Looks like a work from home Friday for many as Storm Babet hits region

Rail passengers across Network Rail’s North West route are being warned of travel disruption over the coming days as Storm Babet impacts on the railway.

Extreme weather action teams are on standby to tackle any problems caused by the stormy weather at key locations on the West Coast main line, North West and Cumbrian rail routes over the coming days.

This includes monitoring areas which could see flash flooding of tracks, or trees being blown onto the network causing disruption.

Transpennine have reported that due to a tree blocking the railway between Sheffield and Stockport trains have to run at reduced speed on some lines.

There were two instances of trees falling onto the overhead wires which power trains on Wednesday (18 October) in Prestbury in Cheshire and Broadbottom in Tameside.

Meanwhile, Merseyrail warned last night (October 19) that the worst of the forecast weather is expected to cause significant disruption to the Chester and Ellesmere Port lines on its network.

Anyone planning to travel on Merseyrail today is advised to check before travelling and to not make any unnecessary journeys.

It said contingency work is being undertaken by Network Rail and Merseyrail, but it is likely that trains may be replaced by rail replacement buses from 11:00, on routes between Rock Ferry – Chester and Rock Ferry – Ellesmere Port. Roads may also be affected by the bad weather, and this could impact on the rail replacement bus service.

If the weather does improve Merseyrail said it will work hard to get services restored as soon as possible.

The latest information will be available via the Merseyrail website at www.merseyrail.org , the Merseyrail app or following Merseyrail on twitter @Merseyrail.

Merseyrail managing director, Neil Grabham, said: “As a rail operator our first priority is the safety of our customers and staff. Given the weather warnings from the Met Office, we are taking steps to warn our customers in advance of likely disruption.

“I’d urge our customers to check for the latest information before they travel by using official Merseyrail channels, such as our website, app and social media.”