Landslip at Crewkerne Tunnel - West of England Line closed.

[pompeyfan]

One informed source suggested to me that for a period of time recently the taxi firm based in Yeovil who SWR were using had blocked their account except for pre-paid journeys, and sent a letter before claim to SWR threatening county court over several thousand pounds in unpaid taxi bills.

Don’t all first group companies use FTS to source replacement transport? The contract is between FTS and the taxi company, not SWR?

 

[Starmill]

Don’t all first group companies use FTS to source replacement transport? The contract is between FTS and the taxi company, not SWR?

No. If FTS come back no availability they go directly. Unsurprisingly in a town like Yeovil availability isn't that great.

 

[Sealink]

SWR's response has been pretty shocking. I had a customer who simply wanted to use her Axminster - Woking ticket from Dorchester South instead. (There's a direct bus, running normally, between Axminster and Dorchester South)
An absolute NO from the SWR Twitter/X team.

Will there be a rail replacement bus service? Again No. (EDIT: I understand the roads were pretty bad - so allowing customers to travel from Dorchester South instead would surely have solved a massive logistical challenge.)

Will there be trains from Exeter to Axminster? No. Although GWR seemed to be able to run their daily Barnstaple - Axminster service.

Fast forward a few days, and oh, yes, there will be a bus replacement service between Axminster and Exeter. Too late for the customer who was told to apply for a refund on her original ticket and buy a new one (which given the late notice) was over double the original price.

I have never seen the DGAD Railway so not G'ing AD.

The crews are almost all Yeovil Junction based now i believe which makes crewing an Exeter to Axminster shuttle easier and given the other engineering works, they were running an exeter to yeovil shuttle before the closure. I really fail to understand why Salisbury to Yeovil via Westbury is cancelled as there is no issue at all on that bit so that's just SWR screwing everyone. The fact there is no ticket acceptance on GWR (also a first company) or stagecoach buses is ridiculous but typical SWR

I know I am repeating myself but there was no ticket acceptance on SWR from Dorchester South to Woking either. The same ****** company!

No but GWR don't just abandon passengers like SWR regularly do west of Yeovil. SWR should have their franchise stripped over this and their continued awful performance. Why should passengers suffer due to their awful service. Constant dirty trains, late trains, cancelled trains and total lack of interest in services beyond Yeovil.

Today they scheduled rail replacement buses that didn't connect with trains and the few that did didnt wait 5 mins when the train was late arriving. Timetables Basingstoke to Weymouth were comically bad today. Also, they keep timetabling journeys on buses with journey times that are impossible.

Albeit from May 2023... the SERUG newsletter.

A snippet of good news first...
28th March 2023 was a day to celebrate – it was the first day in over 8 months that trains ran on time! By that, we mean a “full” hourly service (trains running throughout between Waterloo and Exeter) and achieving the performance target of 89% of trains arriving within 5 minutes of schedule at the final destination. Just to show that it wasn’t a one off, it was repeated for the following 2 days as well. April also had 3 days of the target being achieved and we’ve had a few good days thus far in May.

 

[brad465]

I agree the single track is an issue but, ever since the depot opened at Junction, cancellations west of Yeovil have gone up and Junction is the worst place to be dumped, particularly since the cafe closed. Often you are given no warning. At least at Salisbury you can escape via Westbury and it has facilities. Also extra delays that creep in due to crew changes at Junction magnify delays across the line. As a minimum they need to add waiting time at Junction to allow for crew changes.

Has that café closed? I used it back in July, although it did have limited opening hours so even if it is still open its access cannot be guaranteed.

 

[geoffk]

RTT is showing five SWR trains Axminster - Exeter today. Already one (at 11.05) has been cancelled.

 

[Starmill]

SWR's response has been pretty shocking. I had a customer who simply wanted to use her Axminster - Woking ticket from Dorchester South instead. (There's a direct bus, running normally, between Axminster and Dorchester South)
An absolute NO from the SWR Twitter/X team.

Will there be a rail replacement bus service? Again No. (EDIT: I understand the roads were pretty bad - so allowing customers to travel from Dorchester South instead would surely have solved a massive logistical challenge.)

That's really shocking.

SWR's response has been pretty shocking. I had a customer who simply wanted to use her Axminster - Woking ticket from Dorchester South instead. (There's a direct bus, running normally, between Axminster and Dorchester South)
An absolute NO from the SWR Twitter/X team.

Will there be a rail replacement bus service? Again No. (EDIT: I understand the roads were pretty bad - so allowing customers to travel from Dorchester South instead would surely have solved a massive logistical challenge.)

The really awful thing about this is that overwhelmingly the guard on the Weymouth services would be very happy to carry the customer with their SWR advance at no further charge. Unfortunately the customer can't really be advised that if the line is that's not permitted, on the tiny chance there's revenue on the train who charge a Penalty Fare.

 

[robspaceman]

That's really shocking.


The really awful thing about this is that overwhelmingly the guard on the Weymouth services would be very happy to carry the customer with their SWR advance at no further charge. Unfortunately the customer can't really be advised that if the line is that's not permitted, on the tiny chance there's revenue on the train who charge a Penalty Fare.

This is what happened to my party yesterday. We had advance tickets from Axminster to Waterloo and joined a Weymouth service at Dorchester. The guard was friendly and understanding and very happy to accept our tickets. I was less happy about the fact my 81 year old aunt had to then drive back alone to east Devon along a very flooded A35 because there was no Axminster-Exeter shuttle (or ticket acceptance on GWR)… but that’s also related to my aunt’s stubbornness in refusing to countenance our booking a taxi to Dorchester!

 

[Sealink]

My reply from SWR

 

[embers25]

SwR have just private messaged me again and the same person who sorted ticket acceptance with GWR on Friday which was removed last night has just informed me ticket acceptance is back from Basingstoke to Reading and on to Exeter.

 

[Kite159]

SWR haven't covered themselves in glory, giving the impression that they simply don't care about the West of England services.
How many passengers of Axminster/Honiton has simply decided enough is enough and will either drive towards Exeter using one of the P&R sites or use the Stagecoach bus and won't return?

 

[Irascible]

SWR haven't covered themselves in glory, giving the impression that they simply don't care about the West of England services.
How many passengers of Axminster/Honiton has simply decided enough is enough and will either drive towards Exeter using one of the P&R sites or use the Stagecoach bus and won't return?

It's a bit of an outlier compared to their core services ( which is one thing behind my suggestion someone else runs it ) but SWT managed to make it work very well, so there's no excuse other than apathy. I'll take a straw poll of locals but I'm a bit out of the way for commuting - by the time people here have got to Axminster or Honiton they might as well have just driven the whole way. The bus... is not the fastest thing ever.

 

[embers25]

I commuted for 12 years 2009-2020 between Pinhoe and Guildford 1 and 3 times a week and never experienced services being terminated at Honiton or Yeovil and was diverted via Westbury a couple of times and Southampton a few times but that was it. Never more than 40 mins late (the default when you miss your slot at Honiton. I've had triple the disruption at least in the past 7 months now I'm back commuting once or twice a week again. SWT were light years better on this line but, anecdotal evidence aside, I get thigs go wrong and SWR's hands can be tied, but it's the lack of caring or common sense that is most frustrating. Like today and Friday when they claim they were arranging ticket acceptance but it is totally unbelievable that, if it couldn't be arranged for days, they were able to arrange it witihn less than 2 minutes when I bothered them enough on X. Also, even when it was put in place, I've asked why not Dorchester for passengers from Axminster and was told no again as that is a different line but it's both SWR and the most sensible route using SWR only to Axminster as it has the direct bus. The fact they never add rail replacement is bloody annoying but given sometimes the 0425 Exeter to Honiton rail replacement comes from Bristol I'm not surprised. Apart for Crewkerne, all stations west of Yeovil are reachable sensibly by bus from Taunton, Dorchester or Exeter (but not Yeovil Junction which is cut off from everything) and so, if you can't provide buses, at least allow ticket acceptance on the alternative train routes so people can use the local bus for only £2 to reach these alternative stations and then we aren't cut off. I understand it can take time to get acceptance with GWR but Dorchester acceptance should have been immediate and should always be. If nothing else it's extra profit for First given they run the bus to Dorchester and form Axminster to Taunton!

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Not allowing tickets on Dorchester services is absolutely disgusting.

 

[Starmill]

SWR haven't covered themselves in glory, giving the impression that they simply don't care about the West of England services.
How many passengers of Axminster/Honiton has simply decided enough is enough and will either drive towards Exeter using one of the P&R sites or use the Stagecoach bus and won't return?

Indeed. Or park at Taunton or Tiverton Parkway for services to London. Very poor.

 

[Kilopylae]

SWR's response has been pretty shocking.

Pretty disappointed by this interaction: https://twitter.com/SW_Help/status/1733532194784645168

 

[Kite159]

Indeed. Or park at Taunton or Tiverton Parkway for services to London. Very poor.

Although that would come with a large cost impact, considering GWR services are (in general) more costly than SWR. Even before taking into the fares from (say) Honiton - London Waterloo can be lowered with the Network Railcard if said passenger is travelling solo and is aged between 31 & 59

 

[RPI]

Although that would come with a large cost impact, considering GWR services are (in general) more costly than SWR. Even before taking into the fares from (say) Honiton - London Waterloo can be lowered with the Network Railcard if said passenger is travelling solo and is aged between 31 & 59

A lot of people who use the WoE actually live in between anyway, several regulars use either Castle Cary or Sherborne, a lot have started using Castle Cary more.

So today there were several supposed shuttles between Axminster and Exeter, one ran early on, then nothing until the GWR service which ran back in service too, closely followed by an SWR service which appeared to sit at Axminster for an age before just returning back to Exeter now supposedly in service at 20:05. Yet they seem to be ghost trains? An utter shambles.

 

[Kilopylae]

The communications with passengers has been dire.

 

[Grecian 1998]

SWR haven't covered themselves in glory, giving the impression that they simply don't care about the West of England services.
How many passengers of Axminster/Honiton has simply decided enough is enough and will either drive towards Exeter using one of the P&R sites or use the Stagecoach bus and won't return?

About a week of travelling by road will likely persuade them to return to the train if and when the service returns to normal. Heavitree Road - the most direct route into the city centre - moves at a snail's pace for large parts of the day, and Pinhoe Road and Topsham Road aren't much better. It appears Exeter Central was the best used station in Devon in 2021-22 (albeit St Davids was previously ahead as far back as I can remember) despite offering a fraction of the destinations that St Davids does, and the local road network is likely a factor.


SWR's refusal to allow ticket acceptance from Dorchester looks very poor. At this time of year most trains don't appear to even be half full in standard class west of Poole, and overcrowding isn't generally a problem at the east end of the route AFAIK. I can accept that trying to run anything unexpected during an overtime ban is unlikely, and that First would be less than enthused at letting passengers on cheaper tickets join already busy Penzance - Paddington services (not that I necessarily agree, but I can see the argument), but refusing use of Dorchester trains just appears mean-spirited.

SWT tended to have a habit of splitting the service at Salisbury during times of disruption and running a 2 hourly service westwards. It didn't look great at the time but looks great compared to the frequent times that nothing is running now.


SERUG's news letter has an Axminster heat map for September 2023 showing the percentage of on-time services at each time of the day. It can be seen here, although it's near the end:

SERUG Newsletter No. 20.pdf

drive.google.com

It can be seen that the service consistently falls apart during the day - what is fairly reliable at 0800 has usually broken down by 1700. It really backs up Network Rail's view in the 2020 line study that the Axminster loop wasn't enough to run a resilient hourly service, never mind anything else, and more / longer loops are required.

Whilst it might be far more effective operationally to split the service into Exeter - Salisbury and Salisbury - London, since the former will only come into potential conflict with other services west of Exmouth Junction and east of Wilton Junction, politically it would be untenable. Suggesting anywhere should lose its London service tends to get the affected MPs rather riled up for some reason.

Just a case of persuading the Treasury to fund some more / longer loops really...

 

[embers25]

The delays often build due to delays caused by crew changes at Yeovil which weren't planned for and aren't timetabled for in the current timetable. Evan an extra couple of minutes wait due to late arriving crew or crew having extended handovers leads to delays that then magnify quickly due to the single sections. Trains have also started picking up delays of 4-5 minutes quite regularly between Feniton and Pinhoe. The only reason I could think of was needing to deploy the ramp?

There is also a big reluctance by signallers to hold eastbound trains at Gillingham when late (I assume due to pathing issues after Basingstoke if they are late). One simple measure that would make a big difference would be to have the departure time westbound during the day at Tisbury being 1 minutes after the eastbound train. Obviously the westbound train would usually be late but, if you leave the Gillingham time the same, then when the eastbound is on time the westbound would still be on time from Gillingham onwards and only a couple of mins late at Tisbury but, when the eastbound is late, the westbound could continue to Tisbury and leave 4 minutes earlier and wait at Gillingham. So many times recently, that extra 4 minutes would have enabled the westbound to not have been looped and picking up a long delay. This change would make far more difference to reliability than you might think. I know it's not ideal but timing it one minute after the eastbound at least means the trains would appear the right way round on the departure board and delays would be reduced more often than you think.

Another issue is lack of platform capacity at Salisbury made worse by odd allocations. For example, the 1547 westbound is delayed every time the 1541 to Bristol is late as, unlike some hours, it can't use Platform 3 and has to wait for the Bristol to clear 4 as they bring in the 1558 to Romsey early blocking platform 3. Does anyone know why the other platform at Salisbury is unused. Also, it is odd that the points don't allow Platform 2 to be used westbound.

One other thing is that westbound trains often pick up delays at Basingstoke when the 02 past to Pompey changes crews on Platform 2 as that crew change is not quick for some reason. This usually isn't a huge issue as they get plenty of time to Salisbury but it can be.

 

[pompeyfan]

So today there were several supposed shuttles between Axminster and Exeter, one ran early on, then nothing until the GWR service which ran back in service too, closely followed by an SWR service which appeared to sit at Axminster for an age before just returning back to Exeter now supposedly in service at 20:05. Yet they seem to be ghost trains? An utter shambles.

Looks like every intention was made to run those services but they were unable to be crewed. As I mentioned the other day those shuttles rely entirely on Rest Day working or depot spares / covers, there is no way of using the booked crew without decimating the service east of Yeovil.

Looking at the timings at Axminster, the train had to sit there until the path of the next down service, otherwise there would be no compliant path and would cause reactionary delays to the South Devon services

 

[RPI]

Looks like every intention was made to run those services but they were unable to be crewed. As I mentioned the other day those shuttles rely entirely on Rest Day working or depot spares / covers, there is no way of using the booked crew without decimating the service east of Yeovil.

Looking at the timings at Axminster, the train had to sit there until the path of the next down service, otherwise there would be no compliant path and would cause reactionary delays to the South Devon services

Again, one of the main issues is the dire communication from SWR, currently 1Z26.... Which seems to have no info available, is at Honiton heading to Axminster, it then, I assume, forms 1Z03 07:37 Axminster to Exeter, yet all online systems other than RTT don't show these trains and just show the trains that would normally run as cancelled.

 

[embers25]

and the 0550 wasn't showing as cancelled until well after 7 and there is no mention of the shuttles anywhere on X or Journeycheck so they aren't exactly gonna be well used. My 4 back to Cranbrook last night had several annoyed people who'd come in by train and then were not told there would be no return train! If a train was left locked for the next crew at Axminster, how long would the crew arriving at Axminster require to start it up, check it and put it in service?

 

[RPI]

and the 0550 wasn't showing as cancelled until well after 7 and there is no mention of the shuttles anywhere on X or Journeycheck so they aren't exactly gonna be well used. My 4 back to Cranbrook last night had several annoyed people who'd come in by train and then were not told there would be no return train! If a train was left locked for the next crew at Axminster, how long would the crew arriving at Axminster require to start it up, check it and put it in service?

Seems that SWR have now publicly admitted the existence of these shuttles according to their X page!

Ironically, it's the GWR service is cancelled tonight! No driver!

 

[Sealink]

My pal used to be a signaller at Axminster and has described SWR as the epitome of the DGAD railway

 

[30907]

My pal used to be a signaller at Axminster and has described SWR as the epitome of the DGAD railway

Translation appreciated, Google doesn't recognise the acronym

 

[Bletchleyite]

Don't give a...?

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Translation appreciated, Google doesn't recognise the acronym

Don't give a...?

That is what I guessed.

 

[Sealink]

Don't give a (supporting wall for a reservoir)

 

[swr444]

Oh dear....

https://twitter.com/PaulCliftonBBC/status/1743010543152111960