High winds in Scotland 3/1

[68000]

Which really proves the point that a major tree cull is needed

 

[michael769]

Problem is many potentially problematic trees will be on private land rather on the railway itself and thus outwith NR's reach unless the law is changed.

 

[ushawk]

That would cost a fortune, i mean were not having trees constantly falling on the line, this wind doesnt happen every single day (not a bad thing if it did, Network Rail wouldnt have to pay to cut the trees down then )

 

[amcluesent]

Likely a few more coming down tonight, it's stormier then Tuesday around PBO

 

[68000]

Where is PBO? Certainly not stormier here in Glasgow

 

[ushawk]

PBO = Peterborough

Quite stormy down here at the moment - wind is as bad as yesterday at the moment.

 

[quarella]

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!

The joys of modern technology with various systems feeding off each other so while it only takes 15 seconds to type that phrase National Rail live departures and various other systems cannot cope with that and require each train to be altered individually or as part of a group on a template. I do not know Scotrail's arrangements but as in all things it comes down to money. How many staff do you train and have available. What do they do the rest of the time. And how many software licenses do you hold for what is a comparatively rare event.

 

[PaulLothian]

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

Which is not that surprising - three out of the four roads out of our town were blocked by large fallen trees at 8 a.m., all of which fell on to the road from adjacent private land. The M9 towards Edinburgh was blocked by two lorries that were blown over. This was in fact a much more serious storm than the well heralded storm in mid-December.

 

[Essexman]

Trees on line near Huntingdon.
45 min delays.
Hoping will be cleared by 10.30 as I'm travelling to York today.

 

[Welshman]

Concerning the trees on the line near Huntingdon.....

The NR website advises "East Coast, Hull Trains and Grand Central may experience delays of up to 45 minutes between Kings Cross and Peterborough, but FCC is currently not affected"

How can trees fall foul of the fast[inner lines] but leave the slow[outer lines] clear?

Sorry to appear flippant, but I'm just curious.

 

[ANorthernGuard]

Tree on the Line at Handforth (services diverted either via Styal Branch or Stoke on Trent)

Tree on the Line at Backburn (as one of my colleagues have told me)

 

[Essexman]

I'm hoping it's cleared now as EC website no longer shows a line problem, just delays to 6 individual trains.

 

[tsr]

Trees now on the line near Fareham (I expect this will be cleared shortly, as it's been ongoing for a while) and Billingshurst (EDIT: I think something's come down at Bletchley, too, but details are hazy). I think Southern Customer Services is overwhelmed as their account on Twitter is only intermittently posted to, which is rare, but entirely understandable! There's also an obstruction at Wokingham, which is probably about to be cleared.

It was as windy here (overnight) in East Surrey as it was on Tuesday, and unfortunately the advice and news available for the public this time around has been very poor. Sadly a lot of people don't check more than BBC News before they travel, and if they did, I regret to say that it wouldn't help them much!

 

[Essexman]

Trees on line near Huntingdon.
45 min delays.
Hoping will be cleared by 10.30 as I'm travelling to York today.

Seems to be OK now.
On the 10.30 ready to depart on time.
All-Day menus handed out.
Seems a bit early for lunch though - shame no bacon rolls.

 

[ANorthernGuard]

Overheads are down between Stoke on Trent & Macclesfield

its going to be a long day for Staff & Passengers

 

[tsr]

Overheads are down between Stoke on Trent & Macclesfield

its going to be a long day for Staff & Passengers

Ah. Not good. Can't see it on NRE yet.

 

[northwichcat]

its going to be a long day for Staff & Passengers

I remember a few years back a Chester-Manchester service was made to wait at Northwich for around 2-3 hours due to very strong winds. When it finally continued it departed Knutsford but before it could reach Mobberley it was halted by a huge tree on the line, which was too large to manually move so the train had to reverse to Knutsford for road transport to be arranged to Altrincham.

 

[tsr]

Any chance we could split the thread so we have one for the previous high winds on Tuesday, and one for the weather-related incidents since 2300 (or thereabouts) last night?

 

[ushawk]

Seems to be OK now.
On the 10.30 ready to depart on time.
All-Day menus handed out.
Seems a bit early for lunch though - shame no bacon rolls.

Perhaps they think it will be delayed and they want to keep you in a good mood

 

[northwichcat]

Any chance we could split the thread so we have one for the previous high winds on Tuesday, and one for the weather-related incidents since 2300 (or thereabouts) last night?

The winds should be dying down early this afternoon so hopefully they'll be no more major incidents.

 

[ANorthernGuard]

I remember a few years back a Chester-Manchester service was made to wait at Northwich for around 2-3 hours due to very strong winds. When it finally continued it departed Knutsford but before it could reach Mobberley it was halted by a huge tree on the line, which was too large to manually move so the train had to reverse to Knutsford for road transport to be arranged to Altrincham.

The whole network got shut down that day for a few hours, never seen anything like it.

 

[merlodlliw]

an interesting one. http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/service/ldbdetails/v53IE4R0pJRj9rwG#AFV7g==

 

[ushawk]

Crewe to Inverness in 2 hours 10 minutes ?

Clearly a NRE mistake, an amusing one at that though.

 

[tsr]

The London Victoria service that normally leaves Redhill at 0948 is now going to depart at 1314 (206 down by my in-brain calculations). I think that's bordering on a record for that particular station, as they normally get cancelled long before a delay like that builds up... There are other services which are nowhere near as badly delayed, too.

This is due to a tree coming down at Billingshurst (as above) that suspended Arun Valley Line services until 1245.

 

[jopsuk]

Inverness-Edinburgh hit a tree: BBC Link
Front damaged, looks like a brnach went through a side window and got a couple of the passengers

 

[142094]

Inverness-Edinburgh hit a tree: BBC Link
Front damaged, looks like a brnach went through a side window and got a couple of the passengers

Hopefully no-one was hurt. Also, looks as if it is just the glass that'll need replacing and no damage to the actual metal work.

 

[YorkshireRider]

The chieftain was behind this service, had to be terminated because of it.

 

[Blindtraveler]

and i believe 2 injuries

 

[tsr]

The station canopy at London Bridge is now reported to have been damaged and debris from it is apparently on the lines through Platforms 4 to 6. Or not, if you believe Network Rail's Twitter feed, which, considering I have information via the same source from passengers who say the platforms are still closed, may not be reliable. Problems at Flitwick and London Bridge are ongoing, apparently, with OHLE and station canopy issues, respectively.

 

[crewmeal]

With all these delays how are the sleepers fairing up during all this disruption?