Only travel by train if you really have to as services scaled down
A TRAIN operator has warned passengers to avoid travelling early next week due to extreme heat, unless their journey is “absolutely necessary”.
The UK Health Security Agency has increased its heat health warning from level three to level four – a “national emergency” – and the impact of soaring temperatures will disrupt public transport.
East Midlands Railway will run a reduced timetable to and from London as a result of the extreme heat forecast on Monday and Tuesday.
Customers are being asked to only travel if necessary, and to check for cancellations and delays before setting off.
A spokesman for the company said: “The Met Office has issued a red extreme heat warning as temperatures in the East Midlands and London are forecast to reach 40C. This extreme heat can cause the tracks to buckle and bend, which poses a serious safety risk to our London trains, which travel at speeds between 100 and 125 miles per hour.
“As a result and to keep everyone safe, a lower speed limit will be in place on the Midland Mainline on Monday and Tuesday.
“There will be fewer services and journeys will take significantly longer.”
Gary Walsh, of Network Rail, which maintains the rail infrastructure, said: “The railway in this country is simply not engineered to run normally in such extreme temperatures.
“We’ve got extra teams out around the route, ready to respond to any incidents but with temperatures set to break all records, we need to also reduce the speed at which trains can run from late morning until around 8pm on both days.
“This reduces the risk of tracks buckling in the heat and also means that when the overhead line expands it won’t get tangled on passing trains.
“Reduced speeds means fewer services can run so I am asking passengers to only travel if they need to. If you do need to catch a train, please plan well ahead, leave more time for your journey and take plenty of water with you.” ■■Great Central Railway has withdrawn services on its heritage line next week.
The Loughborough attraction had been set to host a day full of both steam and diesel services on Tuesday, but serious health and safety concerns had been raised with record temperatures forecast.