Don’t travel to Scotland due to heavy rain, train company warns
People in England have been advised not to travel to Scotland over the weekend because of heavy rainfall, despite soaring temperatures in the south.
The Met Office has issued both amber and yellow rain warnings for large parts of Scotland and northern England from Saturday to Sunday morning.
Fine and dry weather in southern and central England, meanwhile, could see temperatures rise as high as 25C by Sunday afternoon.
TransPennine Express warned customers not to travel to or from Scotland on Saturday.
“Due to heavy rainfall forecasted tomorrow in parts of Scotland we’re advising customers do not travel on services to and from Scotland,” the company said in a statement on Twitter.
“Those with tickets for 07/10/23 Between Manchester, Liverpool Preston to Carlisle, Glasgow and Edinburgh are advised not to travel and to claim a full refund.”
🌧️ Heavy and persistent rain is expected to bring widespread disruption to parts of Scotland during Saturday morning
🌥️ A drier start to the weekend elsewhere with bright or sunny spells, though low cloud may linger along some coasts of Wales and southwest England pic.twitter.com/DDlraMjG0B— Met Office (@metoffice) October 6, 2023
A yellow rain warning covering much of Scotland, active from midnight on Saturday to 6am on Sunday, could bring rainfall of 50-75mm in low-lying areas and close to 100mm on higher ground.
Within that is a separate amber warning covering Central Scotland, Tayside and Fife from 3am on Saturday to 6am the following day.
The Met Office said this area could see as much as 150-180mm of rainfall accumulating in the wettest spots.
Scotland’s national train operator ScotRail has announced a series of cancellations expected to take place until Sunday morning due to the adverse weather conditions.
⚠️ Extreme weather is forecast, with @MetOffice Amber and Yellow warnings in place for much of Scotland tomorrow, 7 October.
For safety reasons, many trains will run at a reduced speed. Mo trains or replacement buses will run on some routes.https://t.co/J1m2DnhAEG pic.twitter.com/J4FysiW11Y— ScotRail (@ScotRail) October 6, 2023
From 1am on Saturday, the West Highland line, which operates in Oban, Mallaig and Fort William, will be suspended.
The Helensburgh Central/Balloch to Dalmuir service will also stop, though services between Dalmuir and Glasgow will remain in operation.
Services on the Highland Main Line route between Perth and Inverness will also cease.
ScotRail said the majority of other routes across its network will also be affected due to temporary speed restrictions put in place as a safety precaution.
Ruth Ellis, flood duty manager for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, said flooding and widespread transport disruption was likely.
Scottish Government Resilience Room officials met on Friday afternoon to gather and assess the latest updates from the Met Office, Sepa, Transport Scotland, Police Scotland and utilities ahead of the Met Office amber weather warning for rain coming into effect.
Scotland’s Justice Secretary and Minister for Resilience Angela Constance said: “The Scottish Government and partners will continue to monitor the situation closely and ministers are being kept updated.”
Temperatures in south-east England could reach 24C on Saturday, with the Midlands and Wales also remaining sunny.
The fine and settled conditions here will continue into Sunday, though with slightly more cloud and hazy sunshine, with high temperatures more widespread across central and southern areas of England, the Met Office said.
