Heatwave 22-27 June - effect on the UK Railway

[Benjwri]

Thats one way to deal with aircon failure. Given the back up windows are open I would assume the aircon is not working!

It's a 465, there is no aircon to fail in the first place.

 

[thaitransit]

A lot of UK trains don't have aircon at all! It's not going to be a fun time commuting for a lot of people.

It's a 465, there is no aircon to fail in the first place.

How old are those 465 units? Here in Australia all new trains built since the early 1980s have been fully air-conditioned. Regional trains have had air-conditioning on some lines as far back as the 1940s and 1950s. Some of which are still found on some Regional trains to this day.

 

[Benjwri]

How old are those 465 units? Here in Australia all new trains built since the early 1980s have been fully air-conditioned. Regional trains have had air-conditioning on some lines as far back as the 1940s and 1950s. Some of which are still found on some Regional trains to this day.

Early 1990s, but obviously Englands had a much milder climate back then.

 

[AndrewE]

Air conditioning - particularly on older stock - has limits and will at some point simply be overworked and fail trying to extract that much heat.

why should it? Won't it just remove a bit less heat (due to the ambient it is trying to dump into being a bit warmer) and thus not get the saloon quite as cold as it would otherwise? Or is it that running/cooling continuously is beyond the capability of British rail- specified or -procured A/C?
I thought that not running regularly would cause my car A/C to fail because the seals would "dry out," surely there can't be advice not to use it when we need it most just in case it gets overloaded?

 

[thaitransit]

why should it? Won't it just remove a bit less heat (due to the ambient it is trying to dump into being a bit warmer) and thus not get the saloon quite as cold as it would otherwise? Or is it that running/cooling continuously is beyond the capability of British rail- specified or -procured A/C?
I thought that not running regularly would cause my car A/C to fail because the seals would "dry out," surely there can't be advice not to use it when we need it most just in case it gets overloaded?

That is a maintenance issue. Older aircon units need more frequent checks and maintenance. There is heritage rolling stock with aircon dating from the 1940s and it works fine as its given additional servicing every summer and copes fine even with temperatures into the mid 40s.

So the maintenance workshop needs to inspect the air-conditioning systems more regularly and upgrades to the system maybe required to make it more efficient and cooler.

 

[duffield]

The class 222s on EMR are likely to be a nightmare. Pre-heatwave, several coaches I've been in recently have suffered A/C failure, I'll bet with the current condition of the 222s there will be mass failures at 35C+.
Meanwhile we've seen reports that the 810s are suffering from water cascading out of the A/C onto passengers, I'm guessing that may become endemic at high temperatures.

I suppose on the bright side (!) most passengers will be avoiding the MML this week due to the closure between Bedford and Luton, and travelling via the ECML/WCML instead.

 

[pieswick]

It seems the UK is experiencing a typical Australian summer. For the railways that means between 10am and 8pm the dreaded heat speed restrictions and it depends on the temperature as to how slow they are. If its over 36 degrees C it means 80kph max speed and if its over 40 degrees C its 40 kph max speed. This can add hours to journeys and there are full temporary heat timetables to account for the significant increase in journey times.

I would assume the UK has a similar heat timetable situation with special timetables for lines effected by extreme heat?

One has to hope the air-conditioning on the train is working well on days like that. Air-conditioning failure normally results in the train terminate at next station and passengers to transfer to following service or buses are called in for rest of journey!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 22 Jun 2026 ==


Thats one way to deal with aircon failure. Given the back up windows are open I would assume the aircon is not working! Had that experience many times before and it usually resulted in being booted off the train at next station to wait for road coaches. Thus you end up sitting on a regional station trying to keep cool while its pushing 47 degrees C and the wind feels like a blast furnace!

Southeastern class 465 and 376 don't get aircon! Lucky to get much air at all a lot of the time, especially on slow stopper metro services.

 

[thaitransit]

The class 222s on EMR are likely to be a nightmare. Pre-heatwave, several coaches I've been in recently have suffered A/C failure, I'll bet with the current condition of the 222s there will be mass failures at 35C+.
Meanwhile we've seen reports that the 810s are suffering from water cascading out of the A/C onto passengers, I'm guessing that may become endemic at high temperatures.

I suppose on the bright side (!) most passengers will be avoiding the MML this week due to the closure between Bedford and Luton, and travelling via the ECML/WCML instead.

That water issue is caused by blocked condenser drains on the internal cooling part of the system normally in the ceiling of the train carriage. Dirt and insects can block the drain pipes.

But at least the passengers get a cool shower during the trip!

 

[D1511]

There will be a lot of Pendos running around with the window blinds down for the next few days ....

 

[Horizon22]

why should it? Won't it just remove a bit less heat (due to the ambient it is trying to dump into being a bit warmer) and thus not get the saloon quite as cold as it would otherwise? Or is it that running/cooling continuously is beyond the capability of British rail- specified or -procured A/C?

It seems to be the continuous running that is known to be an issue as it really pushing up against the limits of what the technology - as built then - can achieve. Yes some maintenance is also an issue as parts become harder to source etc.

There's also units with hopper windows and aircon and that's a whole debacle in itself.

 

[NSEWonderer]

Will be a fun few days seeing how Infrastructure handles these temperatures due to rail temperature being much hotter

 

[Calderdale Ian]

On Northern's Journey Check all XX12 Leeds to Manchester Victoria plus the return and XX42 Leeds to Chester plus the return have been cancelled for Tuesday 23 June : all 195s . For now the 158 Leeds to Wigan services remain along with the 195 York to Blackpool . The reason given for the cancellations is a short notice change to the timetable. It is warm in the Calder Valley, forecast to be hotter tomorrow but not sure if it warrants advance widespread cancellations on this scale throughout ...eg early morning or evening when it is cooler ? Northern cancelling in advance due to a pre advised short notice change to the timetable, so a get out of jail card for compensation for anyone attempting to travel and unaware of these changes ??? At midday in Hebden Bridge tomorrow it is forecast to be 26 degrees (Met Office) ...is this now deemed too hot for a 195 to venture out ?

 

[Deepgreen]

Southeastern's saunas metro stock have produced this fantastic meme however:

However, the blades look sharp and therefore the fan doesn't appear to be on. Are the power sockets even live when the units are in service?

 

[blue87]

Avanti have posted cancellations for tomorrow on their journeycheck and Chiltern are advising against travel tomorrow, Wednesday and Thursday on their Facebook page.

 

[Class 466]

On Northern's Journey Check all XX12 Leeds to Manchester Victoria plus the return and XX42 Leeds to Chester plus the return have been cancelled for Tuesday 23 June : all 195s . For now the 158 Leeds to Wigan services remain along with the 195 York to Blackpool . The reason given for the cancellations is a short notice change to the timetable. It is warm in the Calder Valley, forecast to be hotter tomorrow but not sure if it warrants advance widespread cancellations on this scale throughout ...eg early morning or evening when it is cooler ? Northern cancelling in advance due to a pre advised short notice change to the timetable, so a get out of jail card for compensation for anyone attempting to travel and unaware of these changes ??? At midday in Hebden Bridge tomorrow it is forecast to be 26 degrees (Met Office) ...is this now deemed too hot for a 195 to venture out ?

It’s not that its too hot for 195s to venture out, speed restrictions will be in place which will decimate the service, so best not to over fill the network with trains to increase congestion. You can only hope they strengthen services that do run

 

[speedy1]

Cancelling the 195s to give preference to TPE? Surely not

 

[Class 466]

Cancelling the 195s to give preference to TPE? Surely not

TPE aren’t running via the Calder Valley at the moment

 

[speedy1]

TPE aren’t running via the Calder Valley at the moment

Ah you're right I'm getting very mixed up with all the TRU diversions

 

[D1511]

Avanti have posted cancellations for tomorrow on their journeycheck and Chiltern are advising against travel tomorrow, Wednesday and Thursday on their Facebook page.

The Anglo Scottish AWC services are unaffected thus far, which is a relief.

 

[Peter0124]

The Anglo Scottish AWC services are unaffected thus far, which is a relief.

Should be fine north of Preston anyway, as I'd imagine if theres severe disruption south of there, they'll start and terminate.

 

[thenorthern]

Last summer we were on a 390 with failed air-con. And Full & Standing. Happily, our part of the train was all "blitz spirit", laughed, joked and kept hydrated. Well hydrated in some cases.

It also helped that we were only travelling from Stafford to Crewe!




[Yes, I fully acknowledge it can be a horrible experience in other circumstances.]

Back in 2015 I remember going from Crewe to Lancaster on a Voyager and we were all standing in the vestibule area. Someone asked why as at the time I didn't know and another one said it was because of the air conditioning had broken. Given that coaches are sealed so the air conditioning works, we forget how quickly body heat can make the coaches unbearably hot. Given that Virgin Voyagers were only 5 coaches and one of those 5 was first class it's a big deal not having one of the coaches in service.

 

[Bald Rick]

It seems the UK is experiencing a typical Australian summer. For the railways that means between 10am and 8pm the dreaded heat speed restrictions and it depends on the temperature as to how slow they are. If its over 36 degrees C it means 80kph max speed and if its over 40 degrees C its 40 kph max speed. This can add hours to journeys and there are full temporary heat timetables to account for the significant increase in journey times.

This can’t be right, as railways in other countries always run perfectly !!

I would assume the UK has a similar heat timetable situation with special timetables for lines effected by extreme heat?

Not really, in the sane way, simply because it is so rare.

We have what is called a “key route strategy”, which is that in very hot (or very cold / snowy) weather, we restrict the use of some junctions, simply because it reduces the risk of a points failure. This does restrict signallers’ ability to regulate trains etc, and in some cases means certainly lightly used routes are restricted to a shuttle service. However it focuses response resources to fewer places.

A good example right now is at Stafford / Whitehouse Junctions, where everything to/from the Rugeley direction is being kept on the fast lines, and everything to/from Birmingham on the slows. There will be some minor delays, but nowhere near as many as if sny of thise junctions failed. (Map from Open Train Times)

 

[voyagerdude220]

Northern appear to have reduced the frequency of their services on some routes tomorrow. E.g. all xx18s from Blackburn to Rochdale via Bolton have been cancelled tomorrow.

 

[43367]

LNER removing some, if not all, Mk4’s from traffic for the next few days. Given a number of incidents from the last heatwave in May I think it’s best all round, especially as the air cons have never been great and the fact that they have two coaches less meaning that there is nowhere to move passengers as all coaches are pretty full which means the air con is also u see a lot more strain.

 

[WillC]

LNER advising against all travel Weds/Thurs now. Is this more of a liability thing (‘we told it was a bad idea, don’t blame us’) or are there further service cancellations likely (noting the Mk4 point above)?

 

[Peterthegreat]

On Northern's Journey Check all XX12 Leeds to Manchester Victoria plus the return and XX42 Leeds to Chester plus the return have been cancelled for Tuesday 23 June : all 195s . For now the 158 Leeds to Wigan services remain along with the 195 York to Blackpool . The reason given for the cancellations is a short notice change to the timetable. It is warm in the Calder Valley, forecast to be hotter tomorrow but not sure if it warrants advance widespread cancellations on this scale throughout ...eg early morning or evening when it is cooler ? Northern cancelling in advance due to a pre advised short notice change to the timetable, so a get out of jail card for compensation for anyone attempting to travel and unaware of these changes ??? At midday in Hebden Bridge tomorrow it is forecast to be 26 degrees (Met Office) ...is this now deemed too hot for a 195 to venture out ?

The Chester trains appear to have been reinstated. They are no longer shown as cancelled on journeycheck.

 

[NeakPed]

This can’t be right, as railways in other countries always run perfectly !!



Not really, in the sane way, simply because it is so rare.

We have what is called a “key route strategy”, which is that in very hot (or very cold / snowy) weather, we restrict the use of some junctions, simply because it reduces the risk of a points failure. This does restrict signallers’ ability to regulate trains etc, and in some cases means certainly lightly used routes are restricted to a shuttle service. However it focuses response resources to fewer places.

A good example right now is at Stafford / Whitehouse Junctions, where everything to/from the Rugeley direction is being kept on the fast lines, and everything to/from Birmingham on the slows. There will be some minor delays, but nowhere near as many as if sny of thise junctions failed. (Map from Open Train Times)

View attachment 206506

KRS when the weather affects operation. ARS (Automatic Route setting) when it doesn’t. Either way, keep trains running in the order they are presented and make no attempt to mitigate/reduce delay.

 

[Class 466]

The Chester trains appear to have been reinstated. They are no longer shown as cancelled on journeycheck.

Surprised… they’re a pig for performance on a good day!

 

[Bletchleyite]

Back in 2015 I remember going from Crewe to Lancaster on a Voyager and we were all standing in the vestibule area. Someone asked why as at the time I didn't know and another one said it was because of the air conditioning had broken. Given that coaches are sealed so the air conditioning works, we forget how quickly body heat can make the coaches unbearably hot. Given that Virgin Voyagers were only 5 coaches and one of those 5 was first class it's a big deal not having one of the coaches in service.

Voyager vestibules aren't I think air conditioned, or if they are it's not very good even in normal temperatures!

 

[LittleRedTrain]

At what point do we think Advance tickets booked for tomorrow/Weds/Thursday on any TOC will be made refundable?

I have XC tickets to an event in Southampton for tomorrow and SWR tickets from Southampton to Waterloo on Wednesday, but so far neither has officially issued a 'Do Not Travel' yet so technically can't get a refund.

However, my plan to get back home from London on Wednesday will involve Chiltern, who *have* declared 'Do not travel', but for which I don't yet have a ticket (wasn't sure what time I'd be travelling).

Currently torn as to whether give up going to the event (and lose the hotel, event and potentially train ticket costs), but at least not end up a melted puddle on the floor!