TRAINS across Scotland will see a “controlled shutdown of services” ahead of Storm Jocelyn hitting the country.

The second named storm this week, Jocelyn, will follow in the wake of Storm Isha and hit Scotland on Tuesday evening.

The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for the whole of the country from 4pm on Tuesday until 1pm on Wednesday, with a second in place for rain in the west of Scotland from 7am until 6pm on Tuesday.

A more severe amber alert – which comes with warnings of power cuts, damage to buildings, travel disruption and even “injuries and danger to life” – has been issued for much of the coast, as well as most of the Scottish islands.

Network Rail said that the “severe weather” had led to the decision to begin a “controlled shutdown of services” from 7pm on Tuesday.

The rail operator also said that service would be resumed later than usual on Wednesday as trains and lines are inspected by engineers.

Network Rail said on social media: “Given the extraordinary number of incidents caused by the ferocity of Storm Isha, and the likelihood of more damage to our railway as Storm Jocelyn follows so closely behind, we’ve taken the decision to shut down all passenger and freight services from 19:00 tomorrow.

“Trains still running at 19:00 will complete their journey at a reduced speed, and lines will remain closed on Wednesday morning until our engineers inspect tracks for damage and fallen trees or debris. This means services will start up later, like today.

“Our Integrated Control team has taken this decision to keep passengers and our people safe. We’re working with our train operators now on the details of this plan, and we’ll share more information as soon as we can.”

Liam Sumpter, route director for Network Rail Scotland, said: “Storm Isha has caused a huge amount of damage across Scotland’s railway.

“My thanks go to our teams, who’ve been working around-the-clock to remove fallen trees and debris while carrying out both minor and major repairs to damaged infrastructure.

“While we are continuing to re-open routes when it is safe to do so, we unfortunately expect even more disruption in the coming days as Storm Jocelyn arrives in Scotland.

“If you’re planning on travelling by train this week, please check the status of your journey with your train operator.

“We’re also urging lineside neighbours to make sure that garden furniture and equipment is secure as in high winds, this can blow on to the railway, causing damage and disruption.”

People are urged to check the status of their journey on www.nationalrail.co.uk or with individual train operators.