Cable fire at Reigate

[whole diary]

[Steve Bray]

This was affecting services between Guildford and Gatwick this afternoon. I was on the 1343 Wokingham to Gatwick, which got as far as Shalford, before being sent back to Guildford to terminate (so that was a rare passenger-carrying crossing from one track to the other at Shalford). A bit of a miscommunication at Guildford as the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) conductor advised pax to speak to station staff at Guildford for 'onward road transport' which SWT^▸ (South West Trains) weren't having anything to do with (initially) as it was a FGW Issue. They were suggesting catching the 1502 to Clapham Jcn and going to Gatwick from there.

Unfortunately for those Gatwick pax, the attitude doesn't portray the rail industry in a great light when they do have planes to catch. However the station staff did ring up cab companies to arrange shared cabs (at pax own costs I think). Also as I departed to Dorking via Leatherhead, I did hear that there would be a bus operating at 1525 for Chilworth and beyond.   

[Fish]

Road transport (buses) were organised by FGW^▸ (First Great Western) to Redhill (to connect into Gatwick) and Wokingham staff were sending passengers for Gatwick via Clapham Junction.
Unfortunately, it can take a little time procuring vehicles at short notice on a Bank Holiday, especially when over 200 have been drafted in to organise the service around Reading (though I suspect some of these were diverted to Guildford in the end).
The line was reopened at approx 1600.