Disruption on Monday 23 and Tuesday 24 December 2013

[whole diary]

[grahame]

The lifting of restrictions now confirmed on the front page of the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) website.

Wording is

Severe Weather Warning for Monday 23rd December 2013

Time; 07:00

The current weather forecast for Monday 23rd December 2013 indicates that much of Southern and South West England will be subject to strong winds and heavy rain from early afternoon of Monday 23rd December through into the early hours of Christmas Eve.  Current forecasts suggest that winds will gust in excess of 70mph across the area for a sustained period of time.

As a consequence of the forecast for winds gusting in excess of 60mph, Network Rail have indicated that they will be imposing a  speed restriction on many of the routes over which First Great Western Operate.

First Great Western's High Speed Services are expected to be severely affected by the restriction along with other branch line and Main line services.  Journey times on all routes will be significantly extended.

First Great Western^s Ticket Restrictions

The follow alterations to ticket validity will apply:

Customers holding tickets for departures after 12:00 today who wish to travel on earlier services may do so, however please be aware  that these trains are in many cases likely to be very busy and thus a seat can not be guaranteed.
Where customers have been delayed getting to the station, or on other train operators services, and have missed their booked First Great Western  service, they will be permitted to travel on the next service forward, irrespective of the type of ticket held.
For full details of alterations, please visit our JourneyCheck website, follow us @FGW or #UKStorm

[bobm]

South West Trains have announced that from lunchtime its London Waterloo to Exeter service will terminate at Salisbury with a shuttle service running from Salisbury onwards.

[Umberleigh]

Weather already horrendous down here in Truro. If this is indeed going to get worse then it's going to be a very long day for the railways.

[Umberleigh]

Looks like the Looe branch is the first -perhaps unsurprising - casualty of the weather.

Oh, and next door's fence is now in my sister's garden 

[Alan Pettitt]

SWT^▸ (South West Trains) services Bristol to Waterloo seem to all be cancelled at the moment but I couldn't see any mention of it on their website, might just be as far as Salisbury though.

[Umberleigh]

There's a shuttle service from Salisbury to Exeter at the moment

[Umberleigh]

11.33 from Liskeard (originating Penzance ) to London Paddington now shown as cancelled

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Storm causes power cut for hundreds in Cornwall


Brittany Ferries services between Plymouth and Roscoff have been cancelled because of the weather

More than 840 properties have been left without electricity as gale-force winds and persistent rain batter the south-west of England.

Western Power Distribution said homes had been affected across Cornwall in about 60 separate incidents.

Elsewhere, Brittany Ferries services between Roscoff and Plymouth have been cancelled. Dartmoor Zoo is closed.

The Environment Agency has issued several flood warnings and alerts for the region.

The Tamar Bridge, which connects Devon and Cornwall, has been closed to high-sided vehicles, caravans and motorbikes.

South West Trains said there was a very high possibility of severe disruption from about 13:00 GMT, with heavy rain and winds of up to 60mph forecast across its network.

First Great Western is expecting delays and cancellations to some services in the South West due to the weather.

Isles of Scilly Travel said all flights had been cancelled between the mainland and the islands and rescheduled for Tuesday.

In Cornwall, Western Power Distribution said 60 power cuts had affected 842 homes.

Cornwall Council has closed a section of the South West Coast Path between Talland and Hannafore in Looe following "safety concerns".

Devon County Council said there was lots of surface water on roads and some trees had been brought down.

Hugh Griffith, from the Highway Operations Control Centre in Devon, tweeted: "Market Street, Hatherleigh, closed due to debris from roofs falling in road."

Dartmoor Zoo tweeted: "Severe weather has closed the park today. Big cats & bears shut away safely. High risk of trees falling in 65mph+ winds.

The Met Office has issued an amber warning for rain for the south-west of England until 09:00 GMT on Tuesday.

[insider]

Confirmed Blanket Speed Restrictions will be as follows:

 50mph blanket speed restriction on the West Country area between Exeter St. Davids and Penzance, and Newton Abbot West Jn to Paignton between 18:00 and 23:59

 50mph blanket speed restriction on the Thames Valley area between Paddington and Thingley Jn, Didcot East Jn and Heyford, Reading Westbury Line Jn and Castle Cary and Thingley Jn to Westbury North Jn.
This will apply between 16:00 Mon and 03:00 Tue.

 50mph blanket speed restriction on the West Country area between Exeter St. Davids and Penzance, and Newton Abbot West Jn to Paignton between 10:00 and 14:00.

[Timmer]

Looking at the latest radar picture conditions in Devon look horrendous. Expect reports of flooding to start to appear.

[bobm]

There are reports of flooding on both the Barnstaple and Paignton branches.

Been raining heavily in South Devon for the last four hours with only one brief respite.

[Super Guard]

Looking at the latest radar picture conditions in Devon look horrendous. Expect reports of flooding to start to appear.

As requested..

Newton Abbot - Paignton & Exeter St. Davids - Barnstaple closed for flooding.

Delays between Totnes & Plymouth due to obstruction on line in down direction.

[Super Guard]

11.33 from Liskeard (originating Penzance ) to London Paddington now shown as cancelled

1A83 - Due to a train fault - not stopping at St Austell, Par, Bodmin Parkway and Liskeard.

[Umberleigh]

A bit calmer now in Truro, bit still raining and gusty, just not rocking the house anymore!

[Super Guard]

EXD^» (Exeter St Davids - next trains)-Barnstaple re-opened, but now another tree down, so expect further cancellations.