RECAP Storm Ciarán: Disruption continues across Scotland's railway line following signal outage
Travel disruption continues at Scotland's railway due to a major signal outage on Thursday afternoon in the Edinburgh area which left hundreds of passengers stranded for hours. Follow here for more updates on travel and weather today.
RECAP Storm Ciarán: Disruption continues across Scotland's railway line following signal outage
Key Events
- Travel delays and disruption continue across Scotland's railway after major signal fault
- Met Office yellow weather warning for rain in place for north east
- LNER strongly advises passengers against travel on Friday following major signal outage
Crowds pictured at Edinburgh Waverley amid travel disruption
Several train services to and from Edinburgh Waverley have been heavily disrupted due to electricity supply failure and weather conditions.
Crowds were pictured at the capital's train station on Thursday evening with commuters waiting for travel information.
Several LNER services have been cancelled, with others facing serious delays due to speed restrictions being in place.
Electricity supply failure compounds travel disruption for Edinburgh commuters
Network Rail said a loss of power to the electricity supply in the Edinburgh area is causing delays.
Teams are responding to the issue and investigations are underway.
Further updates can be found on the Network Rail social media pages.
The operator warned passengers to check with their service provider for journey updates.
No train services currently running in or out of Edinburgh Waverley
The disruption has been caused by a failure of electricity supply in the Edinburgh area, National Rail said.
Trains scheduled to run through Edinburgh Waverley may be cancelled, severely delayed by up to 60 minutes or revised.
The train operator declared the situation as a major incident which is due to last until 7pm.
Passengers can use their tickets on the following train operators at no extra cost, National Rail said.
- Avanti West Coast between London Euston, Manchester and Glasgow Central / Edinburgh
- TransPennine Express between Manchester, Leeds and York / Newcastle
- ScotRail between Glasgow Central and Edinburgh Northern between Carlisle, Newcastle, York, Leeds, Doncaster, Sheffield East Midlands Railway between London St Pancras International, Leicester and Sheffield
- CrossCountry between Sheffield, Doncaster / Leeds, York and Newcastle / Edinburgh Great Northern and Thameslink between London Kings Cross and Stevenage, Peterborough Grand Central between London Kings Cross and York
A Network Rail spokesperson said: "Our teams are investigating a loss of power which is affecting the signalling system in the Edinburgh area.
"Currently, due to this issue, no trains can arrive at or depart from Edinburgh Waverley station. Our teams are working hard to fix the issue and get passengers safely on the move once again.
"We're sorry for the disruption this is going to cause to journeys and want to thank passengers for their patience and understanding."
Replacement buses to assist passengers at Edinburgh Waverley still yet to be confirmed
Passengers stuck at Edinburgh Waverley are still waiting to have rail replacement bus services confirmed.
ScotRail confirmed train tickets can be used on the following Lothian bus services:
- Edinburgh – Brunstane – Newcraighall – Shawfair – Eskbank - Gorebridge
- Edinburgh - Haymarket – Slateford – Westerhailes – Curriehill
- Edinburgh – Musselburgh – Wallyford – Prestonpans
The train operator however said while buses have been requested, they are still awaiting confirmation.
Due to an electricity supply failure in the Edinburgh area, no trains are running into or out of Edinburgh Waverley.
Update on train services to and from Edinburgh
There are currently no train services running into or out of Edinburgh Waverley. This is due to an electricity supply failure in the Edinburgh area, National Rail said.
ScotRail
For those wishing to travel between Edinburgh and Glasgow, all services from Glasgow Queen Street Low Level will terminate and start Bathgate.
Bus replacement services have been requested for passengers who have been left stranded by the fault, but nothing has been confirmed.
LNER
There are currently no LNER services running through Edinburgh Waverley.
Due to an electricity supply failure, there are disruptions across the entire train operator's route.
Telecomms fault suspected to be cause of electricity supply failure in Edinburgh area
The electricity supply failure which has brought train services at Edinburgh Waverley to a standstill is possibly due to a Telecomms fault, Network Rail Scotland has said.
The railway body said a specialist engineer is expected to arrive at the fault location at about 7pm to investigate.
Meanwhile, ScotRail said alternative travel options are limited and that passengers "should make their own arrangements if possible."
Kate Forbes excuses herself from commitments in Inverness after becoming stranded in Edinburgh
The MSP for Skye, Lochaber & Badenoch is one of many passengers held up at Edinburgh Waverley due to a power supply failure.
There are currently no trains running into or out of the capital city's busiest station.
Ms Forbes, who was hoping to travel northbound on Thursday evening, said: "In the hope that it is resolved by tomorrow, I will travel first thing but it means I’m unable to honour the various pre-arranged meetings in the Highlands."
ScotRail confirms one rail replacement bus service has arrived at Edinburgh Waverley
The operator said earlier in the evening that passengers should make their own travel arrangements out of Edinburgh where possible.
The station was brought to standstill following a power supply failure at about 4.30pm earlier this afternoon.
Another rail replacement service - a Parks of Hamilton bus - is due at Bathgate at 7.15pm.
ScotRail said alternative transport options are "very limited."
LNER strongly advises passengers to not travel on Thursday evening due to severe disruption
The train operator said weather delays and power supply failures have caused major delays and cancellations across its entire UK network.
It said it is working with Network Rail to manage these incidents and to resume a train service as soon as possible.
LNER plans to run an almost full service tomorrow weather depending, it said.
LNER services between Newcastle and Edinburgh:
- A full service between London King’s Cross and Edinburgh is set to go ahead on Friday but services will be subject to delays of up to 15 minutes due to speed restrictions.
LNER services between Edinburgh and Aberdeen:
On Friday there will be no southbound services from Aberdeen to Edinburgh. The following northbound services will run:
- 14:00 London King’s Cross to Aberdeen
- 16:00 London King’s Cross to Aberdeen
LNER services between Edinburgh and Inverness: These services are running as planned but will be subject to delays.
As at Thursday evening however, no LNER trains are running into or out of Edinburgh.
Passengers stranded after trains comes to standstill outside Edinburgh Waverley
Nick Moldrich and his partner are currently stranded at Drem Station in East Lothian after their 12.18pm Lumo service from Kings Cross to Edinburgh had to come to a stop.
The train was due to arrive at Edinburgh Waverley at 4.41pm but they are still onboard due to a power supply failure.
Speaking to The Scotsman Mr Moldrich, from Australia and who is currently on holiday in the UK, said: "We have received maybe one announcement per hour saying 'there’s no update' and that organising a bus or taxi is proving very difficult.
"The staff haven’t even been around to offer complimentary water or snacks. There are still well over a hundred passenger’s on board.
"We are tourists from Australia so have no alternative travel options."
Passengers stranded at Drem station in East Lothian waiting for bus services and taxis
Passengers travelling on a Lumo service from Kings Cross to Edinburgh are currently stranded at Drem in East Lothian, which is about 18 miles east of Edinburgh Waverley.
The train has been unable to arrive at its destination due to an ongoing power supply issue.
Passenger Nick Moldrich said he and others onboard were told to disembark the train and wait for alternative transport.
He said: "Lumo has booked 20 taxis but no ETA and there is gridlock in / out of Edinburgh.
"Also 20 taxis won’t fit all the current passengers."
In another update he said all passengers were told to wait for an 8:24pm bus that was scheduled to arrive at the station.
ScotRail confirms three rail replacement buses have run since power supply failure reported
The train operator said the following services have run since an electricity supply fault was reported at about 4.50pm, bringing all trains into and out of Edinburgh Waverley to a standstill:
- One bus from Bathgate to Edinburgh
- One bus from Edinburgh to Inverkeiting - McPhails Bus
- One bus from Edinburgh to Inverkeing and to Perth
Network Rail confirms trains are up and running at Edinburgh Waverley
Passengers may still experience disruption due to a number of services being out of action since about 4.50pm on Thursday.
A spokesperson said: "Trains can run to and from Edinburgh Waverley again this morning, following last night’s signalling failure.
"Disruption is likely to continue for several hours though, as we work with operators to get their trains and crews back into position."
Signal issues continue preventing some Edinburgh services from running
No trains are running between Edinburgh and Bathgate due to a signal fault, ScotRail said.
The Helensburgh to Edinburgh services are only running between Helensburgh and Bathgate in both directions.
The signal issue is affecting the Uphall areas.
There are currently four rail replacement buses "running as frequently as possible" between Bathgate and Edinburgh Park, calling at Livingston North and Uphall in both directions, ScotRail confirmed.
It comes after hundreds of passengers were left stranded on Thursday night after an electricity supply issue hit the Edinburgh area.
Power surge caused signals to stop working in the Edinburgh area
The significant travel disruption on Thursday which left hundreds of passengers stranded was due to a power surge that caused signals to stop working in the Edinburgh area, Network Rail said.
The fault was reported at about 4.50pm, with a specialist engineer arriving onsite at about 7pm.
Network Rail said due to the complex nature of the fault, trains were unable to run for the rest of the evening.
The major disruption means services on Friday to and from Edinburgh Waverley may still be affected.
Liam Sumpter, Network Rail Scotland route director, said: “We’d urge passengers travelling on Friday morning to check with National Rail Enquiries or their train operator before they set off for the latest information.”
Train operators affected (ScotRail, London North Eastern Railway, TransPennine Express, CrossCountry, Lumo, Avanti West Coast and Caledonian Sleeper) said they are working to keep passengers on the move, though rail replacement transport is limited.
The Scotsman's transport correspondent Alastair Dalton who was at Edinburgh Waverley last night talks about the disruption
"I was at Waverley shortly after 5pm, just after the incident happened. There were hundreds of people and pretty much every train was marked either delayed or cancelled," he said.
"ScotRail alone had around 300 services cancelled." He said Network Rail told him "the scale of the surge was such that it effectively fried everything in the system."
Listen to more of his report here:
LNER advises against travel on Friday
LNER, one of the main train operators, said: “We strongly advise you not to travel today, Friday 3 November. We have an limited train service, trains that are running are heavily will be extremely busy.
“We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.”
LNER has halved the number of trains between Edinburgh and Newcastle, partly because of speed restrictions related to repairs to a viaduct near Morpeth.
Speed restrictions in Scotland are affecting services from Glasgow, Edinburgh and Inverness to Aberdeen, with some cancellations.
Edinburgh Waverley rail disruption: Huge power surge ‘fried everything’
A massive power surge which cancelled more than 300 trains and disrupted thousands of passengers at Edinburgh Waverley Station was so severe it “effectively fried everything in the system”, Network Rail has told The Scotsman.
Read more from our transport correspondent Alastair Dalton here:
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