Emergency engineering work due to holes appearing at Colwall

[whole diary]

[Worcester_Passenger]

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-18578214.

[chuffed]

Should have 'sett' to work between Honley and Stocksmoor !!
If you are still puzzled check table 34 in the National rail Timetable ....

[Worcester_Passenger]

..and today it turns out that the badgers have been wrongly accused : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-18595167. A "build-up of water" isn't half as interesting!

[JayMac]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gx6TBrfCW54

cf: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stinking_badges#Later_citations

 

[Worcester_Passenger]

A question about who looks after the provision of information to passengers at these times.

The line between Great Malvern and Hereford is currently closed due to emergency engineering works at Colwall - see http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/service_disruptions/today.html.

FGW^▸ (First Great Western) are stopping their trains at Worcester Shrub Hill. They've have documented this on the disruptions part of their site, at
http://www.journeycheck.com/firstgreatwestern/. They also seem to have altered the schedules in the departure boards at http://www.journeycheck.com/firstgreatwestern/ so that these trains are shown as "cancelled" between Worcester and Hereford.

However, London Midland aren't reporting anything. Their journeycheck listings, at http://www.londonmidland.com/your-journey/live-info/ say

Line problem: between Great Malvern and H...

Owing to emergency engineering works between Great Malvern and Hereford all lines are blocked.
Impact:
Train services running through these stations may be cancelled or delayed at short notice. Disruption is expected until 23:45 24/09.

- but the train-by-train listings on the same page make no mention of any changes to the Hereford trains.

And the schedules for their part of the departure boards display still show trains as running to and from Hereford.

I suppose that it's possible that London Midland's staff shortages are such that no-one's looking after passenger information. But surely somebody should be looking after this?

[Louis94]

Due to an approx 6ft deep & 30ft wide hole that has opened up under the track at Colwall the railway line is closed.

London Paddington to Hereford services will terminate at Worcester Shrub Hill with their return working starting at Worcester Shrub Hill.

Services from London Paddington to Great Malvern will continue to operate as booked subject to congestion in the Worcester Foregate Street area.

Alterations to other FGW^▸ (First Great Western) train services operating through the area will be paged separately, Arriva Trains Wales are managing all replacement road transport between Hereford, Great Malvern and Worcester.

[Worcester_Passenger]

Thanks for that. 30 foot wide sounds scary.

[Worcester_Passenger]

and indeed, there's a scary picture at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-19710125.

The badgers are being blamed again.

[grahame]

The badgers are being blamed again.

Hmm ... what they say is "Network Rail said the hole emerged on Monday in Colwall next to one believed to have been caused by badgers." which doesn't actually blame the badgers.  If it did, it would be rather like taking you to court because your neighbour has been caught fiddling his taxes 

[Louis94]

and indeed, there's a scary picture at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-19710125.

The badgers are being blamed again.

Apparently they've had this subsidence problem before in the area.

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Hereford to Malvern rail line remains closed after collapsed pipe

Trains between Great Malvern and Hereford remain cancelled after a collapsed pipe caused a "very deep hole" on the line in Colwall.

Network Rail said it appeared after heavy rain next to one that emerged after a build-up of water in June.

A statement from Network Rail said it is hoped the line will reopen on Wednesday.

National Rail Enquiries said a limited bus service was running between Worcester Shrub Hill and Hereford.

Its website said First Great Western passengers could use Arriva Trains Wales services between Hereford and Newport, and London Midland services between Worcester Shrub Hill and Great Malvern.

A statement from Network Rail said water flowing from a clay pipe had saturated the surrounding ground and a chamber has been dammed for the water to be pumped from it.

Engineers were planning to dig out the wet ground and install concrete sleepers as a new base before new ballast and track are installed.

Earlier in the year surplus water after heavy rain caused another hole, leading to some rail services on the line being cancelled, Network Rail said.

On Monday the Met Office said on Twitter that in 24 hours 64.6mm (2.5in) of rainfall had been recorded in Hereford, making it "one of the wettest places in the country".

A flood warning for the River Teme at Bransford in Worcestershire has been issued by the Environment Agency.

A warning for the River Teme at Stanford Bridge in Herefordshire remains in place.

Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service said they were called to more than 40 flood-related incidents on Monday.

[Worcester_Passenger]

The badgers are being blamed again.

Hmm ... what they say is "Network Rail said the hole emerged on Monday in Colwall next to one believed to have been caused by badgers." which doesn't actually blame the badgers.  If it did, it would be rather like taking you to court because your neighbour has been caught fiddling his taxes 

You're obviously better at reading the small print!   

Badgers R innocent OK.

[Chris from Nailsea]

Indeed! 

From news coverage of that previous incident back in June 2012, from the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Railway hole caused by 'water build-up'

A hole which appeared by a Herefordshire railway line, causing services to be cancelled, was caused by a build-up of water, Network Rail said.

...

Network Rail said engineers were at the scene to look into where the surplus water had come from.

A theory the hole was caused by badgers was speculation, the spokesman said.

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the Malvern Gazette:

It^s the mighty hole that stopped trains


HOLE: This five-metre opening appeared at Colwall station after Monday^s floods.

A deep hole which appeared under the tracks of the Colwall railway station stopped train services for two days.

Appearing on Monday morning after a month^s worth of rainfall fell in just a day, it opened up just a few paces from where a similar hole had appeared at the end of June.

The more recent hole has now been repaired, but a speed limit has been put in place while the repair is monitored.

On Monday morning, London Midland was forced to suspend all its services while the hole was inspected, with trains having to terminate at Great Malvern rather than carry on through to Hereford.

The hole at Colwall, just one station along from Ledbury, was inspected by Network Rail engineers who dug out the ballast and traced the cause to a collapsed 250mm clay pipe.

In breaking, the pipe had been discharging water into the immediate area and washing away the ballast under the track causing a hole to form.

The hole had originally measured about half a metre but grew to five metres as engineers dug 2.5m to 3m down to locate the problem.

Repairs were made using concrete sleepers with drainage laid on top and the ballast and track had to be reinstated.

Train services restarted on Wednesday (26) morning with the first service, the 4.29am Hereford to Ledbury, arriving three minutes early at Ledbury.

Full services are expected to operate ^ though a 20mph speed restriction has been placed on the line, which normally operates at 70mph, while the repairs are monitored.

A hole had previously appeared on the track in June but National Rail spokesman John Baker said they were confident they had now resolved the problem, permanently.

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the Ledbury Reporter:

Train services disrupted through Malvern and Ledbury

UPDATE 4.38pm: It is understood that services are back to normal on the line.

Rail services through Malvern and Ledbury are being disrupted after a hole reappeared in the line at Colwall.

The hole, near the railway station, appeared following over 12 hours of heavy rain in the area.

A hole in the track first appeared at the end of June after heavy rain, but was repaired the following day.

It reappeared in the last week of September after a month's rain fell in seven days. It caused train services to be stopped for two days.

The hole has been blamed on a broken drainage pipe which caused the ballast to be washed away.

The London Midland website says today: "Train services running through these stations may be delayed or revised at short notice. An estimate for the resumption of normal services will be provided as soon as the problem has been fully assessed."