SWR engineering on two lines

[lawried123]

I'm surprised to see that today there are engineering works on two parallel railway lines on SWR. Buses from Ascot to Hounslow and also buses from Basingstoke to Weybridge. And on top of that nearly all the the buses at Farnborough are cancelled. I know they've got to do engineering work but to have virtually no service at all is a bit much,

Lawrie

 

[30907]

The Ascot route doesn't give a diversionary opportunity for when the Woking area is blocked (whereas the Cobham route does, though not for all) and is only a limited option for car-borne travellers (convenient from Camberley maybe....), so I can't see it being a huge deal.
SW were not the only ones caught out by bus shortages unfortunately....

 

[infobleep]

GWR cancelled all the fast buses from Guildford to Gatwick Airport today.

I assume it's due to not being able to find enough bus drivers to run them. They were scheduled yesterday but cancelled today. I did a GWR Twitter staff but got no reply.

At the station, I said I was going to Gatwick Airport and was advised to get a 12:08 bus to Redhill and change there for a train. I was actually going to Haywards Heath but in the moment I said Gatwick Airport.

I was told if the bus is on time it will connect with a train at Redhill so I boarded it.

Whilst going through town I checked with the bus driver and it was an all stations stopper, which would take around 75 minutes. They kindly let me off on the A281 and I walked back to the station as the next train via Clapham Junction, almost 30 minutes after the bus departed, would be faster.

Funnily enough, I could have got the earlier train, 12:06, as it was late but I fancied getting two rail replacement buses for a change, Just not one that stopped everywhere. The other bus would be Three Bridges to Haywards Heath. Technically it would have been officially 2 minutes faster than the train.

Had I missed the connecting train at Redhill, is have had an almost 30-minute wait.

As it is I got an unofficial connection at Clapham Junction, off the 12:35 and my delay into Haywards Heaths was only 17 minutes.