Heat Related Disruption - 13 Aug 2026

[LittleRedTrain]

Looks like Chiltern are (unsurprisingly) going to be running a reduced service on Thursday and are stating 'essential travel only.'

Details from the National Rail site

Description​

The Met Office are forecasting that temperatures will be above average for the time of year this week, with another heatwave anticipated across England and Wales.

Some areas, particularly in southern England and Wales, may see temperatures peaking as high as 38°C midweek. An amber weather warning is in place for extreme heat across parts of central England for Thursday.

This will disrupt routes operated by Chiltern Railways.

On Thursday 13 August, Chiltern Railways are advising you only travel if essential.

Impact to services:​

Chiltern Railways will be running a significantly reduced train service until around 20:00.

Chiltern Railways are strongly urging all customers to proactively consider whether they need to travel as there is a high risk of disruption and the likelihood is that travel will be uncomfortable.

Nothing on the Chiltern Railways own website or social media yet.

Wouldn't be surprised if other TOCs in the Amber warning area follow suit.

 

[londonmidland]

EMR have once again suspended their service between Liverpool and Sheffield for Wednesday the 12th and Thursday the 13th of August.

Liverpool Lime Street - Nottingham - Norwich

Services between Liverpool Lime Street and Norwich will run between Sheffield and Norwich only.

Regional services between Leicester and Nottingham and between Worksop and Nottingham will also be suspended after 12:00.

Nottingham - Leicester

Nottingham to Leicester regional stopping services will be withdrawn from 12:00.

Worksop - Mansfield - Nottingham

Worksop to Nottingham route will be withdrawn from 12:00.

 

[Intercity_225]

I feel like I've seen 300 different versions of this thread this year...

 

[styles]

I feel like I've seen 300 different versions of this thread this year...

We get 300 opportunities to repeat the arguments regarding preemptive cancellation and same-day best efforts though

 

[Bayum]

EMR have once again suspended their service between Liverpool and Sheffield for Wednesday the 12th and Thursday the 13th of August.

Why this section specifically?

 

[londonmidland]

Why this section specifically?

The 170s and 158s really struggle to keep cool whilst climbing over the Hope Valley. Their engines end up overheating and subsequently failing as a result.

 

[800002]

Nothing on the Chiltern Railways own website or social media yet.

There be update now.

https://www.chilternrailways.co.uk/weatherdisruption

Thursday 13 August
Extremely hot weather is forecast for Thursday 13 August.

Chiltern Railways will be running a significantly reduced train service on Thursday, until around eight o’clock in the evening, and we are advising customers to only travel if essential.

We strongly urge all customers to proactively consider whether they need to travel tomorrow, as there is a high risk of disruption and the likelihood is that travel will be uncomfortable. Thank you for your cooperation and understanding.

 

[720144]

Looks like C2C have cancelled some of their morning and evening peak services due to the heatwaves today Wednesday 12th August.

Details from National rail website.

Incident: c2c Hot Weather | National Rail

Hot weather will impact c2c services until at least Friday 14 August. Find details of all current incidents on National Rail Enquiries.

www.nationalrail.co.uk

 

[JetStream]

TfW:

No trains (158s) between Shrewsbury and Birmingham/Aberystwyth

No Mark IVs between Manchester and Cardiff

No trains between Llandudno and Blaenau Ffestiniog

--

The same for tomorrow (13th) too.

 

[Trainfan2019]

With EMR and the Liverpool route disruption, I just don't get why the early morning and late night trains still get terminated early or cancelled.

It's 6:36am currently and trains are being affected by severe weather temperatures, in the summer, yet there's an early morning nip in the air?

 

[Bletchleyite]

There be update now.

https://www.chilternrailways.co.uk/weatherdisruption

Rather poorly written as that could be read to mean "no trains after 8pm" (why?) or "normal service after 8pm".

 

[racyrich]

Looks like C2C have cancelled some of their morning and evening peak services due to the heatwaves today Wednesday 12th August.

Details from National rail website.

Incident: c2c Hot Weather | National Rail

Hot weather will impact c2c services until at least Friday 14 August. Find details of all current incidents on National Rail Enquiries.

www.nationalrail.co.uk

Glad I saw this. Both my usual train in and my usual train home are binned. Both really busy trains. This won't be nice.

Hot Weather Wednesday 12 and Thursday 13 August | c2c Trains to/from London, Southend & Essex | c2c Rail

Read Hot Weather Wednesday 12 and Thursday 13 August at c2c-online.co.uk. Book c2c trains to/from London, Southend & Essex for safe, easy travel. Find live train times, cheap tickets & more, as easy as c2c.

www.c2c-online.co.uk

 

[Smidster]

With EMR and the Liverpool route disruption, I just don't get why the early morning and late night trains still get terminated early or cancelled.

It's 6:36am currently and trains are being affected by severe weather temperatures, in the summer, yet there's an early morning nip in the air?

Isn't it largely because of the logistics - It is much easier to cut out entire diagrams and aim to have a smaller but more reliable operation with people / machinery in the right place rather than try to say "this can go here at 6am but then gets removed at noon before coming back into service at 7pm"

 

[185143]

Isn't it largely because of the logistics - It is much easier to cut out entire diagrams and aim to have a smaller but more reliable operation with people / machinery in the right place rather than try to say "this can go here at 6am but then gets removed at noon before coming back into service at 7pm"

"Can't be bothered"-itis.

If this is going to become a regular thing, there's no excuse for not having it as a proper emergency timetable.

Part of me would even question why they can't run the first few services, deliberately "strand" a couple of units in Liverpool and run shuttles to Oxford Road all day, then run them back through in the cooler evening temperatures. TPE do it when there's works on the Hope Valley, for example. Granted, it's much easier for TPE to do it. But where there's a will, there's a way!

 

[Class 466]

Northern once again running their somewhat controversial cut-back timetable tomorrow around Manchester/North West with some service groups entirely withdrawn or reduced.

 

[DarloRich]

LNWR have withdrawn Marston Vale line services after 1130 today (12th) and tomorrow (13th) because of "hot temperatures affecting train units on this line"

Oddly they wont say what the issue is........................................

 

[rmHawk765]

At this point these heat warnings are futile, at some point you need to travel...

 

[speedy1]

"Can't be bothered"-itis.

Seems highly infectious!

At this point these heat warnings are futile, at some point you need to travel...

I don't think they're meant to make much logical sense, rather, just provide the DfT political cover.

 

[milooo]

LNWR have withdrawn Marston Vale line services after 1130 today (12th) and tomorrow (13th) because of "hot temperatures affecting train units on this line"

Oddly they wont say what the issue is........................................

In all fairness the 150s are unbearably hot on the Marston Vale especially as they go across flat fields for the whole day.

 

[DarloRich]

In all fairness the 150s are unbearably hot on the Marston Vale especially as they go across flat fields for the whole day.

ok - but how is that different from any point in the last 40 years? Why is it now that this new and exciting excuse to give up running a service has been deployed?

Do TfW, GWR and Northern have these problems with class 150 trains and if not what are they doing that LNWR arent?

 

[Bletchleyite]

ok - but how is that different from any point in the last 40 years?

It's not been nearly 40 degrees very often in the last 40 years. Just once about 3-4 years ago.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 12 Aug 2026 ==

Do TfW, GWR and Northern have these problems with class 150 trains and if not what are they doing that LNWR arent?

TfW have withdrawn their broad equivalent, the Conwy Valley, though that's to free up a 197 rather than because of direct issues.

Northern do have some slightly similar branches, will be interesting to see if they pull any.

 

[LCC106]

"Can't be bothered"-itis.

If this is going to become a regular thing, there's no excuse for not having it as a proper emergency timetable.

Part of me would even question why they can't run the first few services, deliberately "strand" a couple of units in Liverpool and run shuttles to Oxford Road all day, then run them back through in the cooler evening temperatures. TPE do it when there's works on the Hope Valley, for example. Granted, it's much easier for TPE to do it. But where there's a will, there's a way!

What about crew hours and personal need breaks? Can you go into a bit more detail as to what you think would work? Are you suggesting taxis from Nottingham to Liverpool and vice versa to get the crews there?

 

[800002]

It's not been nearly 40 degrees very often in the last 40 years. Just once about 3-4 years ago.

And also, some stock was not nearly 40 years old, 40 years ago.
(General comment to the room).

 

[LowLevel]

"Can't be bothered"-itis.

If this is going to become a regular thing, there's no excuse for not having it as a proper emergency timetable.

Part of me would even question why they can't run the first few services, deliberately "strand" a couple of units in Liverpool and run shuttles to Oxford Road all day, then run them back through in the cooler evening temperatures. TPE do it when there's works on the Hope Valley, for example. Granted, it's much easier for TPE to do it. But where there's a will, there's a way!

The crew are based in Derby and Nottingham and are also working the trains to and from Sheffield anyway - that would be a huge and expensive resourcing nightmare.

 

[800002]

What about crew hours and personal need breaks? Can you go into a bit more detail as to what you think would work? Are you suggesting taxis from Nottingham to Liverpool and vice versa to get the crews there?

There is always much work involved (probably 30 to 40 'person' hours to prepare an amended train plan.
To keep it:
Efficient
Robust
Operable (I'm the first place).
**safe**

Sometimes ot doesn't go right. It may look strange and unfathomable, but that's what comes out.
It takes weeks to write an amended train plan in the proper sense. 12 to 18 hours in a single day just doesn't cut it if you want to maintain safety and resemblance of a service.

There will be underlying reasons sit what you see, believe me

If this is going to become a regular thing, there's no excuse for not having it as a proper emergency timetable.

There will also be a reason, on each occasion It would be needed, that a 'standard emergency plan' which you would want would not be possible and it would need amending anyway.

 

[sheff1]

Isn't it largely because of the logistics - It is much easier to cut out entire diagrams and aim to have a smaller but more reliable operation

aka no trains at all.

There is not even a weather warning in place for today, yet all trains cancelled.

 

[ValleyLines142]

TfW:

No Mark IVs between Manchester and Cardiff

A real shame - I was on one yesterday only from Cwmbran to Newport and I was pleasantly surprised at how good the aircon was.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 12 Aug 2026 ==

CrossCountry aren't running anything between Cardiff and Birmingham; the only exception being 1L98 (Bristol to Stansted via Gloucester) and the daily Voyager services that operate via Lydney and Gloucester. I imagine its down to potentially displaced crew if they were to run, and not from the heat itself.

I imagine the Plymouths will be busy today!

Fair play to XC however: last week during the disruption caused by the lineside fire between Newport and Cardff, TFW cancelled their Cheltenham services and all 170 operated services called at all stations between Newport and Gloucester. I was half expecting XC to simply say 'not our problem' and only deal with their booked calls but they did help out!

 

[Trainfan2019]

As the 158s have been on the Liverpool route since Central Trains days, what happened in hot weather back then? We still had long hot summers in the 1990s and 2000s. Is it now the 158s are decades old and so can't cope or were they like this when new?

 

[Bletchleyite]

As the 158s have been on the Liverpool route since Central Trains days, what happened in hot weather back then? We still had long hot summers in the 1990s and 2000s. Is it now the 158s are decades old and so can't cope or were they like this when new?

We didn't have temperatures of nearly 40 degrees in the 1990s and 2000s. Even a day just over 30 was unusual.

"80 degrees" - 27 Celsius - was something to write home about.

 

[DarloRich]

I am not going to repat what is being said on local facebook groups about railway staff. You can guess.

Regardless. As an industry we cant just give up. We have to look at mitigators beyond get a bus. Keeping the show on the road train wise must be the first priority. Passengers have to come higher up the consideration tree than they do now

BTW - what are the staff doing this afternoon? Do they do mandatory training or something?

We didn't have temperatures of nearly 40 degrees in the 1990s and 2000s. Even a day just over 30 was unusual.

Ok - at what temperatures are services withdrawn? On what basis is that decision made and who is involved in making that decsion?

If we are going to cancel trains because it is to hot for the staff we need to be absolutely transparent about that so that passengers can make alternative arrangements, perhaps for good.