Hundreds of 1000’s of rail passengers face disruption as Storm Amy sweeps in, bringing heavy rain and robust winds.
The Met Office has issued an amber climate warning for wind for all of northwest Scotland from 5pm on Friday to 9am on Saturday. Forecasters say: “Storm Amy will bring a spell of damaging winds on Friday evening and night, gradually easing through Saturday.”
Yellow climate warnings for wind and/or rain cowl your complete UK north and west of a line from southwest Wales to the Yorkshire coast.
Scotland is the worst-affected UK nation. Speed restrictions are already in place on the West Highland traces linking Glasgow Queen Street with Oban, Fort William and Mallaig.
Stretches of those traces will shut at 6pm on Friday, together with connections from Inverness to Perth, Aberdeen, Wick, Thurso and Kyle of Lochalsh.
Passengers with tickets for Friday can use them as much as and together with Sunday 5 October.
The Caledonian Sleeper linking London Euston with Aberdeen, Inverness and Fort William has been cancelled in each instructions on Friday night time.
Intercity passengers on Anglo-Scottish routes are being urged to not try to journey this afternoon. The warnings start at these instances:
- Preston to/from Edinburgh after 12 midday
- Preston to/from Glasgow Central after 5pm
- Newcastle to/from Edinburgh after 4pm
Avanti West Coast is permitting passengers with tickets for later trains to journey on earlier providers.
TransPennine Express warns of “delays and short-notice cancellations in both directions” on hyperlinks on the East and West Coast Main Lines.
“Even though there may be some trains running, there is no guarantee that they will reach their destination,” the rail agency warns.
On Saturday, a “do not travel” warning is in place between Preston and Glasgow Central/Edinburgh all day, and between Newcastle and Edinburgh from 4pm.
The disruption comes after a safety alert closed London Euston station on Thursday afternoon, inflicting dozens of cancellations.
Caledonian MacBrayne ferry hyperlinks between Oban and the Hebrides are cancelled or disrupted. The ferry line says: “All sailings will be on a heightened risk of disruption or cancellation at short notice due to Storm Amy.”
No ferries will sail between the mainland and the Isle of Arran on Saturday. Many different routes are additionally dealing with cancellations.