Weather related disruption - Christmas 2013 and New Year 2014

[ECML180]

No, and one can argue why should they?

I don't know why they should, but they do!

I was reading the case of a school bus operator in a magazine recently who put passenger perception at the top of it's agenda. It rarely suffered delays or cancelled services, vandalism was also rare as the pupils and drivers knew each other and often parents knew the longer serving drivers too! One monday morning the workers arrived at the depot to find all the batteries had been stolen from all vehicles, rendering the whole fleet unservicable.

They apologised to passengers and told them why, they did not recieve a signle complaint. One parent actually rung in to offer help as he knew the owner of a commercial spares dealer.

The fact I take from it, look after your passengers and when you have it difficult, if you tell them, they'll understand!

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

But you have to keep on top of the situation, I did hear a rumour that a platelayer actually wanted a day off! hock:
A severe flogging soon taught him the error of his ways!

On a serious note, I would like to thank the efforts that the MOMs, maintenance teams, S&T* etc have put into trying to keep the trains rolling over the last few weeks, at times they must feel like they are flogging a dead horse.

Yes I agree with you, the maintenance gangs must have been working flat out in awful conditions over past week or so.

I did travel through the affected problem area near Fulwell yesterday and there were a lot of maintenance guys there, whether they were there because of the flooding issue, or owing to what I think maybe relaying the cabling I don't know, but there has been alot of work going on on that part of the line for a while and extending Fulwell platforms too, it may be connected.

 

[Michael.Y]

I understand that the sea wall at Pembrey has been repaired but damage has been discovered at Ferryside and being attended to. According to ATW Website, the line is likely to be closed between Llanelli and Carmarthen until next Wednesday, 16th.
The units stranded at Carmarthen and working the branches, are 2x150 and 3x175s which I assume are being fuelled by road tanker. Seems no option to postponing routine Maintenance Exams.

Probably explains the rather magnificent 4-car 150 forming the Manchester Piccadilly this morning!

 

[PHILIPE]

I understand that the sea wall at Pembrey has been repaired but damage has been discovered at Ferryside and being attended to. According to ATW Website, the line is likely to be closed between Llanelli and Carmarthen until next Wednesday, 16th.
The units stranded at Carmarthen and working the branches, are 2x150 and 3x175s which I assume are being fuelled by road tanker. Seems no option to postponing routine Maintenance Exams.

Have they started to have problems with the units as a Carmarthen to Milford Haven and return trip bustituted due to shortage serviceable units.

 

[Baxenden Bank]

I don't know why they should, but they do!

I was reading the case of a school bus operator in a magazine recently who put passenger perception at the top of it's agenda. It rarely suffered delays or cancelled services, vandalism was also rare as the pupils and drivers knew each other and often parents knew the longer serving drivers too! One monday morning the workers arrived at the depot to find all the batteries had been stolen from all vehicles, rendering the whole fleet unservicable.

They apologised to passengers and told them why, they did not recieve a signle complaint. One parent actually rung in to offer help as he knew the owner of a commercial spares dealer.

The fact I take from it, look after your passengers and when you have it difficult, if you tell them, they'll understand!

Indeed, people grumble more when they have a poor perception of a company already, and then feel that no-one is doing anything to resolve issues when they arise i.e. invisible management, poor communication.

Whereas, if you think that a company generally does a good job, then you are more willing to accept the occaisional mess-up, especially if it is out of their control (bad weather) and you can see people trying to solve the problem. Too many times things go wrong and all the people vanish!

The same can be said for staff as well - the happier they are with their employer, the more likely they are to muck in (above the call of duty) when something goes wrong. As an example look at the situation when Western Greyhound had a major fire last year.

 

[PHILIPE]

Llanelli to Carmarthen re-opened today.

 

[trainophile]

According to Twitter, all the **30 MAN to Llanelli cancelled this afternoon "due to flooding". Anyone know where the problem is?

Edit: Sorry I meant according to ATW's website. Linked there from Twitter.

 

[infobleep]

Unfortunately that could be counter-productive.

If it's a quiet day then things will be very relaxed and the visitor reaction will be "these guys don't do anything", "overpaid so-and-sos" yadda yadda. But if there's a panic on and they are really earning their money they probably won't let visitors in.

In which case there is no point in journalists or politicians having a look round.
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Perhaps. But maybe an understanding of the challenges faced may make them more understanding when things do go wrong which could be beneficial for all parties concerned? I think a lot of complaints do arise because of a failure to understand the problem and the reason certain solutions are implemented. It could be argued that TOC's are at fault for not making information clearer. But how far do you go in making things clearer without appearing to be treating passengers as children? The balance is tricky.

I am far more understanding when I know what is going on and I know that companies are being proactive in making sure communications get out there.

Too often it doesn't happen and things get ignored as if they don't matter. Perhaps they do matter but as a passenger I don't see signs that they matter so it's not hard to imagine and think they don't.

 

[PHILIPE]

2 x ATW 158s which have been at Barmouth having been trapped due to the track damage in the Tywyn area the week before last, have now been loaded onto low loaders and are en route to Chester where they can be unloaded, checked and returned to their natural habitat.

 

[bnm]

2 x ATW 158s which have been at Barmouth having been trapped due to the track damage in the Tywyn area the week before last, have now been loaded onto low loaders and are en route to Chester where they can be unloaded, checked and returned to their natural habitat.

BBC News item regarding this, with photos:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-west-wales-25743400

Two trains marooned on a railway line during storms that hit the mid and north Wales coast are being moved by road for safety checks.

Arriva Trains Wales decided to move the trains because they have been stranded at Barmouth since the Cambrian Coast line was damaged on 3 January.

The sea wall was washed away at nearby Llanaber with 300 tonnes of ballast lost to the sea.

The line is still closed and buses are operating instead of trains.

An Arriva Trains spokesman said the two trains consisting of two carriages each had not been damaged by the storms.

The first train started its 74-mile journey to Chester on Wednesday morning.

The spokesman added: "The units have been will undergo routine safety checks and will be put back into operation elsewhere on the network."

 

[merlodlliw]

2 x ATW 158s which have been at Barmouth having been trapped due to the track damage in the Tywyn area the week before last, have now been loaded onto low loaders and are en route to Chester where they can be unloaded, checked and returned to their natural habitat.

Why Chester? is it due to roads better placed for unloading and travel.I appreciate the local 158 garage at Mach is on a hill.

 

[PHILIPE]

I can only assume more suitable road access to the tracks.

 

[Gareth Marston]

I can only assume more suitable road access to the tracks.

No way you'd get them into Machynlleth depot.

 

[Dr_Paul]

Knowing Barmouth fairly well, I'm surprised that anywhere could be found to load the carriages on to a low-loader, and I'm fairly surprised that a 60-foot-long load could be driven out of the town, as the two roads out of the town have some very nasty slopes and bends. Does anyone know how it was done?

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Well ,once checked over - I am sure they can be put to good use. Fishguard locals perhaps !!!!!!

 

[transmanche]

Knowing Barmouth fairly well, I'm surprised that anywhere could be found to load the carriages on to a low-loader, and I'm fairly surprised that a 60-foot-long load could be driven out of the town, as the two roads out of the town have some very nasty slopes and bends. Does anyone know how it was done?

Well, the pictures accompanying the BBC News article shows that it was 'a tad tricky'...

 

[WatcherZero]

NR saying mid-May now for full Cambrian reopening

 

[455driver]

Knowing Barmouth fairly well, I'm surprised that anywhere could be found to load the carriages on to a low-loader, and I'm fairly surprised that a 60-foot-long load could be driven out of the town, as the two roads out of the town have some very nasty slopes and bends. Does anyone know how it was done?

Did they cut 15 feet off the coaches then?
158s coaches are 23 metres (75 feet) long!

 

[Birdbrain]

The Island Line reopened on Sunday although a 20mph speed restriction is in place around Smallbrooke. The ride is so much smoother on that section with proper ballast rather than shingle. 007 and 009 operate the service while the other units are repaired.

 

[hassaanhc]

SWT severely affected with fallen trees today, a freak storm hit just after 16:30 after I'd boarded the 16:30 service to Portsmouth. Meant to be arriving 18:02 but got held at Guildford at 17:08 because of a fallen tree near Havant, and reports of landslip at Petersfield. At 18:20 a FGW service to Gatwick arrived, we were told to go via there. It terminated short at Redhill where I changed to a Gatwick Express service, arrived at 19:15 and took 19:40 to Portsmouth. Original arrival time at PMS was 20:58 but this has now been terminated at Fratton, arrival due in around 5 minutes where I'll be picked up.

I was about to take the 16:00 from Waterloo but decided to get something to eat, I wonder if that went through?

 

[D1009]

SWT severely affected with fallen trees today, a freak storm hit just after 16:30 after I'd boarded the 16:30 service to Portsmouth. Meant to be arriving 18:02 but got held at Guildford at 17:08 because of a fallen tree near Havant, and reports of landslip at Petersfield. At 18:20 a FGW service to Gatwick arrived, we were told to go via there. It terminated short at Redhill where I changed to a Gatwick Express service, arrived at 19:15 and took 19:40 to Portsmouth. Original arrival time at PMS was 20:58 but this has now been terminated at Fratton, arrival due in around 5 minutes where I'll be picked up.

I was about to take the 16:00 from Waterloo but decided to get something to eat, I wonder if that went through?

According to Realtime Trains, 1600 terminated at Haslemere 121 late, 1630 eventually went through after sitting at Guildford for 2 hours and losing another hour between Godalming and Haslemere, arriving at Portsmouth & Southsea at 2107.

 

[Monty]

The storm literally lasted no more than 2 minutes where I was but it was some of the strongest winds and heaviest rain I've ever experienced. Freak barely covers it.

 

[tsr]

Numerous trees fell on the Southern/Thameslink network, including at Herne Hill, on the Caterham line, near Carshalton, near Godstone, near Hurst Green & now possibly near Upper Warlingham. Debris/wind damage also appears to have caused this evening's delays on the North Downs Line. Meanwhile, many local roads have had severe disruption due to trees, making some bus replacements impossible.

 

[Trainfan344]

Was very heavy rain this afternoon in and around liverpool.

 

[D1009]

From my rcollection of this morning's weather forecast for the south, the severe weather wasn't supposed to arrive until Sunday morning.

 

[tsr]

I speak for the South London/Surrey area only, when I say that there was a Met Office forecast yesterday for this evening to have heavy rain and moderately-strong wind gusts, but nothing especially severe.

 

[Alfie1014]

GE main line seriously disrupted too. Tree down at Ingatestone at around 17:00, nothing moving for best part of three hours, first down train to depart for some time was 20:00 Liverpool Street - Norwich.

 

[southern442]

Numerous trees fell on the Southern/Thameslink network, including at Herne Hill, on the Caterham line, near Carshalton, near Godstone, near Hurst Green & now possibly near Upper Warlingham. Debris/wind damage also appears to have caused this evening's delays on the North Downs Line. Meanwhile, many local roads have had severe disruption due to trees, making some bus replacements impossible.

I happened to be on the train that was directly affected by the fallen tree at Hurst Green, and the train actually ran over the tree, and since I only left the train an hour ago, I can inform you that the work to remove the tree from the underside of the train has probably only just finished.

 

[TEW]

It was certainly very windy today, but I think I must have missed the freak storm. Unfortunately I was stuck the wrong side of it, and I eventually arrived home around 2.5 hours late. The Exeter-Waterloo train I was on got diverted via Eastleigh to avoid a fallen tree at Andover, only to be turned back to Salisbury at Romsey because of another fallen tree at Winchester. Luckily the tree at Andover was removed relatively quickly and we terminated at Basingstoke a mere 102 minutes late.

 

[tsr]

I happened to be on the train that was directly affected by the fallen tree at Hurst Green, and the train actually ran over the tree, and since I only left the train an hour ago, I can inform you that the work to remove the tree from the underside of the train has probably only just finished.

Yep - sorry, I didn't make it quite clear that some trains were stranded for a while. That must have been quite a bad experience for the passengers, and indeed I was onboard one of the trains which went on to terminate at Sanderstead, due to the line being blocked ahead. All lines are now showing as open in the area, also including the Caterham branch.