Night Riviera - merged posts, ongoing discussion

[whole diary]

[rower40]

I don't know, I was going to say that the most surprising thing that happened was that someone in the TVSC^» (Thames Valley Signalling Centre - about) must have actually over ridden the ARS^▸ (Automatic Route Setting) for this to happen! Now that is a shock, S&TEngineer would never believe it!

Ah yes.  But that would probably have been at the request of GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway), so they take any delay minutes hit.  Still waiting for ARS to sort itself elsewhere (might be a very long wait;  bit like an ARS delayed train)......

Haven't you heard? NR^» (Network Rail - home page) have installed a Traffic Management system, 'Luminate'.  Now I have no evidence that this is what happened, but I've been led to believe that such a scenario is well within its capabilities; re-time and re-platform the Cardiff train, re-time the empty sleeper to terminate at Reading platform 13, and have the sleeper proper start there.  Two shakes of a mouse's tail, a few key-clicks here and there, the occasional "Out of Cheese" Error, and new timetables are downloaded to ARS for it to run the trains.

[bobm]

Looking back to last week on RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) the two services often used platforms 12 and 13.

As Industry Insider mentioned earlier this is quite common due to engineering work closing lines.

[Adelante_CCT]

Yes, last week because the main lines were shut east of Reading, this week the relief lines are shut both east and west of Reading, meaning P9 should be used by the Cardiff

[bobm]

Out of interest what is open *west* of Reading.

[stuving]

Yes, last week because the main lines were shut east of Reading, this week the relief lines are shut both east and west of Reading, meaning P9 should be used by the Cardiff

? But last night was this week!

[grahame]

Out of interest what is open *west* of Reading.

Keep very quiet .... but I think the Berks and Hants via Pewsey is actually open this week!

[Adelante_CCT]

Ok, so last week, both the Cardiff and Penzance used P12/P13, the main lines were shut between Slough and Reading.

This week, which includes last night, the relief lines are shut between Slough (or further east) and Reading, the relief lines are also closed between Tilehurst and Didcot, meaning most if not all through trains, including the Cardiff and the Penzance are scheduled to use platforms 7-11. Services that are running on the main line through Twyford, and on the main line through Tilehurst are highly unlikely to be scheduled to use Platforms 12-15, though does happen occasionally.

Last night the Penzance was in P13 as it had only come from the depot and not from Paddington. The Cardiff would have been scheduled to use P8 or 9, but was presumably routed into P12 to allow sleepy passengers to cross platform.

Anyway, at least GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)/NR^» (Network Rail - home page) made the best of an unfortunate situation and common sense seemed to prevail all round

[bobm]

Out of interest what is open *west* of Reading.

Keep very quiet .... but I think the Berks and Hants via Pewsey is actually open this week!

Indeed - although Pewsey lost its early morning service west this morning - albeit replaced by a special call on a service two hours later.

As you probably guessed I was thinking of the four track railway heading towards Didcot where invariably two of the four lines are closed.  (As the good people of Pangbourne no doubt notice!)

[bobm]

Tonight's down Night Riviera is starting from Reading rather than Paddington.

[TaplowGreen]

Tonight's down Night Riviera is starting from Reading rather than Paddington.

Make that Didcot Parkway.

[want2workrail]

Is it usual for the Sunday night sleeper to be routed via MELKSHAM?
http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/C41400/2018/08/19/advanced

[grahame]

Is it usual for the Sunday night sleeper to be routed via MELKSHAM?
http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/C41400/2018/08/19/advanced

Not uncommon for it to go via Melksham - we had a thread a long time ago that looked at all the ways it has been.

Next station down - Trowbridge - is an interesting one.    Sleeper may pass though in either direction.   Tonight it's southbound but if the routing is Newbury and Bristol, it would be northbound - both parts of its London to Penzance run.

[martyjon]

Is it usual for the Sunday night sleeper to be routed via MELKSHAM?
http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/C41400/2018/08/19/advanced

.... and tonights is also routed via Yeovil too.

[grahame]

From this list ... route no. 7 tonight!

Normal routing to avoid overnight engineering work:
1. Exeter, Taunton, Bristol TM^‡(resolve), Bath, Swindon, Reading
2. Exeter, Taunton, Bristol TM, Bristol Parkway, Swindon, Reading
3. Exeter, Taunton, Bristol, Bath, Newbury, Reading
4. Exeter, Taunton, Westbury / Westbury avoider, Newbury, Reading
5. Exeter, Taunton, Westbury, Melksham, Swindon, Reading
6. Exeter, Yeovil, Castle Cary, Westbury / Westbury avoider, Newbury, Reading
7. Exeter, Yeovil, Castle Cary, Westbury, Melksham, Swindon, Reading

Houston, we have a problem
8. Exeter, Taunton, Westbury, Bath, Bristol TM (loco onto other end of stock), Bath, Chippenham, Swindon, Reading
9. Exeter, Yeovil, Castle Cary, Westbury , Bath, Bristol TM (loco onto other end of stock), Bath, Chippenham, Swindon, Reading
10. Exeter, Taunton, Westbury, Bath, Bristol Parkway, Swindon, Reading
11. Exeter, Yeovil, Castle Cary, Westbury , Bath, Bristol Parkway, Swindon, Reading
12. Exeter, Taunton, Westbury, Melksham, Chippenham, Bristol TM (loco onto other end of stock), Bristol Parkway, Swindon, Reading
13. Exeter, Taunton, Westbury, Melksham, Chippenham, Bristol Parkway, Swindon, Reading
14. Exeter, Yeovil, Castle Cary, Westbury , Melksham, Chippenham, Bristol TM (loco onto other end of stock), Bristol Parkway, Swindon, Reading
15. Exeter, Yeovil, Castle Cary, Westbury , Melksham, Chippenham, Bristol Parkway, Swindon, Reading

All the above should be possible without having to provide additional Traincrew for route knowledge. At one stage it would also have been possible to send the train into London Waterloo rather than Paddington via either Acton or from Reading.

[bobm]

I’ll be on it tonight but I don’t propose to stay awake to see which way it goes!