Christmas overruns

[whole diary]

[grahame]

From The BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) this morning

Cardiff-Newport trains disrupted as work overruns

From Manchester Evening News yesterday

Trains between Manchester and London badly disrupted by over-running engineering works

[ChrisB]

At Rugby, a new bridge was being installed. The wind blew a gale force several times over Xmas. I fully understand and accept the selay in this instance.

Mesnwhile, flights were delayed by similar time because of fog. Is there the same griping? No. Get over the weather delays. It's winter, they happen

[chuffed]

Or even delay.....

[grahame]

At Rugby, a new bridge was being installed. The wind blew a gale force several times over Xmas. I fully understand and accept the selay in this instance.

Rugby re-opened on time ... Nuneaton to Stafford overran, with a press release from Network Rail (since updated / withdrawn?) at around 04:40 to say the line wouldn't be open there on schedule.  I don't know the background, but I don't think the Rugby bridge directly affected the overrun. If the overrun WAS caused by the Christmas gales, I would have hoped that Network Rail had enough respect for it passengers to give them an early alert to the problem rather than waiting to the last minute and causing more inconvenience, distress and wasted time when people only found out about the delays after they got up to catch the trains that NR^» (Network Rail - home page) probably knew they wouldn't be able to allow to run some two days earlier.

I don't envy Network Rail their job and things can (and very often do seem to  ) go wrong at the last minute.  In reallity, I think I prefer one significant delay in getting a line running again after a stoppage than what seem at times like every-weekend delays and cancellations of the first train on our line on summer Sundays.

[TonyK]

Cardiff seems to be getting back to normal, albeit slowly.

[TaplowGreen]

Cardiff seems to be getting back to normal, albeit slowly.

   

Yep, now just 60 minute delays through Cardiff until close of service due to points failures 

[phile]

Everything except Paddingtons (Sorry, Ealing Broadway) seems to be turning back at Newport for rest of day, now blaming points and signalling failures.

[grahame]

Fro Wales Online

Disruption was originally forecast to come to an end during the course of Thursday morning, but Arriva Trains Wales have since estimated it could last until 6pm, while the National Rail website says disruption is expected to last for the rest of today.

And Network Rail has warned that services will be affected again on Friday.

[grahame]

Cardiff seems to be getting back to normal, albeit slowly.

   

Yep, now just 60 minute delays through Cardiff until close of service due to points failures 

a) Expect delays today (Friday 30th December) too.

b) Note wording on Wales Online which confirm that disruption that continues is a result of the engineer work, and documents how customers were strung among all day with implied promises of completion .. for start of service, for 10 a.m., for 2 p.m., for 4 p.m. and for 6 p.m.

c) Note there is no time given for it to be back to normal today, nor indeed any assurance that services will be back on plan for tomorrow (Saturday), so no assumptions should be made.

Commuters are braced for yet more delays on the trains on Friday after a day of disruption caused by engineering works not being finished on time.

Network Rail apologised to customers who had experienced a day of delays on the South Wales mainline and Valley Line services on Thursday but warned that services are likely to be affected again today.

The disruption started early yesterday morning with buses provided to try to keep customers moving.

It was originally expected to be resolved during the morning but there was then further delay when lines at Cardiff Central were blocked due to a points failure.

This was resolved at around 10am, but passengers were then advised that the disruption caused by the overrunning engineering works was due to last until 2pm, then 4pm and then 6pm. Rail users were finally told the delays would last all day.

They were advised to leave extra time for their journey as they could have faced delays of up to 60 minutes.

[TaplowGreen]

Cancellations to services at Cardiff Central


Due to a fault with the signalling system at Cardiff Central trains have to run at reduced speed on all lines.
Train services running through this station may be cancelled or delayed by up to 30 minutes. Disruption is expected until 14:30 30/12.

[grahame]

Due to a fault with the signalling system at Cardiff Central ...

I cannot help wondering if the "fault" is the direct effect of the - err - signalling systems work that was being done at Cardiff Central over Christmas.  Like the jigsaw pieces (still) haven't gone together quite right.

[IndustryInsider]

Single line working at Cardiff East Junction is causing congestion apparently.

[grahame]

From journey check for today - 31st December

Alterations to services at Cardiff Central
Due to a fault with the signalling system at Cardiff Central fewer trains are able to run on all lines.
Train services running through this station may be delayed by up to 30 minutes or revised. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

Somewhere yesterday evening, I think I read about work at Cardiff Central up to and including 2nd January; I'm not sure what was planned in terms of an engineering shutdown there anyway.

41 planned changes and 2 cancellations so far.  Looks like Portsmouth - Cardiff is cut back tp Portsmouth - Newport, and Taunton - Cardiff is cut back to Taunton - Bristol Temple Meads.  Portsmouth - Newport trains making addition stops at stations such as Patchway, Pilning and Severn Tunnel Junction to fill in for the stopper from Taunton that usually calls there; I suspect that will result in a 30 minute offset in the hourly services to those stations.

[TaplowGreen]

Whatever the permutations are, it's just crap really isn't it?

3 days now due to signalling/points failures. Get all the NR^» (Network Rail - home page)/GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) top brass off the golf course and onto the platforms to deal with all the customers whose journeys have been ruined and I bet it'd get sorted out a lot quicker than this!

Good luck to anyone trying to travel on this route today, you deserve a great deal better.

[grahame]

Whatever the permutations are, it's just crap really isn't it?

I can't help thinking that if this was the English capital not the Welsh one - say similar issues at King's Cross or Paddington - it would be getting far more media attention.