Mass disruption due to flooding - December 2012

[whole diary]

[rogerpatenall]

A picture of the line through East Lyng earlier today:

Didn't know where East Lyng was and came across this interesting quote on Wikipedia

Transport
The ridge across the Somerset Levels has always been important for transport links. Today it carries the A361 road from Taunton to Street, and the Great Western Railway London Paddington to Penzance main line. The railway originally cut through the ridge just west of East Lyng, and traversed Hitchings Moor, but after years of being blocked by winter floods, the railway was diverted south of the ridge to join the line from Bristol at Cogload Junction.

I'm supposed to be going to Taunton on Saturday night... the weather forecast is "interesting".... 

Lyng halt was on the little loop line that ran from Athelney to Durston. Even in the 1950's I never understood the need for that chord. Apart from a couple of stoppers it was used by the Castle Cary to Durston pick up goods. Happy memories!

[JayMac]

Lyng halt was on the little loop line that ran from Athelney to Durston. Even in the 1950's I never understood the need for that chord.

The line was originally built by the Bristol and Exeter Railway as a part of the main route from Yeovil Hendford to Taunton. When the Langport and Castle Cary Railway was built by the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) in 1905/06 as part of a series of cut offs and new lines to speed up journeys from London to the west, the section through Lyng was reduced to minor branch line status. So it wasn't really a chord, more a line that had become somewhat cut off by subsequent developments. That it held on for another 60 odd years despite minimal traffic is a little surprising.

[SandTEngineer]

I don't think there is any chance of trains returning to normal for a while yet.  The heavens have just opened again over the far West 

The delay map at the top of the page has no more room on it

[JayMac]

A picture, courtesy of @FGW on twitter, of the trackbed (what's left of it!) near Cowley Bridge, Exeter:

[BerkshireBugsy]

Thanks for reposting that BNam - I think a suitable reaction is omg !

[Worcester_Passenger]

Thanks for reposting that BNam - I think a suitable reaction is omg !

Agreed

[trainer]

Is this what they call 'light rail'?

[swrural]

That's nothing - see this one near Axminster.

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cd3y5_mJB30>

[Chris from Nailsea]

Similar Network Rail footage appears in a video news report, from the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Rail tracks damaged by flooding

Train services in Devon and Cornwall have been disrupted due to flooding.

First Great Western said some services may not run for another two days because 12 sections of track between Devon and Somerset were "impassable".

Network Rail filmed flooding near Broom Level Crossing, in East Devon.

[grandsire]

Presumably there are civil engineering solutions to these recurring problems - Cowley Bridge is always flooding, this is I think the second landslip near Honiton/Axminster this year and similarly the flooding  on the Bristol Parkway-Swindon route.     If this was the motorways being closed there would be a national outcry, but people somehow accept the railways will close down.  Accept that part of the problem is the 19th century routes which often found it easier to follow rivers, and with Network Rail's debt currently 26 billion or so then there is hardly likely to be lots of cash for big engineering solutions, but nevertheless with both GW^▸ (Great Western) and LSW routes currently closed then most of Devon and Cornwall have no rail access to the rest of the UK^▸ (United Kingdom).

[swrural]

In both cases (Exe valley and Axe valley)we are talking of miles of railway.  To take the second first, the railway reaches Axe river level not far south west of Crewkerne and continues at that level to Axminster.  South of Axminster the broad river plain of both the Axe and the Yarty is crossed and that is a natural very wide flood plain.  On the Exe side you have the Culm joining the Exe and again for miles north of Cowley bridge.

We now see (possibly, to placate the deniers) the eventual cost of climate change.  Coming a bit sooner than we thought perhaps.

I don't see an easy way out of this one.  The Axe valley route is the diversion route for teh GW^▸ (Great Western) and (I suppose) vice versa.

[ellendune]

Presumably there are civil engineering solutions to these recurring problems - Cowley Bridge is always flooding, this is I think the second landslip near Honiton/Axminster this year and similarly the flooding  on the Bristol Parkway-Swindon route.     If this was the motorways being closed there would be a national outcry, but people somehow accept the railways will close down.  Accept that part of the problem is the 19th century routes which often found it easier to follow rivers, and with Network Rail's debt currently 26 billion or so then there is hardly likely to be lots of cash for big engineering solutions, but nevertheless with both GW^▸ (Great Western) and LSW routes currently closed then most of Devon and Cornwall have no rail access to the rest of the UK^▸ (United Kingdom).

Network rail (or was it Railtrack) did some work to reduce the problem at Chipping Sodbury Tunnel on the Swindon-Bristol parkway route a few years ago. One of the major constraints was that the Environment Agency would not let them discharge at moer than a certain rate into the local river in order to prevent further flooding downstream.  They therefore did what they could.  I suppose the ultimte civil enngineering solution would be to line the cutting on the Swindon side with a reinforced concrete structure to prevent groundwater entering the cutting and to do the same with the tunnel lining (which would then need to be stregnthened significantly).  That would be other expensive and impossible without a lengthy closure of the line.

[Chris from Nailsea]

The problems continue - from First Great Western JourneyCheck:

Line problem: between Par and Newquay.
Owing to flooding between Par and Newquay all lines are blocked.
Limited replacement road transport is being sourced, however passengers are advised not to travel unless absolutely necessary.

Line problem: between Newton Abbot and Exeter St Davids.
Owing to a landslip between Newton Abbot and Exeter St Davids all lines are blocked.

Line problem: between Plymouth and Liskeard.
Owing to a landslip between Plymouth and Liskeard all lines are blocked.

[marky7890]

It seems there has now been a landslide at Wivelscombe Tunnel (between St Germans and Saltash), and another at Dawlish. As well as flooding on the Newquay Branch.

[6 OF 2 redundant adjunct of unimatrix 01]

UPDATE - Due to new severe flooding affecting local roads, and on the request of the Police, South West Trains can no longer operate Buses between Yeovil Junction and Exeter St Davids in both directions on Sunday 25 November 2012. Passengers are advised not to travel in the disrupted area on Sunday 25 November 2012, unless it is in extreme circumstances.