Travel advice 4th January onwards

[whole diary]

[Rob S]

Rob S

Will you be putting a claim for the £111  taxi ride?

I have, yes 

[Timmer]

If you want to understand what the Met Office is up against in their forecasting, I suggest following their weekly "Deep Dive" on their You Tube channel.  They do indeed look at the European and even the US weather models as well as their own.  

I do thank you ellendune and I have a great deal of respect for the work the Met Office do.

I was referring more to their warnings being very much based on one model from observations I've been making of issued weather warnings of late. As soon as UKV shows it, the warnings reflect what it shows. Fair enough, you may say. That's their forecast model very much aimed at the UK^▸ (United Kingdom). All I'm asking is should their warnings take into consideration what other forecast models are showing and not just what the latest run of UKV is showing? That model's performance of late at times has left a lot to be desired.

[TaplowGreen]

Some more background to events in Pangbourne;

https://www.readingchronicle.co.uk/news/24030707.pangbourne-murder-probe-woman-stabbed-man-found-dead/

[eightonedee]

To give an idea of what they are up against, here's what Newbury Station has been like-

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c72yvylpzdpo

I expect Network Rail will also be looking with concern at how various earthworks will hold up with all the soaking they are currently getting.

[broadgage]

I have more sympathy with "the railway" in conditions this bad. What annoys me is the endless disruption in only moderately adverse weather.
 Considerable flooding near me, I am not directly affected as atop a small hill, but the odd power cut, and tesco home delivery much delayed.

[a-driver]

Some more background to events in Pangbourne;

https://www.readingchronicle.co.uk/news/24030707.pangbourne-murder-probe-woman-stabbed-man-found-dead/

Wow.  We did hear details late last night. I don’t know how events unfolded but there was talk GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)/NR^» (Network Rail - home page) wouldn’t be allowed access to the train until gone midnight, some 5 hours after the incident. What time they moved the train I have no idea, but the lines weren’t handed back for around 12 hours.
I guess they must have been searching for a weapon.

[jamestheredengine]

I have more sympathy with "the railway" in conditions this bad. What annoys me is the endless disruption in only moderately adverse weather.
 Considerable flooding near me, I am not directly affected as atop a small hill, but the odd power cut, and tesco home delivery much delayed.

The bit that I tend to wonder about when something goes awry in the Thames Valley is why route knowledge is not maintained via Greenford and Oxford. Yes, it would be slow, but it would give a realistic alternative route between Paddington and Swindon.

[Ollie]

I have more sympathy with "the railway" in conditions this bad. What annoys me is the endless disruption in only moderately adverse weather.
 Considerable flooding near me, I am not directly affected as atop a small hill, but the odd power cut, and tesco home delivery much delayed.

The bit that I tend to wonder about when something goes awry in the Thames Valley is why route knowledge is not maintained via Greenford and Oxford. Yes, it would be slow, but it would give a realistic alternative route between Paddington and Swindon.

The main issue would be retention of route knowledge, so you'd need there to be scheduled services for GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) drivers and TM^‡(resolve)'s/Guards in order to maintain the route competency.

[JayMac]

I've changed the thread title again as there is still disruption to GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) services into the weekend due to flooding continuing to affect journeys between Swindon & Bristol Parkway, and Reading & Westbury.

JayMac

[JayMac]

The latest information from GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway), 7am Saturday 6th January 2024:

We’re really sorry for the disruption customers have faced after flooding closed some routes.

Rising river levels and already saturated ground means some lines may continue to be affected and customers should check their journeys before travelling.

The line between Swindon and Bristol Parkway is expected to remain closed this weekend, and the line between Theale and Taunton is likely to remain closed on Saturday 6 January. Services will continue to operate on a diversionary route and journeys will take longer.

To help customers with their journeys, those with tickets on affected routes for Thursday 4, Friday 5 and Saturday 6 January can travel up to and including Monday 8 January.

[Electric train]

I have more sympathy with "the railway" in conditions this bad. What annoys me is the endless disruption in only moderately adverse weather.
 Considerable flooding near me, I am not directly affected as atop a small hill, but the odd power cut, and tesco home delivery much delayed.

The bit that I tend to wonder about when something goes awry in the Thames Valley is why route knowledge is not maintained via Greenford and Oxford. Yes, it would be slow, but it would give a realistic alternative route between Paddington and Swindon.

Apart from Ollies valid point about route knowledge retention you are assuming there is line capacity on the Chiltern Route

[Oxonhutch]

Apart from Ollies valid point about route knowledge retention you are assuming there is line capacity on the Chiltern Route

I assume one could replace a MYB^▸ (London (Marylebone))-OXF^» (Oxford - next trains) service with a PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)-OXF service in the same path if required.

On a different note, is the line between Old Oak Common and Greenford going to be restored post HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s))?

[Trowres]

Journey planners are still showing bus services to Swindon on today, Sunday 7th. Trains to Bristol and South Wales are supposed to be diverted via Pewsey. Journeycheck predicts disruption of services via Pewsey until end of 7th.

Anybody know what's being planned?

[Timmer]

Journey planners are still showing bus services to Swindon on today, Sunday 7th. Trains to Bristol and South Wales are supposed to be diverted via Pewsey. Journeycheck predicts disruption of services via Pewsey until end of 7th.

Anybody know what's being planned?

Looking at journeycheck for clues at the moment (7.34) is a bit pointless as there are contradictory scenarios being shown. You can’t have the Berks and Hants closed AND engineering work between Chippenham and Reading and be able to run direct trains between South Wales/Bristol/Southwest and London.

Would be crazy to try and bus everyone between Chippenham and Reading from trains coming from all three places listed above.

[grahame]

Anybody know what's being planned?

Looking at journeycheck for clues at the moment (7.34) is a bit pointless ...

Utter chaos - rather sadly, best advice today may be "do not travel".   Let's face it, we have a fair weather, weekday only network ... and in poor weather (and for days thereafter) it struggles to meet expectations.   The overcomplexity of modern life adds all sorts of new issues that get in the way ...