Heart of Wessex Line - service issues (merged posts)

[whole diary]

[DaveHarries]

Should the new proposed stations at Langport/ Somerton and Wellington be built [.....]

All of those would be useful. Whether or not they materialise it is good to see Beeching being reversed.

Dave

[GEOFFTHROW]

HELLO,

Sometime last year I read an article in Somerset Live about the lost of the direct rail service between Yeovil and Taunton.
Today its a journey of about 40 mins. I suggested to Jaime Rockhill, Senior Strategic Planning Manager for Network Rail that the Cardiff to Taunton service could be extended to Weymouth via Castle Cary.
I worked out the through journey would be about 10 mins quicker if infrastructure changes at Castle Cary were possible. It will allow a through Taunton / Yeovil service and the opportunity to travel from South Dorset and change trains at Taunton were the level of service is good to Exeter St Davids and beyond.
My suggestion had been taken on board with the Dorset CMSP in mind and the possible implications/ constraints using the Western mainline route.

[WSW Frome]

I have been meaning to comment on this post for some time, so here are some thoughts.

HoW^‡(resolve) services should ideally become hourly but is the market demand really there? A more frequent service will presumably stimulate the market and generate new travel but it is a chicken and egg story just like at the re-opened Melksham. Historically (without checking) I doubt an hourly type of service was ever provided, except possibly Weymouth to Yeovil PM, at certain times of day.

Travel involving change of route at Yeovil Junction represents a similar story and very long-standing discussion point. Is the demand really there? Weymouth to Exeter might seem attractive but an alternative used by many currently is to change at Castle Cary. I have observed significant numbers opting for this and some easy connections exist. Journey times with a good connection might be faster than via Honiton. So this leaves travel options between Weymouth and Crewkerne, Axminster and Honiton. Others are also promoting eastbound journeys towards Salisbury and London. Axminster has a reasonable bus service from Bridport and Dorchester.

There was once a reasonable train service between the three Yeovil stations and I used this regularly in my wild mid-60s youth. Very few interchange passengers were observed then.

So in both cases the service has to be provided to stimulate the demand, which we hope is there to be met. An excellent proposition to aspire to these improvements.

On a more positive note, the Clifton Maybank Curve (seemingly now called Yeovil South by politicos?) has acquired a set of marker/survey pegs in recent months. So is this Network Rail carrying out some early survey work under the radar? Or do they simply mark out the line of some underground services? Here's hoping!   

[Trowres]

Dorchester West fared marginally better than Okehampton yesterday, with only 4 of 18 scheduled calls being made.

I believe that more than one issue was responsible. Perhaps someone could confirm that in addition to a "points failure" in the Dorchester vicinity, there was another between Bristol and Bath, and a further cancellation due to a train fault?

[bradshaw]

Here is the page from RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) for Dorchester West yesterday
https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/search/detailed/gb-nr:DCW/2024-11-21/0200-0159?stp=WVS&show=all&order=wtt

There was a problem all over W Dorset once you got onto the hills. The A35 was blocked in a couple of places as was the A37. Even that hub of the universe, Crewkerne, and the A30 were affected.

[bradshaw]

Seven days on an the service affected by crew shortages again.

Journey check showing:

06:38 Weymouth to Gloucester due 10:02 has been delayed at Weymouth and is now 19 minutes late. This is due to train crew being delayed.

07:33 Weymouth to Gloucester due 10:56 will be started from Westbury.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

13:10 Gloucester to Weymouth due 16:27 will be terminated at Bristol Temple Meads.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

15:10 Gloucester to Weymouth due 18:27 will be terminated at Bristol Temple Meads.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

[brooklea]

Seven days on an the service affected by crew shortages again.

Journey check showing:

06:38 Weymouth to Gloucester due 10:02 has been delayed at Weymouth and is now 19 minutes late. This is due to train crew being delayed.

07:33 Weymouth to Gloucester due 10:56 will be started from Westbury.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

13:10 Gloucester to Weymouth due 16:27 will be terminated at Bristol Temple Meads.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

15:10 Gloucester to Weymouth due 18:27 will be terminated at Bristol Temple Meads.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

And also

09:09 Gloucester to Weymouth due 12:27 will be terminated at Westbury.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

13:28 Weymouth to Gloucester due 16:56 will be started from Westbury.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

[grahame]

First day back after Christmas and the Westbury blockage means that most trains are running as Frome - Weymouth shuttles - or it should do ...

09:42 Weymouth to Frome due 11:07
11:17 Frome to Weymouth due 12:35
13:45 Weymouth to Frome due 15:09
15:18 Frome to Weymouth due 16:36
17:45 Weymouth to Frome due 19:10
19:19 Frome to Weymouth due 20:42

27/12/24 19:19 Frome to Weymouth due 20:42 will be cancelled.
This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.

and you may be caught short on the remaining ones ....

11:39 Weymouth to Frome due 13:08
13:20 Frome to Weymouth due 14:37
15:40 Weymouth to Frome due 17:08
17:18 Frome to Weymouth due 18:37
20:14 Weymouth to Frome due 21:35
21:49 Frome to Weymouth due 23:08

Facilities on the 21:49 Frome to Weymouth due 23:08.
Disabled toilet facilities are not available.
Additional Facilities Information
We apologise for the inconvenience caused.

[Trowres]

Severe disruption on Sunday 26th January 2025. I have highlighted some phrases that illustrate the ongoing shortcomings of the messaging, plus one of those little consequences of changes in the railway over the years.

Alterations to services between Weymouth and Westbury
Due to a fault with the signalling system between Weymouth and Westbury all lines are blocked.
Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.
Customer Advice
We are sorry for the delay to your journey today.


Can you tell me more about the incident?
A track circuit failure is blocking the single line between Castle Cary and Yeovil Pen Mill. To run trains there will need to be a Network Rail Engineer on site to pilot trains through the affected area safely.

Due to this incident all trains (bar the 21:38 departure from Westbury to Weymouth) between Weymouth and Westbury will be cancelled.


More information will follow as we have it.


What are my alternatives?
We appreciate that this will have disrupted your travel plans, especially those on Advance purchase tickets, please note that you will be able to use your ticket on a later train today.

We are running limited replacement road transport but your journey may be significantly delayed.

If you require any further assistance or information please speak to a member of Train Crew or Station Staff. Alternatively please use station help points where provided.
Last Updated:26/01/2025 17:09

The track circuit failure occurred sometime prior to 14:53. The effect upon services:

• 1332 Swindon-Weymouth terminated at Castle Cary at 14:53
• 1405 Weymouth-Bristol held at Yeovil Pen Mill from 1451 to 1613. Train terminated at Westbury
• 1605 Weymouth-Bristol cancelled throughout. (lack of train at Weymouth)
• 1753 Weymouth-Bristol cancelled between Weymouth and Westbury
• 1748 Bristol-Weymouth cancelled throughout
• 2011 Weymouth-Bristol cancelled throughout
• 2049 Bristol-Weymouth should be running

[Trowres]

Two further comments:

I recall seeing early today that the 2011 Weymouth-Bristol was cancelled anyway, due to staff issues. Along with the other services, it's now listed as due to a signalling problem.

While I'm sure that the people on duty today have been doing the best they can within the limits of system and resources, the collapse of the service for half a day due to a track circuit failure seems to reflect the lack of resilience toward which the railway has been heading for many years. One can understand why many of these changes have occurred, but perhaps, if the railway is really to be considered as vital, some thought needs to be given to how to mitigate these vulnerabilities. For this particular event, one could think of:

• Line singling (ca. 1970) - making degraded working more tricky (i.e. pilotman)
• De-staffing and centralisation - longer travel times for competent pilotman

• Privatisation - more separation of roles
• More stringent competency requirements? (is this so, regarding pilotmen?)

(edited to correct formatting)

[grahame]

Indeed - it's a "fair weather railway" ... with a problem that the weather becomes less and less fair these days.  Anything goes wrong and it's so complex, and with so few spares around, that it takes an age to fix.  But then the information systems are too simplistic, reporting only one reason for a train's failure to [run or whatever] when there's more to it, and not offering a "don't know if this will run" option to the people in HQ^▸ (Headquarters) feeding the data in when the reality is they don't know - a train sitting in the yard at Westbury with a fault, for example, is being worked on in preparation for a service and no-one knows whether it will be fixed in time.  Even if the engineer says "we don't know if we can fix it in time", the chap at HQ is limited in saying to the public "it will run" or "it won't run" both of which are oversimplifications to the extent of being wrong/misleading