Cardiff Newport Lineside fire Sun 4th May

[mrmartin]

Looks pretty serious.

Rail services into Cardiff are experiencing major disruption with journeys cancelled or delayed due to a fire near track.

The grassfire on an embankment close to an electrical substation between Newport and Cardiff Central has damaged an overhead line and signalling equipment.

Cardiff: Major rail disruption after blaze close to tracks

A blaze near an electrical substation damages overhead lines and signalling between Newport and Cardiff.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[Peterthegreat]

I'm on 1S55 13.27 Plymouth to Edinburgh. Due to the congestion at Newport we actually reversed at Severn Tunnel Jn and omitted the Newport stop.

Trains are diverted via the Severn Tunnel due to planned engineering work.

 

[MikePJ]

It was a chaotic mess at Bristol Parkway this afternoon, with one or two very harried GWR staff trying to coordinate buses, taxis and everything else.

 

[mrmartin]

Pretty diabolical really. I can't see a single train going from Bristol parkway to Newport. Even getting one an hour through to Newport would make a huge difference surely to people vs trying to bus and taxi them?

 

[Peterthegreat]

Looks like two tracks have reopened.

 

[tumbles]

Most of the trains coming up from Taunton/Weston were terminating at Bristol Temple Meads due to lack of staff for most of the day. This didn’t help the odd train that was actually running beyond!

 

[Pete_uk]

Still rumbling on today?

 

[father_jack]

Still rumbling on today?

And in style. For example 1118 CDF PAD hasn't passed the problem area yet (1235).

 

[800001]

Still rumbling on today?

Yes, network rail tweeted last night, that due to the significant damage to power and signaling equipment, that their would be a reduced service today.

Tweet below, with picture from tweet attached

https://x.com/networkrailwest/status/1919147198731669881?s=46&t=JLp3J2Up_Gl_m9cQz-au6w

 

[Western 52]

I've been caught up in the delays today, over an hour late each way. The damage to the cable conduits looks quite severe. This morning no sign of any staff in the area, but quite a few working there this afternoon. Trains being talked past signals on the relief lines.

 

[800001]

NWR in there latest tweet (incuded below) saying that disruption will continue through out Tuesday.
Only 2 of the 4 lines are open.
Picture from tweet of there statement attached

https://x.com/networkrailwest/status/1919445368485318717?s=46&t=JLp3J2Up_Gl_m9cQz-au6w

 

[Lewisham2221]

NWR in there latest tweet (incuded below) saying that disruption will continue through out Tuesday.
Only 2 of the 4 lines are open.
Picture from tweet of there statement attached

Only the relief lines open and with Emergency Special Working in place due to the damage to the signalling system.

 

[mrmartin]

Absolutely diabolical service all round today AGAIN from TfW; my partner was travelling back from Chester.

Train cancelled between Shrewsbury and Cardiff; so got to Shrewsbury to change. Didn't seem too bad.

Shrewsbury train delayed 30 mins because of no driver, then apparently driver not available any further so had to change again at Hereford (or maybe it was reinstated again).

Gave up and got an uber back from Newport.

Some of this unavoidable but little to no updates on what is going on and I feel the TfW page is really misleading compared to the GWR one. TfW says 2 lines reopened and vague mention of delays. GWR is much clearer.

 

[Dr Day]

Will be interesting to see how operational management behind the scenes and public communications change for this kind of incident post-GBR.

 

[56xx]

The trains that are running between Cardiff and Newport this morning seem to be keeping to booked speeds over the affected section.

 

[contrex]

Yesterday, Wed 7/5/2025, my wife and I had a day in Cardiff, and aimed to come back to Bristol on the 1700 GWR service to Taunton. The preceding departure from Plat 1, the 1653 to Paddington was shown and announced as 'delayed' due to 'signalling problems'. After a bit the Taunton service was likewise announced. On the platform displays the two services swapped 1st and 2nd places and then went back to normal order. The London 9-car eventually arrived and departed 10-12 mins late approx, and I was intrigued to notice it departed on diesel, with no panto up. Our 5-car Taunton service arrived and departed 14 min down, and went all the way to Patchway on diesel, and all the class 80x that we saw had pantos down. We were still 14 down at Bristol TM. Would I be right to suppose that there was an overhead power outage?

Also, I love the Welsh language announcements; they include a word or phrase that sounds like 'pimbotloc' that precedes a TOC name e.g. pimbotloc Great Western Railway, pimbotloc Cross Country, or pimbotloc Trafnidiaeth Cymru. I think it must mean 'service' or something like that - would anyone with Welsh be able to tell me what it is, (the spelling and meaning)?

 

[swt_passenger]

Might be fallout from the ‘lineside fire‘ last weekend?

Cardiff Newport Lineside fire

Looks pretty serious. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjew5q07n7go.amp

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[Ib5]

There is a UFN block to electric traction from Cardiff to Patchway (West of Bristol Parkway) so Class 8XX will be on diesel mode, and no Class 387 services for a period of time.

Saves on the electric bill….

 

[trainosaurus]

Also, I love the Welsh language announcements; they include a word or phrase that sounds like 'pimbotloc' that precedes a TOC name e.g. pimbotloc Great Western Railway, pimbotloc Cross Country, or pimbotloc Trafnidiaeth Cymru. I think it must mean 'service' or something like that - would anyone with Welsh be able to tell me what it is, (the spelling and meaning)?

Cardiff resident and Welsh learner (of many years!) here.

What you heard was "pump o'r gloch" (pronounced roughly 'pimp or glock', phonetically in English). This is 5 o'clock in Welsh, which makes sense if you were waiting for the 17.00 service!

You'll have also heard "gwasanaeth", which is 'service' in Welsh'.

 

[Horizon22]

There is a UFN block to electric traction from Cardiff to Patchway (West of Bristol Parkway) so Class 8XX will be on diesel mode, and no Class 387 services for a period of time.

Saves on the electric bill….

Not on the fuel cost though!

 

[contrex]

Cardiff resident and Welsh learner (of many years!) here.

What you heard was "pump o'r gloch" (pronounced roughly 'pimp or glock', phonetically in English). This is 5 o'clock in Welsh, which makes sense if you were waiting for the 17.00 service!

You'll have also heard "gwasanaeth", which is 'service' in Welsh'.

You know, we've heard it loads, and -- guess what? -- always around 5 PM! Thanks!

 

[trainosaurus]

You know, we've heard it loads, and -- guess what? -- always around 5 PM! Thanks!

Croeso!

 

[Richard123]

Another ATF cable fire. Amazed the power is still off after nearly a week though.

 

[Richard123]

Another ATF cable fire, in Cardiff this time...

 

[brad465]

I was wondering why I heard engine revving on an IET about to leave Bristol Parkway towards Cardiff earlier today...

 

[father_jack]

Another ATF cable fire, in Cardiff this time...

Hi. Can you explain that ? Nothing delayed at the moment.........

 

[father_jack]

I was wondering why I heard engine revving on an IET about to leave Bristol Parkway towards Cardiff earlier today...

All back open with no ban to electric traction for quite a while now and if it was Bristol Parkway would be a long way back. Probably just that set on diesel only.

 

[Richard123]

Hi. Can you explain that ? Nothing delayed at the moment.........

On Sunday. I was replying to the original post. It's another because there was very similar on ECML recently.

 

[Melancholia]

All back open with no ban to electric traction for quite a while now and if it was Bristol Parkway would be a long way back. Probably just that set on diesel only.

Quite a while now? I can confirm there is a block to electric traction west of Bristol Parkway. Signaller was instructing all South Wales bound trains to go into Diesel mode at Bristol Parkway today.

 

[Clarence Yard]

It is indeed connected with the lineside fire a few days ago. They are hoping to get the power back on shortly, possibly tonight.