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X Country trains cancelled west of Exeter
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PHILIPE
Veteran Member
Voyagers given up on Dawlish again until approx 1200 today
D1009
Established Member
Looks like strong south easterly winds forecast for this evening and tomorrow morning, high tide 2142 and 1004 respectively.
Oh dear, I'm on the 9:30 from Birmingham to Plymouth tomorrow, which is a voyager! Got to be there by 2.30 (due to arrive 12:52), Ship leaves at 15:45. Hope I'm not going to have a drama. Would it be bus from Exeter, which should be okay for time?
221129
Established Member
No issues this morning.
221129
Established Member
Due to the issues last night the following alterations will occur;
1V50 0900 LDS-PLY and 1E63 1524 PLY-YRK run 220 vice HST
1S47 1025 PLY-GLC and 1C85 2058 GLC-EDB run HST vice 221.
1V50 0900 LDS-PLY and 1E63 1524 PLY-YRK run 220 vice HST
1S47 1025 PLY-GLC and 1C85 2058 GLC-EDB run HST vice 221.
Ash Bridge
Established Member
I was following the 08:07 Manchester Picc-Paignton service yesterday, the train was showing on time as far as Taunton from where it departed 6 or 7 late, the lateness continued between 7-8 minutes at all the following stations as far as Torquay with the reason stated on the National Rail site as congestion. Just out of interest is this referring to lots of passengers boarding/disembarking extending the dwell times or perhaps an incident causing a queue of trains etc?
plymothian
Member
Trains in Devon were up the swanny all day yesterday.
There were several major events around - rugby at Digby, BEMAD at Paignton, Food Festival in Exeter, 2 major football games at Torquay and Plymouth, beer festival at Newton Abbot... plus it's a bank holiday weekend... AND payday weekend.
Most of the local trains were shortformed due to the fact the Exeter depot is severely lacking in working units - lots are being pushed out with bodged faults and failing in service due the sheer number of them.
The service was not coping with the number of passengers travelling at all with very extended dwell times - this impacting the single lines to Exmouth and Barnstaple causing 30+ minutes delay to every service.
Then all the ex-Paddingtons being stuck the other side of Reading (and one stuck for 300+ minutes near Didcot) due to the signalling failure.
And finally XC cancelling voyagers due to the weather at Dawlish.
The final local trains on all the branch lines were running 20-30 minutes late, which shows just how shambolic the situation was.
For the first time there was blanket ticket acceptance on all local Stagecoach buses throughout Devon, up to 1900 and extended to 2100 - though this did not stop drivers refusing rail tickets and making people pay again.
There were several major events around - rugby at Digby, BEMAD at Paignton, Food Festival in Exeter, 2 major football games at Torquay and Plymouth, beer festival at Newton Abbot... plus it's a bank holiday weekend... AND payday weekend.
Most of the local trains were shortformed due to the fact the Exeter depot is severely lacking in working units - lots are being pushed out with bodged faults and failing in service due the sheer number of them.
The service was not coping with the number of passengers travelling at all with very extended dwell times - this impacting the single lines to Exmouth and Barnstaple causing 30+ minutes delay to every service.
Then all the ex-Paddingtons being stuck the other side of Reading (and one stuck for 300+ minutes near Didcot) due to the signalling failure.
And finally XC cancelling voyagers due to the weather at Dawlish.
The final local trains on all the branch lines were running 20-30 minutes late, which shows just how shambolic the situation was.
For the first time there was blanket ticket acceptance on all local Stagecoach buses throughout Devon, up to 1900 and extended to 2100 - though this did not stop drivers refusing rail tickets and making people pay again.
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Ash Bridge
Established Member
Good grief, it's no wonder they were struggling then! Many thanks for the explanation.
ExRes
Established Member
Come on plymothian, you forgot the biggest event of the weekend, the Brixham Pirate Festival ....... although maybe you covered that with the second paragraph
I was keeping an eye on RTT yesterday, looked like a nightmare in Devon (as well as the mainline services). There was a train that terminated at Exeter St David's from Barnstaple running 78 mins late!!
With many HST services being cancelled and severely delayed, this forced passengers onto local DMUs across the network which then themselves became delayed due to overcrowding and dwell times. A bit of a mess!
With many HST services being cancelled and severely delayed, this forced passengers onto local DMUs across the network which then themselves became delayed due to overcrowding and dwell times. A bit of a mess!
The first few days of June and it "appears" that Cross Country services are affected by strong winds and high tides in the Dawlish area.
Anyone able to confirm this?
Several trees down near Plymouth & in Cornwall today as well. GWR service 1303 Penzance - Paddington running over 2 hours late.
Anyone able to confirm this?
Several trees down near Plymouth & in Cornwall today as well. GWR service 1303 Penzance - Paddington running over 2 hours late.
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plymothian
Member
True, cancelled between 16.00 and 19.00 (at least) due to onshore gale force winds, though they are being turned at Exeter SD AND Newton Abbot in both directions, however compound by the 2 trees on the line at Keyham and Hemerdon, meaning GWR services are delayed too.
And in traffic news, the A38 is closed in Plymouth too due to several accidents and fallen trees.
So basically of you're trying to get to/from Plymouth - you're up that infamous creek!
Rich McLean
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Managed to get to Plymouth before the A38 shut. Could barely see infront on me and lots of standing water causing loss of grip. Knew it wouldn't be long until there was an accident
Skipness
Member
Only last week (school half term) I was strolling along the Dawlish sea wall in the sunshine with calm seas, sunshine and bathers.
My grandson was waving to the passing trains and a Paddington bound GWR driver made his day by both waving and giving a toot on his horn.
PHILIPE
Veteran Member
Voyagers allergic to Dawlish Sea Wall from 1800 this evening due forecasted high tides.
D1009
Established Member
Well done for finding the thread last used in June!
Blindtraveler
Established Member
I do hope that the rumours water leaks into 800 passenger Interiors are sorted before they are let loose on Dawlish
PHILIPE
Veteran Member
4 months trouble free along the Sea Wall.
plymothian
Member
You know they were vigorously tested...
I must apologise to any visually impaired members that would have difficulty reading the letter the way I've posted it.
I can't write the whole lot out but I'll give a quick overview of what's been sent to us:
Basically they're from Network Rail and state that the work on the area around Cowley Bridge Junction to improve flood resilience is to start soon including some work that can only be done at night which will start 30th October (there's a typo on the letter - it says 30th November), this work will run until Saturday 11th November (that's including contingency time).
Work to include - much vegetation clearance and I think some other work to increase the flow of floodwater that passes under the culverts that are in the pinch point around the area of the junction. Basically when the river is full and spills over its banks about half a mile north of Cowley Bridge towards Stoke Canon the flood water builds up just before the pub and the railway junction, overtops the culvert and washes the ballast away.
Let's hope it works...
Is there anywhere for the water to run to downstream of Cowley Bridge? Looking around today I was struck by the volume of flood prevention work going on through the centre and right down to Countess Weir. Is this likely to impact the ability of water to get past Cowley Bridge without flooding? I don't know the area or the specific cause of the flooding well enough know the answer...
Takno - After Cowley Bridge the river immediately goes into a flood plain (parallel to Riverside Yard), before the 1970s flood relief system starts just before the road that crosses the line at the level crossing by the station.
The river itself crosses under the railway and runs on the city side before the flood relief joins it again by The Mill on the Exe which is just upstream from Exe Bridges.
This last section and then the following single (and fairly constrained) channel is having walls raised to protect all the west (low lying) side of the city as well as the areas opposite that are low including St David's station and areas around the quay.
I think this is all costing somewhere around £30 - £40 million, I can't remember without looking it up.
The work towards Countess Wear (at least Trew's) I think is finished, but there's also a huge lot of work being done on Countess Wear road bridge (A379) due to the bypass being widened.
On the original flood defences some of the spill-overs have been reduced in height to increase the volume of extra water than can pass over them, and around us there's plans to remove some weirs altogether to reduce the height of the river.
It's a big job and they seem to working everywhere at the moment.
The scale of it is certainly impressive. I think the defences at Countess Wear are all up, but it's still fenced off and looks like they're planning on doing a spot of landscaping. It's nothing like as messy or annoying as the never-ending bridge-widening. I noticed that towards St Davids the fenced off section has got even larger, although I can't really see what they're doing there. Glad to hear there's a decent amount of flood plain in the area - so many rivers and streams just seem to be getting competitive flood defences which just divert the problem up or downstream.
It reminds me of when you try to dam a few big rock pools on the beach, so you build sand walls between the rocks and as the water gets higher and higher you realise that there's more and more places for it to escape from
.Spare a thought too for the people that bought a ground floor flat five years ago with a balcony overlooking the river who now find themselves with a view of a massive brick wall instead.
Envoy
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- 29 Aug 2014
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Looks like Cross Country are also not running their Turbostars between Newport & Cardiff on Saturday. Can’t think why as the line is not on the coast and not surrounded by trees. I would have thought that the greatest risk would be on the section alongside the Severn near Newnham. Hope the people arriving at Cardiff Central are told in good time to take any train to get to Newport for the Nottingham trains.
The47Wanderer
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