Major delays at Cardiff today - line incident, 9 December 2009

[whole diary]

[anthony215]

According to bbc news   train services are heavily delayed between Cardiff central & Newport due to some people on quadbikes being hit by a train running empty stock to cheltenham at 4am this morning resulting in damage to some of the  track which i have been told are the 2 fast lines.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/8403014.stm

rail replacement buses are in operation

[Brucey]

Cardiff Central to Newport (South Wales)

Train services have been disrupted due to a person hit by a train between Cardiff Central and Newport.

Short notice alterations and delays of up to 30 minutes may still occur.

CrossCountry Trains will be accepting First Great Western tickets on reasonable routes.

Plenty of updates to enjoy on the FGW website

[James Vertigan]

Heard about this on BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) Five Live earlier - glad to see it's not another recession/depression related fatality (always a lot at this time of year)... seems to have been some stupid dare, or a moment of drunken stupidity perhaps?

[Mookiemoo]

Should have used cow catchers

[Tim]

Best wishes to the driver and recovery crew. 

[Tim]

BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) is reporting that the two victims may have been fleeing a burglery in Cardiff. (although quad bikes would be a strange getaway vehicle?)

[Electric train]

BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) is reporting that the two victims may have been fleeing a burglery in Cardiff. (although quad bikes would be a strange getaway vehicle?)

Not related to this incident but quadbikes are often used by thieves when they steal cables from the railway, one of the gang cuts one end the other end of the cables are cut and tied to a quadbike and towed out of the trough routes

[Chris from Nailsea]

Updated video news item, from the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Police believe two men killed when a quad bike was hit by a train may have been fleeing the scene of a shop burglary.

Two hundred men's specialist outdoor jackets worth ^40,000 were stolen from Go Outdoors in Newport Road, Cardiff. Officers were called to the store just after 0400 GMT - around the time the men, both in their 20s, were hit on tracks in Rumney nearby. Police are studying CCTV^▸ (Closed Circuit Tele Vision) footage and are appealing for witnesses.

In a statement, South Wales Police said: "Police believe that the men who made off from the Go Outdoors store after committing the burglary may be the same men involved in the fatal incident at a nearby railway line. Although it is too early to be certain at this stage."
 
British Transport Police said the dead men had been identified as Trevor Davies, 20, and David Cooper, 24, both from the Rumney area of Cardiff. Detectives are searching for two other people who are thought to have fled the scene after the two quad bikers were killed.

It is believed the train that hit them was travelling at around 70mph.

Two quad bikes were found but it is unclear if the victims were travelling on one or both vehicles.

British Transport Police said the quad bikes had been travelling east towards Newport when they were struck from behind.

The passenger train involved was not carrying members of the public at the time, and had been making its way from the Canton depot in Cardiff to Cheltenham for servicing.

Chief Inspector Sandra England said the two victims were pronounced dead at the scene, close to New Road in Rumney. She confirmed that officers are also trying to trace two other individuals. "We now believe two other persons have made off from the accident and we would urge anyone with any information on that to please come forwards so we can trace these people and speak to them," she said.

Ms England said the train driver was "pretty shaken up".

"The investigation is in the early stages at the moment," she added. "It was dark, in the early hours, when the incident happened and my main plea is that if anybody did see what happened they should call us on 0800 40 50 40. We will be following up all lines of inquiry to find out what the men were doing there at that time of night."

The crash led to four rail lines being closed for some hours, disrupting morning commuters. Three have since been reopened but continuing delays are likely.

A spokesperson for Network Rail said: "There was some damage to the track in the area of the collision. At the moment we are not able to give an accurate update on what repairs are needed or when they will be completed. Obviously at the moment, the clear-up operation is very much still under way there."

[Bob_Blakey]

I would very much like to know why the train involved, presumably an HST^▸ (High Speed Train), was travelling FROM Canton TO Cheltenham for servicing - or is this just another example of lazy crap railway reportage courtesy of the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) News website?

[smithy]

I would very much like to know why the train involved, presumably an HST^▸ (High Speed Train), was travelling FROM Canton TO Cheltenham for servicing - or is this just another example of lazy crap railway reportage courtesy of the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) News website?

typical bbc

what they probably mean unit going empty from canton depot to chelt to enter service.
not hst or even fgw for that matter if coming from canton either ATW^▸ (Arriva Trains Wales (former TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company))) or XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) 170 i would think.

[inspector_blakey]

The impression I had from the report this morning (and it is only that, I could be entirely mistaken) was that it was an ATW^▸ (Arriva Trains Wales (former TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company))) unit running ECS^▸ (Empty Coaching Stock). This makes sense if the units was making its way from overnight servicing at Canton to enter service at Cheltenham, for example on a Maesteg service. If that's the case then the error on the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) website is frankly completely trivial and has absolutely no bearing on the story itself. I really don't see that too many people who would care, given the circumstances of the incident, whether the unit had been serviced at Canton or was on its way to be serviced at Cheltenham. Fact it, it was an ECS move from Canton to Cheltenham. This is reflected in the Beeb's article.

To the best of my knowledge in south Wales HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) are serviced at Landore (Swansea) rather than Canton.

[devon_metro]

I would very much like to know why the train involved, presumably an HST^▸ (High Speed Train), was travelling FROM Canton TO Cheltenham for servicing - or is this just another example of lazy crap railway reportage courtesy of the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) News website?

typical bbc

what they probably mean unit going empty from canton depot to chelt to enter service.
not hst or even fgw for that matter if coming from canton either ATW^▸ (Arriva Trains Wales (former TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company))) or XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) 170 i would think.

Apparently ATW 158886

[John R]

In a statement, South Wales Police said: "Police believe that the men who made off from the Go Outdoors store after committing the burglary may be the same men involved in the fatal incident at a nearby railway line. Although it is too early to be certain at this stage."

"Too early to be certain" but the thousands of pounds of jackets etc strewn around the accident site may just be a small clue, as is the hole cut in the fence from the store onto the railway line.

The BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) Wales report tonight showed a surprising number of similar aged men congregating at the bridge near the site and one made comments to the camera as to what nice guys they were.  I'm not sure the majority of viewers would have agreed with those views.

[Tim]

Apparently when they are not out thieving, some of the locals use the tracks to race their quad bikes along! morons.

[Electric train]

....... and everyone wonders why there are so many signaling failures.

My guess is the gang decided to use the railway as they assumed not trains ran at night and the police would be unable to give chase other than on foot