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Weather-Related Disruption (Dec 2012)

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emoaconr

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After being told that I had to jump on a rail replacement bus from Cardiff Central to Newport earlier, we were told within five minutes that a train to Bristol Parkway was on platform 1.

After a brief change in Newport for the northbound Manchester Piccadilly service, a 150+153 combo rolled up, which ended up being fairly busy... not the most ideal stock for a long-distance express service, but certainly better than nothing, I suppose.
 
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merlodlliw

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It's just took me 47 minutes to get from Crewe to Chester due to flooding in the Beeston Castle area. Trains are stopping and running at caution through affected areas


I know the area well, although the old station is on a hill, the area is also packed with streams & the Canal, the road under-bridge of the line by the auction centre usually floods also stopping traffic as well
 

Goatboy

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'CrossCountry Ticket Restrictions Will Still Apply'

Typical XC, putting the customer first. At least FGW are adopting a common sense approach.
 

47245

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BBC Radio Devon have just said that the boons Network Rail installed at Cowley Bridge to act as a dam have been washed away and the track is flooded again.
 

Stargazy

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'CrossCountry Ticket Restrictions Will Still Apply'

I tried to travel from Caerphilly to Coventry yesterday evening on an Advance Single. I only got as far as Cardiff and was told my ticket would be valid today. Will I still be able to use it today? CrossCountry not answering their phone this morning.
 

wintonian

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BBC Radio Devon have just said that the boons Network Rail installed at Cowley Bridge to act as a dam have been washed away and the track is flooded again.

These were just trial samples right? I mean they haven't actually bought anything this useless without testing it first? :|
 

AlexS

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'CrossCountry Ticket Restrictions Will Still Apply'

Typical XC, putting the customer first. At least FGW are adopting a common sense approach.

Cross Country are a pile of ****. Got no time for them whatsoever when it comes to sorting out problems. They seem to have the odd bright spark in control who is capable of coming up with some innovative, reasonable solutions to problems, and the rest of the management just seem to crash from one difficulty to the next and prefer the cheapest and easiest options every time.
 

starrymarkb

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These were just trial samples right? I mean they haven't actually bought anything this useless without testing it first? :|

From what I can gather the river is higher then last time. Flood Barriers have been set up on Station Road in case the river comes over the flood banks.


Cowley Bridge Yesterday
A-tlb7xCQAAF7_u.jpg


And Today

A-yZ74PCYAADelw.jpg


The River at Cowley Bridge

A-ya6mBCEAAPpew.jpg



The Spillway (just north of St Davids) - this diverts water into a Flood Channel around St Davids Station... The water in the flood channel (left) is about 10ft deep!

A-yfve7CEAAmVw3.jpg:large


The bridge over the River by Red Cow Crossing (the Flood Channel is behind the photographer

A-yeZDFCMAEPuLN.jpg:large


Pictures from @DuryardDotcom

Also this is where the River and Flood Channel recombine (by the Mill on the Exe Pub)

A-ttoNXCcAAM3yd.jpg:large


via @Porchse911fan
 

Rich McLean

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A man on the ground recons that the line probably won't be open again until the new year, if the weather forecast continues. However, not much they can really do now, but wait for the floods to subside, and assess the track condition. They suspect the ballast to be washed away again, if it is, they won't replace the track if they think it will flood again a few days later. If the weather improves, they will work frantically to get it back up and running.

However, if the track condition is deemed to be ok, they hope to have things back up and running by xmas eve
 
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AlexS

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Completely off topic, but what an anachronism that Cowley Bridge Jn boxes' corrugated lamp hut has survived the closure and demolition of the box and now being submerged on numerous occasions since!
 

Kali

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Upgrading Castle Cary to Exeter via Yeovil is starting to look more attractive... what state is the actual Culm valley in atm?
 

Goatboy

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The dams at Cowley Bridge are in place not to stop the line flooding - that was always going to happen whatever - but to protect the signalling when it did flood so that they could resume service when the water receeded.
 

BestWestern

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[Deleted]. The update was updated again!

Latest just been piped through is rain expected for next 48 hours in the west country, roads becoming worse and no guarantee of pax getting to where they want to go, so don't travel. Nothing much running Cardiff - Swansea either, but Flax Bourton (Bristol - Weston) is now back open at linespeed.
 

47245

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The dams at Cowley Bridge are in place not to stop the line flooding - that was always going to happen whatever - but to protect the signalling when it did flood so that they could resume service when the water receeded.

That's a good idea hopefully it worked as planned, I feel sorry for the Network Rail staff who have to fix it again only a couple weeks after they got it fully working again
 

BestWestern

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That's a good idea hopefully it worked as planned, I feel sorry for the Network Rail staff who have to fix it again only a couple weeks after they got it fully working again

Naa they love it I'm sure, keeps them in a job :D At least the work is familiar!

I have to say, those booms didn't look like they were going to be particularly effective in the first picture... :|
 

47245

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There's plenty of ballast piled up in Riverside yard so they should fix it pretty quickly, the booms were filled with water so they were fighting water with water! Fire service down there now pumping the water away
 

BestWestern

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There's plenty of ballast piled up in Riverside yard so they should fix it pretty quickly, the booms were filled with water so they were fighting water with water! Fire service down there now pumping the water away

Out of interest, I presume NR will be billed for the substantial efforts of the local Fire Service?
 

BestWestern

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I'm guessing they will be as no life is in danger

Perhaps there is a need for NR to look at investing in some heavy pumping gear of it's own, bearing in mind that such harsh weather conditions are likely to occur increasingly in years to come.
 

Goatboy

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[Deleted]. The update was updated again!

Latest just been piped through is rain expected for next 48 hours in the west country, roads becoming worse and no guarantee of pax getting to where they want to go, so don't travel. Nothing much running Cardiff - Swansea either, but Flax Bourton (Bristol - Weston) is now back open at linespeed.

They need to be careful with the 'Dont travel' thing. It used to mean you probably wouldnt get where you wanted to go. I have now twice had to travel on the affected routing during 'DONT TRAVEL OMG' advice. Both times it was no big deal, the buses were excellent and it made little effect to my journey. As a result it's pretty hard to take a 'DONT TRAVEL' warning as a warning rather than simply a capacity management concept...

Ironically yesterday had the bus driver not driven around Taunton station carpark 3 times I'd actually have made the XC service that I would originally have been on anyway - ie, ZERO delay minutes.

FGW continue to impress me with the way they handle this sort of problem. The staff do the best they can despite idiots shouting at them, the buses are plentiful and well organised.

Suprised nobody is taking advantage of SWT services from London though? I'm on one now - it's quiet, comfortable and running exactly on time. You wouldnt know it was peak travel season on here let alone that the main London to Westcountry line is shut!

XC look to have simply cancelled the services west of Exeter but not to worry - once again FGW can be relied upon as they are offering relief services :)
 

BestWestern

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They need to be careful with the 'Dont travel' thing. It used to mean you probably wouldnt get where you wanted to go. I have now twice had to travel on the affected routing during 'DONT TRAVEL OMG' advice. Both times it was no big deal, the buses were excellent and it made little effect to my journey. As a result it's pretty hard to take a 'DONT TRAVEL' warning as a warning rather than simply a capacity management concept...

Ironically yesterday had the bus driver not driven around Taunton station carpark 3 times I'd actually have made the XC service that I would originally have been on anyway - ie, ZERO delay minutes.

FGW continue to impress me with the way they handle this sort of problem. The staff do the best they can despite idiots shouting at them, the buses are plentiful and well organised.

Suprised nobody is taking advantage of SWT services from London though? I'm on one now - it's quiet, comfortable and running exactly on time. You wouldnt know it was peak travel season on here let alone that the main London to Westcountry line is shut!

XC have simply cancelled the services west of Exeter but not to worry - once again FGW can be relied upon as they are offering relief services :)

I'm surprised SWT haven't been hammered the past few days TBH; yesterday particularly as nothing was running from Southern land up to London either. SWT also do a good job I usually find.
 

HSTEd

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The argument for slab track is starting to look ever stronger methinks.

That way you can start running again the second the rails are uncovered rather than having to try and dry out or replace the ballast first.
 

Goatboy

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I must apologise to XC - they ARE running trains. Oddly though they are all showing as cancelled on the boards and not advertised, but they exist. In a completely empty Voyager coach right now. Something I've never seen before. It left from a platform which was advertising a completely different train..
 

atillathehunn

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Yes there are problems, but they still do it quite often. Arriva services are rarely diverted up the Middlewich line (although Arriva do run trains along the Mid-Cheshire line reasonably frequently for diversions I'm lead to understand). It's the Virgin services that end up going up that way. I have photographs of them being sent that reasonably recently (I think on my trip to the UK last year). In the end, checking the boards for Crewe it looked as though things were heading up to Warrington for Virgin, and Arriva just cancelling anything heading to Chester from Crewe.

Loads of difficulties with diverting via Middlewich - route knowledge; low line speed; single line Sandbach - Northwich (loop at M'wich) and then Mouldsworth - Mickle Trafford!
 

Kali

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Axminster has escaped flooding this time & for once cutting walls seem to have held - but first-hand observation suggests the rain in SE Devon wasn't as heavy as anticipated ( and I presume west Dorset ). Still days to go yet.

Are FGW not running anything via Yeovil?
 

Rich McLean

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Axminster has escaped flooding this time & for once cutting walls seem to have held - but first-hand observation suggests the rain in SE Devon wasn't as heavy as anticipated ( and I presume west Dorset ). Still days to go yet.

Are FGW not running anything via Yeovil?

Nope, largely down to the SWT & NR Alliance, basically means SWT get priority over paths, and only certain Exeter HSS crew sign via Yeovil
 

Peter Mugridge

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The argument for slab track is starting to look ever stronger methinks.

That way you can start running again the second the rails are uncovered rather than having to try and dry out or replace the ballast first.

Wouldn't you still need to check the slab hasn't been scoured under anywhere?

I agree it would still be quicker on average to check and re-open, though.
 

starrymarkb

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Interestingly the section at Cowley is the original line of the River Exe, the River was diverted when the railway was built
 
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