Weather causes rail restrictions and ferry cancellations

Rail services on the West Highland Line are facing restrictions on Tuesday and ferry services cancellations, with high winds and heavy rain set to hit the west coast.

 

Network Rail will set the speed and timetable restrictions to keep passengers and staff safe on ScotRail services between Glasgow Queen Street, Fort William, Mallaig and Oban.

 

The Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh line is also set to be affected by the emergency timetable which will be operated on four routes across Scotland.

 

These timetable changes will take into account the longer journey times expected as trains run at a reduced speed, with Caledonian Sleeper journey times also extended on Fort William services.

 

Meanwhile, disruption is expected on several CalMac ferry routes, with sailings between Oban-Coll-Tiree, Oban-Colonsay, Oban-Castlebay, Mallaig-Lochboisdale, Fionnphort-Iona and Mallaig-Small Isles currently cancelled on Wednesday morning.

 

 

 

❌ RED #Oban #Castlebay 20Sep Due to adverse weather forecast, all sailings are cancelled on this route.

 

— CalMac Service Info (@CalMac_Updates)

❌ RED #Oban #Castlebay 20Sep Due to adverse weather forecast, all sailings are cancelled on this route.

— CalMac Service Info (@CalMac_Updates) September 19, 2023

 

 

Scotland’s Railway’s specialist weather forecasters have predicted that 20-30mm of rain will fall across most of Scotland between Tuesday evening and Wednesday.

 

They have also predicted that the West Highland Line could experience 55mm of rainfall and this will be combined with wind speeds of up to 55mph across Southern Scotland.

 

Network Rail has implemented the changes in anticipation of potential issues caused by fallen trees, debris on the tracks, damage to overhead power lines and flooding.

 

Network Rail Scotland's route director, Liam Sumpter, said: “With extreme rainfall and strong winds arriving later today, there will be some disruption on Scotland’s Railway.

 

“For safety reasons, we need to impose speed restrictions on areas of the West Highland Line, Kyle of Lochalsh Line, West Coast Main Line and Kilmarnock - Carlisle.

 

Mr Sumpter added: “We have additional frontline teams working to check flood pumps and remove any debris on or near the railway.

 

"Our control room team will also be monitoring the weather in real-time and if conditions improve, we’ll remove the speed restrictions sooner.”

 

Rail Passengers are being urged to check their journeys before travelling and more information on any changes to services is available from www.nationalrail.co.uk/ or www.scotrail.co.uk/

 

Ferry passengers due to travel with CalMac can check for service updates at www.calmac.co.uk/service-status