Disruption on Monday 23 and Tuesday 24 December 2013

[whole diary]

[JayMac]

Network Rail's morning start up report on the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) area:

Henbury West (Avonmouth) 5 MPH water just below railhead.

Chipping Sodbury: - Numerous track circuits down on the up and down lines, believed to be flooding.(Lines shut)

Cogload:-  up line under water between 136 miles 60 chain and 137 miles 20 chain Down line OK at the moment

Hele & Bradninch: - Up and Down lines closed due to flooding, water level is 150 mm above railhead.

Cowley Bridge:- Up and Down closed. Water barriers are being put in place.

Paignton line closed pending an inspection by p/way.

[Timmer]

Looks like FGW^▸ (First Great Western) are thinning out services so an hourly service operates Paddington - Bristol at 00.30 past each hour and Swansea at 00.45 minutes past each hour with the 00.00 Bristol and 00.15 Cardiff services not running, the same in reverse. As for Paddington to West of England, not looking good there at all as bignosemac has listed there are various line blockages including Cowley Bridge.

[Super Guard]

By the looks of it the down sleeper 1C99 didn't run from Paddington, and used the stock from terminated 1A40 to run Exeter to Penzance.

Crosscountry have confirmed they have given up and not running trains south of Bristol, with no alternatives being provided.

FGW^▸ (First Great Western) Twitter also reporting it's unlikely EXD^» (Exeter St Davids - next trains)-TAU^» (Taunton - next trains) will be open today and buses are in operation.

[Zoe]

1A35 last night (1739 from Penzance) was due to arrive at Paddington 2344 but is showing to have actually arrived there at 0552  so even though it was very late, it must have at least made it through Cowley Bridge before the line became blocked.

[Timmer]

FGW^▸ (First Great Western) are operating London - West of England services via Bristol, terminating at Tiverton Parkway for a replacement bus service to Exeter where a shuttle service will operate to Plymouth/Penzance.

Someone on UK^▸ (United Kingdom) Rail Forums has just posted a picture of Cowley Bridge, doesn't look good at all.

[phile]

By the looks of it the down sleeper 1C99 didn't run from Paddington, and used the stock from terminated 1A40 to run Exeter to Penzance.

Crosscountry have confirmed they have given up and not running trains south of Bristol, with no alternatives being provided.

FGW^▸ (First Great Western) Twitter also reporting it's unlikely EXD^» (Exeter St Davids - next trains)-TAU^» (Taunton - next trains) will be open today and buses are in operation.

Perhaps more difficult in the circumstances here, but XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) regularly give up and don't even attempt any contingency arrangements.

[Timmer]

Perhaps more difficult in the circumstances here, but XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) regularly give up and don't even attempt any contingency arrangements.

They should have at least continued to Taunton then buses to Exeter. Instead, all ready busy trains from London will pick up XC passengers at Bristol to take them onto Tiverton for bus connections to Exeter.

[LiskeardRich]

Crosscountry have confirmed they have given up and not running trains south of Bristol, with no alternatives being provided.

Interesting as under an hour ago I saw a Voyager at Redruth station stopped and picking up passengers.

Looking at Realtime trains it was 1m49 running a Penzance to Plymouth service,

[ellendune]

Crosscountry have confirmed they have given up and not running trains south of Bristol, with no alternatives being provided.

Interesting as under an hour ago I saw a Voyager at Redruth station stopped and picking up passengers.

Looking at Realtime trains it was 1m49 running a Penzance to Plymouth service,

It certainly isn't going through Cowley Bridge any time soon.

[grahame]

Alterations to services at Melksham
Owing to flooding at Melksham all lines are closed.
Impact:
Train services running through this station may be diverted at short notice.
An estimate for the resumption of normal services will be provided as soon as the problem has been fully assessed.

[IndustryInsider]

At least it'll have two days with no service to dry out, as with other locations.  I wonder whether the flooding will affect any of NR^» (Network Rail - home page)'s Xmas engineering work?  At least the winds are dropping otherwise I could see a lot of projects being delayed!

[ellendune]

At least it'll have two days with no service to dry out, as with other locations.  I wonder whether the flooding will affect any of NR^» (Network Rail - home page)'s Xmas engineering work?  At least the winds are dropping otherwise I could see a lot of projects being delayed!

Unfortunately they are due to pick up again on Friday - though not currently forecast as bad as yesterday.

[JayMac]

Picture of Cowley Bridge this morning around 10am. From Network Rail on twitter:

 
https://twitter.com/NetworkRailPAD/status/415425049571508224/photo/1

No actual flooding at this location, just preparation for high water later. There was some flooding earlier, but further up the line at Hele and Bradninch.

[LiskeardRich]

Crosscountry have confirmed they have given up and not running trains south of Bristol, with no alternatives being provided.

Interesting as under an hour ago I saw a Voyager at Redruth station stopped and picking up passengers.

Looking at Realtime trains it was 1m49 running a Penzance to Plymouth service,

It certainly isn't going through Cowley Bridge any time soon.

It has no need to as its only running a Penzance to Plymouth service. Later this evening it is returning with a Plymouth - Penzance service.

[Timmer]

Couple of updates from the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) website:

As of 1515 hours the line between Tiverton Parkway and Exeter St Davids has reopened after early flooding.  High Speed Services are now looking to resume services in this area.

Tickets will be valid for travel on Friday 27th December, if required.