Amazing what a month can bring ...

[whole diary]

[grahame]

How long from deep midwinter to hot high summer??

19th March 2018: Due to severe weather between Swindon and Westbury the line towards Melksham is closed.
Train services running through these stations have been suspended. Melksham will not be served.

19th April 2018: Due to a speed restriction because of high track temperatures between Slough and London Paddington trains have to run at reduced speed on some lines towards London Paddington.

Has our railway become a "moderate weather only" service??

[didcotdean]

Today at 28.3C in St James's Park London sees the hottest temperature officially recorded on any day in April since 1949.

It is also the highest temperature recorded on 19 April ever, smashing the previous record of 25.6C recorded as long ago as 1893.

It is already becoming somewhat a year of extremes.

[TaplowGreen]

How long from deep midwinter to hot high summer??

19th March 2018: Due to severe weather between Swindon and Westbury the line towards Melksham is closed.
Train services running through these stations have been suspended. Melksham will not be served.

19th April 2018: Due to a speed restriction because of high track temperatures between Slough and London Paddington trains have to run at reduced speed on some lines towards London Paddington.

Has our railway become a "moderate weather only" service??

Yes.

[devonexpress]

Heat fair enough, but the snow is no excuse, back in the 1940's/50s trains used to continue until it was completely no longer possible, now a days, a few flakes of snow all most services get cancelled.

[hassaanhc]

This month (specifically this week and last week) have been absolutely dire for infrastructure reliability between Paddington and Didcot Parkway. At least last month things were fine

[Timmer]

This month (specifically this week and last week) have been absolutely dire for infrastructure reliability between Paddington and Didcot Parkway. At least last month things were fine

To have seen heat related problems this week is concerning when it’s only April.

Just think if this current ‘heatwave’ had taken place in June or July when the sun is much stronger, we’d have seen temps in the high 30’s with records being close to being broken. To get up to 29c in April is pretty exceptional.

[froome]

Today at 28.3C in St James's Park London sees the hottest temperature officially recorded on any day in April since 1949.

It is also the highest temperature recorded on 19 April ever, smashing the previous record of 25.6C recorded as long ago as 1893.

It is already becoming somewhat a year of extremes.

It reached 29.1C in St James Park, just shy of the April record of 29.4C. Yes this has been a year so far of exceptional extremes in our weather, and there is every likelihood we will see similar disparities in future years, if not greater. The rail service is obviously going to be susceptible to this, and this needs to be planned for. I don't see any evidence of this happening.

[dviner]

It reached 29.1C in St James Park, just shy of the April record of 29.4C. Yes this has been a year so far of exceptional extremes in our weather, and there is every likelihood we will see similar disparities in future years, if not greater. The rail service is obviously going to be susceptible to this, and this needs to be planned for. I don't see any evidence of this happening.

What would you expect to see as evidence of plans were being made?

[eightf48544]

I am told by my friends in New Zealand the weather there has gone haywire.

High temperatures, heavy rains, strong winds and snow in Taranaki in April (Oct UK^▸ (United Kingdom)).

Global; Warming?