SW Main line January engineering works - impact on level crossings.

[Colin1501]

https://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/news/plan-ahead-engineering-work-in-wimbledon-london-affects-south-western-railway-services-on-the-next-two-weekends-in-januar

Maintenance in the Wimbledon area will affect services across the SWR network, with long-distance services between London Waterloo and Exeter St Davids, Portsmouth Harbour and Weymouth revised and diverted on:

• Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 January
• Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 January

Network Rail engineers will renew approximately 800 metres of track, ballast, and sleepers between Wimbledon and Earlsfield. They will also replace points (moveable sections of track that allow trains to move from one line to another) and install 100 metres of conductor rail, which powers trains.

This work will improve the reliability of the track in the area, reducing the number of faults caused by rail and wheel wear and provide customers with a smoother ride as the layout of the track is improved.

Direct trains will run to and from London Waterloo on these dates, however, they will take longer than usual. Customers are advised to allow extra time to complete their journeys.

This coming weekend (25/26 Jan), as well as last (and possibly earlier), engineering work in the Wimbledon area sees SW long distance services diverted via Staines, Virginia Water, and Byfleet Junction.

As I understand it, the services diverted are two Weymouths, two Portsmouths, and one Exeter every hour. Together with normal services over the route (2 TPH Waterloo to Bracknell, 2 TPH Waterloo to Woking, and 2 TPH Waterloo to Windsor), this gives 11 TPH each way over the double track Barnes to Staines section.

Presumably, this is having a significant effect on the level crossings at White Hart Lane, Mortlake and North Sheen?

The barrier downtime must be significant. And, with only 2 TPH fewer west of Staines, the position can't be much better at Egham.

 

[markle]

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[SWT_USER]

Quite a few of the services are routed via the Brentford branch, which reduces the impact through Mortlake and Sheen

... but increases it in Chiswick and Isleworth.

Motorists are getting a better deal than they used to overall though as SWR have cut the service by 50% at weekends compared to pre-covid

 

[markle]

deleted

 

[norbitonflyer]

RTT has eleven / hour through Richmond on Saturday
2x Shepperton (diverted/replacing the Kingston Loop service)
2x Bracknell
2x Weymouth
2x Windsor
2x Portsmouth
1x Exeter

And yes, this will make driving south to north across Richmond difficult - nearly double the usual number of crossing closures.

 

[Goldfish62]

Pre-Covid there were 13/14 trains per hour through Richmond in each peak. Even now there's up to 10 trains per hour.

 

[Railwaysceptic]

I wonder how people in Addlestone and Chertsey feel about this.

 

[godfreycomplex]

Having signalled mainline diversion days over this stretch of line several times (and lived fairly locally to many of the crossings over the years as well) I’ve seen first hand the amount of traffic buildup that can result. Mortlake, Pooley Green and the late and unlamented Feltham West crossings were probably the worst offenders, but each of the crossings cause their own particular issues

However, the trains are carrying people too, and many more people than the cars. I don’t like leaving level crossings down for longer than necessary, contrary to popular belief few signallers do, but sometimes it’s going to benefit the greater number of people. After all, the main systemic issue is the amount of traffic on the roads, rather than running things that keep traffic off said roads.

Mainline diversion days are the busiest days of the year for signallers in that area (although Ascot races and Twickenham during the Six Nations do run them a close second)

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 24 Jan 2025 ==

I wonder how people in Addlestone and Chertsey feel about this.

Chertsey will likely be unconcerned as the crossing was bypassed by a bridge a great many years ago.

Addlestone is a trickier one but there are also ways round it.

 

[norbitonflyer]

However, the trains are carrying people too, and many more people than the cars. I don’t like leaving level crossings down for longer than necessary, contrary to popular belief few signallers do, but sometimes it’s going to benefit the greater number of people. After all, the main systemic issue is the amount of traffic on the roads, rather than running things that keep traffic off said roads.

I do appreciate the signaller's need to keep the trains running, but even if you doubled the number of trains running across these crossings, it would make no difference to the number of people trying to cross the railway. Much as I prefer to use the railway when I can, if I'm in the area at all it is because I want to make a journey at right angles to the direction the railway runs - eg Kingston to Chiswick (a journey that has to be made by car anyway, because going to the dealer to have the car MoT'd without the car would be pointless)

Mortlake, Pooley Green and the late and unlamented Feltham West crossings were probably the worst offenders, but each of the crossings cause their own particular issues

Mortlake is one of a run of four level crossings in the space of three miles between Barnes and Richmond, with only one bridged crossing - the South Circular Road, which at that point is just one lane in each direction. All of them develop long queues (I think North Sheen is actually worse than Mortlake, as there are even fewer alternatives, for traffic trying to head north, as Richmond Park and the River Thames preclude any alternative routes across the railway.

 

[Class 170101]

RTT has eleven / hour through Richmond on Saturday
2x Shepperton (diverted/replacing the Kingston Loop service)
2x Bracknell
2x Weymouth
2x Windsor
2x Portsmouth
1x Exeter

Pretty sure before covid that Exeter services didn't run between Basingstoke and Waterloo via this diversion. Did the Mainline services replace any other of the usual services on this route (at the time) as the route couldn't actually accommodate any more trains?

 

[Goldfish62]

Pretty sure before covid that Exeter services didn't run between Basingstoke and Waterloo via this diversion.

Yes, they did. I used to see them passing through Staines and Feltham.

 

[godfreycomplex]

Yes, they did. I used to see them passing through Staines and Feltham.

They did. The Salisbury terminators stopped at Basingstoke but the Exeters have gone all the way since loco hauled days

 

[Class 170101]

Yes, they did. I used to see them passing through Staines and Feltham.

They did. The Salisbury terminators stopped at Basingstoke but the Exeters have gone all the way since loco hauled days

Fair enough, I thought they were withdrawn to allow 444s / 450s in 10/12 carriage formations maximum capacity trains to operate.

 

[Cricketer8for9]

The Exeter on the Saturday just gone (leaving Clapham Jct about 10:45) was 9 coaches if my counting is right. I was on the Shepperton via a reverse at Kingston both ways and expected delays though there were none. Pretty full inwards from Barnes. A good few confused people at Clapham Jct (but then there are always some).

 

[norbitonflyer]

Fair enough, I thought they were withdrawn to allow 444s / 450s in 10/12 carriage formations maximum capacity trains to operate.

One of the adavnatages of unit trains over loco-hauled is that performance remains the same however long the train is. A 9-car 159 formatiuon will accelerate just as fast as a 3-car (actually slightly better, as the leading axle will slip a bit more than the others in poor adhesion conditions, and in a 9-car there are more axles that are not the leading one!) .The same is not true of a rake hauled by a Class 50 - add more coaches and it will be slower.
Thus when there are a limited number of paths, units can double up and still keep time.

 

[Taunton]

I do appreciate the signaller's need to keep the trains running, but even if you doubled the number of trains running across these crossings, it would make no difference to the number of people trying to cross the railway. Much as I prefer to use the railway when I can, if I'm in the area at all it is because I want to make a journey at right angles to the direction the railway runs - eg Kingston to Chiswick (a journey that has to be made by car anyway, because going to the dealer to have the car MoT'd without the car would be pointless)



Mortlake is one of a run of four level crossings in the space of three miles between Barnes and Richmond, with only one bridged crossing - the South Circular Road, which at that point is just one lane in each direction. All of them develop long queues (I think North Sheen is actually worse than Mortlake, as there are even fewer alternatives, for traffic trying to head north, as Richmond Park and the River Thames preclude any alternative routes across the railway.

I have known these crossings (principally North Sheen) through I think two signalling upgrades, and after each one the closure time per train becomes extended. The old manual crossing keepers from long ago were brilliant at eyeballing approaching trains, not delaying them but getting the gates across at the last moment. Come Feltham resignalling (1974?) and there was much local upset with extended times, but that seems long forgotten. Now there is new signalling again, and closures now longer. All this despite the quoted costs of the two schemes having extended from one to the other well beyond inflation. I wonder what is got for the extra money.

 

[Goldfish62]

I have known these crossings (principally North Sheen) through I think two signalling upgrades, and after each one the closure time per train becomes extended. The old manual crossing keepers from long ago were brilliant at eyeballing approaching trains, not delaying them but getting the gates across at the last moment. Come Feltham resignalling (1974?) and there was much local upset with extended times, but that seems long forgotten. Now there is new signalling again, and closures now longer. All this despite the quoted costs of the two schemes having extended from one to the other well beyond inflation. I wonder what is got for the extra money.

The multitude of crossing between North Sheen and Barnes were not in scope of the recent Feltham area scheme. They remain in the control of Wimbledon, where they've been since the mid-90s. If anything the times the gates are down are less than for many years due to the SWR service cuts post-Covid. In the off-peak alone there are 4 fewer train movements per hour due to withdrawal of the Hounslow loop services.

 

[norbitonflyer]

In the off-peak alone there are 4 fewer train movements per hour due to withdrawal of the Hounslow loop services.

And it is the stopping services for whiuch the gates are down the longest, as the trains take longer to travel from the clear signal to the actual crossing. Particularly when there is a station call - both at Mortlake and at North Sheen the crossing is within the overlap of the signal.

Yesterday afternoon I had to let three trains cross, in two separate closures of the crossing, before I got across myself. (I don't usually drive, but the weather yesterday was 'orrible)

 

[Goldfish62]

And it is the stopping services for whiuch the gates are down the longest, as the trains take longer to travel from the clear signal to the actual crossing. Particularly when there is a station call - both at Mortlake and at North Sheen the crossing is within the overlap of the signal.

Yesterday afternoon I had to let three trains cross, in two separate closures of the crossing, before I got across myself. (I don't usually drive, but the weather yesterday was 'orrible)

The four fewer trains in each hour all being stoppers. The off-peak Hounslow loop services which no longer run. There are only 2 stoppers per hour in each direction in the off-peak these days.