[Gary]

I've just been watching the local news and all trains going south out of Birmingham New Street have been cancelled as a result of the severe weather we have had in the Midlands. It is currently 6:10pm and no train has left for the last 4 hours heading south. Birmingham New Street station is absolutely crammed full of people with nowhere to go as its the start of the school holidays and its the busiest Friday of the Summer. The police are warning travellers to stay away as there is simply no more room for anybody at the station. The rail companies have no idea when the next train will be leaving to go south as rain continues to fall.

There is absolute pandemonium and chaos on the railway system around the midlands tonight!

Met Office weather warning:-

Friday 20 July WEATHER WARNING Torrential rain is expected to continue falling in Wales and central England. Further flooding and travel disruption is expected. Valid until 2007-07-21 0300BST.

Happy modelling
Gary

 

[Gary]

First Great Western have now issued a priority update on their website:-

QUOTE Major Flooding Problems

Flooding is affecting all services with no trains running on many routes.

There are currently no services running between:

London Paddington and Bristol
London Paddington and South Wales
London Paddington and Devon/Cornwall
London Paddington and Gloucester/Cheltenham London Paddington and Swindon

Passengers are advised not to travel today. Today's
travel tickets will be valid for travel tomorrow. Customers should check train times before travelling tomorrow by phoning 08457 484950. Please continue to visit this website for further updates.

Virgin Trains have issued an update on their website in the last 30 minutes or so:-

QUOTE Flooding affecting Virgin Trains services
(Information updated at 21:45, Friday 20 July 2007)

FRIDAY 20 JULY
Vrgin Trains services are subject to delay and cancellation, as a result of flooding.
Services on CrossCountry and West Coast routes are affected.

SATURDAY 21 JULY
Because of flooding near Cheltenham there are likely to be delays for passengers traveling on Virgin CrossCountry services to and from the West Country

Customers are advised to check before travelling with National Rail Enquiries on 08457 48 49 50.

Its serious as heavy rain is still falling. The area has had more than one months rain in one day. This is the middle of July during a British summer!

Its going to take the engineers some time to check out the network so it may be Sunday before things get moving again.

Happy modelling
Gary

 

[pedromorgan]

i am hopeing its fixed by tomorrow afternoon about 4.30!

Peter

 

[60134]

Don't hold your breath - it's about 9.00am and the M5 is still closed and the "bulge" in the Severn and Wye rivers is heading south, threatening towns like Worcester, Gloucester and Ross on Wye.

I just hope that the Severn Valley Railway has not suffered too much - some of the infrastrucure was in such a parlous state after the last lot that it won't take much more!

60134