Train chaos again!

But if it usually runs and there are timetabled services then you have the infrastructure. The infrastructure is the foundations of the service - we had 190 stations closed - hence no infrastructure. Not saying it's not bloody annoying when services are delayed or cut off of course, because it is!

The infrastructure barely exists here in Cumbria either. The entire west coast was cut off from public transport this weekend for absolutely no reason whatsoever - ridiculous.

Define "significant incident". Trees on the line are incredibly likely in foul weather. One tree strike will put a unit out of action for weeks. Saturated ground can make landslips more likely. Anything which strands a train at a remote location will end up consuming huge amounts of resources - and given that they were short of a Mobile Operations Manager at Barrow they've not got someone to act as the Rail Incident Officer in an emergency. The reason that the UK railway has such a good safety record currently is the safety culture. The rule book is written in blood.

Network Rail employ meteorolgists. I'll stick to letting the experts make the decisions. Not internet randoms.

@Arlanymorsadly you are mistaken, we can’t travel “north to south” we can only travel to and from London. In some places that is north to south what we can’t do is travel anywhere else 😭

”Local” travel or easy to west nada.

It's frustrating, but totally understandable due to the weather warnings and as a result you should be able to get your money back. At least the infrastructure exists, Dr Beeching screwed Wales over big time - you literally cannot travel from north to south without going on a massive detour via bloody Shrewsbury.

But there’s reacting and there’s overreacting.

Yellow warnings are normal in Cumbria - we get them several times a week in winter. The weather that was forecast for this weekend was nothing out of the ordinary and yet for some reason, two days worth of public transport was cancelled before the rain even started.

They could at least have waited until this morning to decide, not unilaterally cancelled two days of transport (in an already isolated and badly served area) without an actual reason.

By reacting to forecasts we reduce the risk of this happening, and for the sake of a day of disruption we save weeks of cancellations.

What you are doing is reducing an already tiny risk by a fractional amount. The chances of a significant incident happening during each weather warning are small. But if you shut down the railways each time the chances of disruption and economic impact are 100% each time.
In short the benefits don’t outweigh the costs.

I work on the railways. I had to go and recover a train that had hit a tree a few days ago. That unit will be out of traffic for some time until the damage can be repaired, resulting in cancellations and short-forms as the fleet was already struggling.

By reacting to forecasts we reduce the risk of this happening, and for the sake of a day of disruption we save weeks of cancellations.

I don’t know why you keep posting pictures of train derailments. Yes they happen, very rarely. They happen with or without weather warnings. The chances of you ever being in one are tiny. The chances of being in one and being injured or killed even tinier. If you want to err on the side of caution recommend you never get a train or get in a car again.
BTW you know what happens when they stop the trains and other forms of mass transit? People get their cars and drive anyway. That results in more traffic and more accidents.
After 911 air traffic plummeted as people err’d on the side of caution and people drove everywhere instead. The resultant increase in traffic related deaths surpassed the numbers killed on 911 itself.
Your ability to assess risk is fundamentally flawed.

And from Southport. Total shit show.

I'll stick to erring on the side of caution, when it's my own life on the line.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonehaven_derailment

Where I am the line was closed for several hours today after strong winds damaged crossing barriers. If they take chances and it goes wrong, they risk weeks of cancellations while rolling stock is out of traffic for repairs.

Yep. Of course if it's actually dangerous, then cancel, but it's only a yellow warning here and we get them most weeks in winter.

There was absolutely no need to cancel two days worth of public transport over this. There's not even been any flooding, it's just a normal winter day 🙄

Exactly. The forecasts are simply too inaccurate be of any genuine benefit, and are in fact detrimental to business and the economy.

You keep telling yourself that.

Generally I'd agree but the weather in Cumbria has been fine today - just a normal, wet, winter day, yet everything has been cancelled (and for tomorrow too) and they've not even put on replacement bus services.

It's daft. Trains could easily have run today (and have operated fine in worse weather).

I live in Devon, Ive had two delays repay payments this week. Interestingly it is nearly always the Manchester train that is cancelled or very delayed.

Have you ever tried travelling through Germany? DB is a national joke. Believe me, they make Avanti look reliable (everything highlighted in white on the right hand side was disrupted, some by more than two hours):

Rubbish. The weather warnings exist for good reason. Exhibit A:

I'm in Cumbria and everything has been cancelled but honestly, the weather is fine. A bit wet and wild but nothing out of the ordinary. All a massive overreaction, IMO.

I travel regularly from London to the midlands and around 75% of my journeys have issues; signalling, leaves, late, obstructions on the track, last minute cancellations. It’s shambolic and I get really fed up with it. Why can’t we run efficient services like Germany or Japan?

I appreciate most people don’t think about travel insurance for UK trips, but do you have any with a packaged bank account or anything like that, which might cover this?

Exactly. It’s the timetable/weather combination.

There are huge timetable changes coming in today which is probably not helping. People and trains in the wrong places, no doubt.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd9zek4e493o

And this is the root cause. The Met office and their weather warnings are out of control. It’s done to justify their existence -
look at us we’re saving lives and boosting the economy by allowing businesses to plan ahead - when in fact it’s the complete opposite. The country must be losing millions each year as a result of cancelled events and disrupted travel such as this. It’s ridiculous now.