Due to the severe weather warning for today, Friday 18 February, and the expected impact of Storm Eunice, there are a number of precautionary changes being made to train services across our network tomorrow. Network Rail is putting speed restrictions in place across the network because of the forecast severity of the storm and we are reducing the frequency of our train services. Those services that are running will be subject to longer journey times, because of the speed restrictions. Further disruption may be caused by trees or other objects being blown onto tracks or overhead lines or other damage caused by the storm – which could also lead to short notice cancellations or delays. Rail passengers are therefore being advised to only travel if their journey is essential. The planned service patterns for tomorrow, including two route closures and some train frequency reductions as follows : Service suspensions There will be no service on the Ipswich to Lowestoft (East Suffolk) line and the Marks Tey to Sudbury line owing to the risk of falling trees. These routes have suffered similar problems in the past and, because of the rural location of these lines, it can take longer for Network Rail staff to rescue passengers from stranded trains if trees do fall. It is therefore safer to close these lines and keep passengers safe. Half hourly service
- Southend Victoria to London Liverpool Street
- Stansted Airport to London Liverpool Street
- Cambridge, Bishop’s Stortford to London Liverpool Street
- Hertford East to London Liverpool Street
- Bishops Stortford to Stratford
Hourly service
- Norwich to London Liverpool Street Intercity service
- Ipswich, Colchester, Chelmsford to London Liverpool Street
- Southminster – Wickford
- Harwich – Manningtree
- Walton-on-the-Naze – Thorpe-le-Soken
- Clacton-on-Sea – Colchester
- Braintree to Witham
- Norwich to Cambridge
- Norwich to Great Yarmouth
- Norwich to Lowestoft
- Meridian Water to Stratford
Two hourly (once every two hours)
- Ipswich to Cambridge
- Ipswich to Felixstowe
- Ipswich to Peterborough
- Norwich to Sheringham
In the event of any additional service disruption we will do our best to provide a rail replacement bus service, but it is likely to be limited and subject to disruption on the roads due to storm damage. Customers who have booked tickets for travel on Friday 18 February can use them on another day. Customers can choose to rearrange their travel plans fee free, which can be done where they bought them. We are contacting any customers who have booked passenger assistance on affected services. They can also call Greater Anglia to check or rearrange their journey by calling 0800 028 2878 (free from a landline), text type 18001 0800 028 2878 or call from a mobile phone on 0345 6007245. We hope that services will be back to normal on Saturday, but clearly if there has been significant damage it may be that there some ongoing effects on some services. We therefore advise everyone to check before they travel. In partnership with colleagues at Network Rail, we will be doing all we can to minimise the adverse effects of Storm Eunice on train services and on the journeys of those customers who do need to travel, but it is forecast to cause significant disruption, so we have put in place the plans outlined for tomorrow in the interests of providing the most realistic, practical service and keeping everyone safe.
