Southampton Tunnel closures announced

[NXEA!]

Ahh i see. Would still be a good idea if they had a few months to get ready would be good to see some pigs back in action on the south western :P

 

[royaloak]

Just one problem- £


And who pays.
(But that makes 2)

 

[NXEA!]

yeah. plus so much route and traction knowledge to gain aswell. not to mention so many stock moves.

 

[Oracle]

This letter contains important information if your rail journey
takes you to or through Southampton Central this winter.

Due to an ongoing multi million pound scheme being carried out by
Network Rail to improve freight access to the Port of Southampton,
there will be some major changes to train services and timetables
throughout December 2009 and into January 2010. All services that
normally run through Southampton tunnel will be affected as follows:

From Monday 30 November until 10 January 2010
Some changes to late night weekday services and weekend services

On Mondays to Fridays
between 7 to 24 December and 4 to 8 January
Some changes to off peak services (services between 0900-1600);
peak services will run close to normal

Christmas Day and Boxing Day
No South West Trains services

Between Sunday 27 December and Sunday 3 January
Revised timetable, with some trains diverted and replacement
bus services

Monday 4 January
The majority of train services will be restored for people
returning to work after the Christmas break
Please allow extra time for journeys that involve a bus or diversion
and note that cycles, prams and bulky luggage cannot be carried on
buses due to limited space.

Passengers can find more information on the South West Trains
website or call 08457 48 49 50 for detailed travel advice.
Information will also be available at South West Trains stations.

Just received from SWT!

Southampton area - December 2009 and January 2010

Work to allow freight containers to be transported by rail from the Port of Southampton across the country in a quicker, cheaper, greener and more practical way will take place from Saturday 5 December to Sunday 10 January. During this time the tunnel at the "London" end of Southampton Central station will be closed each Saturday and Sunday. On Monday to Friday a reduced train service will run through the tunnel and a special timetable will apply.

From Sunday 27 December to Sunday 3 January (Christmas / New Year holiday period) Southampton Tunnel will be closed completely. All train services in the Southampton area will be altered and some services will be replaced by buses for parts of their journeys.

--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
More details here:

Southampton Tunnel work - Changes to train times
December 2009 / January 2010
Work to allow freight containers to be transported by rail from the Port of Southampton across the country in a quicker, cheaper, greener and more practical way will take place from Saturday 5 December to Sunday 10 January.

At the moment the latest (slightly larger) containers need to be carried on special wagons to reach Southampton Docks. This work (and work elsewhere in the area) will allow all containers currently in use to be carried on standard wagons to and from the Docks.

Other work will also be done during this time, including replacement of a bridge and track renewals at St Denys and some work at Swaythling station.

For much of the time work will be done on one track only through the tunnel, leaving the other line open for trains. The signalling system will allow us to run most of the normal train service through the tunnel, but some train services will have to be altered as shown below. For nearly all journeys during the working week you will be able to travel through the tunnel by train, although for some journeys you may need to change trains in the Southampton area.

The tunnel will be completely closed each weekday night (starting from Monday 30 November) from about 2315 to 0545 and trains due to pass through during this period will be either diverted or replaced by buses. On Friday evenings the tunnel will remain open until the 0005 (Saturday morning) from London Waterloo has passed through, and on Monday mornings one line will open for the first timetabled train.

The tunnel will be completely closed each Saturday and Sunday during this period with diversions and replacement bus services running as shown below. The tunnel will also be completely closed from 25 December to 3 January, which will affect those who need to travel to work by train between the Christmas and New Year holidays.


Monday to Friday train service (7 to 24 December and from 4 to 10 January) - from about 0900 to 1600
A special timetable will be issued for this period. A summary of the train service which will run is shown below.

Monday to Friday “peak” services

We will make maximum use of the line through the tunnel to run as near normal a peak service as we can. For most of our customers your normal train will run although there may be some retimings.

Monday to Friday “off peak” - from about 0900 to 1600

The following train services will run through Southampton Tunnel with minor retimings:

South West Trains services between London Waterloo and Weymouth (2 per hour each way)
Cross Country services between Bournemouth and Manchester (1 per hour each way)
First Great Western services between Portsmouth and Cardiff (1 per hour each way)
Southern services between Southampton Central and London Victoria (1 per hour each way)
Salisbury - Southampton - Romsey stopping services (1 per hour each way)

The following services will be altered in the Southampton area:

Stopping trains between London Waterloo and Poole will run between London Waterloo and Eastleigh with bus connection between Eastleigh and Southampton Airport Parkway (to connect with the Weymouth trains). Trains will also run between Southampton Central and Poole. Trains from Southampton Central will run about 30 minutes later than normal to Brockenhurst, then as the normal timetable.

The South West Trains stopping service between Southampton and Portsmouth will start from / terminate at St Denys. The Salisbury - Southampton - Romsey services will be held a few minutes as necessary to maintain connections at St Denys.

Southern services between Southampton Central and Brighton will start from / terminate at Woolston. A fast bus connection will run between Woolston and Southampton Central.

First Great Western services to and from Brighton will call at Eastleigh instead of Southampton Central.


Fewer trains are timetabled early morning and late evening and most will be able to run through the tunnel, except during the overnight closures.


Weekend / Christmas Holiday services
Southampton Tunnel will be completely closed during the following periods and buses will replace all train services in the areas shown. Timetables for these periods will be posted on the “engineering work calendar” pages as they become available and will be displayed at the stations concerned.

5 / 6 December

Between Southampton Central and Southampton Airport Parkway (Eastleigh on Sunday)
Between Southampton Central and Woolston

12 / 13 December

Between Southampton Central and Southampton Airport Parkway (Eastleigh on Sunday)
Between Southampton Central and Netley

19 / 20 December

Between Southampton Central and Southampton Airport Parkway (Eastleigh on Sunday)
Between Southampton Central and Netley

25 and 26 December - No service on South West Trains


27 December - 3 January (holiday period)

Between Southampton Central and Southampton Airport Parkway (Eastleigh on the Sundays)
Between Southampton Central and Woolston (Netley on Saturday and the Sundays. also on Monday 28 December)

9 / 10 January

Between Southampton Central and Southampton Airport Parkway (Eastleigh on Sunday)
Between Southampton Central and Netley


11 January - Tunnel re-opens fully and the normal timetable will run.



We are sorry that cycles, prams and items of bulky luggage cannot be carried on buses or taxis provided to replace train services during engineering work.

--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
So it seems that St Denys is being used to reverse on the Fareham branch...is there a #-over at the station or do trains run towards the Mount Pleasant LC and then reverse?

 

[thefab444]

NXEA, you say one or two peak services, but you do know they'd only be used on weekends, and around the Christmas period when a lot of commuters aren't at work anyway (and will even more inclined to book time off because of the blockade)?

During the week, the tunnel will remain open albeit with only one track.

 

[yorksrob]

yeah. plus so much route and traction knowledge to gain aswell. not to mention so many stock moves.

Some judicial use of pilots, freight drivers, that sort of thing.

Yes it would cost the TOC money - but it's paid by the government and the public to run a train service. Thats it's job i'm afraid.

 

[Oracle]

I suddenly thought that no reference has been made to freights, so will containers and the Wool sand trains, Fawley tanks, Marchwood MoDs go 'the long way round' via Laverstock Loop? For those not in the know, there is a #-over on the Test Valley line from Romsey to enable the FL trains to run on the Down line at Redbridge Junction and then into the Goods Loop and the FL terminal. This could be used in theory to reverse trains towards Totton.

 

[Surreytraveller]

Not sure who drives the 350s but that was a long term jobbie so would possibly make sense to train a few drivers.

EWS drives them!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

going back to royaloak's idea couldnt gatex/ southern swap there 442's for the desiros for the blockade period as lm 350's have been used lately on southern services so 444's could run quite easily im sure. then that way the lavertsock idea could be used with a few 67's or 47's based at basingstoke draggin them through to southampton. also if they cudnt do the swap they could use the 442's in store as some of them are mechanically sound. that way 1 or 2 peak services could be provided through to bournemouth/weymouth.

But then because 444's aren't cleared for Southern's routes, so you have things like electrical interference and loading gauge issues. Would be years before they could get them cleared, and then there would still be problems.

 

[thefab444]

I suddenly thought that no reference has been made to freights, so will containers and the Wool sand trains, Fawley tanks, Marchwood MoDs go 'the long way round' via Laverstock Loop? For those not in the know, there is a #-over on the Test Valley line from Romsey to enable the FL trains to run on the Down line at Redbridge Junction and then into the Goods Loop and the FL terminal. This could be used in theory to reverse trains towards Totton.

You raise a very good question. I presume on weekends, the Freightliner services will run via Laverstock and then the Test Valley (wrong line into Redbridge and Southampton Maritime). During the week, I'm not so sure. I guess freight out of Southampton Maritime will go via Laverstock as that isn't too much hassle, but I'm not sure about freight coming from the west that will need to reverse at Redbridge. This will probably be able to use the single line through the tunnel as there isn't that many of these trains. Some trains like the Chichester to Merehead stone will probably be diverted via Chandler's Ford.

 

[Oracle]

What other freights are there apart from the FL? Wool Stone, Hamworthy, Marchwood MoD, Fawley tanks, and..? To my knowledge there is just one FL that runs down the Test Valley and crosses-over to the wrong line before Redbridge Junction that's MO? Otherwise it sees traffic only on diversions from what I have seen. The only other alternative is going down from Westbury to Weymouth, reverse, then if required reverse in Totton Yard to the Fawley Branch or run via the Down main into the FL terminal. And vice versa.

 

[Drsatan]

. Some trains like the Chichester to Merehead stone will probably be diverted via Chandler's Ford.

Depends on how much capacity there is on the Romsey - Eastleigh line. There's one train an hour in each direction along a largely single-track line which takes around 15 minutes to traverse using a 158, although there is a short double track section for about 400 metres from Romsey Junction and for about 600 metres before the junction with the SWML. However, the aforementioned stone trains could probably wait at those sections to allow any other trains to clear the line ahead.

What other freights are there apart from the FL? Wool Stone, Hamworthy, Marchwood MoD, Fawley tanks, and..? To my knowledge there is just one FL that runs down the Test Valley and crosses-over to the wrong line before Redbridge Junction that's MO? Otherwise it sees traffic only on diversions from what I have seen. The only other alternative is going down from Westbury to Weymouth, reverse, then if required reverse in Totton Yard to the Fawley Branch or run via the Down main into the FL terminal. And vice versa.

There are also infrastructure trains from Westbury to Eastleigh yard that run via Southampton Central, which depending on paths could go via Chandlers Ford. Going via Weymouth wouldn't be viable since there wouldn't be any spare paths south of Yeovil (mostly single track) and there wouldn't be enough space at Weymouth for a 400 metre stone train to stop, and for the loco to run round. I think reversing at Dorchester wouldn't be possible since there are no crossovers there. Furthermore there's a single track section from Dorchester to Morton which would restrict paths, compounded by there being two trains an hour in each direction on that line (although they only run 13 minutes apart.)

 

[yorksrob]

Just received from SWT!



--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
More details here:



--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
So it seems that St Denys is being used to reverse on the Fareham branch...is there a #-over at the station or do trains run towards the Mount Pleasant LC and then reverse?

I've just noticed in this that there are some diversions organised - therefore I withdraw my criticism

 

[westjct]

I suddenly thought that no reference has been made to freights, so will containers and the Wool sand trains, Fawley tanks, Marchwood MoDs go 'the long way round' via Laverstock Loop? For those not in the know, there is a #-over on the Test Valley line from Romsey to enable the FL trains to run on the Down line at Redbridge Junction and then into the Goods Loop and the FL terminal. This could be used in theory to reverse trains towards Totton.

All Freightliner trains will go via laversock.

Hamworthy stone Soton UGL and run round

Fawleys, Marchwood, Wool and Western docks via the tunnel.

At night Western docks top`n`tailed

 

[Oracle]

Thanks...expect to get some pix then of the use of the Test Valley #-over from the A31 bridge in due course.