Severe flooding closes part of Yorkshire’s railways as Storm Franklin hits
By Dingchen Curtis
February 21, 2022

Railways around Sheffield has been severely affected by the hitting storm Franklin since Sunday and multiple train line have been postponed.

High winds and heavy rain present a risk of further short notice disruption caused by debris such as trees being blown onto the tracks and flooding, according to East Midlands Railway’s official website.

Heavy rain has led to severe flooding across parts of South and West Yorkshire, including Rotherham, Doncaster, Kirkstall, Mirfield and parts of the Calder Valley line between Leeds and Manchester.

Passengers travelled on 20th found themselves having to contend with delays, standstills and even cancellations.

Georgia, a 22 student, was planning to take the train from Sheffield to York at 17:10 20th, arrived at Doncaster around 17:25 and was told that there was a technical issue at Leeds station so she had to wait for more than an hour at Doncaster station until the bridges being fixed in Leeds.

“I was kind of scared as I was stuck in a strange place because of the weather and when the conductor on the train told us that hopefully we would set off “in the future”, I felt the uncertainty and unsafety as I did not know how long I had to wait exactly.” Said Georgia.

Most passengers found it frustrating to stuck in some unfamiliar place and left to wait for broadcast, hope to get some good news, or in worse case, being sent back to their point of departure.

EMR and Northern strongly encourage customers to check their journeys before they travel, postpone their travel plan, and promise that their tickets for 21st will still be valid on the day next.

The disruption continues and all lines between Sheffield and Doncaster are still blocked today due to heavy rain flooding.

Bus replacement services are now in operation between Doncaster and Meadowhall to relieve the pressure caused by stalled passenger train services.