Extreme winter weather continues to wreak havoc across European travel networks, with Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport entering a fifth consecutive day of mass cancellations and the UK's rail network buckling under severe disruption.
Air Travel in Disarray
Over one-third of a million passengers flying to and from Amsterdam Schiphol have now seen their plans upended since last Friday. The Dutch hub, a critical connection for tens of thousands of UK travellers, is operating only limited air traffic due to persistent snow and ice. Flight tracking data indicates a third of Tuesday's flights were cancelled, with predictions that figure could rise to 50-60% as the day progresses.
Dozens of KLM services linking the airport with UK destinations are grounded once again. Affected routes include flights to and from Aberdeen, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Heathrow, Humberside, Inverness, Leeds Bradford, London City, Manchester, Newcastle, Norwich, and Teesside. For some regional UK airports, these Amsterdam services represent their only international flights of the day.
The airport has warned passengers that disruptions are expected to continue in the coming days. Compounding the misery for those who do manage to land, all train traffic across the Netherlands was suspended until at least 10am on Tuesday.
UK Rail Network Paralyzed
Meanwhile, the UK's transport system is facing its own crisis. The Met Office has issued amber and yellow weather warnings for snow and ice covering almost the entire country. This has combined with technical failures to create a perfect storm of travel misery.
Damage to overhead electric wires west of London Paddington has severely crippled services on the Elizabeth line through central London, the Heathrow Express, and Great Western Railway (GWR) routes. National Rail has warned that disruption on these lines is expected to continue until the end of Tuesday.
On the East Coast Main Line, the vital link between Scotland, northeast England, Yorkshire, and London King's Cross remains in chaos. Operator LNER has advised passengers "to defer travel until further notice" between Edinburgh, Leeds, and London following a broken rail on Monday. This has caused a severe fleet imbalance, leading to widespread cancellations of early services from Edinburgh, Newcastle, and Yorkshire.
Nationwide Road and Further Rail Issues
The disruption extends far beyond the main intercity lines. In Scotland, LNER has cancelled all trains between Edinburgh and Aberdeen until 2pm on Tuesday 6 January, with no rail replacement transport offered. ScotRail has axed key northern routes, including Aberdeen-Inverness and Inverness to Wick/Thurso, due to heavy and drifting snow.
Road networks are also treacherous. In northern Scotland, the A887 is blocked by a fallen tree and the A939 has been closed. In Wales, the A487 is blocked near Machynlleth. Higher roads in Cheshire, Staffordshire, and Derbyshire are described as treacherous due to ice and snow. Motorists heading to Dover face an additional hurdle with the closure of the A20's Roundhill Tunnel due to a diesel spillage.
With hundreds of thousands of travellers facing yet another day of significant disruption, the advice from operators remains consistent: check carefully before you travel, expect cancellations and delays, and consider deferring your journey if possible.
