Tens of thousands of frustrated UK travellers have woken on Tuesday morning where they did not intend to be, after Storm Floris triggered transport chaos for trains, flights and ferries.
Northern Scotland is particularly hard hit. Network Rail Scotland said in a post on X (formerly Twitter): “We’ve dealt with hundreds of fallen trees overnight, with our response and maintenance working in teams to cover as much ground as possible.
“We have now reopened 30 of our 34 routes, with work continuing on the remaining four below.
- Perth-Inverness
- Inverness – Aberdeen
- Inverness-Wick and Thurso
- Inverness-Kyle of Lochalsh
“Our control room team continue to coordinate the response on the lines which remain closed.”
Network Rail Scotland has sent a train carrying engineers from Perth to Inverness to clear fallen trees along the route.
No trains have arrived at, or departed from, Inverness on Tuesday.
The daily Highland Chieftain service on LNER to London is cancelled along with many ScotRail trains – though a rail replacement bus has departed for Edinburgh.
Other services from Inverness to Glasgow, Wick, Kyle of Lochalsh and Aberdeen are also cancelled. A single train to Edinburgh is currently shown as running at 12.48pm, with another in the afternoon to Glasgow at 3.44pm.
In a statement, ScotRail said: “Storm Floris is continuing to have a significant impact on Scotland’s railway, including damage to overhead lines and trees falling on tracks across the country.
“With winds of up to 90mph in some parts of the country, a significant clear-up job will be required to inspect lines and carry out repair work before it is safe to restore a full service.”
English train operators are also affected. LNER says trains north of Newcastle are subject to delay or short-notice cancellation. Tickets for trains that did not run on Monday can be used on Tuesday or Wednesday.
Half the Caledonian MacBrayne ferry routes in western Scotland are still affected by Storm Floris.
Sailings between Oban, Colonsay and Islay are cancelled for the day.
On many other links passengers are warned by the ferry operator: “Due to forecast adverse weather, sailings will be liable to disruption or cancellation at short notice.”
Many thousands of passengers experienced flight cancellations, diversions and turnbacks on Monday, with Aberdeen airport particularly badly affected.
Three planes – two on British Airways from London Heathrow and one on KLM from Amsterdam – flew to Aberdeen, tried to land but returned to their starting points because the winds were too strong.
As a result, on Tuesday morning the first BA flight from Aberdeen to Heathrow and the KLM service to Amsterdam were both cancelled.
A Ryanair flight from Faro in Portugal to Aberdeen spent over half-an-hour in a holding pattern hoping to land at the northeast Scotland airport, but finally diverted to Prestwick in the southwest of the country.
Loganair, Scotland’s airline, is telling passengers booked on Tuesday: “You can choose to re-book on an alternative flight up to seven days from your original travel date.
“There will be no change fee or difference in fare payable. If a seat is available on an alternative flight, you can transfer your booking to that flight without charge on a first-come, first-served basis.”
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