Cracked points at Wokingham 1/3/2018

[whole diary]

[Surrey 455]

There did not seem to be any services on the North Downs Line yesterday. Looking at the Guildford to Redhill part of the line, nothing seems to be running today and  although it snowed yesterday afternoon in the area, there wouldn't appear to be any reason why trains cannot operate due to weather. Presumably there are a couple of units based at Redhill which should shuttle to/from Guildford? 

The units doing the shuttle between Redhill and Blackwater on Thursday ended up (according to RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website)) at Redhill, and nothing is shown since. I suspect someone took pity on them and let them go home to mummy by whatever route they could find. Any replacement trains would have to get there, and I can believe that noone has bothered to arrange that yet.

But what GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) are "promising" now is absurd. Form JourneyCheck:

Due to severe weather between Reading and Gatwick Airport all lines are blocked.

Train services running to and from these stations have been suspended. All stations between Wokingham and Redhill will not be served. Disruption is expected until 02:00 10/03.

Customer Advice

South Western Railway 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. South Western Railway is running a normal train service between Reading and Wokingham to/from Staines and London Waterloo.
Reasonable routes are between Reading and Farnborough or Guildford via Basingstoke, also between London Waterloo and Dorking.
Southern Railway are conveying passengers between London Victoria and Gatwick Airport in both directions until further notice. Arrangements have been made for Great Western Railway rail tickets to be accepted for these journeys.
London Underground are conveying passengers between London Paddington and London Victoria via London Waterloo in both directions until further notice. Arrangements have been made for Great Western Railway rail tickets to be accepted for these journeys.

Additional Information

The line between Reading and Gatwick Airport is currently closed due to severe weather conditions. We are unable to run a train service because of the weather, we will also be unable to use taxis or buses. Road conditions will not be safe for road transport to be used as an alternative and we advise you not to travel on these routes.

That's not the weather I was expecting ... especially given that the thaw is well underway here.

Note that while the references to Blackwater have gone, they are still talking about routes to get you to Guildford or Dorking!

From National Rail Enquiries

Reading and Gatwick Airport:
Heavy snow and a points problem at Wokingham means no Great Western Railway trains can run between Reading and Gatwick Airport today or tomorrow. On Monday, it is anticipated that a service will be able to run between Blackwater and Gatwick Airport, although this is yet to be confirmed.

I posted in another thread that I was hoping to use the North Downs line from Deepdene to Gatwick on Monday. It is now time to consider the unthinkable. Take my suitcase on a packed morning peak train to Clapham Junction and change trains there. 

I really do not want to do that.

[grahame]

I suspect that there were to Reading to Redhill trains because of both a cracked point and because of the weather.

Now - I think we have noticed before that there's always just ONE reason for a change - it's never "shortage of drivers AND more train needing maintenance at the same time" even though it would be really logical to align the problems.  And I wonder if the weather is taking priority for as long it can be got away with as it's more acceptable, and cheaper too as it saves things like the rail industry taking the blame or having to provide road transport over sections where that would be safe.

[Surrey 455]

I suspect that there were to Reading to Redhill trains because of both a cracked point and because of the weather.

Now - I think we have noticed before that there's always just ONE reason for a change - it's never "shortage of drivers AND more train needing maintenance at the same time" even though it would be really logical to align the problems.  And I wonder if the weather is taking priority for as long it can be got away with as it's more acceptable, and cheaper too as it saves things like the rail industry taking the blame or having to provide road transport over sections where that would be safe.

They won't be able to rely on that for long. We had snow on the pavements, road and grass this morning. There is now very little evidence that we had any snow at all!

[Surrey 455]

I posted in another thread that I was hoping to use the North Downs line from Deepdene to Gatwick on Monday. It is now time to consider the unthinkable. Take my suitcase on a packed morning peak train to Clapham Junction and change trains there. 

I really do not want to do that.

NRE^‡(resolve) has given me a better alternative from Leatherhead via Horsham that takes approximately the same journey time but most importantly I'm heading in the opposite direction to the morning peak flows. 

[grahame]

S'now longer possible to blame the weather ... so rail replacement buses start tomorrow.

Advance information for Reading - Gatwick Airport route Monday 05/03/18 until Friday 09/03/18.

What's going on?

Emergency engineering work is taking place at Wokingham affecting journeys between Reading and Gatwick Airport until the end of service on Friday 09th March 2018. GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) services are unable to access the line towards Guildford because of a set of defective points. South Western Railway services between Reading and Wokingham are unaffected.

Customer Advice

Customers travelling to or from Redhill and Gatwick Airport are advised to travel via London Paddington and London Victoria. GWR tickets will be valid on other services as below:
South Western Railway are conveying passengers between Reading and Farnborough or Guildford via Basingstoke, also between London Waterloo and Dorking.
Southern Railway are conveying passengers between London Victoria and Gatwick Airport in both directions until further notice.
London Underground are conveying passengers between London Paddington and London Victoria via London Waterloo in both directions until further notice.
If you are travelling between Reading and Wokingham you are advised to travel with South Western Railway.
If you are travelling between Reading and Blackwater replacement road transport is running hourly in each direction between Reading and Guildford for onward connections.
GWR is operating an hourly local stopping train service between Blackwater and Redhill.

Replacement Road Transport
Road transport will operate in both directions between Reading and Blackwater, and between Reading and Guildford, for connection to a revised GWR train service running between Blackwater and Redhill only.
Last Updated:04/03/2018 14:29

[stuving]

S'now longer possible to blame the weather ... so rail replacement buses start tomorrow.

Except on GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) JourneyCheck, which hasn't changed. As to work "taking place" - no sign so so far, unless you count three blokes in dayglo with one clipboard between them.

If you ask NR^» (Network Rail - home page) Journey Planner, for the next week it will only offer you an 'any permitted' ticket at £33.70 via Clapham, not the direct 'via Gomshall' one at £20.00 (anytime singles). That route takes the same time as a slow direct train, i.e. 30 minutes slower than a semi-fast, but is much quicker (and easier) than going round via Reading.

For travel today, you are offered in impressive choice of ways to occupy your time. One is via Reading, Paddington, Victoria, Redhill, and then one of those buses to Gatwick. The other is via Virginia Water, RR bus to Hounslow, Clapham Junction, Redhill and that bus again. Both take over three hours (vice 1:17 on a good day) and are priced at £33.70.

If there wasn't an existing (if stupidly priced) ticket via that open route, would it have to offer you the cheaper one with alternative routings?

[grahame]

If you ask NR^» (Network Rail - home page) Journey Planner, for the next week it will only offer you an 'any permitted' ticket at £33.70 via Clapham, not the direct 'via Gomshall' one at £20.00 (anytime singles). That route takes the same time as a slow direct train, i.e. 30 minutes slower than a semi-fast, but is much quicker (and easier) than going round via Reading.

That strikes me as very naughty indeed ... if the railway fails to provide a service because something that's part of their infrastructure has gone wrong, that's bad enough.  But to then only offer tickets at a £13.70 higher price.

Nice work if you can get it ... no need to rush the fix or put something temporary in ...  laughing all the way to the bank?

[stuving]

This is what's on NRE^‡(resolve) under service disruptions for GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway):

Reading - Gatwick Airport:
Poor weather conditions and a points problem at Wokingham means no Great Western Railway trains can run between Reading and Gatwick Airport today. On Monday, it is anticipated that a service will be able to run between Blackwater and Gatwick Airport, with road transport provided between Reading and Blackwater. This is expected to continue until Saturday 10th March.

Ticket acceptance has been arranged on the following services:

    South Western Railway on any reasonable route
    London Underground between London Paddington and London Victoria via London Waterloo, in both directions
    Southern between London Victoria and Gatwick Airport, in both directions

Please note, no road transport is available today on this route due to the local road conditions.

Now, that almost makes sense! Apart from the bit about road conditions today, obviously.

I wonder what tickets the machines will sell you tomorrow - presumably the full range. Unless they are feeling unwell - I did notice on Friday when I looked in to see how they were doing (answer not well, though trains did run, slowly, most of the day) that all the S&B ones went blank and "out of service" for a while.

[Steve Bray]

The disappointing aspect is that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) has made NO attempt whatsoever to operate any trains on the North Downs Line this weekend. Dorking passengers haven't fared too well today with London bound trains being replaced by buses to either Sutton or Wimbledon due to engineering work. Many of those passengers would have travelled from Deepdene to Redhill, and then up to Victoria or London Bridge. When I visited Dorking station at lunchtime, there were 4 double deckers in the forecourt providing the Rail replacement service, although with very few users.

On a sad note, I saw that one of the shiny new ticket machines outside Deepdene station has had its touchscreen smashed.

[stuving]

According to BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) South local news this morning, GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) have been "letting it be known" that they think Network rail are not really trying to mend these points quickly. Their (and NR^» (Network Rail - home page)'s) reported words were in terms of a part that was needed and having to be made, and the key element of the complaint was that there should have been a spare one. I've no idea what that might be ... whether rail or a bit of the mechanism.

[Timmer]

Why would Network Rail not want to repair the points quickly? Surely they are losing out on revenue from trains running on the North Downs line?

[stuving]

Why would Network Rail not want to repair the points quickly? Surely they are losing out on revenue from trains running on the North Downs line?

There was no suggestion this was a coherent plan - just a lack of organisation, priority, forethought, and perhaps capacity.

[grahame]

According to BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) South local news this morning, GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) have been "letting it be known" that they think Network rail are not really trying to mend these points quickly. Their (and NR^» (Network Rail - home page)'s) reported words were in terms of a part that was needed and having to be made, and the key element of the complaint was that there should have been a spare one. I've no idea what that might be ... whether rail or a bit of the mechanism.

Why would Network Rail not want to repair the points quickly? Surely they are losing out on revenue from trains running on the North Downs line?

I don't know the answer to those questions, but I can imagine a scenario in which a bespoke proper part takes a few days to make and install.  Perhaps a temporary part / lash-up could have been done to allow trains to pass over at walking pace, but the extra cost of doing this made the accountant's eye water and he said "no".

[Fourbee]

I assume there is no line problem between Redhill & Gatwick Airport, so there are operational reason(s) why the hourly stopping service is terminating at Redhill.

GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) can deploy the spare turbo(s)/staff elsewhere this week.

[stuving]

I assume there is no line problem between Redhill & Gatwick Airport, so there are operational reason(s) why the hourly stopping service is terminating at Redhill.

GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) can deploy the spare turbo(s)/staff elsewhere this week.

I assume that is because they are running an hourly shuttle, and that doesn't fit the paths available from Redhil to Gatwick. Why they are doing that rather than the trains stopping at Blackwater and pretending to go to Reading and back I'm not sure - I've not tried to plot the timings. It may well be that it doesn't really work, or needs an extra unit and makes the Blackwater turn-round awkward (even with no through trains).