Speed restrictions between Castle Cary and Dorchester West

[whole diary]

[James158]

Speed restrictions owing to a trespasser on the line between Castle Cary and Dorchester West is causing severe delays of up to 60 minutes.

I guess the trains had to go really slow in case the trespasser showed up again.

[fatcontroller]

James,

There were several problems on the line between Castle Cary and Weymouth today.

It started with a lorry striking a bridge at Bincombe (between Dorchester West and Upwey) which had three Weymouth-bound trains in a queue. 0840, 0909 and 0940 from Bristol. The 0840 queued for 75 minutes.


The return working of the 0840; 1110 Weymouth - Gloucester arrived at Bristol TM^‡(resolve) 102 minutes late after fighting for the single line section to Castle Cary and then cautioned for a lineside fire at Frome started by a Steam Train.

This was then followed by a blanket 40mph speed restriction between Castle Cary and Dorchester (a distance of 34miles!), the trespasser was the last incident of the day.

All in all it must have been a very frustrating day for the First Great Western Train Service Controller. OK, I admit, It was extremely frustrating for me !!! ;-)

[James158]

Gosh, that was a slow journey going 40mph from Castle Cary to Dorchester West. The lorry must have struck Bincombe tunnel. Do you know what time the 0909 from Bristol Temple Meads arrived at Weymouth?

[fatcontroller]

The lorry struck the road under railway bridge on the main road into Weymouth.

The 0909 was about 45 late.

The heat speed restriction is 34 miles in length at 40mph. Only adds 15mins per journey.

[MrC]

The lorry struck the road under railway bridge on the main road into Weymouth.

A perennial problem but, once open, the new relief road should reduce the number of times that this happens as most HGV traffic will then hopefully be on the new road and not use Dorchester Road. With a bit of luck the old road will be closed to HGVs.