Storm Éowyn: Edinburgh train passengers face further chaos as aftermath of storm sees ScotRail cancel trains
Rail passengers are facing further misery today after ScotRail announced services were unlikely to run until after midday.
Storm Éowyn wreaked havoc across Scotland on Friday, with a severe red wind warning having been in place from 10am until 5pm.
As a result of the extreme weather, which saw Edinburgh hit by gusts of around 100mph, the rail operator cancelled all services on Friday.
It later announced that services on Saturday would also be affected, due to damage caused by the storm on the country’s railway network.
A ScotRail spokesman said: “The impact of Storm Éowyn is being felt across Scotland’s Railway, with extremely high winds causing signficant damage to infrastructure throughout the country.
“We won’t know the full extent of the damage until after the storm passes and our Network Rail colleagues can get onto the network and carry out a full assessment. This will obviously take quite a bit of time.
“Our colleagues at Network Rail Scotland will be working flat out through the night to remove fallen trees and other debris from the tracks. There has also been extensive damage to overhead lines which will need to be repaired before trains can safely return to service.
“Unfortunately, this means that ScotRail services will be heavily impacted tomorrow (Saturday), and customers should not expect any trains to operate before 12pm at the earliest.
“The safety of our staff and our customers is our absolute priority, and we will only run trains when it is safe to do so. We will update the ScotRail website, app, and our social media channels when we have more information.”