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Line closed between Farnham and Alton [13/04]

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infobleep

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The line between Farnham and Alton is closed due to embankment issue and forecast of rain. This is until 19 April at the earliest.

South West Trains say last bus from Farnham is at 22.00 but the last train that usually runs from Woking is at 0.40.

National Rail Enquiries App says it's until end of service.

Would SWT be allowed to finish services earlier or do they have to provide rail replacement transport?

A it involves week days, they did well to find buses for the replacement service.

http://m.journeycheck.com/southwest...=&savedRoute=false&incidentsType=LINE_PROBLEM

Cancellations to services between Alton and Farnham

Due to emergency engineering works between Alton and Farnham the line is blocked.

Impact:
Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled or revised. Disruption is expected until 23:59 19/04.

Customer Advice:
There will be a temporary closure of the line between Farnham in Surrey and Alton in Hampshire from Wednesday evening due to an ongoing embankment issue. An emergency speed restriction has been in place on this section of track since 1 April and this was further reduced from 20mph to 5mph following a track inspection. There is a risk of forecast rain exacerbating the problem so the decision has been taken to close the line to identify what repair work needs to be carried out and to allow the work to take place. As soon as we have identified what repair work needs to be done, we will be able to confirm how long the line will need to be closed for.
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The line between Alton and Farnham has now closed as of 21:00 on Wednesday 13 April to allow work to be carried out to repair the embankment. Replacement bus services will run between Farnham and Alton in both directions providing a service between Farnham, Bentley and Alton. Due to their size they will not be able to serve Bentley station, but will instead stop in the village to pick-up and drop off passengers. Buses towards Alton will stop outside the Memorial Hall, while those going towards Farnham will stop outside the Star Inn.
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We will continue to update this message as the work progresses, and once we have an accurate estimate on when the line between Farnham and Alton will re-open we will let you know.
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Any customers travelling from Bentley station, please press a help point on the platform for assistance.
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Alterations to train services will be available to view at www.journeycheck.southwesttrains.co.uk
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We are sorry for the disruption to your journey.
-.
Replacement bus services are conveying passengers between Farnham and Alton in both directions until further notice. -
The buses towards Alton depart Farnham at 00 and 30 minutes past each hour and depart Bentley village Memorial Hall at 10 and 40 minutes past each hour.
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The first bus departs Farnham at 0630 and the last one at 2200.
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The buses towards Farnham depart Alton at 25 and 55 minutes past each hour and depart Bentley village Star Inn at 35 and 05 minutes past each hour.
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The first bus departs Alton at 0525 and the last one at 2125.

Additional Information:
If you would like to make a comment or give us some feedback about your experience with us today, please email us at [email protected], 0345 6000 650 (option 4) or fill in the contact us webform http://po.st/ContactSWT
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Have you been delayed by over an hour ? Please see here for information about compensation - http://po.st/SWTCompensation

Further Information :
An update will follow within the next 1 hour.


Message Received :14/04/2016 07:50


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R

RailUK Forums

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South West Trains say last bus from Farnham is at 22.00 but the last train that usually runs from Woking is at 0.40.

National Rail Enquiries App says it's until end of service.

Would SWT be allowed to finish at vices earlier or do they have to provide rail replacement transport?

http://m.journeycheck.com/southwest...=&savedRoute=false&incidentsType=LINE_PROBLEM

Now says:
The first bus departs Farnham at 0630 and the last one at 0110.
-
The buses towards Farnham depart Alton at 25 and 55 minutes past each hour and depart Bentley village Star Inn at 35 and 05 minutes past each hour.
-
The first bus departs Alton at 0525 and the last one at 2355.


So perhaps the answer is "No"!:)
 

infobleep

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Now says:
The first bus departs Farnham at 0630 and the last one at 0110.
-
The buses towards Farnham depart Alton at 25 and 55 minutes past each hour and depart Bentley village Star Inn at 35 and 05 minutes past each hour.
-
The first bus departs Alton at 0525 and the last one at 2355.


So perhaps the answer is "No"!:)
Cheers.

Wonder what the Alton Line Users Association think about this disruption to their daily lives?

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HarleyDavidson

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The staff seem quite happy that they're the other side of the gap. :lol:

Now to add to their misery the car park at Farnham is closed as of Monday, Farnborough is partially closed until mid June, Brookwood will partially close on the 28th.

If sources are to believed then the closure could well be a good bit longer than what has been suggested.
 

TEW

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The Farnham car park closure has been postponed due to the line closure.
 

09065

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Latest I heard yesterday was that there is a T3 Posession booked for all of this (WON 3) week, but there is a glimmer of hope they might not need all week.

I am not based on the route though, so someone more local might know more.
 

Kite159

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The BBC are reporting that the line will remain closed until the 9th May

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-36080120

_89307263_89307262.jpg


http://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/alerts.aspx#A4C1BC0F3FF7A485010B77AF084A2F16

Direct bus between Alton & Farnham, with mini-buses for Bentley
 

infobleep

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Interesting that they have switched to a mini bus to Bentley station. That involves more staff but perhaps is better than running the Alton to Farnham bus through Bentley village. Does Bentley station get many passengers?

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Flange Squeal

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Interesting that they have switched to a mini bus to Bentley station. That involves more staff but perhaps is better than running the Alton to Farnham bus through Bentley village. Does Bentley station get many passengers?
The thing about Bentley is that it is actually a busy station in the peaks, but serving passengers from a much wider catchment area than the village itself. Therefore people from the surrounding villages, who have to drive to Bentley station, are therefore a bit disadvantaged when the replacement bus stops in Bentley village, a mile or so from the station. Therefore the minibus service is the best solution for them, and I guess the main service now running direct along the A31 gives the timetable a bit more robustness when encountering traffic in Farnham and Alton towns as they can make up time by not having to come off the dual carriageway.
 

sammyg901

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Would expect that anyone who usually drives to the station will just drive on to the nearest station with service, so the no of people using the replacement transport will be low
 

DelW

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I think (from BBC travel news reports) that the original system was for the through bus to travel through Bentley village, while a minibus shuttled between the village centre and the station. The current arrangement will give a quicker journey for through travellers.

I wouldn't expect the Bentley - Alton minibus to do very much business, though, especially as Stagecoach run an hourly bus on that route as well (route 65 Guildford - Alton).

Thanks to Kite159 for posting the photo showing the extent of the problem!
 

Roylang

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Drove past the work site last night, you can really see how much of the embankment has slipped.

Rather put a downer on our diesel weekend at the MHR, having lost the convoy coming on by rail we then lost the 33 :(

Roy
 

SpacePhoenix

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In the photo in post #8 is that how it looked after the slip or had NR been digging? Will the section of rail that is hanging be removed whilst the embankment is fixed?
 

Flange Squeal

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Would expect that anyone who usually drives to the station will just drive on to the nearest station with service, so the no of people using the replacement transport will be low
Easier said than done as the nearest station with a service is Farnham, who's car park is full by 9am on a normal day so very limited parking opportunity there as if all (or even most) of the people that normally park at Alton and Bentley were to go to Farnham it would be full after the first couple of trains up in the morning leading to many disappointed people by 7/8am! In fact, as mentioned previous, Farnham's car park was due to be closed this week until August to allow a second level to be built, with passengers advised to use town centre car parks instead (this work now having been put off for a couple of weeks while the line is shut).
 

Stigy

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Easier said than done as the nearest station with a service is Farnham, who's car park is full by 9am on a normal day so very limited parking opportunity there as if all (or even most) of the people that normally park at Alton and Bentley were to go to Farnham it would be full after the first couple of trains up in the morning leading to many disappointed people by 7/8am! In fact, as mentioned previous, Farnham's car park was due to be closed this week until August to allow a second level to be built, with passengers advised to use town centre car parks instead (this work now having been put off for a couple of weeks while the line is shut).
Customers are able to use their parking season tickets to park at any station within reason. Even stations such as Basingstoke (although this is also set to close for a second level....), Petersfield, Winchester and Haslemere are geographically quite close to Bentley/Alton/Farnham.
 

RichardN

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Customers are able to use their parking season tickets to park at any station within reason. Even stations such as Basingstoke (although this is also set to close for a second level....), Petersfield, Winchester and Haslemere are geographically quite close to Bentley/Alton/Farnham.

I think Haslemere car park is very constrained too. Milford is relatively close to Farnham and I often see space in the car park at 7:50am...
 

TEW

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Haslemere is also due to receive a secomd level soon so I guess that's normally full. Always seems to be cars parked down the road at Milford too so I guess that car park also gets very busy. The Alton-Farnham buses seem to be loading well in the peaks, and the journey is pretty quick. However there is a lot of time built in so it generally means a bit of a wait at Farnham for the onward train connection.
 

Stigy

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Haslemere is also due to receive a secomd level soon so I guess that's normally full. Always seems to be cars parked down the road at Milford too so I guess that car park also gets very busy. The Alton-Farnham buses seem to be loading well in the peaks, and the journey is pretty quick. However there is a lot of time built in so it generally means a bit of a wait at Farnham for the onward train connection.
I know Haslemere is due a second level, however I'm not entirely sure why as there's usually plenty of room even mid-morning. It's often best to find a free place local to stations I find...
 

RichardN

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http://haslemereparking.com/it-all-stems-from-the-problem-of-commuter-parking-at-the-station/

The link above claims Haslemere station car park was season ticket only before 9am with a 5 year wait before you can get a season ticket. I saw a Twitter exchange with SWT moaning about the situation, which is why I knew it was an issue. You can normally park at both Witley and Milford for any service that gets to Waterloo before 9 am...
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
What is happening with the Holybourne oil flow? Not sure if the terminal is the wrong side of the problem..
 
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HarleyDavidson

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Holybourne is about 1.5 miles away from Alton, so that's kaput until the line reopens. It's actually quite nice not having the Alton line open, it means that we can get dinner at Farnham either a decent curry or fish and chips from across the road.
 

Paul180

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Good news (for some) it looks like the plain is to reopen the line on Wednesday 4 May.

I received this email earlier today.

Dear South West Trains Customer,


On the 1 April the embankment under a section of track between Bentley and Farnham was showing signs of subsidence. A temporary speed restriction of 20 mph was imposed. Engineers returned to site on Wednesday 13 April to inspect the track but further subsidence had occurred. With a risk of heavy rain forecast on Wednesday night the line was closed as a safety precaution. A geological survey of the affected area took place on Monday 18 April.

Engineers have been working around the clock and following their huge efforts, excellent progress has been made and we can now expect the line to reopen earlier than planned on Wednesday 4 May.

Until this time rail replacement buses will continue to operate between Alton, Bentley and Farnham.

Rail Replacement Information:
A direct bus will operate between Farnham Station and Alton Station. A minibus shuttle service will operate between Alton Station and Bentley Station and another minibus will operate between Farnham Station and Bentley Station. These will continue to operate to the current advertised bus timetable. However there will be an altered service over the Bank Holiday weekend click below for timetables.

Saturday 30 April
Sunday 1 May (Waterloo to Alton) and (Alton to Waterloo)
Monday 2 May

Thank you for your continued patience whilst we work hard to reopen the line.


South West Trains - Network Rail Alliance

Well done to all involved in repairing the embankment and getting it done quicker than advertised (hopefully).
 

swt_passenger

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According to last night's local TV it won't be fixed by then, they are repositioning the track onto the better side of the embankment temporarily to allow re-opening, with a speed restriction. Full repairs will go on for a while longer.
 

HarleyDavidson

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I copied this message from elsewhere.

The line is now set to re-open on Wednesday 4 May.

Engineers have faced an enormous task to bring the railway safely back into use as quickly as possible; this is being delivered by stabilising one side of the embankment and shifting the track onto that side.

More work will need to take place longer term to allow a permanent solution to be put into place, and allow for the rebuilding the whole embankment from the bottom up.

Until the permanent solution is in place, trains will run through the affected section at 20mph, you will feel the train slow down for around 70 meters and move to one side and back as it goes over the slued track.

What a shame they have to reopen it! :roll:
 

swt_passenger

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I copied this message from elsewhere.

The line is now set to re-open on Wednesday 4 May.

Engineers have faced an enormous task to bring the railway safely back into use as quickly as possible; this is being delivered by stabilising one side of the embankment and shifting the track onto that side.

More work will need to take place longer term to allow a permanent solution to be put into place, and allow for the rebuilding the whole embankment from the bottom up.

Sounds a bit like the still ongoing work about a half mile south of Eastleigh on the Botley line. That involved a couple of months of TSRs while they did major repair work within the embankment, and although they are back up to line speed now there is still work going on.

The amount of piling and drainage that has been done there is significant, but it has had little or no publicity because AFAICT there has never been an emergency closure.
 

Helvellyn

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Sounds a bit like the still ongoing work about a half mile south of Eastleigh on the Botley line. That involved a couple of months of TSRs while they did major repair work within the embankment, and although they are back up to line speed now there is still work going on.

The amount of piling and drainage that has been done there is significant, but it has had little or no publicity because AFAICT there has never been an emergency closure.
You must have missed the couple of months closure after the embankment collapsed! It never got much publicity at the time because something happened down West. Somewhere called Dawlish if I recall. ;)
 
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