Storm Christoph travel warning issued across North West

With the North West experiencing extremely wet weather, rail passengers are being advised to check before they travel.

Torrential rain from Storm Christoph risks causing flooding on the West Coast main line, routes in Greater Manchester, Cheshire, Lancashire and Cumbria over the next 48 hours.

From 4pm this afternoon (Tuesday 19 January) it means speed restrictions are being put into place for safety. Over the coming days some routes made need to be entirely closed to trains.

Specialist Network Rail weather forecasters are monitoring the railway network closely to deploy frontline teams to respond to any incidents as soon as they happen.

Passengers who still need to travel during this period of national lockdown to stop the spread of coronavirus are being advised to check www.nationalrail.co.uk for the latest on the worsening weather and how that could impact their essential journey.

Phil James, managing director for Network Rail’s North West route, said: “We have been preparing for the arrival of Storm Christoph for several days and our extreme weather action teams are ready to respond to any incidents of flooding wherever they happen to keep passengers safe.

“I’d urge anyone who must travel for the reasons set out by government over the next few days to check National Rail Enquiries or with their train operator before setting off so they know exactly what to expect.”

Ground in the North of England is very wet from sustained heavy rain and with more on the way there is an increased risk of landslips and flooding.

Passengers are being advised that journeys will take longer than normal during the bad weather.

People should also check www.nationalrail.co.uk or with their train operator before they travel.

About Network Rail:

We own, operate and develop Britain's railway infrastructure; that's 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations. We run 20 of Britain's largest stations while all the others, over 2,500, are run by the country's train operating companies.

Usually, there are almost five million journeys made in Britain and over 600 freight trains run on the network. People depend on Britain's railway for their daily commute, to visit friends and loved ones and to get them home safe every day. Our role is to deliver a safe and reliable railway, so we carefully manage and deliver thousands of projects every year that form part of the multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan, to grow and expand the nation's railway network to respond to the tremendous growth and demand the railway has experienced - a doubling of passenger journeys over the past 20 years.