I was booked on the Monday 13:34 Taunton - Paddington (Cornishman) with the intention of catching the 17:04 Eurostar.
I suspected there might be issues so was keeping an eye on the national rail website, but the problems seemed to be on the Bristol line rather than Westbury as preceding trains through Reading on my route were showing ok, so I turned up as usual rather than try to go earlier.
The train rolled in 1 minute late and seemed rather busy. Passengers said the previous had been cancelled. We set off, but got as far as Cogload Junction 5 minutes later before the train stopped and the TM said we would be diverted via Bristol due to flooding at Castle Cary. He said as long as we were through Bristol before 14:30 we would have no further hold ups due to being ahead of the Bristol - London stopping train. I commented to my fellow passengers that this was right into the area already affected by flooding and wasn't good news...
We passed Weston-super-Mare when the train slowed a couple of minutes later. The TM comes on the PA saying we had caught up a stopper but it would be ok as soon as it had turned off into Weston-super-Mare! Then just after Nailsea we came to a complete stop. The tunnel ahead was reported flooded by the stopper. We couldn't proceed until Network Rail had inspected it. After more than an hour waiting and one sold out buffet car later we were authorised to proceed through at 5 mph.
The TM said we were going to be terminated at Temple Meads due to Box tunnel now being flooded. We pulled into the station at about 16:00 and just as everyone packed up and got up to be at the front of the bus queue he got back on the PA and said the new plan was to go via Bath Spa and Trowbridge and we should stay put. Some pax got off but everyone else sat back down and waited. 20 minutes later the service was terminated.
Several hundred people de-trained and it was quite clear that no-one, least of all GWR staff, had any idea what was going on. I saw a Europcar desk opposite and headed across to that platform to find a few people with the same idea. At that point a Voyager going to Manchester rolled in and I briefly thought about heading to Birmingham then down to Euston. It would have been tight so I left it, not wanting to be even further from home if that option got cancelled.
The platform staff were putting on a brave face but it was clear they knew nothing. Trains were turning up seemingly at random and the national rail app was saying stuff was cancelled when it wasn't and vice-versa. I went into Bonapartes just to sit and send some essential emails when I saw that a Southampton train was due in 10 minutes. I thought about trying my luck that way when the 15:30 to Paddington was suddenly announced out of the blue as about to leave from platform 13 over an hour late. Of course, I was the wrong side of the station but I grabbed my stuff and legged it. By the time I got there it was full and standing but I found a spot on the floor of first class and settled in for an uncomfortable journey.
We were told we would be reversing at Melksham but we ended up going via Westbury and Newbury. We eventually got to London at 18:35 and I was able to rebook on the last Eurostar of the night. Luckily I had one of the increasingly difficult to get CIV through tickets and it cost me nothing extra, but the Eurostar staff wanted to check that and I'm sure that had I not, it would have been a new ticket at full price. I also ended up having to get a hotel in Brussels as I missed my last onward connection there - I'm wondering if I can claim this.
Obviously the weather cannot be helped, although I would question whether what I saw in Taunton over the preceding few hours was *that bad*. What was unbelievable, however, was the complete comedy of errors of the information coming from GWR, or lack thereof later on. It was meltdown. It was clear that they had no clue on the ground and for a while it was looking like we'd just been dumped in Bristol and I might have to spend the night there. Why a train was allowed to leave Taunton and head towards what was already showing on their website as a problem area is unacceptable and why did they terminate a full train when a route was available to it which was taken 30 minutes later by another, leaving passengers behind on the platform due to crush loading? It's the same story every time this happens.
I'm also wondering what effect track lowering on the Bristol - London routes might have had on this.
By the way, I saw a tweet from Network Rail to South West Trains asking if an event to launch their Rail Resilience Study was still on due to these floods. #irony.
