The UK's sweltering heatwave is causing chaos on its railways, with temperatures soaring to potentially record-breaking highs. As the Met Office issues a red warning for extreme heat, covering an area from London to Swansea and Somerset to Birmingham, train services are grinding to a halt. Temperatures are expected to reach 40C in parts of England and Wales on Wednesday and Thursday, prompting Network Rail to impose speed restrictions.
Passengers are being advised to travel before midday if possible and carry a water bottle, with those holding tickets for affected services allowed to travel earlier in the day or on Friday. But online journey planners are struggling to keep up, showing incorrect timetables until the day of travel due to short-notice cancellations.
According to train performance website trains.im, 11% of services across Britain were cancelled or delayed by over half an hour as of 7:30am on Wednesday – a significant jump from the 4.7% figure just seven days ago.
A range of operators are being hit, including Avanti West Coast, Chiltern Railways, Great Western Railway, and LNER. The latter has taken drastic action, advising passengers not to travel on Wednesday and Thursday.
In related news, schools in several areas have been forced to shut early or partially close to protect pupils from the extreme heat. Almost 100 schools in Somerset will be fully closed on Wednesday and Thursday, while around 100 schools in Buckinghamshire and 86 in Gloucestershire will be at least partially closed.