Have you ever used a rail replacement taxi?

[Clip]

Ive used quite a few..


In the line of work though where I have needed to get from a station to another but its the same thing

 

[Sprinter]

I have been on a rail replacement taxi on a Dartmoor Sunday Rover once from Gunnislake- Plymouth as the 150 couldn't get up the hill, so it was a taxi, though it may have been just as quick journey by car!

Another occasion was at Oxford when a MIM bound 166 terminated at OXF and went out of service. Cue FGW summoning every available taxi in Oxford to take passengers onwards to the various stations. I however declined as there was others in more need of it. The following HST was being delayed due to techinacl difficulies at Reading thus the next train would be the 1741 all stations... until that one was canncelled and the delayed HST became the 1741. Made for an interesting stop at Ascott-under-Wychwood where I alighted!

 

[james60059]

I remember when they use to use the Class 153 between Coventry/Nuneaton and Stafford a rail replacement taxi was provided on one occasion (one of the 7 seater variants) when the unit was unavailable .

 

[DaveHarries]

I remember once being stuck at Bournemouth after the line flooded at Sway during a heavy mid-afternoon rainstorm. After a couple of hours, during which the line failed to reopen, I shared a taxi with 3 other people and the total came to £60 (£15 each) which was good value.

Dave

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Back in my student days, one friday teatime I decided to visit my girlfriend in Aberystwyth at the weekend. Turned up at Ormskirk station in plenty of time to get into Liverpool (and onwards via Chester) to Shrewsbury in time for the 2200 (or thereabouts) train to Aberystwyth. One of the last unrefurbished 507s was waiting in the platform so I got on board, but had barely sat down when it suddenly plunged into darkness. Apparently the traction current had failed so Merseyrail were kind enough to send myself (and a couple of other students heading further afield) to Liverpool in a Metrocab. Ended up at Lime Street rather than Central as the others were heading to Birmingham and beyond but managed to make the Chester train.

 

[W.Tregurtha]

Most of us will have encountered a time where we have had to use a rail replacement bus, but what about taxi's?

Some rail companies offer a taxi service, if a rail service unavailable. A classic example of this is Newhaven Marine station where you can get a taxi to the Harbour station at no extra cost if you phone a certain number. Although it's very unlikely that anyone would use this considering the short distance between the stations. For those that don't know Newhaven Marine station is no longer served by passenger trains, only a ghost train which stops there but doesn't pick up any passengers for safety reasons.

So has anyone ever used a rail replacement taxi?



Did you prefer it to a rail replacement bus?

Should rail companies look at providing this option to passengers more than relying on buses?

I'm intrigued. What is so unsafe about Newhaven Marine?

 

[Lrd]

I'm intrigued. What is so unsafe about Newhaven Marine?

The roof.

 

[Tomonthetrain]

Wouldn't it be sensible to fix it?

 

[34D]

Wouldn't it be sensible to fix it?

It was removed 4-ish years ago. There is no danger. Think there is a thread elsewhere on the forum about this.

 

[Lrd]

I believe the roof was just an excuse not to run trains as they had no need to anymore with the ferries not running as often and the fact the other station is literally a few minutes walk away.

The 'ECS' move is actually a passenger train service that passengers can't use.

 

[bnm]

Three occasions.

All from Bristol Temple Meads to Shirehampton.

The first two were given despite the official connection at Bristol TM being 10 minutes and my incoming train timetabled arrival being 2206, with the branch line train (last of the day) departing 2215. On those two occasions I missed the branch line train by seconds due to the late arrival of the Waterloo to Bristol train.

The third occasion happened when the timetable had been changed with the branch line train now departing at 2216.

Annoyingly on that third occasion I had to wait sometime while various calls were made to 'control' to authorise the taxi.

So, when the connection was unofficial I had no problem getting a taxi. When it became official I encountered some problems.

On all three occasions I got the taxi to my door, with the driver turning on the meter as he passed Shirehampton station.