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ATW Engineering work Marches Line

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PHILIPE

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Engineering Work is taking olace this week end with bustitution between Newport and Shrewsbury. This is an awfully long distance for bustitution with a journey time of 3hrs 25 mins. Surely Network Rail could have planned work better so that the route was closed either between Shrewsbury and Hereford or Hereford and Newport to avoid such a long bus journey. If passengers want to travel by train they would expect a train. This, I know is an old chestnut but bustitution should be minimised as far as possible
Journey Planner, of course, points towards the 3hr 25 min bus journey but it would have been possible to travel from Newport to Shrewsbury by train throughout changing at Birmingham New St with a saving of 10 minutes journey time. There would possibly have been ticketing issues here having to use XC and LM services.
Perhaps in BR days this could have happened but TOCs don't think of persuing such alternatives and arranging accordingly..
 
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Nevasleep

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It's a pain, happened a couple years ago when I was travelling.
I ended up going via Birmingham, as I didn't feel like a bus journey at all.
ATW guard let me stay on for free to New street, then grabbed some food, and got crosscountry to Newport(had to pay for that).....worth it but should have been free.
 

The Planner

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ATW could have objected to the block if they wanted to. I would have been surprised if they hadn't too. You also have to consider the fact that there might be several work sites along the route, surely one big block is better than several smaller ones over a series of weeks ?
 

emoaconr

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When ATW was on strike last year, they had a nice ticket easement policy which allowed alternative routes in addition to the bustituted routes. Instead of Wrexham-Cardiff direct, I got a lift to Chester, did VT to Crewe, LM to New Street and XC to Cardiff Central; all three operators knew and were fine with it.

Though with engineering, there are no such privileges; I have deliberately planned several North/South Wales journeys via New Street to avoid bustitutions, its not actually that bad a journey.
 

Michael.Y

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What work is being carried out?

If my observations are correct, rail and sleeper replacement. A lot of stoneblowers and rail renewal plant parked up in sidings along the route last night, including Maindee Junction, Hereford, Craven Arms and Salop. A nice neat pile of brand spanking new concrete cast sleepers stacked up at Craven Arms.

It needs it though -- there are some SERIOUSLY rough parts along that line and a speed restriction just outside Church Stretton near a level crossing.

As I mentioned in the Infrastructure forum, this is the only full weekend of closures, for the rest of June and the first weekend in July it is Sunday only.
 

Eagle

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I notice Heart of Wales line services are being turned at Broome... do the Sprinters actually have such an improbable destination in their blinds' database? :P
 

The Informer

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What work is being carried out?


8 engineering trains,6 or more tamping shifts and stoneblowers, 2 major renewals works inc level crossings, structures works and it continues into next week on MW nights. It could have been worse and started the previous weekend!!



There a cracker of a weekend planned for August BH too between Crewe and Salop!!!
 
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Ah - so quite a lot of general maintenance work then! Good to hear..

I notice Heart of Wales line services are being turned at Broome... do the Sprinters actually have such an improbable destination in their blinds' database? :P

:lol: Quite! Will be interesting to see the displays on the route having the train destination as "Broome" too... and the automated announcements ("the next train to depart platform X will be the XX:XX to Broome..")
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Modular is actually going to be commissioned ?

On the Crewe-Shrewsbury yes I would imagine..?

Newport-Shrewsbury not yet though..?
 

The Informer

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Modular is actually going to be commissioned ?


Maybe that's the weekend they are aiming for, but the works I have seen involve the removal of Whitchurch's S&C and Plain lining.

--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
What work is being carried out?


Don't mention the village fete at Ashford Bowdler!!!! All those cakes going to waste....
 

merlodlliw

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:oops::)
Yeah, I saw that in the Shropshire Star.

So let in to the secret of these cakes. I still call Shrewsbury Shrowsbury, as I live over the Welsh bridge :)

http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2012/06/08/ashford-bowdler-show-axed-in-track-repair-blunder/

Bob
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Maybe that's the weekend they are aiming for, but the works I have seen involve the removal of Whitchurch's S&C and Plain lining.

--- old post above --- --- new post below ---



Don't mention the village fete at Ashford Bowdler!!!! All those cakes going to waste....
media relations manager for Network Rail in the Midlands, said: “We have made a complete mess of it

Read more: http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/...w-axed-in-track-repair-blunder/#ixzz1xQ0I6DD2
 
Last edited:

PHILIPE

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Engineering Work is taking olace this week end with bustitution between Newport and Shrewsbury. This is an awfully long distance for bustitution with a journey time of 3hrs 25 mins. Surely Network Rail could have planned work better so that the route was closed either between Shrewsbury and Hereford or Hereford and Newport to avoid such a long bus journey. If passengers want to travel by train they would expect a train. This, I know is an old chestnut but bustitution should be minimised as far as possible
Journey Planner, of course, points towards the 3hr 25 min bus journey but it would have been possible to travel from Newport to Shrewsbury by train throughout changing at Birmingham New St with a saving of 10 minutes journey time. There would possibly have been ticketing issues here having to use XC and LM services.
Perhaps in BR days this could have happened but TOCs don't think of persuing such alternatives and arranging accordingly..
Journey Planner did not provide the quickest journey times
 

harz99

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14 Jul 2009
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My experience yesterday was that several of the bus/coach drivers left out Pontypool & New Inn, either 'cause they couldn't find it or couldn't be bothered.

The 3 coaches I travelled on (all stations) were anything from 5-20 minutes late, and the unmanned stations appeared to have no Supervisor, only the crowd control security staff who had no other details than the time the bus should be there.
 
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