High winds in Scotland 3/1

[sonic2009]

As a result of Scotland XC have been running. 1ZXX not stopping at Cheltenham in a bid to catch up time. As a I saw a non-stop voyager approximately 1545.

 

[michael769]

The Edinburgh to Glasgow Shuttle is now running again at a 30mins frequency. Services to Dunblane and Newcraighall are also running.

 

[Eng274]

I left Queen Street at 1730 on the first evening shuttle eastbound, and we've just passed Lenzie - time for a kip I think!

 

[Blindtraveler]

there wil stil be trubble tomorrow due to obstructions and also stock etc being out of place id have thought

 

[michael769]

there wil stil be trubble tomorrow due to obstructions and also stock etc being out of place id have thought

Past experience of shutdowns like this is that they are very good at getting things ready for the morning - and they seem to be willing to work overnight to position stock as needed so I doubt stock being out of place will be a problem.

It all depends on how extensive any blockages and damage is. I would not rule out a few lines still being out of commission in the morning, but I suspect that most (if not all ) of the network will be up and running.

In the meantime service recovery is already underway:

A limited ScotRail train service is running on the following routes in Scotland. All other ScotRail services remain suspended while lines are being checked and repairs carried out:

Glasgow Queen Street to Stirling
Glasgow Central to East Kilbride
Glasgow Central to Barrhead
Motherwell to Anderston
Motherwell to Lanark
Glasgow Queen Street to Airdrie
Glasgow Queen Street to Edinburgh via Falkirk High
Glasgow Queen Street (High Level) to Anniesland
Glasgow Queen Street to Cumbernauld
Edinburgh to Dunblane
Inverness and Perth (trains will be extended to run to/from Edinburgh or Glasgow Queen Street where possible)
Aberdeen and Dundee
A replacement bus service is also running between Glasgow Central and Ayr.

 

[142094]

If some of the obstructions that are on the line need the use of cranes, then that doesn't sound good. I wouldn't like to guess but I bet there aren't that many rail-cranes nearby.

 

[jopsuk]

availing myself of my ticket being valid tommorow. Am I correct in thinking that though it's an Advance, it should now be valid on ANY (East Coast and connections) service tomorrow?

 

[142094]

availing myself of my ticket being valid tommorow. Am I correct in thinking that though it's an Advance, it should now be valid on ANY (East Coast and connections) service tomorrow?

Looks as if it is, as long as you were travelling north of Newcastle:

Tickets for journeys north of Newcastle, which have been suspended or cancelled today because of the weather conditions, will be accepted for travel on any East Coast service tomorrow, without restriction.

 

[jopsuk]

Aye- my ticket is Stirling-Stevenage (1st Class). I'll head to Edinburgh at the back of the rush hour (more for pleasantness than anything else) and wing it from there.

 

[strathclyde318]

Hopping the argyle line will open tomorrow because hopping to do the 318 bashing first thing in the morning on express servicer from lanark - dalmuir

 

[michael769]

Hopping the argyle line will open tomorrow because hopping to do the 318 bashing first thing in the morning on express servicer from lanark - dalmuir

It is now partly open:

Shuttle service btwn Lanark & Exhibition Cnte depart Lanark at xx23 & xx53 past hr, depart Exhibition C at xx06 & xx34 past hr calling at Uddingston, Cambuslang, Rutherglen, Dalmarnock then all stations to Exhibition Centre, shuttle will not call at Bellshill.

 

[Aictos]

Sorry to be negative about East Coast but useless comes to mind today, if any TOC is going to have services use a stopping order/not to stop order then it would be in their best interests to make sure that whatever stations are named as a extra stop to call or not to call then let that station know via fax, email, telephone.

By not communicating properly, it ain't good co-operation between TOCs.

That aside, one hopes tomorrow will be better...

 

[michael769]

From Network Rail Scotland:

Working overnight to clear 100s of trees and other debris from the track to open as many lines as we can but some disruption can be expected.

With some disruption expected, check before you travel tomorrow:

 

[quarella]

EDIT: the 15:07 is now AWOL - surprise surprise.
According to National Rail Virgin are now running out of Haymarket. Waverley remains closed according to NRE even though Scotrail's journeycheck is now reporting services set to depart normally.

Great how in time of major disruption Scotrail cannot be bothered to provide accurate and reliable cancellation.

How many trains were cancelled? Even the few that were running were amended. I suggest that the more likely explanation was some poor clerk overwhelmed by the number of cancellations alterations required. When I looked at the Scotrail website earlier this afternoon it could not have been clearer with an emergency title page showing what routes were shut and what was running.

 

[142094]

How many trains were cancelled? Even the few that were running were amended. I suggest that the more likely explanation was some poor clerk overwhelmed by the number of cancellations alterations required. When I looked at the Scotrail website earlier this afternoon it could not have been clearer with an emergency title page showing what routes were shut and what was running.

Looking on NRE yesterday it was showing that Waverley was still closed, yet the paragraph above was saying that TPE were running to Waverley again. Would help if someone took 2 minutes to proof-read what they are going to publish.

In many cases it seems that, even with the heavy snowfall and disruption we had in 2010/11, no-one has improved their game communications-wise.

 

[jopsuk]

Waverly was utterly mobbed. Platform staff were superb though trying to manage a difficult situation- the lack of spare sets and paths to run reliefs on days like this really hurts when you've got essentially two day's worth of passengers trying to travel in one day.

 

[chris89]

Waverly was utterly mobbed. Platform staff were superb though trying to manage a difficult situation- the lack of spare sets and paths to run reliefs on days like this really hurts when you've got essentially two day's worth of passengers trying to travel in one day.

Was incredibly so when i was their. But the 10:51 which is just leaving Carlise will be losing the rear Voyager at Preston. So will be packed in the front one.

Chris

 

[michael769]

How many trains were cancelled? Even the few that were running were amended. I suggest that the more likely explanation was some poor clerk overwhelmed by the number of cancellations alterations required.

They why not admit that, and set journeycheck to redirect to their info page, rather than provide inaccurate information? Providing false information is the worst possible thing they can do in time of serious disruption!

At the time of the incident there were actually no trains at all running. Seriously how hard is it for the poor overwhelmed clerk to say that all trains are not running? It only took me 15 secs to type the words!

When I looked at the Scotrail website earlier this afternoon it could not have been clearer with an emergency title page showing what routes were shut and what was running.

However most regular users will have journeycheck bookmarked - even if they do look at that page, you then have 1 source of info saying one thing and another completely contradicting that. Was is the average rail user supposed to do then? Which do they believe.

Last night and this morning that page was claiming to provide info for Tuesday 4th January nice one Scotrail - so did they mean details for yesterday (ie Tuesday) or today (ie 4th January). Even I took a while to figure out what they meant.

And to add insult to injury that page claimed that the Shotts line was running. Was it? Of course not!

And I though that Scotrail's franchise contained a specific committment to improve information dissemination.

Yet again throughout the whole incident NRE gave timely accurate information for all routes. If they can do it from several hundred miles away, why do Scotrail who are at the heart of the mess find it so hard? If they cannot be bothered to inform passengers accurately why don't they just admit to thta and direct us to NRE who do seem to at least try to do a decent job!

 

[jopsuk]

I'm guessing as this was caused by weather, being delayed a day doesn't trigger compensation? (East Coast)
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
I'm guessing as this was caused by weather, being delayed a day doesn't trigger compensation? (East Coast)

 

[YorkshireBear]

What has happened at dover, saw on NR that they are doing repairs there?

 

[142094]

Emergency engineering works at Kearnsey

 

[YorkshireRider]

I'm guessing as this was caused by weather, being delayed a day doesn't trigger compensation? (East Coast)
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
I'm guessing as this was caused by weather, being delayed a day doesn't trigger compensation? (East Coast)

As far as i was aware it doesnt matter what causes the delay so you should be able to claim as normal, full refund on a single/advance ticket or full refund on a return ticket if it is a off-peak/super off-peak/anytime rtn.

 

[michael769]

http://www.scotrail.co.uk/weatherimages

 

[p123]

Yet again throughout the whole incident NRE gave timely accurate information for all routes. If they can do it from several hundred miles away, why do Scotrail who are at the heart of the mess find it so hard? If they cannot be bothered to inform passengers accurately why don't they just admit to thta and direct us to NRE who do seem to at least try to do a decent job!

Actually, NRE have not once been 100% correct for my route, for any form of disruption as far as I can remember. Yesterday was no different.

Here's a good example:

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/service_disruptions/sa10ca733c3c40abbf5303e9882fb406/details.html

Right now (18:25, 04/01/12), Dumbarton Central station is closed. That's a major stopping point on my route. Not any mention of this!

While JourneyCheck isn't great (it's my understanding, however, that it is mostly automated), NRE has people consistently inputting incorrect, late and far too often - no - information on my route whenever there's disruption.

End rant.

On the plus side, I'm usually reasonably impressed with ScotRail's low bandwidth page on their website. It should come with the usual ScotRail miscommunication disclaimer, but if you look out for the usual omissions and keep your wits about you it's ok.

 

[amcluesent]

With the 60 plus mins delay on EC trains coming down via Newcastle, any pax travelling today on yesterdays tickets won't be singing ECs praises.

 

[Jock]

With the 60 plus mins delay on EC trains coming down via Newcastle, any pax travelling today on yesterdays tickets won't be singing ECs praises.

I fail to understand how you can call yesterdays weather and todays infrastructure faults "ECs problem"

Do you ever have anything positive to say about EC? - all I ever see on EC matters are postings from you taking every opportunity possible to twist the knife into the company when you can.

 

[DaveNewcastle]

I'm sure that amcluesent can speak for himself, but, are you sure you're aiming your criticism at the right person? There's quite a few regular EC passengers on here, with a variety of views, including criticism - but amcluesent's posts have included the series of light hearted and enjoyable limericks about the on-board catering; without knife twisting. His posts are frequently informative and presented with neutrality.

Anyway, I find it a sad fact of life that anyone in customer facing roles will receive the attention of disapointed customers, regardless of their culpability. Train crew included. I feel sympathy for any staff dealing with frustrated passengers, today and every day.

 

[Blindtraveler]

here here

 

[Jeremy B]

I'm sure that amcluesent can speak for himself, but, are you sure you're aiming your criticism at the right person? There's quite a few regular EC passengers on here, with a variety of views, including criticism - but amcluesent's posts have included the series of light hearted and enjoyable limericks about the on-board catering; without knife twisting. His posts are frequently informative and presented with neutrality.

Anyway, I find it a sad fact of life that anyone in customer facing roles will receive the attention of disapointed customers, regardless of their culpability. Train crew included. I feel sympathy for any staff dealing with frustrated passengers, today and every day.

Light hearted hock: very quick to be critical but rarely one to give credit unless it involves unrestricted access to the complimentery offer in first class.

As for yesterday & todays delays they involved XC & TPE trains on the ECML as well but he sought only to highlight the delays to East Coast trains - I would hardly call this unbiased.

 

[michael769]

According to BBC News a total of 856 trees had to be removed from the rail network!