Another Island Line closure.

[akm]

From someone with absolutely zero engineering knowledge on the matter, why haven't they dredged (is that the word?) the seabed thereby allowing FastCats to pull up alongside the bus station and turn Ryde into a port properly? I take it the beach next door gets in the way?

That would be one heck of a dredge. Have a look at this, see what was already done for the ferry port at Fishbourne, and note how much wider the sands are at the pier...

(image from Navionics, an amazing site I recently learned about)

 

[Train Maniac]

That would be one heck of a dredge. Have a look at this, see what was already done for the ferry port at Fishbourne, and note how much wider the sands are at the pier...

(image from Navionics, an amazing site I recently learned about)

View attachment 116971

I guess thats not entirely surprising, i remember walking out from the beach for what felt like miles as a kid

 

[swt_passenger]

I guess thats not entirely surprising, i remember walking out from the beach for what felt like miles as a kid

For those who don’t already know, the underlined chart “depths” indicate heights above mean low water, so that tells you exactly where it’s going to be quite dry at low tide.

But as an aside, (and off topic), are there any precautions or warning signs to avoid “people vs hovercraft” incidents, especially when it’s dark?

 

[david1212]

The pier *could* be abandoned if the passenger service were to be switched entirely to the hovercraft, but those need a bus connection (or a mile walk) at the Pompey (actually Southsea) end, and I think they're more weather susceptible than the Wightlink cats.

There would also need to be several more hovercraft built to match the ferries' capacity, even though they can cross more quickly.

Two issues there. The first as you say is the FastCats can run in poorer weather particularly rougher seas and higher wind speed than the hovercraft but even so there are times when the only Portsmouth / Southsea service is the Fishbourne car ferry.
Second the reliability of the hovercraft. An enlarged fleet would need more redundancy. The older craft were better in both respects.

 

[Gloster]

But as an aside, (and off topic), are there any precautions or warning signs to avoid “people vs hovercraft” incidents, especially when it’s dark?

I am not normally out after dark, but I think the hovers have a fair number of lights strewn around their bodies, including (I think) a rotating flasher; they are also far from silent. I presume that it is expected that anyone out on the sands at night should be aware of their surroundings. Still, it is Ryde...

 

[BayPaul]

I also don’t think the hovercraft (or the Cowes hydrofoils) are particularly sustainable in the long term. Are there any online comparisons of their fuel economy?

Hydrofoils haven't run to Cowes since the 1990s, so not particularly relevant. Fast cats are probably not much different to hovercraft.

 

[Chris125]

They've just announced no trains this weekend too, anyone know why?

Isle Of Wight Train Services OFF This Weekend

Isle of Wight train services will be completely suspended over the weekend.

www.iwradio.co.uk

Isle of Wight train services will be completely suspended over the weekend.

Island Line is shut for maintenance work.

A bus replacement service will run between Ryde Esplanade and Shanklin, while a mini-bus shuttle will be in place between Ryde Pier Head and Ryde Esplanade.

 

[SargeNpton]

Planned "Maintenance Work" according to the SWR website...

Planned Improvements - July Works | South Western Railway

In order to maintain and improve the rail network we need to carry out engineering works. Find out more about our July engineering work.

www.southwesternrailway.com

 

[adamello]

They've just announced no trains this weekend too, anyone know why?

Isle Of Wight Train Services OFF This Weekend

Isle of Wight train services will be completely suspended over the weekend.

www.iwradio.co.uk

Isle of Wight train services will be completely suspended over the weekend.

Island Line is shut for maintenance work.

A bus replacement service will run between Ryde Esplanade and Shanklin, while a mini-bus shuttle will be in place between Ryde Pier Head and Ryde Esplanade.

It's in the section you quoted...

 

[43096]

Planned "Maintenance Work" according to the SWR website...

Planned Improvements - July Works | South Western Railway

In order to maintain and improve the rail network we need to carry out engineering works. Find out more about our July engineering work.

www.southwesternrailway.com

Good to see the MDTR* showing its customer focus and shutting the line at the busiest time of year.

* Modern, Dynamic, Thrusting Railway. An ironic term.

 

[Lewlew]

The mean low water mark as drawn on OS maps is very close to the pier head. The fastcats couldn’t get more than about 50m closer to the land. I expect you can walk out on the sand all the way to the pier head at the lowest spring tides.

I walked out past the pier head last year. It felt like I was virtually in Southsea!

 

[Gloster]

Brilliant! Saturday is Isle of Wight Pride, so some of the roads in the centre of Ryde will be closed and others will probably be even more jammed than they usually are on a Saturday.

 

[philthetube]

I would bet a weeks wages on which was planned first.

 

[Chris125]

It's in the section you quoted...

I just wondered if anyone knew anything more specific? A two day weekend closure at the height of summer is pretty unusual down here.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 21 Jul 2022 ==

Turned out they replaced the pointwork at Sandown for the yard, bit bizarre they did this after the upgrade rather than before.

 

[PTR 444]

Island Line between Ryde Esplanade and Pier Head to close from 30th October until next spring:

Work to improve the Island Line's historic Ryde Pier to begin this autumn

Improvement works on Ryde Pier will get underway next month to help keep trains on the Island running long into the future.

www.countypress.co.uk

IMPROVEMENT works on Ryde Pier will get underway next month to help keep trains on the Island running long into the future.

Network Rail and South Western Railway (SWR) will begin a complex programme of vital maintenance and improvements on Ryde Pier, starting Sunday, October 30 and ending in Spring next year.

Network Rail engineers will strengthen the pier and extend its life by up to 60 years, and SWR will also be carrying out work at the same time.
The railway structure of the pier was built by Victorian engineers between 1878 and 1880.

 

[Kite159]

At least they waited until the 'peak' season for visitors for those who still use the trains, rather than taking their own car across the island

 

[Gloster]

I am not sure where the taxis are going to stop. The whole bus station area is a building site as they create the new interchange and the taxis’ usual stopping point was closed off on Tuesday.

 

[Gloster]

No trains on Islandline tomorrow and from Monday they terminate at Esplanade, with taxis up and down the pier. The connections are ‘robust’ (read ‘awful’). Passengers off the Cat will wait twenty-five minutes at the Pier Head and then have eleven minutes at Esplanade after a two-minute taxi ride. In the opposite direction it is only eight minutes at Esplanade, but still twenty-five at the Pier Head. Costa at the Pier Head (if they are still there) must be rubbing their hands in glee. In all it is about half-an-hour added to each leg of through journeys to and from Islandline.

 

[trainfan007]

According to the Islandecho (.islandecho.co.uk - sorry, can’t do a link) the Island Line is to be closed between Ryde Esplanade and Pier Head from the end of June to mid-February 2023. £17 million is to be spent on various work on the pier, most urgently platform work, and the track will be relaid; some work will continue into 2024. If the work had not been carried out, the line would have had to be closed on safety grounds in December. Warning: The news item is a bit confused so it remains to be seen what exactly will happen. (Island Line, the gift that keeps on giving: to satirists.)

so the whole island will have no rail service?

 

[Gloster]

so the whole island will have no rail service?

No. The trains will run between Ryde Esplanade and Shanklin, but not along the pier. The direct link between train and FastCat is broken and the replacement adds to the journey time. See #48.

 

[PTR 444]

No trains on Islandline tomorrow and from Monday they terminate at Esplanade, with taxis up and down the pier. The connections are ‘robust’ (read ‘awful’). Passengers off the Cat will wait twenty-five minutes at the Pier Head and then have eleven minutes at Esplanade after a two-minute taxi ride. In the opposite direction it is only eight minutes at Esplanade, but still twenty-five at the Pier Head. Costa at the Pier Head (if they are still there) must be rubbing their hands in glee. In all it is about half-an-hour added to each leg of through journeys to and from Islandline.

Surely it would be much quicker to just walk up and down the pier?

 

[swt_passenger]

so the whole island will have no rail service?

You’re replying to a post from 6 months ago quoting a scary news article that was completely updated by post #6…

 

[Gloster]

Surely it would be much quicker to just walk up and down the pier?

Probably, but you would still have to wait for the train or FastCat. The times have lengthened the connection time between arriving on the FastCat at Pier Head and the train leaving Esplanade from 11 to 39 minutes (6 to 36 northbound). Passengers to Ryde probably won’t bother with the train and others may choose to walk the pier and take the bus, even though the bus station is now a building site and the buses start a long way down the esplanade.

 

[DelW]

so the whole island will have no rail service?

Most of the island has had no rail service for well over fifty years.

 

[hermit]

Probably, but you would still have to wait for the train or FastCat. The times have lengthened the connection time between arriving on the FastCat at Pier Head and the train leaving Esplanade from 11 to 39 minutes (6 to 36 northbound). Passengers to Ryde probably won’t bother with the train and others may choose to walk the pier and take the bus, even though the bus station is now a building site and the buses start a long way down the esplanade.

We have gone from a situation where the ferry/train interchange was very unreliable (though less so since Wightlink completed their refurbishment of the Portsmouth terminal) to one where the connections are generous in the extreme. At least we can now be sure of making them.

I agree that many people will now find other ways of getting to and from Pierhead and that Island Line will lose out. One option that would normally be available to islanders would be to go by car and park at Pierhead, but that is now problematic since so many parking spaces are occupied by the pier works project that the car park is full much of the time. I expect to be walking up and down the pier quite a lot, which can be challenging in winter conditions.

There has recently been a move by islanders to press Wightlink to reinstate the evening services that have not run since before Covid. A petition demanding this has attracted more than 3000 signatures. The current last catamaran from Portsmouth runs at the absurdly early hour of 2020. Wightlink say that extra crossings could only be considered if passenger numbers go up. Unfortunately the extended journey times and general inconvenience caused by the pier works will make that unlikely to happen, and indeed it seems more likely that numbers using the catamaran and the Island Line trains will take a big hit.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

How will the matter of Vivarail entering into administration have implications for the Island Line?

 

[DynamicSpirit]

I am not sure where the taxis are going to stop. The whole bus station area is a building site as they create the new interchange and the taxis’ usual stopping point was closed off on Tuesday.

Slightly late reply to this, but what precisely is happening to the bus station? Creating an 'interchange' sounds good, but last time I was there (just before Covid) the bus station seemed functionally already OK as an interchange (albeit looking quite old and shabby).

 

[Gloster]

Basically it is a new posh name but no change of purpose: they are moving it about and making it look a bit nicer. If you go to .islandecho.co.uk , type ‘ interchange ‘ into the search box and go to page 3 you will find a couple of pretty artists impressions.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 1 Dec 2022 ==

Slightly late reply to this, but what precisely is happening to the bus station? Creating an 'interchange' sounds good, but last time I was there (just before Covid) the bus station seemed functionally already OK as an interchange (albeit looking quite old and shabby).

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 1 Dec 2022 ==

How will the matter of Vivarail entering into administration have implications for the Island Line?

I think we will have to see how the administration affects the spares, guarantee and rectification situations. In other words, we don’t know yet.

 

[Jetglo]

With the demise of Vivarail I hope it will not be the same as on the Marston Vale Line, i.e. no trains al all from today (again).

 

[Peter Mugridge]

They seem to be running according to Real Time Trains.

484 002 out today. I'm on my way to photograph it...