Some FGW Trains may be more crowded than normal until further notice...

[whole diary]

[jane s]

For a pic of the damage see

http://www.hounslowchronicle.co.uk/west-london-news/local-hounslow-news/2009/11/17/no-feltham-to-london-trains-until-christmas-109642-25187632/

This is a real pain for me as I have been using this line on Fridays to get to college. Now I shall have to go via Central London.

What really freaks me out though is the thought that I went over that bridge on Saturday evening.....!

[paul7575]

Unusually, a link to a high quality picture has been provided with the National Rail site's disruptions info:

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/service_disruptions/additional_info/Feltham_Bridge_Nov09.JPG

Paul

[Electric train]

For a pic of the damage see

http://www.hounslowchronicle.co.uk/west-london-news/local-hounslow-news/2009/11/17/no-feltham-to-london-trains-until-christmas-109642-25187632/

This is a real pain for me as I have been using this line on Fridays to get to college. Now I shall have to go via Central London.

What really freaks me out though is the thought that I went over that bridge on Saturday evening.....!

What's even more concerning, if you look at the photo you can see it has recently hand some repair work done to it, would not like to be the project manager or engineer who looked after that project

[jane s]

And they think the line might be open by next week.......?

[paul7575]

Yes - the intention still appears to slew the tracks (or at least one track) to the south onto the adjacent disused marshalling yard site

The National Rail disruptions page now includes: "Network Rail engineers are working hard to provide a temporary solution which will allow a limited train service to operate from Monday 23 November."

Apparently a lot of machinery is heading towards the site for the weekend.

Paul

[Lee]

From Your Local Guardian:

UPDATE: Rail travel advice for rugby fans heading to Twickenham

South West Trains (SWT^▸ (South West Trains)) has drawn up an action plan to help passengers disrupted by a collapsed railway bridge.

The rail operator announced today it expects to offer commuters affected by the damaged bridge over the river Crane, in Feltham, an improved service ^at some point next week^.

Network Rail engineers have been working on a temporary solution which is expected to allow a limited through service.

Meanwhile, lines between Feltham and Whitton and between Feltham and Hounslow will remain closed, affecting routes from Reading to Waterloo via Staines, and from Windsor to Waterloo via Staines.

Passengers have been advised to use alternative arrangements until a temporary solution is in place.

SWT has revised services for this weekend, and issued special advice for rugby fans travelling to the England v New Zealand international at Twickenham on Saturday.

It said eight trains per hour will run directly from London Waterloo to Twickenham, but passengers should be aware that they are likely to be ^extremely^ busy and advised they should allow extra time to get to and from the game.

Andy Pitt, managing director of SWT, said: ^The damaged bridge at Feltham has severely disrupted rail services in the Feltham area and we would like to apologise to our customers for the significant disruption they have experienced.

^We have been working hard around the clock, in partnership with our colleagues at Network Rail, to deliver the most comprehensive service we can.

^We have also been working to identify the best and quickest temporary solution for our passengers until the bridge itself can be repaired.

^Network Rail have now advised us that they hope to have a temporary solution in place next week that will allow us to improve the service we can deliver.

^I would like to thank our customers for their patience and our staff for their hard work during what has been a very difficult situation for everyone.^

For details of alternative travel arrangements, visit www.southwesttrains.co.uk

[Not from Brighton]

Unusually, a link to a high quality picture has been provided with the National Rail site's disruptions info:

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/service_disruptions/additional_info/Feltham_Bridge_Nov09.JPG

Paul

Very interesting, I'd often wondered what was inside those bridges.

[Chris from Nailsea]

There are a couple more pictures in a Rail-News item - one taken from the track, with an NR^» (Network Rail - home page) chap's leg in the picture just giving an idea of the size of the hole! 

[paul7575]

Network Rail and SWT^▸ (South West Trains) reporting normal timetable from tomorrow morning. The NR^» (Network Rail - home page) press release here:

http://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/content/detail.aspx?ReleaseID=4827&NewsAreaID=2&SearchCategoryID=8

includes a picture (large version downloadable) showing that two tracks have been laid, the 'location boxes' on the left of the picture can precisely determine the orientation if you look at an aerial view, they were on the down (south) side of the track beforehand.

Three Cheers for the track teams I reckon, should be less crowded at Reading, but probably not tomorrow as no-one will realise...

Paul

[IndustryInsider]

Well done to NR^» (Network Rail - home page) for a speedy temporary fix. Ok, they may have been a bit lucky with the layout in the area, but still impressive stuff.

[johoare]

Yes well done.. I'm hoping to travel into London straight from work (Bracknell) on Thursday for an evening out so this is brilliant news..

[jane s]

I'm confused. Is it still going over the same bridge, but a bit to the south, then, or have they built a new bridge, or is there already another one there?

'Cos if it's the first option I for one will still be a bit wary!

[RichardB]

They have diverted the line through the former marshalling yard and over a culvert already there.  An ingenious solution.  Just as well the marshalling yard hadn't been built on!

http://www.hounslowchronicle.co.uk/west-london-news/local-hounslow-news/2009/11/23/trains-disrupted-by-signalling-problems-109642-25231940/

[Not from Brighton]

Top marks.

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the RAIB^▸ (Rail Accident Investigation Branch) website:

The RAIB is carrying out an investigation into the failure of a brick arch that occurred on a bridge over the River Crane, located between Whitton and Feltham stations on the line between London Waterloo and Reading.
 
Late on the night of 14 November 2009 track maintenance staff were asked to inspect the track following reports from train drivers of a dip in the track in the area close to the bridge.  On arrival at the eastern end of the bridge, the staff found that a hole had formed under the track used by trains heading towards London.  Further inspection by Network Rail revealed that the north-east section of the arch had partially collapsed and track ballast had fallen into the river below.  This resulted in the bridge being declared unsafe for the passage of trains in either direction. 

The route remained blocked to railway traffic for more than a week while the track was diverted over an adjacent parallel bridge.

The RAIB^s investigation is independent of any investigations by the safety authority.

The RAIB will publish a report, including any recommendations to improve safety, at the conclusion of its investigation. This report will be available on the RAIB website.