Rail passengers have this morning been told "do not travel" by train as services across the UK are paralysed by Storm Franklin.
The UK's unprecedented third named storm in a week has brought gale-force winds and lashing rain overnight and National Rail warns customers to "avoid travel if possible" on Monday.
Meanwhile South Western Railway has issued a do not travel message after what it calls "a series of further incidents caused by high winds on Sunday evening".
National Rail has warned anyone making essential journeys once services resume to expect "major disruption" to routes "across most of Great Britain" - including cancellations, delays and slower speeds onboard.
This comes after the Met Office issued an amber wind warning for Northern Ireland and a yellow wind warning for much of the rest of the UK as Storm Franklin moves in.
Follow the latest updates on the developing Storm Franklin situation in our live blog
The forecaster warned that the south of the country will be particularly hard-hit by stormy weather during the morning rush hour.
TransPennine Express (TPE) is strongly urging customers to "avoid travel if possible", particularly those planning to travel north of Preston in Lancashire before 10am.
Speaking on Sunday evening, TPE operations director Paul Watson said: "Due to the impact of Storm Franklin, train services are disrupted along the West Coast Mainline.
"The safety of our customers and staff is our priority and we are warning customers not to travel between Preston and Edinburgh/Glasgow until after 10am tomorrow.
"Anyone planning on travelling by train today or before 10am tomorrow can choose to defer their travel or claim a refund."
The operator said any services which are running are expected to be "very busy".
Great Western Railway (GWR) reiterated the same plea for customers to travel only "if absolutely necessary" as services are expected to be "significantly disrupted across the network" on Monday.
National Rail said: "Please check before you travel if you plan to use train services today or on Monday.
"The poor weather conditions may cause flooding, and any trees already weakened by Storm Eunice may fall down.
"Where conditions worsen, speed restrictions could be put in place to ensure you can travel safely."
National Rail said the following train operating companies will be affected
- Avanti West Coast
- c2c
- Caledonian Sleeper
- Chiltern Railway
- CrossCountry
- East Midlands Railway
- Great Northern
- Great Western Railway
- Greater Anglia
- Heathrow Express
- London Northwestern Railway
- LNER
- Northern
- ScotRail
- Southeastern
- Southern
- South Western Railway
- Stansted Express
- Thameslink
- TransPennine Express
- Transport for Wales
- West Midlands Railway
In a statement, South Western Railways added: "Following a series of further incidents caused by high winds on Sunday evening, SWR is urging customers not to travel on Monday.
"While we are working hard to run as many services as we safely can, strong winds and a 50mph speed restriction will cause delays and cancellations throughout the day. We also anticipate further line blockages due to fallen trees, with weather conditions likely to hamper efforts to help stranded customers. Regrettably we are also unable to guarantee replacement travel services will be provided during this challenging time.
"Tickets booked for travel on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday will be accepted on Tuesday.
"Since Friday’s winds of over 90mph, Network Rail have cleared more than 50 fallen trees from the South Western Railway region. Sunday evening’s heavy wind and rain caused even more trees to block the lines and further damage to stations and infrastructure.
"With the wind direction expected to change it is very likely that more trees will come down during Storm Franklin, having been weakened over the last two days."
