Snowy weather this weekend: passengers advised to check before they travel: LIBRARY PICTURE Network Rail snow plough (1)

Friday 3 Jan 2025

Snowy weather this weekend: passengers advised to check before they travel

Region & Route:
North West & Central

Rail passengers travelling in the North West, West Midlands and on the West Coast Main Line between London and Scotland are advised to check before they travel this weekend as heavy snowfall is expected in some areas over the weekend.

The Met Office has issued an amber warning for snow and freezing rain across a large part of the country from Saturday into Sunday. Passengers travelling across the North West and West Midlands in particular should take extra care and plan their journeys in advance.

Teams have been preparing for the weather this weekend by treating the tracks.

 The West Coast Main line has a series of heated points to prevent them from freezing over in extremely cold conditions  These will be monitored across the weekend.

Phil James, Network Rail's North West route director, said: "We have plans in place across the West Midlands and the North West to prepare for the snow and icy condition across the weekend.

“I’d urge passengers to check before they travel as there may be some disruption to services during the extreme weather."

Passengers should check with their train operator or on the National Rail website for up-to-date travel advice during the weekend.

For more information on how Network Rail prepares for snow and Ice please visit here here.

 

Notes to Editors

Passengers are also reminded that engineering work to upgrade the track in the High Wycombe area means changes to some services between London Marylebone and Birmingham. Buses replace trains on 4-5 and 11-12 January between Gerrards Cross and Princes Risborough and between Aylesbury Vale Parkway and Bicester North. Passengers are advised to check before they travel at nationalrail.co.uk or chilternrailways.co.uk/jan2025 for the latest travel advice.

Contact information

Passengers / community members
Network Rail national helpline
03457 11 41 41

Latest travel advice
Please visit National Rail Enquiries

Journalists
Network Rail press office - North West & Central Region
0330 854 0100
NWCmediarelations@networkrail.co.uk

About Network Rail

We own, operate and develop Britain's railway infrastructure; that's 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations. We run 20 of the UK's largest stations while all the others, over 2,500, are run by the country's train operating companies.

Usually, there are almost five million journeys made in the UK and over 600 freight trains run on the network. People depend on Britain's railway for their daily commute, to visit friends and loved ones and to get them home safe every day. Our role is to deliver a safe and reliable railway, so we carefully manage and deliver thousands of projects every year that form part of the multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan, to grow and expand the nation's railway network to respond to the tremendous growth and demand the railway has experienced - a doubling of passenger journeys over the past 20 years.

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