Severe overnight storms

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Cancellations to services between Melksham and Chippenham Due to lightning having damaged equipment between Melksham and Chippenham the line is blocked.
Impact:
Train services running through these stations may be cancelled. An estimate for the resumption of normal services will be provided as soon as the problem has been fully assessed.
Customer Advice:
Following severe storms in the area yesterday, the signalling equipment has been damaged and trains cannot operate. Unfortunately no replacement road transport can be sourced until 09:00.
Stagecoach West Bus 49 Swindon - Trowbridge, Stagecoach West Bus 55 Swindon - Chippenham Station, First Somerset & Avon Bus 234 Chippenham - Melksham - Trowbridge - Frome (Town Centre) and First Somerset & Avon Bus 231 Bath (Bus Station) - Chippenham are conveying passengers via any reasonable route until further notice.

I have never seen such a storm as we had last night - rain and lightning and thunder on and off (mostly on) for a number of hours, and I am not surprised that we've got this problem.   The disruption is very much understood; as ever, how well it's handled, how well people are informed and how quickly it's fixed will make the most enormous difference to people's view and  people's ongoing support.

I'm noting that passengers are being conveyed on the 234 bus, but (?) not the X34 which also runs Chippenham - Trowbridge. And a sad robustness comment ... roads are open, rails are closed.

[grahame]

07:32 Westbury to Swindon due 08:18 This train will be cancelled.
This is due to lightning having damaged equipment.
Additional Information:
Following severe storms in the area yesterday, the signalling equipment has been damaged and trains cannot operate. Unfortunately no replacement road transport can be sourced until 09:00.
Stagecoach West Bus 49 Swindon - Trowbridge, Stagecoach West Bus 55 Swindon - Chippenham Station, First Somerset & Avon Bus 234 Chippenham - Melksham - Trowbridge - Frome (Town Centre) and First Somerset & Avon Bus 231 Bath (Bus Station) - Chippenham are conveying passengers via any reasonable route until further notice.
Any customers travelling from Westbury and Trowbridge to Swindon are advised to travel via Bristol Parkway.

[Lee]

I'm noting that passengers are being conveyed on the 234 bus, but (?) not the X34 which also runs Chippenham - Trowbridge.

Particularly relevant when you consider that the X34 is half-hourly during the day, while the 234 is hourly.

Frankly, it does highlight the long-overdue need to examine alternatives to the "established" way of doing things, rather than the default approach of consigning such matters to the "too difficult" pile.

[grahame]

Cancelled all day ... at an hour or two's notice each time, with JourneyCheck promising an update "when the situation has been fully assessed" ... I appreciate it may not be know how long it will take to fix, but I do feel that a bit more information (such as an estimate of how long it will take to assess the situation) should be forthcoming.

Taking phone calls today asking about a train for tomorrow, and I've just had to advise that I would be guessing, explaining that the area i seeing resignalled and there's lots of old equipment around and they may not have spares to hand to just replace the part that was struck.  Yet ... I feel I shouldn't have to be an apologist, and I wonder why on earth there isn't pilot man operation.   Apart from the TransWilts traffic, that would allow Swindon / Chippenham journeys to Bath by train, with a change at Trowbridge.    Perhaps the clue is that the problem is weather damage, so no-one is liable to pay compensation?

And - gosh there's a train running ... the 17:39 Cheltenham Spa to Southampton ...

17:39 Cheltenham Spa to Southampton Central due 20:48 This train will be terminated at Gloucester.
This train will no longer call at Stonehouse, Stroud, Kemble, Swindon, Chippenham, Melksham, Trowbridge, Westbury, Dilton Marsh, Warminster, Salisbury, Romsey and Southampton Central.
This is due to lightning having damaged equipment. Last Updated :19/09/2014 17:24

The opposite train went up this morning, missing out all its regular stops between Trowbridge and Gloucester - this made it less than useful for commuters into Swindon, and commuters from the Stroud Valley into Gloucester / Cheltenham!

It was a shocker (!) of a storm last night ... and I know it's a hard job for the railway operators to put things right, but some of the alternative transport plans that have come up here and in the Corsham thread look like they might have been improved on.  And as information on Journeycheck is scarse, it's far to easy to assume that customers may have been abandoned to an act of God.

[grahame]

Sadly,   I've learned that there isn't even any news [at FGW^▸ (First Great Western)] about when they'll be news about when the line will re-open.  Frustrating!

[grahame]

19:32 Westbury to Cheltenham Spa due 21:33 This train will no longer call at Melksham, Chippenham, Swindon, Kemble, Stroud and Stonehouse.
This is due to lightning having damaged equipment.

Not a cancellation, then 

Passenger numbers from Westbury and Trowbridge to Gloucester and Cheltenham Spa on this service aren't going to be particularly strong ... and Westbury to Trowbridge and Gloucester to Cheltenham Spa have plenty of other services.  Main traffic for this service is to / from stations no longer served.

[John R]

This is probably a minor niggle given all the disruption, but one that just seems unnecessary.

Was on the 1430 PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) to WSM routed via Newbury. All was going well - the local to Bedwyn was held for 5 mins at Newbury to let us through, a stone train was looped just ahead of us, so just a touch on the brakes, and we approached the Westbury area scheduled to arrive into Bath Spa just 2 down.  Really slick work. Well done everyone!

Then we got to Hawkeridge Jn and Westbury panel let a late running (6 down) Warminster to Malvern just ahead of us, calling at all stations to BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains).  We had caught it up by Trowbridge. Result, we duly arrived into BRI 24 down.

I've seen this happen before at this location with exactly the same consequence - on that occasion we were actually held at the junction for around 2 minutes to let the stopper past.

How can anyone decide that it's better to let a stopper through (already late) than delay it for no more than a further 2 minutes and avoid a 20+ min delay on a class 1 service run by the same TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company)? Especially when further up the line, an effort appears to have been made to take some sensible decisions for the greater good. Which was all then ruined.

 

[Super Guard]

I feel your pain - having worked endless trains via Westbury, the actions of Westbury panel never cease to amaze me when they are dealing with HSS^▸ (High Speed Services) services.  Law onto themselves.

Looking up the 14:30 on trust there is no mention of the reason for delay entered.    It's a shame that higher powers are probably unaware of how little decisions like this wreck our service on a regular basis.

With everything going on by the time Control see the clash, it's probably too late for them to order the HST^▸ (High Speed Train) ahead first, although we should be able to rely on NR^» (Network Rail - home page) to do the logical/sensible thing.

[grahame]

Cancellations to services between Melksham and Chippenham Due to lightning having damaged equipment between Melksham and Chippenham the line is blocked.
Impact:
Train services running through these stations may be cancelled. Disruption is expected until 20:55 19/09.

Looks like we may have some trains tomorrow!

[grahame]

Cancellations to services between Melksham and Chippenham Due to lightning having damaged equipment between Melksham and Chippenham the line is blocked.
Impact:
Train services running through these stations may be cancelled. Disruption is expected until 20:55 19/09.

Looks like we may have some trains tomorrow!

Confirmation from FGW^▸ (First Great Western) that Network Rail are pretty confident of completing the fix overnight, so we should have trains tomorrow.

[thetrout]

I feel your pain - having worked endless trains via Westbury, the actions of Westbury panel never cease to amaze me when they are dealing with HSS^▸ (High Speed Services) services.  Law onto themselves.

Agreed with Super Guard and John R. The same thing happens at Bath Spa when stoppers are let out infront of slightly late running INTERCITY Service.

You can also bet on when you want this to happen because your stopping train is also late. That the HSS will be let out first. Yet if you're waiting for the HSS at Bath Spa, the stopper will come in First

[grahame]

Should be all go this a.m. - blown transformer replaced and points unclipped at Thingley, track inspection to check flooding at Melksham.  Fingers crossed.

Edit to add ... first train through (Moreton Cutting to Eastleigh) at around 06:30