Evesham station - services, footbridge, facilities, incidents and events (merged posts)

[whole diary]

[JayMac]

I'd like to see London Midland try to close Evesham station's booking office. First Great Western might well have something to say about that, seeing as they manage it!

Poorly researched article.

[Oxman]

You don't know whether to laugh or cry!

Yes, Evesham is an FGW^▸ (First Great Western) managed station, so the article is completely off the mark - LM^▸ (London Midland - recent franchise)'s proposal's are irrelevant. What is more worrying is that the the TSSA^» (Transport Salaried Staffs' Association - about) rep doesn't seem to know this. Particularly surprising given that the the local union rep is based at Evesham. And to suggest that the closure of the ticket office might result in the closure of the station is blatant scaremongering.

They do themselves no favours.

[stebbo]

Seems there's signalling problems at Evesham tonight and a lot of Worcester/Hereford services are being turned around at Moreton in Marsh

[Worcester_Passenger]

JourneyCheck is reporting

Line problem: at Evesham.
Owing to signalling problems at Evesham all lines are blocked.
Impact:
Train services running through this station may be cancelled, delayed by up to 30 mins or diverted at short notice. An estimate for the resumption of normal services will be provided as soon as the problem has been fully assessed.

17:32 Oxford to Great Malvern due 19:23
This train will be cancelled.
This is due to signalling problems.

15:51 London Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill due 18:08
This train has been delayed at Reading and is now 12 minutes late.
This train will be terminated at Moreton-In-Marsh at 17:38.
This train will no longer call at Honeybourne, Evesham, Pershore and Worcester Shrub Hill.
This is due to signalling problems.

17:22 London Paddington to Hereford due 20:27
This train will be terminated at Moreton-In-Marsh at 18:53.
This train will call additionally at Combe, Finstock, Ascott-Under-Wychwood and Shipton.
This train will no longer call at Honeybourne, Evesham, Pershore, Worcester Shrub Hill, Worcester Foregate Street, Malvern Link, Great Malvern, Colwall, Ledbury and Hereford.
This is due to signalling problems.

17:28 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington due 20:06
This train will be started from Moreton-In-Marsh at 18:06.
This train will no longer call at Worcester Foregate Street, Worcester Shrub Hill, Pershore, Evesham and Honeybourne.
This is due to signalling problems.

17:50 London Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill due 20:03
This train will be terminated at Moreton-In-Marsh at 19:26.
This train will no longer call at Evesham, Pershore and Worcester Shrub Hill.
This is due to signalling problems.

19:44 Great Malvern to London Paddington due 22:39
This train will be started from Oxford at 21:32.
This train will no longer call at Great Malvern, Malvern Link, Worcester Foregate Street, Worcester Shrub Hill, Pershore, Evesham, Honeybourne, Moreton-In-Marsh, Kingham, Charlbury and Hanborough.
This is due to signalling problems.

That's a pretty drastic list.

NRES^▸ (National Rail Enquiry Service) is reporting

Because of this, buses are replacing trains between Moreton-in-Marsh and Worcester Shrub Hill, with journey times extended by up to 30 minutes. This will continue until further notice.

Ticket Acceptance

Passengers may use their tickets on the following train operators until further notice:

    CrossCountry services between Cheltenham Spa and Bristol Parkway
    Arriva Trains Wales between Newport and Hereford

Not sure how using CrossCountry or ATW^▸ (Arriva Trains Wales (former TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company))) helps - using FGW^▸ (First Great Western) via Swindon might be more useful, given that most of our tickets are only valid via Evesham.

[Louis94]

Complete failure of all signalling at Evesham

[stebbo]

Went to collect my daughter and boyfriend from Kingham yesterday evening and the Cathedrals Express was scheduled to run through to Hereford. Arrived at Kingham about 10 minutes late. Don't know what happened although some of my daughter's friends from Hereford who were also on the train were hopeful of getting through.

On the London bound platform FGW^▸ (First Great Western) advertised the cancellation of the 1956 service to Paddington and an elderly lady came over to Platform 1 to seek assistance of which there was no chance at that time of the evening. Whilst she was wandering around by the closed ticket office the platform indicator changed to show the train had been reinstated but as there was no announcement she didn't know until I pointed out that it might be worth going back to platform 2 and waiting. Don't know if she got the train or had to wait an hour or more - if it came it was late but by then she had several companions.

Centralised announcements (or lack of) are less than helpful if trains are disrupted.

Incidentally I see the toilets are locked at Kingham when there's no station staff but the local bus driver for the Chipping Norton bus has a key to access them.

[CLPGMS]

I was rather fortunate on 31st August as I travelled on the 1559 from WOF.  This was the last up train to pass through Evesham before the signalling failure occurred.  The 1421 PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)-WOF was the last down train.

From information on the internet, It appeared that the Adelante forming the 1551 PAD-WOS^» (Worcester Shrub Hill - next trains) terminated at MIM and then formed, in effect, an 1806 return.  This means that it was not available at Worcester to form its normal 1849 departure (Kingham's 1956).

The following down train (1732 ex OXF^» (Oxford - next trains)) was cancelled and extra stops inserted in the 1722 ex PAD.  This was shown as terminating at MIM, presumably with the intention of returning to London in the path of the 1849 ex WOF.  However, I was surprised to see on NREs^‡(resolve) that it had departed from MIM, even though shown as Cancelled for all of the following stations.  A few minutes later,  the message on JourneyCheck changed to reveal that the train was running through to Hereford, so the signalling problem had, at least to some extent, been overcome.

At this point, I ceased trying to figure out what was happening.  However, there was a Turbo unit at Worcester (the one from the 1421 ex PAD) which could have provided one up service although either the 1849 ex WOF or the 1944 ex GMV would probably have had to be cancelled.

Can anyone please fill in the details? 

[TonyK]

FGW^▸ (First Great Western) report cancellation of the 15:22 Great Malvern to Oxford, and changes to other services involving Malvern. The reason is given as a person hit by a train.

[Ollie]

Unfortunately so, 11:20 Paddington to Great Malvern - this is the second fatality this week, and again it involved a class 180.

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the Evesham Journal:

Trains to and from London cancelled after man dies on level crossing near Evesham

A man has died after being hit by a train on a level crossing near Evesham.

The collision happened at the Littleton and Badsey CCTV^▸ (Closed Circuit Tele Vision) controlled level crossing at 1.07pm today between Honeybourne and Evesham.

As a result all other services on the Cotswold line were temporarily cancelled but were back up and running at 2.15pm.

A British Transport Police spokesman said: ^The incident was reported to BTP^▸ (British Transport Police) at 1.16pm and was also attended by officers from West Mercia Constabulary. Local paramedics attended and the body of an as-yet-unidentified man was located and pronounced dead at the scene.

^Officers are currently working to establish the man^s identity. The incident is being treated as non-suspicious and a file will be prepared for the coroner.^

The train involved was the 1120hrs London Paddington ^ Great Malvern service.

[Steve Bray]

My Mum was travelling from Malvern to Heathrow this afternoon on the 1344 from Great Malvern, and ended up being routed via Birmingham to Euston. Had she got off at Shrub Hill, she could have taken the 1441 to Paddington. It seems that services were back up and running very quickly after this event compared with the usual several hours of delays that similar incidents create.

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the Evesham Journal:

Man killed on railway named

An Evesham man died after being hit by a train on a level crossing near Evesham.

Jeremy Brown, aged 38, of Windmeres, Evesham, died as a result of multiple injuries and a massive cerebral trauma after the collision at the Littleton and Badsey CCTV^▸ (Closed Circuit Tele Vision) controlled level crossing, between Honeybourne and Evesham.

Services on the Cotswold line were temporarily cancelled between London and Worcester, but were back up and running by 2.15pm.

A British Transport Police spokesman said: ^The incident was reported to BTP^▸ (British Transport Police) at 1.16pm and was also attended by officers from West Mercia Constabulary.

^Local paramedics attended and the body was located and [the man] pronounced dead at the scene. The incident is being treated as non-suspicious and a file will be prepared for the coroner.^

The train involved was the 11.20 London Paddington to Great Malvern service.

An inquest into the death of Mr Brown was opened and adjourned by the Worcestershire Coroner.

[trainer]

To add to the chaos of the day NR^» (Network Rail - home page) Enquiries has posted cancellation of services until further notice between Oxford and Worcester.  No tweets yet, they say (not that I'm on twitter anyway) so no details.  Anyone in the area with more news?

[Chris from Nailsea]

FGW^▸ (First Great Western) JourneyCheck merely offers

Line problem: between Oxford and Worcester Shrub Hill.

Owing to emergency services dealing with a prior incident between Oxford and Worcester Shrub Hill all lines are blocked.

[Southern Stag]

Fire Brigade called to Evesham station, the 1944 Great Malvern-London Paddington terminating there. Not sure if it was the train or the station that required the Fire Brigade.