Rail passengers in the North can delay journeys because of the snow and ice
The Met Office says we're getting our “first taste of winter" tonight
TransPennine Express customers will be able to use tickets bought for this evening or tomorrow on Wednesday instead if they wish to change their travel plans as snow and ice are forecast in the North of England and Scotland.
Cold temperatures are forecast in the coming days in what the Met Office has deemed as the country’s “first taste of winter”.
Tickets purchased for travel from 7pm this evening (Monday 18 November) and all day tomorrow (Tuesday 19 November) will be valid on Wednesday (20 November) if customers wish to delay travelling in the face of freezing temperatures.
In addition, TPE tickets will be valid on Northern services and vice versa until 10am tomorrow, network wide.
And the same applies to TPE customers who will be able to travel with EMR between Liverpool and Sheffield from now until 10am tomorrow.
Adam Fairclough, Interim Customer Experience and Transformation Director, said:
“We want to keep our customers on the move during cold weather conditions which is why we have teamed up with other operators and given passengers the option to change their plans to travel with us later in the week. “We urge anyone planning to use our services to check before they travel in case of any disruption.”
Network Rail teams are ready to keep people on the move during the cold snap.
They says it could impact services on some rural routes in the Peak District, across the Pennines between Manchester and Leeds and in Cumbria.
If required, hundreds of staff equipped with specialist kit will defrost frozen points and signals to keep the railway running safely.
Passengers are being urged to check to see if their train is running before they set off from home.
Chris Pye, Network Rail’s North West route infrastructure director said:
“Snow and ice always pose a challenge at this time of the year, not only to the track, it can also obscure signals and causes branches to fall from trees on to the line.
“We work hard to ensure that points, which we use to direct trains on the track, don’t become compacted with snow and ice. We have teams who can monitor these remotely and further teams on standby ready to respond to heavy snow, should it be needed.”