Storm Boelo UK will bring strong winds to Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England on Saturday, and Network Rail Scotland is shutting parts of the rail network before the worst weather arrives. Services south and west of Kilwinning will stop from 21:00 BST, with more closures and slower trains following across Scotland.
Craig Gorman, head of operational strategy for the network, said: “We know closing lines and slowing trains will have a significant impact on people’s plans this weekend, and these aren’t decisions we take lightly.” The move covers the Oban and Mallaig lines at 22:00 on Saturday, then the line between Kyle of Lochalsh and Achnashellach and the railway between Wick and Helmsdale from the start of service on Sunday.
Scotland rail lines
The closures are aimed at the north and west of Scotland, where Network Rail Scotland says trains will not run on the affected routes once the times set for Saturday night and Sunday morning are reached. Trains will also run at reduced speeds across large parts of Scotland as the storm moves through, which means some services that remain open will still be slower than normal.
That slowing comes on top of existing speed restrictions in Scotland caused by the impacts of Storm Austen. Network Rail Scotland says the new Boelo restrictions are being added while those earlier limits are still in place, leaving the network to manage one storm while another is on the way.
Sara Gatland in Guernsey
The disruption is already being felt beyond Scotland. Sara Gatland in Guernsey said her flight home to Edinburgh was cancelled due to the stormy weather, a sign that the weekend’s travel problems are spreading before Storm Boelo reaches the UK.
Storm Austen has already brought widespread power cuts and travel disruption, including wind gusts of 84mph at Jersey Airport and more than 18,000 homes without power in parts of England and Wales. National Grid later said it had restored power to more than 60,000 homes, while hundreds were still without power after dozens of incidents across the south west, Wales and the Midlands.
Saturday winds and warnings
Yellow weather warning and amber warnings are in place for the UK on Saturday as Storm Boelo approaches. For travellers on the affected Scottish routes, the practical cut-off is already set: the south and west of Kilwinning services stop first, then the Oban and Mallaig lines, followed by the two Sunday morning closures.
For passengers, that leaves one clear priority: check whether a journey touches any of the named lines before setting off, because the timetable changes begin before the storm fully arrives. The network has already drawn the boundary between services that will keep running and those that will close, and the first stop comes at 21:00 BST on Saturday.
