Landslip between Rugby and Coventry. (11/02/24)

Howardh · 13 Feb 2024

Is there Avanti ticket acceptance on Paddington to Birmingham via Reading? Can't find anything on Avanti's twitter but I would certainly go that way and ask if they are accepting Avanti tickets, and if not pay the single and get delay repay if my advanced train doesn't run.

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W-on-Sea · 13 Feb 2024

Howardh said:
Is there Avanti ticket acceptance on Paddington to Birmingham via Reading? Can't find anything on Avanti's twitter but I would certainly go that way and ask if they are accepting Avanti tickets, and if not pay the single and get delay repay if my advanced train doesn't run.

The Avanti website says yes.

Avanti West Coast | Buy Train Tickets | No Booking Fee

Welcome to Avanti West Coast. Buy train tickets and find train times with no booking fees and rewards when you travel. Travel in style across the UK.

www.avantiwestcoast.co.uk

The following operators are accepting Avanti West Coast tickets to help you on your journey:

- London Northwestern and West Midlands Railway via any reasonable route.
- Chiltern Railways between Birmingham Moor Street and London Marylebone.
- CrossCountry between Birmingham New Street and Reading.
- Great Western Railway between Reading and London Paddington.
- Transport for Wales between Wolverhampton and Birmingham International.

Howardh · 13 Feb 2024

W-on-Sea said:
The Avanti website says yes.

Thanks! Shame I couldn't find the info on their twix feed!

Mcr Warrior · 13 Feb 2024

A0wen said:
Means only Coventry loses its direct train to London, as Birmingham and Wolves both keep theirs albeit with extended journey times.

Can rail journeys from Coventry to London still be done with a single change at Nuneaton (and then to Euston) or at Leamington Spa (and onward to London Marylebone)?

SCDR_WMR · 13 Feb 2024

Mcr Warrior said:
Can rail journeys from Coventry to London still be done with a single change at Nuneaton (and then to Euston) or at Leamington Spa (and onward to London Marylebone)?

Yes, that is where Avanti are pushing their customers. Particularly through Nuneaton with extra stops on services, and announcements at stations

dangie · 13 Feb 2024

pokemonsuper9 said:
What about via Walsall/Cannock?
Is electrified but I don't know about how bad traffic would be, or if the route is cleared
Wouldn't require reversals

The Planner said:
It requires a reversal at Rugeley and they don't sign the route.

Just out of interest, why isn’t the Chase Line no longer used as a diversion route (or doesn’t appear to be). I can remember years ago on weekends watching diverted HST’s going through Rugeley Town if the Stafford-Wolverhampton line was closed.

HSTEd · 13 Feb 2024

Bald Rick said:
AIUI, the teams shifted nigh on 1000 tonnes of muck overnight, work going well, line should be open later this afternoon.

Where does spoil go in this situation?
Does Network Rail have some sort of pre-arranged dumping area or does it go into the commercial landfill system?

jfollows · 13 Feb 2024

dangie said:
Just out of interest, why isn’t the Chase Line no longer used as a diversion route (or doesn’t appear to be). I can remember years ago on weekends watching diverted HST’s going through Rugeley Town if the Stafford-Wolverhampton line was closed.

Lack of capacity? Especially through the platform at Rugeley.
I remember its use before 1989 but there was no passenger service north of Walsall then.

cats_five · 13 Feb 2024

Now they have complete possession, will the OH power be turned off? I was looking at the photos and thinking that excavators have the potential to touch the OH...

Efini92 · 13 Feb 2024

dangie said:
Just out of interest, why isn’t the Chase Line no longer used as a diversion route (or doesn’t appear to be). I can remember years ago on weekends watching diverted HST’s going through Rugeley Town if the Stafford-Wolverhampton line was closed.

No one at avanti sign it. There was a big cull of diversionary routes. At depots. Some made sense, some were rather bizarre, like wolves taking off colwich to stone and the helsby lines from Warrington to Acton bridge.

D1537 · 13 Feb 2024

HSTEd said:
Where does spoil go in this situation?
Does Network Rail have some sort of pre-arranged dumping area or does it go into the commercial landfill system?

There's a rail-connected HS2 spoil hub at New Bilton in Rugby where they're filling in a quarry to become a nature reserve. It's on the stub of the old Rugby-Leamington route.

The Planner · 13 Feb 2024

dangie said:
Just out of interest, why isn’t the Chase Line no longer used as a diversion route (or doesn’t appear to be). I can remember years ago on weekends watching diverted HST’s going through Rugeley Town if the Stafford-Wolverhampton line was closed.

Avanti don't want to do it, cost and keeping up the route knowledge.

A0wen · 13 Feb 2024

The Planner said:
Avanti don't want to do it, cost and keeping up the route knowledge.

Out of interest, how viable is reversing at Rugeley ?

I can see how it would work at Stafford, but at Rugeley it looks like the turnaround would have to be done on the live lines north of the station, whereas reversing at Stafford is in the station so I assume safer ?

Joey Beauchamp · 13 Feb 2024

It's a disgrace that LNWR aren't running anything between Northampton and Rugby. They could run an hourly shuttle with one unit and crew! Long Buckby commuters and anyone travelling North from Northampton have been completely shafted.

There must be something I'm missing. If it's just the bay platform being blocked at Rugby, they should have put some resources into moving those units.

that1giox · 13 Feb 2024

Joey Beauchamp said:
It's a disgrace that LNWR aren't running anything between Northampton and Rugby. They could run an hourly shuttle with one unit and crew! Long Buckby commuters and anyone travelling North from Northampton have been completely shafted.

There must be something I'm missing. If it's just the bay platform being blocked at Rugby, they should have put some resources into moving those units.

They could be refusing to run it for a number of reasons, lack of platforms at Rugby, issues with staff, something to do with ticket acceptance or Avanti. I DMed them on X (aka Twitter) to see why they aren't but they still haven't responded. I'll post an update if they do.

SCDR_WMR · 13 Feb 2024

Joey Beauchamp said:
It's a disgrace that LNWR aren't running anything between Northampton and Rugby. They could run an hourly shuttle with one unit and crew! Long Buckby commuters and anyone travelling North from Northampton have been completely shafted.

There must be something I'm missing. If it's just the bay platform being blocked at Rugby, they should have put some resources into moving those units.

They were never going to add a shuttle service like that in. If you had suggested keeping the Rugby to Euston part of the New St services then I would agree it should have reverted to that.

It will likely come down to platforms for holding trains for back working, otherwise it would require planners to issue an emergency timetable and diagrams. Which, given the current state of relations with drivers, would likely see them working to rule.

Yes I am aware this means passengers get the brunt of it, and the situation is hardly ideal, but RRBs have been in operation in both directions from Rugby since Sunday so the company are still providing a service for all stations affected.

Bletchleyite · 13 Feb 2024

I suppose it's one of those cases of a RRB not being that bad as it's almost all motorway.

that1giox · 13 Feb 2024

that1giox said:
They could be refusing to run it for a number of reasons, lack of platforms at Rugby, issues with staff, something to do with ticket acceptance or Avanti. I DMed them on X (aka Twitter) to see why they aren't but they still haven't responded. I'll post an update if they do.

Not long got an official reply from London Northwestern Railway so I'll summarise it here.

First of all the decision for them to terminate at Northampton rather than carrying on towards Rugby was an operational decision on their end as they stated they did not want to effect services from Northampton towards Euston, however they did say that the majority of their crews were based out of Birmingham and Coventry.

Relating to another post that I saw here a day or so ago the WCML is not Bi-Directional and services that are running into Coventry have been placed on speed restrictions.

Finally the few Avanti services running that way are either heading towards Scotland (mainly Edinburgh from my own research) or into Oxley in Wolverhampton. I'll leave the full unedited message I got below.

Hi Gio,

Firstly, I do apologise for the disruption over the last few days die to the landslip. The decision to terminate at Northampton, rather than Rugby, is for operational reasons. Our services change crew at Northampton, so one set of crew work the train from Birmingham and far as Northampton and another set of crew work the Northampton to Euston part. By terminating at Northampton, this protects the service south of Northampton and avoids issues relating to crew working the Rugby - Northampton service, as the majority of these crews are based out of Coventry and Birmingham

Secondly, the West Coast Mainline is not bi-directional working. Given the line speed and safety implication with Network Rail staff working on the London-bound (up) line, the decision was made for everyone's safety to only run at a reduced speed towards Coventry when it is safe to do so. Whilst theoretically we could run a train to Birmingham, this service would then be stuck and unable to head back. A limited number of Avanti's have gone through this way, but they are mostly headed to either Scotland or the depot in Wolverhampton so they won't get stuck trying to head back.

Hopefully, the line should be re-open soon, but if I can be of any further assistance, please do get in touch. ^JR

Joey Beauchamp · 13 Feb 2024

Bletchleyite said:
I suppose it's one of those cases of a RRB not being that bad as it's almost all motorway.

Northampton to Rugby is pretty bad as it takes 57 minutes instead of 22-24 minutes!

I believe the same bus then continues to Coventry - I can't see an express bus on journey planners. If that is the case, Northampton to Coventry journey time is nearly trebled, from 35 minutes to 1hr 33.

that1giox · 13 Feb 2024

Joey Beauchamp said:
Northampton to Rugby is pretty bad as it takes 57 minutes instead of 22-24 minutes!

I believe the same bus then continues to Coventry - I can't see an express bus on journey planners. If that is the case, Northampton to Coventry journey time is nearly trebled, from 35 minutes to 1hr 33.

If you want to get from Rugby to Coventry and you have no train or RR you'd have to get either a bus ran by Stagecoach to Coventry or the National Express 85 (which takes just over an hour!)

Joey Beauchamp · 13 Feb 2024

that1giox said:
If you want to get from Rugby to Coventry and you have no train or RR you'd have to get either a bus ran by Stagecoach to Coventry or the National Express 85 (which takes just over an hour!)

Yes fair point, it's the lack of an express rail replacement from Northampton that's an issue, the Rugby to Coventry part is as quick as it can be.

davidknibb · 13 Feb 2024

Given the torrential rain in the Coventry area all morning and upto now I guess that more landslips might be expected, especially after all the recent heavy rain.

james_the_xv · 13 Feb 2024

Line block has been given up 9A53 looks like the first train through. 9S77, 1Y48 and 1Y49 are all also on the move

OhNoAPacer · 13 Feb 2024

Not that it affects me currently but if it was at a time I was travelling Northampton to Whitehaven then it would be more useful to me, or others travelling Northampton to the North West or Scotland, if they explicitly allowed travel from Northampton to Milton Keynes to pick up Avanti services from there.

SCDR_WMR · 13 Feb 2024

that1giox said:
Not long got an official reply from London Northwestern Railway so I'll summarise it here.

First of all the decision for them to terminate at Northampton rather than carrying on towards Rugby was an operational decision on their end as they stated they did not want to effect services from Northampton towards Euston, however they did say that the majority of their crews were based out of Birmingham and Coventry.

That is true, most of the New St to Northampton section is New St and Cov work. Though I don't see why they couldn't be taxi'd there as happens to Crewe guards working south from Rugby during engineering. Simply the easy option I think.

james_the_xv · 13 Feb 2024

Overnight closures to further stabilise the bank planned

On Sunday (11 February) soil moved from the embankment onto the track near the village of Church Lawford after persistent heavy rainfall weakened the earth beneath it.

Although the landslip affected only one of two tracks, engineers needed to close the line entirely to safely repair and fully reopen the West Coast main line for passengers and freight services.

Network Rail has worked round-the-clock with its contractor Murphy to remove vegetation from the embankment before excavating soil away from the track.

Close monitoring continues and work is currently being planned to further stabilise the railway embankment which will be delivered in overnight closures to limit the disruption to passengers.

AndrewE · 13 Feb 2024

Bletchleyite said:
I suppose it's one of those cases of a RRB not being that bad as it's almost all motorway.

Yes, my friend who was going (south) to Long Buckby yesterday got himeelf to Rugby via Nuneaton - then the RRB (after getting lost leaving Rugby) went straight down the motorway to Northampton. He gave up on the railway at that point and got a local bus back home.

Joey Beauchamp · 13 Feb 2024

AndrewE said:
Yes, my friend who was going (south) to Long Buckby yesterday got himeelf to Rugby via Nuneaton - then the RRB (after getting lost leaving Rugby) went straight down the motorway to Northampton. He gave up on the railway at that point and got a local bus back home.

I live in Long Buckby and the coach from Rugby has always managed to find the village eventually, despite taking drastically different routes! We never know until we're nearly there whether it will pass the end of our road or not.

Last time the driver agreed to drop us off early. It was a bit confusing, because he was very helpful, polite and friendly, but also casually racist. Luckily my wife can give as good as she gets and doesn't mind a few insults if it saves her a walk!

D1537 · 13 Feb 2024

Joey Beauchamp said:
Northampton to Rugby is pretty bad as it takes 57 minutes instead of 22-24 minutes!

That's because it has to serve Long Buckby. Northampton to Rugby direct would be half an hour. It would be better to have separate buses running Northampton-Rugby-Coventry and Northampton-Long Buckby-Rugby but that would cost money.

AndrewE · 13 Feb 2024

D1537 said:
That's because it has to serve Long Buckby. Northampton to Rugby direct would be half an hour. It would be better to have separate buses running Northampton-Rugby-Coventry and Northampton-Long Buckby-Rugby but that would cost money.

except that my friend found himself on a bus which (without warning) didn't bother to go to Long Buckby... Luckily there were no revenue protection people around to charge him with over-travelling!

Landslip between Rugby and Coventry. (11/02/24)

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