Disruption to rail services caused by Storm Darragh continues with several lines closed due to fallen trees and debris, as the clean-up operation gets under way.
Storm Darragh brought strong gusts to many parts of the country over the weekend, with more than 120 flood alerts and 35 flood warnings in place on Monday morning and water levels on the River Severn expected to remain high until Wednesday.
Rail passengers were warned to expect cancellations and delays to services on the West Coast Main Line between London Euston and Scotland early on Monday.
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Great Western Railway said passengers should “not attempt to travel” between Swansea and Carmarthen until at least noon, or on the Looe, St Ives and Gunnislake branch lines in Cornwall until at least 11am on Monday.
Transport for Wales said all railway lines were blocked on 11 routes, such as between Swansea and Milford Haven, between Swansea and Shrewsbury, between Birmingham International and Shrewsbury, and between Chester and Holyhead.
Chris Baughan, Network Rail’s West Coast South route operations manager, said: “Storm Darragh has wreaked havoc on the railway this weekend and we are very sorry to passengers for the disruption to train services this morning on the West Coast Main Line as frontline teams continue with emergency repairs and the clean-up.”
Met Office meteorologist Liam Eslick said: “Storm Darragh has now moved its way off towards the south east, so things are going to start to settle down over the next couple of days.
“But it is still going to remain quite blustery, especially for south and south east of England, for the next day at least.”
