Rain event 24/11/24 (Storm Bert)

[whole diary]

[Mark A]

Does anyone have a prediction as to how this event will evolve? It's giving the impression that it has the potential for disrupting things for a day or five. Has the downpour caused serious damage anywhere?

Mark

[Subject edited to clarify that the rain event was Storm Bert - Red Squirrel]

[Trowres]

It's been hard to keep up with events, but, trying to summarise the state towards the end of Sunday:

• Line closed between Newton Abbot and Plymouth (flooding)
• Exeter-Barnstaple closed (trees)
• Exeter-Okehampton closed (trees)
• Plymouth-Gunnislake (trees)
• Taunton-Castle Cary closed (flooding)
• Weston SM - Bristol closed (flooding)
• Swindon-Bristol Parkway closed (flooding / landslip)
• Swindon-Chippenham closed (flooding both sides of Wootton Bassett Jn)
• Chippenham-Bath closed (flooding)
• Oxford-Worcester closed (flooding)- the 21:36 Paddington-Worcester reversed at Oxford and now planned to run via Swindon and Stroud
• Not sure about Westbury-Reading, although trains are unable to call at Newbury (flooding)
• Birmingham-Bristol blocked. Journeycheck says between Birmingham and Cheltenham (although a freight has just traversed this and maps suggest south of Standish Jn
• Lydney-Gloucester blocked (flooding)
• Great Malvern-Hereford blocked (flooding)
• Hereford-Abergavenny blocked (landslip)

Information gathered from Journeycheck / RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) / Opentraintimes / Tiger. Not always logically consistent.

[grahame]

It's been hard to keep up with events, but, trying to summarise the state towards the end of Sunday:

Information gathered from Journeycheck / RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) / Opentraintimes / Tiger. Not always logically consistent.

Thanks of that list - yesterday was a really good day not to travel and today starts with

Cancellations to services between Exeter St Davids and Okehampton via Crediton
Cancellations to services between Exeter St Davids and Barnstaple via Crediton
Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Swansea via Bristol Parkway
Cancellations to services between Exeter St Davids and Bristol Temple Meads
Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Penzance via Exeter St Davids
Cancellations to services between Liskeard and Looe
Cancellations to services between Plymouth and Gunnislake
Delays to services between Gloucester and Bristol Parkway

which isn't even a full list ... selected from elsewhere

05:10 Oxford to Worcester Shrub Hill due 06:15

05:10 Oxford to Worcester Shrub Hill due 06:15 will be cancelled.
This is due to heavy rain flooding the railway.

05:11 Gloucester to Southampton Central due 08:07

05:11 Gloucester to Southampton Central due 08:07 will be cancelled.
This is due to heavy rain flooding the railway.

05:23 Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington due 06:57

05:23 Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington due 06:57 will be cancelled.
This is due to heavy rain flooding the railway.

[grahame]

And "partials" are just as much cancellations for stations left out.  To give an idea of some of the other issues this morning:

03:38 Swansea to London Paddington due 07:16
03:38 Swansea to London Paddington due 07:16 will be terminated at Bristol Parkway.
It will no longer call at Swindon, Didcot Parkway, Reading and London Paddington.
This is due to heavy rain flooding the railway.

04:50 Fratton to Bristol Temple Meads due 07:28
04:50 Fratton to Bristol Temple Meads due 07:28 was started from Eastleigh.
It will no longer call at Fratton, Cosham, Portchester and Fareham.
This is due to heavy rain flooding the railway.

05:27 Newbury to Reading due 06:03
05:27 Newbury to Reading due 06:03 will be started from Newbury Racecourse.
It will no longer call at Newbury.
This is due to heavy rain flooding the railway.

06:38 Weymouth to Gloucester due 10:02
06:38 Weymouth to Gloucester due 10:02 will be started from Yeovil Pen Mill.
It will no longer call at Weymouth, Upwey, Dorchester West, Maiden Newton, Chetnole, Yetminster and Thornford.
This is due to heavy rain flooding the railway.

[grahame]

BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) Live feed:

Major rail disruption persists

published at 05:28

Flooding and high winds brought by Storm Bert have caused significant travel disruption across the country.
The most affected areas appear to be the routes linking London with the west of England and Wales.

Network Rail has advised people not to travel today on the following routes:
Penzance to London Paddington Newport
Bristol Parkway to London Paddington Bristol Temple Meads, Swindon, Reading to London Paddington
Worcester to London Paddington
Exeter St Davids to Okehampton and Exeter to Barnstaple

Several other rail lines are also closed or expecting serious disruption, including:
All lines between Plymouth and Gunnislake are closed, as well as those between Liskeard and Looe
Some lines in the Northampton area area blocked
The line between Great Malvern and Hereford is closed
Trains will not run between Lancaster and Barrow-in-Furness until Friday

This list is not exhaustive - check the National Rail website or with your train operator before travelling.

[Sulis John]

And yet GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)’s own website tells us “There’s a good service running across our network”.

[Mark A]

And yet GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)’s own website tells us “There’s a good service running across our network”.

A bit naughty as the amount of red crayon on the coffeeshop's wonderful map this morning suggests otherwise.

Mark

[lbraine]

And yet GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)’s own website tells us “There’s a good service running across our network”.

Beaten to it ! I was about to post the same. its almost like GWR is in denial, or is happy to mislead the public and take their money even when they know the service is less (much less) that the timetabled commitment.

Yesterday afternoon at PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) was horrendous - to secure a train back to Reading involved 4 platform changes / train changes
After dance number 3 between, the Taunton train was announced as NOT stopping at Reading. Dance number 4 ensued by passengers.
Onto a Swindon Stopper - that promptly gor routed behind a Lizzy Line train all the way to Reading. Even the drive/guard announcing that if you want a quicker journey - 'jump through the window to the Elizabeth Line train' next to us. Does not reflect the best morale in GWR.
Finally arrived at Reading after an hour stop-start to see he foresaid Taunton train happily sitting in the next platform.

On the upside - with the train dancing I was able to witness the best of people - as many elderly and young families were helped by more able and seasoned travellers to understand and naviagate the inflected chaos.

I'm a big fan of Mark Hopwood but his railway is barely coping at the moment

[a-driver]

The disruption is that great they simply can can’t cope with the information and changes incoming….. the departure boards are all incorrect.
It highlights some serious deficiencies within GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) control, be it experience, decision making and/or staffing levels.

[IndustryInsider]

It highlights some serious deficiencies within GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) control, be it experience, decision making and/or staffing levels.

I would suggest it’s bit of all three.

[a-driver]

And yet GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)’s own website tells us “There’s a good service running across our network”.

Code BLACK, which is basically the do not travel advice, doesn't trigger anything on the website or App.

They've now downgraded the level of disruption to a Code RED which then means journey check, the website, App will display service disruption

[johnneyw]

The Bristol to Exeter service that I planned to take today has been cancelled.  Next service still scheduled to run gets me there two hours later.  Just as well that I became aware this before I left the house but I really should have checked earlier... that way I needn't have rushed my cup of coffee!


Edit to add footnote.   Further cancellations towards Devon from Temple Meads today meant my further attempts to get to Exeter had to be abandoned.  The friend who I meant to meet there managed the trip down The Mule from Crewkerne but I've not heard yet how the return leg went....or didn't.

[AMLAG]

Rather surprisingly with the main line closed between Plymouth and N.Abbot from approx 1130 Sunday until early today ‘due flooding between Ivybridge and Totnes’ ( at again ? S. Brent rail over river Avon Bdge with an unresolved river bed scour problem ? ) that two NR^» (Network Rail - home page) Engineers trains were allowed to run through operated by the Freightliner FOC^▸ (Freight Operating Company); the 1500 Goonbarrow ( ex Nqy) to Westbury and the 1007 Westbury to Goonbarrow (for Nqy ).

[Bob_Blakey]

I reckon that Network Rail (NR^» (Network Rail - home page)) and the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) now need to draw up and rapidly implement a plan to deal with the catalogue of obvious flooding blackspots. Different solutions will be required depending on the local topography but Cowley Bridge Junction is an excellent example of what can be achieved if the issues are addressed properly.

Tunnels and/or cuttings prone to repeated flooding could be fitted with pumping systems to move the water elsewhere via pipelines. Sites where pooling is an issue could be provided with larger culverts and/or underground storage tanks. Sections of line running on flood plains could be protected by the installation of sheet piling which, if necessary, would allow the track level to be raised (with the obvious considerations regarding bridge clearances).

But.....who's going to pay for it?!

[Trowres]

I am pondering over the accuracy and tone of the messaging being provided about train services. This from an update 11:44 today:

London Paddington - Swansea

Train services between London Paddington and South Wales are subject to severe disruption due to flooding. The level of disruption combined with shortages of train crew and planned engineering works means that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) are unable to guarantee that any journey on this route will remain feasible this evening and intending customers are strongly advised to amend their travel plans to travel today or Tuesday 26th November.

Trains are only running between London Paddington and Swindon, they are unable to divert via alternative routes as these are both closed by flooding. Great Western Railway are unable to offer alternative transport between Swindon and Bristol Parkway. You are advised not to attempt to travel along this route.

The first paragraph is confusing and looks like the result of editing yesterday's text. The second paragraph is inaccurate as, at the time of the update, South Wales services were running in both directions via Chippenham.

Bearing mind that conditions on the roads aren't exactly fun, with closures on the A36 (power lines down in addition to roadworks) and congestion on the A350 / A361, it might be an idea to (suitably nuanced) point out that trains on the Bristol-Southampton line are running a tolerably useful service. ( I was going to include the Melksham line (gasp) but at this moment the train's in the platform at Westbury, apparently waiting for a conductor).