Railways blocked on major routes after storm fallout

National Rail has said there is a delay of 20 minutes on certain routes after a vehicle struck a bridge between Grantham and Peterborough.

It said: ‘Trains running between these stations may be delayed by up to 20 minutes. Disruption is expected until 15:00.’

The routes affected are:

• East Midlands Railway between Skegness and Nottingham, and also between Liverpool Lime Street and Norwich
• Grand Central between Sunderland / Bradford Interchange and London Kings Cross
• Hull Trains between Beverley / Hull and London Kings Cross
• LNER between Inverness / Aberdeen / Perth / Stirling / Edinburgh / Glasgow Central / Middlesbrough / York / Harrogate / Leeds / Lincoln and London Kings Cross
• Lumo between Edinburgh and London Kings Cross

Passengers travelling from London Euston on Avanti West Coast and London Northwestern Railway trains should brace for long delays.

Trains have to run slower than usual after a speed restriction over a broken track discovered between Rugby and Milton Keynes Central.

Services may be delayed by up to an hour for the rest of the day.

Here are the affected routes.

• Avanti West Coast between Edinburgh / Glasgow Central / Blackpool North / Manchester Piccadilly / Liverpool Lime Street / Chester / Holyhead / Birmingham New Street and London Euston
• London Northwestern Railway between Crewe / Birmingham New Street and London Euston

A stretch of the Piccadilly line has been partially suspended due to a points failure at Cockfosters.

There is no service between Oakwood and Cockfosters, while the rest of the line has severe delays.

The railway has been partially blocked at Chipping Sodbury between Swindon and Bristol Parkway.

It was caused by heavy rainfall following Storm Bert.

The Swindon-Bristol Parkway/Bath Spa section is one of the routes National Rail has told passengers not to travel on today.

National Rail said: ‘Heavy rain has flooded the railway between Swindon and Bristol Parkway / Bath Spa. The line has been closed for safety reasons and as a result trains between London Paddington and South Wales will divert via an alternative route.

‘This will extend journey times by around 30 minutes. In addition, some services may be cancelled.

‘Shuttle train services will be running from London Paddington to Swindon and from Bristol Temple Meads to South Wales Via Bristol Parkway.#

Some services have been delayed and cancelled from London Paddington station today due to flooding on the route used by Great Western Railway.

Services to Swansea, Bristol Temple Meads, Plymouth, Cardiff Central, and Cheltenham Spa have been cancelled or delayed before lunchtime, according to the station departure information.

It comes after lines have been closed on several key GWR routes from London Paddington.

Passengers have been advised not to travel on the following routes due to flooding-related issues.

• Penzance to London Paddington
• Newport, Bristol Parkway to London Paddington
• Bristol Temple Meads, Swindon, Reading to London Paddington
• Worcester to London Paddington
• Exeter St Davids to Okehampton and Exeter to Barnstaple

The Bakerloo line extension beyond Elephant & Castle has been planned for a decade.

Now the plans have taken steps forward although some major obstacles remain.

Read all about it below.

Railway lines have been closed between Lancaster and Barrow-in-Furness following heavy rain and submerged tracks.

As a result, all lines between the stations have been closed and Northern trains are unable to stop at them.

The line is expected to remain closed until the start of service on Friday.

Buses will replace trains between Lancaster and Barrow until then and journeys will take an hour longer than usual.

The latest TfL travel status update shows that the Central line has severe delays eastbound because of an earlier faulty train.

Services going west have are ‘good.’

Drivers have been told to expect delays on the M25 in Surrey after a crash on the clockwise carriageway between J5 Chipstead and J6 Godstone.

Traffic was briefly held but it has since been released.

Two out of four lanes remain closed and the emergency services are on the scene.

The A5 through Towcester, Northants, is closed both ways after flooding.

The road through the market town closed after River Tove burst its banks last night.

The closure is causing traffic delays in the area.

Another A-road is closed in Northampton after flooding.

The A428 Harlestone Road is shut in both directions between Church Brampton turn-off and Upper Harlestone turn-off.

Passengers between Broxbourne and Stansted Airport were told this morning not to travel on the route between Harlow Town and Bishops Stortford, Stansted Airport and Cambridge due to damage to the overhead wires.

Greater Anglia and Stansted Express trains are affected.

Now National Rail has extended the major disruption warning until at least 5pm which will disrupt the evening commute too.

The wires were damaged after strong winds caused trees to fall on the overhead electrical wires between Broxbourne and Adley End.

Here are the services which will not run at least until 5pm.

• London Liverpool Street to Stansted Airport.
• London Liverpool Street to Cambridge/Cambridge North
• Stratford to Bishops Stortford
• Stratford to Meridian Water

A ver limited train service will run between Liverpool Street and Harlow Town, but passengers should note there is no further transportation from Harlow Town.

All trains have been axed at Northampton railway station following heavy rain and flooding in the area.

The tracks are waterlogged at the station after River Nene burst its banks.

Network Rail asked passengers travelling on the West Coast Main Line to check before travelling this morning.

It comes after a danger to life flood warning was issued in parts of Northampton near River Nene and the business parks this morning.

The station is used by London Northwestern Railway and Avanti West Coast.

Avanti said that passengers who were not able to travel this weekend due to the weather can use their tickets on Avanti via the same route today. Those with off-peak tickets can board a peak service, it said.

The departure boards have been switched off at London Euston station this morning after a power failure.

Footage shows the main information boards switched off on the station concourse.

The station entrance to the London Underground and exit out of Euston has no lights.

Station announcements said the issues were due to a power failure.

Some Chiltern Railways routes have been affected by flooding following heavy rain yesterday and overnight.

Trains are forced to run slower than usual between Banbury and Bicester North on the Mainline.

Northern line passengers have been warned of severe disruption after a signal systems failure.

Part of the line has been suspended and there is no service between Edgware and Camden Town while the rest of the line has severe delays.

Passengers can use valid tickets on London Buses and Thameslink.

Storm Bert has wreaked havoc overnight across the rail and road networks, including on the Great Western Railway routes which have been flooded.

Passengers have been advised not to travel on the following routes.

• Penzance to London Paddington
• Newport, Bristol Parkway to London Paddington
• Bristol Temple Meads, Swindon, Reading to London Paddington
• Worcester to London Paddington
• Exeter St Davids to Okehampton and Exeter to Barnstaple

A faulty train is causing severe delays between Tower Hill and Upminster eastbound only.

This is because of a faulty train at Temple, the latest TfL travel status update shows.

The rest of the line has good service.

Damage to the overhead wires between Broxbourne and Stansted Airport and Audley End means Greater Anglia and Stansted Express trains are unable to run and they will be cancelled.

National Rail said the disruption is expected to last until about 2pm.

It told passengers not to travel between Broxbourne, Stansted Airport, and Audley End.

National Rail said: ‘Owing to multiple fallen trees damaging electrical overhead wire between Broxbourne and Audley End, train services between London Liverpool Street and Stansted Airport are subject to severe delays, alterations and cancellations.’