Umberleigh to Chapelton is £1.80 for 1.75 miles.

“Those Westbury/Swindon cancellations are largely unnecessary.

GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) removed a lot of route knowledge from its HSS^▸ (High Speed Services)▸ drivers preventing diversions via Bristol, and the GWR drivers operating that route have zero diversionary route knowledge.
This issue highlights how out of touch with reality the decision making within the company has become.”

This certainly hits the nail on the head.

Such important operational policy decisions, in this case on restricting diversionary route knowledge, seem now way above the heads of the Managers of TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company)/GWR and are dictated by the Government’s enlarged Dept. for Transport; no doubt heavily watched over by HM Treasury.

Yes a pretty awful rail service today on the Plymouth to Penzance main line and the busy Falmouth branch; causing long delays, much disruption and cancellation to many hundreds of rail passengers intended journeys.
Some were expecting some inevitable disruption after the commissioning of the new signalling system at the start of this week, but not at the scale of disruption experienced today.

I suspect Network Rail’s most senior, non Swindon based Manager, their Director for Devon & Cornwall may, rightly, have to face the press to explain what the problems are and what is being done to rectify these problems to restore a reliable and punctual train service, if today’s level of disruption is repeated in the coming days and weeks following further planned signalling upgrade works and line closures etc. this coming weekend west of Exeter.



 

This is an increasingly serious disruption to rail services on a key main line to a major city with no alternative rail route.
Scouring away of riverbed material around the base of bridge piers by water action is usually
rectified and prevented by the placing of a concrete apron/pad around the affected area.

Why this was not carried out at Brent Mill viaduct at an early stage / last summer, is a question
for NR^» (Network Rail - home page) and the EA ..it’s not as if the delaying tactics of Doormice and Badgers were relevant in the river.

Brent Mill Viaduct on the edge of South Brent seems in the last year to have become the location between Exeter and Plymouth most at risk to causing major disruption to rail services.

Yet the NR^» (Network Rail - home page) Contracted PR^▸ (Public Relations) machines and remote Swindon based Senior Management responsible for NR Infrastructure in the far South West have yet to make a public a statement, at minimum advising what the problems are and what actions are in hand to remedy this ongoing problem.

Clearly the Dawlish Sea wall is not the only hazard on the precarious South Devon rail route to Plymouth and Cornwall. At least the folk of Tavistock and even Cornwall are increasingly aware of the advantages of Okehampton compared to Plymouth as their nearest railhead.

“Can anyone explain the relevance of the first photo to a resignalling project?”

The pic of what looks like bank stabilization works does seem irrelevant; probably another example of Network Rail’s Media Contractors’ Reputation Management efforts or should it be mismanagement efforts ?!

This accommodation bridge has allegedly been out of use for sometime, but in any case would still be expected to be subject to regular inspection and maintenance by in this case Network Rail and/or its appointed Contractor.

Looks very like lots of roots hanging down, from likely vegetation/bushes / buddleia etc being allowed to grow in the bridge structure that eventually fell off through likely water ingress/ frost / wind action etc bringing rubble and stone out with it.

Without a doubt, you can be sure the Govt DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) Micro Managers and their TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) subordinates will be planning contingency reduced services and formations etc.
 Hopefully all serviceable GW^▸ (Great Western) ‘in house’ maintained HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) will be in use beyond the 3 daily M-S Cornwall mainline diagrams, even possibly reviewing the need for the half hrly frequency in Cornwall at the lowest time of year for travel, to provide HSTs vice IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train) for the more important Ply / BTM^▸ (Bristol Temple Meads (strictly, it should be BRI))/ Cdff stopping services.

That drone footage clearly shows the large amount of heavy stone brought in by road to construct the Contractors vehicle etc access tracks and that will in itself (and with its water run off )not helped the stability of the area above the tunnel portal ..look what happened in similar circumstances above the portal at the eastern end of Honiton Tunnel last year.

Note all the single use dumpy bags of stone, no doubt brought to site by Road Railers from the nearest road/lorry track access point.

Possibly as the downstream / Down line side of this viaduct has been reassessed to prevent a total line closure (as done twice in last year) and is not subject to scour in the river bed.
The greater force of water is normally on the upstream side of a bridge.

Extract from Andrew Haines communication of 8/12/23 concerning the major disruption incident  outside Paddington on the evening of Th 7/12/23.

“Thirdly, and importantly, we failed as a system. Too many individual actors seeing risk from their own perspective meant it was harder than it should have been to get things done whilst maintaining safety. Multiple self-evacuations, because of the pace at which we were able to move or even access trains, cannot be regarded as good safety practice.

Lastly, we have gone backwards on customer service. Tools to look after passengers that I would have used as a station manager in 1987 - before I'd even seen a mobile phone - were not available and we were hardly great at it then.
We can do better than we did last night when we take customers legitimate concerns seriously.”

4  Okehampton is the only former Southern main line station and the only one that, in hindsight fortunately, left the National Rail network  (in about 1994 with the sale of Meldon Quarry and about 15 miles of line) then very luckily rejoined it (in 2021).

Just to prove the UNJOINED UP Railway with what seems little or no communication with regards to main line closures we have Paddington closed today Sun 26/11 and for Devon & Cornwall passengers the direct Exeter to Salisbury / Waterloo line closed from Sat 25 Nov Until 10 Dec with Bustitution^▸ (the practice of replacing trains with buses) between Yeovil Jn and Salisbury and through trains diverted between Yeovil Jn and Salisbury via YPM, C. Cary and Westbury.
The much publicised NR^» (Network Rail - home page) media PR^▸ (Public Relations) spin is mainly about track improvements ( track renewal of the Down loop at Gillingham) for a smoother and allegedly more reliable service.

Network Rail and SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) have nevertheless had a special commemorative and hopefully edible biscuit baked for the inconvenienced and delayed passengers ..oh that SWR had refreshments again on their long distance trains; perhaps they could learn from TFW ?


 

GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) are advising this morning as at 1140…

“Due to severe weather between Newton Abbot and Penzance all lines are closed.
Train services running to and from these stations will be cancelled. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.”

YET  XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) are running an hourly shuttle service between Exeter and Plymouth calling NA and Totnes using Voyagers…which gWR fails to even mention to help passengers…Oh for the joined up railway.

Incidentally as at 1300 today the Okehampton and North Devon lines are having one of their most reliable and punctual train services for a considerable while;  with so far no cancellations and excellent timekeeping.