Hereford - services, facilities and incidents (merged posts)

[whole diary]

[Andrew1939 from West Oxon]

When, if ever, are barriers to be installed at Worcester Foregate Street? Had there been barriers there, that couple would have had more difficulty in boarding the train in the first place. Barriers at Foregate Street would cut down on the significant number of people travelling from Cotswold Line stations to Worcester, although such travellers might well choose to alight at Shrub Hill if that station continued to have no barriers. Enforcement staff seem to rarely grace Worcester.

[Btline]

Indeed, in fact revenue protection does not seem to be a priority for the TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) serving Worcester. People from Malvern, Droitwich (even Kidderminster) and the Vale of Evesham get a free ride into town.

I would imagine that passenger numbers would soar if we knew how many people actually used the service. Barriers would make sure people pay their way and then perhaps we can get 2tph to New Street, 1tph to Bristol, 2tph to Evesham and a faster 1tph service to London.

The demand is there, just collect the fares.

[Lee]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Network Rail opens rail maintenance depot in Hereford

Network Rail has officially opened a new maintenance depot in Hereford.

The ^1m complex will serve the network between Cwmbran and Ludlow and much of the railway in Heart of Wales.

Mark Langford, from Network Rail, said: "Hereford, which is at the heart of the Marches railway network, makes the town an ideal location".

The route managing director added that a modern transport infrastructure was vital to an economy and they were "well positioned to meet that need".

[Don]

This is part of Network Rails policy of creating centralised depots for maintenance, the Hereford one is for the north south line, the line from Hereford to Worcester is covered by a similar depot at Gloucester, near the old Eastgate station. 

The Cotswold line is also covered by Gloucester down as far as somewhere south of Ascot-under-Wychwood.  What does this mean? - Well mainly that if something goes wrong at Ledbury or Ascot, it will be a good hour before the boys from Gloucester can drive there and if they have not got the part, they will have to drive back and get it out of the stores at Gloucester.

[John R]

Gloucester to Ledbury is a mere 16 miles, so not sure where you get an hour from - more like 20 minutes.

[Don]

Gloucester to Ledbury is a mere 16 miles, so not sure where you get an hour from - more like 20 minutes.

No sorry, what I mean is that they don't sit in Gloucester waiting and are usually working somewhere so to walk to the van, pack up and then drive 30ish miles to get to the next fault takes an hour.

[Chris from Nailsea]

From FGW^▸ (First Great Western) JourneyCheck:

19:22 London Paddington to Hereford due 22:54
This train has been delayed at Reading and is now 19 minutes late.
This train will be terminated at Reading at 20:10.
This train will no longer call at Oxford, Hanborough, Charlbury, Kingham, Moreton-In-Marsh, Honeybourne, Evesham, Pershore, Worcester Shrub Hill, Worcester Foregate Street, Malvern Link, Great Malvern, Colwall, Ledbury and Hereford.
This is due to a member of train crew being unavailable.

Customers should now travel on the next service which calls as follows:
            Arrival Departure
READNG 20:50 20:52
OXFORD 21:19 21:21
HANBOROUGH 21:30 21:31
CHARLBURY 21:38 21:39
KINGHAM 21:47 21:49
MORTON-IN-MARSH 21:56 21:57
HONEYBOURNE 22:07 22:09
EVESHAM 22:15 22:17
PERSHORE 22:23 22:25
WORCESTER SHRUB HILL 22:39 22:41
WORCESTER FORGATE STREET 22:43 22:45

Customers for Colwall, Ledbury and Hereford will be provided with replacement road transport from Worcester Shrub Hill.

Message Received:10/04/2012 20:42

[IndustryInsider]

Hmmm, bit of a strange one that.  Both driver and TM^‡(resolve) are Bristol crew who work the train throughout, so it seems odd that they ran it to Reading if there was some reason it could not continue beyond?

[Chris from Nailsea]

Yes, I wondered that, too: that's why I thought it was worth posting. However, you're the Insider! 

[Btline]

You should have titled the thread "Tired commuters DUMPED at Reading". What a missed opportunity.

[Chris from Nailsea]

Hmm. I prefer to give my posts the greater gravitas of factual accuracy, rather than overblown hyperbole, Btline. 

[JayMac]

Hmmm, bit of a strange one that.  Both driver and TM^‡(resolve) are Bristol crew who work the train throughout, so it seems odd that they ran it to Reading if there was some reason it could not continue beyond?

Crew out of hours?

[bobm]

 Or taken ill?

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the British Transport Police press release:

Appeal for information after trespass incidents at Hereford railway station

Do you know either of these men? If so, British Transport Police (BTP^▸ (British Transport Police)) officers would like to hear from you as their investigations continue into two separate incidents which took place at Hereford railway station.

Officers have today released CCTV^▸ (Closed Circuit Tele Vision) images of two men they would like to speak to in connection with the incidents which took place on Tuesday, 15 January and Thursday, 17 January 2013.

PC Frank Hedley, one of BTP^s investigating officers, said: ^Network Rail staff reported to BTP that a man ran across the crossing at the station, directly in front of the Hereford ^ Cardiff Central service at 6.41am on Tuesday, 15 January. I would like to identify and speak to the man in photograph one in relation to this matter.^

PC Hedley added: ^Two days later, at around 10.30am, another man was seen to walk across the tracks from platform one at Hereford rail station. I am keen to identify and speak to the man in photograph two in relation to this matter.^

Anyone with information which they believe can assist is asked to contact British Transport Police on Freefone 0800 40 50 40, or the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. In all calls, please quote incident reference B7/WWA of 14/02/2013.

Edit note: Images now removed due to expiry of copyright permission. CfN

[bobm]

From the Hereford Times

A MAN is in a critical but stable condition after being hit by a train in Hereford.
 
The man, believed to be in his 20s, was struck by the train yesterday evening on the line near Hereford station at around 7.40pm.
 
Officers from British Transport Police and West Mercia Police attended the incident along with medics from West Midlands Ambulance Service.
 
He was taken to Hereford County Hospital but later transferred to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.
 
The incident is currently being treated as non-suspicious.