Road Vehicle blocking several lines

[whole diary]

[LiskeardRich]

According to journey check

Due to a road vehicle blocking the railway between Truro and Falmouth Docks all lines are blocked.

Due to a road vehicle blocking the railway between Par and Newquay all lines are blocked.

Due to a road vehicle blocking the railway between Penzance and Truro all lines are blocked.

Assumingly the actual incident is between Truro and Penzance blocking units getting to the branch lines, and not 3 separate incidents?

[Palfers]

I think its fairly serious

Cancellations to services between Penzance and Truro
Due to a road vehicle blocking the railway between Penzance and Truro all lines are blocked.
Impact
Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled or delayed. Disruption is expected until 15:00 06/12.
Customer Advice
First Bus route 14: St Ives (Bus Station) - Carbis Bay - Lelant - Hayle - Camborne (Bus Station) - Redruth (Station) - Truro, First Bus route 17: Penzance (Station) - St Erth (Station) - Lelant (Village Hall) - Carbis Bay (Boskerris Road) - St Ives, First Bus route 18: Penzance (Station) - St Erth (Station) - Hayle - Camborne (Bus Station) - Redruth (Station) - Truro, First Bus route 21: St Austell (Station) - St Columb Road (Glen View) - Quintrell Downs (Quintrell Stores) - Newquay, First Bus route 27: Truro (Bus Station) - St Austell (Station), First Bus route 87: Truro (Station) - Newquay (Bus Station), First Bus route U1: Truro (Bus Station) - Penryn (Station) - Falmouth (The Moor) and First Bus route U2: Redruth (Station) - Penryn (Station) - Falmouth (The Moor) are conveying passengers via any reasonable route until further notice. Arrangements have been made for Great Western Railway rail tickets to be accepted for these journeys. During this disruption if you wish to use local buses as an alternative means of transport and the local bus is not accepting Great Western Railway tickets please purchase a ticket for the bus journey, keep the bus ticket and send it, together with your rail ticket, to us for a refund of the bus fare.

Timetables can be found at:
http://www.firstkernow.co.uk/timetables.shtml.
Further Information
An update will follow within the next 1 hour.
This is due to an overturned taxi on the line in the Truro area.

[ChrisB]

Network Rail tweeted at 1112 that services were able to run at reduced speed

[marky7890]

There are engineering works today between Par and Liskeard so all trains for the St Ives, Falmouth and Newquay branches are coming from Penzance. According to Realtime Trains the first train to leave Penzance was the ECS^▸ (Empty Coaching Stock) 1025 Penzance to Par. Which I looks like drops off the Falmouth unit at Truro then runs to Par before working the Newquay branch.

The 1105 Penzance to Par has also left, although 13 minutes late. No update since it left Penzance though.

[IndustryInsider]

A vehicle has been located on its side 20ft down down an embankment where the line runs parallel to the A30 Road at Hodges Road Bridge.  Initially unknown if anyone in the vehicle and Police requested line shut for their officers to investigate. Later established that the owner of the vehicle had left the scene and is at home, with D&C Police going to pay them a visit!

[bobm]

The 10:25 ECS^▸ (Empty Coaching Stock) - which was indeed the stock for the Falmouth and Newquay branches - was used as a test train to see if there was sufficient clearance past the vehicle.  Reports say it passed with six inches to spare.  Once this had been confirmed the 11:05 was allowed to leave Penzance with a 5mph restriction past the vehicle.

There may well have to be a closure once equipment is in place to recover the vehicle.

[LiskeardRich]

West Briton reporting online, link at the bottom with a generic photo on article, of a FGW^▸ (First Great Western) HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) (not in Cornwall)

SERVICES on Cornwall's main train line have been suspended after a van was found blocking the tracks.

It is expected the line will be closed until 3pm on today.

National Rail Enquiries said the said the incident was affecting trains between Penzance and Par and the Falmouth Docks branch line as well as the Newquay branch line.

Police were informed the vehicle was on the line at Chacewater at around 5.50am.

spokesperson said: "The incident involved one vehicle and no one was injured.

"We are now looking to recover the vehicle so the trains can get going moving or pass through slowly."

A spokesman from Network Rail said: "The police are investigating this incident we were alerted by them that there was a van on the line.

"There are no injuries to rail passengers or staff as there were no trains in this area at the time.

"We are working with the police and emergency services to remove the van and to open the line as soon as we can.

"The location of the incident is at the bottom of a steep embankment making it more difficult to remove it.

"Passengers are advised to check www.nationalrailenquires.co.uk for the latest information and to keep an eye on train company websites."


Read more: http://www.westbriton.co.uk/Cornwall-trains-suspended-van-blocking-tracks/story-28307626-detail/story.html#ixzz3tXtKFknn
Follow us: @westbriton on Twitter | westbriton on Facebook

[ChrisB]

Interesting, as NR^» (Network Rail - home page) were discussing it on twitter as a taxi, and that it can't be recovered until tonight

[LiskeardRich]

Interesting, as NR^» (Network Rail - home page) were discussing it on twitter as a taxi, and that it can't be recovered until tonight

Most local taxis are "vans with windows". Euro taxi fiat scudo things.

[LiskeardRich]

The vehicle involved was a Nissan Serena. Not a taxi, just a people carrier.

There are photos of the car in the south west railways and heritage Facebook page, one of the car alone and one of 153 passing it.

[Chris from Nailsea]

An update on their story, from the West Briton:

Cornwall's trains now up and running after van blockage


Van blockage

Train services on Cornwall's main line are now running again.

Early this morning a van was found on the track and services were suspended for around eight hours.

A spokesman from Network Rail said: "Trains now able to run but there is a speed restriction on the line because of the incident, which means there are delays of up to 10 mins between Penzance and Par."

The incident, which occurred just before 6am at Chacewater, meant trains between Penzance and Par and the Falmouth Docks branch line as well as the Newquay branch line couldn't run.

No one was injured in the incident.

Due to the steep gradient and where the vehicle came to rest, it was difficult to recover the van.

[rogerpatenall]

On my photography jaunts, I'm never that lucky looking for a safe parking place lineside.

[Bmblbzzz]

Wondering if the delays (and cost of recovery etc) will be billed to the car's owner.

[JayMac]

That probably depends on whether the car owner was the car driver.

Even then it would probably require a legal process, maybe both criminal and civil, before any costs could be recovered.

[Bmblbzzz]

Shouldn't insurance cover it? And if the car is uninsured, MIB.