Landslip between Banbury and Leamington Spa (31.01.2015)

[319364]

I've booked an Advance on the 0605 from Marylebone to Birmingham on the 11th. What will be the best way to get there as I need to connect with the Aberystwyth train at 0830?

 

[Zoidberg]

I've booked an Advance on the 0605 from Marylebone to Birmingham on the 11th. What will be the best way to get there as I need to connect with the Aberystwyth train at 0830?

National Rail Enquiries website shows an 0620 departure from Euston arriving at New Street at 0745.

A search on the website will reveal other options.

 

[67018]

Chiltern are trying to run their normal timetable with trains terminating at Banbury if they were scheduled to run further and to do that they've had to short form services, this morning i drove the 0715 which is scheduled to run fast to Banbury and so ran nonstop to Banbury and terminated and left 5 minutes after a Banbury stopping services departed, needless to say i had a handful of passengers

Thanks for the heads up. Surprised the 0715 is running since a lot of the 'first stop Banbury' trains have been cancelled and this one is one of those that are usually busier at the Birmingham end. This means that, off-peak at least, frequencies to Bicester and Banbury have been maintained but there are fewer fast trains.

Be interesting to see how the timetable might get tweaked, but as I've said it's impressive so far that the demand seems to have been quite accurately forecast.

(Oops - apologies to moderators if I've broken the golden rule that makes it mandatory to rant against the incompetence of the TOCs/Network Rail/staff because of the appalling breach of my human rights inflicted by the inability to get 'my' regular daily seat on the train!)

 

[infobleep]

Chiltern are trying to run their normal timetable with trains terminating at Banbury if they were scheduled to run further and to do that they've had to short form services, this morning i drove the 0715 which is scheduled to run fast to Banbury and so ran nonstop to Banbury and terminated and left 5 minutes after a Banbury stopping services departed, needless to say i had a handful of passengers

What service does the fast train then form? I take it can't be changed or it would affect its diagram and return use.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

So what do you expect them to do about it?

NR are saying that the slip has dropped 4 metres and is still moving. Until it stops there is little they can do, then they have to find out what and where the "fracture" is and why it has formed, and then find a way to alleviate it.

None of that can be do in an instant as you seem to expect!!

I don't think it's a complaint against how long network rail will take to do the work, more a comment on the fact they are heading away from uni in 6 weeks and network rail say the works will take at least several weeks.

I always thought several weeks = 4. If so that's still 2 weeks before their 6 week deadline, so don't panic yet. It will all change in due course anyway. Of course some people do worry in advance, whilst others don't. Just the way we are all programmed, I. E. differently.

Out of interest, did they get any snow on site today?

 

[6862]

I don't think it's a complaint against how long network rail will take to do the work, more a comment on the fact they are heading away from uni in 6 weeks and network rail say the works will take at least several weeks.

I didn't make that comment...I think you're getting mixed up.

EDIT: By this I mean, yes I will be travelling in 6 weeks, but it wasn't me who made the comment about Network Rail taking too long. Personally I'd rather they took as long as they need and get the job done well so hopefully we won't have a recurrence of these circumstances.

 

[LeylandLen]

The Aberystwyth train starts from Birmingham International at 0809. (arrives Aberystwyth 1125) Another train could be Euston dep 0643, Birm Int arr 0753. There's a lot of building work being done at New Street , so changing at Birm International might be a better option?

 

[Llanigraham]

I've booked an Advance on the 0605 from Marylebone to Birmingham on the 11th. What will be the best way to get there as I need to connect with the Aberystwyth train at 0830?

Change at International. The Aber train starts there so you can guarantee to get a seat and somewhere to put your luggage. Getting on at New St means it will be rammed!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

I always thought several weeks = 4. If so that's still 2 weeks before their 6 week deadline, so don't panic yet. It will all change in due course anyway. Of course some people do worry in advance, whilst others don't. Just the way we are all programmed, I. E. differently.

Out of interest, did they get any snow on site today?

Several is more than a few, it is not a finite number.

 

[LeylandLen]

I've booked an Advance on the 0605 from Marylebone to Birmingham on the 11th. What will be the best way to get there as I need to connect with the Aberystwyth train at 0830?

The Aberystwyth train starts from Birmingham International at 0809. (arrives Aberystwyth 1125) Another train could be Euston dep 0643, Birm Int arr 0753. There's a lot of building work being done at New Street , so changing at Birm International might be a better option?

 

[Bevan Price]

The Aberystwyth train starts from Birmingham International at 0809. (arrives Aberystwyth 1125) Another train could be Euston dep 0643, Birm Int arr 0753. There's a lot of building work being done at New Street , so changing at Birm International might be a better option?

Unless the incoming Arriva service is late, and gets terminated at New St. ??

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Always change at BHI - get your seat of choice .....(they will tell you if a problem) - trust me....

 

[Cherry_Picker]

That 07:53 arrival is a Glasgow train. It connects with the Aberystwyth train at International, New Street and Wolverhampton. If New Street is too much and International is too risky, change at Wolves.

I'd change at BHI myself for reasons listed above. This is the incoming service (tomorrow at least) so you can monitor it's progress.

**edit**

This is it on the 11th February.

 

[as1981]

Just a quick comment that Chiltern seem to be doing a pretty good job of dealing with the problem.

My commute is Warwick to Leamington and there have been lots of staff at Leamington and seemingly plenty of coaches. There have been good on train announcements as well.

My one negative comment is that there seems to be no information on platform 2 at Warwick (the one for Leamington bound services) and no announcements so all passengers have is the PIS showing all trains only calling at Leamington which might confuse some occasional passengers and make them wait for a London train which isn't coming. There might be info in the ticket hall but that is not open all day (at least not normally) and, due to the station layout, there is no requirement to go through there to get to platform 2.

 

[Old Hill Bank]

Chiltern are trying to run their normal timetable with trains terminating at Banbury if they were scheduled to run further and to do that they've had to short form services, this morning i drove the 0715 which is scheduled to run fast to Banbury and so ran nonstop to Banbury and terminated and left 5 minutes after a Banbury stopping services departed, needless to say i had a handful of passengers

No they are not, the Kidderminster-Birmingham morning peak is screwed up.

 

[Zoidberg]

The line is now being reported as to be closed until at least 17th Feb.

From:

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/service_disruptions/90845.aspx

There is the potential for further ground movement and because of this, the railway line and surrounding area is at risk of greater damage. An early estimate is that the line between Leamington Spa and Banbury will be closed until at least Tuesday 17 February. Engineers will be visiting the site tomorrow to make further assesments as to how long remedial work will take.

 

[oversteer]

As RPM mentioned, they should just build a cut and cover tunnel a la Gerrards Cross - and then sell the land and put a Tesco on top, winner for Network Rail!

 

[infobleep]

I didn't make that comment...I think you're getting mixed up.

EDIT: By this I mean, yes I will be travelling in 6 weeks, but it wasn't me who made the comment about Network Rail taking too long. Personally I'd rather they took as long as they need and get the job done well so hopefully we won't have a recurrence of these circumstances.

Sorry about that.

 

[30909]

I’m no geologist, civil engineer, or qualified in any way but from the description of the geology in the NR press release it would seem they were on a 50-50 hiding to nothing once the big machines and the drainage channels were put in. I expect the geology was the reason Brunel did not provide a longer tunnel?

 

[dysonsphere]

Having looked at pics whats the chance of removing spoil by rail they could load by day and move n the evening when the system is quieter. Might save network some money as well.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Having looked at pics whats the chance of removing spoil by rail they could load by day and move n the evening when the system is quieter. Might save network some money as well.

Wagon supply might be an issue for one thing....but where would it go to - landfill tax and all that....

 

[PHILIPE]

I have been wondering about XC Voyagers stuck south of Banbury and their Maintenance at Central Rivers. I have discovered a 5Z26 to Eastleigh via Bristol Parkway, Rhubarb Curve, Chippenham, Didcot and than back on regular metals.

 

[infobleep]

Wagon supply might be an issue for one thing....but where would it go to - landfill tax and all that....

Won't there be landfill tax even if they took it by road? Not saying a train is practical. I'll leave that to the experts to decide.

 

[johnnychips]

Won't there be landfill tax even if they took it by road? Not saying a train is practical. I'll leave that to the experts to decide.

Again, not being an expert in any way, would landfill tax be reduced or inapplicable as it would be 'clean' soil and rock rather than household waste, which releases methane?

 

[saltley 1394]

Looks as though it went fast line from Ledburn and via Weedon, which is a bit unusual.

The very good Signaller at Rugby SCC, asked the driver via the GSMR how fast the train went and when told 110 mph, so found a path on the fast line for it. :roll:

 

[Andyjs247]

Having looked at pics whats the chance of removing spoil by rail they could load by day and move n the evening when the system is quieter. Might save network some money as well.

Wagon supply might be an issue for one thing....but where would it go to - landfill tax and all that....

Won't there be landfill tax even if they took it by road? Not saying a train is practical. I'll leave that to the experts to decide.

What happens to all the spoil from eg Crossrail? Could they not dispose of the extra material the same way. The difficulty may be that it is unplanned - it might not be easy to find a home for 350,000 tonnes at short notice.

In general and if practicable and possible, such material would normally be reused in other construction projects, so not necessarily land-filled and as such it may actually have some cash value. For example such fresh relatively clean bulk material may be suitable for landscaping or (had the land slip occurred 2 years ago) it could have been used for the new embankment down the line at Bicester! When railways were originally built the material excavated from cuttings was used locally as far as possible to build any embankments.

 

[jopsuk]

Crossrail is building a huge new island at a nature reserve in Essex

 

[t_star2001uk]

apparently now the latest estimate for reopening is Tuesday 17th February.

 

[PeterY]

I have an advance ticket of 14th Feb. Euston to Coventry return using the Virgin service. The only purpose of the trip was to do some new track. Luckily I'd only paid £16, so in the great scheme of life, not a great deal and with the £10 admin fee, hardly worth the effort of cancelling the tickets.

 

[DelW]

Thanks dvboy. My worry about going via London is it would be my first time going through London alone (I have no problem travelling by train generally but I would prefer it if my first time going through London was in more ideal circumstances).

If you do end up going via London, the 205 bus goes directly from the front of Paddington to the front of St Pancras, which may be easier with luggage than using the Circle or Hammersmith & City lines. (Circle means changing at Edgware Road while H&C platforms are quite a walk). The views are better on the bus too!

If you have a contactless bank card you can pay the bus fare with that using the Oyster reader, otherwise you'd have to get an Oyster card as London buses don't take cash. However they do all have audible and visual announcements of what the next stop is.

 

[Cherry_Picker]

apparently now the latest estimate for reopening is Tuesday 17th February.

I've heard summer. Possible single line working in the meantime.

 

[RPM]

SLW won't allow much of a service to run, owing to the length of the section. Who would get paths I wonder, Chiltern? XC? freight? or would it just be to allow spoil trains access to the site?