Hot weather - changes for 13th August 2026

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Sharing for GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) and Network Rail

Ahead of tomorrow's (Thursday 13 August) anticipated hot weather and the accompanying amber weather warning, our teams are working together to ensure the vast majority of planned services operate as usual. We are advising customers to check before they travel and carry water, and we're very grateful for their patience and understanding during this period.

We are also planning some reductions in service to help minimise further disruption and reduce the stress on rail infrastructure in the extreme heat. This includes:
* In the Thames Valley, we anticipate changes to our stopping services between London and Reading/Didcot Parkway, with trains not calling at Slough, Maidenhead and Twyford.
* Services between Truro and Falmouth will be reduced to hourly from half-hourly.
* The Okehampton branch will not operate, with replacement buses running instead. Services on the Barnstaple line will run as usual.
* The local stopping service between Bristol and Salisbury will not run. Cardiff/Bristol-Portsmouth services will continue to run as usual
* The shuttle service between Bristol Temple Meads and Filton Abbey Wood will not run. Tickets will be valid on local bus services.
More information is available on our dedicated webpage at www.gwr.com/weather, and we've also issued a joint media release which you can read here: https://news.gwr.com/news/gwr-and-network-rail-advise-customers-to-check-before-travelling-as-new-amber-weather-warning-issued

Any help you can give to make your networks aware would be much appreciated, and as ever if there's anything we can do to help, please don't hesitate to get in touch.

[grahame]

Sharing for GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) and Network Rail

* The local stopping service between Bristol and Salisbury will not run. Cardiff/Bristol-Portsmouth services will continue to run as usual

As far as I can see - not quite as usual.  The cancellation of the local services withdraws almost all services (certainly daytime ones) at Avoncliff, Dilton Marsh and Freshford.   Correct in the circumstances, the Cardiff to Portsmouth trains will be making extra calls at  Avoncliff and Frsehford.  However, it appear that they are not calling at Dilton Marsh - at least according to JourneyCheck.  Which is an oddly unbalanced decision, considering that the walking area catchment of Dilton Marsh probably exceeds the walking area catchment of Freshford and Avoncliff combined.

[TaplowGreen]

Sharing for GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) and Network Rail

Ahead of tomorrow's (Thursday 13 August) anticipated hot weather and the accompanying amber weather warning, our teams are working together to ensure the vast majority of planned services operate as usual. We are advising customers to check before they travel and carry water, and we're very grateful for their patience and understanding during this period.

We are also planning some reductions in service to help minimise further disruption and reduce the stress on rail infrastructure in the extreme heat. This includes:
* In the Thames Valley, we anticipate changes to our stopping services between London and Reading/Didcot Parkway, with trains not calling at Slough, Maidenhead and Twyford.
* Services between Truro and Falmouth will be reduced to hourly from half-hourly.
* The Okehampton branch will not operate, with replacement buses running instead. Services on the Barnstaple line will run as usual.
* The local stopping service between Bristol and Salisbury will not run. Cardiff/Bristol-Portsmouth services will continue to run as usual
* The shuttle service between Bristol Temple Meads and Filton Abbey Wood will not run. Tickets will be valid on local bus services.
More information is available on our dedicated webpage at www.gwr.com/weather, and we've also issued a joint media release which you can read here: https://news.gwr.com/news/gwr-and-network-rail-advise-customers-to-check-before-travelling-as-new-amber-weather-warning-issued

Any help you can give to make your networks aware would be much appreciated, and as ever if there's anything we can do to help, please don't hesitate to get in touch.

According to the Met Office the temperature in Truro is currently 24 degrees, expected to reach a maximum of 25 degrees today.

Does this really constitute "extreme heat"?

[Chris from Nailsea]

Hmm.  From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) live:

Temperatures top 36C in England as amber extreme heat warning expanded

[old original]

Sharing for GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) and Network Rail

Ahead of tomorrow's (Thursday 13 August) anticipated hot weather and the accompanying amber weather warning, our teams are working together to ensure the vast majority of planned services operate as usual. We are advising customers to check before they travel and carry water, and we're very grateful for their patience and understanding during this period.

We are also planning some reductions in service to help minimise further disruption and reduce the stress on rail infrastructure in the extreme heat. This includes:
* In the Thames Valley, we anticipate changes to our stopping services between London and Reading/Didcot Parkway, with trains not calling at Slough, Maidenhead and Twyford.
* Services between Truro and Falmouth will be reduced to hourly from half-hourly.
* The Okehampton branch will not operate, with replacement buses running instead. Services on the Barnstaple line will run as usual.
* The local stopping service between Bristol and Salisbury will not run. Cardiff/Bristol-Portsmouth services will continue to run as usual
* The shuttle service between Bristol Temple Meads and Filton Abbey Wood will not run. Tickets will be valid on local bus services.
More information is available on our dedicated webpage at www.gwr.com/weather, and we've also issued a joint media release which you can read here: https://news.gwr.com/news/gwr-and-network-rail-advise-customers-to-check-before-travelling-as-new-amber-weather-warning-issued

Any help you can give to make your networks aware would be much appreciated, and as ever if there's anything we can do to help, please don't hesitate to get in touch.

According to the Met Office the temperature in Truro is currently 24 degrees, expected to reach a maximum of 25 degrees today.

Does this really constitute "extreme heat"?

I suspect the reduction in service on the Falmouth branch is not directly heat related as there was a half hourly service yesterday until 23.30 and it was just as warm during the day, it was probably because they needed to use one of the 150s on the main line in place of a 175.

[lbraine]

Here a question for someone on GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) operations (I hope):

On the day that you cancel trains
On the day that you run less trains
On the day that you terminate trains short

How, for the love of God, do you have the audacity to peddle the excuse that for to a lack of drivers a service is being cancelled.

(And before someone jumps on me and give the tired old ‘wrong driver in wrong place’ excuse I am particularly vexed about local services from Reading where the damn trains are stabled. And yes there are loads of them in the train yard sidings at the moment)

 

[lbraine]

I apologise. Nothing to do with Drivers.

After a 90 minutes wait for anything local down the Thames Valley the Reading announcer says: ‘this is due to more trains that normal needing maintainence due to the hot weather’

I can only presume it must before hotter west of Reading and hence the limited number of trains running need to be protected, and hence the curtailing of trains from London at Reading.

Clearly GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) thinks its passengers are idiots