Rail replacement bus running, but so is the train it's supposed to be replacing!

[RJ]

Coordination for rail replacement does sort of happen. The District Line and London Overground services are merged when the Richmond branch is shut, with a service between Richmond and Willesden Junction via Turnham Green and South Acton.

One of the more unusual ones I've found is the Metropolitan Line - Rickmansworth to Amersham all stops replacement bus services run when Chiltern is fully operating! But there's a reason for everything.

There's the ELLX - Go Ahead operate the buses between New Cross Gate and West Croydon via Crystal Palace. TfL did operate the buses once or twice in the past from New Cross Gate to Crystal Palace and onto Anerley for operational convenience, but that doesn't happen anymore. The Go-Ahead service is tightly timed and all the stops are close to the stations. The TfL service had generous running times (which were observed, lots of long waits at bus stops) and the risk assessment meant buses stopped quite some distance from Honor Oak Park station. The decision to stop the buses at Anerley was because local buses run between there and West Croydon, much to the ire of a lot of passengers.

South London Line - TfL operate a Clapham Junction to Canada Water service, with Go-Ahead operating between London Bridge and Tulse Hill. Two separate operations, quite a bit of overlap.

Another area that stands out for duplication is between Epsom and Dorking - Southern and SWR each procure their own buses.

Will be interesting to see what happens for local replacement services between Paddington and Reading. In the past either TfL or GWR have operated buses, but not both at once as far as I know. I recall driving a TfL operated bus from Ealing Broadway to Slough - 8.9 metre single door vehicles were put out and it was taking the best part of 2 hours to get from end to end - and that was without getting lost. When GWR operate the service on this line I recall they run multiple routes - single deckers Ealing Broadway to Slough and double deck relief buses between Ealing Broadway and Hayes.

In the case of the ELL and GWML replacement service I don't know how it gets decided whether TfL or a TOC sorts the bus service.

 

[CaptainHaddock]

And still the madness continues!

Hopefully, with this being the last weekend of closures at Dore Station Junction, things will be back to normal next month.

 

[Dr Hoo]

And still the madness continues!

Hopefully, with this being the last weekend of closures at Dore Station Junction, things will be back to normal next month.

Train diverted via Barrow Hill and thus unable to serve Dronfield. Timing constraints generally mean that train also cannot serve Langley Mill.

Bus calls at 'all stations' to cover local/intermediate journeys.

Which bit of this is hard to understand, Captain?

 

[Mitchell Hurd]

And still the madness continues!

Hopefully, with this being the last weekend of closures at Dore Station Junction, things will be back to normal next month.

I'd say nothing is normal with train services at the moment, especially weekends.

 

[Killingworth]

And still the madness continues!

Hopefully, with this being the last weekend of closures at Dore Station Junction, things will be back to normal next month.

For this set of blockades, yes, they finish tomorrow. There were no further blockades due until the end of October. Unfortunately today's strike by Network Rail employees has effectively cancelled a a substantial part of the work planned for this weekend. It's likely that the pre-planned schedule of further work and blockades will have to be rejigged.

 

[Tomnick]

Train diverted via Barrow Hill and thus unable to serve Dronfield. Timing constraints generally mean that train also cannot serve Langley Mill.

Bus calls at 'all stations' to cover local/intermediate journeys.

Which bit of this is hard to understand, Captain?

I understand the need for a replacement bus service to serve Dronfield.

I don't understand why Up trains aren't calling at Chesterfield this weekend. No lines are blocked - the only restriction would be conflicts over the junction at the north end. Indeed, whilst my train earlier trundled through on the UBH, a Voyager drew into platform 1. There is an extensive - and unbalanced, thus inefficient - rail replacement operation to compensate for the absence of Up calls.

I also remain unconvinced that there are timing constraints preventing services from calling at Ilkeston and Langley Mill. I've not looked at the whole day, but the evening services certainly seem very slackly timed - about twenty minutes standing, combined, at Alfreton and Langley Mill on mine earlier. I appreciate that achieving a compliant path can often be easier said than done even when things appear slack, but surely it's not insurmountable on a Sunday afternoon with a little cross-industry collaboration.

It must have cost thousands, if not tens of thousands, of pounds to put on this largely unnecesary rail replacement operation. Surely we can do better, as an industry?

Incidentally, I noted the same on the strike day this week. Obviously a very limited service on the routes that had a service at all. Very few potential conflicts. Nottingham - Sheffield services still only called where they'd normally call. Commuters into Sheffield from Dronfield were rather surprised to learn that there was no way for them to get back after mid-afternoon, even though there were later trains running. Very few trains called at any of Dronfield, Langley Mill or Ilkeston.

 

[LUYMun]

SWR rail replacement buses often run between Weybridge and Clapham Junction, but the mainline services that normally travel up the SWML get diverted via Virginia Water. So you could say that your train service from an intermediate station between Weybridge and Clapham Junction and somewhere beyond Woking is running simultaneously as the rail replacement bus it's supposed to replace!