How many trains do Scotrail run per day?
How many trains have been cancelled?
Probably 1 or 2 people who have to manually cancel each service in the system, whilst also answering the help point, speaking to station and staff and dealing with the passenger information screens.
Could they do better? Obviously?
With all due respect, I think that you're being overly defensive here. While
I understand that the train companies are up against it, your average punter doesn't see it from an internal point of view; all they're focussed on is their own individual journey and whether or not they'll be able to get home. You can argue 'til the cows come home whether or not they should have made that journey in the face of "Do Not Travel" advice, but you also have to accept that sometimes that advice doesn't get through and you will get complaints about the way the situation is handled.
While many of us now have devices in our pockets that help us keep in touch with the latest goings-on in the world, there are still a few places in the country where there is little to no connectivity. There are also some people who simply don't keep up with the news!
When I woke up today it was bright and sunny, if slightly breezy. If I hadn't known that the storm was coming I'd probably have assumed that it was safe enough to head out for the day. Around midday it went from slightly breezy to the point where I couldn't hear myself think.
Wouldn't at all say LNER or any of the other operators have overreacted.
There was a Emergency50mph Speed Limit for all traction between Edinburgh and Marshall Meadows. Trying to run a trains service north of Newcastle in those conditions would've knocked out the rest of the route - and potentially left thousands of passengers stranded in Newcastle without road or rail transport north (if the expected weather happened)
There was also objects caught in the overheads between Newcastle and York, so I wouldn't say that the wind was that calm either.
LNER and other TOCs are damned if they do and damned if they don't. Pull the service too early and they'll be criticised; pull the service too late and we end up with trains stranded in remote places with people complaining because there are no working toilets, etc.