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Bad week for Wessex region infrastructure

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pompeyfan

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The past couple of days have seen significant continued disruption to services across the Wessex region;

Wednesday there was a block on the up main fast at Clapham, Thursday saw the huge issue at Micheldever that made ITV meridian 6pm news headline as well as the junction at Portcreek lock up towards Cosham for over an hour, and now this afternoon since around 1700 the down line at Totton has been completely shut as well as both down lines at Basingstoke being shut for nearly 2 hours due to an insecure load.

Are all these issues whether related (obviously excepted the freight issue).

I have full sympathy with SWT/XC/GWR passengers at the moment, it's not their responsibility to understand why things go wrong.
 
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bb21

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Probably just the state of Wessex infrastructure in most places tbh.
 

Dougal2345

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... this afternoon since around 1700 the down line at Totton has been completely shut as well as both down lines at Basingstoke being shut for nearly 2 hours due to an insecure load.
[...]
I have full sympathy with SWT/XC/GWR passengers at the moment, it's not their responsibility to understand why things go wrong.
Just got caught up in this myself. Heading home from Portsmouth & Southsea to Sway, I set out happily enough at 17:40.

First inkling that something was wrong (apart from a 10 minute delay approaching Fareham) came when I saw a Voyager stopped at St Denys. The driver called across to our driver, asking if we'd wait while he sent his passengers across to us to get them to Southampton Central. We did.

At Central, we came in on plat 1. Plats 2-4 (and '5' I think) had empty 444s blocking them up, so Plat 1 was being used for trains coming in and out from Portsmouth, Victoria etc..

There were no announcements that I heard explaining what was going on, and the departure boards were a misleading mess, so I went to try and find out. There were some small queues for taxis or buses (not sure which) outside the main entrance on the up side, but I heard someone asking for Bournemouth being sent to Platform 4, so I dashed there, where whistles were already being blown for a 444, around 19:00. The info on the platform was wrong I think, but I hopped on thinking it was the best bet. We set off, and it turned out it was fast to Bournemouth. Not ideal, but I have a Sway-Bournemouth season so I thought I'd just double back when I got to Bournemouth.

The train crept out, paused at Millbrook, then came to a halt at Redbridge for just under an hour. The driver walked through the train, and it was announced we'd be reversing on to the 'up' line, then reverse again to run wrong-line through Totton. This was duly done (although not before another 444 went past, empty I think). I waved to the track workers (a team of 3 and a couple of vans) as we went by Totton.

At Bournemouth we came in on plat 2, and the station was a nightmare. Plats 2 and 3 packed with people, all it seemed in a single queue for taxis! An ambulance was outside, I think for people fainting in the heat, and station staff were giving out water. No sign of any buses. The train I came in on terminated, and soon after a train left for Weymouth from plat 3. I nipped to Asda to get a sandwich (all sold out, had to be a banana) and then headed back to the station.

A 444 came in to plat 3 from Weymouth, marked for Brockenhurst. Hurrah, my stopper for Sway! Confirmed by the guard on the tannoy.

Then it was announced that the train on plat 2 would be fast to Brock, Southampton Central, Basingstoke and Waterloo. People rushed to it, as the station PA implored them not to run.

Then the guard on my train announced it would be going to Weymouth instead. Now it was my turn to hare across to plat 2, thinking that at least Brockenhurst was close to Sway. All 10 coaches full and standing, but at last I got to Brock sometime after 21.30 I think.

Finally got the 21:16 from Brock to Sway, which was delayed by about an hour. So about three hours late, although I might have been earlier had I not been so keen to get out of Southampton, and had waited for a stopper there.

The above will be cut and pasted into my compensation claim :)
 

pompeyfan

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Sounds hellish, thanks for your version of events, I'd been keeping an eye on the situation on open train times. Glad to hear of train crew using some common sense at St Denys with passengers coming across. Hope the banana was worth it! ??????
 

Pumbaa

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Aye a particularly bad week.

Kent is no better though.

Just about everywhere is struggling, with the expecting of LNW South, which even then has a taken a knock in the last few periods.
 

fgwrich

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It all started badly yesterday and never really recovered at all. I had an interview to get to (Funny enough for a railway job) over in North London, the 159 I arrived in on was on time at Clapham but then got caught up in the congestion and ended up as nearly 15 late in. Coming back out in the evening was far worse with an hours wait at Waterloo, a slow trek to Clapham, then the service cancellation at Woking. So what should have been a 50 minute to an hours journey took 2:35. Although it was bad for me, it was worse for any passengers going down in the Winchester/Southampton/Bournemouth direction.

Of course what didn't help the situation at Waterloo wasn't helped by one of the points into the limited platforms giving up either. All in all it's bee a bad week for us over here.

What was the actual cause of the Micheldever incident?
 

pompeyfan

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It all started badly yesterday and never really recovered at all. I had an interview to get to (Funny enough for a railway job) over in North London, the 159 I arrived in on was on time at Clapham but then got caught up in the congestion and ended up as nearly 15 late in. Coming back out in the evening was far worse with an hours wait at Waterloo, a slow trek to Clapham, then the service cancellation at Woking. So what should have been a 50 minute to an hours journey took 2:35. Although it was bad for me, it was worse for any passengers going down in the Winchester/Southampton/Bournemouth direction.

Of course what didn't help the situation at Waterloo wasn't helped by one of the points into the limited platforms giving up either. All in all it's bee a bad week for us over here.

What was the actual cause of the Micheldever incident?

It started off as a track circuit failure, but developed (or a secondary issue) came to light which was a broken Insulating Block Joint, which I have no idea what it is but believe it's something to do with the 3rd rail. They thought they'd fixed the IBJ, but i believe it broke with the train over the rail.
 

pompeyfan

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And now all lines at St Denys are blocked due to electrical supply problems meaning units trapped in section. Diesels can't pass through because units are trapped.
 

HarleyDavidson

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And now all lines at St Denys are blocked due to electrical supply problems meaning units trapped in section. Diesels can't pass through because units are trapped.

No trains are stuck in section, they're all in platforms or turning back at Brock or Eastleigh.

GW can go via Chandlers Ford as can XC should the need arise.
 
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IanXC

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It started off as a track circuit failure, but developed (or a secondary issue) came to light which was a broken Insulating Block Joint, which I have no idea what it is but believe it's something to do with the 3rd rail. They thought they'd fixed the IBJ, but i believe it broke with the train over the rail.

An IBJ is the way that Track Circuits are electrically separated from each other so it sounds rather like that was the cause of the Track Circuit Failure.
 

pompeyfan

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An IBJ is the way that Track Circuits are electrically separated from each other so it sounds rather like that was the cause of the Track Circuit Failure.

Any idea why electric trains were worse affected? I remember reading that freight and diesels could pass at 5mph for about 30 minutes but EMUs had to coast.
 

Train wasp

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Sorry for coming in on this thread late but could someone tell me what happen at Micheldever this week.

Thanks
 

IanXC

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Any idea why electric trains were worse affected? I remember reading that freight and diesels could pass at 5mph for about 30 minutes but EMUs had to coast.

No idea I'm afraid. I probably should add that I have little knowledge of these issues in third rail areas so there may be some other aspect to it.
 

fgwrich

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Sorry for coming in on this thread late but could someone tell me what happen at Micheldever this week.

Thanks

It started off as a track circuit failure, but developed (or a secondary issue) came to light which was a broken Insulating Block Joint, which I have no idea what it is but believe it's something to do with the 3rd rail. They thought they'd fixed the IBJ, but i believe it broke with the train over the rail.

How is the region holding up this evening?
 

setdown

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As a passenger, this weekend has been awful. Among other issues, had to wait almost an hour to travel from Basingstoke to Winchester yesterday evening, only to travel on the most overpacked 4-car Voyager.

At Winchester today, there was a delay of over 30 mins again for a train to London. Caught another Voyager to Basingstoke to change for the service from Exeter to Waterloo. That train had failed aircon in the front carriage and the emergency windows closed. I had to get off at Woking before I passed out, it was unbearable (every carriage full and standing). I tried to let the guard know (he could open windows maybe, or is that done at depot?) but I was at the front, he was at very back and I couldn't make it down the platform in time to tell them. There were no platform staff at Woking dispatching the train so I couldn't even tell them. No visible platform staff at Winchester to help (barriers open), and the same at Woking. I've never seen it this bad in the south west, it's like things have fallen off a cliff in the past couple of months, at least that's my impression. Is this all infrastructure related?
 

Kite159

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Looking at RTT it looks like SWT put on an additional 23:20 Basingstoke - Salisbury service due to a bit of overcrowding on the 22:20 Waterloo to Salisbury.

Taxi for those wanting stations beyond Salisbury for the cancelled 21:20!
 

planetf1

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I was caught up in this on Saturday, having decided to head for a half day by the seaside. It was certainly a little interesting journey!

It started when I arrived at CFR to get the train to SOA. Initially the train showed as ontime-> 2/3 minutes late, but as departure time from romsey (1307) got past the board just changed to delayed, as did the app. RTT didn't show that the train was moving at all.

However by around 1316/7 we saw the train coming with the board showing "this train is not scheduled to stop". However it was the normal train, and it did stop. Same at ESL, though at SOA the boards were correct again. Some kind of data issue I imagine. We got off

At 1333 Got on the cross country service to Bournemouth from SOU. Left on time. Comfy and cool.Arrived at SOU around 1342.

Here my memory gets a little fuzzy, but we were delayed. The train started to move, perhaps a few 10s of metres then stopped. Guard comes on that we've just been advised of a track defect at Totton. Hopefully leave soon. 5-10 mins later advised the issue more serious then expected and train now canceled. get off.

A this point there's trains stacked across many platforms - 2,3,4 ? Little in the way of info as to where to wait. Platform announcements just say delayed - we only know of the track issue from the on board. Find some staff on platform 2/3 who confirm the problem but don't know what's happening. TBH that's fine ... it's just a shame the platform announce/boards didn't at least convey the info that was known ie there was an issue at totton with no ETA

See a few people jumping on a train on platform 2. Not 100% sure why, but get on, and again on-board info is good.. confirm issue.. decided to stick it out for 15-20 mins then we move... and though delayed end up in Bournemouth 50 mins late.

(part 2 to follow)
 

planetf1

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(Long post lost due to timeout. Grrr)

On the way towards the beach we encountered a lot of smoke - a bush fire was being got under control, but an amazing amount of smoke, sirens.

We then enjoyed the day but by 6pm were thinking of deciding which train to get home. At that point we read about all the disruption.

We ended up heading for the 2114 from Bournemouth. On arrival there were a few taxis coming and going, a white board saying "major disruption" outside, and one member of staff stopping people going over the footbridge. We were vaguely pointed to queu along the platform (which went all the way along the open section - part was closed - and back up again). No tannoy announcements.

After 10 mins or so there was an announcement that the train on platform 3(I think) would be heading to waterloo. The queue dissolved and everyone headed towards the bridge... which was still blocked. A few prams etc let through (sensible, but wonder if they could have controlled this better). Shouting on the tannoy telling people not to run. Eventually we boarded the very very full train - I'm sure not everyone did - and the train set off. It may have been the first one back.

A little stop/start. especially for the single line around totton, but we made it back to Southampton . Good clear on board information. Fast to london - next stop southampton, then basingstoke. Packed. Made it back to southampton by around 2220, hoping for a SOU-CFR at 2235.Had a quiet sit down to let the crowds disperse, but also noticed no trains to CFR (all delayed). Then a station announcement that this train - the same one we got off 10 mins previously - was going to ESL too.. and other places. So we jumped back on and got to ESL.

At ESL no sign of any trains to CFR. Just showing delayed. No staff. Finally "please enquire" at which point we spend 15-20 mins trying to get through on the help point. Finally an answer and taxis were booked. No useful announcements at the station other than the fact there was disruption. Zero info about what to do about it!

Fortunately the taxi arrived in ~15-20 mins as arranged and we got home. Just around 20-25 mins later than planned.

So my thoughts on the day
* We were lucky. Despite the disruption our total delay was around 1:15, not bad.
* Onboard announcements were helpful and clear - given that the staff had relatively little info about resolution
* Only one visible member of staff at Bournemouth was scary. There could definitely have been safety issues/crushing, though thankfully people were sensible mostly. Minimal station announcements. Nothing useful on the boards. No response on twitter. Website info minimal with nothing actionable or specific to route/trains
* Too few staff manning the info points/twitter etc...
* NO CONCERNS about actual delays - this was a safety issue. Things happen (though we could conjecture about maintenance and funding)
 

Rick1984

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Had an interesting journey grin Southampton Airport to Portsmouth Harbour (PMH) yesterday 18/06.
Was due to take the 1510 to Eastleigh and from there to PMH.

There was a Salisbury 2 car class158 sat in the Southampton platform.
Guard said it was my best option as at least it was running and that there was an electrical failure around St. Deny.
We couldn't proceed though an electric train was blocking the line further ahead.
Eventually the train was cancelled and returned to Eastleigh, which suited me.

When I got there my onward connection was showing delayed.
A Cross Country Bournemouth service turned up and I decided this was my best bet. This went to Southampton the long way round, reversing at Romsey, terminating short at Southampton.

I went to the ticket office to enquire and get my ticket for the rail warrant I was travelling on.
The person at the desk was rude and of no help, directing me to platform staff.
I found someone in a Hi-vis vest who told me to run to another platform where there was a non-stop Portsmouth and Southsea 2 car 450 sat right at the Bournemouth end of the platform.
In a final bit of drama we terminated at Fratton where I had to watch several trains terminate short before eventually a PMH train turned up.
 
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