Storm Goretti disruption - 8/9 January 2026

[cambran]

Poor road conditions stopping Train crew from getting to work would probarly be the reason for this. The Leamington line always get cancelled first so train crews can be used on the mainline services.

But they were not running any mainline services and roads in the area were clear by the afternoon so this is not an acceptable reason

 

[Liam L]

But they were not running any mainline services and roads in the area were clear by the afternoon so this is not an acceptable reason

Are you judging the roads in your area? As road conditions in other parts of the region are still badly affected.

 

[S101]

Not just angry at the government, but successive governments, who seem to have all contributed to what we have today, a country where nothing at all seems to function well, and everything seems to be on a deteriorating path.

It got worse after COVID, the whole country seems to have caught a nasty dose of pathetic. The can do attitude, disappeared with that.

 

[Chrius56000]

. . .Still no trains out of Walsall or elsewhere on W.M.R. and only ten NXWM bus routes (in their whole operating area) listed as suspended, the remainder listed are running either as "main roads only" or only missing out snow covered minor streets or other badly affected areas – (the 10 from Brownhills Rising Sun to Walsall and the 51 are now no longer on the current Disruption Table from 2200 yesterday!), so why aren't W.M.R. getting their finger out with ticket acceptance on the 51/X51 buses?
.

 

[spp]

But they were not running any mainline services and roads in the area were clear by the afternoon so this is not an acceptable reason

WMT default seems to be just give up

 

[Megafuss]

I might be missing something, but it appears Network Rail were not allowing WMR to run on some routes. Just go and look at the official Network Rail twitter account for Birmingham New Street and it tells you in black and white!

 

[Russel]

RTT shows that the sleeper left Penzance at 22:02 17 late. Safe journey if you made it.

Yeah all good, I'd highly recommend it in fact!

Thankfully has a terrific amount of make up time/padding too.

Indeed an hour sat at Exeter must be the longest dwell time of any service!

 

[dk1]

Indeed an hour sat at Exeter must be the longest dwell time of any service!

Reduced to just 5 minutes today Early into Reading, 2L Paddington.

 

[spp]

I might be missing something, but it appears Network Rail were not allowing WMR to run on some routes. Just go and look at the official Network Rail twitter account for Birmingham New Street and it tells you in black and white!

I think the key is ‘some’ plenty of other routes other tocs were running trains along but WMT went for a blanket ‘no trains at all’ yesterday.

It’s like they think well we can’t be bothered explaining we can only run some routes not others so let’s just pull them all and shrug their shoulders.

 

[Hunccy]

Heritage railways are completely different, both in scale of service and risk to the general travelling public.

Not so different. Volunteer numbers proportionate to the service provided and numbers carried. Are you saying their customers are more sensible and need less mollycoddling?

What 'European kerfuffle'?

Err Herr Hitler…
Oops …Putin

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 10 Jan 2026 ==

"I don't have the full facts of any of the situations but I'm going to agressively assert my uniformed opinions with some pithy commentary"

Saved anyone about 10 pages of reading there....

Operations teams have a much fuller picture than the general public, they have meetings with meteorologists with very specific forecasts based on multiple weather models with the most likely selected, they are informed of the uncertainty related (i.e. they have a bit more than a cursory look at a weather app) They also have a full picture of assets at risk, they know where there are life expired systems or ones that cannot cope with certain conditions, they know where there is a history of electrical issue, drain non performance, signal box access issues etc. All of these disparate risks are considered when formulating a response.

To claim it's 'throwing in the towel' or 'H&S gone mad' is frankly disgusting against the backdrop of carmont, shap, longbedholm etc. The people involved in these decisions could ultimately be imprisoned.

The weather Apps get their info from the same source

 

[moogal]

Seem to be an unusually high number of short-forms on the LNR Birmingham-Euston route today - is that also likely to be storm related? Going to be pretty cosy on some of those.

 

[Megafuss]

I think the key is ‘some’ plenty of other routes other tocs were running trains along but WMT went for a blanket ‘no trains at all’ yesterday.

It’s like they think well we can’t be bothered explaining we can only run some routes not others so let’s just pull them all and shrug their shoulders.

I think the way information is distributed by NRE and some TOCS leaves a lot to be desired. But, sometimes, you also have to save people from themselves.

I have direct experience of this in my own friendship group as some don't understand that when information is out to say the line between A and D is closed, it also means you can't travel between stations B and C, because they never travel to A or D!

They aren't thick or lazy. They just aren't plugged in to how the railways work or the networks they are on as much as people on this forum are. And sometimes the forum forgets about the knowledge of the average punter, because the average passenger frankly doesn't care where trains go to and from unless it's where they are going.

 

[trundlewagon]

plenty of other routes other tocs were running trains along but WMT went for a blanket ‘no trains at all’

The Cross City, the Walsall line and the Shrewsbury line all had trees on them for a start. Points were set mainline at Stoke Works so, even once the Camp Hill had been de-treed, nothing could run to Worcester.

There were issues with staff getting in early (and issues with late staff who had been stuck the night before and gone over their hours or been stranded). I'd wager these issues also existed for XC, Avanti and Chiltern depots in the area but unlike West Mids they've got plenty of train crew at depots in places that weren't affected, so were able to run a limited service more easily. The West Mids Northampton/Euston services seemed to run ok yesterday, which sort of backs this up as that makes use of Bletchley crews and isn't entirely reliant on staff from the snow afflicted area.

 

[Iskra]

I’ve just had a fantastic journey through the snowy Hope Valley on EMR, surprisingly no residual delays from yesterday. Great work all

 

[Farnborough]

I know. An amber warning only means that delays and cancellations on the trains are likely. It doesn't give a TOC a legitimate excuse to cancel all its services in advance on any given route.

To be fair, a Green status means that delays and cancellations on the trains are likely.

 

[jfollows]

The main WCML seemed to hold up pretty well, I went to London Thursday morning and came back Friday morning.

Euston was strangely but nicely quiet Friday morning, presumably many people choosing to delay their journeys because advance tickets are being honoured today and tomorrow (I think).

One of the three hourly Manchester services was cancelled Thursday afternoon and Friday morning.

The only reason I have submitted a Delay Repay claim for the return journey is because a non-weather incident between Crewe and Sandbach caused us to be diverted via Stoke, otherwise I’d not have been more than a few minutes late into Wilmslow.

 

[mpthomson]

Not so different. Volunteer numbers proportionate to the service provided and numbers carried. Are you saying their customers are more sensible and need less mollycoddling?

Err Herr Hitler…
Oops …Putin

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 10 Jan 2026 ==


The weather Apps get their info from the same source

No. They’re completely and totally different. Nobody really cares if a heritage operation cancels its trains as they don’t provide a service that anyone relies on. Trains travel MUCH more slowly and lines don’t rely on tech in anything like the same manner that Network Rail lines do.

However when it comes to fallen trees they’ll be removed in exactly the same way using the same safe systems of work that NR use.

There isn’t an upcoming kerfuffle with Putin likely to involve UK conscription, you can stop clutching your pearls.

Different weather forecasting services use different models for forecasting.

 

[SCDR_WMR]

WMT default seems to be just give up

Lol what utter tosh. The NR 20:00 update last night have us fully details on which routes were still closed.

All other routes have either shuttle or full services on them

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 10 Jan 2026 ==

I think the key is ‘some’ plenty of other routes other tocs were running trains along but WMT went for a blanket ‘no trains at all’ yesterday.

It’s like they think well we can’t be bothered explaining we can only run some routes not others so let’s just pull them all and shrug their shoulders.

But they didn't did they. There were some lines which weren't available. And some areas where services were thinned in conjunction with NR. Services were still being restored yesterday evening on some routes, a very fluid situation as and when they could restart/restore services

 

[Straus]

The weather Apps get their info from the same source

That's a bit like saying all tables are equal because they're made from wood.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Seem to be an unusually high number of short-forms on the LNR Birmingham-Euston route today - is that also likely to be storm related? Going to be pretty cosy on some of those.

There was no appreciable storm in Bletchley, it was just a bit wet. Don't know about Northampton. So unless units were damaged while in service or they didn't do normal maintenance due to staff not able to get in?

It's an interesting comparison between Northern and WMT that the former pulled service on affected routes early and so could resume quickly, if it is indeed units being damaged in the storm area?

 

[johntea]

Are ticket barriers programmed to account for ‘you can use your dated ticket on another day’ or are they just quite ‘dumb’ to begin with?

I was at King’s Cross this morning with my Grand Central advance (e)ticket dated for yesterday at 8pm so was expecting to have to seek somebody to let me through manually but the barrier let me through straight away!

 

[mmh]

Not so different. Volunteer numbers proportionate to the service provided and numbers carried. Are you saying their customers are more sensible and need less mollycoddling?

Err Herr Hitler…
Oops …Putin

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 10 Jan 2026 ==


The weather Apps get their info from the same source

They don't - there was a mild hoohah when the BBC stopped using the Met Office and changed to Metro.

 

[cats_five]

They don't - there was a mild hoohah when the BBC stopped using the Met Office and changed to Metro.

Meteo. not Metro!

But they are switching back to the Met Office. Not sure when that is happening.

BBC reunites with Met Office for weather forecasts

After eight years apart, the BBC wants the Met Office to help provide "the most trusted" forecasts.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[duffield]

They don't - there was a mild hoohah when the BBC stopped using the Met Office and changed to Metro.

And this is just an impression, but as someone who uses the Met Office and BBC sites, I feel the BBC site is less accurate and less up to date now since the change to Meteo.

Edit: Just seen the above post and that's good news that they are switching back, the sooner the better!

 

[mmh]

Meteo. not Metro!

But they are switching back to the Met Office. Not sure when that is happening.

BBC reunites with Met Office for weather forecasts

After eight years apart, the BBC wants the Met Office to help provide "the most trusted" forecasts.

www.bbc.co.uk

April lohies (apologies!), my phone's auto-"correct" spillchucker changed Meteo to Metro despite me actually correcting it before I clicked post!

Good to hear the BBC are switching back. The Met Office website forecast, for my area, tends to be vastly more accurate than the BBC's.

 

[cats_five]

April lohies (apologies!), my phone's auto-"correct" spillchucker changed Meteo to Metro despite me actually correcting it before I clicked post!

Good to hear the BBC are switching back. The Met Office website forecast, for my area, tends to be vastly more accurate than the BBC's.

Yes, thought it was an unwanted auto-'correct'! Wish I could find when the switch back will occur.

 

[Horizon22]

They don't - there was a mild hoohah when the BBC stopped using the Met Office and changed to Metro.

And the railway uses MetDesk - https://corporate.metdesk.com/transport-services.html

 

[CaptainHaddock]

And this is just an impression, but as someone who uses the Met Office and BBC sites, I feel the BBC site is less accurate and less up to date now since the change to Meteo.

Edit: Just seen the above post and that's good news that they are switching back, the sooner the better!

The Met Office website was fine until they decided to give it a completely unnecessary and gimmicky new look. They currently have a "switch back to the old site" option but for how long?

 

[Straus]

And the railway uses MetDesk - https://corporate.metdesk.com/transport-services.html

They use meteo group too

 

[Baxenden Bank]

The Met Office website was fine until they decided to give it a completely unnecessary and gimmicky new look. They currently have a "switch back to the old site" option but for how long?

Use the feedback to tell them what you think. I have and if enough people do so it might have an impact. One can hope anyway.