Major Emergency Engineering at Waterloo - Sunday 14/04/2013

[whole diary]

[Brucey]

From a SWT^▸ (South West Trains) email.  Anyone travelling Thursday or Friday evening will probably have already felt the effects of this track defect.

Major Emergency Engineering at London Waterloo affecting the South West Trains Network Sunday 14th April 2013

A rail defect was identified between London Waterloo and Vauxhall on Thursday afternoon. The nature of the defect has meant that a temporary speed restriction has had to be imposed which has resulted in a reduction to the number of trains we are able to run across the affected area.

Our engineers have been conducting regular inspections of the area and have advised us that the defect needs to be repaired as quickly as possible, before it deteriorates. We have looked at all possible options to carry out the work in a manner that will have the least amount of impact to our customers.

The engineering team will require 16 hours of access to the track to allow them to remove a rail crossing and replace it with a brand new one. The access required by the engineers will mean that platforms 1 to 10 at London Waterloo will be out of use on Sunday 14th April until approximately 16:00hrs. A very limited train service will run out of London Waterloo as a result of this work.

Please see below for a summary of train services affected by this work. Check here for  engineering improvement work that is already planned to take place aound the network.

West of England

Crewkerne to London Waterloo services at 22 minutes past each hour will terminate at Woking. The 13:22 service from Crewkerne will be the first train to run through to London Waterloo (as will all subsequent departures from Crewkerne).

London Waterloo to Crewkerne services will start from Woking (at 46 minutes past each hour). The 17:15 service will be the first train to start from London Waterloo (as will all subsequent departures).

A train service will run between London Waterloo and Woking in both directions however we expect these services to be very busy.

Suburban - Ewell West

Buses will replace trains between Ewell West and Wimbledon until approximately 15:00. Customers should change at Wimbledon for an onward train service. The times of the first trains to run between Ewell West and London Waterloo are listed below:

14:50 Ewell West to Waterloo
16:32 London Waterloo to Ewell West

All subsequent departures after these times will be trains services (not buses).

Until approximately 15:00 Buses will depart Wimbledon bound for Ewell West at 2 & 32 minutes past each hour, and Ewell West bound for Wimbledon at 19 & 49 minutes past each hour.

Suburban - Guildford (via Cobham)

London Waterloo to Guildford (via Cobham) services will start from Surbiton (at 32 minutes past each hour). The 17:00 service will be the first train to start from London Waterloo (as will all subsequent trains).

Guildford to London Waterloo (via Cobham) services at 50 minutes past each hour will terminate at Surbiton. The 14:50 service from Guildford will be the first train to run though to London Waterloo (as will all subsequent departures). A train service will run between Surbiton and London Waterloo in both directions however we expect these services to be very busy.

Suburban - Chessington South

London Waterloo to Chessington South services will start from Wimbledon (at 10 & 40 minutes past each hour). The 16:51 service will be the first train to start from London Waterloo (as will all subsequent departures).

Chessington South to London Waterloo services at 10 & 40 minutes past each hour will terminate at Wimbledon. The 15:10 service will be the first train to run through to London Waterloo (as will all subsequent departures).

A train service will run between London Waterloo and Wimbledon in both directions however we expect these services to be very busy.

Windsor & Eton Riverside

An hourly service will run between London Waterloo and Windsor & Eton Riverside in both directions until mid-afternoon. Trains will depart London Waterloo at 44 minutes past each hour. Trains will depart Windsor & Eton Riverside at 01 minute past each hour. A twice hourly service will resume between London Waterloo and Windsor & Eton Riverside by mid-afternoon.

Kingston

Kingston to London Waterloo services at 11 minutes past each hour will not run until 15:11 (and all subsequent trains). Alternative train services are available from Kingston to London Waterloo via Richmond.

London Waterloo to Kingston services at 56 minutes past each hour will not run until 15:56 (and all subsequent trains). Alternative train services are available from London Waterloo to Kingston via Richmond.

We are sorry for the inconvenience the additional work this Sunday will cause  while you travel on our network. We are working to repair the fault at the earliest possible opportunity to enable us to deliver our full service again from Monday 15th April.

[Oxman]

You might like to correct the date in the topic heading.

[Brucey]

You might like to correct the date in the topic heading.

Thanks Oxman.  Clearly not thinking correctly today.

[bobm]

It could have been worse - had it occured on either of the two previous weekends when FGW^▸ (First Great Western) were using Waterloo for WoE services.

[ChrisB]

Or next Sunday - the London Marathon....

[Brucey]

Person hit by a train at South Croydon earlier resulted in considerable delays on all routes from London to Southampton and Portsmouth.  That is in addition to the engineering work already planned between Haslemere-Petersfield.

[MrC]

Or next Sunday - the London Marathon....

Oops. Work not carried out due to on-site equipment failure and currently proposed to be re-scheduled for 20/21.......

[Brucey]

B****r.  I am making several tight connections through Waterloo on both Saturday and Sunday next week.

Here is the official info from SWT^▸ (South West Trains): http://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/MEW.aspx

Copied here, for when the website is updated:

Work was due to take place on 13/14 April to repair a rail defect in the Waterloo area. This was a major piece of work that needed around 16 hours to complete and this work had been scheduled to take place at the earliest possible opportunity.

Unfortunately due to a problem with the technical equipment being used by our external contractors carrying the work, the work could not be completed over the weekend. These technical equipment problems were only uncovered as the work commenced.

We are extremely disappointed that this work could not take place as planned and we are following this up with our external contractors as a matter of priority.

The work is now being planned to take place at the next possible opportunity and to ensure the least amount of impact on our customers.  The work is currently scheduled to take place over the weekend of 20/21 April.  We will confirm more details about the impact this major engineering work will have on our services early next week.  In the meantime, our dedicated team of engineers will continue to monitor the area to enable us to continue to deliver our normal train service.

At this stage, we are not expecting this to have any impact on any of our services over the coming week, and we are planning to run our full train service on Monday 15 April.   We will keep you informed of any further changes needed to facilitate this major engineering work.

Laughable is an understatement.

[ChrisB]

And how many 000's of marathon runners wont niw be able to use the trains to get into London. Reckon there's going to be trouble ahead....

[Brucey]

It will be interesting to see the revised timetable.  One would hope the bulk of the work will be done overnight.

[Brucey]

The amended timetable has been released at http://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/MEW.aspx

I won't copy the entire timetable here, just the summary is included below:

Work was due to take place on 13/14 April to repair a rail defect in the Waterloo area. This was a major piece of work that needed around 16 hours to complete.

Unfortunately due to a problem with the technical equipment supplied by our external contractors, the work could not be completed on 13/14 April.

The work has now been planned to take place on Sunday 21st April. Customers with advance tickets that are booked to travel on specific trains are able to use other services as  fare restrictions have been lifted on Sunday 21 April.  A normal Saturday train service will run on Saturday 20th April.

The access required by the engineers will mean that platforms 1 to 10 at London Waterloo will be out of use on Sunday 21 April until approximately 16:00hrs.

A very limited train service will run out of London Waterloo as a result of this work.

Once the work has been completed at 1600hrs a full Sunday service will operate with some trains formed of more coaches than normal.

This work will be taking place in addition to our regular programme of engineering improvement work. Please check here to see how these works may also affect your journey.

London Marathon Participant / Spectator Advice

We strongly advise customers travelling on our services to check before you travel and allow more time to complete your journey. This is due to a significant reduction in the number of trains we can run into and out of London Waterloo until 1600hrs due to the work taking place; we expect all services running into London Waterloo will be extremely busy.

Alterations to your Train Service

Please use the expandable links below for more details about the service on Sunday 21 April. Please also note that our timetable is being amended to reflect these alterations and this information is currently not showing in the online Journey Planners. This will be available on Thursday 18 April.