(Very) Short working!

[whole diary]

[grahame]

17:39 Cheltenham Spa to Southampton Central due 20:48

This train will be terminated at Gloucester.
This train will no longer call at Stonehouse, Stroud, Kemble, Swindon, Chippenham, Melksham, Trowbridge, Westbury, Dilton Marsh, Warminster, Salisbury, Romsey and Southampton Central.
This is due to signalling problems.

Hardly seems worth running 17:39 from Cheltenham to Gloucester as there are other trains at 17:33 and 17:45.

[LiskeardRich]

Lineside Fire in the signalling cable near Swindon.
Picture of burnt signalling tweeted by National Rail https://twitter.com/NetworkRailPAD/status/355708360001212416/photo/1

The forum live feed is looking very congested between London and South Wales.

[LiskeardRich]

Apologies for a double post,
Further information can be found here: http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/10545942.Train_passengers_face_delays_following_fire_near_track/

The picture used also earns the article the right to be shared in the annoying irrelevant photo thread

RAIL passengers are facing delays during rush hour after a fire has spread to a signal cables between Cheney Manor and Stratton.

Fire crews were called to the small blaze at 2.47pm after it spread from a small patch of grass to the side of the line and damaged signal cables, resulting in delays.

Replacement bus services have been organised from Swindon and other key places along the line, but a spokesman for First Great Western admitted delays could possibly go one beyond rush hour this evening.

He said: ^The problem with issues like this is that it may seem like a localised issue but it can quickly ramp up. Our crews can end up in the wrong place and this issue is likely to run into and past the rush hour tonight.^

A spokesman for Network Rail said: ^It was an external fire that came on to the railway between Cheney Manor and B&Q, near the locomotive yard junction.

^The problem for the railway is that there has been damage to the signalling cabling and there will be extensive delays.

"Obviously we can only apologise but when we are without signalling we are very restricted in what we can move.^

Keep checking the First Great Western and Network Rail websites for updates on services.

[grahame]

19:32 Westbury to Cheltenham Spa due 21:33 This train will be delayed at Gloucester and is expected to be 17 minutes late.
This train will be diverted between Swindon and Gloucester.
This train will no longer call at Kemble, Stroud and Stonehouse.
This is due to earlier signalling problems.

That's much better 

[bobm]

Rather than start a new thread, here were my experiences of the problems at Swindon today.  I arrived at Reading at 16:00 and saw the 15:57 to Weston-super-Mare was running 16 minutes later - but the good news was it was shown coming in on the other side of the island platform I was on.

Then just as it was due to arrive came the platform alteration announcement that it was now going from platform 7.  As I was going up the escalator (along with what seemed 50-60 other people) I suddenly realised that if it was going from number 7 it couldn't be going via Didcot.  So it proved - the departure indicator showed first stop as Bath Spa.  There were some announcements but I really couldn't hear them - so whether anyone wanting Swindon or Chippenham got on I have no idea.

I didn't while I tried to find out what was going on.  It soon became apparent that nothing was likely to go past Didcot for a while, so I got the next train for Bristol, which also went from 7 and was also first stop Bath.  We made pretty leisurely progress behind a stopper as far as Newbury and then a freight train until it was put into Woodborough loop just after Pewsey.  After skirting Westbury and running through Trowbridge we reached Bath Spa about 30 minutes behind time.

I was lucky at this point as I had managed to arrange a lift from Bath back to Swindon - but I noticed the London bound platform was two or three deep so I guess the journey back would not have been quick or pleasant on the train.

So I got home - but again I question the reaction to the problems.  There were manual announcements but they were not very audible at Reading.  I also wonder why the first indication of a platform change for both the 15:57 and 16:27 - which both switched from platform 8 to 7 came as both services reached the ramp at the end of the platform.  The despatchers may well hold the train for stragglers but the public won't rely on that - so you get a stampede up the stairs, over the transfer deck and down, by which time you meet those who have just got off the train and it gets messy.

Not the railway's finest hour today - not their fault there was a cable fire, but as we report so often the people on the ground seem to be the last to know what is going on and then it seems don't have the equipment to make loud enough announcements!