SWR train terminated at Yeovil: passengers left with a 'Situation'.

[whole diary]

[Mark A]

Journalist's son aboard, situation eventually mitigated by the (2 miles distant) Premier Inn.

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2021/dec/11/south-western-left-my-16-year-old-son-stranded-at-a-locked-unstaffed-station

[Clan Line]

"We are investigating this incident to learn lessons from what went wrong and improve our processes."

1. Does anyone believe garbage like this ??
2. Perhaps even more worringly..............does anyone within SWR^» (South Western Railway - about), honestly and truthfully, believe that the public will believe garbage like this ?

[Timmer]

Of more concern is incidents like this will often go unreported unless a journalist or someone related to a journalist just so happens to be on board a train that terminates short late in the evening leaving passengers to fend for themselves.

[TaplowGreen]

We've discussed extensively elsewhere how far the railways have to travel when it comes to developing a culture of customer service and respect for their customers.

This is a perfect example - writ large by the response from SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) "customer service" department.

If any of my staff failed so comprehensively and pushed off without ensuring that provision was made for our customers or even checking for any vulnerabilities, they would be dismissed for gross misconduct - I know they wouldn't however, because we employ the sort of people who go the extra mile in these circumstances, and we always put the customer first.

This isn't the first example of this type of failure and it's really appalling that it happens - it's more than unfortunate, it's systemic failure - at least the hotel receptionist and taxi firm Boss did their bit.

[broadgage]

"We are investigating this incident to learn lessons from what went wrong and improve our processes."

1. Does anyone believe garbage like this ??
2. Perhaps even more worringly..............does anyone within SWR^» (South Western Railway - about), honestly and truthfully, believe that the public will believe garbage like this ?

A few rail industry advocates might believe both the above, but I doubt that anyone else does.

[Clan Line]

A passing thought......

.....perhaps Premier Inn would like to take over the SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) franchise - I've used them many times for work and leisure and have always found them to be very customer aware.

[broadgage]

This sort of event really does need to be taken more seriously rather than being treated as "just a delay"

Being stranded overnight in wet, windy and cold conditions on a presumably open platform is potentially DANGEROUS and is NOT "just another delay.

A presumably fairly fit 16 year old would probably survive, but even in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) death from exposure is entirely possible after some hours  in the conditions described. Death could be LIKELY for anyone already in poor health or not dressed for the conditions.

It is most fortunate that a taxi was eventually found and that the hotel firstly relaxed the rules, and secondly had a room spare.

"The railway" really needs a plan for these and related situations.
Do the passengers have any dry, lit and heated shelter ?
Is rescue reliably expected within an hour ?
Is the weather mild and expected to remain so ?

If the answer to any of the above is "no" then the situation needs to be regarded as an emergency and not just another delay. If "The railway" can not do anything about the situation, then reliance on the emergency services or even the armed forces may be the answer.

I suspect that stranded passengers being rescued by the police or fire brigade would be so embarrassing, that the railway would soon decide that they could do in fact do something themselves.

[stuving]

I was wondering about this "delayed 18:27 London to Exeter service" of SWR^» (South Western Railway - about)'s. That's all we are told about it, but what date was this, and how late was the train? There's no 18:27 departure from Waterloo, but then it doesn't say "Waterloo". The 18:20 leaves Clapham Junction at 18:27, so that sounds very likely. That wasn't terminated short by storm Barra, but it was on Thursday 21st October.

The record shows that train (1L57) arrived at Yeovil Junction at 20:47, only 7 minutes late. The reason given for it stopping there was "Reason IV [Earthslip/subsidence/breached sea defences not the result of severe weather] EN ROUTE". The last train to get through to Exeter OK left YVJ at 13:39, 1L but it lost time steadily to be 34L at EXD^» (Exeter St Davids - next trains). The next one arrived into YVJ on time at 14:37 and stopped there with the same reason code as 1L57. I think "en route" is when the termination was decided, but the landslip was known at least four hours earlier. (Note that "not the result of severe weather" indicates that there was no warning to the public not to travel in force, and has nothing to do with the actual cause of the landslip.)

The first question that arises is what was said to passengers before or during the journey about the likely termination short at Yeovil, and its implications. 

[stuving]

I've checked on Recent Train Times, and 21st October was the last time 1L57 was terminated at YVP. But it was not the only time - going back 100 days, there were two more: the previous two days. On both days a lot of trains got very late and were stopped short due to "Reason X4 [Blanket speed restriction or Key Route Strategy implemented in accordance with Group Standards or other national operational safety instruction] EN ROUTE", and others the same but "at origin".

On 19th, after 1L57 stopped at YVJ the next train (1L61) made it through to EXD^» (Exeter St Davids - next trains) by 23:42 (58L). So that's not a likely date.

On the 20th, however, things were even worse than on 21st, with 1L57 53L when it was cancelled at YVJ. Both days all later trains from London went no further, with returning services starting at YVJ. But on 20th, the delays were greater, and more trains were cancelled, Even the one train to Pen Mill didn't run - it did on 21st, and there was time to get to Castle Cary for a GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) train to EXD, though in fact no train ran to make that connection.

So I think 20th October is a more likely date. But either way, the impression in the article that this group were left entirely on their own is misleading - several trains, with staff on them, arrived from or departed to Salisbury or London.

[stuving]

Contemporary Twitter feeds (20th/21st October) have appeared on railforums, which add a little more background. I can't say how complete the record is, only record what I see.

The bad weather began on 19th, with blanket speed restrictions, but I don't recall any actual flooding. On 20th, this message continued through the day, and it does seem that the cancellations (some partial) were due to slow running. There were warnings of disruption, with these messages just after 16:30:

Due to severe weather trains have to run at reduced speed on all lines. Train services running across the whole South Western Railway network may be cancelled, delayed or revised."
"Disruption is expected until the end of the day. Your journey is likely to take longer and you may need to use a replacement bus to complete your journey.

A band of strong winds and heavy rain are currently moving across our network. Speed restrictions are currently in place on these routes:
- Exeter to Salisbury
- Weymouth to Dorchester

Then after 21:30 (too late to help in this case):

We've received reports of heavy rain flooding the railway between Yeovil Junction and Exeter St David's Train services may be disrupted through this area.

On the 21st, the bad news started from the beginning, but the speed restrictions were expected to end soon - 12:00, a time that slipped later throughout the day. Before 10:00 the message was starker:

We recommend that you do not travel on our services between Exeter St David’s and Salisbury until 14:00. At this time, we estimate that disruption to our services will end at 16:00

Due to flooding between Exeter St David’s and Salisbury ❗ Do not travel on our services between Exeter & Salisbury
Information source Your ticket will be valid to travel on services tomorrow (21/10/21)
Ticket acceptance on Stagecoach 4, 4a, 9 & 9a Exeter - Axminster via Honiton

There were promises of ticket acceptance by GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway), naming a variety of routes, and then a general "any reasonable route" one at 17:00. At 17:37:

We're currently experiencing issues with sourcing replacement transport on this route. If you are able to source your own taxi, you can claim any expenses back from our Customer Service team online: https://bit.ly/3aZ2N7K  or by post: Freepost SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) CUSTOMER RELATIONS

and 6:05

We strongly advise that you do not travel to stations between Yeovil Junction and Exeter St David's as you may not complete your journey.

Assuming the relevant day is 20th, the relevance of what was put out on 21st is the absence of that the day before (assuming that's a valid inference from the recovered feed). It looks as if SWR expected to cope, until the flooding late in the day meant they could not. It is also worth noting that the messages being put out on Twitter should have been matched by what was on show at Waterloo. But if this lad joined the train at CLJ, how much of that was even visible, let alone prominent?