Media centre

Wednesday 1 Nov 2023

Passengers urged to plan ahead with Storm Ciarán set to bring strong winds and heavy rainfall across Britain

Region & Route:

National

• Journeys likely to be affected across the network with yellow and amber weather warnings issued by Met Office from early this evening (Wednesday 1 Nov) through until Friday 3 November.

• Passengers advised to check their journeys before travelling through this evening and over Thursday and Friday

• Network Rail staff and train operators working around the clock to keep passengers moving

Heavy rain accompanied by strong winds in some areas could affect journeys across Wales, the south of England and the Midlands on Wednesday and Thursday, and across the north east of England and central and eastern Scotland on Thursday and Friday.

Owing to the adverse weather conditions, passengers should allow extra time for their journeys and check before travelling as services may be disrupted.

Lawrence Bowman, Network Strategy Director for Network Rail, said:

“Storm Ciarán is forecast to bring high winds and heavy rainfall from early this evening, which could lead to trees and other debris falling on to the railway and floods that prevent us from running trains on parts of the network.

“Our engineers will be on hand at key locations around the clock and in all weather conditions to remove fallen trees and debris from the railway, repair damaged infrastructure and work to reopen lines affected by flooding as soon as possible.

“We’re asking all passengers to allow more time to complete their journeys and check before travelling, with their train operator directly or through National Rail Enquiries, for the rest of the week.”

Network Rail will be working closely with train operators to keep passengers and freight moving.

Passengers may be able to travel on a different day or receive a refund if their train is impacted on Thursday 2 November. Visit nationalrail.co.uk/service-disruptions/storm-ciaran-20231030/ for more details.

Passengers can check the status of their journey through their train operator’s website, or by visiting National Rail Enquiries.

To find out more about how Network Rail keeps trains running during extreme weather, visit: What does stormy weather do to the railway - Network Rail

ENDS