Get ready for a weekend of Bank Holiday misery: Severe rail and road disruption

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the Daily Mail:

Get ready for a weekend of Bank Holiday misery: Severe rail and road disruption will cause getaway chaos (and it will be cold)

Severe disruptions on the railways and extensive roadworks are likely to bring travel misery to millions over the Bank Holiday weekend.
Train passengers face huge delays as engineering works cut five of Britain^s seven main railway lines.
Temperatures are also set to plummet over the weekend, with the mercury falling to 10c on Sunday. Gardeners are even being warned to be on guard against frosts.
Virgin passengers who would have enjoyed a 1hr 50mins direct train from Cumbria to Edinburgh face a 4hrs 30mins nightmare on two replacement buses this weekend.
Of the UK^▸ (United Kingdom)^s 23 main train operators, 21 have scheduled engineering work between Saturday and Monday.
Trains will be axed and replaced by buses on parts of five of the seven main lines - London to Glasgow, London to Weymouth, London to South Wales, London to Ipswich and London to Derby and Nottingham.
Only two main lines escape unscathed by the swathe of engineering works - London to Edinburgh and London to Penzance.
Railway campaigners and MPs^▸ (Member of Parliament) branded Network Rail 'outrageous' for 'hitting holidaymakers.'
Gerry Doherty, who represents 30,000 workers as general secretary of the Transport Salaried Staffs Association rail workers^ union, said: 'Network Rail is causing misery to millions of people trying to get away and enjoy the Bank Holiday weekend. Engineering works should be arranged to avoid travel peaks like this. Works should be spread throughout the year, rather than hitting holidaymakers.'
Liberal Democrats transport spokesman Norman Baker said: 'It^s outrageous so much of the network is closed this weekend when so many people want to use trains. Network Rail makes unnecessary line closures. They could do single line closures, keeping one line open, and do more off-site parts fabrication. We^ve been continually promised reduced engineering works - but nothing ever materialises. Network Rail must be penalised. If we^re elected, anyone buying a  train ticket and being forced onto a bus will get a third of the price back - paid for by Network Rail.'
Network Rail spokesman Chris Mitchell said: 'By the end of the Bank Holiday weekend, we^ll have completed significant work letting us run more frequent trains delivering a more reliable service. We apologise for any disruption caused.'

RAILWAY ENGINEERING WORKS
Virgin Trains: Buses Oxenholme Lake District to Glasgow and Edinburgh on Saturday and Sunday. Oxenholme-Edinburgh journeys normally taking 1hr 50mins now take 4hrs 30mins.Buses between Birmingham International, Coventry and Rugby, no London Euston-Rugby trains until 12noon Sunday.
First Great Western: London-Bristol trains diverted and delayed 45mins on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, with buses between Swindon, Chippenham and Bath Spa. Buses on Sunday Swansea-Carmarthen, and between Bristol Parkway, Swindon and Bristol Parkway until 1pm.
East Coast: Trains London-Wakefield rerouted on Saturday and Sunday, taking up to an hour longer. No trains Doncaster -Wakefield. On Sunday, no trains Edinburgh-Glasgow Central.
First Hull Trains: Four trains cancelled London Kings Cross-Hull on Monday.
South West Trains: Buses Basingstoke-Eastleigh with London Waterloo-Weymouth trains diverted via Fareham, journey times 45mins longer.
National Express East Anglia: Journey times doubled London Liverpool Street-Ipswich on all three days as buses rather than trains Liverpool Street-Romford.
East Midlands Trains: Not running London St Pancras-Bedford on Sunday. Buses between Bedford, Luton Airport Parkway and St Albans. Saturday and Monday journey times 20mins delayed.
London Midland: Buses between Birmingham International, Coventry, Rugby and Northampton and Nuneaton on Saturday and Sunday. No trains London Euston-Northampton on Sunday until 11.30am.
Northern Rail: On Sunday, buses between Sheffield and York, Darlington and Middlesbrough and, until 4pm,  between Leeds, Huddersfield, Bradford Interchange, Halifax, Doncaster and Sheffield.
ScotRail: No Carlisle-Dumfries services Saturday and Sunday.

[devon_metro]

Entirely predictable!

[Chris from Nailsea]

Entirely Daily Mail! 

[readytostart]

Hmmn, typical Daily Mail, trains diverted, buses replacing trains.
I'd rather travel on a diverted service than travel by bus for a major part of the journey.
Diversionary routes are better than the alternative, which is trains running to and from either side of a blockage with passengers forced into bustitution in the middle.
Interesting for XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) and SWT^▸ (South West Trains), at least in my area is that the current usual Saturday engineering work (ie SWT Soton to Wtrloo diverting via Havant and Bomo to ManPic diverting via Romsey and Andover) is moved to the BH Monday to actually ease disruption.

[Mookiemoo]

Dont really have time or energy to look up details

Can I get to London via preferably W&S^▸ (Wrexham and Shropshire (Open Access Operator)) or if not FGW^▸ (First Great Western) from ludlow with no more than 30 minutes of bus and no chiltern.

At least I know I can noe do 30 minutes of bus - its gets a bit dicey at the end though!

I'm talking Monday evening by the way

I need to be in office on Tue and I'd rather stay over than get up at 0430

Think I'm getting old

[JayMac]

As you're getting old, deary, I've had a look for you. I said, I'VE HAD A LOOK FOR YOU.

Ludlow-Marylebone on Monday 3rd May

LUD 1519 - SHR^» (Shrewsbury - next trains) 1551 ATW^▸ (Arriva Trains Wales (former TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company)))
SHR 1607 - MYB^▸ (London (Marylebone)) 1915 W&S^▸ (Wrexham and Shropshire (Open Access Operator))

^33 Super Off Peak Single, then upgrade to First Class on W&S for ^15 (comp tea or coffee - ask nicely for diet coke!) or ^45 for the full meal service.

Multitude of options via Newport, Wales. Departing Ludlow:

1411, 1511, 1611, 1815.

Journey time approximately 3^ hours.

Same SOS fare of ^33, also Weekend First upgrade of ^15 available as it's a BH Monday.

And best of all, no replacement buses on either route!

[Mookiemoo]

As you're getting old, deary, I've had a look for you. I said, I'VE HAD A LOOK FOR YOU.

ok - thank you -

I didnt have access to a full PC and using a non-iphone to look it up is painful - my iphone was not with me

Thankfully I am now reunited with my mobile device

I do not normally ask routine Q's such as this

[paul7575]

Interesting for XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) and SWT^▸ (South West Trains), at least in my area is that the current usual Saturday engineering work (ie SWT Soton to Wtrloo diverting via Havant and Bomo to ManPic diverting via Romsey and Andover) is moved to the BH Monday to actually ease disruption.

It's also the fourth weekend in a row on this job, and you can bet the previous three didn't get mentioned in the paper. Just shows they have this basic story on the back burner for every bank holiday and they just insert whatever engineering works are going on as required.

Any ordinary weekend and it doesn't get a mention...

Paul

[Electric train]

If you think the mainline has a lot of closures due this weekend take a look at the Tube http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/livetravelnews/realtime/by-date.aspx?offset=weekend

[devon_metro]

Ultimately though the tube will be very quiet on a bank holiday, compared to your usual Monday!

[brompton rail]

As is most of the National Network compared with a normal Monday. Peak time will be Monday afternoon and evening. As many of the passengers will be 'leisure travellers' and not First Class business / stressed commuters they are less likely to be put out by diversions, though 'bustitution' is a pain.

[grahame]

As many of the passengers will be 'leisure travellers' and not First Class business / stressed commuters they are less likely to be put out by diversions, though 'bustitution' is a pain.

I have spun off a separate thread to ask about this - what evidence is there to back up your hypothysis (if that's what it is!).  See

http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=6696.0