Flooding disruption across the network 23/12

[londonmidland]

There are currently multiple issues across the rail network due to excessive rainfall today, consequently causing flooding in several areas.

The most noticeable routes impacted is the MML, with EMR suspending all its intercity services until end of service.

As well as on the ECML between Kings Cross and the North, with flooding in multiple areas and electrical supply problems.

Issues reported on multiple other lines, too.

The coronavirus tier restrictions are a blessing in disguise as trains are significantly lighter loaded compared to how it usually is at this time of the year.

 

[Steveswan10]

Yep, line between Hereford and Malvern and Hereford and newport both shut due to flooding, not sure the buses can even get between Hereford and Abergavenny as there us flooding in the A465 at Pontrilles

 

[43055]

There are currently multiple issues across the rail network due to excessive rainfall today, consequently causing flooding in several areas.

The most noticeable routes impacted is the MML, with EMR suspending all its intercity services until end of service.

As well as on the ECML between Kings Cross and the North, with flooding in multiple areas and electrical supply problems.

Issues reported on multiple other lines, too.

The coronavirus tier restrictions are a blessing in disguise as trains are significantly lighter loaded compared to how it usually is at this time of the year.

Just looking at the MML open train times maps it looks like no EMR services have moved since around 1600 with St Pancras full and 5 services between Luton and Bedford and another service at Kettering. If they can't get most of these north tonight then I don't think there will be much of a early morning service tomorrow.

The ECML seems to be moving although just very slowly just south of Peterborough on the 2/3 line section.

 

[PHILIPE]

Yep, line between Hereford and Malvern and Hereford and newport both shut due to flooding, not sure the buses can even get between Hereford and Abergavenny as there us flooding in the A465 at Pontrilles

The Cardiff bound line is open at 5 mph but the Up Line is still closed, although nothing seems to have run over with SLW. It is probably more operationally convent to turn trains back at Abergavenny or Hereford. No mention of buses on Journey Check but TFW just saying "Don't travel". Almost every TFW route geographically south of Abergavenny is affected in some place or other although there are signs of some re-opening now.

 

[voyagerdude220]

There have also been delays/cancellations to Cross Country services between Birmingham and Cheltenham this afternoon, owing to flooding at Blackwell.

 

[APT618S]

Currently on the first LNER train to leave KGX (1N34, 2100 to Newcastle) since I believe the 1803 to Skipton looking at Traksy.
Passengers for Edinburgh have been advised it will be road transport onward from Newcastle. Luckily not going that far !

 

[Bletchleyite]

Has the Conwy Valley started its annual float down the river?

 

[Bald Rick]

Lines blocked in lots of places. South Wales particularly badly affected.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 23 Dec 2020 ==

Has the Conwy Valley started its annual float down the river?

Not been too bad there. The heavy rain has been sitting in a wide band from roughly South Wales to East Anglia. Gradually moving south. Will be a busy day tomorrow.

 

[warwickshire]

Yep severe flooding between Bicester north and Banbury including into Arley tunnel on the Chiltern mainline leading to severe disruption and some services diverted via oxford.

5 mph running on both lines and services also being suspended for a while also.

 

[Bungle]

CrossCountry, at short notice, appear to have doubled a single Manchester-Southampton Voyager at Birmingham New St, called additionally at Didcot, split it and run the rear portion along the GWML to Bristol Parkway and Temple Meads, for passengers who could otherwise get no further south-west than Birmingham. Split from 1O34 and ran as 1Z27 if anyone’s looking for it. Originally showed as 4-car in RTT at New St but later updated to 8, so presume it was originally a single and explains the delay it picked up departing Brum. (1O34 does not show the Didcot call on RTT but saw it in P4 on Traksy.)

Fair play to them for coming up with that at short notice in an ever-changing situation.

 

[Bletchleyite]

CrossCountry, at short notice, appear to have doubled a single Manchester-Southampton Voyager at Birmingham New St, called additionally at Didcot, split it and run the rear portion along the GWML to Bristol Parkway and Temple Meads, for passengers who could otherwise get no further south-west than Birmingham. Split from 1O34 and ran as 1Z27 if anyone’s looking for it. Originally showed as 4-car in RTT at New St but later updated to 8, so presume it was originally a single and explains the delay it picked up departing Brum.

Fair play to them for coming up with that at short notice in an ever-changing situation.

That's a very nice piece of operations there - sometimes the railway can pull a rabbit out of a hat when it wants to!

 

[DaveHarries]

CrossCountry, at short notice, appear to have doubled a single Manchester-Southampton Voyager at Birmingham New St, called additionally at Didcot, split it and run the rear portion along the GWML to Bristol Parkway and Temple Meads, for passengers who could otherwise get no further south-west than Birmingham. Split from 1O34 and ran as 1Z27 if anyone’s looking for it...

Fair play to them for coming up with that at short notice in an ever-changing situation.

Yes indeed: fast thinking. I see from RTT that 2E74 (1730 WMN-WOF) arrived at Worcester FS (WOF) at 2235 which is 132 late. It lost 1hr 49mins between Eckington and Abbotswood Jcn: a friend says he understands it was walked through the section. Spare a thought also for passengers and crew on 1V15 (1807 NOT-CDF) whose passengers were, I understand, detrained at WOP (Worcester Parkway) for Rail Replacement services that were due to arrive WOP around 2315 which is more than 190mins after the train should have left WOP. The OTT live maps show 1V15 on the move but I understand it is minus passengers and parking at GCR for the night.

Dave

 

[83G/84D]

Lines shut east of Exeter St David's this morning due to high river levels. Some GWR IET trains to divert via Yeovil. Barnstaple line closed pending inspections after flooding.

 

[jopsuk]

we're into what's a common peak for river levels (last week of December/start of January), there's a second one at the end of January

 

[Bald Rick]

we're into what's a common peak for river levels (last week of December/start of January), there's a second one at the end of January

River levels peak shortly after a period of prolonged and / or heavy rain; more so when soil moisture deficit (SMD) is low and the ground can’t absorb any more (like now). It is date agnostic. It is more likely in winter and spring, naturally.

 

[irish_rail]

Lines shut east of Exeter St David's this morning due to high river levels. Some GWR IET trains to divert via Yeovil. Barnstaple line closed pending inspections after flooding.

Is this still shut? Can't see anything on the system about diverts?

 

[InOban]

That's a very nice piece of operations there - sometimes the railway can pull a rabbit out of a hat when it wants to!

I guess there were crew in Birmingham who wanted to get home just as much as the passengers!

 

[jopsuk]

River levels peak shortly after a period of prolonged and / or heavy rain; more so when soil moisture deficit (SMD) is low and the ground can’t absorb any more (like now). It is date agnostic. It is more likely in winter and spring, naturally.

In the climate records there's peaks in all those factors at those times. Much like if you looked at long term records you would say that holding a large music festival in Somerset at the end of June, or a tennis championships outdoors in south west london at the end of June/start of July is a foolish idea and both would be fairly reliably dry of they were two weeks earlier. People complain that weather forecasts are innacurate in the UK; this is often true for hour by hour in spring & autumn, but the long term patterns are very well established.

 

[dgl]

Is this still shut? Can't see anything on the system about diverts?

On the GWR website they are saying this:

Live Train Times and Journey Updates | Great Western Railway

See the Great Western Railway TrainTracker for live departure times and up-to-the-minute train journey updates.

www.gwr.com

Cancellations to services between Exeter St Davids and Taunton

Due to heavy rain flooding the railway between Exeter St Davids and Taunton all lines are blocked.
Impact:
Train services running through these stations will be cancelled or diverted. Disruption is expected until 18:00 24/12.
Customer Advice:
CrossCountry, South Western Railway and London Underground are conveying passengers via any reasonable route until further notice.
Replacement road transport services are conveying passengers from Exeter St Davids via Tiverton Parkway and Taunton in both directions until further notice.

No new diverts via Yeovil on RTT yet though.

 

[Bald Rick]

In the climate records there's peaks in all those factors at those times. Much like if you looked at long term records you would say that holding a large music festival in Somerset at the end of June, or a tennis championships outdoors in south west london at the end of June/start of July is a foolish idea and both would be fairly reliably dry of they were two weeks earlier. People complain that weather forecasts are innacurate in the UK; this is often true for hour by hour in spring & autumn, but the long term patterns are very well established.

On long term averages, yes. But that doesn’t mean it happens in a specific couple of weeks every year. It just means it’s more likely. River levels near me weren’t this high last year, nor the year before, for example.

Similarly, I can say with confidence that the week with the highest rate of Solar Power generation is between the end of May and mid July, and the long term average peak week is going to be the week either side of June 21st. But which week it is in any given year depends very much on the weather.

 

[Ianno87]

CrossCountry, at short notice, appear to have doubled a single Manchester-Southampton Voyager at Birmingham New St, called additionally at Didcot, split it and run the rear portion along the GWML to Bristol Parkway and Temple Meads, for passengers who could otherwise get no further south-west than Birmingham. Split from 1O34 and ran as 1Z27 if anyone’s looking for it. Originally showed as 4-car in RTT at New St but later updated to 8, so presume it was originally a single and explains the delay it picked up departing Brum. (1O34 does not show the Didcot call on RTT but saw it in P4 on Traksy.)

Fair play to them for coming up with that at short notice in an ever-changing situation.

I guess there were crew in Birmingham who wanted to get home just as much as the passengers!

Impressive! But I wouldn't have thought XC crews would have signed west of Didcot, unless they were route-conducted by a GWR driver?

 

[PHILIPE]

On the GWR website they are saying this:

Live Train Times and Journey Updates | Great Western Railway

See the Great Western Railway TrainTracker for live departure times and up-to-the-minute train journey updates.

www.gwr.com

No new diverts via Yeovil on RTT yet though.

1A76 0549 Penzance to Paddington recently gone through Honiton and 1A71 already gone. If they have been arranged at very short notice they would not appear on RTT

 

[Western Sunset]

1A73 PZ - Padd also went via Honiton.

 

[apinnard]

The slow line north of Huntingdon to Connington is closed as are both slow lines between Bedford and Wellingborough due to flooding damage. I also believe Pen Green reservoir/lake has burst (again) and is currently swamping the line past Corby station and that is also closed.

 

[Bungle]

Impressive! But I wouldn't have thought XC crews would have signed west of Didcot, unless they were route-conducted by a GWR driver?

I thought the same, even more impressive if they managed to get someone to route-conduct from another operator at that notice, especially with such duties probably being undesirable due to Covid / social distancing. It did operate though:

1Z27

 

[virgintrain1]

I thought the same, even more impressive if they managed to get someone to route-conduct from another operator at that notice, especially with such duties probably being undesirable due to Covid / social distancing. It did operate though:

1Z27

Bristol XC sign Didcot to Bristol via box and Chipping Sodbury.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Absolutely astonishingly, it seems that the Conwy Valley has not washed away!

e.g.: https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/C81717/2020-12-24/detailed

 

[83G/84D]

1A73 PZ - Padd also went via Honiton.

The 1A70 service went via Yeovil early on this morning. Barnstaple line has re-opened however Exeter to Tiverton still shut.

 

[Llanigraham]

Absolutely astonishingly, it seems that the Conwy Valley has not washed away!

e.g.: https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/C81717/2020-12-24/detailed

Why is it astonishing when it hasn't rain any more than normal in North Wales?

 

[Bikeman78]

Bristol XC sign Didcot to Bristol via box and Chipping Sodbury.

How do they retain knowledge from Swindon to Didcot? I'm not aware of an XC train running east of Swindon. I know they sometimes run from Bristol to Swindon then reverse and go via Kemble to Cheltenham.