Flood water pours off Somerset rail bridge - Templecombe, 21 November 2012

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

A video news report, from the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Heavy rain overnight has led to flooding in Somerset and much of South West England.

Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service said it was attending 51 flood incidents and called on motorists not to attempt to drive through flood water.

Footage of flood water pouring from a railway line near Templecombe, some five miles (8km) south of Wincanton, was sent to the BBC by Daniel Collinson.

[inspector_blakey]

Current state of play on the West of England line (until close of service today):

No trains between Gillingham and Exeter St D

Replacement bus Gillingham to Yeovil Junc and vice versa, calling Templecombe and Sherborne
Replacement bus Yeovil Junc to Exeter St D and vice versa, calling Axminster and Honiton.

Due to flooding on roads, there is currently no rail or replacement bus service to Crewkerne, Feniton, Whimple or Pinhoe.

The weather has left a real mess in its wake, with flooding at Whimple, Honiton and Crewerne together with a landslip between Axminster and Honiton. Train services have also been amended for tomorrow (Thu 22 Nov), with no trains running YVJ - EXD^» (Exeter St Davids - next trains) and replacement buses filling in the gaps:

http://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/alerts.aspx

[grandsire]

From SW Trains website looks as if line west of Yeovil will remain closed for a while:

"Due to a landslip at Honiton and flooding near Axminster, we are unable to run any trains between Yeovil Junction and Exeter St Davids until further notice.
Our engineers are on site and are working hard to repair the damage. Due to the extent of the damage and the continued bad weather expected over the weekend, the current estimate is that the line will not open until further notice.
Bad weather over the weekend has caused further damage means that the line will remain closed.
West of England train services which normally run between London Waterloo and Exeter St Davids will only run from London Waterloo to Yeovil Junction, at which point they will return to London Waterloo.
Message Received :25/11/2012 10:16"

[swrural]

Excellent news.

<http://www.itv.com/news/westcountry/update/2012-11-26/exeter-to-yeovil-line-reopens/?>

I'm hugely impressed  -it's still not great to be outside down here and those chaps must have worked wonders.

[inspector_blakey]

Yes indeedy: line handed back at 1649 today, but several speed restrictions remain in place for the moment.

A frankly astonishing piece of work by the engineers concerned, especially given that much of what they had already achieved was undone over the weekend by further cruddy weather.

The current state of play from SWT^▸ (South West Trains) is here:

http://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/alerts.aspx

[paul7575]

If I was SWT^▸ (South West Trains) I'd be having a word with whoever wrote their earlier press releases, now removed as overtaken by events. 

A couple of them referred to damage to 'a ballast'.  Surely no-one with any sort of rail background would draft that for issue?

Paul

[swrural]

The reporting has been well below the normal abysmal standard.  I am still waiting to find a photo of the 'landslide (at Honiton, between Honiton and Axminster, who knows where)' and the information given out by local media on where to get the substitute service timetables and so on was non-existent.

On the landslide, I have guessed that it might have been east of the Tunnel as much work has taken place there before -who knows?  The A35 was not blocked so a cub reporter could have easily got a photo if he or she had tried.

In fairness, the SWT^▸ (South West Trains) PR^▸ (Public Relations) was pretty vague itself.