Hereford-Birmingham all cancelled today?

[trainophile]

Apparently there’s a line side problem between Worcester Foregate Street and Shrub Hill, but that shouldn’t affect through BHM trains.

Earlier today I checked RTT and saw that everything from HFD was terminating at WOF. However it now appears that the entire line is cancelled today.

Luckily I arrived at HFD station in time for the 10:28 TfW, and changed at Shrewsbury, so I will make my BHM connection, but I’m puzzled as to the total shutdown, especially as the 10:40 WMR was in the platform at HFD.

The cynic in me is wondering whether it’s a staffing issue, it is half term after all.

 

[edwin_m]

Platform announcements at Foregate Street around 1600 on Saturday were reporting a landslip near the station, that was blocking the curve towards Droitwich, plus multiple signalling failures. Some of the Birmingham services via Bromsgrove were claimed to be running, but nothing between Worcester and Kidderminster. I suspect recent very heavy rainfall in the area has caused multiple issues.

 

[VT 390]

Its actually the direct route between WOF (Worcester Foregate and Street) and DTW (Droitwich Spa) that is affected by the landslip (avoiding WOS).

There is a shuttle service in operation today between WOF and HFD (Hereford) operated by West Midlands Railway.
Great Western Railway between WOF and WOS (Worcester Shrub Hill) are mostly unaffected.

 

[Bletchleyite]

It appears they've entered things onto the system by cancelling the Birmingham-Hereford throughout but adding separate Hereford-Worcester trains. Thus they show as both cancelled and not cancelled. Schroedinger's DMU?

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Apparently there’s a line side problem between Worcester Foregate Street and Shrub Hill, but that shouldn’t affect through BHM trains.
Earlier today I checked RTT and saw that everything from HFD was terminating at WOF. However it now appears that the entire line is cancelled today.
Luckily I arrived at HFD station in time for the 10:28 TfW, and changed at Shrewsbury, so I will make my BHM connection, but I’m puzzled as to the total shutdown, especially as the 10:40 WMR was in the platform at HFD.
The cynic in me is wondering whether it’s a staffing issue, it is half term after all.

NRE says there is an embankment problem near Worcester Foregate St.
It must be on the north side as GWR services (using the south track via Shrub Hill) are running, but WMR services are cancelled.
It isn't obvious why at least some WMR trains can't go via Shrub Hill and reverse.

Incident: Worcester Foregate Street | National Rail

Lines reopened: disruption to West Midlands Railway services at Worcester Foregate Street. Find details of all current incidents on National Rail Enquiries.

www.nationalrail.co.uk

 

[VT 390]

It isn't obvious why at least some WMR trains can't go via Shrub Hill and reverse.

Incident: Worcester Foregate Street | National Rail

Lines reopened: disruption to West Midlands Railway services at Worcester Foregate Street. Find details of all current incidents on National Rail Enquiries.

www.nationalrail.co.uk

Shrub Hill can only be accessed from platform 1 at Foregate Street so it would add congestion on the track used by all GWR services (which only use platform 1) alongside some WMR Snow Hill line services also terminating in platform 1.

Also, it would not work without completely amending the Hereford service timings as the Herefords arrive in Foregate Street then depart back towards Hereford only 1 minute before the service from Dorridge arrives.

 

[trainophile]

NRE says there is an embankment problem near Worcester Foregate St.
It must be on the north side as GWR services (using the south track via Shrub Hill) are running, but WMR services are cancelled.
It isn't obvious why at least some WMR trains can't go via Shrub Hill and reverse.

Incident: Worcester Foregate Street | National Rail

Lines reopened: disruption to West Midlands Railway services at Worcester Foregate Street. Find details of all current incidents on National Rail Enquiries.

www.nationalrail.co.uk

I hope they don’t mean Tuesday 17th March in that quote!

 

[VT 390]

I hope they don’t mean Tuesday 17th March in that quote!

I think this is a mistake on National Rail as the WMR page states:
Disruption is expected to last until around 23:59 tomorrow (17 February)

Live Travel Updates

www.westmidlandsrailway.co.uk

 

[father_jack]

NRE says there is an embankment problem near Worcester Foregate St.
It must be on the north side as GWR services (using the south track via Shrub Hill) are running, but WMR services are cancelled.
It isn't obvious why at least some WMR trains can't go via Shrub Hill and reverse.

Incident: Worcester Foregate Street | National Rail

Lines reopened: disruption to West Midlands Railway services at Worcester Foregate Street. Find details of all current incidents on National Rail Enquiries.

www.nationalrail.co.uk

See this tweet- https://x.com/WestMidRailway/status/2023133056140300577
(Can't easily quote to abide to forum rules but tweet shows " Images of the embankment damage between Worcester Foregate Street - Droitwich Spa".)

It's indeed on the section that goes from Foregate Street to the tunnel north of Shrub Hill station. There have been slips here before. You can see a white "line" on the left of the leftmost track in this link to the attached image. https://maps.app.goo.gl/YVXqmXQAzGpduWZ49 Building at top of picture is Tunnel Junction signal box to provide a marker.

 

[contrex]

I wish people would use proper station names, and not those three-letter codes.

 

[trainophile]

I wish people would use proper station names, and not those three-letter codes.

So long as you use the full station name initially it's okay after that, and saves a lot of typing, which is useful when you're on a phone. I don't see any miscreants in this thread. Which one/s are you referring to?

 

[zwk500]

So long as you use the full station name initially it's okay after that, and saves a lot of typing, which is useful when you're on a phone. I don't see any miscreants in this thread. Which one/s are you referring to?

Apparently there’s a line side problem between Worcester Foregate Street and Shrub Hill, but that shouldn’t affect through BHM trains.

Earlier today I checked RTT and saw that everything from HFD was terminating at WOF. However it now appears that the entire line is cancelled today.

Luckily I arrived at HFD station in time for the 10:28 TfW, and changed at Shrewsbury, so I will make my BHM connection, but I’m puzzled as to the total shutdown, especially as the 10:40 WMR was in the platform at HFD.

BHM and HFD in your original post are never expanded - BHM could mean any Birmingham station or just Birmingham New St, Hereford is only mentioned in the thread title not the post. WOF is not clearly attached to Worcester Foregate Street. The phrasing of '10:28 TfW' and '10:40 WMR' could also easily be mistaken as meaning departures bound for stations with those codes.

Note that the 3-Letter (formerly CRS) codes aren't necessarily obvious or routine to many people on the railway (public or staff), as the only place most people encounter them is if making a journey enquiry or booking a ticket to that specific station. Many journey planners (as well as station signage and information screens) don't display the CRS codes when listing station calls. There are also other codes like TIPLOCs and Stanoxes that staff use, so may not know the CRS codes by rote.

 

[bleeder4]

Still going on this morning. Just imagine if the crossover just past the end of the Foregate Street platforms hadn't been removed, it would have been nice and simple then for the Hereford to New St trains to use platform 1 at Foregate St and then use the crossover to get back onto the Droitwich line, without having to faff about reversing at Shrub Hill.

 

[VT 390]

Still going on this morning. Just imagine if the crossover just past the end of the Foregate Street platforms hadn't been removed, it would have been nice and simple then for the Hereford to New St trains to use platform 1 at Foregate St and then use the crossover to get back onto the Droitwich line, without having to faff about reversing at Shrub Hill.

In this case due to the location of the landslip you would still need to reverse via WOS (Worcester Shrub Hill) as the affected section is the WOS avoiding line.

 

[edwin_m]

Still going on this morning. Just imagine if the crossover just past the end of the Foregate Street platforms hadn't been removed, it would have been nice and simple then for the Hereford to New St trains to use platform 1 at Foregate St and then use the crossover to get back onto the Droitwich line, without having to faff about reversing at Shrub Hill.

In this case due to the location of the landslip you would still need to reverse via WOS (Worcester Shrub Hill) as the affected section is the WOS avoiding line.

This was a BR-era rationalisation which turned the double track into two single lines: Henwick to Tunnel Junction and Henwick to Shrub Hill. It's a bit curved between Foregate Street and their divergence at Rainbow Hill so crossovers might be difficult there, but it looks straighter just west of Foregate Street and moving the Henwick crossovers to here would shorten the single lines. But that would probably have to wait for a re-signalling of the Worcester area.

 

[trainophile]

Does anyone know whether this situation is ongoing, and/or when it’s likely to be fixed?

 

[VT 390]

Does anyone know whether this situation is ongoing, and/or when it’s likely to be fixed?

I believe the line is fully open now, since early afternoon yesterday (18/02/2026).
The first passenger services through the affected area were 1M63 (11:40 Hereford to Birmingham New Street) northbound and 2V56 (12:08 Stratford-upon-Avon to Worcester Foregate Street) southbound.

 

[GilfachFargoed]

BHM and HFD in your original post are never expanded - BHM could mean any Birmingham station or just Birmingham New St, Hereford is only mentioned in the thread title not the post. WOF is not clearly attached to Worcester Foregate Street. The phrasing of '10:28 TfW' and '10:40 WMR' could also easily be mistaken as meaning departures bound for stations with those codes.

Note that the 3-Letter (formerly CRS) codes aren't necessarily obvious or routine to many people on the railway (public or staff), as the only place most people encounter them is if making a journey enquiry or booking a ticket to that specific station. Many journey planners (as well as station signage and information screens) don't display the CRS codes when listing station calls. There are also other codes like TIPLOCs and Stanoxes that staff use, so may not know the CRS codes by rote.

Although (and at a danger of seeming pedantic!), BHM is the CRS/NRS/3-letter code that in industry systems is solely associated with Birmingham New Street.

 

[zwk500]

Although (and at a danger of seeming pedantic!), BHM is the CRS/NRS/3-letter code that in industry systems is solely associated with Birmingham New Street.

BHM is widely used outside the railway to mean the general city of Birmingham. (On another point of extreme pedantry, many industry systems don't use the CRS codes at front-end, preferring Stanoxes, TIPLOCs or something else).