Heatwave 22-27 June - effect on the UK Railway

sammyg901 said:

yes even some of the Birminghams have been one or both units as a 165 presumably to max out capacity . Also means no guards needed to/from London which keeps things simple

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True, and true.
And also, I believe I've heard somewhere, the HVAC on the 165 is more reliable / efficient (not sure of the veracity of that though).

sammyg901 said:

They've put in the same emergency timetable but Harry Styles is back on at Wembley so they're promising to load some extras tomorrow!

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Should keep the 'regular service' going as planned (under the emergency arrangements) while providing control an ability to add outright new circuits as / when required without splitting unit and crew resource away from the plan which was designed for yesterday and today.
Should be much more reliable and focused on keeping all those who choose to travel moving.

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Segedunum said:

I must say today has been pretty seamless. Five cars on my train from Princes Risborough to Marylebone was sufficient (even if the 165 sounded a bit ill) then no issues from Kings Cross up to Newcastle.

Only delay was signaller (or signalling) falling asleep and leaving from my train on the King Edward Bridge at a red signal outside a platform that was free the whole time...

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Not too shabby all round by the sounds of it.
Quite fortunate, though, I feel given other activities in the west midlands this afternoon and evening.
Travelling earlier in the day is certainly more reliable though, I feel.

Travelled from Glasgow to Wigan today, booked on Avanti 12:40. Firstly it was very lucky I'd arrived at GLC extra early (took the 10:07 from Largs when I should have been okay with the 11:07), as at 11:45 they announced that the 12:40 to Euston was cancelled, and our tickets would be valid for the 11:56. Cue scramble to get on board, luckily it was 11 coaches but I didn't know that at the time and jumped into coach C, which was as hot as the hob of the proverbial. Asked the lady sorting out the shop and she said there had just been an announcement that the aircon in C and E wasn't working, but there was room in U and G - too late to run up the platform by then as it was close to departure time, so dozens of us squeezed through the carriages to get to U/G. Most of us managed to get a seat in U, some continued to G and I don't know what it was like in there but further into the journey there were people coming back from G, so I guess it was pretty packed.

Due to the cancellation, at every stop more and more people piled on, seats were becoming in very short supply. Then another coach's aircon went out of action (I heard the announcement but didn't take in which coach it was) so more people seeking space in the remaining comparatively cool coaches. Having walked through C and E I wasn't surprised, the temperature was pretty unbearable in them.

Then held outside Motherwell due to "a broken down train in front of this one", and steadily lost more time - and I've now just checked and it was actually terminated at Wolverhampton.

I just managed the dash to Wallgate, where luckily my Southport train was running a couple of minutes late, and alternate ones were being cancelled, so count myself incredibly lucky to have made it back at all. Feel sorry for those turning up for the 12:40, they are probably still travelling!

Thank goodness for the announcement about the cancellation and ticket acceptance on the 11:56. Ironically I almost never use my AirPods other than on a train, but a friend had left a voice message, so I could easily have missed the announcement. Had a lot of luck today.

Wigan to Southport was like a sauna but I didn't expect anything else given the trains they operate.

On the face of it, it seems like everything has held up very well during the original 2 days of "do not travel"

Let's hope everything doesn't completely break down tomorrow when many were told to defer their travel to up until last night

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TUC said:

I do find the 'only travel if essential' messages bizarre.

If people need to get to work, then need to get there unless their employer separately has made other arrangements,

If you are travelling because you have tickets for a show, tonight is the night you have tickets for.

If you are attending a family member's birthday, today's the birthday.

Life goes on.

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The annoying thing is (and correct me if I'm wrong) it feels like by putting out that message they're saying they won't support passengers if their journeys are disrupted.

I was supposed to travel EMR london to Sheffield yesterday but postponed due to the warnings initially to tomorrow but it quickly became clear tomorrow would be the worst day and LNER couldn't guarantee EMR tickets on their route being accepted on the weekend so I just picked and bought the cheapest lner ticket for today I'll use on Saturday and get a refund on my initial ticket (similar price for me but seems an odd situation)

Ultimately people have to travel at some point. And to be fair to most train operators they are being very open in ticket easements through until next week (I say this through slightly baited breath hoping to not end up in the disputes section Sunday morning)

ivorytoast28 said:

On the face of it, it seems like everything has held up very well during the original 2 days of "do not travel"

Let's hope everything doesn't completely break down tomorrow when many were told to defer their travel to up until last night

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The annoying thing is (and correct me if I'm wrong) it feels like by putting out that message they're saying they won't support passengers if their journeys are disrupted.

I was supposed to travel EMR london to Sheffield yesterday but postponed due to the warnings initially to tomorrow but it quickly became clear tomorrow would be the worst day and LNER couldn't guarantee EMR tickets on their route being accepted on the weekend so I just picked and bought the cheapest lner ticket for today I'll use on Saturday and get a refund on my initial ticket (similar price for me but seems an odd situation)

Ultimately people have to travel at some point. And to be fair to most train operators they are being very open in ticket easements through until next week (I say this through slightly baited breath hoping to not end up in the disputes section Sunday morning)

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Today definitely wasn’t as hot as Wednesday, nor as hot as originally forecast. This evening in the London area there has actually been a quite pleasant cool breeze. Not stopped one of my cars picking up a cracked windscreen though!

It does appear tomorrow is going to be horrible again.

ivorytoast28 said:

Ultimately people have to travel at some point.

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Yes and no. Clearly if you need to get home, you need to get home. A “do not travel” warning will mean that reputable (and/or well unionised) businesses will find it much harder to refuse requests to work from home, for example.

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bramling said:

Today definitely wasn’t as hot as Wednesday, nor as hot as originally forecast.

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Depends where you are - definitely worse here in northern Somerset. Mind you, the worst (though not the hottest) so far was Monday before the storm broke.

The exile said:

Yes and no. Clearly if you need to get home, you need to get home. A “do not travel” warning will mean that reputable (and/or well unionised) businesses will find it much harder to refuse requests to work from home, for example.

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Depends where you are - definitely worse here in northern Somerset. Mind you, the worst (though not the hottest) so far was Monday before the storm broke.

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And worse in Yorkshire too.

bramling said:

Today definitely wasn’t as hot as Wednesday, nor as hot as originally forecast. This evening in the London area there has actually been a quite pleasant cool breeze. Not stopped one of my cars picking up a cracked windscreen though!

It does appear tomorrow is going to be horrible again.

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Yes I think it's going to lull people into a false sense of security too as tomorrow is going to be more like Wednesday.

As you say today a bit - I wouldn't call it substantial - of a breeze and it was just about on the cusp of being OK to be out in whereas the same time (2pm ish) on Wednesday just fell oppressively warm and I was actively uncomfortable even just walking.

sammyg901 said:

yes even some of the Birminghams have been one or both units as a 165 presumably to max out capacity . Also means no guards needed to/from London which keeps things simple

Tomorrow is looking like a headache. They've put in the same emergency timetable but Harry Styles is back on at Wembley so they're promising to load some extras tomorrow!

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Currently some issues near Leamington Spa due to a buckled rail, Chiltern may be affected, looks like Kenilworth route closed.

800002 said:

And also, I believe I've heard somewhere, the HVAC on the 165 is more reliable / efficient (not sure of the veracity of that though).

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Well, there's no Air Conditioning to begin with, hence nothing to go wrong. I used to say the same about 150s - I never had one with faulty aircon, you know!

peteb said:

Currently some issues near Leamington Spa due to a buckled rail, Chiltern may be affected, looks like Kenilworth route closed.

Trains suspended as heatwave causes rails to buckle

WMR services between Coventry and Leamington Spa are currently suspended.

www.bbc.co.uk

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Issue appears to be on Platform 4, Kenilworth route canned at Coventry and Chilterns Stratford & Birmingham stoppers being canned at Warwick and then running ECS to Leamington, through the Up Fast then back through P2 then another reverse to get it into P1

I wonder what the likelihood of infrastructure issues are in the North. Scotland got what seemed like a pretty intense thunderstorm tonight (spreading all the way from Ayrshire over to East Lothian).

Some fork lightning seen from my window too.

Krokodil said:

Well, there's no Air Conditioning to begin with, hence nothing to go wrong. I used to say the same about 150s - I never had one with faulty aircon, you know!

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Chiltern 165s have an air cooling system retrofitted about 20 years ago, it is generally very effective.

Brighton Mainline really starting to be in trouble now:

NOGO on the Up Fast with 1C01 seemingly 'stuck'
Line Block on the Down Slow right the way from Redhill to Gatwick Airport

CR165022 said:

Issue appears to be on Platform 4, Kenilworth route canned at Coventry and Chilterns Stratford & Birmingham stoppers being canned at Warwick and then running ECS to Leamington, through the Up Fast then back through P2 then another reverse to get it into P1

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It's the overheated track, as posted about 36 hours ago (maybe, now).

Still too hot to rectify, so 5mph ESR on the platform loop line that takes you into p3 and p4.

Severe service limitations for time being

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Bletchleyite said:

Chiltern 165s have an air cooling system retrofitted about 20 years ago, it is generally very effective.

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As do the 168s (i really do beieve).
It's been so long that I've actually thought about it in any detail.

Krokodil said:

Well, there's no Air Conditioning to begin with, hence nothing to go wrong. I used to say the same about 150s - I never had one with faulty aircon, you know!

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The exile said:

Depends where you are - definitely worse here in northern Somerset. Mind you, the worst (though not the hottest) so far was Monday before the storm broke.

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Somerset was definitely hot Thursday, Yeovilton even broke the June UK record provisionally, although eventually got beaten.

There is now a much smaller red area, doesn't extend west of Reading.

Meanwhile 200 miles further west in Cornwall GWR where temperature isn't expected to exceed 22c are still using hot weather as the reason to pare services on some Cornish branches. Please don't say extreme hot weather, instead be more truthful, trains are unrepaired, or staff are missing, not hot weather alert in different part of country

peteb said:

Currently some issues near Leamington Spa due to a buckled rail, Chiltern may be affected, looks like Kenilworth route closed.

Trains suspended as heatwave causes rails to buckle

WMR services between Coventry and Leamington Spa are currently suspended.

www.bbc.co.uk

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A similar issue happened at Chilham yesterday, which broke down most of the Southeastern service between Ashford International and Canterbury West

Snow1964 said:

Somerset was definitely hot Thursday, Yeovilton even broke the June UK record provisionally, although eventually got beaten.

There is now a much smaller red area, doesn't extend west of Reading.

Meanwhile 200 miles further west in Cornwall GWR where temperature isn't expected to exceed 22c are still using hot weather as the reason to pare services on some Cornish branches. Please don't say extreme hot weather, instead be more truthful, trains are unrepaired, or staff are missing, not hot weather alert in different part of country

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A more accurate description would be due to earlier extreme heat. Must be hard with so many incidents on the go.

TUC said:

If you are travelling because you have tickets for a show, tonight is the night you have tickets for.

If you are attending a family member's birthday, today's the birthday.

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Having booked and paid for a no-doubt long-awaited show, missing it would be incredibly annoying not to mention expensive. But is this really essential travel? In fact, given the conditions it is perhaps surprising that events such as the Harry Styles concerts are going ahead in the first place. And missing a family member's birthday, not ideal either, but a celebration could be held later!

ivorytoast28 said:

The annoying thing is (and correct me if I'm wrong) it feels like by putting out that message they're saying they won't support passengers if their journeys are disrupted.

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It seems to me more like warning passengers that services absolutely will, as per many posts above, be disrupted, or at the very least extremely uncomfortable, and they should be prepared for that, and maybe decide not to travel? IMHO the worst thing the railway is effectively promise to transport people when it is obvious that serious disruption is inevitable.

Falcon1200 said:

Having booked and paid for a no-doubt long-awaited show, missing it would be incredibly annoying not to mention expensive. But is this really essential travel?

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Definition of essential is
absolutely necessary, indispensable, or fundamental to the nature of something.

And clearly the fundamental to.... part covers getting to the show or birthday, because if didn't then linked item becomes irrelevant, and clearly neither show or birthday are irrelevant.

So answer is if need to get to something that can't be missed, then travel

Snow1964 said:

Definition of essential is
absolutely necessary, indispensable, or fundamental to the nature of something.

And clearly the fundamental to.... part covers getting to the show or birthday, because if didn't then linked item becomes irrelevant, and clearly neither show or birthday are irrelevant.

So answer is if need to get to something that can't be missed, then travel

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But people often celebrate birthdays on the nearest convenient day anyhow. If I was holding such an event I'd probably move it to the next convenient day under current circumstances. So I wouldn't call it "essential".

Snow1964 said:

Definition of essential is
absolutely necessary, indispensable, or fundamental to the nature of something.

And clearly the fundamental to.... part covers getting to the show or birthday, because if didn't then linked item becomes irrelevant, and clearly neither show or birthday are irrelevant.

So answer is if need to get to something that can't be missed, then travel

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We got stuck on the Eurostar broken down train at Lille for nearly six hours on Wednesday. Yesterday we turned up at Euston with cheap fare, train specific, tickets to Telford Central from the day before. With staff blessing we got on a Birmingham Avanti which left six minutes after our we got to Euston. The connection at Birmingham New Street was the cancelled Llandudno Junction train so we got on the all shacks via Darlaston train just a few minutes later. No questions asked and it all worked smoothly and quickly. Proud to be using the network at it's best.
Compared to the Eurostar experience brilliant. The doors of the Eurostar were kept closed for five hours, whilst we waited for a rescue train, even though we were in the platform. Due to Brexit we were told. 10 years on.

Snow1964 said:

So answer is if need to get to something that can't be missed

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No-one will come to harm if a show or birthday is missed, surely?!!

Broseley man said:

The doors of the Eurostar were kept closed for five hours, whilst we waited for a rescue train, even though we were in the platform. Due to Brexit we were told. 10 years on.

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Nothing to do with Brexit. The UK has never been in Schengen and never shared immigration controls.

A lot of cancellations around Glasgow, I think due to lightning strikes at Central.

800002 said:

True, and true.
And also, I believe I've heard somewhere, the HVAC on the 165 is more reliable / efficient (not sure of the veracity of that though).


Should keep the 'regular service' going as planned (under the emergency arrangements) while providing control an ability to add outright new circuits as / when required without splitting unit and crew resource away from the plan which was designed for yesterday and today.
Should be much more reliable and focused on keeping all those who choose to travel moving.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 25 Jun 2026 ==


Not too shabby all round by the sounds of it.
Quite fortunate, though, I feel given other activities in the west midlands this afternoon and evening.
Travelling earlier in the day is certainly more reliable though, I feel.

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The air cooling on the 165 is very effective in my experience and I'd say it feels cooler than a 168 in my limited sampling!

Looks like they've added 3 x northbound services after the concert and some Marylebone shuttles . Does seem a better plan , Tuesday just took out lots of scheduled services and what was left wasn't all at decent lengths or gave an even service to all destinations.

Shameful service on the railways today, you tell people not to travel after midday but cancel half the services, so what happens? People still travel and the remaining services are standing room only as far as Newcastle…

Today is ... truly awful right now in Ely. Was over 30C at 10am with a dew point around 24C, almost Thailand-style weather, don't recall feeling anything quite like that before in England.

Fortunately the humidity is going to start dropping in the next few hours, though it is almost certainly going to be the hottest day of this heatwave in these parts, forecast 38C by mid-afternoon.

I'd be quite irritated, to say the least, if I'd delayed travel from earlier in the week in order to travel today instead. I understand why the advice was given but it seems it may well cause a lot of difficulty today.

There’s currently a signalling issue on the East Coast Main line. I’m currently sat at York & many southbound LNER (and some Cross Country ones) are either cancelled outright, or delayed for well over an hour.

Interesting to observe on SWR that there was a disproportionately large number of people with infants in buggies on my (suburban class 701) train this morning. Can't help but wonder if people are taking trips on the train just to stay out of the heat and keep their children cool.

markle said:

Interesting to observe on SWR that there was a disproportionately large number of people with infants in buggies on my (suburban class 701) train this morning. Can't help but wonder if people are taking trips on the train just to stay out of the heat and keep their children cool.

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I'll be honest, I've considered it - it's usually pretty good on the 350s and 730s. That or going to watch a film.