Storms Eunice, Franklin, Gladys from 18/2/2022

[whole diary]

[ChrisB]

This experience, does in my view support my earlier remarks about the considerable importance of providing local trains to and within urban areas, in order that essential workers may get to work, and home again. My earlier remark mentioned doctors specifically, but could reasonably be understood to include "and other healthcare workers"

You do of course realise that 387s, and indeed anything else, finds it veey difficult to step over a fallen tree.

And I wouldn't like to be the magaer that sent his staff out into that lot with chain saws, although they might be a little help to cut up the second tree that fell, this time on them. Would you do the sending out or the job itself?

Sometimes things aren't that straightforward...

Quite - and NO ONE has yet mentioned the on-train staff - I don't think that even a driver's wages cover the risk of collision with a fallen tree, etc. Anything over 10mph is not likely to stop in time in front of a falling tree....

[PhilWakely]

Still no services on SWR^» (South Western Railway - about).

There have been some trains between Axminster and Basingstoke/Waterloo since first thing.

Looking at RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) it would appear that services between Salisbury and Waterloo have been running pretty much all day uninterrupted, whereas west of Salisbury has been very sparse with no particular pattern throughout the day. Looking at RTT for Crewkerne from first thing up until 18:45 (time of posting), 29 services were expected, but only 8 actually called (07:18, 09:21; 14:18; 16:17 and 18:19 Up services and just 13:35; 14:58 and 18:45 Down)

[Bmblbzzz]

Out of interest - does anyone know whether the (apparently) over-engineered OHL^▸ (Over-Head Line) on the GW^▸ (Great Western) Main Line all stayed in place during the storm, damage by falling trees or other structures excepted?

The structures being affected by high winds is rare, although TTC (twin track cantilever) suffer from high win loading, the wire even on the GW can get blown out of gauge in high winds.  The biggest risk to OLE^▸ (Overhead Line Equipment, more often "OHLE") is objects carried in high winds, plastic sheeting etc, that get caught up in the wires

Trampolines, traditionally.

[Surrey 455]

Still no services on SWR^» (South Western Railway - about).

There have been some trains between Axminster and Basingstoke/Waterloo since first thing.

Looking at RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) it would appear that services between Salisbury and Waterloo have been running pretty much all day uninterrupted, whereas west of Salisbury has been very sparse with no particular pattern throughout the day. Looking at RTT for Crewkerne from first thing up until 18:45 (time of posting), 29 services were expected, but only 8 actually called (07:18, 09:21; 14:18; 16:17 and 18:19 Up services and just 13:35; 14:58 and 18:45 Down)

Yes. I've just looked at a 2 hour period on RTT from approx 1300 - 1500 at Waterloo and can see that most trains did run though many were very delayed. In fact RTT shows that many of the trains showing as cancelled in my screenshot did actually run.

[stuving]

When I went past Wokingham station at about half past three yesterday, I was a bit surprised to see a Turbo in platform 1 - I thought they'd all stopped. In fact it had stopped; it was the 10:29 to Redhill that had been stood there ever since. Other trains on both services stopped at various other points along their route at around the same time.

There has been no service at all today. While there's no shortage of trees round here suitable for blocking railways, and that's true for much of the North Downs Line too, I was not sure why no SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) trains could have run. There are two ECS^▸ (Empty Coaching Stock) runs showing on RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website): one to Waterloo at 10:11, taking its time, and one outward at 19:17, keeping pretty well to its timings. They do look like successful route proving.

Then saw they ran via Kingston not Richmond. The signalling maps show an all-lines 'T3' block at Putney (plus a couple of sections labelled TREE), and in fact there's a planned closure and the diversions are timetabled. So why are there still no trains? Well, NR^» (Network Rail - home page) on Twitter reported a big tree removed earlier today, underneath which was a very bent signalling cabinet. That blockage is not on the signal map, though they are showing the line to Crowthorne as blocked.

I did defer my shopping  trip from just before midday until later, given that big oak trees along roads - even well into town - are a local feature. On my walk today I went a bit further out than the route to Waitrose, and the pavements are littered with tree fragments. The Holt school (and my neighbour) had lost fence panels, but I only saw one whole tree down on that short walk. I suspect the roads further out were blocked in several places, but they do go out and clear trees pretty quickly as it's quite a frequent occurrence. I remember in the past trying three routes from Reading to Wokingham and finding them all blocked (I think I resorted to the A329M).

[grahame]

When I went past Wokingham station at about half past three yesterday, I was a bit surprised to see a Turbo in platform 1 - I thought they'd all stopped. In fact it had stopped; it was the 10:29 to Redhill that had been stood there ever since. Other trains on both services stopped at various other points along their route at around the same time.

There has been no service at all today. While there's no shortage of trees round here suitable for blocking railways, and that's true for much of the North Downs Line too, I was not sure why no SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) trains could have run. There are two ECS^▸ (Empty Coaching Stock) runs showing on RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website): one to Waterloo at 10:11, taking its time, ...

At the height of the storm, a decision was taken to terminate all trains at the next staffed station - and that included intermediate stations where trains rarely terminate.

Sunday 20th February - North Downs line to remain blocked all day:

Cancellations to services between Reading and Redhill
Due to an obstruction on the track between Reading and Redhill all lines are blocked.
Train services running to and from these stations will be cancelled. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.
Customer Advice
A number of fallen trees are blocking the line between Reading and Redhill.

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We continue to advise customers not to travel at this time.
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We're sorry for the continued disruption to our services. Our teams are working hard to get trains running safely again as soon as possible.
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Please check the latest situation before attempting to travel.

[grahame]

Beyond Eurnice - a new storm .... this dated 20th February 2022

Cancellations to services on all routes
Due to severe weather:
Train services running across the whole Great Western Railway network may be cancelled or delayed. Disruption is expected until 13:00 21/02.
Customer Advice
We're sorry for the continued disruption to our services. Our teams are working hard to get trains running safely again as soon as possible.
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The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for much of the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) network on Sunday and Monday. Strong winds are forecast, posing a risk to lineside trees and structures already weakened by Storm Eunice.
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As a result, a 50mph speed restriction will be in place across the GWR network for the whole of Sunday and may be extended through Monday.
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We will be running a significantly reduced service, and late notice delays and cancellations are likely.
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Services that are able to run will be busy, and journeys will take longer. Degraded road conditions in the region will mean alternative transport will not be available.
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Only travel if absolutely necessary, andPlease check the latest situation before attempting to travel.
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Ticket easements:
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Tickets dated for travelon Friday 18 February, Saturday 19 & Sunday 20February will be valid for travel until Wednesday 23 February.
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Customers are strongly advised to check their journey before setting off and if possible, travel on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday instead.

[Timmer]

Looks like they are cancelling almost all trains between London and Exeter. The handful that are still down to run are going to be absolutely rammed.

[grahame]

Looks like they are cancelling almost all trains between London and Exeter. The handful that are still down to run are going to be absolutely rammed.

Looks like there might be some planning in there - a train running every couple of hours.  It will be interesting to see just how busy they are. on one hand, there is 'do not travel" advice, and on the other, half term and people who have already put off their journey on the previous advice of "do not travel during Eunice - your ticket will be valid on Sunday".

Noting the 50 m.p.h. limit ...  timekeeping will be - err - thrown to the wind.

St Ives appears to be alternate trains running - probably because at 50 mph they would be losing time all day and, I congecture, one train per hour will be sufficient capacity-wise.

Remembering these cuts are on top of an already-thinned covid timetable - gap in Melksham to Swindon, for example, 08:36 to 13:07 and there are no flagged cancellations on Journeycheck.

[TaplowGreen]

Looks like they are cancelling almost all trains between London and Exeter. The handful that are still down to run are going to be absolutely rammed.

Not a particularly unusual GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) scenario on a Sunday to be fair, but adding in people who were unable to travel on Friday or Saturday it will indeed be more rammed than usual.

I presume it's still buses between Plymouth and Tiverton too? I wonder how that will stand up. Hopefully GWR will be taking into account that they could be dealing with 3 days into 1 and will have booked extra coaches.......may even be an argument for extending these as far as Reading given the circumstances?

[bobm]

Both tonight's sleeper services cancelled.

[stuving]

At Wokingham, a train has run! Only to Guildford (due in 11:30), but there is scheduled work just after there and buses timetabled to link to Shalford. So far no buses have run, but then no trains have turned up. At least, not at the Guildford end - two trains have left Shalford towards Gatwick, so why no buses to feed them?

From Friday on, cancellations were given as due to high winds (XW), and east of Shalford they still are. At Reading, they have been saying "This service was cancelled due to temporary speed restrictions as a result of heat (X4)." That seems odd, but the full wording is "Blanket speed restriction for extreme heat or high wind in accordance with the Group Standards." Even then, that sounds like a reason to lose up to half the service, not all of it.

SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) are just not running trains, with no reason given. But the service would have been reduced anyway, due to the block at Putney, so it's hard to know why.

[grahame]

Storm FRANKLIN it is ... then - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-60452334

Storm Franklin is forecast to hit the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) after Storm Eunice left 1.4 million homes without power.
The Met Office has issued an amber wind warning for Northern Ireland for Monday morning and yellow ones for parts of the UK from Sunday.
This comes days after one of the worst storms in the UK in decades in which three people died.

[stuving]

At Wokingham, a train has run! Only to Guildford (due in 11:30), but there is scheduled work just after there and buses timetabled to link to Shalford. So far no buses have run, but then no trains have turned up. At least, not at the Guildford end - two trains have left Shalford towards Gatwick, so why no buses to feed them?

That's not fair, since RRBs^▸ (Rail Replacement Bus) never (or almost never) have actual times to show. But at least the connecting train from Shalford (12:05) left, six minutes late which matches the late arrival into Guildford, and kept that delay through to Gatwick.

[BBM]

150248/150265/150246 are working 1A86 14:15 Exeter St Davids to Reading:

https://twitter.com/Tall_Controller/status/1495403416293683204