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Big freeze on railways
Last updated at 15:51pm on 08.02.07
Stranded: a lone commuter waits for a train at West Hampstead station today. The heaviest snowfall in London since 1999
Big push: a broken down vehicle in Colney Hatch Lane, Friern Barnet
Flaky service: Victoria Station with Battersea Power Station to the rear
After the big snow comes the big freeze.
Temperatures of minus 5C tonight are expected to cause ice on Tube and train tracks with transport crews battling to keep lines and points clear.
Network Rail and London Underground are putting more engineering staff on duty this evening to try to keep services running but commuters were warned there will be delays.
Drivers are being urged to take extra care, especially as the morning could bring the added menace of freezing fog.
Today saw the heaviest snowfall in seven years over London with four inches in a few hours. Network Rail today abandoned snow clearing and will concentrate on keeping the lines free of ice. A spokesman said: "There will be delays tomorrow morning as train drivers take extra time braking at stations in the icy conditions.
"All our staff and equipment will be out with extra trains spraying deicing fluid."
Ice forms an insulating barrier and prevents trains picking-up traction current from the conductor rail.
Just one train coming to a stop can cause major disruption as others stack up behind.
Flights at Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton and Stansted were cancelled.
One in four mainline trains were late or axed this morning. Southeastern services from Kent and southeast London into Charing Cross, Cannon Street, Blackfriars and Victoria were worst hit on the railways.
Southern Railways, which operates services including the Brighton line into Victoria, reported delays while Virgin Trains announced a restricted service between Euston and the North.
Frozen points, which brought much of the mainline rail network to a standstill two weeks ago when less than an inch of snow fell, again caused disruption on routes into London.
The M25, A3 and A22 were among key roads into London where traffic was slowed to a crawl because of snow-related accidents.
On the Underground, there were major delays on the Jubilee, Piccadilly, Metropolitan, Bakerloo, Circle and Hammersmith & City lines. At London Bridge platforms were closed because of severe overcrowding.
A total of 405 London state schools, one in five, were closed as were hundreds more across the South-East.
Georgina Smith, 26, a shop assistant commuting from Finchley to Baker Street said her journey had been a nightmare, adding: "Everybody seems to be a bit dazed."
The Met Office said this afternoon: "London is set for a very cold night."
ROADS
Major routes across the South-East were blocked at the height of the rush hour today as motorists battled treacherous conditions.
Essex bore the brunt of the chaos with police reporting about 25 crashes within two hours.
The A12 near the M25 and the A13 near Basildon were worst-hit after cars skidded and crashed. Lorries also jackknifed on the M25, A3 and A22, causing chaos for thousands of motorists.
Elsewhere drivers were on high alert as the Met Office warned that worse may be to come.
Travel data firm Trafficlink said any roads not gritted were "treacherous" although most key routes were well gritted overnight after warnings from the Met Office.
"Gritters have done an okay job," said a Trafficlink spokesman. "It all now depends on how much more snow we get."
The Highways Agency urged motorists to check their routes were clear before setting off. It said if conditions deteriorated, motorists should only make essential journeys.
AIRPORTS
Luton and Stansted's runways were forced to close for more than two hours - with delays or cancellations for up to 40,000 passengers. At Luton weather conditions prevented any flights before 2pm.
A spokesman for Luton Airport said: "We are advising all passengers to turn up as normal. All passengers were advised to talk to their airlines directly."
At Stansted at least 100 flights were cancelled before the runway reopened at 11am.
The runway at Gatwick opened four hours later than the usual 3am. Two planes were diverted and at least 35 flights cancelled.
At Heathrow 46 flights were cancelled outbound and 44 cancelled inbound.
TRAINS
Hundreds of thousands of rail commuters suffered delays and cancellations - despite major work overnight to keep tracks clear.
Morning peak period saw severe disruption. At 8am some lines closed and trains were stranded because of ice on conductor rails. At 8.15am Network Rail said one in four of its trains was delayed.
Southeastern, which operates routes from Charing Cross, Victoria and Blackfriars, to London and Kent, suffered the brunt of the delays. Services between London Bridge and Victoria were suspended because of signal problems. Packed services stacked up along the lines.
This caused congestion at London Bridge as angry commuters tried to switch to Tube or bus. Virgin Trains announced a restricted service between Euston and the North.
London Underground reported delays across the network. The Bakerloo line was suspended between Baker Street and Piccadilly Circus; the Northern line was suspended in parts; the Piccadilly, Central and Jubilee lines all had severe delays due to signal failures.
Reader views (28)
Here's a sample of the latest views published.
I am so glad we got out of London 3 years ago; the wrong type of weather and everything just grinds to a halt. At least up here in Scotland we know how to cope with things like snow!
- Linda, Fife
No problem with post deliveries in West Kent. The only problem was: where is the snow everyone talks about? We had a bit of dusting and since late morning rain and slush. Coming from Germany, the stuff you get here in winter doesn't even register, sorry!
- Iris, Kent
Postal service? Today? Not a chance, Nico! Haven't seen hide or hair of a postie all day.
- Mark Harris, Enfield, Middx
This country really has become a joke, its a sprinkling of snow for god sake!
Thank you Blair and your nannystate, touchy-feely-wimpy approach.
You have succeeded in creating a country full of shrinking violets wrapped in cotton wool!
- Marcus, London
Sailed in on the District Line. People at later stops who usually don't have a snowball's chance in hell of a seat were amazed to have a choice of them. I'll take snow more often if it keeps away the riff-raff so effectively!
- Ollie, London
My father was a Headmaster at a Primary School in a Scottish mining village. He found the school's diaries going back to the late 30s, under one entry it read "Dec 12th Heavy snow last night with severe drifting. Children walked along the tops of the walls to get to school".
What a contrast to today's health and safety mollycoddling. But then education was a prize to value.
- Ayliff A Mcnab, Costa Blanca
Why, in your story, do you label the possibility of more snow a "grim prediction"? Snow is beautiful, white, clean, a manifestation of the changing seasons and the strength and continuity of the natural world. Are we all so horribly soft now that we can't take a bit of discomfort because we haven't yet managed to control nature? How horrible it would be if we could and heaven help us all when there is no more snow and ice and the sky is flaming red from global warming - the effect of people's utter contempt for Gaia. Let it freeze, let it snow and be glad it's still happening.
- Judith Chisholm, London
London looks so much better covered in snow!
- Karen, Paddington, London
Pathetic! I realise it doesn´t snow that often in the UK, but it´s a few centimetres... not a few feet. Sort it out!
Fred in Dubai, I couldn´t agree with you more.
- Deborah, Barcelona
What's all the fuss about? My solution was simple: leave at 6.30am to be at my desk by 10am in The City. And I only live 5 miles away...
- Philip, London, England
My tube driver today borrowed someone's paper from the front carriage in order to clean his windscreen which was encouraging.
- Beth, Southgate
3-feet of snow, all traffic private and public running ok, schools open, all cars using winter tyres so no problems with skidding, but then I was not in the UK but somewhere in Europe. The UK is becoming a laughing stock.
- Fred, Dubai
Totally ignored the TFL 'severe delays' on various tube lines and made it in in usual time.
- Sam, Barnet, UK
Where on earth is all this snow? I keep reading and hearing headlines about severe snow but there wasn't much in Surbiton this morning. There were some impressively large flakes falling but they weren't really settling and the stuff that had settled overnight melted and fell off cars between my waking up and my leaving the flat. The train into London ran well - wish it were always that prompt and empty - and of course the underground was a nightmare. But really, people, where's all this deep snow I keep hearing about? My parents have got four inches now, in Hertfordshire, but that's not London! And Canary Wharf is almost completely snow-free now.
- Suzanne, Surbiton
I tried to get onto the National Rail website this morning but the entire thing had fallen over, so I took my time getting up the station expecting the usual carnage. What a fool I am, a bit of wind will throw the rail network into disarray, but 3 inches of snow does nothing. Needless to say I ended up missing my train due to it being on time.
- Lloyd, London
3 hours to get from St Albans to Farringdon on First Capital Connect this morning - points failure at W Hampstead, broken train at Farringdon and then signal failure at Kings X - what a shambles!
- Rob,, St Albans
Whilst mentally readying myself for a journey into work akin to Capt Oats' at the South Pole, I had no trouble - Every school was closed so there was zero school run traffic: Better than the Xmas / Easter / Summer hols and Half term for getting in! Luckily my son's nursery was open though - Well done guys, but then again it is not Council run... Humm...
- Matt Cornish, Aldershot, Hants
I've just hired a juggernaut and I'm off to the supermarket to stock up on household provisions. You might scoff at this so called panic buying - but see who's laughing when I still have 2 tons of frozen pizza left, while your cupboard is bare.
- Alfie, London, UK
Anyone know how the post is being affected?
No info available anywhere...
Deliveries in SW18?
- Nico Morrison, London
To WG re "Global warming - eh?"
Consider the principles of refrigeration!
- Mark, South-East London
It's brilliant, let it snow I say, it makes everything look so pretty. Now I only wish that work would follow the schools lead and shut up shop.
- Kay, London
I made massive contingency plans for working from home, only to find my travel today (up from the South Coast) was as near flawless as makes no difference.
And now I have to remember what I was originally planning to do today...
- Michael, London
Global warming - eh?
- William Grierson, Kimpton, UK
I'm with Nick - BEST snowfall in seven years!
- Leigh, London
The sheer uselessness of London Undergound must never be underestimated. Their excuses this morning included a train with faulty doors at Bond Street, and a signal failure at Hyde Park Corner. Despite the fact both stations are underground, no doubt the snow will be blamed. It's probably also the snow's fault two key escalators at Baker Street and Piccadilly Circus are broken down.
- Adam Hendricks, London, UK
We should make this "National Throw a Snow Ball at the MD Day". It would make up for the extra time getting in to the office this morning!
- Mike, Croydon
Coobe girls' school is still open while Coombe boy's school is shut! Not fair!
- Sian, Kingston Surrey
What do you mean 'worst snow for seven years'? Snow is brilliant fun and we should all just take the day off to make snowmen and have snowball fights... plus it makes even the greyest street look pretty.
Nick, aged 45 and a half.
- Nick Bowman, London
