Flooding between Taunton and Exeter - 15 March 2018

[whole diary]

[Timmer]

Not surprised to see this just appear on the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Twitter feed as there's been a lot of rain in the West Country over the past 24 hours:

Heavy rain has flooded the railway between Taunton and Exeter St Davids therefore all lines are closed until further notice. Replacement road transport is being sourced. Mutual ticket acceptance is in place with Crosscountry trains.

[SandTEngineer]

Here we go again.  Not sure exactly where the problem is:

Cancellations to services between Taunton and Exeter St Davids Due to heavy rain flooding the railway between Taunton and Exeter St Davids all lines are closed.

Impact:
Train services running through these stations may be cancelled or terminated at Taunton and restarted from Exeter St Davids. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

Customer Advice:
Replacement road transport services are conveying passengers between Exeter St Davids and Taunton via Tiverton Parkway in both directions until further notice. Arrangements have been made for Great Western Railway rail tickets to be accepted for these journeys. Crosscountry trains will be accepting GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) tickets.

[grahame]

I have merged these two topic started within seconds of each other!

[JayMac]

Location of the flooding is Hele & Bradninch where the line crosses the River Culm floodplain.

[PhilWakely]

So, not only having to contend with extended journey times because of the Newbury blockade, but also because of flooding at Hele. I feel very sorry for anybody from Devon and Cornwall visiting the capital today.

To compound matters, there is flooding between Axminster and Crewkerne on the Mule, so diversions are not possible that way either.

[Timmer]

I have merged these two topic started within seconds of each other!

Wow so they were by 3 seconds!

[grahame]

Mutual ticket acceptance is in place with Crosscountry trains.

At times I pull my hair out ... it really shouldn't be necessary for there to be major disruption for tickets to be accepted across operators ... and even where a ticket is train specific, if that train doesn't run / failed to connect the automatic fallback should be to a train operated by any company!    

Joe Public understands "this train only".   He understands "Any train at certain times of day".   He had more trouble with "Green ones or blue ones, but not grey ones or white ones, unless the white one has a crew in a green uniform running it".

[grahame]

I have merged these two topic started within seconds of each other!

Wow so they were by 3 seconds!

We can cope - easily - with a post every 3 seconds, even if the Railcard site struggled to sell a railcard every 3 seconds (divide the number of cards sold by the time it took to sell out ...)

[Fourbee]

At times I pull my hair out ... it really shouldn't be necessary for there to be major disruption for tickets to be accepted across operators ... and even where a ticket is train specific, if that train doesn't run / failed to connect the automatic fallback should be to a train operated by any company!    

e.g. "ticket acceptance has been arranged with SWR^» (South Western Railway - about)"

So... one bit of FirstGroup has talked to er, another bit of FirstGroup and some movement between internal pots might take place. Even though, ultimately, there is just one big pot.

Some users on the cotswold line might say they've no pot at all of course.

[stuving]

So, not only having to contend with extended journey times because of the Newbury blockade, but also because of flooding at Hele. I feel very sorry for anybody from Devon and Cornwall visiting the capital today.

To compound matters, there is flooding between Axminster and Crewkerne on the Mule, so diversions are not possible that way either.

SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) are now (10:50) saying this:

Due to a river flooding the railway earlier today between Axminster and Yeovil Junction:

What's Going On:
Train services running through these stations may be delayed by up to 10 minutes or revised. Disruption is expected until 15:00 15/03.

What We're Doing About It:
Water levels in a river that runs alongside the railway between Axminster and Yeovil Junction rose precariously high. As a result, trains were running at caution through this area, however the water level has now dropped and normal working has resumed. Please see https://www.networkrail.co.uk/running-the-railway/looking-after-the-railway/delays-explained/flooding/ for more information on how flooding affects rail services.

We may need to make short-notice changes to trains in order to manage delays. We may need to cancel your train or change where your train stops.

It only ever was short delays, no cancellations; we'll see if the threat really has gone away.

[TaplowGreen]

Very glad I drove down to Plymouth yesterday, absolutely no problem M5/A38 despite the monsoon warnings.

[JayMac]

Having been in Axminster this morning I can confirm that the river Axe is dropping. In the time it took me to wander round Pets at Home it dropped by about a foot. Mk 1 eyeball measure at the point where the Axe flows under the A358 at Weycroft Bridge. It's a little further up the line at Wadbrook, between Broom AHBC^▸ (Automatic Half Barrier Crossing) and Axe AHBC where the river threatened the rail overbridge.

[ChrisB]

"The line towards Exeter is due to open shortly" - @GWRHelp

[grahame]

"There are minor disruptions on the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Network" - GWR front page, my bolding

[bobm]

Single line working being introduced over the down line as water has dropped below the height of the rail on that side.