Heat Related Disruption - 13 Aug 2026

[Bletchleyite]

The solution is on the way - East West Rail "proper" with air conditioned trains. Few years yet though, and obviously Fenny loses its station.

Similarly Northern's planned 15x replacement procurement.

 

[pokemonsuper9]

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

Northern have announced some changes for tomorrow, generally cutting 2tph to 1tph on several lines.

Hot weather travel advice

Northern | Buy Cheap Train Tickets and Check Train Times

www.northernrailway.co.uk

Routes with fewer services

If you’re travelling on the following routes, please check to see if your journey is affected.

Rochdale to Blackburn: There will be fewer trains.
Southport to Wigan/ Manchester Oxford Road: There will be fewer trains.
Alderley Edge to Manchester Piccadilly: There will be fewer trains.
Hazel Grove/ Buxton to Manchester Piccadilly: There will be fewer trains.
Rose Hill and Hadfield to Manchester Piccadilly: There will be fewer trains.
Leeds to Rochdale: There will be fewer trains between 10:12 and 16:34.
Leeds to York via Harrogate: There will be fewer trains between 10:45 and 15:45.
Leeds to Sheffield: There will be no Yorkshire Flyer fast service between 09:52 and 15:45, our stopping service will still run.
Scarborough to Sheffield via Hull: A full timetable will operate between Scarborough and Hull, but there will be reduced services between Hull and Doncaster / Sheffield.

Fortunately for me, the Atherton line isn't one of them! Probably thanks to the works east of Manchester Victoria meaning there's no other section to prioritise.

 

[DarloRich]

The solution is on the way - East West Rail "proper" with air conditioned trains. Few years yet though, and obviously Fenny loses its station.

That doesn't seem like much of a mitigator! Wait x years until we run a proper service but not for PITA's like you because we are going to bulldoze your grotty little station. Sorry for any inconvenience. Thanks for your custom over the years!

As I said we cant just give up. We need a better plan until X years happens!

EDIT: If we are just going to give up then the temperature threshold for service suspension should be published so people can make arrangements as early as possible. It should not be published on the day of the race after the first trains of the day have run.

LNWR must have known this was going to happen at the weekend simply by looking at the forecast. Why wait until 0730 this morning to say so?

It just frustrates me so much.

 

[Tram203]

Completely echo everything said by @DarloRich in their posts in this thread.

I'd go even further and say in order for the railway to give up, it actually needs to try in the first place.

Customer experience managers (insert fancy job title of choice) should be made to stand on Nottingham / Birmingham New Street / Manchester Piccadilly stations (other stations are available) from midday to 7pm in 30+ degree heat and explain to passengers why their trains have been cancelled with no alternative transport provided, instead of sitting comfy in their air conditioned offices spouting tripe on social media along the lines of "we recognise the inconvenience these changes will cause".

No effort, no interest, no customer service, no trains.

 

[Andrew888]

TfW:

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

Specifically as of yesterday they'd announced they were doing the now routine cancel-all-trains BHI/SHR on Weds/Thurs, while still running Shrewsbury to Aber/Pwllheli, due to A/C being broken on the 158s: https://tfw.wales/service-status/disruption-and-service-changes. (Still, a month after this first started happening.)

The evolved explanation: "We are working with our supply chain to resolve [the A/C issues] as soon as possible before our older trains are replaced as part of our £800m investment in brand new trains." Which doesn't actually commit them to anything, at this point I am doubtful we'll see any fix. (We're supposed to get 197s on the Cambrian line at some point, but they've been saying that since 2022.)

However, as of this morning there are also random Shrewsbury/Aber services being cancelled, with some replacement buses being run. There doesn't seem to be any better solution to figuring out what and when other than watching the departure boards on nationalrail.co.uk. And/or taking pot luck. (Which isn't fun on a service that runs at best hourly and often bi-hourly.)

TFW's comms during all this have been... not great.

 

[SCDR_WMR]

Completely echo everything said by @DarloRich in their posts in this thread.

I'd go even further and say in order for the railway to give up, it actually needs to try in the first place.

Customer experience managers (insert fancy job title of choice) should be made to stand on Nottingham / Birmingham New Street / Manchester Piccadilly stations (other stations are available) from midday to 7pm in 30+ degree heat and explain to passengers why their trains have been cancelled with no alternative transport provided, instead of sitting comfy in their air conditioned offices spouting tripe on social media along the lines of "we recognise the inconvenience these changes will cause".

No effort, no interest, no customer service, no trains.

That's exactly what LNR CSMs do! During any major disruption, it is their job to be the front line and my experience with them is that they absolutely do that. But only at stations that have one and also have staff to have on the concourse - New St has only Avanti or NR staff for instance.

When Euston goes tits-up, there are almost always LNR managers and staff on the concourse offering reasons and option. I've stood there for hours with them despite it not being part of my job.

They certainly don't have access to the company social media streams.

 

[Snow1964]

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.

The Hope Valley has no Met office warnings today, and on Thursday the Amber warning just about includes Sheffield, but no warnings on the Pennine routes, or west of Pennines

"Can't be bothered"-itis.

Probably closer to the truth, summers tend to happen every year, so not fully flushing radiators to ensure cooling is working fully in the Spring, and thus increasing risk of overheating is definitely a can't be bothered choice

 

[Dr Hoo]

The Hope Valley has no Met office warnings today, and on Thursday the Amber warning just about includes Sheffield, but no warnings on the Pennine routes, or west of the Pennines

Well, here in the Hope Valley as I type it’s heading for 29 degrees soon and it’s already feeling baking hot in the sun.
Tomorrow’s warning actually covers as far as Castleton, albeit not quite to the Pennines at Edale. Hope, Bamford, Hathersage and Grindleford are all in the warning area.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Probably closer to the truth, summers tend to happen every year

35-40 degree ones don't. It might be that that's becoming the norm, but it certainly isn't the historical norm. High 20s was historically a very hot British summer.

 

[GordonT]

Genuine question as I'm located at the cooler end of the UK. How good (or otherwise) are the various TOCs in strengthening formations of the fewer trains which are continuing to run in areas where services have been reduced due to hot weather and in situations where they have a proportion of serviceable units freed up by the curtailments?

 

[150219]

Genuine question as I'm located at the cooler end of the UK. How good (or otherwise) are the various TOCs in strengthening formations of the fewer trains which are continuing to run in areas where services have been reduced due to hot weather and in situations where they have a proportion of serviceable units freed up by the curtailments?

Depends on whether the amendments are made because of infrastructure concerns (e.g., bendy rails) or rolling stock concerns (e.g., engines shutting down or air con).

If it's the latter, then strengthening trains may not be an option. Best to rework what you've got to best effect.

If it's the latter, then if it's possible depending on platform lengths.

 

[pokemonsuper9]

Genuine question as I'm located at the cooler end of the UK. How good (or otherwise) are the various TOCs in strengthening formations of the fewer trains which are continuing to run in areas where services have been reduced due to hot weather and in situations where they have a proportion of serviceable units freed up by the curtailments?

Strengthening can only go so far.
It'll be interesting so see how many short forms Northern put out tomorrow while they have plenty of diagrams cancelled. With Newton Heath (the main depot for the diesel fleet around Manchester) being much more annoying to get to due to the closure of the line east of Manchester Victoria, I think it's more likely that any units that fail during the day won't get replaced with full forms even with far fewer units out, they'll just split what's already out.

 

[speedy1]

35-40 degree ones don't. It might be that that's becoming the norm, but it certainly isn't the historical norm. High 20s was historically a very hot British summer.

Not to deny climate change but just a slight addendum: 40c was 2022 – singular, once ever.

Agree anything over 30c is VERY hot for the UK historically

 

[Dr Hoo]

35-40 degree ones don't. It might be that that's becoming the norm, but it certainly isn't the historical norm. High 20s was historically a very hot British summer.

Spot on. When I had to learn the Fahrenheit/Celsius conversion as a child there were three ‘benchmarks’
32/0 (freezing), 50/10 (middling), 77/25 (“a hot day”). We had just come through the 1962/63 epic winter.

 

[800002]

The solution is on the way - East West Rail "proper" with air conditioned trains. Few years yet though, and obviously Fenny loses its station.

There's tea all over my keyboard now!


Chilterns statement via tbe BBC

BBC News - Chiltern Railways says don't travel unless necessary o during hot weather
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2352031ygyo

Chiltern Railways (CR) said a reduced timetable would be in place between 11:00 and 20:00 to "ensure the most reliable service during the hottest part of the day".

Stewart added: "We are asking customers to travel only if it's essential on Thursday because of the exceptionally high temperatures forecast across our network.

"By operating a reduced timetable during the hottest part of the day, we can provide a more reliable and comfortable service for customers."

 

[pokemonsuper9]

Chilterns statement via tbe BBC

BBC News - Chiltern Railways says don't travel unless necessary o during hot weather
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2352031ygyo

Those aren't the Air Conditioned Class 196s that will run on EWR, the vast majority of their services are much older Class 165s and 168s (only a few Class 68 + Mk5a diagrams are running compared to the 16X)

 

[800002]

Those aren't the Air Conditioned Class 196s that will run on EWR, the vast majority of their services are much older Class 165s and 168s (only a few Class 68 + Mk5a diagrams are running compared to the 16X)

Sorry, I don't understand what your trying to say.

(The reference to tbe 196 and the article were intended to be separate, apologies)

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

I've also been made aware that there will be more mk5a runs from Birmingam to London planned than those undertaken by 100 mph units.

 

[Banham7]

There is currently a safety inspection of the track in the Carlton Loop area between Newark and Retford on the ECML, presumably heat related.


(via LNER WhatsApp Channel)

 

[800002]

presumably heat related.

Why, presumably?

 

[Andrew888]

In the end, something like 2/3 cancellations on the supposed-to-be-running section of the Cambrian line "due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time" today, "as a result of extreme heat."

People travelling up the coast have basically been told they have ticket exchange on the local buses, so have at it. (That's a two hour trip at the best of times.)

It's hard to take rail seriously as a mode of transport sometimes.

 

[James H]

SWR have several standby RRBs at Bournemouth today, presumably a weather-related contingency plan

 

[GoneSouth]

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.

Many would say this is a normal service on that line!

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!

Who has the final say on emergency/additional stops? Did XC volunteer or were they told to make the additional stops?

 

[720144]

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

Looks like there’s more evening peak cancellations in place today Thursday 13th August according to c2c’s journey check.

 

[ox_chap]

I could imagine rolling stock procurement from now forwards requesting stock must cope with extremely high temperatures. But how do we change all the infrastructure? Presumably we cannot replace every point across the UK?

 

[45Fox]

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

I can only agree with you.

This whole "it's summer, it's hot, so we aren't going to run trains" way of carrying on just can't be allowed to continue, it's eventually going to kill confidence in the industry.

Like it or not, rising summer temperatures are probably here to stay; are we going to go through this whole scenario of giving up on our absolutely core reason for existing, running train services, every year? This is unsustainable, once customer confidence has been lost it will be an uphill task to get it back.

 

[LCC106]

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

Staff will likely be sitting spare before doing the rest of their booked job. If it is the last part of the job they can go home, as they’ve done what they were booked to do before that part of the job. They won’t be used for anything else.

 

[172007]

Staff will likely be sitting spare before doing the rest of their booked job. If it is the last part of the job they can go home, as they’ve done what they were booked to do before that part of the job. They won’t be used for anything else.

To expand, training is continious in the industry, rule book changes are sent in advance so have already been read. As drivers we have no paperwork to catch up on, many tocs drivers dont have email and we dont even have an electrobic device or access to a computer at work. There is no filling to be done. Many drivers will look at their rule book foe a short while and thats all that can be done.

Managenent try there best to come up with doing briefs to staff bit to organise the briefs they need to take time to actually create them and get them signed off so its a lot of work for them.

 

[AndrewE]

I could imagine rolling stock procurement from now forwards requesting stock must cope with extremely high temperatures. But how do we change all the infrastructure? Presumably we cannot replace every point across the UK?

I suspect that a lot of the present problems could be dealt with by putting a task force onto cleaning heat exchangers, especially the "cooling air" inlet sides.
If heat pumps can extract enough warmth for houses in mid-winter, then a properly-maintained cooling system should keep trains bearable in summer... It doesn't matter how much you increase the spec, if critical components are neglected it will still fail.

Places which already have worse temperature extremes than the UK apparently de-stress and re-stress rails twice a year. I can't see the Treasury liking that!

 

[Tomnick]

Why this section specifically?

Nothing to do with the Hope Valley or its gradients specifically (yes, it's hard work for the units, but not for long). It's simply because 158s generally will inevitably start to fall over in the afternoon, either through traction issues or conditions inside the train and cabs, and binning Sheffield - Liverpool is one of the "least worst" options (in terms of alternative services) to free up as many unit diagrams as possible to get 170 vice 158 elsewhere to actually stand a chance of being able to run a service.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I could imagine rolling stock procurement from now forwards requesting stock must cope with extremely high temperatures. But how do we change all the infrastructure? Presumably we cannot replace every point across the UK?

It's about restressing rails, is it not?

As an aside I had a ride on Chiltern yesterday from Bicester to Brum and back which for various reasons ended up involving 3 168s and a 165*. The 168s appeared to be struggling to keep cool with some failed aircon units and the ones that were working just not managing to properly cool the units, though the odd vehicle was OK. The 165 with its newer installation was absolutely lovely, like walking into a fridge.

I wonder if they'll prioritise using 165s today as a result?

* Was aiming for the 2120 connection back south as the 2115 was a bit early, but when I got to Moor St the 2115 was still there so I very quickly boarded, but it was noisy and full of people playing phones out loud so I dropped back to the 2120 at Solihull, changing at Leamington, which was a far quieter journey despite both being 2-cars.