or they didn't understand the principle of cause and effect.

 

[trainophile]

I was booked (Advance tickets) to come back from Llandudno to Hereford today. As things developed yesterday on the News bulletins I made a snap decision at about 09:30 to come home yesterday, and hastily spent £38+ on tickets, even then not knowing whether I was over-reacting and wasting my money. There wasn't a hint of bad weather at the time but we were assured it was on its way.

As it was I sacrificed a pre-paid night in the Travelodge. Anyway it turns out I was lucky to get the 11:42 ex-LLD, as that appears to be the last one that ran. Changed at Chester and Wrexham, then onto the BHM International train to Shrewsbury, and from there to Hereford, which also proved a stroke of luck, as cancellations from Shrewsbury started to appear on the boards even while I was waiting there for my connection. Still no sign of any bad weather, but they know best .

All's well that ends well, and I was one of the lucky ones as I did get home, but rather miffed that I had to take a gamble on today, and fork out for extra tickets. Yesterday @Adam Williams mentioned that TfW easements came through to them after 19:00 last night, which when I checked their information page showed that tickets could be used up to Sunday 11th. However that's a fat lot of good if you've already made and paid for alternative arrangements. Had I known earlier I could have booked an extra night in the Travelodge, come home on Saturday and not curtailed my trip.

I was wondering about the ethics of claiming for the unused tickets for today, to recoup a little of the extra ticket costs, but I don't think that would be very honest even though it was totally outside my control, it was on official advice (not to leave travelling until the storm arrived), and had I attempted to come home today I would have had a nightmare.

I do wonder how many tourists in Llandudno got stranded today, it's very popular even at this time of year, and hope they were able to share taxis to Junction or something. Anyone hoping to travel south of Shrewsbury on The Marches would have had a whole other problem.

 

[Starmill]

I was wondering about the ethics of claiming for the unused tickets for today, to recoup a little of the extra ticket costs, but I don't think that would be very honest even though it was totally outside my control, it was on official advice (not to leave travelling until the storm arrived), and had I attempted to come home today I would have had a nightmare.

I think it would be 100% ethical and honest to claim your tickets from today as unused because a) they were genuinely unused b) the reason they're unused is that you heeded the railway's own advice not to travel c) had you attempted to travel you would have found services running but nothing between Llandudno and Llandudno Junction nor between Shrewsbury and Hereford, so you would have needed to make a very long diversion and use the Arriva bus down to Junction station and d) you paid for expensive new tickets anyway, so actually, the railway is still up on the deal even after you've cancelled your tickets from today.

On the above basis, I would encourage you to submit a refund claim for your original tickets for today to wherever you originally bought them. You unfortunately can't really claim anything for the new ones you paid for in addition.

For future reference, I think if a serious storm is forecast you actually can rely on the ticket easement information allowing journeys to be deferred. I accept that this isn't a certainty by any means, but generally, if advice is given not to travel, you can defer your journey or cancel and get a refund, no questions asked. I know this won't help you without an absolute official confirmation but look at it this way - if you'd waited, the worst thing that could have happened was that your original ticket was not valid tomorrow for whatever reason even though your actual booked service was cancelled. In that circumstance, your original ticket would still be refundable as your train had been cancelled. Of course that still doesn't help that you need to cover the extra night of accommodation yourself. The message about ticket easements often fails to come through quickly enough which is the root cause of the problem here I think.

 

[Sleepy]

National Rail is saying 1600 earliest reopening for Cornwall, does anyone in the know, know how things are looking on the ground?

Booked on the sleeper tonight and GWR say it's running, but it is concerning...

The stock is en route to Paddington you'll be pleased to hear.

 

[158756]

Indeed and if ticket acceptance had been put into place with the 199 then absolutely fair enough to run as has been done.

Though if the 199 can run perfectly fine from the first service leaving Buxton at 04:15, that really begs the question why the railway is closed? (The 03:25 starting from Dove Holes was 20 minutes late off the depot, but didn't lose any more time after that)

 

[Killingworth]

That looks really lovely at Edale.

It was, but it was cold at Edale and is going to be much the same this year. At least they may be running/walking away from the worst snow but not events for even the keenest marathon runners. I'll probably not risk taking the train to watch this year. I was very lucky in 2025 to catch one that was running an hour late outbound and returned on one that was just 20 minutes late.

I'll watch participants' progress online from home on the tracker; https://live.opentracking.co.uk/spinerace26/

 

[spp]

West Mids Rail just announced no services between Wolverhampton and Shrewsbury all day tomorrow.

With Wolves playing Shrewsbury (3000 Shrewsbury fans not to mention many home fans from areas such as Telford) thats going to be fun to explain at the station in the morning.

No mention of rail replacements.

 

[cambran]

West Midland announced this morning 'We are working closely with Network Rail to resume services as soon as possible, once it is safe to do so.'
There has been no service all day between Leamington and Coventry, leaving Kenilworth unserved, despite the fact that Cross Country have operated over the same line since 7.30 this morning. It would be interesting to know how they can justify this.

 

[Liam L]

West Midland announced this morning 'We are working closely with Network Rail to resume services as soon as possible, once it is safe to do so.'
There has been no service all day between Leamington and Coventry, leaving Kenilworth unserved, despite the fact that Cross Country have operated over the same line since 7.30 this morning. It would be interesting to know how they can justify this.

Poor road conditions stopping Train crew from getting to work would probarly be the reason for this. The Leamington line always get cancelled first so train crews can be used on the mainline services.

 

[TPO]

So do you think bridges should remain open to high sided vehicles in windy weather? I have seen enough trucks blown over in yellow weather warnings on motorways that werent bridges.

Unfortunately/fortunately the TOCs have a duty of care to passengers and to their staff.

its very much a case of damned if you do, damned if you dont

Some motorway bridges do get closed or restricted......

M4, not only does the M48 original Severn Bridge get closed regularly, but increasingly seeing the Second Severn Crossing restricted to one lane in each direction in poor conditions.

The other one which gets closed is the Kenfig viaduct between Pyle and Margam.... they got more risk averse following a HGV blowing over a few years ago. The Earlswood Viaduct also gets restricted (one lane 30mph) or even closed (diversions via M48 Briton Ferry Bridge).

TPO

 

[Dr Hoo]

Though if the 199 can run perfectly fine from the first service leaving Buxton at 04:15, that really begs the question why the railway is closed? (The 03:25 starting from Dove Holes was 20 minutes late off the depot, but didn't lose any more time after that)

Although the A6 road/bus route 199 loosely ‘shadow’ the rail route it’s not like they are cheek by jowl. The rail section through middle of a wood around Middlewood is just one example of separation.

 

[Requeststop]

Thanks, it's showing as running, GWR have told me via WhatsApp and over the phone that they believe it will run, with the usual caveats of course, so fingers crossed it'll be fine...

Worse case scenario GWR put me up in a hotel for the night and I get a nice redund and try again in a few weeks.

RTT shows that the sleeper left Penzance at 22:02 17 late. Safe journey if you made it.

 

[dk1]

RTT shows that the sleeper left Penzance at 22:02 17 late. Safe journey if you made it.

Thankfully has a terrific amount of make up time/padding too.