UK flooding

[Parkey]

So... anybody else having trouble with the flooding?

It took me three and a half hours to get to London from Didcot Parkway yesterday. I was lucky to get there at all. It wasn't that there was anything wrong with the infrastructure between Didcot and London. It was just that First Great Western really couldn't organise a booze-up in a brewery flooded with beer.

Luckily the guy at the barriers at St Pancras was sympathetic and let me get on a later train. Hooray for Midland Mainline.

Not sure if I can get back...

[Kevo00]

Apparently people had to camp out at Oxford station. Of course flooding is always a useful excuse for the railways etc. to take a skive off.

[Ameecher]

Er, I think that's a bit harsh, it is very difficult to run a railway that looks like a canal.

[Raichase]

Er, I think that's a bit harsh, it is very difficult to run a railway that looks like a canal.

Yes, and better to strand passengers on a station, with some form of shelter, and possible bus access, than strand them on a cramped train in the middle of a rising pool of water...

[JamieLei]

don't forget the fact that there's very few replacement buses operating due to flooding on the roads.

First Great Western really couldn't organise a booze-up in a brewery flooded with beer.

Due to Health and Safety, people would probably get sick, and therefore sue FGW. Speaking of which, has anyone actually sued FGW yet?

[Kevo00]

Er, I think that's a bit harsh, it is very difficult to run a railway that looks like a canal.

Quite true, but do all the railways look like canals?

[andel]

This one did on the 15:00 Birmingham to Euston... I took the photo

[Born Acorn]

These ones back from 2004 certainly did. I can only imagine what it's like now.

[Ameecher]

Rotherham Central looked like that the other week too.

[Kevo00]

Not good. We haven't had any problems like that up here in Durham, and I hope we don't as I'm going up to Edinburgh for work on Monday.

Does anyone remember the accident in the 1980s, I think on the Heart Of Wales Line, where a DMU (possibly a 117 or similar) ended up in a river after a bridge got swamped? There was a really spectacular photo of it.

[Parkey]

The trouble was that line from Oxford to London has been absolutely fine. Brunel wouldn't have built a line that could flood. The problem is FGW's complete lack of organisation. The picture I got on friday was station and train staff doing the best they could, but nobody seemed to be making any effort to organise anything. All the platforms at Reading were full of stopped, empty trains, and once we eventually got through I counted no fewer than SIX packed trains queued up behind one another on the line beyond waiting to get into single remaining working platform. Our train got swamped by a huge crowd because it was the only train going to London.

The absolute worst thing was that the moment things started going wrong wrong the FGW staff turned off the information boards. They were completely blank. The time when those traveling really need to know what on earth is going on and they just switch it information system off. National rail website live boards too.

It's still off. I still don't know whether there's anything at all running out of Paddington. Whether I can get home this evening.

I've never been particularly critical of FGW in the past even when they struggle to make things work properly on a normal day when there's absolutely nothing wrong, but this was atrocious. They make enormous sums of money out of the Great Western Franchise, and yet there appeared to be no crisis response plan in place at all. Their staff seemed to be left to fend for themselves. Maybe the management had just gone home for the weekend and washed their hands of it, maybe they hadn't, but if the result is the same it doesn't really matter.

[Raichase]

(some stuff)

It's the same here in Sydney. Cityrail have a long history of not telling people the full story, especially if they are stuck on a train, to avoid panic. Although, not knowing, and being trapped, well that makes for panic anyway.

We've had recent flooding in the Hunter Valley, and as WhiteHand can tell you, there is nothing the railways can do.

No point organising replacement buses if the roads are washed away, and they either can't get to the passengers, or can't get to the destination. No point running trains and stranding people in the middle of nowhere or risking an accident when the wires come down, or signals get damaged, or the railway line washed away, or landslides.

We've seen it all to the north and south of Sydney, and it's better to stop running the trains, and strand the people in the interest of saftey. Yes, they don't tell people whats going on, but sometimes nobody knows! Station staff do the best they can, but if the phones are down, they don't know the story, and rather than tell people "hey, guess what, we've got no idea whats going on", they just don't say anything.

We get bad flooding here more than some countries, being a primarily arid nation, so when something like that happens, it's tough luck. I'd rather be stuck on a station somewhere than get home safely to find my house flooded and all my things ruined, my cat washed away, or to hear my family was in a car lost into a river when the road subsided.

I'm sure there is some legitimate critiscism there, but when something that bad happens, there's nothing that can be done. Aside from passing out some warm drinks and keeping everyone together and safe...

[Parkey]

My point was that there was plenty that FGW could have done as the infrastructure on the busiest part of the Great Western Main Line was completely intact. Yes if lines are flooded or washed away that is quite a good excuse, but the majority of the disruption that was caused on friday night was caused by a huge train traffic jam at Reading. It was completely avoidable if only there had been some attempt at getting things organised.

Looking at the problems in Worcestershire and Gloucestershire makes the flooding here seem a bit trivial really.

At least I got home last night.

[andel]

Well, I have to go to London and then to Kidderminster tomorrow via Birmingham... wish me luck.

By the way - can't believe you all ignored my wonderful photo of the flooding!

[Parkey]

Best of luck!

[m3henry]

These ones back from 2004 certainly did. I can only imagine what it's like now.

you could easily fit a 14' berth boat up there, the platforms would make an excellent towpath

[Dave]

The Severn Valley Railway was heavily affected by the flooding to the tune of around £3 million worth of damage.