Storm Ciara: Commuters face rail disruption as debris and fallen trees wreak havoc

For rail travellers the working week begins with widespread disarray after Storm Ciara wrought devastation on Sunday.

Trains are likely to be extremely busy because passengers prevented from travelling on Sunday will be hoping to complete their journeys. 

Network Rail warns: “Damage to overhead lines and tracks caused by debris or fallen trees could severely impact passenger services on Monday 10 February.”

Flooding has closed the West Coast main line between Preston and southern Scotland.

The line between Stafford and Wolverhampton is closed because of overhead line damage.

On the East Coast main line, there are many cancellations and curtailments, with the morning services from Bradford, Skipton, Harrogate, Hull, Aberdeen and Inverness starting further down the line, and some additional cancellations.

The line from Ilkley and Skipton to Bradford is closed because of flooding, and the line from Carlisle and Lancaster to Leeds is also blocked.

In Scotland, there are multiple cancellations from Glasgow to Oban, Fort William and onward to Mallaig, and between Inverness and Kyle of Lochalsh.

In Wales, trains on the Cambrian Coast line from Shrewsbury to Aberystwyth and Pwllheli will be replaced by buses, as will the Conwy Valley line – and services west of Swansea and West Wales “are likely to be disrupted due to high tides and continued strong winds overnight”.

There is widespread disruption on the Southeastern network from Kent to central London, including on the High Speed One line – which is also delaying Eurostar services from Paris and Brussels to London St Pancras.

The Heathrow Express is running half the number of usual trains to and from London Paddington because of overhead wire damage, and the Gatwick Express is also reduced because of damage at the airport’s station.

In southern England, trees are blocking the line between Southampton and Salisbury, Dorking and Horsham, and Ashford and Hastings.

After an estimated 200,000 people were stranded due to cancelled flights on Sunday to, from and within the UK, around 100 more arrivals and departures have been cancelled. 

Most are on British Airways at Heathrow airport, including BA112 from New York, the record-breaking service that arrived on Sunday morning in under five hours.

British Airways passengers from Accra, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami and Philadelphia have also seen their flights grounded. The airline has cancelled a further 20 departures and arrivals at Gatwick and London City. 

In addition 15 BA flights arriving a day late – mostly ski flights to Gatwick, including one from Geneva which spent three hours in the air before landing at Lyon airport having declared a fuel emergency.

American Airlines, Lufthansa, United and Virgin Atlantic have also cancelled flights to and from Heathrow.

At Gatwick airport, easyJet has cancelled around 50 flights on Monday, including multiple flights to and from Milan. Madrid, Berlin and Basel.

At Luton, easyJet has cancelled more than 20 flights, including links with Amsterdam, Barcelona and Paris.