Strong winds disrupt rail services in UK, Germany and the Netherlands
Railway traffic was affected by strong winds on Wednesday evening in many places across the northern parts of the UK, Germany and the Netherlands, with railway companies and infrastructure managers issuing travel warnings.
According to Deutsche Bahn (DB), rail services are severely restricted in the northern states, with long-distance services cancelled until at least midday on Thursday as a result of storm Dudley. Travellers on the regional lines will face delays and cancellations, DB warns.
In the federal state of Lower Saxony, railway traffic south of Hamburg is down in its entirety at present, while travellers in Bremen, Hamburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Brandenburg and Berlin have to expect delays.
Strong winds on Wednesday night also affected rail services in the Netherlands. A tree on the tracks between Oldenzaal en the German town of Bad Bentheim affected cross-border traffic temporarily. A little bit further south, trains into Germany had to be cancelled because of a damaged overhead line between the German towns of Emmerich and Oberhausen. Dutch infrastructure manager ProRail expects this issue to be resolved in the early afternoon of Thursday.
In the United Kingdom, Storm Dudley caused also damage to overhead lines, which forced Avanti West Coast and ScotRail to wind down services. Other affected train services are the Cross Country Route, the Lumo between Edinburgh and London Kings Cross and the Edinburgh-Newcastle TransPennine Express. With Storm Eunice set to move in, East Midlands Railways and London North East Railway have issued travel warnings for journeys to the north on Friday.
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