Customers are advised not to travel on Monday 18th and Tuesday 19th July due to extreme temperatures. The heat will cause disruption to our infrastructure and will lead to lengthy delays, short notice cancellations and a significantly reduced timetable.
Extreme temperatures are forecast across the Chiltern Railways network this weekend and early into next week. On warm days rails in direct sunshine can be as much as 20 degrees centigrade above air temperature. As rails are made from steel, they expand as they heat up and are subject to strong compression. Because of this speed restrictions can be imposed to trains which may cause delays.
Due to extreme hot weather conditions, customers with tickets for travel on Monday 18th and Tuesday 19th July may use their ticket to travel on Sunday 17th July, Wednesday 20th or Thursday 21st of July.
Chiltern Railways has mutual ticket acceptance in place with CrossCountry between Oxford, Banbury and Birmingham (in both directions) on Monday and Tuesday. Please note we do not have ticket acceptance in place with other train operators on Monday 18th or Tuesday 19th.
As the temperature rises across our network here are a few tips to help you keep comfortable in hot weather.
- Carry water with you
- Do not board a train service if you feel unwell
- If you are travelling and feel unwell please get off at the next stop and seek help from our staff
- Avoid pulling the passenger alarm between stations, as help can be more easily obtained with the train in a platform and not standing stationary on a railway line.
Hot weather can cause significant problems on the railway such as:
- Risk of compression
- Line side fires
- Buckling of track
Network Rail engineers will be monitoring rail temperatures around the network. Services may be altered so that trains can be used to inspect the line and rapid response staff will be deployed across our network ready to act if poor rail conditions are reported. For more information on how weather can affect the transport network please visit here. The emergency timetables are available on the Changes to timetable page.
Emergency speed restrictions will be in place for much of the day, and because of this a severely-reduced Chiltern Railways timetable will be in operation, structured as follows:
- 1 train per hour Marylebone - stations to Birmingham Moor Street (and vice-versa).
- 1 train per hour Marylebone - stations to Oxford (and vice-versa).
- 1 train per hour Marylebone - stations to Aylesbury (via High Wycombe, and vice-versa).
- 1 train per hour Aylesbury Vale Parkway - Marylebone (and vice-versa).
- No Chiltern Railways service to/from Stratford Upon Avon.
Additionally, planned late-night engineering works will be taking place in the Aylesbury area, and an amended timetable will be in operation after 23:00.
- What if I have a Flexi Season ticket to use on 18th or 19th July?
- If you are unable to use the tickets on your Flexi Season due to extreme weather, you must wait until the Flexi Season has expired. If at this point, there are tickets still unused, you can contact us via the Contact Us form to refund any remaining tickets. If you have activated your ticket and then realised you can not travel, you can contact us from the Contact Us form and we will validate that the ticket was not used by checking tap data and refund that days travel. If you do not use the ticket on 18th / 19th July but then use them on a future date before the expiry of the ticket, there is no loss to you and therefore no refund due if all tickets used prior to expiry.
- What happens as a ‘Do Not Travel’ message has been issued
- Customers who have already purchased tickets can claim a full fee free refund from the original ticket retailer or can amend their ticket; Season ticket holders can apply for compensation through the Delay Repay scheme if you were unable to use your season ticket due to the exceptional weather conditions and the associated travel advice.