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

[whole diary]

[a-driver]

Thanks a-driver.. I kind of hoped that might be the case.. The lack of official communication is getting a bit frustrating.. I'll get up early tomorrow to see if I need to..erm.. get up early  Grin

I am still getting texts each day telling me the sleepers are cancelled.  Yet I don't get ones telling me the 08:27 from Swindon is only running as far as Bristol.  It is all a bit disjointed.

True, it is a bit disjointed.  I honestly don't know the answer to that.  The decision to cancel the sleepers was made a while ago so that's already in the system.  Tomorrow's service plan is probably still probably up in the air until they know exactly what stock they have and an update from NR^» (Network Rail - home page).

FGW^▸ (First Great Western) have just made a minor update to their site though.

What should be the destination of the 0827 from Swindon?  I always thought that one terminated at Bristol!!

[JayMac]

What should be the destination of the 0827 from Swindon?  I always thought that one terminated at Bristol!!

Penzance. It's the 0730 from Paddington.

[bobm]

What should be the destination of the 0827 from Swindon?  I always thought that one terminated at Bristol!!

Penzance. It's the 0730 from Paddington.

It is one of my regular trains - probably catch it once or twice a week as far as Exeter or Plymouth.

[a-driver]

Just had a quick look.  The latest train plan that I have shows the 0730 Paddington to Penzance terminating at Bristol Temple Meads and that'll probably be the case whilst the flooding persists at Athelney as it has resulted in reduced capacity.

[BBM]

Real Time Trains suggested this morning that there would be a 6.43 stopper from Twyford but it wasn't on the departure boards when I arrived so I boarded one of two coaches waiting to leave for Maidenhead. However another check of Real Time Trains showed that it had left Reading so I jumped off and returned to the station where it had just appeared on the boards, surprising the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) guy there (not Norman today). The train duly turned up and has just left Maidenhead 7 late with hardly anyone on board. No doubt it will fill up later!

[autotank]

The boards weren't working properly at Twyford when I turned up for the 0545, which turned up ontime and was only 2 minutes late arriving at Paddington (6 minutes late from Maidenhead). It was only a 2 car - but that was more than adequate as I think many have stayed at home. Looks like one stopper an hour is getting through to Paddington from Twyford today which is an imporvement on yesterday. Information is again a problem - the website seems to be giving out different information to what is actually happening and station staff aren't as upto date as they should be. As we only had to stop once between Twyford and Maidenhead to be talked past a signal I can't help but feel that more trains could be run if there was a bit more of a will.

I haven't fared too badly from this disruption partly due to a bit of luck and travelling much earlier than normal, but I feel for those who have had to endure some massive delays and disruption.

[stuving]

Probably more appropriate for the 'Other Ways to Travel' board, but it seems that SWT^▸ (South West Trains) ran an additional service non-stop from Reading to Waterloo at 0754 this morning. (Real Time Trains shows actual departure time of 0803 with arrival at WAT at 0915, still a 72-minute journey though.)

This morning, the same train looked pretty empty, and I think it stopped at Wokingham. The only announcement I can find is in SWT's "Other train service updates" section of their "Live train information" page:

07:54 Reading to London Waterloo due 09:18
An additional train service has been planned to operate as shown 12/02/14 07:54 Reading to London Waterloo due 09:18.
This is due to flooding.
Last Updated :11/02/2014 17:46

That's quaintly worded, and you'd only find it if you were looking for it. Has it had any other publicity - particularly from the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) side, if it's really a kind of replacement service? I guess at Reading is the obvious place, as in principle it's non-stop. (Though it's now shown as stopping at Bracknell, Ascot, and Sunningdale - but not Staines, which is odd as it's really a 'repurposed' Windsor train.)

I was going to ask what if anything was being done (or could be) to augment the FGW Windsor service, which is shown as an alternative by SWT,  since there are spare paths to London there too. However, I thinks that's just been answered.

[ChrisB]

To address ChrisB points about getting your employer to understand why you can't travel by train, drive instead, staying in a hotel, etc.

I'm effectively self employed,

So your not one of those I was addressing - and realistically, very few commuting are in your position. THe few that are can probably still be accommodated on the few services available. At one stage yesterday, the services available couldn't cope & they were asking pax^▸ (passengers) to find a different route.

What the folks in Wraysbury etc doing? They're not going anywhere very fast. We're going to have to get used to it, whether we like it or not, I suspect.

Back to talk of disruption.

Discounted (by 25%) walk-up fares for journeys through Dawlish, on flows priced by First Great Western, are now available online through FGWs^▸ (First Great Western) booking engine. Sadly, longer distance journeys priced by other operators are not subject to the discount.

Indeed. XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) advances are available on services connecting into/out of the SW until 15 mins before departure, and the travel west of Exeter is free. That's better than FGW offer.

[Umberleigh]

Getting absolutely battered by the wind and rain down here in Cornwall this morning. It's all headed north, so could be bad news for Dawlish

[ChrisB]

Cause of the Maidenhead problem

[AMLAG]

High Tide at Dawlish 1700 today  ..now increasingly VERY VERY Strong Southerly winds & heavy rain ...it's the sections of damaged Sea wall that have not got containers to try and protect them that will be extra prone to damage.

[ChrisB]

The high winds should be in the London area by that time thankfully.

[Tim]

Cause of the Maidenhead problem

would the solution be as simple as only filling the top half of the racks in these cabinets?

[ChrisB]

Presumably, they'd then need to be twice as high/big?

[bobm]

Following the problems at Cowley Bridge there were plans to put a lot of the location cabinets on stilts.

I noticed the other day that while some have been raised there are still a lot on the approach to Exeter St Davids where the new stilts have been erected but the actual cabinets have not yet been raised.

Perhaps the idea of raising cabinets will now be explored elsewhere.