Landslip at Chinley

[Royston Vasey]

Bit of a nightmare at Manchester Piccadilly yesterday evening. A landslip at Chinley meant no service between Piccadilly and Sheffield yesterday afternoon onwards ("45 minute" delays expected until tomorrow morning, which I suspect to be an understatement) and the coaches were in severely short supply according to the yellow jackets. I was travelling back to Herts via Doncaster.

I waited for 20 minutes in a queue easily 200-300 people long, in pouring rain, for a half hourly (~50 seat) coach, not moving, then decided to bite the bullet and buy another ticket and go via London, on what became a packed Pendolino at 1710. Unfortunately having split my ticket and got cheaper advance fares, it was my responsibility to get to Doncaster for my NXEC connection at 1910, so couldn't travel on my tickets any other way. But hey ho, these things happen. Despite the extra cost the further £15 FC upgrade was easily worth it. Standard in a full & standing Cl 390 is pretty unpleasant, but I must say FC is superb.

The Pendo was subject to planned engineering works so didn't get to Euston until 2053, and I missed the 2106 Cambridge train by ~10 seconds at Kings Cross.

I'm just glad that via London was a viable option for me but those who had to travel to Sheffield have my sympathy.

Anyone else caught up in this or had to staff it? What sort of waiting time was experienced for the coaches at Picc?

By the way, the First TPE staff were extremely helpful and patient under the circumstances, in the face of some pretty cheesed off pax and a lack of available coaches, and I imagine it got worse before it got better. Top marks to them.

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/service_disruptions/sa673c3acc8043189bb318efa3c1cafb/details.html

 

[gordonthemoron]

why didn't they advise Sheffield pax to go via Leeds?

 

[Royston Vasey]

Leeds services were running from Victoria rather than Piccadilly because of engineering works, and the First staff did give pax the option but warned that "these may be no better" than the coach from there. Not knowing Manchester well and knowing a convenient train was about to leave, I got this rather than finding Victoria. I think a number of people did.

I'm not sure what the journey time difference would be, and how crowded these would become...

 

[1D53]

why didn't they advise Sheffield pax to go via Leeds?

North TPE is also massively overcrowded anyway on a weekend as is having problems with crew availability over the diversion route.

 

[P156KWJ]

oops, was thinking of going there tomorrow hock:

 

[yorkie]

There's no way I'd have paid extra.

Unfortunately having split my ticket and got cheaper advance fares, it was my responsibility to get to Doncaster for my NXEC connection at 1910,

Source?

19. Using a combination of tickets​

You may use two or more tickets for one journey as long as together they cover
the entire journey and one of the following applies:
....
(b) the train you are in calls at the station where you change from one ticket to another; ...​

They can force you to go that way, but they must honour it as one journey and get you there, even if it involves a taxi. OR they can let you take another route. In this case it would be sensible for them to allow another route but, if they refused, I'd have gone via Donny and if the last train was missed it's their problem, not yours.​

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[Coxster]

Anyone got any pics of the slip? From what Northern Rail have been reporting, it's apparently closer to New Mills South Junction rather than Chinley itself.

 

[Royston Vasey]

There's no way I'd have paid extra.

Source?

They can force you to go that way, but they must honour it as one journey and get you there, even if it involves a taxi. OR they can let you take another route. In this case it would be sensible for them to allow another route but, if they refused, I'd have gone via Donny and if the last train was missed it's their problem, not yours.​

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Hmm, interesting, well the problem as I perceived it, as discussed previously on this board, was that MAN - RYS via Doncaster is no longer a valid route, so isn't this no longer classed as a single journey? Buying the separate tickets, as I understood it, meant that cancellations were at my own risk? If I had an OPR "not via London" then I would have had boarded the Euston service as a reasonable alternative in the circumstances.

 

[Gizmogle]

Haha, my Dad is probably having to deal with this as he's a Chinley signalman.

I'll ask him if he can see it from where he is and get pictures.

 

[Royston Vasey]

Haha, my Dad is probably having to deal with this as he's a Chinley signalman

I suspect that given the lack of trains it'll be a quiet shift for him today

 

[Gizmogle]

Lol, you reckon?

(I'll give him a text now. Don't think he has a camera with him at the moment though)

EDIT: You can't see the landslip from Chinley signal box. Like Coxster said, it's closer to New Mills South Junction.

 

[John @ home]

the problem as I perceived it, as discussed previously on this board, was that MAN - RYS via Doncaster is no longer a valid route

Not quite. Manchester - Royston via Doncaster remains a valid route. The route appears on maps ER+PS (using Stevenage as the routeing point for Royston) or CN+ER+PS (using Cambridge instead of Stevenage).

From what I remember, the "problem" with this route arises from the operation of the fares check. If travelling on an Anytime Return (SOR), the fares check insists that one travels via Stevenage Group (ie. Stevenage or Hitchin) and travel via Cambridge is not allowed.

On the other hand, if travelling on an Off Peak Return (SVR), the fares check insists on travelling via Cambridge unless going by the shortest route (via Worksop).

This preverse outcome of "Fares Simplification" arises from NXEC, who set the Stevenage - Manchester SVR route not London fare, using the old Business Return fare while EMT, who set the Royston - Manchester SVR route not London fare, are using the old Saver Return fare.

To add just one more perverse outcome, it seems that with an Off Peak Return (SVR) every hop on your preferred route via Stevenage and Doncaster is valid if you avoid a non-stop Stevenage - Doncaster train. So my advice is: just don't take the 1454 from Stevenage!

John