Great Western Coffee Shop

Situation as of 14:00 8/1/2014:

Since the shuttle service is all stations between Didcot and Oxford, Culham and Appleford have an exceptional  service compared to usual, but the local roads are flooded so might be a help.

Picture from FGW twitter of one of the affected areas:

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BddfU3DCMAAeUrt.jpg)

FGW are sending their London commuters via Chiltern and Banbury/XC to Oxford this evening.

Chiltern are going to be *swamped*.

If the London coaches are still running, they ought to be arranging for them to carry FGW pax too. Otherwise just Chiltern won't cope.....(and I'm a Chiltern pax....arrgh!)

Cross Country are only running half their trains down to Oxford, turning the other half round at Birmingham NS. That won't help those changing from the Chiltern services at Banbury to go Oxford.

In Oxford itself Botley Road is closed to traffic from the railway station to the A420/A34 junction, explaining the impracticability of replacement coaches. Roads into the south of Oxford are also closed.

(https://scontent-b-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/1511260_637371156305309_595609729_n.jpg)
(picture - BBC: Botley Road)

The bridge you can see in the picture is Redbridge, at Hinksey.  One of the first areas to struggle when there's significant flooding.  Shame that when that bridge was rebuilt higher for the imminent electrification a couple of years ago, that the track bed couldn't have been raised (at least on the two main running lines) at the same time.  That's pretty much the only place between Oxford and London which can and does flood, and it's over a fairy short stretch of only a couple of hundred metres.  Still, at least it has (just) remained open so far!

The two coach train that formed the Oxford to Didcot shuttles I used earlier isn't going to go down well if used in the peak!

Surely FGW could operate some Worcester/Hereford services via Cheltenham and allow North Cotswold passengers to travel from Worcester to Oxford?

There were a couple of services diverted via Cheltenham this morning and a couple will also be diverted this evening.

I went through Hinksey about 10.45 and the water was as the picture above.

My train from Oxford up the North Cotswold line was due to leave at 11:20 but eventually left at 11:38 and then spent half an hour at Charlbury after hitting a bird and suffering a cracked windscreen.

On the way back I opted to take the bus from Oxford to Abingdon and went down to the river to see the water covering most of the fields.  It isn't a new phenomenon there - in years gone by the monks built a causeway to keep their feet dry - and that has remained above the water.

Then the bus to Didcot and train home.

More rain is forecast tonight and that suggests no respite for tomorrow in the Thames Valley.

Problem is HST's have electric traction motor which are axle hung, the motors do have open vent which will allow water in

I was lucky this morning in that my fast train from Maidenhead to Paddington was relatively ok.. One of the few I think.. However the 7.45 stopping service which is usually 5 or 6 car turbo turned up as a Class-180 which surprised a few people and I'm sure some people got on thinking it was non stop.

Looking at real time trains it lost 45 minutes somewhere around about Hayes and Harlington and finally got to Paddington 45 minutes late.. Anyone know if that is what happened and if so why? Not sure the passengers would have appreciated the hour and a half to do less than 30 miles  ::)

The service train suffered a fault at West Dryaton and was unable to obtain door interlock, so was unable to proceed until the fault was rectified.

Thanks for the information Southern Stag...

Same plans for tomorrow.

Services between Oxford and London will only run between Didcot and London.  A half hourly shuttle will run between Oxford and Didcot.

Most North Cotswold services will only operate between Oxford and Worcester Shrub Hill.  Some peak hour services to/from Hereford/Worcester will run either via Oxford or Swindon.

National rail departures board/journey check and realtime trains are not in agreement on what is running currently and what isn't... 19.48 Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill is one example where it doesn't appear on NR site yet and journey check says it is cancelled yet it appears to be running according to Realtime trains

Seems to me the flooding around Oxford has been going on for enough years for Network Rail to do something - although judging by the comment about the bridge alterations, one doesn't hold out hope.

The 7.08 was a disaster. The 7.02 and 7.16 were cancelled so when the 7.08 arrived at 7.15 it picked up EVERYONE! It took 10mins to get the doors closed.
I counted 50 people standing in my carriage but there may have been more squashed into the luggage racks.

Realtime trains suggests that both the 7.02 and 7.08 were cancelled today. It's hard to tell if the 6.41 departure ran as it just doesn't appear on there. I'm very glad I'm working from home today.

The FGW journey check is showing very conflicting information, almost impossible to check what/when trains are running from Worcester to Oxford. Fine if you have no time commitments and can turn up at the station and get on the first train that you can, not so good if you are trying to plan journey out and back in the evening with various appointments and time constraints.

Maidenhead was even more of a disaster today.  I write this home as I gave up after 45mins of waiting.

I checked online at 6am and noted that both the 7.08 and 7.16 were cancelled which only left the 7.02, which was listed as On Time.  Off I travelled to the station.
Got to platform 4 well in advance of the 7.02.  It was listed as On Time until 7.03, at which point it fell off the boards.  No announcement.  Nothing.  I then checked online and I received an 'unknown error'.  Skills.

How does this happen??  Does someone need to walk 100m up the track at Maidenhead to see if it hasn't fallen in to a hole or something?

Waited for some cr*ppy all-stops-two-carriage "trains" to come through but you can't put the whole of the Thames Valley on these services.

Disgrace.

Went to the ticket office to ask what happened to the 7.02 and got a lovely sarcastic chat.  Gave up and came home.

According to some twitter reports Live Departures early this morning was erroneously reporting a normal service throughout with no cancellations shewn.

This morning's cancellations map is very special:

Reminds me of a kite flying over commuterland...

Services have now been suspended between Didcot and Oxford.

I am not surprised as the water was several inches above the railhead this morning.

Not sure how I will get home from work though :-[

Buses still running but very delayed - up to an hour. Mind you I don't know how everyone displaced from the train could fit into them ...

This was on JourneyCheck (albeit against another Didcot calling service)

"This train has been delayed by an unusually large passenger flow"

Looks like FGW/Network rail expect the line to be closed for a few days:

@FGW: There are replacement bus services in place between Didcot and Oxford for today, tomorrow and Saturday

Mind you it could take a few days just to get home given all the road closures in Oxford and around Didcot  :)

Aerial photographs of Oxford flooding here (http://www.airexperiences.co.uk/aerial-photography/uk-floods-oxford-water/). Taken yesterday morning I guess as one is an XC train going through the floods.

Live departures on National Rail is still showing the rail shuttle service between Oxford and Didcot, no mention of substitute buses...

Most recent @fgw info is that there is presently a train once an hour plus some buses.

Information can't keep up with the changing situation it seems.

Culham and Appleford stops now taken off Oxford-Didcot shuttles, presumably so they can run longer trains. 

And Culham Centre for Fusion Energy had only thanked them for the service this afternoon too  :)

Principles of service WEB    2   Flooding Train Plan Thursday 9th January 2014    Sent 09/01/14 14:41
 
Class 1 Paddington/Oxford/North Cotswolds
All Class 1 services between Paddington ^ Oxford/Worcester/Hereford and v.v cancelled with the following exceptions;
 
[...]
1W08 1822 Paddington ^ planned for booked route SSO Didcot Parkway
1W09 1922 Paddington ^ Hereford diverts via Kemble
 
Class 2 Paddington/Oxford
All Class 2 services between Paddington ^ Oxford and v.v operate between Paddington and Didcot Parkway only.
 
A shuttle service will operate between Didcot PW and Oxford using a fleet of 3 dedicated turbos to prevent vast majority of fleet passing through flood water. The 3 turbos will end at Reading TCD Wednesday night for inspection if required.
The shuttle service will operate at xx26 and xx57 from Didcot PW ^ Oxford (with the intention of connecting with the services ex Paddington). They will operate at xx07 and xx37 from Oxford ^ Didcot (with the intention of connecting into the services to Paddington).
 
NBN if delays start to accumulate between Oxford and Didcot, then the xx37 ex Oxford to be withdrawn and XC to put SSO for Didcot PW into their xx43 departure ex Oxford.
The xx10 XC departure ex Reading to have SSO put in for Didcot PW.
 
Oxford ^ North Cotswolds
The service will run with current headcodes and be timed to depart Oxford as they currently do in the advertised times shown. These services will run as far as Worcester Shrub Hill only to form return workings.
The exception from Wednesday 8th, being that we will also run the Morton In Marsh services, starting from Oxford and terminating at Oxford.
 
Oxford ^ Banbury
Services will operate as booked between Oxford and Banbury and v.v. Services will not operate South of Oxford

Looks like the 19.48 Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill ran even though that suggests it shouldn't have?

That's a Cheltenham Spa train that gets extended, I think

It usually goes to Worcester Shrub Hill (every day) and still is as far as I can see even though the information suggests it shouldn't be running. I can't  complain.. If it runs today I hope to be on it

0654 from Twyford was cancelled again, but I was in time for the 0643 (the 0609 from Newbury). However the 180 was failed after the TM spent 20 minutes trying to close an errant door so everyone had to run over the bridge for the 0705. I'm now wedged onto that train with everyone off the 0643 and 0654 and we haven't reached Maidenhead yet...

...and at Maidenhead the whole length of Platform 4 was about 5 deep, many couldn't board. Now at Slough, looks like no one can board. Oh well, TGIF!

The 1822 HFD shown all day as running via Stroud, finally went booked route - if only they'd told people....

Yes it does, but it runs via Swindon and Gloucester rather than Oxford so there are no problems with it running despite the flooding.

Earlier today there was a confidence that normal services would be resumed on Saturday. However, recent communications are far more guarded.

Not a lot of news in FGW land about this of course, but XC began running through Radley at 3 pm yesterday (Friday). I caught 1745 northbound XC at Bournemouth which had arrived from Manchester and going back to Manchester (not just Reading) which had come through Oxford southbound at about 1515 hrs. 

When we arrive at Reading P8 at 1910 the CIS was saying it was the 1919 to Cheltenham.  Nothing on any screens anywhere saying there was a XC going through to Oxford and Manchester (we've talked about rubbish CIS at Reading before).  But must pay credit to the train announcer who was valiantly trying to keep passengers informed of what was going on.

If XC can run their Voyagers through Kennington, why can't FGW run a half-decent service?


edit:  minor syntax

With XC running, there would be a reasonably fast service in theory to Oxford from London with one change at Reading and no other stops. XC is only running one service an hour though; the other is still terminating in Birmingham.

XC didn't run anything at all Wednesday and Thursday and started (as stated) an hourly service yesterday afternoon.  The flood waters have now receded slightly meaning that rather than single line working with a Pilotman, both main lines were open yesterday with a 5mph restriction and trains being 'talked' by one signal.  That means more trains could run so XC were allowed their one path an hour in addition to the one path an hour for FGW that has been running the last couple of days.  Personally I think that more passenger trains could and should have operated.  Not many more trains in total could have run through the area than were actually allowed to, but freight services appeared, to me at least, to get an inordinate slice of the pathing pie, with the passenger operators getting a very rum deal!

Botley Road and Abingdon Road remain closed today.

Once more though the lack of planning on the ground was shockingly bad on occasions.  This can be excused, to an extent, early within the incident, but several days in and trains running to the amended plan are still being cancelled at very short notice (and in some cases then hastily reinstated last minute when a driver unexpectedly turns up!), or running short-formed when there's a depot full of sets doing nothing at Reading - the response seems very much on a reactionary basis rather than a proactive one.

I arrived at Hanborough station at around 17.15 for the Down stopper that was starting from Oxford instyead of Didcot to see around a dozen people who had arrived for the Up train from Hereford that was showing on our new screen as cancelled. I asked some if they werewaiting for this train as the next Up train was considerably later at 18.44 and it seemed that was the case. I pointed out that this train had been identified as cancelled some hours before and asked if they had seen this message on the internet at their office and it would seem that most had seen this.

However the complaint among them was that the information on trains being issued by FGW was very inconsistent and sometimes inaccurate. It was also
confusing because the internet displayed information on trains being cancelled together with special trains that were partially replacing the
cancelled services and some readers did not connect the two. It was said that over the past few days some had travelled on trains that had been shown
as being cancelled but for which there was an actual service when they got to the station. One person said that he had come to Hanborough on both
Thursday and Friday mornings on trains that had been posted as cancelled and that as on Thursday, he had had a train home at around 17.15 (a 2-car turbo instead of the HST) he had come to the station hoping the same would apply on Friday. I have however been unable to verify the accuracy statements made to me.

On Wednesday, by mid-morning FGW had set up the hourly Oxford/Worcester SH shuttle and this seemed to me a most suitable solution to the flooding
problems south of Oxford and the FGW web site suggested that this arrangement would continue until at least Friday. In deed, ignoring the peak
hour problems due to the cancellation of the HSTs, it seemed almost an improvement on our normal service in that there was an hourly Up departure
at 7 minutes past the hour throughout the day. It seemed however that one of the people waiting at the platform was most annoyed that he had missed his
train home as, he said, it departed early on Wednesday, so I assume he had been unaware of this special hourly shuttle that only became clear to
internet watchers at around mid-morning on Wednesday. I wonder whether this confusion had caused FGW train schedulers to abandon the hourly shuttle on Thursday and Friday with an attempt to run just some of the normal scheduled
services along the line.

The net result seems to be that there is a widespread impression that FGW had not handled the Cotswold Line rail services at all well over the admittedly very severe operating problems of recent days.

It's not only the Cotswold Line rail services where FGW handling the situation very well; FGW ability to effectively communicate with its customers over the last week is laughable.

I am not knocking the staff on the ground or the train crew as they are doing the very best they can however somewhere even they are being let down to quote Hale and Pace by "The Management" 

Well normal service is supposed to be resumed Sunday ...

There is an excellent 360⁰ view of the flooding at Wallingford, at http://nikreations.co.uk/indie360/thamesfloodJan2014/  :o

Looks like normal train service has hopefully resumed.. Some people at FGW really really need to brush up on their communication skills before the next such incident..(Note this doesn't cover all FGW staff as I know some are good - Ollie for example  :)).. The general communication at stations last week though was non existent at best..

Here's one of Goring Thursday lunchtime:

(https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-hY3dC7mU_Zo/Us7Mb69pFbI/AAAAAAAABHs/6u81OoU9jiU/w1598-h319-no/2014+-+1)

As I have often posted on this forum, Ollie of First Great Western is a shining example of excellent communication skills.  ;)

All was well for me this morning. Now listening to BBC Radio Berkshire and the reports of traffic chaos in Reading and Henley as well as the M4 tailing back from Slough to Reading, and knowing again that train is best!  :)

Train is best now.. It wasn't last week  ::) ;D

Ah - thanks Chris and Jo :)

Not seen any posters at Maidenhead apologising for last weeks disruption.

Just a comment