Travellers face further transport disruption this weekend

Travellers are set to face delays over the weekend due to the weather, repair work and a rail strike.

East Midlands Trains (EMT) customers have been warned to expect a significantly reduced service to and from London due to repair work on damaged overhead line equipment and a revised timetable on several local routes because of RMT industrial action.

Customers have also been told to check before heading out on their journeys and not to travel on the London St Pancras-Nottingham-Sheffield route as there will be a reduced timetable.

A spokesman said that the ongoing disruption to services on the Midland Main Line route to London will continue over the weekend while engineers repair major damage to overhead line equipment near West Hampstead.

Jake Kelly, East Midlands Trains managing director, said: “We’re sorry to everybody who has experienced disrupted journeys over the past two days.

“We are working very closely with Network Rail while they work to repair the overhead line equipment and fully reopen the railway, which will in turn allow us to reintroduce our full train service to and from London St Pancras.

“Whilst this work takes place, we do have a significantly reduced timetable in place on our London route over the weekend and our advice for customers is to avoid travelling on this route wherever possible and make alternative arrangements.

“Due to the RMT industrial action, there will also be some changes to services on our local routes on Saturday, with revised timetables and replacement coach operations in place on some lines.”

After a week in which Britain has been hit by hot temperatures and thunderstorms, heavy rainfall could now bring flooding and travel disruption.

A yellow weather warning for rain, covering Angus, Dundee, Fife, Perth and Kinross plus the Grampian region in Scotland, is in place, the Met Office said.

Heavy rainfall could be bring flooding overnight, travel disruption and a slight chance of power cuts as accumulations of 20-30mm are likely, with as much as 50mm in places.

The weather warning is extended for Sunday to alert the public that swathes of Scotland and England, with the exception of the South West region, could be hit by heavy rain.

The Met Office warning states: “An area of rain is expected to move slowly and erratically north-westwards across parts of the UK on Saturday and Sunday, and while some places within the warning area may see very little others could see several hours of heavy rain.

“Accumulations of 40-60mm are possible, with perhaps as much as 80-100mm in places, especially over high ground.”

It could see delays or cancellations to train and bus services.

It comes after air passengers suffered major disruption on Friday due to the heatwave and a technical problem with the UK’s air traffic control system.

Passengers using Heathrow and Gatwick airports had to contend with delays due to the extreme conditions across Europe.

The air traffic control company Nats said a technical problem with a system at the Swanwick Air Traffic Control centre had been identified shortly after noon, which restricted the rate of arrivals.

A Heathrow spokesman said the technical issue has now been resolved, adding: “We apologise to passengers for any disruption that this caused.”