Transportation MESS in London and cross Channel UPDATED

Wow, that does sound like a mess. Hope you’re home and not in the midst of it.

thanks - home, warm and dry. Another big storm arrives tonight.

To further add to woes there are serious staff shortages on a number of railways. Thameslink have massive cancellations on New Years Eve, especially south of the Thames, and have cancelled all overnight services after midnight with no alternatives being provided.
London North Western Railway are warning that they not have enough capacity to get everyone home after midnight.

Some rail lines are closed in both Wales and Scotland due to storm damage (the Kyle of Lochalsh line closed due to damage from the storm before Christmas). Across the north of England most if not all lines are now expected to close by 4pm due to lack of staff, some closed all day.

In Scotland there has been snow as far south as Glasgow with more expected, with Glasgow Airport closed at one stage.

Yikes!!! Hope all of our RS friends are well provisioned and able to just hunker down for a few days.

Just figures that transport would go to h*ll in a handbasket during a busy holiday season, eh? Not that anyone could do anything about the severe storms, of course. Seems like there has been an unusual amount of those this past year? No? Yes?

An incredible number and succession of storms this year. The most named storms since naming started in 2015.

In the north I'm used to it, but boy it feels relentless this year.

But in most of the country (except Scotland where all the ski resorts are open) amazingly mild. In many places it was the warmest Christmas Day on record.
Mild and storms go hand in hand in winter.

Just down the street from my home there were 3 landslides overnight on land I only checked yesterday when it looked as safe as anything. But, you guessed it, it's bucketing down so totally pointless to try to clear the slides.

Oh, I'm sorry to hear that! The weather this year has just been crazy all over but it seems like it's been even crazier in the UK. First wind storms and now this! Thinking of you all and hoping the craziness goes away soon!

Here is a link to an article about the flooding of the Eurostar line.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/flooded-uk-tunnels-force-eurostar-to-cancel-all-london-trains/ar-AA1mf1Y9?ocid=mailsignout&pc=U591&cvid=3c281e06e7bf460683a8c46319fb57ec&ei=20

I've never seen so many and so intense storms where I live. I will say the wind has been less intense - only as high as 68mph in the last storm here last week so not as high as when my fence was blown down three years ago - but just a conveyor belt of strong storms with maybe 2 or 3 days max between them. We are absolutely crashing through the storm names list - never seen it.

You could always count on storms making a mess in the Lake District, York, the Dales, along the Severn, on the Somerset Levels, but now everywhere is getting it. Norfolk and Suffolk are so wet you may as well just get out the forget the spring crops - the drainage just can't keep up. And the coastal erosion isn't just a few inches a decade it is 10s of yards a year now.

In all my years on the railway we always drilled on what to do if the water came up between the rails, and what to do if it reached the top of the rails. Never had to use it though...

Well I won't go on and rant... but I will say that yes, it really is a mess and combined with staff shortage and sickness travelling around this green and pleasant land is not much fun

My word! It does sound pretty terrible. And just to be pounded with storm after storm is awful. Can't even catch your breath and allow water to subside.

Glad you 2 (plus Mrs Nigel, lol) are safe and dry! Hope none of the forum members are caught with transport issues.

I saw on some FB page that there were 84mph winds in Lerwick, Shetland.

Mother Nature is kicking you know what all over the world. Huge West Coast of CA storm created massive sea swells. You can see videos of people getting an up close and personal experience when out looking at huge waves.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pAdA_o7pPOk&pp=ygUWQ2FsaWZvcm5pYSBzdG9ybSB3YXZlcw%3D%3D

And from first hand experience ( nearly drowned when rafting the American River in the 70’s) rushing water is very very powerful and dangerous. Nothing to mess with!

It was not immediately clear what had caused the flooding in the railway tunnels under the River Thames near Ebbsfleet, east of London. (From the link provided by TC)

That doesn't sound good

One tunnel has now been pumped out and Eurostar will run as scheduled on Sunday. The other is still flooded. Thames Water are blaming a faulty fire control system in the tunnel.

Due to only one tunnel being in use South Eastern High Speed domestic trains can only run a restricted service. As of 2345 Saturday they are working up a train plan so this will be a dynamic situation on Sunday.

On Northern Rail due to staff shortages there are 329 planned cancellations tomorrow. As they are pre-planned no substitute road services will run. You can be sure other on the day cancellations will follow. On my own line the last 5 services of the day are all cancelled southbound and the last four northbound. People travelling long distances on pre-booked tickets will be stranded. So the last services of the day here are now at 1600 from either end.

As these are pre-planned there is no delay repay compensation payable.

Whatever the excuses from either side this is an unsustainable situation.

That is before anything the weather throws up tomorrow.

It was not immediately clear what had caused the flooding in the railway tunnels under the River Thames near Ebbsfleet,

I have seen video of water gushing from a pipe into the tunnel

see update in OP

Further update in OP

The articles I read in the French press noted that some 30,000 people were affected by these Eurostar cancellations.

And of course some are people who had come from others parts of France to Paris to catch the Eurostar -- so not only are they losing the money they had put down on their London hotel, they are having to find somewhere to stay in Paris too now that they are stuck.

And I am sure the same thing is happening in reverse for Brits from around the UK.

And this after the mess the first weekend of Christmas due to the Getlink (tunnel) strike !!

Storms Gerritt and Henk over the weekend and today continue to cause issues with the rail infrastructure.
There has been major flooding at Leeds today. Avanti West Coast currently have problems in at least four locations.
Great Western have many problems including line closures to Oxford (fallen trees), Swindon to Bath and also in Devon (flooding at both locations) and overhead line problems again Slough to Paddington - also affecting HEX and Elizabeth Line. In Devon a station footbridge has also been badly damaged by high winds at Okehampton.
Also issues in Wales and Scotland.
Please be patient with the railways who are doing their best in difficult circumstances.

Trains on 2 lines north of the Thames in Essex both have overhead wires down. C2C cancelled most trains today, Greater Anglia on that line.