Storm Barra: Rail services disrupted due to tree blocking the railway between Carstairs and Lockerbie

Rail services have been disrupted due to tree blocking the railway as Storm Barra arrives in the UK, bringing 70mph gusts and extreme weather.

A tree blocking the railway between Carstairs and Lockerbie has resulted in the closure of the line.

Avanti West Coast have urged passengers to plan ahead with many services to/from Scotland subject to delays, alterations and cancellation.

Offering an update on social media, Network Rail wrote: “We’ve had a report of a tree blocking the railway on the West Coast Mainline near Lockerbie. Our engineers are on their way – including our overhead line team. Services have been stopped for now.

"Overhead lines in both directions have been damaged. Working to fully assess the repairs needed to get trains running again. We’ll do this as quickly as we can.”

A number of weather warnings are in place with the Met Office saying it is likely that Barra will not be as bad as Arwen, its predecessor, but that disruption to the travel network is likely, with snow and heavy rain in some areas until Wednesday.

Met Office spokeswoman Nicky Maxey said: “We are not expecting the impacts of Barra to be as bad as we saw with Arwen.

A tree and damaged lines are causing disruption on the West Coast Mainline north of Lockerbie

“Storm Barra will bring strong winds and heavy rainfall to many parts of the UK today.

“We may see some snow on the higher ground, too.

“It is unlikely to be as impactful as Storm Arwen last week but there will be blustery conditions so people should still be prepared.”