Heatwave 22-27 June - effect on the UK Railway

[Bletchleyite]

Judging by the displays on rail stations, I'm not sure that's all that accurate - and in any case how do they know? I suppose they collect data from those using phones like they do for if a pub's busy or not on google maps? But even so, would be really helpful if you knew in advance which were the quietest carriages on an app! I suppose it's possible to give the temperature inside a carriage, wouldn't the aircon work on a smart signal?
A bit off topic but on that theme, would be nice to know when a TPE is split, which part the trolly's in!

On Avanti it's done by reservations. On non-reserved TOCs that do it it's passenger counting equipment on the train, which can be weight or can be counting devices at the doors.

 

[jon0844]

Judging by the displays on rail stations, I'm not sure that's all that accurate - and in any case how do they know? I suppose they collect data from those using phones like they do for if a pub's busy or not on google maps? But even so, would be really helpful if you knew in advance which were the quietest carriages on an app! I suppose it's possible to give the temperature inside a carriage, wouldn't the aircon work on a smart signal?
A bit off topic but on that theme, would be nice to know when a TPE is split, which part the trolly's in!

They know because the train (in my case, I'm talking about the class 700s) reports a great deal of data in real-time to control. Sensors know how busy each coach is, which feeds the internal displays that show different colours based on loadings. That includes passenger counters on the doors and also the weight. The temperature of each coach is also recorded, as well as the toilet status (any locked out toilets, or those with no water or full tanks will be known).

There is historical data that can show how busy any given train is expected to be based on the loadings of previous journeys, which is pretty good as an average but doesn't help when there's disruption or a major event going on.

Control can also see images from the CCTV remotely.

The data is very useful if trains become stranded due to disruption as any rescue plans will be prioritised based on factors like no toilets or no air conditioning, or the number of people onboard. Sadly that does mean if you're on a near empty train and the toilets are fine and you're nicely chilled, you'll possibly be waiting longer.. but arguably that's the whole point because you'll probably be less stressed and likely to open a door and decide to walk.

 

[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.

Following up my own post, CrossCountry have at least finally offered refunds for any tickets for Tues/Weds/Thurs:

From: https://www.crosscountrytrains.co.uk/travel-information/disruption/latest-travel-information

Ticket Acceptance​

CrossCountry tickets dated for travel on Tuesday 23, Wednesday 24 and Thursday 25 June can be used at no extra cost to travel on earlier services on the same day, or can be used on CrossCountry services on Friday 26 June.

If you choose to travel it is recommended you travel as early in the day as possible, the temperatures are likely to be cooler at this time. Whilst travelling please ensure you stay hydrated, water points are available in many stations. Please check the National Rail Enquiries website to check the facilities at the station you are travelling from.

If you no longer wish to travel; CrossCountry tickets dated Tuesday 23, Wednesday 24 and Thursday 25 June will be eligible for a full refund from where you brought your ticket. Refunds needs to be claimed before 23:59 on the day before they are dated.

I don't know how the 'before 23:59 on the day before' will work when this didn't appear until Tuesday morning.

At least I'll hopefully get my train ticket money back, even though the event organisers haven't cancelled the gig (yet).
(Being in a crowd of people when it's still due to be 29 degrees at 9pm doesn't sound like much fun).

 

[Segedunum]

I'm in the same quandary as others with booked travel on Thurs. In my case it is Leeds to Kings Cross, the Eurostar to Paris, and a sleeper from Austerlitz to Toulouse. Decision-making on a go/no go is proving difficult because of vague and conflicting information. LNER say don't travel, but as yet it is unclear which trains may be running, and today's forecast sees London in mid 30s rather than 40C. Eurostar seem to have cancelled a few services, but most are scheduled as OK (for now). Finding out about likely SNCF services is less easy. My risk assessment says worst case scenario is getting to Paris in 40C heat and then getting stranded if the sleeper is cancelled, and having to find a space in a park to kip in. Ultimately the gamble is mine to make, but any further info or advice is welcome.

Regarding LNER the only impact at the moment is some rejigging of formations to avoid use of Mk4 sets - as a result you might end up with a shortform.

I suspect when the impact of the heat becomes more apparent later today with any associated speed restrictions, the control team will do a revised train plan if they deem it appropriate to maintain a predictable level of service.

 

[CyrusWuff]

Following up my own post, CrossCountry have at least finally offered refunds for any tickets for Tues/Weds/Thurs:

From: https://www.crosscountrytrains.co.uk/travel-information/disruption/latest-travel-information


I don't know how the 'before 23:59 on the day before' will work when this didn't appear until Tuesday morning.

They're confusing the refund rules following April's changes.

This would come under NRCoT Condition 30 (disruption), which still has a limit of 28 days from the day you were due to travel.

 

[jon0844]

I believe LNER will be giving further information on plans for tomorrow and Thursday around midday to 1300.

 

[MikeWM]

I believe LNER will be giving further information on plans for tomorrow and Thursday around midday to 1300.

They really need to stop suggesting that travelling on Friday will be significantly better than Wednesday, given it is going to be *considerably* hotter on Friday along most of their route than it will be on Wednesday.

I appreciate they are probably following the Met Office who currently don't have *any* warnings in place for Friday, but the Met Office is lagging here and they need to pull up a forecast themselves.

eg. Here's the current Met Office forecast for Peterborough. I think Friday looks rather more problematic for travel issues than Wednesday (!). Admittedly the humidity is likely to be a bit less extreme by Friday but there will clearly be issues at 38C after a night with a low of 21C.


(Image shows weather forecast for Peterborough for next few days, with Friday the hottest day)

 

[Howardh]

Looks like my 1134 Picc/Euston service on Thurs will be cancelled if today is anything to judge by. I can use my advance on Weds, or Fri, and any train before on Thurs, but not after according to their website!! I'm sure I would be allowed a later train anyway if cancelled - so why don't they make it clear?

• Tickets dated Thursday 25 June can be used at no extra cost (and without changing them) to travel on Wednesday 24 or Friday 26 June, or on any earlier Avanti West Coast service on Thursday.

Edit - I have a reply from Avanti;

Hi Howard, you can travel at any time but we are advising passengers to travel earlier if possible.

Which is fine but those turning up might look at the advice and think they need a new ticket for the next train.

 

[LittleRedTrain]

They're confusing the refund rules following April's changes.

This would come under NRCoT Condition 30 (disruption), which still has a limit of 28 days from the day you were due to travel.

You have to ask how it is that companies keep getting these basic things wrong!

Either way, my tickets bought on the forum site were all refunded by TrainSplit within a few minutes without any fuss!

 

[Watershed]

Looks like my 1134 Picc/Euston service on Thurs will be cancelled if today is anything to judge by. I can use my advance on Weds, or Fri, and any train before on Thurs, but not after according to their website!! I'm sure I would be allowed a later train anyway if cancelled - so why don't they make it clear?

You are automatically allowed to take the 2 trains before or afterwards, regardless of any ticket acceptance (which is on top of that 'allowance'). This should have been made clear in the announcements.

 

[Howardh]

You are automatically allowed to take the 2 trains before or afterwards, regardless of any ticket acceptance (which is on top of that 'allowance'). This should have been made clear in the announcements.

Yes, I have had a reply and just updated my post!

 

[Haywain]

today's forecast sees London in mid 30s rather than 40C.

It's from Wednesday to Friday that temperatures are expected to peak in London.

 

[WillC]

Regarding LNER the only impact at the moment is some rejigging of formations to avoid use of Mk4 sets - as a result you might end up with a shortform.

I suspect when the impact of the heat becomes more apparent later today with any associated speed restrictions, the control team will do a revised train plan if they deem it appropriate to maintain a predictable level of service.

Thank you. Do we know which timings use Mk4s? Am booked on 10:10 ex LDS but think could travel on another service without penalty now. Though no idea if services will be rammed or empty given advice etc.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 23 Jun 2026 ==

It's from Wednesday to Friday that temperatures are expected to peak in London.

Sorry, I meant today's forecast for Thursday. It seems to suggest a slight reduction in London compared with earlier forecasts. I mean 36 is hot, but not 41... (clutches at straws...)

And oddly LNER showing *no* services LDS-KGX for Thurs just now...

 

[Taunton]

today's forecast sees London in mid 30s rather than 40C.

Currently coming up on midday, 28C here in inner London, where the forecasters were announcing Amber Danger, which has been taken to heart by many, excuse for train cancellations, etc - and some school closures too.

Notable also there was substantial heavy rain and thunder across London in the middle of the night, something no forecasters mentioned at all yesterday. This must be embarrassing for them, so there was no mention of this having happened at all in this morning's weather reports. 35mm of rain, that's 1.3 inches in old measure, it's apparently already the overall 13th wettest day since a detailed central London weather station started recording nearly 20 years ago! I'm surprised rail services were not disrupted by flooding as well.

 

[Haywain]

Do we know which timings use Mk4s? Am booked on 10:10 ex LDS

That is an Azuma service, normally starting at Bradford Forster Square.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 23 Jun 2026 ==

something no forecasters mentioned at all yesterday.

That depends where you get your information from. The app I use forecast rain, but not thunderstorms, and was spot on here 30 miles north of London, but my wife uses something different and hold told me that thunder and heavy rain was in her forecast. As for today's temperature, it was already uncomfortably hot when I went out for a walk two hours ago and how it feels is far more relevant than just the bare numbers.

 

[thejuggler]

Unfortunately there’s a segment of society that is constantly on the lookout for any reason to work at home. It’s one of many unfortunate legacies left over from Covid.From my experience it has bcpecome a very fortunate legacy.

My personal experience is in some instances it has become a very fortunate legacy and like all crises it lead to rapid innovation.

i am currently working from home and with no aircon the inside temp in shaded room is 23 degrees as opposed to 30 degrees outside. My office has no aircon, has sun at this time of day on huge glass winows, is city centre so opening windows the few inches allowed means noise. Shorts, T shirt and barefoot would be frowned upon, but thats me now, I'm comfy and working.

The roll out of online meeting software has made a huge difference to the working day and during Covid as a keyworker communication between delivery teams was so important.

Looking back over my career the time I have wasted travelling to and from meetings must go into weeks. Some of those meetings have lasted no more than half an hour, but taken half a day travelling, some have been cancelled while I have been travelling, now none of that.

Almost every meeting I now have to attend in person has numerous attendees dialling in.

The downside is because having meetings on line is relatively easy some people do believe a meeting is required prior to making any decision!

 

[Segedunum]

Thank you. Do we know which timings use Mk4s? Am booked on 10:10 ex LDS but think could travel on another service without penalty now. Though no idea if services will be rammed or empty given advice etc.

Booked for five-carriage bi-mode Azuma. Today it shows as 99% reserved at the busiest point though the two services prior are even more heavily reserved.

It has been particularly busy this morning in general - services off Newcastle at a similar time also close to fully reserved in Standard.

As the Mk4s all come off Neville Hill (bar the one that stables for the 04:40 from York to London) they're all normally quite early departures from West Yorkshire then mid-morning back north.

 

[jon0844]

Currently coming up on midday, 28C here in inner London, where the forecasters were announcing Amber Danger, which has been taken to heart by many, excuse for train cancellations, etc - and some school closures too.

Notable also there was substantial heavy rain and thunder across London in the middle of the night, something no forecasters mentioned at all yesterday. This must be embarrassing for them, so there was no mention of this having happened at all in this morning's weather reports. 35mm of rain, that's 1.3 inches in old measure, it's apparently already the overall 13th wettest day since a detailed central London weather station started recording nearly 20 years ago! I'm surprised rail services were not disrupted by flooding as well.

I was woken up by the storm and there was another heavy downpour with thunder around 0700 this morning - but due to the sun and heat, it was all dry very quickly so I bet a lot of people woke up and had no clue it rained at all!

It's funny because I asked Alexa if it was going to rain today and she said no, but then said there was a 49% chance of rain at 0700. Well, for one, 49% chance of rain at any time does not mean no rain today.. but, boy, was she correct. I think 49% should have been 149%!!

 

[Siemens Staines]

I'm surprised rail services were not disrupted by flooding as well.

They were, but only early on and for nothing like as long as the last time Hampton flooded

"Cancellations to services at Hampton
Following heavy rain flooding the railway at Hampton all lines have now reopened.
Train services running through this station may be cancelled, delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until 09:00 23/06.
Last Updated:23/06/2026 06:01"

 

[D1537]

Unfortunately there’s a segment of society that is constantly on the lookout for any reason to work at home. It’s one of many unfortunate legacies left over from Covid.

If a business allows people to WFH without any method of measuring their productivity when doing so, that's the company's problem, not the worker's.

In reality, of course, we should probably be looking for more opportunities to WFH. On the majority of days my job means I can't WFH and have to be present, but today I'm sitting here on my lunch break and nothing I've done so far could not have been done at home. I would also have had 90 minutes longer to do it as well as not burning two gallons of unleaded.

 

[Segedunum]

LNER amendments for tomorrow/Thurs look to be as follows:

- Every other Leeds cancelled (the xx40 off Leeds and xx10 off Kings Cross)
- Lincoln services cancelled
- Middlesbrough service to start/terminate at York
- Hull service to start/terminate at Doncaster.

Various additional calls also added to compensate for the reduction in Leeds services.

Not party to any info on how this will impact on formations but I should imagine it should mean fewer single five-car sets in operation.

 

[WillC]

Booked for five-carriage bi-mode Azuma. Today it shows as 99% reserved at the busiest point though the two services prior are even more heavily reserved.

It has been particularly busy this morning in general - services off Newcastle at a similar time also close to fully reserved in Standard.

As the Mk4s all come off Neville Hill (bar the one that stables for the 04:40 from York to London) they're all normally quite early departures from West Yorkshire then mid-morning back north.

Many thanks.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 23 Jun 2026 ==

LNER amendments for tomorrow/Thurs look to be as follows:

- Every other Leeds cancelled (the xx40 off Leeds and xx10 off Kings Cross)
- Lincoln services cancelled
- Middlesbrough service to start/terminate at York
- Hull service to start/terminate at Doncaster.

Various additional calls also added to compensate for the reduction in Leeds services.

Not party to any info on how this will impact on formations but I should imagine it should mean fewer single five-car sets in operation.

Thank you.

So 10:10 expected to run but with double the payload.

 

[D1537]

LNER amendments for tomorrow/Thurs look to be as follows:

- Every other Leeds cancelled (the xx40 off Leeds and xx10 off Kings Cross)
- Lincoln services cancelled
- Middlesbrough service to start/terminate at York
- Hull service to start/terminate at Doncaster.

Various additional calls also added to compensate for the reduction in Leeds services.

Not party to any info on how this will impact on formations but I should imagine it should mean fewer single five-car sets in operation.

Although there are no 225s out today presumably due to the aircon issue (so I'm guessing this will hold for the rest of the week).

However, three of the four diagrams are (mostly) in the xx10 off KGX slots so that won't be much of an issue; some minor fiddling about will have to be done with the diagram that goes to Newcastle, but that's not a big deal.

 

[Forty29]

I would imagine that there might be some diesel haulage on Heritage railways today.

The Gloucester Warwickshire Railway have suspended all services until Saturday. Firing and driving a steam engine would be hellish in this weather plus coaches would be unbearable.

 

[Class172]

The Gloucester Warwickshire Railway have suspended all services until Saturday. Firing and driving a steam engine would be hellish in this weather plus coaches would be unbearable.

A prudent measure given it's located in the middle of the red weather warning region. The Severn Valley Railway have also suspended services.

 

[Dave61]

Currently coming up on midday, 28C here in inner London, where the forecasters were announcing Amber Danger, which has been taken to heart by many, excuse for train cancellations, etc - and some school closures too.

Notable also there was substantial heavy rain and thunder across London in the middle of the night, something no forecasters mentioned at all yesterday. This must be embarrassing for them, so there was no mention of this having happened at all in this morning's weather reports. 35mm of rain, that's 1.3 inches in old measure, it's apparently already the overall 13th wettest day since a detailed central London weather station started recording nearly 20 years ago! I'm surprised rail services were not disrupted by flooding as well.

Reading the MetCheck weather discussion today they did apologuise and explain why it happended:

Hello, we're Metcheck and sometimes we get the forecast wrong... Hardly the best selling point, but sometimes forecasts do go wrong and it's our job to explain why...

The story really starts yesterday afternoon when we were looking at the observation tephigrams across Western areas of England. The soundings looked rather impressive with what we call a well "primed" atmosphere, but when the atmopshere is like this, it needs a "trigger". Something to kick start the convective process and tap into the energy above. But, there was nothing...

As per usual, we check around 20 different models each day, looking at ensembles and various levels in the atmosphere, but none were showing thunderstorms, then... one developed on the radar.

At this point, we knew the system would tap into plenty of energy and the thunderstorm advisory was issued, but even so, the storm still tracked further South than the updated models suggested.

The system was caused by a cold front to the North, ahead of this was a plume of instability around 700mb with a lobe of very warm theta-w air running to the South of it. But, from the surface to around 750mb there was a strong cap, unlikely to be broken by heating or sea breezes, but break it did.

Our best guess, is that the combination of funneling in the Bristol Channel, sea breeze and orographic uplift around the Mendips was stronger than any model suggested or expected.​

 

[norbitonflyer]

Well, on a journey to Paddington this morning I encountered:
- Bus to Richmond diverted because of floods
- District Line down for signalling issues, so had to use SWR
- but next train to Reading cancelled, so still had to go to via Paddington
- next SWR train in was running 30 minutes late so skipped Vauxhall, forcing an further detour via Waterloo
- Bakerloo line with gaps of 15 minutes
- train from Paddington cancelled - decided I didn't want to go to Wales today after all, which ws just as well as RTT later told me the next one was delayed by nearly an hour

ironically, my journey home from Paddington went without a hitch!

 

[Class 466]

Looks like Northern will be at least running the reduced service seen today up to Friday now. Although I can see further reductions being needed if temperatures reach those forecast

 

[SECR 65]

The Bluebell Railway is closed Wednesday / Thursday for walk up / individual passengers.
Group bookings are still being fulfilled but all have been moved onto the morning 1045 round trip. 1415 cancelled. Long section working introduced to ease pressure on signallers.

The Brighton Mainline seems to be alive and running a good service at present. Gatex is supposed to be called off for the afternoon but for now still seems to be running.
EDIT: Gatex is suspended for Wednesday and Thursday only from lunchtime till the end of traffic. Still running today.

 

[Haywain]

Reading the MetCheck weather discussion today they did apologuise and explain why it happended:

They could have just said that weather forecasting isn't an exact science - it would have been just as clear!