Disruption Yesterday (08/08/2107) Coventry-Bham New St

[Mr Fizz]

I was 'delayed' yesterday evening by a fatality at Marston Green. Thoughts firstly with those involved of course.

However, i need to rant. There was no hint of an issue when i left work to get my usual 17:02 VT from Coventry to Bham New St. The service arrived on time and everyone piled on as usual. We sat at P for a few minuted and an announcement was made regarding an incident at Marston Green and we are awaiting further information.

A few minutes later another announcement saying it is a fatality (didn't think they announced them as such but there you go). They advised passengers for Bham International to alight and seek an alternative as the line is closed. They then advised passengers for New St to stay on board as they are going to run back to Rugby and take the WCML to Stafford and then back through Wolverhampton to New St, taking around an hour. Good plan i thought, so i stayed put as did many other 'regulars'.

In the meantime more people got on, obviously being advised that this is the only train for a while that will be going to New St. It was full and standing. We eventually pull out of Coventry (about 17:25) and all is well. However just before we pull in to Rugby there is a further announcement:

"We are very sorry but we are terminating the service here at Rugby. We will NOT be going on to Birmingham New St. Please alight and seek information for your onward journey". Cue consternation and much confusion. VT have now dumped hundreds of Coventry to New St passengers FURTHER AWAY from their destination than when they started. Brilliant.

Many of us get on the 17:47 to Crewe hoping to get off at Nuneaton (we could have got the 17:42 Cov to Nuneaton if we had known) and get a service to New St. I hoped to stay on and alight at Rugeley Trent Valley and get the 18:46 to Tame Bridge (my destination). However the service then ran late and slow and it became obvious that this wasn't going to work so i got off at Tamworth and got a XC to New St and eventually the 19:22 from New St to Tame Bridge.

Now i am lucky i guess that i am pretty rail-savvy and managed to work out my way home. But there were many who are not and were distressed by being dumped in a strange place with no idea how to get out and complete their journey. Surely VT, having announced the plan, should have stuck to it rather than dump people elsewhere? Or was it a ploy (as one passenger said) to remove hundreds of angry passengers from Cov and reduce the burden on staff there?

It does throw up another example of our rail system being 'broken'. There are of course two diversions that would be available from Cov to New St, via Nuneaton or Leamington. But of course because our railways are stuck in the 19th century and these lines aren't electrified we are stuck. Further compounding the issue is that as soon as a problem such as this arises, XC divert the Bournemouth - Man Picc services away from Coventry and go direct from Leamington. Surely in this case they should still go through Cov and divert via Nuneaton. I know this would add time but it would at least provide a way of getting passengers out of Coventry, rather than being stymied?

There. Rant over and i feel a little better.

 

[Crossover]

It does throw up another example of our rail system being 'broken'. There are of course two diversions that would be available from Cov to New St, via Nuneaton or Leamington. But of course because our railways are stuck in the 19th century and these lines aren't electrified we are stuck. Further compounding the issue is that as soon as a problem such as this arises, XC divert the Bournemouth - Man Picc services away from Coventry and go direct from Leamington. Surely in this case they should still go through Cov and divert via Nuneaton. I know this would add time but it would at least provide a way of getting passengers out of Coventry, rather than being stymied?

On the last part re XC, there will be two key issues with this as I can see. One will be that I'm not 100% that XC crew will sign Coventry to Nuneaton via Bermuda Park and I think it would require a reversal, possibly beyond the station to access the Birmingham line.

The other key one will be pathing - it is all well and good to suggest it will add a little time, but that little time (I can't see it getting away with anything less than an extra 30 mins - around 50 mins vs 25 mins, presuming the paths are there) will likely then cause it to lose paths at either end, either towards Manchester or as it winds its way down through Reading. Aside from a delayed XC service, you then end up possibly disrupting a good proportion of other services in the areas, widening the web of disruption. Much better overall to get the XC's on the move and out of the way and use alternative services/buses to keep the other bits on the move

 

[HLE]

XC men do sign the Nuneaton to Coventry branch and did have a turn where a trip was booked pass, for route knowledge retention purposes.

No reversal required at Nuneaton either - can access the Birmingham line via either platform 1 or 2 using the old route under the flyover and over the points onto the up to Birmingham.

Whether XC still sign between Nuneaton platform 1/2 to Abbey Junction is something I can't comment on although diversions along the Trent valley reversing at Nuneaton and going onwards to Birmingham are a common move during engineering work.

 

[bb21]

Two words: plans change.

In an ideal world everything would work out perfectly but we do not live in an ideal world. Sometimes planed crews did not turn up for whatever reason, eg. held up in the incident or elsewhere, or that a new issue is discovered which may have been overlooked previously, eg. planned crew running out of hours as it is a substantial diversion. How are they going to be able to "have stuck to it"?

Aren't there plenty of station staff at Rugby? It is hardly the middle of nowhere so while it is far from ideal, it is hardly the end of the world.

As for your idea of running XC via an area heavily affected by the incident, why should hundreds of other passengers who could otherwise have a hassle-free journey be disrupted?

It's an unfortunate incident which did not pan out particularly well for some people, of course. I am quite confident that Virgin would rather the diversion happened so that they did not have to fork out for alternative transport for hundreds of passengers. They wouldn't have cancelled the train at Rugby without a good reason.

 

[Minilad]

XC men do sign the Nuneaton to Coventry branch and did have a turn where a trip was booked pass, for route knowledge retention purposes.

No reversal required at Nuneaton either - can access the Birmingham line via either platform 1 or 2 using the old route under the flyover and over the points onto the up to Birmingham.

Whether XC still sign between Nuneaton platform 1/2 to Abbey Junction is something I can't comment on although diversions along the Trent valley reversing at Nuneaton and going onwards to Birmingham are a common move during engineering work.

Not all XC men sign Cov - Nuneaton by any stretch of the imagination. At best I would say 15-20% of Birmingham drives sign it and no Bournemouth men at all sign it. Can't say for sure about Manchester men but I doubt all do.

 

[Crossover]

Not all XC men sign Cov - Nuneaton by any stretch of the imagination. At best I would say 15-20% of Birmingham drives sign it and no Bournemouth men at all sign it. Can't say for sure about Manchester men but I doubt all do.

Thanks for confirming