Heatwave July 2022

[whole diary]

[CyclingSid]

Had a good cycle from Havant, down Hayling Billy Line, Haylimg Ferry, sea front at Southsea, Gosport Ferry and busway  to Fareham. Lovely ride temperatures ok, especially on the ferries. Hayling Ferry was loaded,could have spent the rest of the day going back and forth on the Gosport Ferry.

The only problem was the train back. Lifts out of order at Fareham, humping the bike up and down stairs negated the previous cooling effect. Got a Cardiff train to Southampton, 5 car and relatively empty. Forgot that only one train an hour from Southampton stops at Basingstoke. Train to Winchester with intention of getting the Portsmouth Harbour train to Basingstoke. They then announced lifts out of order at Basingstoke, thought I would wait for the Cross-Country through to Reading, fatal mistake. Cross-Country died at Southampton. So hour and a quarter wait at Winchester and have to hump the bike down more stairs.

Looking at the positive side nice cooling bike ride along the coast, which was cooler than staying in Reading.

[Timmer]

Tomorrow’s cancellations and service alterations due to the hot weather now appearing on Journeycheck.

Few of note so far:
London to Bristol TM^‡(resolve) reduced to hourly.
London to Cardiff services not running. Hourly Swansea services running.
Didcot to Paddington stopping services reduced to hourly.
Gloucester to Weymouth services terminating and starting at Westbury with Westbury to Weymouth services running separately.
Portsmouth to Cardiff services terminating and starting at Bristol Parkway.
Paddington to Cheltenham services terminating and starting at Swindon.
Cotswolds line services terminating and starting at Oxford.
Reading to Gatwick Airport withdrawn.

[Timmer]

From GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway):

Amended GWR timetable Monday 18 & Tuesday 19 July

What's happening?
An extreme heat weather warning is in place until Tuesday 19 July, meaning an amended timetable and extended journey times on Monday 18 July and Tuesday 19 July.
 
I'm due to travel on Monday 18 or Tuesday 19 July - what are my options?
We advise to only travel if absolutely necessary on these dates, as heat-related speed restrictions will significantly reduce the timetable we're able to operate. Fewer trains will run, meaning services may be very busy, and journey times will be significantly extended across the network.
 
GWR tickets dated Monday 18 or Tuesday 19 July will be accepted on our services on Wednesday 20 & Thursday 21 July if you're able to defer your journey.
 
If your journey is essential, please check before you travel on the morning of your journey (visit gwr.com/check), and ensure you carry water with you. If you arrive at your destination 15 minutes late or more, you can claim Delay Repay compensation.
 
We're sorry for the inconvenience this will cause.

[Timmer]

London to the Southwest fast services are running via Bristol tomorrow. The semifasts as per usual along the Berks and Hants.

[broadgage]

LNER^» (London North Eastern Railway - about) have announced that no trains will run between London and Leeds or York on Tuesday. Reduced services and delays are to be expected in the extreme conditions, but it seems OTT^▸ (Open Train Times website) to run NO services on a major route.

[TaplowGreen]

LNER^» (London North Eastern Railway - about) have announced that no trains will run between London and Leeds or York on Tuesday. Reduced services and delays are to be expected in the extreme conditions, but it seems OTT^▸ (Open Train Times website) to run NO services on a major route.

......and if a few ran & a packed train was to break down en route in over 100° heat?

Given the strength of the warnings and the risks involved, even for those in good health, I'd say it's eminently sensible.

The need for business travel is greatly reduced,  and leisure travel does not constitute "absolutely essential" in the conditions anyway.

Stay indoors, stay as cool as possible. Travel on Wednesday.

[ChrisB]

David Horne’s point made on twitter too.

My only question is why NR^» (Network Rail - home page) aren’t being consustent within the red area? Surely this applies across the red area?

[grahame]

David Horne’s point made on twitter too.

My only question is why NR^» (Network Rail - home page) aren’t being consustent within the red area? Surely this applies across the red area?

I'm not sure that the infrastructure design standards and maintenance quality are the same.   Looking at electrification, the east coast mainline in now one of the older, with west coast modernisation and GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) partial electric to Cocklebury Lane and Midland Main Line partials following later.  So perhaps the knitting on the east coast would get baggy and ladder where it'll stay crisp elsewhere?

Public forecasts are amber and red.  In reality, of course, there's no sudden dividing line and is it not likely that some red areas are more red than others when you drill down into Industrial quality (and priced) forecasts which no doubt NR have.

[bradshaw]

This Twitter thread might help explain
https://twitter.com/noeldolphin/status/1548665634698952704?s=21&t=zX28kceqDCMjbuq3JYD8cw

[ellendune]

Public forecasts are amber and red.  In reality, of course, there's no sudden dividing line and is it not likely that some red areas are more red than others when you drill down into Industrial quality (and priced) forecasts which no doubt NR^» (Network Rail - home page) have.

Most of GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) is in amber and all of LNER^» (London North Eastern Railway - about) to York is in Red.  That might be part of the story. 

[broadgage]

I did like the remark "Just stop grumbling, all of you.
It could be worse: it could be snowing.
Just imagine shoveling snow in this heat"

[grahame]

So as I read it:

GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) mainline - 40 degrees
ECML^▸ (East Coast Main Line) - 38 degrees
Other lines electrified earlier - vague lower figures, sometimes much lower

[ellendune]

So as I read it:

GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) mainline - 40 degrees
ECML^▸ (East Coast Main Line) - 38 degrees
Other lines electrified earlier - vague lower figures, sometimes much lower

I assume those are the design temperatures. 

A quick look at the weather map suggests typical temperatures in Thames Valley  33-35; typical temperatures on ECML to York 38-39.

[ChrisB]

Don’t forget these figures just relate to the overhead steel wires….there are also the steel tracks that weren’t designed/stressed for these sort of temperatures either.

Nor are the steel boxes that we travel in designed to be sat stationary  on the tracks after sugnal/track failures for hours! Consideration has to be given to this too.

Oh, and this weather is one example where axle counters work better than track circuits which are more likely to fail in this weather than the counters….and we’re replacing the former with latter….

[Oxonhutch]

Had our PW^▸ (Permanent Way) man measuring our rail temperatures yesterday and measured over 37C - air temperature about 30C. Services planned for today and tomorrow cancelled so as not to stress the rails. Apparently, braking and accelerating also adds a considerable heat content to the rails so areas around signals and stations particularly vulnerable.