East coast line hit by landslips

[morgantyreman]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/8595914.stm

East coast line hit by landslips

Train services on the East Coast main line have been suspended north of Berwick after two landslips.
Network Rail said there were landslips on the northbound and southbound tracks close to the town of Grantshouse in the Scottish Borders.
A spokesman for the rail operator said services from and to Edinburgh were affected by the incident which happened at about 1740 GMT.
He said replacement bus services would running until the line was cleared.

can believe noone has noticed this yet

 

[DaveNewcastle]

The ground isn't so solid there - the curve round Grantshouses was laid in a river bed as a bypass for the collapsed Penmanshiel tunnel.

EC diverted a couple of late services between Edinburgh and Newcastle via Carlisle last night, but even that plan came to grief when the line in the Stocksfield area of the Tyne valley flooded. That has re-opened now, with delays, for Newcastle Carlisle traffic, but the ECML is still closed at Granthouses and the Tyne Valley line is not being used for diversions this morning.
There are busses and plans for occasional EC services on the East coast today.

 

[PhilipW]

Is there not a standard back-up plan to route trains via Carlisle when the Edinburgh-to-Newcastle line is blocked. Yes, I realise they will have to be diesel hauled along the Tyne Valley line but this route has been been used before at weekends when there has been engineering works.

In these days when everyone talks about delivering a 7-day railway, surely there has to be a backup plan when something goes wrong. This will not be the last time that the route north of Newcastle will be closed.

 

[attics26]

landslip at Hexham has taken away back up plan.
York to manchester then west coast is current option.

 

[philjo]

There is flooding near Hexham this morning so the tyne valley services are being replaced by buses themselves.

The EC website implied that one of the southbound services from aberdeen was going to be routed that way as it said that it would be diverted with a 90 minute delay from Edinburgh.

 

[jamesontheroad]

Was in Glasgow Central late last night and noticed the XC arrival from Plymouth was marked simply as 'Delayed' ... did it ever make it to Glasgow, or was it terminated short?

 

[DaveNewcastle]

PhilipW : its not so simple!
The majority of EC's stock is electric - the Tyne Valley line isn't.
There were only (I think) 2 HST movements in last night's timetable through the Borders, and they WERE diverted.
The Tyne Valley line is still sufferring from flooding this morning (so has a lack of capacity anyway - this is unrelated to the trouble at Granthouses).

And because of the much longer time taken to travel via Carlisle, stock and crew would quickly be in the wrong places at the wrong times to deliver the timetabled services on the main line and within the permitted hours of working.
not so simple!

It would take more than just a back-up plan, it would require 4 diesel trainsets and crews on standby pretty much all day every day to provide the alternative service, or 2 to provide a limited standby service.

To add to the difficulties today - the severe weather has closed some of the main roads over last night / this morning. These have included sections of the A1, A7, A68 in the Borders and the A9 and other lesser roads in the HIghlands. You can imagine that it would be pretty hard to get crew to where they need to be if both the rail and road networks experience closures like this at short notice.

 

[leedstraindude]

The last northbound XC service to make it through landslip area was the 1708 arrival into Edinburgh from penzance, arrived 85 mins late into Waverley!

 

[royaloak]

1S55 1323 Plymouth to Edinburgh terminated at Newcastle at 2052 (15 late). A 1Z23 left Newcastle at 2214 for Edinburgh only, arriving at 0312.

 

[philjo]

Reading the national rail website, it appears that there is now another problem between Berwick & Newcastle as there are now no services running north of Newcastle to Berwick.

 

[DaveNewcastle]

Berwick only has an island platform - its not really practical to take sets north there, allow crew their rest time and then return it to tie in with southbound services without making things worse

Local services are still operating between Newcastle and Morpeth, and between Edinburgh and North Berwick

 

[TheExmoorBeast]

It's at time like this that the old Waverley line would come into its own, this just goes to prove the need for it to be fully restored.

 

[madannie77]

It's at time like this that the old Waverley line would come into its own, this just goes to prove the need for it to be fully restored.

But trains from Newcastle to Edinburgh would still have to run to Carlisle to access the Waverley Line, so it would be of no use in the present disruption.

A northbound HST has just passed by my house on the outskirts of Carlisle.

 

[jopsuk]

Apparently the A1 and A68 are closed as well

 

[dk1]

The up 'Highland Chieftan' has just terminated at Kings Cross 170 minutes late. Well done East Coast for running through via Carlisle & the Tyne Valley.

 

[TheExmoorBeast]

But trains from Newcastle to Edinburgh would still have to run to Carlisle to access the Waverley Line, so it would be of no use in the present disruption.

A northbound HST has just passed by my house on the outskirts of Carlisle.

So up/down the Waverley to Carlisle, for either an easy transfer to VWC/AXC/TPEX forward to London Euston (remember London Kings' Cross is only about 500m away from London Euston), Birmingham etc or if the staff were available a driver to take the train via the S&C to Leeds, where it'd be back on home territory; Convoluted maybe but it would still get there.

 

[Sir_Clagalot]

word this afternoon was that part of the line along the clifftops just south of Spittal towards Scremerston has slid into the sea... Hence nowt going north from Newcastle other than the Northerns, which never went to Berwick anyway.

 

[142094]

Look North tonight said that Network Rail had said that the ECML would reopen for the first trains tomorrow. Was a picture of a HST going past Grantshouses and there was a lot of water flowing over the rails, was in The Journal today if anyone saw it.

 

[jopsuk]

word this afternoon was that part of the line along the clifftops just south of Spittal towards Scremerston has slid into the sea... Hence nowt going north from Newcastle other than the Northerns, which never went to Berwick anyway.

Sounds like this was just pure rumour- trains resuming this morning. Reduced service at first.

 

[A60K]

So up/down the Waverley to Carlisle, for either an easy transfer to VWC/AXC/TPEX forward to London Euston (remember London Kings' Cross is only about 500m away from London Euston), Birmingham etc or if the staff were available a driver to take the train via the S&C to Leeds, where it'd be back on home territory; Convoluted maybe but it would still get there.

Pretty pointless - just run them from Edinburgh to Carlisle via Carstairs as is happening at the moment,