Snow Service Changes 25/02/18 onwards.

[Class 466]

Southeastern are continuing with today's timetable tomorrow too.

One of the main reasons for this is the fact that on Tuesday/Wednesday the network barely coped with multiple points & train failures causing all kinds of chaos. There's now a severe stock shortage with units stuck O/O/S at various locations across the network. Electrostars & Javelins are taking quite a disliking to this prolonged spell of cold, icy weather. Today's service has been slightly more reliable - but there have been further infrastructure & unit failures.

 

[jj1314]

Surely there must be some photos (or even better videos) of Network Rail snow ploughs in action at the moment?

There is!

https://twitter.com/Virgin_TrainsEC/status/969185591559680002

 

[ainsworth74]

There is!

https://twitter.com/Virgin_TrainsEC/status/969185591559680002

Thank you for you link but I did say 'in action' as in blasting away snowdrifts. Rumbling through York wasn't quite what I had in mind

 

[Three-Nine]

According to SWR website, they are no longer planning to introduce a snow plan tomorrow, which is a change from a few hours ago:

https://www.southwesternrailway.com/plan-my-journey/live-departures-and-arrivals

The snow has definitely been a bit weird today in my neck of the woods (edge of the South West "Red" zone); anywhere theres an angle its been forming drifts and it seems to be somewhat "drier" than previously experienced snowfalls.

 

[LowLevel]

What, every 153 - all over the country ?

The NR control message says 'single class 153 units have been withdrawn from the Network'.

Certainly EMT are running them in pairs only having had a number collapse all over the shop in inconvenient locations (there were 2 frozen ones blocking platform 3 at Nottingham for about 8 hours), Anglia won't be running many trains full stop anyway, dunno what Northern, GWR and ATW are up to.

Other correspondents with a view on these areas would have to have a looksee!

 

[M28361M]

Merseyrail have now announced an emergency timetable for tomorrow, with trains starting later than usual (around 0700) and running every 30 minutes.

This week has seen more employees than ever before working through the night to keep trains running and prevent them from becoming frozen, however, the sub-zero temperatures have caused trains to freeze within half an hour of being used. This has resulted in a reduced number of trains being available to fulfil the normal timetable and passengers may have experienced disruption to their journeys.

We apologise for any inconvenience these changes may cause, and wish you a safe journey on our network.

Timetable available at https://www.merseyrail.org/seasonal/adverse-weather-timetable-changes.aspx

 

[westv]

The Northern website mentions a strike on Saturday. Is this really still going ahead?!

 

[FenMan]

No North Downs Lines trains north of Blackwater today due to emergency engineering work.
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/service_disruptions/185429.aspx

I'm a bit concerned by this:-

From Thursday 1 March until Friday 9 March the line is blocked between Wokingham and Blackwater due to emergency engineering work to replace cracked crossing points.

Friday, 9th March!!!

 

[gavin]

VTEC advising passengers not to travel today or tomorrow passengers with pre booked tickets between Wednesday 28th February and Friday 2nd March can travel on any VTEC service between Saturday 3rd March and Wednesday 7th March full refunds will be given if you can't travel

 

[westv]

VTEC advising passengers not to travel today or tomorrow passengers with pre booked tickets between Wednesday 28th February and Friday 2nd March can travel on any VTEC service between Saturday 3rd March and Wednesday 7th March full refunds will be given if you can't travel

Well I've got to travel home tomorrow otherwise I'll be sleeping on the street!

 

[_toommm_]

Northern 150s have also had doors sticking together - I had two last night where I had to force it open (one of them was an ex FGW/GWR Too!)

 

[WatcherZero]

Mid afternoon, 5 trains sat in Victoria station but everything being cancelled as Northern had no train crews to operate them.

 

[sarahj]

Just got back from a few days in Hamburg (2 hours late, thanx BA). Their rail service was a mess, with delays, canx. I was waiting for a train at Harburg yesterday, the local train was only 20 late,, and IC was 70, and this board at Hamburg. Each train with a white bit is either a delay or a canx. One train to Kiel has been canx from the south, so they have put on a special. (note the long IC number). Roads were a mess, and they have snow tyres.

 

[westv]

Question is though, do I go to Kings X tomorrow earlier but maybe get there when everybody else might do or do I go nearer my normal time and potentially end up stuck at Doncaster? I'll see how it is tomorrow morning.

 

[HLE]

The NR control message says 'single class 153 units have been withdrawn from the Network'.

Certainly EMT are running them in pairs only having had a number collapse all over the shop in inconvenient locations (there were 2 frozen ones blocking platform 3 at Nottingham for about 8 hours), Anglia won't be running many trains full stop anyway, dunno what Northern, GWR and ATW are up to.

Other correspondents with a view on these areas would have to have a looksee!

West Midlands railway’s dogboxes are still running. As single units.

 

[HLE]

Single class 153s, many class 222s and all class 91s all now withdrawn from traffic due to class 153 air systems (and everything else) freezing up and failing and 91/222s having traction motor issues due to the snow. VTEC running HSTs only.

Not over here! Our 153’s soldiering on.

 

[BucksBones]

Lots of faulty trains on LO apparently. I’m assuming the 378s don’t like the weather?

 

[tsr]

Lots of faulty trains on LO apparently. I’m assuming the 378s don’t like the weather?

And not helped by LO Control apparently being unable to actually control stuff, due to power supply issues.

 

[Failed Unit]

Single class 153s, many class 222s and all class 91s all now withdrawn from traffic due to class 153 air systems (and everything else) freezing up and failing and 91/222s having traction motor issues due to the snow. VTEC running HSTs only.

VTEC definitely running 91s. All the had in Kx tonight. The 1733 terminates at Leeds rather than Harrogate because it is electric.

On the 700s lots of snow in the door runners but they still run ok. Have the got measured in place to stop them freezing. Remember that was an issue on the 15x and 31x trains in the past.

 

[Ianno87]

Question: In these conditions, if an operator puts out official advice "not to travel", does this in any way remove them of their obligation to get stranded passengers to their destinations?

 

[Segedunum]

Went for a jaunt out to Hathersage earlier. Sheffield station seemed quite subdued for rush hour with EMT running just 1tph down to London (the fast one albeit with extra calls at Loughborough and East Midlands Parkway) and some hefty delays to Liverpool-Norwich services.

Hope Valley stoppers were up the creek but everything did actually seem to operate with delays. The doors on the 150 I had seemed to be frozen though as they refused to open beyond about 2/3 of the way.

That said, Northern doing quite well down the Hope Valley considering the state of the rest of the network.

 

[Hadders]

I travelled from Stevenage to Cambridge and back today - bang on time both ways. Well done GTR.

As I arrived back at SVG at around 1740 a VTEC Class 91 was pulling into platform 2.

 

[westv]

I thought I read on Twitter VTEC saying there'd be an update at 8pm.

 

[Busaholic]

Question: In these conditions, if an operator puts out official advice "not to travel", does this in any way remove them of their obligation to get stranded passengers to their destinations?

I can't answer that question, but I can quote what the First Kernow bus company were saying on their website this morning, which was they advised people not to travel but, if they did, it might well be impossible to get them home again.

 

[muz379]

My experience at Northern seemed to be that they tried in vain to run whatever morning peak service they could with the crews and units that they had , then by mid to late morning the unit and crew displacement just meant that the service crumbled . Then when the afternoon crews started to turn in services picked up again before displacement once again became a major issues .

Plenty of failures caused by freezing doors , couplers and air systems , felt sorry for our outstation fitter he certainly earned his money today .

Plenty of delays once units got moving caused by freezing points.

Fortunately in my experience many people decided not to travel .The morning peak trains I worked certainly seemed massively quieter than usual .

Wind starting to pick up around here now , apparently expecting 70mph plus winds overnight . This is causing some impressive snow drifts and ive seen/heard reports of a few trees being felled already . Could be an even more challenging day tomorrow

 

[TheSel]

The Northern website mentions a strike on Saturday. Is this really still going ahead?!

Due to the bad weather expected in Northern England, the strike has been relocated to Southern Spain.

OK, not really, but a misquote from The Two Ronnies

 

[Wivenswold]

Ooof, a Class 360 has sat down London side of Colchester. Those with sensitive souls might want to avoid Greater Anglia's Twitter feed for the rest of the evening. According to my wife who's stuck on one of the 5 trains behind, there's an increasingly tense atmosphere on-board.

 

[muz379]

Question: In these conditions, if an operator puts out official advice "not to travel", does this in any way remove them of their obligation to get stranded passengers to their destinations?

In some cases even if they had this obligation , if they cannot recruit replacement road transport because of road conditions what are they to do ?

I know the TOC I work for has a small number of 4X4 vehicles that are used as response vehicles to respond to incidents but these would probably not be in adequete numbers nor insured for transporting passengers .

 

[gavin]

Crosscountry are not running between Exeter and the southwest for the rest of today

Newcastle to Birmingham is running but not serving Leeds and Wakefield due to overhead wire damage

Guildford will not be served until March 10th due to a points failure

 

[johntea]

Got ‘confirmation’ on Twitter that Arriva weren't accepting rail tickets for bus travel, which is strange considering they usually accept them on strike days! The roads were surprisingly clear so the buses were running no problem to Leeds.