Weather disruption caused in 2014, and how to prevent it happening again - ongoing discussion

[whole diary]

[bobm]

Slightly after the event, but I was at Dawlish at lunchtime today to see some of the aftermath of the storms.


Marine Parade
You can see the waves have washed large amounts of ballast onto the footpath and roadway.  I wouldn't be surprised if some cars were damaged.


As well as washing stones onto the road, some were left on the running rail.


A lot of debris was pushed under the Colonnades and part of it was still flooded even at low tide.


Shortly after I was there the platforms at Dawlish were closed off because the sea was again threatening.  However the overnight tide had destroyed the wooden fencing in a number of places, with broken posts being thrown onto the line.

[bobm]

If not then I can imagine some folk would have been somewhat annoyed having been told by FGW^▸ (First Great Western) at Exeter and Newton Abbot to catch the Stagecoach service 2 where rail tickets were being allowed, only to get on the bus and find they had to buy a new ticket.

I caught the Stagecoach 2 Bus and paid for a ^7.50 Explorer ticket at Newton Abbot.  I gather the agreement to accept rail tickets was published about 15 minutes later.  However I wasn't too miffed as there were probably four coach loads of people waiting to board the two coaches that were at the station when I left to walk into town for the bus, so I probably got ahead of the masses!

[bobm]

Due to the forecase high winds there will be blanket 50mph speed restriction on all lines (that are open) west of Exeter as well as the Barnstaple branch between 3 and 9pm today.

[ChrisB]

Just tried posting a train plan sent to Customer Panel members, but it exceeded the 20,000 character limit - sorry guys! (And after formatting it all too - grr)

[bobm]

Due to the forecase high winds there will be blanket 50mph speed restriction on all lines (that are open) west of Exeter as well as the Barnstaple branch between 3 and 9pm today.

This has now been withdrawn as the forecast has improved....however the sleeper services for Wednesday night are now cancelled.  (Today's were cancelled yesterday.)

[Nibat]

When we saw the Mouchel thing we asked what it was. 

In brief, it's the weather forecasting system in use for the seawall, it mainly records the wind and the waves and generates a graph.  When both peak we have a problem, and they are peaking badly between 19.00 and 21.00 this evening.  It presents the information in a colour scale, green being normal, blue a bit bad, amber would be Level 1 or 2 depending on the scale, red is level 2 and black is black.

The line is not expected to reopen until at least thursday, friday being more likely.  And the reason is because as far as we know NR^» (Network Rail - home page) are not doing any repair works until after the high tide tonight as they think it will be a pointless exercise.

[JayMac]

Just tried posting a train plan sent to Customer Panel members, but it exceeded the 20,000 character limit - sorry guys! (And after formatting it all too - grr)

Can it not be added to a post as an attachment? Either as a .pdf or .doc?

[JayMac]

Network Rail are saying that the Up line (which is bi-directional) could be reopened, but under full possession, to allow stock movements only.

[Southern Stag]

A couple of services have run over the up line today. Three ECS^▸ (Empty Coaching Stock) movements, one freight service and one passenger train, the 1135 Exeter St Davids-Plymouth.

[bobm]

Just had a call from FGW^▸ (First Great Western) Customer Services to tell me my sleeper service tonight is cancelled.  They confirm sleeper tickets for cancelled services can either be refunded in full or used on either the last daytime service today or the first one in the morning.  Common sense I know, but nice to have it confirmed.

[ChrisB]

Just tried posting a train plan sent to Customer Panel members, but it exceeded the 20,000 character limit - sorry guys! (And after formatting it all too - grr)

Can it not be added to a post as an attachment? Either as a .pdf or .doc?

I have it as a 6 page pdf, but there needs to be some editing....I don't have any further time available to re-do the copy 'n paste into a Word doc. Spent nearly 20mins doing that directly already :-(

[JayMac]

The inclement weather is on its way again. The line between St Erth and Penzance has been closed as a safety measure. The single line section into Penzance is being battered by high waves over the sea defences. There is no replacement road transport either at the moment due to hazardous road conditions.

Also, the line between Par and Newquay is currently blocked by a fallen tree and a train has struck a fallen tree between Liskeard and Bodmin Parkway.


Moderator note: I've changed the scope of this topic to cover the weather related disruption across Devon & Cornwall and have amended the title to reflect that. bignosemac

[JayMac]

People are now being advised not to travel between Exeter and Penzance.

[JayMac]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Dawlish railway repairs halted over safety fears

Network Rail said up to 50m of track was unsafe after ballast underneath was washed away

Repairs on a section of storm-damaged coastal railway line in Devon have been halted because of safety concerns.

Network Rail said it was pulling all repair staff away from working on the section of track at Dawlish. The infrastructure owner said up to 50m (165ft) of track was unsafe after supporting ballast was washed away this week, but it was stopping work because fresh storms were due to hit the coast. It said it hoped trains would run again by Friday at the earliest. The withdrawal of staff is as the result of the first black safety warning Network Rail has ever issued in the South West, it said.

The line at Dawlish, which passes along the town's sea wall, is vulnerable to high waves.

Julian Burnell, from Network Rail, estimated "hundreds of tonnes" of ballast had been dislodged from under tracks after they had "taken a real pounding from the sea". He added that the town's station had also been damaged by the weather.

Dawlish is between Exeter and Newton Abbot on the main railway line through the county. The section had already been closed off on Monday because of "poor weather conditions", train operator First Great Western said. The company had hoped services would resume on Wednesday, but this has now been delayed until Friday. It tweeted that replacement road transport was being used to ferry passengers between the two stations. Sleeper services between London Paddington and Penzance have also been cancelled until further notice. It and rival operator CrossCountry were currently accepting each others' tickets between Bristol and Penzance, it added.

The Met Office has issued a yellow alert for high winds in the South West until 23:00 GMT on Wednesday.

[bobm]

Not directly railway related - but this video shows the sea flooding the harbour front at St Ives

http://stivestv.co.uk/all-st-ives-tv-videos/storm-surge-strikes-st-ives-harbour/