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With the line closed between Weston and Taunton the 1730 Padd to Taunton has been diverted after Chippenham, running non stop to Taunton. I counted no more than 4 left on board as it departed Chippenham but many tens inconvenienced travelling to Bath Bristol and North Somerset.  It felt like a decision for operator convenience rather than to minimise passenger disruption to me. Meanwhile sympathies to all those affected by this evening's fatality.

Upon arrival at Taunton the service forms the 2129 Taunton-London Paddington. The line will likely be open by then, but if the train ran its booked route via Bristol then it may end up too late to form the service back up from Taunton.

I appreciate that, but I suspect the number of passengers on that service between Taunton and Weston will be fairly minimal. So I still contend that the decision made was more disruptive to passengers than the alternative of running it as far as Weston.

Incidentally at least two of the pax I saw still on board had headphones on, and I do wonder whether they really did intend to stay on board.

Only speculation, which can be dangerous, but isn't the 21:29 the last service of the day from Taunton, Weston-super-Mare and Bristol to London. That might have made it a priority to run.

For those intending to reach Bridgwater, Highbridge and possibly Weston it could have been quicker to allow them to stay on the train and double back however.

But the stations between Taunton and Weston have suffered far worse disruption overall today. The 2129 Taunton-Paddington is set to be the first up stopper since the 1707 Taunton-Cardiff. I think it's a fair enough call to get the 2129 Taunton-Paddington run on time considering the overall disruption suffered along there this evening.

Some XC Services were diverted via Westbury as well. That's atleast an hours delay there immediately for anyone on an XC Service. Assuming said XC Service wasn't late already... ::)

Correct me if I'm wrong.  But as has been mentioned about the 21:29. Isn't that also the 22:35 from Bristol Temple Meads?

If so that is the last direct train from BRI - PAD. The 22:47 from Bath Spa onwards for Chippenham and Swindon is a busy service and also the last train for those stations as well.

My personal view is that it was the right decision in this case. However as also said, allowing passengers to travel via Taunton for Bridgwater etc would have been a sensible option. There are plenty of buses to Bridgwater and enough Taxis on hand I should imagine.

However I doubt many people from CPM or before would be on that train for Taunton. From Bath Spa that train takes 90 minutes to get to Taunton. Meaning it is often quicker to change at BRI for the 19:44 XC service which overtakes this train whilst it is in Weston-Super-Mare! I used to take this very train or the 18:00 Taunton service from Bath Spa for about 2 years.

Of course. Sympathies to the deceased' family, driver and all else involved. :(

You're correct, but my alternative would have had the train in position, either starting from Weston or Bristol, so it would certainly have run that part of the journey.  And yes only around 4 on the service between Chippenham and Taunton.

As it turns out the line had reopened by around 8pm, so if it had continued on it's original route would have got through to Taunton with only around 30 minutes delay beyond Weston. That might have meant a slightly late departure from Taunton depending on the need for crew rest. Of course that's easy to say in hindsight, and it may not have been easy to predict. In most cases I would have thought that the services dealing with the aftermath of the incident would be able to give a reasonable estimate when they are close to finishing their distressing work, though in this case we were advised that the unit was damaged so there was some difficulty in moving it.

All very sad, and once again sympathies to all involved. Their evening was worse than our delay.

I understand there were also signalling problems around the Bristol area this evening as well. Certainly a few late evening services running under caution through Bath Spa eastwards.

You probably know this train better than I do, as I no longer use these services to the extent I did in 2008 - 2010. But back then when I used to use this service or the earlier 18:00 from Bath Spa, by the time the train reached Weston-Super-Mare. I was often the only passenger in the 2.5 Carriages of First Class. Most other passengers who got off at Taunton boarded after WSM.

My personal view and thoughts to this train would be to put a Special Stop Order in at Westbury to allow passengers to change there for the 19:19 to Bristol Temple Meads. It would also have allowed them a service to Oldfield Park and Keynsham.

That being said, Westbury around this time was rather congested. I was sat between the WSB Station and Fairwood Junction on that very 19:19 train for around 5 minutes. The opposite track contained a Class 59 Loco which was shortly followed by an HST (The timing was right that it was probably your train from Chippenham John) and very quickly followed by a Voyager which was sitting in Platform 1. So it's possible that stopping the 17:30 from PAD at Westbury would have made the delays worse, but might have been better for some of the passengers.

I guess though that with a Paddington - Bristol Temple Meads train 30 minutes behind, that meant sending your train Fast to Taunton via Melksham purely to get it out of the way may have been controls thinking. Thus rendering my suggestion fairly less sensible unless you wanted Trowbridge or Warminster etc.

I could imagine that BRI was also rather congested/full platforms with westbound services. They may not have had anywhere to 'park' your train and the others behind it, thus diverting meant no hogging a platform needed for say a Cardiff Central service to reverse. Not to mention the few Voyagers and other units probably  sat around occupying platforms doing nothing already.

Agreed definitely that your suggestion in hindsight is a good one, I'm just wondering with a Signalling issue (assuming it did exist) coupled with possibly limited platforms at BRI, whether that was the reasoning. I'm no expert so couldn't say for definite... :-\ :-X :-[

Again, my thoughts to all involved. :(

Not so sure ...
- How much earlier would people arrive in Bath / Bristol via the dogleg?
- If a lot of people did it, would the 19:19 be "sardines"

However, there IS a significant Swindon / Chippenham to Trowbridge / Westbury flow and a Trowbridge and / or Westbury stop would likely have resulted in quite a few people being pleased at having a direct train home!  Of course, hindsight is marvellous stuff! 

I covered that in my previous post ;) - : I guess though that with a Paddington - Bristol Temple Meads train 30 minutes behind, that meant sending your train Fast to Taunton via Melksham purely to get it out of the way may have been controls thinking. Thus rendering my suggestion fairly less sensible unless you wanted Trowbridge or Warminster etc.


Probably. However there were a few seats left and this train I've seen have 5 carriages at times. On the day in question however it was a 3 car consist of: Class 150/2 and Class 153.


Indeed. I suspect a stop at Trowbridge though would've held up that XC Service. Which would have been err at least an hour late at Taunton.

From the BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-23296225):

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Following the discovery of a second body close to the site of the first incident the British Transport Police released the following statement:

From the BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-23312529):