Storm Dennis - 15th/16th Feb 2020

[whole diary]

[REVUpminster]

So Cowley junction flood works have failed. What good is the floatation barrier after the event; the water will drain away anyway once the rain stops.
The tracks here like at Teignmouth -Dawlish needs to be on raised piers. If they can do it for the M5 over the Exe they can do it for a two track railway over a much shorter distance.

[AMLAG]

"Network Rail have deployed their inflatable booms at Cowley Bridge to try to mitigate the effects of the flooding."
The Exeter /Taunton and N.Devon lines have been closed since start of Sunday.

At 1345 today I looked over the A377 main road bdge at Cowley to find about 6 men from NR^» (Network Rail - home page) Contractors Balfour Beatty in attendance with an UNinflated orange boom straddling the N.Devon and main lines lines in case the river flooded over the line later.
Heavy rainfall on Exmoor takes, via the river Exe, about 12 hours to reach Exeter.

This boom when inflated would thus stop most water going under the road bdge towards St D, but the floodwater would still flood across the lines and wash track ballast away.
There was apparently no flooding anywhere between Exeter and Taunton; not even at
flood prone Hele & B which has yet to have flood 'alleviation' works carried out.

At 1350 I found a queue of about 350-400 passengers waiting along the front of St D for coaches to Taunton...I dread to think how long some had been waiting (an empty IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) was noted stabled in Exeter New Yard) .
A coach from the small family firm of Powells of Lapford, arrived at 1405 from Taunton having taken just over an hour from Taunton with Passrs off the 1103 Padd.
Passengers I collected off this coach remarked how professionally and carefully the driver had driven; who in this instance clearly 'knew the road' and how comfy the coach seats were compared to the hard seats on the ' New (IET) Trains' ...no surprises there then !

[stuving]

Article here about what was done, and why.  There’s eventually a comparison of before and after closure expectations for both the Cowley Bridge and Axminster schemes.
https://www.railengineer.co.uk/2018/11/15/flood-resilience-schemes-in-southwest-england/

I'm not so sure about the historical accuracy of that, but having looked at a map it is clear that water does come down from the flood plain upstream. I'd assumed it wouldn't as the railway gets very close to high ground on the south side just above Cowley Bridge. The map shows that some damn fool (possibly the same one) dug a channel in that gap, no doubt so as to drain that next bit of cut-off flood plain. But all that water now has to go somewhere ..  a bit like road traffic, really.

[Timmer]

From GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Help......


⚠️A diversionary route via Yeovil is now flooded so the last service from Paddington to Taunton will be at 15.30.
Replacement buses will run from Bristol Temple Meads to Taunton, Tiverton Parkway and Exeter St Davids but these are expected to get busier as the day progresses.⚠️

Why would that stop GWR operating services to Taunton?

[bradshaw]

5L45 ecs Yeovil Junction to Exeter St Davids is running as a proving service,  departed 1744.

https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/92308/2020-02-16/detailed

Edit 1838
NR^» (Network Rail - home page) Wessex report on Twitter that line reopened at 1830 Sunday

[TonyK]

I'm not so sure about the historical accuracy of that, but having looked at a map it is clear that water does come down from the flood plain upstream. I'd assumed it wouldn't as the railway gets very close to high ground on the south side just above Cowley Bridge. The map shows that some damn fool (possibly the same one) dug a channel in that gap, no doubt so as to drain that next bit of cut-off flood plain. But all that water now has to go somewhere ..  a bit like road traffic, really.

The Exe meanders a lot around that part, as does the Creedy. The Culm joins the Exe not much north of Cowley Bridge. The three of them together form a big puddle on the flood plain. That has to go somewhere, usually the Cowley Bridge Inn. The chap who owns it complained bitterly that he is the sacrificial lamb for Network Rail, and that deployment of the boom might help the railway, but at his expense. I don't know if the previous works did anything to alter that sad state of affairs.

[grahame]

From GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Help......


⚠️A diversionary route via Yeovil is now flooded so the last service from Paddington to Taunton will be at 15.30.
Replacement buses will run from Bristol Temple Meads to Taunton, Tiverton Parkway and Exeter St Davids but these are expected to get busier as the day progresses.⚠️

Why would that stop GWR operating services to Taunton?

Cross Country have been turning their trains around at Bristol Temple Meads,  so the service to Taunton has been just one stopper an hour.  Taking everyone arriving in Bristol for Exeter and beyond and putting them on the short stopper would be slow and overcrowded.  Then when they get to Taunton, they couldn't use the south side to transfer to buses because of all the works going on; really unsuitable for large volume rail to road transfer.

[RA]

When the railway was constructed at Cowley Bridge, the Exe was diverted for a short distance to its current channel that runs adjacent and parallel to the north side of the railway on the eastern approach to Cowley Bridge Junction. I was wondering whether the channel mentioned by Stuving was the former natural course of the river?

The installation of the high capacity culverts under the main line was intended to prevent water from backing up against the railway embankment and causing ballast washout by allowing a significantly increased volume of water to pass under the railway compared to the previous version.

The decision to close the railway and deploy the booms would have been made after receiving data from the weather forecast provider. The rainfall and river flow data for the catchment area would have been monitored at regular intervals and compared with previous events to give a prediction of likely water levels lower down the system later on. On this occasion it was deemed likely that the infrastructure would be at risk of a flooding event. Just a slight difference in reality compared to the predicted model can be the difference between flooding and not. The work undertaken in the area was to increase resilience so that the railway would only be affected by a 'once every 10 years' flooding event. Time will tell if that sort of event will actually become more frequent than that and require further mitigation work.

Certain locations (such as the Blackwater River bridge near Broom level crossing that saw the former LSWR^▸ (London South Western Railway) route blocked to trains) use remote monitoring equipment and the line will be closed immediately once the water level has reached the predetermined limit. A problem with some rail over river bridges affected by flooding is that even though the water level may have dropped low enough to allow the resumption of train movements, the bridge may still require a visual inspection before being passed as safe to use. Bridge scour is a serious risk and procedures were significantly tightened up following the fatal Glanrhyd Bridge collapse in 1987.

[IndustryInsider]

1803, 1836, 1903, 2003 Paddington to Plymouth/Truro all cancelled.

That only leaves the Sleeper at 2350 if you're hoping to head to the South West this evening.

I can't find an 18:36 or a 19:03 in the schedules today.  Were they even supposed to be running with the planned engineering alterations beyond Truro today?

Anyway, the 18:00 to Plymouth ran as far as Bristol.  The 18:03 to Truro was reinstated and ran as far as Taunton.  17:03, 20:03 and 21:03 were cancelled throughout.

The sleeper, only booked to run as far as Plymouth tonight anyway, is currently down as 'will be starting late from London Paddington. This is due to train crew being delayed by service disruption.'

[Trowres]

I can't find an 18:36 or a 19:03 in the schedules today.  Were they even supposed to be running with the planned engineering alterations beyond Truro today?

I looked at GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)'s weekly engineering poster (available online) and it made no mention of cancellations east of Truro, although RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) shows the 1703, 1803 and 1903 with the CAN marker that generally shows a planned cancellation.

The service at Pewsey and Westbury has been - to put it mildly - sparse today. Only three trains called at Pewsey (unless there were any unadvertised that don't show up on RTT). From the passing times at Heywood Rd and Fairwood Junctions, it appears that the "fast" services did not call at Westbury to fill in the gaps - the only down trains recorded were 0920 and 1600; the only up trains at 1043 and 1115.

I believe that there was flooding between Newbury and Reading later in the afternoon. Nevertheless, the Journeycheck headline:

Cancellations to services between Exeter St Davids and Taunton

doesn't quite convey the message that the whole Paddington-Taunton route was a washout.

[grahame]

The water level rises quickly at some places and slower at others ... this looks like Chipping Sodbury tunnel again.  At least there is a reasonable diversionary route, even if it makes for.a very busy line and trains arriving at the far end of their services after they are supposed to have left on their next duty.

Delays to services between Bristol Parkway and Swindon
Due to heavy rain flooding the railway between Bristol Parkway and Swindon the line towards Bristol Parkway is blocked.
Train services running through these stations may be delayed. Disruption is expected until 10:00 17/02.

[stuving]

And elsewhere...from The Connexion:

France suffers more destruction as Storm Dennis ends

Around 45,000 homes were left without power in the northwest quarter of France this weekend, and there was disruption on TGV^▸ (Train a Grande Vitesse) services and airlines due to continued destruction by Storm Dennis.
...
Severe delays were reported on TGV services, especially from Montparnasse station in Paris, after a number of trees fell over train lines. The Pays de la Loire and the Centre Val de Loire were especially badly affected.

More than 700 passengers on a TGV from Nantes to Paris took 15 hours to reach the capital, after they had to be transferred onto another train overnight. Another 675-passenger TGV from Nantes to Lille and Strasbourg became stuck due to a lack of power on the rails.

Interviewed passenger off that 15-hour marathon journey complained about no power, so no food or water, and no working toilets. SNCF^▸ (Societe Nationale des Chemins de fer Francais - French National Railways) were keen to point out that they did supply food (maybe not to all) and a working TGV from Le Mans, though that wasn't until 2:00 the next morning after a 15:00 start.

[bobm]

The water level rises quickly at some places and slower at others ... this looks like Chipping Sodbury tunnel again.  At least there is a reasonable diversionary route, even if it makes for.a very busy line and trains arriving at the far end of their services after they are supposed to have left on their next duty.

Delays to services between Bristol Parkway and Swindon
Due to heavy rain flooding the railway between Bristol Parkway and Swindon the line towards Bristol Parkway is blocked.
Train services running through these stations may be delayed. Disruption is expected until 10:00 17/02.

Line towards Swindon is open but with a severe speed restriction.

[martyjon]

The water level rises quickly at some places and slower at others ... this looks like Chipping Sodbury tunnel again.  At least there is a reasonable diversionary route, even if it makes for.a very busy line and trains arriving at the far end of their services after they are supposed to have left on their next duty.

Delays to services between Bristol Parkway and Swindon
Due to heavy rain flooding the railway between Bristol Parkway and Swindon the line towards Bristol Parkway is blocked.
Train services running through these stations may be delayed. Disruption is expected until 10:00 17/02.

Line towards Swindon is open but with a severe speed restriction.

The problem here is the Dodington Spring which erupts after heavy rain has topped up the aquafer which feeds the spring which has I am told has an outlet in the tunnel itself. Before the days of Railtrack, BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) were advised to construct an underground reservoir and install high volume pumps to pump water into said reservoir and further pumps to pump water into the nearby River Froome which is higher than the Sodbury portal of the tunnel and opens onto a flood plain north of the line.

I spoke too soon a day or so ago.

[TonyK]

I drove to Exeter today, and have to go back later.

It's still very wet from Rewe onwards, particularly so after crossing over the bridge at Stoke Canon. The rivers disappear under a temporary lake. Men in orange were evident around the bridge over the Exe north-east of Cowley Bridge. There were still plenty of buses outside St Davids, although from RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website), it seems that trains were running again to Barnstaple and towards Bristol. I drove past around 12 noon.

Around 10.30, I was in Tiverton. I haven't seen the Exe so high and fast there before, quite a sight although no danger to the town. But a Fire and Rescue Service vehicle appeared in a hurry, blues and twos going, towing a small boat on a trailer. A helicopter appeared, and was still hovering over the river on the Exeter side 30 minutes later when I left my appointment. Another 30 minutes later, I drove past some of the rescue team, standing by the river in Ashley, where the ground rises and the flood wall protecting Tiverton ends. I hope that wasn't as bad as it looked.