Storm Bert Saturday 23rd November

[geoffk]

No, it's between Todmorden and Hebden Bridge.

Benn looking at pictures of my former home area, the Calder Valley. Roads closed by flooding at Walsden and between Tod and Hebden Bridge. Reminded me of Christmas 2015 when I had a cellar full of water.

 

[Parallel]

Currently severe disruption across the GWR network.

Newton Abbot to Plymouth closed due to flooding; Okehampton line closed due to severe weather earlier in the week; Barnstaple line closed due to a tree on the line; Westbury - Reading via Newbury is closed due to flooding; Swindon - Bristol Parkway closed due to flooding; Castle Cary to Weymouth closed due to a tree on the line; Gunnislake line closed due to a tree on the line, and that’s on top of the usual crew shortages. Passengers advised to travel tomorrow where possible. No RRS in operation on many of these routes due to flooded roads.

 

[Phil56]

Currently severe disruption across the GWR network.

Newton Abbot to Plymouth closed due to flooding; Okehampton line closed due to severe weather earlier in the week; Barnstaple line closed due to a tree on the line; Westbury - Reading via Newbury is closed due to flooding; Swindon - Bristol Parkway closed due to flooding; Castle Cary to Weymouth closed due to a tree on the line; Gunnislake line closed due to a tree on the line, and that’s on top of the usual crew shortages. Passengers advised to travel tomorrow where possible. No RRS in operation on many of these routes due to flooded roads.

Made worse by station staff telling passengers a load of absolute rubbish. I've been up and down the sodding line from Bath to/from Bristol and towards Paddington all day. The announcer at Bath is talking absolute rubbish. First told everyone heading to Padd from Bath to take the Portsmouth train and change at westbury, so a hundred or so people head to Westbury, get off there to find the Padd trains cancelled and being told to take the next train back to Bath. Back at Bath, the same announcer still telling people to head to Westbury! Then there was a scheduled train to Swindon, and the same announcer told everyone it was full and standing and best bet was to wait for another - when it turned up, there were still seats available!

That kind of thing is entirely why public transport gets a bad name. Now at Swindon and being told a load of bull again. Some railway staff really don't want to help passengers at all!

 

[thenorthern]

From what I can see the Furness line is flooded at Ulverston and there has been a major landslip. I take it the line will be closed for a few days?

 

[geoffk]

Of course they do, because it's like that every year for months and months. We could spend billions on snow shelters and wind breaks and far stronger OHLE and snow ploughs and all the rest. And it would only be any use three days each winter or whatever. Would that be sensible, or would we be better off just putting up with occasional disruption?

It's called opportunity cost, it's a well known concept. And the trains didn't always get through in the past. There are plenty of examples of trains getting stuck for hours, and even days sometimes in the harshest winters

Trees on the line appear to be causing as much disruption as snow and floods, although their impact will be more limited. I don't recall fallen trees being a major issue in the past (say pre-1970).

 

[henryb]

Currently severe disruption across the GWR network.

Newton Abbot to Plymouth closed due to flooding; Okehampton line closed due to severe weather earlier in the week; Barnstaple line closed due to a tree on the line; Westbury - Reading via Newbury is closed due to flooding; Swindon - Bristol Parkway closed due to flooding; Castle Cary to Weymouth closed due to a tree on the line; Gunnislake line closed due to a tree on the line, and that’s on top of the usual crew shortages. Passengers advised to travel tomorrow where possible. No RRS in operation on many of these routes due to flooded roads.

Most routes from Paddington suspended now - how do you force GWR to pay for a hotel?

 

[185143]

Made worse by station staff telling passengers a load of absolute rubbish. I've been up and down the sodding line from Bath to/from Bristol and towards Paddington all day. The announcer at Bath is talking absolute rubbish. First told everyone heading to Padd from Bath to take the Portsmouth train and change at westbury, so a hundred or so people head to Westbury, get off there to find the Padd trains cancelled and being told to take the next train back to Bath. Back at Bath, the same announcer still telling people to head to Westbury! Then there was a scheduled train to Swindon, and the same announcer told everyone it was full and standing and best bet was to wait for another - when it turned up, there were still seats available!

That kind of thing is entirely why public transport gets a bad name. Now at Swindon and being told a load of bull again. Some railway staff really don't want to help passengers at all!

I accept that may occasionally be the case, but could it not be possible that in a rapidly changing situation they are being told one thing by their control, then half an hour later the situation and therefore the advice would be completely different?

What have the station staff got to gain from sending a load of passengers away if they know full well they'll be sent back, and no doubt give them a load of abuse for it? If their control have told them to send people to Westbury until further notice, then it's not their fault when they follow that instruction is it?

 

[Phil56]

I accept that may occasionally be the case, but could it not be possible that in a rapidly changing situation they are being told one thing by their control, then half an hour later the situation and therefore the advice would be completely different?

What have the station staff got to gain from sending a load of passengers away if they know full well they'll be sent back, and no doubt give them a load of abuse for it? If their control have told them to send people to Westbury until further notice, then it's not their fault when they follow that instruction is it?

No one was giving staff at Bath any abuse because there were none on the platform - all hiding somewhere I presume! The only "help" was the announcer!

 

[Horizon22]

Made worse by station staff telling passengers a load of absolute rubbish. I've been up and down the sodding line from Bath to/from Bristol and towards Paddington all day. The announcer at Bath is talking absolute rubbish. First told everyone heading to Padd from Bath to take the Portsmouth train and change at westbury, so a hundred or so people head to Westbury, get off there to find the Padd trains cancelled and being told to take the next train back to Bath. Back at Bath, the same announcer still telling people to head to Westbury! Then there was a scheduled train to Swindon, and the same announcer told everyone it was full and standing and best bet was to wait for another - when it turned up, there were still seats available!

That kind of thing is entirely why public transport gets a bad name. Now at Swindon and being told a load of bull again. Some railway staff really don't want to help passengers at all!

They’re probably going from the information available which can be quite fluid but sometimes with multiple routes in mass disruption and only so many staff available to disseminate information, it’s impossible to get perfect.

 

[yorksrob]

Around my way I sometimes think they'd be better off getting rid of the information screens altogether, the amount of dud information they give out (buses and trains).

 

[Phil56]

They’re probably going from the information available which can be quite fluid but sometimes with multiple routes in mass disruption and only so many staff available to disseminate information, it’s impossible to get perfect.

The annoying thing is that the train I originally booked on which was delayed, hence the guy telling everyone to go to Westbury, actually ran about 40 late from Bath straight through to Paddington with only minor additional delays, so I'd have been better off ignoring him (as would everyone else) and just waiting on the station rather than a two hour wild goose chase to Westbury and back and then another hour goose chase from Bath to Bristol and back! Next time, I'm just going to stay on the station and wait! The announcements are no more use than a chocolate fireguard if they're nonsense.

 

[Horizon22]

The annoying thing is that the train I originally booked on which was delayed, hence the guy telling everyone to go to Westbury, actually ran about 40 late from Bath straight through to Paddington with only minor additional delays, so I'd have been better off ignoring him (as would everyone else) and just waiting on the station rather than a two hour wild goose chase to Westbury and back and then another hour goose chase from Bath to Bristol and back! Next time, I'm just going to stay on the station and wait! The announcements are no more use than a chocolate fireguard if they're nonsense.

Does seem like odd advice to go to westbury which is no closer to London, nor does it tend to have a more frequent service.

GWR already had a few crew cancellations (not as bad as previous Sundays) on top of all the weather disruption so fairly difficult to get a semblance of a service together.

 

[gabrielhj07]

Flooding has blocked ‘all lines’ between Rugby and Milton Keynes. Passengers for Northampton etc being sent by road.

 

[700720]

GA has issued a Do Not Travel for the WAML to Stansted/Audley End. Also no trains between Downham Market and Kings Lynn. This is in addition to engineering works between Cambridge and Royston/Audley End

 

[dk1]

GA has issued a Do Not Travel for the WAML to Stansted/Audley End. Also no trains between Downham Market and Kings Lynn. This is in addition to engineering works between Cambridge and Royston/Audley End

Both Stansted Express services that were trapped following the OHL damage were reported to be full making evacuation more challenging. Both BTP and Hertfordshire Police assisted with this. RR buses are being hired in from wherever they can possibly be obtained to try to keep passengers moving through this evening and most likely tomorrow morning. No easy feat.

 

[gabrielhj07]

WCML now open (I assume main lines only) between RUG & MKC. Trains to proceed at 5mph.

 

[Mikey C]

I've not seen it mentioned in the thread, but there were no services on TPE yesterday for much of yesterday evening between Manchester and Leeds due to a broken rail neat Stalybridge, and diversionary routes being flooded.

As a result I missed my LNER London train, resulting in the scenic route home of a Cross Country train to Derby, and an onward taxi...

 

[BJames]

GA has issued a Do Not Travel for the WAML to Stansted/Audley End. Also no trains between Downham Market and Kings Lynn. This is in addition to engineering works between Cambridge and Royston/Audley End

Doesn't sound ideal at Liverpool Street. In addition to the above, London Overground towards Enfield and Cheshunt via Seven Sisters has been shut all day. Only one train (ECS) seems to have made it through earlier this morning and was diverted to Enfield.

 

[D1537]

Preston to Carlisle appears to be broken again now. Nothing running. Not sure why.

 

[Old Yard Dog]

Hooton to Chester still closed (again) due to flooding

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Preston to Carlisle appears to be broken again now. Nothing running. Not sure why.

Is that definitely the case, or are Avanti maybe turning around everything, from the South, at Preston yet again?

 

[henryb]

GWR cancelled all trains past reading

 

[driver9000]

Preston to Carlisle appears to be broken again now. Nothing running. Not sure why.

There was a landslip near Cogrie viaduct (between Lockerbie and Beattock) this morning but the line has now reopened.

 

[trainophile]

How safe is it to assume that if one's booked journey is cancelled due to the flooding you can use your tickets on a later one, even if that is the next day? And if that is okay, could I get an earlier one the next day than my ticket is for, in order to make a connection? Nothing running Hereford to Birmingham NS today since the 10:05 which appears to have got through. I'm booked on the 10:40 tomorrow, and then on to Liverpool from BHM. Got a booked Advance on Tuesday LIV to Blackpool North, which I could make if I got an early departure from Hereford on Tuesday. Considering whether to buy a ticket to LIV for Tuesday as a contingency, but don't want to waste money if my existing ticket would be accepted.

In the event that TfW was running to Crewe tomorrow (not that they've had much luck today) but HFD-BHM was cancelled, might I be permitted to take that route instead? Was thinking of starting another thread to discuss the reasonings behind ticket acceptance or not, but this seems a good place to ask the question. To the uninitiated, ticket acceptance (or not) during disruption often seems entirely random. I know there's rules about it being permitted if you would be delayed for more than an hour, but in practice it doesn't always seem to work like this, and the train operators might refuse travel if your ticket is not for their services.

 

[Deepgreen]

There’s endless road collisions and strandings whenever there’s some snow and heavy winds so I hardly think that’s a great standard to meet!

The police also block roads when they become too dangerous so that is not “people regulating themselves”.

Indeed, but far less readily than the railways are shut down.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 24 Nov 2024 ==

GWR cancelled all trains past reading

In which direction?

 

[pieswick]

Euston shut according to tfl!

 

[occone]

Apparently Euston doesn't have full power. Not necessarily power for trains, literally the building (platforms specifically I think) itself has power issues.

 

[AndrewE]

I suspect the Venn diagram of people who whinge about weather related cancellations Vs those who think climate change is a hoax is an almost perfect circle!

Not so! I have been concerned about climate change since the 1970's - when the collapse of the North Atlantic Drift (as it was called then) was already being talked about. I also get cross about how frequently rail fails nowadays, and think that we should be investing heavily in all our public transport infrastructure [edit - including human resources] to boost its resilience in the current climate (and the probable near-term future deterioration.)

It's doubly frustrating that lots of the failures [to run the service] are down simply to the Balkanisation of train services and the "rationalisation" of traincrew depots, stripping out most options to respond flexibly to problems.
They seem to have the wrong (or just not enough) people in the wrong places with the wrong route and traction knowledge!

 

[Jimini]

Euston shut according to tfl!

Certainly looks cosy based on a few photos / videos posted on Twitter. Departure boards blank as well due to the power outage.

 

[henryb]

Indeed, but far less readily than the railways are shut down.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 24 Nov 2024 ==


In which direction?

It is shut anything west of reading