As of yesterday evening, Network Rail and Train operators across the UK have upgraded their travel advice for services travelling out of London into the weather warning ‘red zone’ to ‘DO NOT TRAVEL.’
As of today (19th July) there are no services planned to run in or out of London King’s Cross, with further service cuts to the Thameslink and Great Northern services planned to run north of London all day. The East Midlands Railway services will still be running on a limited availability between Derby, Nottingham, Luton, Bedford, and London, which will stop altogether during the hottest part of the day (lunchtime to 1900).
There will also be very limited and disrupted services running into and out of London Euston (Avanti West Coast and West Midlands Railway) and London Marylebone (Chiltern Railway).
Jake Kelly, Network Rail’s operations director, said:
“We have not taken the decision lightly to upgrade our travel advice to 'do not travel' if heading north out of London tomorrow. Please replan your journey as there will either be no services or very disrupted services. Any journey tomorrow within the Met Office’s ‘red-zone’ is going to be long, disrupted, and uncomfortable so, with free refunds or ticket swaps available, our best advice is to stay home and replan your journey. Do not try to travel by rail within the ‘red-zone’ tomorrow.”
Services across the UK yesterday were severely impacted by the extreme heat, seeing reports of buckled rails and instances of overhead wire systems failing in certain areas, with a new record of 62 degrees being recorded in Suffolk. As there are set to be higher temperatures recorded today, services will be even more disrupted with no overnight lull in hot temperatures last night to allow the railway infrastructure to adequately cool down. Speed restrictions were introduced this morning rather than at lunchtime due to the overnight conditions.
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