Colwall station - facilities, services, events and incidents (merged posts)

[whole diary]

[prb58]

 On Tuesday 15th July, the 17:21 ex Paddington came rushing through Colwall (due 20:07) three minutes late, but didn't stop.
It was most impressive to see, but does anyone know why it didn't stop ?

[Chris from Nailsea]

Hello, prb58, and welcome to the Coffee Shop forum!

A good question you've posted there: does anyone have any answers?? 

[swlines]

From Go By Train:

Train: 17:21 London Paddington to Hereford due 20:37

Details: This train will be terminated at Great Malvern. It will no longer call at: Colwall, Ledbury and Hereford. This is due to a train fault.

Last updated: 17:29:01 15/07/2008

[12hoursunday]

Usaully this happens due to a failure of the power car sliding doors or the security door leading from the luggage van to the train. These need both to be operational in case access is needed for evacuation purposes in Ledbury Tunnel. Any evacuations in this tunnel cannot be done via the passenger doors located on the trailers due to them not having a sufficient space between the train and tunnel wall. Some Train Managers also fail a service when coach lighting fails.

prb58
If you want to see the impressive sight of a HST^▸ (High Speed Train) thundering through Colwall on a regular basis go down to the station at about 23.15 Monday to Friday to watch 5W71 on it's way to Hereford after working the 20.20 Paddington to Gt Malvern (1W71)

[Worcester_Passenger]

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-18578214.

[chuffed]

Should have 'sett' to work between Honley and Stocksmoor !!
If you are still puzzled check table 34 in the National rail Timetable ....

[Worcester_Passenger]

..and today it turns out that the badgers have been wrongly accused : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-18595167. A "build-up of water" isn't half as interesting!

[JayMac]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gx6TBrfCW54

cf: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stinking_badges#Later_citations

 

[Worcester_Passenger]

A question about who looks after the provision of information to passengers at these times.

The line between Great Malvern and Hereford is currently closed due to emergency engineering works at Colwall - see http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/service_disruptions/today.html.

FGW^▸ (First Great Western) are stopping their trains at Worcester Shrub Hill. They've have documented this on the disruptions part of their site, at
http://www.journeycheck.com/firstgreatwestern/. They also seem to have altered the schedules in the departure boards at http://www.journeycheck.com/firstgreatwestern/ so that these trains are shown as "cancelled" between Worcester and Hereford.

However, London Midland aren't reporting anything. Their journeycheck listings, at http://www.londonmidland.com/your-journey/live-info/ say

Line problem: between Great Malvern and H...

Owing to emergency engineering works between Great Malvern and Hereford all lines are blocked.
Impact:
Train services running through these stations may be cancelled or delayed at short notice. Disruption is expected until 23:45 24/09.

- but the train-by-train listings on the same page make no mention of any changes to the Hereford trains.

And the schedules for their part of the departure boards display still show trains as running to and from Hereford.

I suppose that it's possible that London Midland's staff shortages are such that no-one's looking after passenger information. But surely somebody should be looking after this?

[Louis94]

Due to an approx 6ft deep & 30ft wide hole that has opened up under the track at Colwall the railway line is closed.

London Paddington to Hereford services will terminate at Worcester Shrub Hill with their return working starting at Worcester Shrub Hill.

Services from London Paddington to Great Malvern will continue to operate as booked subject to congestion in the Worcester Foregate Street area.

Alterations to other FGW^▸ (First Great Western) train services operating through the area will be paged separately, Arriva Trains Wales are managing all replacement road transport between Hereford, Great Malvern and Worcester.

[Worcester_Passenger]

Thanks for that. 30 foot wide sounds scary.

[Worcester_Passenger]

and indeed, there's a scary picture at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-19710125.

The badgers are being blamed again.

[grahame]

The badgers are being blamed again.

Hmm ... what they say is "Network Rail said the hole emerged on Monday in Colwall next to one believed to have been caused by badgers." which doesn't actually blame the badgers.  If it did, it would be rather like taking you to court because your neighbour has been caught fiddling his taxes 

[Louis94]

and indeed, there's a scary picture at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-19710125.

The badgers are being blamed again.

Apparently they've had this subsidence problem before in the area.

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Hereford to Malvern rail line remains closed after collapsed pipe

Trains between Great Malvern and Hereford remain cancelled after a collapsed pipe caused a "very deep hole" on the line in Colwall.

Network Rail said it appeared after heavy rain next to one that emerged after a build-up of water in June.

A statement from Network Rail said it is hoped the line will reopen on Wednesday.

National Rail Enquiries said a limited bus service was running between Worcester Shrub Hill and Hereford.

Its website said First Great Western passengers could use Arriva Trains Wales services between Hereford and Newport, and London Midland services between Worcester Shrub Hill and Great Malvern.

A statement from Network Rail said water flowing from a clay pipe had saturated the surrounding ground and a chamber has been dammed for the water to be pumped from it.

Engineers were planning to dig out the wet ground and install concrete sleepers as a new base before new ballast and track are installed.

Earlier in the year surplus water after heavy rain caused another hole, leading to some rail services on the line being cancelled, Network Rail said.

On Monday the Met Office said on Twitter that in 24 hours 64.6mm (2.5in) of rainfall had been recorded in Hereford, making it "one of the wettest places in the country".

A flood warning for the River Teme at Bransford in Worcestershire has been issued by the Environment Agency.

A warning for the River Teme at Stanford Bridge in Herefordshire remains in place.

Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service said they were called to more than 40 flood-related incidents on Monday.