Sea flooding on Severn Beach Line 22/02/2023

[whole diary]

[johnneyw]

A Facebook page for the Beach Line reports that services seem to be suspended at present due to high tides.  There a couple of pictures of the bridge over the confluence of the river Trym with the Avon where the water level isn't that far short of the track.
Another website showing arrival and departures at Montpelier for the line is showing no services at present either...which is curious as services could surely still turn back at Clifton Down Station, giving a partial service?


Edit:  It's just dawned on me that there's RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers) industrial action today.....flood tide came at a helpful time in that case!

[stuving]

I may have commented before that, for an island nation, we don't seem very conscious of tides and how they vary. Tide forecasts and warnings have a very narrow audience. Obviously it's different in France ...

To say how big tides will be over a wide area you need a coefficient, used to scale up (or down) the average tide height at each place. I have seen different ones used here, so we do not appear to have a standard definition. There is (of course) a standard French one, with extreme values of 20 and 120. Next Monday or Tuesday this month's peak (at spring tide) will be 118 - not far short of the maximum. This is the highest tide for ten years, and that made it national TV news in France.

Local tides depend not just on the global and regional factors captured by a coefficient valid for the whole Atlantic and channel costs of France, but on all sorts of local ones too. So the tides at Sea Mills may not be the highest for ten years - but expect something of that order. 

[Hafren]

The reports of issues near Avonmouth correlate reasonably well with the equinoctial spring tides...

https://ntslf.org/tides/hilo?port=Avonmouth

Perhaps this data needs to be fed into Journeycheck!

[ellendune]

I may have commented before that, for an island nation, we don't seem very conscious of tides and how they vary. Tide forecasts and warnings have a very narrow audience. Obviously it's different in France ...

I know about the tides, but I am not conscious of them of a day to day basis perhaps because I live in north Wiltshire on the 125m contour line.  Even if all the ice sheets melt and the sea rises by 70m I am still not sure that I would need to be conscious of them here!

[TonyK]

I know about the tides, but I am not conscious of them of a day to day basis perhaps because I live in north Wiltshire on the 125m contour line.  Even if all the ice sheets melt and the sea rises by 70m I am still not sure that I would need to be conscious of them here!

I'm around 80 metres AMSL so would need a boat to get to the station. On the plus side, we would both find the value of our homes increasing significantly.

[Mark A]

Here comes the sea. Bristol this morning, video from Twitter.

Mark


https://twitter.com/beardedjourno/status/1767482265930449047

[grahame]

From National Rail

Expected sea flooding the railway between Dovey Junction and Aberystwyth / Pwllheli means lines will be closed from approximately 09:00. As a result, no trains will be able to run between these stations.

We expect disruption to continue until 12:00.

From GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)

Cancellations to services between Severn Beach and Clifton Down via Avonmouth

Due to flooding between Clifton Down and Avonmouth the line is blocked. Disruption is expected until 12:00 13/03.

Train services between Severn Beach and Clifton Down via Avonmouth will be cancelled or revised. Some stations between Avonmouth and Clifton Down will not be served.

GWR have also provided substantial customer advice - thank you

Apologies to customers wishing to use the Severn Beach line today. As a consequence of flooding in the Sea Mills area, the line is currently blocked between Avonmouth and Clifton Down.
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We're operating a shuttle service between Severn Beach and Avonmouth utilising a three coach train. The departure times of these can be found in journey planners and at stations. 8-seat taxis will then replace trains between Avonmouth and Clifton Down in both directions. Trains to / from Bristol Temple Meads will start / terminate at Clifton Down. Please be prepared to change trains at either Avonmouth or Clifton Down depending on where you're travelling from.
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This plan is expected to remain in place until midday.
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Please note that the pick up / drop off point at Clifton Down will be in the pay and display car park on the opposite side of the tracks to Sainsbury's just off Whiteladies Road.
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We've also requested ticket acceptance on local bus routes in the area to accept our customers however such agreements have not yet been confirmed.
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During this disruption if you wish to use local buses as an alternative means of transport and the local bus is not accepting GWR tickets please purchase a ticket on the bus, keep it and send it, together with your train ticket, to us to claim for a refund.
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If you require further information please speak to our station or onboard staff, use the Customer Help Points located on platform level, tweet us @GWRHelp via X platform (formerly Twitter) or call National Rail Enquiries on 03457 484 950.
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Once again we apologise for any inconvenience caused to your journey with us today.

[CyclingSid]

and another result https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-england-gloucestershire-68533039

[Mark A]

From National Rail

Expected sea flooding the railway between Dovey Junction and Aberystwyth / Pwllheli *snip*.

*snip*

I'm trying to recall if previous to this I've read the (honest) attribution 'Sea flooding' as a reason for a railway line closing. It's a phrase that's not yet caught on when referring to flooding of the branch to Looe. With Dovey Junction though, the water is really close at hand there and even when the line doesn't flood the amount of wrack that collects by the station tells a tale.

The railway there is, though, built out of reach of ordinary tides and surges. At nearby Penhelig, below the railway and along the shore, traces of an attempt to build a road that was far too close to high water level if not actually beneath it, as can be seen in the photo below, perhaps the walls are the base of a short causeway, but even so, very vulnerable.

Mark

https://i.postimg.cc/1t4XHyfS/dovey-estuary-rails-1200.jpg