Portsmouth trains: Warning to rail passengers as Southern, South Western and Great Western services are disrupted for another day
A warning has gone out to train passengers as the country continues to be dogged by sweltering heat
Train passengers have been urged to only make their journey if “absolutely necessary” today and tomorrow as services are subject to cancellations and rejigged timetables,
Network Rail said trains will operate at reduced speeds and services will be cut for “safety reasons”. Passengers have been advised to carry water.
For Portsmouth area passengers, South Western Railway said that trains across their area may be cancelled, delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until the end of Friday.
- Services between London Waterloo and Portsmouth Harbour will be revised. Services between London Waterloo and Portsmouth Harbour via Eastleigh will start their journeys from Basingstoke.
- Services between London Waterloo and Portsmouth Harbour via Guildford will be reduced to two trains per hour.
- Stopping services between London Waterloo and Basingstoke will be retimed and will run hourly.
Southern Railway said: “Travel advice remains as essential travel only due to the ongoing heatwave. If you do need to travel today, please allow extra time as speed restrictions are in place across the network. Some services along the coast will be suspended or revised after 10am today. All information can be found on our website.“
Great Western Railway says that it’s expecting to operate the majority of services across its network, but that the timetable has been reduced. It says that anyone with a ticket for today can use it tomorrow.
Heat-related issues that can affect the railway include buckled rails, sagging overhead electric wires and lineside fires.
Network Rail urged passengers to “only travel if absolutely necessary” if at least part of their journey is within the Met Office’s red warning zone on Thursday, and amber warning zone on Friday.
Thursday’s red zone covers large parts of southern England and southern Wales, while Friday’s alert stretches from the south east up to the north west and South Yorkshire.
Anyone travelling elsewhere on Friday “should still check before they travel”, Network Rail said.
Steel rails can exceed 50C when the air temperature is 30C. Provisional figures suggest that the hottest place in the country on Wednesday was Gosport, where it reached 36.1C.
Jake Kelly, deputy chief executive of Network Rail, said: “We know how important it is for people to get where they need to be, but this spell of very hot weather will make journeys more challenging across the network.
“Very high temperatures, like we are seeing in Great Britain and across parts of Europe, put significant strain on the railway, so our priority is to keep passengers safe while keeping services running. We’re asking passengers to think carefully about their plans and only travel if it’s absolutely necessary in the areas most affected areas by the extremely high temperatures that are being recorded.”