Friday 14th November 2025 saw the arrival of another named storm as Storm Claudia (named by the Spanish Met Office) hit the UK. Unfortunately, its strong winds and heavy rain led to some service changes on UK tramways.
On Manchester Metrolink it was trees falling onto the overhead wires which led to issues:
- Bury line
A tree came down between Bury and Whitefield causing damage to a “piece of equipment that holds up overhead power lines”. Although engineers were quickly on the scene to assess the damage, TfGM expect it take most of the weekend to repair the damage.
No trams were running Bury-Whitefield with tram tickets valid on local bus services whilst a dedicated bus replacement service was due to start running on Saturday 15th November.
- Oldham and Rochdale line
A tree fell on the overhead line between Westwood and Newton Heath and Moston, leading to trams being suspended between these stops. Ticket acceptance was introduced on local bus services whilst trams were unable to run.
Meanwhile, on South Yorkshire Supertram it was heavy rain which caused the issues. As is often the case the high-water levels in the River Don meant that Network Rail closed Rotherham Central Railway Station from 1600 on Friday 14th November. This not only impacted Northern Rail services which travel this way but also meant South Yorkshire Supertram Tram-Train services to Rotherham Central had to be suspended.
- Local media also reported on service disruption for Supertram earlier in the week with confirmation that there were a number of cancellations caused by staff shortages. The Tram-Train and Purple lines were affected with cancellations on Monday 10th November, although 92% of all scheduled services still operated. A recent recruitment drive has seen new drivers employed who are currently going through training and its hoped that this will see a reduction in cancellations in the future.