Rail firms falling for storm ‘hype’ with cancellations, says Shapps
GRANT SHAPPS, the Transport Secretary, has expressed his concern over train cancellations amid fears rail operators are succumbing to storm “hype”.
Vast swathes of the rail network were shut down again yesterday after Storm Franklin lashed much of northern England and Wales, causing travel chaos.
Wind speeds reached almost 80 miles per hour in Wales and Northern Ireland, peaking during rush hour, while flooding forced the evacuation of residents from Ironbridge in Shropshire and left Rotherham station in South Yorkshire submerged.
The third named storm, just days after Dudley and Eunice, prompted rail companies including Northern Rail, South Western Railway and Southeastern to issue “do not travel” notices. Network Rail issued a 50mph speed reduction across most of the network while South Western Railway said it had cleared more than 50 trees since Friday. In total, 23 rail operators cancelled or delayed services yesterday.
Mr Shapps is fearful that rail companies are being overly cautious and is seeking assurances that no services were unnecessarily cancelled.
A Department for Transport source said: “Closures this extensive have to be justified by on-the-ground realities.
Nationwide suspension of services should not become the default position in periods of bad weather.”
The source said the Transport Secretary is monitoring daily reports on the state of the trains and the companies’ cancellations and will decide whether to take any further action within days.
A separate senior Conservative source said he feared that the “hype” caused by naming storms had given commuters and rail companies a “good excuse” to shut down travel.
Yesterday Huw Merriman, Conservative MP and the transport select committee chairman, said cancellations should only occur “when safety requires it” and was seeking assurances from ministers the situation would be reviewed. He added: “I’m also seeking confirmation that these alterations have not risen because of the phenomena of naming storms and using colour coded alerts. I also want to know who makes the decisions and the criteria used when trains are cancelled and timetables disrupted.”
In Ironbridge, Environment Agency residents were told to leave their homes amid fears the River Severn would breach flood defence barriers.
A number of flights into Manchester Airport, buffeted by high winds, were diverted yesterday morning to other airports across the UK and both the M48 Severn Bridge, connecting England and Wales, and the Dartmouth Crossing between Kent and Essex, were closed.
Kwasi Kwarteng, the Business Secretary, told the Commons that just under 30,000 homes remained without power last night.