Mass disruption due to flooding - December 2012

[whole diary]

[vacmanfan]

Is this woman crazy?

Was is it FGWs^▸ (First Great Western) fault?  No!

She only lost 1 booking for Pete's sake.

People will not turn their backs on Cornwall as a tourist destination because of that.  What WILL drive tourism down even further is the astronomical price of holidaying there.  Why bother when you can fly to Spain in less time for almost guaranteed sun for the same if not less money. 
From somebody who lives and works in Cornwall, there is simply no great reason for people to holiday there anymore.

Sorry, a little off topic I know.

[TaplowGreen]

.....so a bit of chilly weather and a small amount of snow is forecast....any thoughts on how long it'll take before everything grinds to a halt as usual?

 Southern Railway already getting their retaliation/excuses in first on the News tonight; "its up to Network Rail to keep the tracks free of snow and ice"

[TonyK]

.....so a bit of chilly weather and a small amount of snow is forecast....any thoughts on how long it'll take before everything grinds to a halt as usual?

 Southern Railway already getting their retaliation/excuses in first on the News tonight; "its up to Network Rail to keep the tracks free of snow and ice"

Here's hoping it's the right kind of snow this time.

[TonyK]

swrural, I feel your pain. I too have issues.

Moving back slightly towards the thread for a moment, I am aware that Devon County Council are desperate to have the Cowley Bridge situation looked at again. Whether that will do any good, I can't say, but I agree with them wholeheartedly. Having the entire county cut off every time it rains is not good.

[paul7575]

In April 2004, South West Trains ran 43,600 trains over four weeks but in April 2012, the total number of trains had risen to 45,646 trains all of Network Rail say has put added pressure on the infrastructure.

Translation please.

Just found what is probably the source of this quote, and the original paragraph does appear to read OK in context of the overall press release:

"On the Wessex route, more trains run today than ever before. In April 2004 South West Trains ran 43,600 trains over four weeks. In April 2012, it ran 45,646 trains all of which put added pressure on the infrastructure." 

It's a small part of SWT^▸ (South West Trains)'s puff piece about the Wessex route Strategic Business Plan, and is to all intents nothing whatsoever to do with the first part of the news report at all.

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

Looks like the 'Devon News' has joined two completely separate rail stories into one article, as far as I can make out.   

Paul

[Kernow Otter]

Having the entire county cut off every time it rains is not good.

Two Counties.  Cornwall is just as cut off from the rest of the country.

Ta

[swrural]

Having the entire county cut off every time it rains is not good.

Two Counties.  Cornwall is just as cut off from the rest of the country.

Ta

Surely the rest of the country was cut off from Devon and Cornwall?  As in 'Fog in Channel, Continent isolated'.

[TonyK]

Having the entire county cut off every time it rains is not good.

Two Counties.  Cornwall is just as cut off from the rest of the country.

Ta

I should know better. I have a cottage in Devon and have lived in Cornwall.

[Chris from Nailsea]

We could go way off topic here by opening a debate over whether Cornwall is a County or a Duchy - so I won't. 

[The Grecian]

They weren't actually cut off the second time anyway as the Waterloo route remained open - although not so useful for people coming from Bristol or the north. There didn't seem to be many announcements in the media that you could still get from London to Exeter by train without a change, although I believe that Waterloo services were sufficiently busy anyway that directing everyone that way would have severely overloaded things. FGW^▸ (First Great Western) seemed to deal with it like split ticketing - if you ask we'll tell you, but you have to ask. Whilst the Waterloo route takes around 3h15m to Exeter and the Paddington route is 2h20m on average (variable), the time taken on a bus from Taunton to Exeter (particularly getting in and out of the urban areas) coupled with the inconvenience of changing would probably have persuaded most people to swamp the Waterloo route if it was advertised more.

I believe crosscountry trains (the route not the company) used to run Exeter-Yeovil-Castle Cary-Westbury-Bristol in the past when engineering work dictated, but I assume XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) haven't got the route knowledge to run that way even if they wanted to - and it would probably take longer that a bus link from Exeter to Taunton.

[broadgage]

The siting of electrical substations also seems to neglect nature with HV gear being sited at ground level barely a metre above nearby water courses. Reading district nearly lost power over the holiday because the site at Pingewood (alongside the railway, approx 38m60c) was threatened, only Corporation sandbags and two fire engines saving the day. The three sites at Gloucester were threatened last time, one being a 400kV supergrid station, only the crew of HMS Ocean coming to the rescue.

Are concrete plinths that expensive?


OTC

No, concrete plinths are not expensive and should be more widely used for vulnerable electrical equipment, railway related or otherwise.
To relocate existing equipment onto a plinth would be costly since the jointing or extending of large or high voltage cables is a costly matter, and joints introduce a potential weak spot.
In the case of signalling cables, the voltages and currents innvolved are modest and cable jointing sounds more readily achieved, but is still a costly affair on account of the amount of testing and proving that is required.
Another possible problem is that casting a large concrete plinth takes some days especialy in remote places, and this may preclude placing new equipment on a plinth due to the extra delay.
It would seem worth while at vulnerable locations to build plinths ready for future use, so that after the next flood, any new equipment may be placed atop the ready built plinths.

[paul7575]

NR^» (Network Rail - home page) don't generally use concrete plinths for the smaller lineside cabinets nowadays, the easiest solution is the stuff I mentioned in post #30 here:
http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=11745.30
...with its screw in piling and steel gratings.  You see it all over the place when equipment is fitted in cuttings or embankments - extending the use to flooding susceptible areas is pretty obvious.

Paul

[swrural]

@The Grecian10:17:04 PM

There was a considerable period in December when both lines were totally blocked (at Cowley Bridge (GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) and LSWR^▸ (London South Western Railway)) , Honiton and Broom (LSWR)) so there was no alternative rail service and I do not recall a time when only Cowley bridge was blocked and FGW^▸ (First Great Western) ran trains via Yeovil Jcn either.  The replacement bus services were fully documented on SWT^▸ (South West Trains) site with a full easy to read timetable which included a 'slow' service calling at stations from Exeter to Axminster and a fast service, both to Yeovil Jcn.

SWT pax would only have experienced small delays overall (about a half hour or an hour) but could plan their trips throughout.  This may have something to do with Stagecoach parent company running buses in the area (remember Southern National?    ).

FGW just mentioned bus services but I don't remember seeing as good a news service on their web site but perhaps colleagues know better.

XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) seemed just to 'give up'.  I only remember seeing notices that 'all trains were cancelled' but perhaps they relied on the FGW buses, I don't know.  Again, if colleagues know better, it would be interesting to hear that.

So apart from your comments on XC, I don't see that any pax contacting the companies would have been let down by SWT or FGW.  I think SWT take the prize.

Until the line from Salisbury to Exeter is re-dualled, the scope for diversions, let alone improved services, is minimal.

[JayMac]

CrossCountry did admirably well with their rail replacement coaches. During the first period of disruption in early December they ran coaches between Bristol <-> Exeter calling Taunton and Tiverton, during the second period of disruption the ran coaches between Taunton <-> Exeter calling Tiverton.

They had sufficient staff on the ground acting as co-ordinators. On train staff were also excellent in advising on the disruption and in dealing with what were, at times, very busy services.

I don't like CrossCountry's Voyagers, their catering facilities or their fares policy but I cannot fault their organisation, staff levels and staff attitude during the closure of the line between Tiverton and Exeter. They certainly didn't 'just give up'.

During that first period of disruption FGW^▸ (First Great Western) weren't very proactive at Temple Meads. No extra staff were on hand to direct passengers to the undercroft for replacement coaches. Often folk, arriving at Temple Meads on other services, would be at the gateline asking about onward travel to the south-west only to be told to go back down the stairs. Signage to the undercroft was inadequate. Also the CIS^▸ (Customer Information System) and additional flat screens weren't being utilised to tell passengers of the replacement coaches. CrossCountry don't have station staff so they'd have had a limited pool of people to call on to help out. FGW should have stepped up to the plate as they did second time round at Taunton.

FGW had a very visible staff presence at Taunton during the second period of disruption and that was most welcome. I'm not sure what the division of responsibility for acquiring replacement coaches was though. XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) were co-ordinating that at Bristol first time round and Taunton the second time. As I didn't travel to Tiverton or Exeter I don't know who was co-ordinating there.

I can't speak for SWTs^▸ (South West Trains) efforts when their line was closed. The only time I travelled on the WoEML^▸ (West of England Main Line.) was before Christmas after it had re-opened. I experienced delays due to the ESRs^▸ (Emergency Speed Restriction ) - That's understandable. Less understandable were the scheduled departure/arrival times often creeping further and further from the advertised emergency timetable with this information being slow to filter down to staff and public information systems. 

[swrural]

BNM thanks, good to hear about XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)).  I was referring to their web site when I checked (thus my 'seemed', but it was as glib on that as I quoted on the day I viewed) but clearly, on the ground it was good.  I can imagine the mystification of pax at TM^‡(resolve), the way you describe it.  The majority of pax do not give a fig (I opine) what name is written on the side of the franchisee coaches and have in any case to deal with whoever is put before the public.  I cannot imagine they looked at the uniforms closely, at the TM barrier, when desperately trying to find out what was happening.

The Grecian (see earlier post) was pleading for a level of diversion service that I think is likely to be complete fantasy at present, but, in fairness, I do note that the rail and bus companies do make it possible to use each other's tickets (and rule out restrictions) in these emergencies.  So they should.  It's the image of public transport that is at stake.

In the long term issue of connectivity, I cannot see much chance of SW cross country services being so flexible and improved under the current franchising system.  Many of us would like to see a proper south coast service, which needs infrastructure at Yeovil and Dorchester, but fat chance of such a proposal emanating from SWT^▸ (South West Trains) or FGW^▸ (First Great Western).  Yes we did respond to the consultations.