Beast from the East
Staff commended as snow and storms wreak havoc on the UK rail network… and Dawlish is disrupted again!
TRAINS were unable to run between Scotland and England from February 28 until March 3, as winter weather and storms battered the UK.
Heavy snow had blocked both the East and West Coast Main Lines. ScotRail Alliance staff reopened the Scottish railway (where they could) on March 3, with the Far North Line following on March 5. The first train to run was a southbound CrossCountry service from Edinburgh Waverley.
Railway services across the UK were massively disrupted by the weather, with the country hit by a weather front from Siberia that brought heavy, prolonged snowfall and sub-zero temperatures. Network Rail deployed an army of staff supported by snowploughs and other equipment to ensure that, where possible, the railway kept running.
The railway was further hampered by the onslaught of Storm Emma, which brought with it high winds that caused damage to the sea wall at Dawlish.
Services across the UK began to return to normality on March 5, although trains were still disrupted north of the border, including on the North Berwick branch where an avalanche closed the line.
On March 6, Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling thanked train companies for their work during the weather, but said they must do better when communicating with passengers.
In a letter to Rail Delivery Group Chief Executive Paul Plummer, Grayling wrote: “Staff worked tirelessly to recover these services across the network, despite the difficult circumstances. In particular, I know many frontline staff were out in freezing conditions trying to keep (or get) services running. Their efforts on behalf of passengers are to be commended.
“One area where industry needs to take further action is around customer communications during disruption. When things go wrong, effective communication is one mitigation that can be employed,
and one that is extremely important to the travelling public.”
Grayling said he wanted a focus on providing passengers with better information, especially around cancellations and where alternatives exist for journey completion. He planned to discuss the matter in a Roundtable meeting with the RDG on March 14, and copied the letter to all train operating companies.
On March 1, RMT General Secretary Mick Cash said: “RMT members have been working round the clock in every facet of the transport sector, from trains to Tube to ferries to buses, to keep the country moving. It’s about time they were given the recognition they richly deserve.
“Employers would do well to recognise and remember the heroic efforts of the workforce, who are the lifeblood of the transport industry, next time they are looking at hacking back on jobs, safety and working conditions.”
Many operators introduced Key Route Strategy running, whereby service levels are reduced and concentrated on key lines. This happened in East Anglia on February 26, when the forecast of bad weather was enough to force Greater Anglia to issue warnings about bad weather and the impact on services, and reduce service levels.
This decision initially backfired when the anticipated bad weather due on February 26 failed to materialise, leading to criticism.
NR and GA then announced the following day that a full service would run, with NR’s Anglia Route Managing Director Meliha Duymaz stating: “The forecasts all predicted heavy snow in our region, but for us, it has not been as bad as anticipated, with the latest radar imagery showing the worst of the snow has fallen around 20 miles further southeast.
“We are now working with our train operating partners to restore as many services as we can, and expect to be able to run a full service.”
She made that statement on February 27, before heavy snow arrived that caused GA to close branch lines and run a reduced service on key routes.