Bridge wing wall collapse near Oxford 10/2/23. Debris hit by train.

[47550]

I believe 1W03 Paddington - Hereford hit debris from a bridge between Oxford and Hanborough last night. Hope there were no injuries. Line is still closed between Oxford and Great Malvern today.

Realtime Trains | 1W03 1734 London Paddington to Hereford | 10/02/2023

Real-time train running information for 1W03 1734 departure from London Paddington to Hereford on 10/02/2023. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

 

[74A]

Wing wall collapsed I believe. 1W03 then hit the debris and was damaged.

 

[robintw]

There seems to be lots of confusion about what is happening around there at the moment. My Mum is currently on a train from Malvern Link to Oxford, but was only told after joining the train that it would be terminating at Moreton in Marsh due to a landslip. She was told she could either change at Worcester and go via Birmingham, or hopefully there will be coaches at Moreton to take her to Oxford, where she is joining a train to Southampton. Unfortunately she's temporarily disabled at the moment due to a foot injury, so she's hoping she won't have to change too much.

RTT is still showing the train as going right through to Paddington, but hopefully it'll show more details nearer the time.

 

[FGW_DID]

No injuries. 800318 was the unit involved and was disabled in the incident. Unit is still in situ, awaiting removal. RAIB are / were on site this morning.
Currently down trains terminating at Oxford. Up trains terminating at Moreton-in-Marsh.

 

[D1537]

RTT is still showing the train as going right through to Paddington, but hopefully it'll show more details nearer the time.

Assuming she's on 1P19, it is terminating at Moreton - 1W01 the 0950 Paddington-Malvern (which hasn't left Paddington) is showing as the same unit, 800 007, as 1P19.

 

[greyman42]

Is this what is being referred to as a land slip on the traffic news bulletins?

 

[DelW]

Wing wall collapsed I believe. 1W03 then hit the debris and was damaged.

Is this what is being referred to as a land slip on the traffic news bulletins?

The two aren't incompatible - if a wingwall collapses, it's likely the ground behind it will slip onto the track as well. That might affect the road as well (assuming the bridge is road over rail), so for road traffic it's the ground slippage that's relevant.

 

[4COR]

Is this what is being referred to as a land slip on the traffic news bulletins?

Believe so. The bridge in question looks like it's the one carrying Yarnton Rd from Cassington towards the A44.

 

[AndyPJG]

BBC News Oxford

Oxfordshire: Hundreds escorted from train after landslide​

Hundreds of passengers had to be escorted from a train after it hit rubble on a railway line left by a landslide on Friday evening.
Great Western Railway (GWR) said the Paddington service ran into debris after a bridge in Yarnton, near Kidlington, was damaged.
Oxford County Councillor Liam Walker told the BBC transport police helped 362 passengers from carriages onto the tracks before boarding another train.
GWR said no-one was injured.
Passenger Martin Chapman said he was told the train was "deemed unfit to continue" after running into bricks.
Mr Chapman posted on social media that passengers had to walk along the tracks to another train.
A spokesperson for the rail operator said: "The line between Moreton-in-Marsh and Oxford remains closed following a landslip which caused damage to a road bridge.
"Work is being carried out and it is anticipated that the line will reopen tomorrow [Sunday] morning.
"GWR tickets are being accepted for the rest of today [Saturday] on alternative routes operated by CrossCountry, Avanti and Chiltern Railways."

Wing wall collapsed I believe. 1W03 then hit the debris and was damaged.

Looks to be correct based on photos in article.

 

[Master29]

Being pedantic here but not actually a bridge strike is it.

 

[Undiscovered]

Being pedantic here but not actually a bridge strike is it.

Technically, it is. The train struck bits of the bridge. They just happened to be on the track at the time.

 

[jimm]

Cotswold Line now reopened between Oxford and Moreton-in-Marsh - 5mph speed restriction past the bridge after a temporary retaining wall was put in place.

https://www.gwr.com/travel-information/travel-updates/live-network-updates

Due to an earlier landslip between Oxford and Hanborough trains have to run at reduced speed on all lines. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.
Impact:
Train services between Oxford and Worcester Shrub Hill are returning to normal but some services will still be delayed by up to 10 minutes.
Customer Advice:
Following a landslip near Hanborough, and a brick wall in a cutting collapsing, engineers have successfully built a temporary retaining wall. Trains can now run as normal, but will experience some delays through the Hanborough area due to a 5mph speed restriction.

 

[InOban]

Oxfordshire: Rail line remains closed after landslide

GWR said the Paddington service ran into debris after a bridge in Yarnton was damaged.

www.bbc.co.uk

The second picture is interesting. A substantial brick wing wall which appears newer than the bridge. Water behind and then frozen? I had assumed that a road vehicle had hit the wall but clearly not.

 

[Steve Bray]

362 passengers; that's a good load

 

[Chris M]

The line has now been closed again following further movement:

Live Train Times and Journey Updates | Great Western Railway

See the Great Western Railway TrainTracker for live departure times and up-to-the-minute train journey updates.

www.gwr.com

Due to an earlier landslip between Oxford and Moreton-In-Marsh all lines are blocked. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.
Impact:
Train services between Oxford and Worcester Shrub Hill will be cancelled.
Customer Advice:
Following a landslip near Hanborough, and a brick wall in a cutting collapsing, engineers have successfully built a temporary retaining wall. Trains were running past the affected area with a 5mph speed restriction. However, we've received reports that there has been further land movement and thus trains for safety reasons trains are unable to travel between Oxford and Moreton in Marsh.

Looking at RTT it seems 1P85 Great Malvern to Paddington made it through around 21:20 but 1W77 Paddington to Worcester SH was cancelled at Oxford at 21:50.

 

[VP185]

It makes you question exactly how aware Network Rail is when it comes to the condition of its assets.

 

[tago]

There has been further movement and trains are cancelled again pending further investigation.

 

[185143]

362 passengers; that's a good load

But no one's travelling by train!

 

[John Webb]

Oxfordshire: Rail line remains closed after landslide

GWR said the Paddington service ran into debris after a bridge in Yarnton was damaged.

www.bbc.co.uk

The second picture is interesting. A substantial brick wing wall which appears newer than the bridge. Water behind and then frozen? I had assumed that a road vehicle had hit the wall but clearly not.

Or vegetation roots pushing the wall out of alignment?

 

[tago]

A lot of the road overbridges in Oxfordshire have developed 'sag' - presumably ground settlement - accentuated after last summer's heatwave. One wonders how many more are at risk of something similar happening, perhaps exacerbated by vegetation roots. The most recent ground frost in Oxfordshire was the morning of this incident.

 

[4COR]

We (I'm only a few miles away) had some very cold temperatures after Christmas (-10C...), then warmth, and then another few mornings under -5C recently. Then spring like warmth on Saturday! I dont' know how much ground penetration there is from the frost, or how much heave there is with the swings in temperature at play here.

 

[InOban]

Oxfordshire: Rail line remains closed after landslide

GWR said the Paddington service ran into debris after a bridge in Yarnton was damaged.

www.bbc.co.uk

There's also a gas pipe nearby. Doing a proper job is going to take some planning and some time.

 

[jimm]

Latest update from GWR is that the line could remain closed between Oxford and Moreton-in-Marsh until the weekend. Some services will divert via Swindon to get to/from Worcester.

We wanted to update you following a landslip next to the railway between Oxford and Hanborough in Oxfordshire that occurred on Friday evening, meaning that section of line is currently closed and is likely to be closed until the weekend.

A landslip near Yarnton in Oxfordshire happened on the line, as well as parts of Cassington Road bridge collapsing meaning the line has been blocked. Network Rail engineers are onsite investigating the causes and working on a solution to safely reopen the railway and the road bridge as soon as possible, however due to the complexities it is likely to closed until the weekend.

The line between Oxford and Moreton-in-Marsh remains closed today. We have rail replacement buses in place between Moreton-in-Marsh and Oxford, and a shuttle rail service between Moreton-in-Marsh and Worcester. GWR Worcester-London services will run on a diversionary route via Swindon and we also have ticket acceptance in place with Chiltern, CrossCountry, Avanti West Coast and West Midlands Trains.

Journeys can be checked at https://www.journeycheck.com/greatwesternrailway/ where customers can also sign up for specific alerts.

We will be in touch again once we know when the line will reopen.

Trains now running again on the section between Moreton-in-Marsh and Charlbury, with an hourly service both ways to/from Worcester Shrub Hill, with some trains extending to and from Foregate Street, Malvern or Hereford.

GWR updates say disruption now expected to last until the end of tomorrow.

 

[4COR]

Trains now running again on the section between Moreton-in-Marsh and Charlbury, with an hourly service both ways to/from Worcester Shrub Hill, with some trains extending to and from Foregate Street, Malvern or Hereford.

I did wonder why they were terminating at Moreton-in-Marsh and not Charlbury (presuming there was signalling to allow reversal of trains from the west there?)

 

[Gagravarr]

They've now moved the RRB point from Moreton to Kingham

Passengers from Worcester stations, Pershore, Evesham, Honeybourne or Moreton-in-Marsh travelling to Oxford, Reading or London Paddington are advised to travel to Kingham and then alight there and await the onward Rail Replacement Coach Service to Oxford.

The problem with Charlbury as the train/RRB point is the weight limit on the bridge between the town and the station

The Rail Replacement Coach Service does not serve Charlbury station, as there is a load restriction on a local bridge. The Rail Replacement Coach service calls at Nine Acres Lane, Charlbury Village, which is a 10/15 minute walk from the station.

 

[Benjwri]

Was really impressed with GWR yesterday, especially with their running of extra Oxford to London trains to keep closer to the 30 minute frequency Oxford normally has, but that idea seems to have been abandoned today, with just the hourly Oxford terminators remaining.

In fact at rush hour they are currently planning a 5 car service leaving London at 16:20, and then no direct Oxford trains until 18:30, which is again a 5 car and going to Banbury as well. To add to this the Didcot shuttles are all 2 car today, so I'm willing to bet there will be some significant overcrowding and crowd management issues. It seems GWR have just given up on Oxford today, as surely anyone could see that you can't just cut half the services (Of which these services are the 9 and 10 cars) from one of your busiest routes, at rush hour, and just shrug you shoulders and say its fine.

 

[jimm]

Was really impressed with GWR yesterday, especially with their running of extra Oxford to London trains to keep closer to the 30 minute frequency Oxford normally has, but that idea seems to have been abandoned today, with just the hourly Oxford terminators remaining.

In fact at rush hour they are currently planning a 5 car service leaving London at 16:20, and then no direct Oxford trains until 18:30, which is again a 5 car and going to Banbury as well. To add to this the Didcot shuttles are all 2 car today, so I'm willing to bet there will be some significant overcrowding and crowd management issues. It seems GWR have just given up on Oxford today, as surely anyone could see that you can't just cut half the services (Of which these services are the 9 and 10 cars) from one of your busiest routes, at rush hour, and just shrug you shoulders and say its fine.

May well be down to crew or rollng stock availability. Perhaps yesterday there were some drivers spare to cover the London-Oxford runs. I'm sure if someone can be found this afternoon and an IET is available, control will try to plug that gap in Oxford services.

 

[Benjwri]

May well be down to crew or rollng stock availability. Perhaps yesterday there were some drivers spare to cover the London-Oxford runs. I'm sure if someone can be found this afternoon and an IET is available, control will try to plug that gap in Oxford services.

I can understand it might not be possible to reinstate the services, but they could definitely have found some extra 5 cars to couple together, or 9 cars. If they are going to drop frequency they need to increase capacity.

 

[jimm]

I can understand it might not be possible to reinstate the services, but they could definitely have found some extra 5 cars to couple together, or 9 cars. If they are going to drop frequency they need to increase capacity.

You can have all the units you like, but if there's no one available to drive them in the first place, then services won't run. And with lots of traincrew the wrong side of the dodgy bridge out at Worcester, crewing fast services on the Oxford corridor is not going to be straightforward at the moment.

In yesterday's peak, the only actual difference with today was that there was a 1Z03 to Oxford at 17.34, in the path of the normal Hereford-bound service.

As for the idea that there are sufficient Turbos knocking around to add capacity on the Oxford-Didcot shuttle in an emergency, GWR is finding it hard enough to get enough sets out of the depots each morning to try to cover the normal timetable.

 

[Benjwri]

You can have all the units you like, but if there's no one available to drive them in the first place, then services won't run. And with lots of traincrew the wrong side of the dodgy bridge out at Worcester, crewing fast services on the Oxford corridor is not going to be straightforward at the moment.

In yesterday's peak, the only actual difference with today was that there was a 1Z03 to Oxford at 17.34, in the path of the normal Hereford-bound service.

As for the idea that there are sufficient Turbos knocking around to add capacity on the Oxford-Didcot shuttle in an emergency, GWR is finding it hard enough to get enough sets out of the depots each morning to try to cover the normal timetable.

You don't need any more people to run a 9 car vs a 5 car though. I can't remember if you do for a 10 car, and if so that's more understandable. But Bristol etc could very easily have had a 9 car swapped for the day into a 5 car, certainly I think it would cause less overcrowding than 5 cars on Oxford with a reduced frequency already have.

There were 9 STP IET schedules yesterday overall, which pretty much filled in all the two hour gaps where trains were normally extended. I cannot find any reference to 1Z03.

At no point did I suggest extra turbos should be found, I am well aware of their scarcity at the moment. It was more a comment that these trains, which are already full and standing at rush hour, will be even more busy.