Chaos at Exeter St. Davids, Sunday 29/3/09

[3pr]

So yesterday I was travelling from Paddington to Plymouth to see my parents. I'm happilying asleep after a long day of cycling the day before from Walthamstow to Hyde Park, marching on the Put People First March with Feminist Fightback (http://www.feministfightback.org.uk/?p=125) then cycling to Shepherd's Bush to get gig tickets and to Paddington to drop off my bike to take on the train the next day as I had a suitcase to take as well and needed to do two trips. I'm just listening to the end of The Last Waltz by The Band and in a very peaceful place until... the train terminates at Exeter St. Davids at about 14:20.

I had no idea what was going on- and having to cart a bike and a suitcase around didn't help! Turns out a signal gantry had fallen (reasons unknown) and blocked both tracks. My train may well have been the first effected, or one of the first. At first they didn't cancel the next service, hoping to have the line cleared straight away, but it turned out the crane they had was too small to lift it and all hell broke loose.

People were being right out of order getting angry at staff who had no idea what was going on. But why would they? For all its size, St. Davids is a small station really. There was only a handful and staff and they were working incredibly hard trying to organise coaches, drafting them in from anywhere they could. I saw a Darley Ford Coach (based in Liskeard, a couple of stops past Plymouth) and was chatting to a taxi driver who had just got back from taking someone to Cardiff. There was no fall back plan, but things were organised as best as they could. More and more people were turning up on trains terminating there from Paddington, and as the day went on staff were working beyond their hours and they were going to have to stop running to and from Paddington because they couldn't get the crews to work.

Not everyone was being abusive, and plenty of people had sympathy for the staff too. But the frustration of people came from there being no back up plan. No alternatives but to draft in coaches and taxis from wherever possible. The trouble is that people act individually when transport is a collective goal. People rush to get to front of the queue from the coach or taxi, not allocating on basis of need.

My situation was exponentially multiplied because of my bicycle. I have a right to carry it on a train in the guard's van and they even issue a ticket. When it comes to hordes of angry and tired people getting on a coach it is a different story. I acknowledged this and, seeing as my parent's were picking me up from Plymouth station anyway, they offered to drive up to Exeter (just over an hours drive each way from where I am, about as quick as the train would have been, or even the coach for that matter) to get me. I'm sure I could have kicked off, demanded that as I was on an earlier train and most people from when I had arrived had already gone, demanded that my bike be fit into the boot of the coach and subseuqently about five or six other people wouldn't have been able to travel. But seeing as I had this other option I took it for the collective good. I just hope this is reflected in my refund!

Our rain system is incredibly fragile at points, especially on a Sunday. So short of having fleets of coaches and numerous duplicate lines these sort of problems are going to happen. I just wish that more people could take to these problems with more sympathy and understanding for the staff, to accept that problems do happen and, like always (unless you've got a bike) they get you there in the end.

If anyone else knows more about what happened yesterday please post, I can't find anything on the internet as of yet, or if anyone has tips for getting refunds from FGW let me know too.

[buildstrong]

There is always this traffic issue that is bugging all of us everywhere.Good article I enjoyed reading it...

[3pr]

Thanks. There still doesn't appear to be anything about it on the internet. The live updates on the FGW website are just that, live and current, no archive that I can find- not even on the Internet Archive Wayback Machine! Although it makes me feel like I imagined it, I guess it proves that accidents that happen aren't always jumped on with sensationalist complaining.

[Ameecher]

Here you go:

A poster on another forum I have visited has stated there was a spot of chaos at Exeter St Davids on sunday just gone because of a fallen signal gantry. Anyone got any more info as to what happened?

Road rail thing ran into a signal gantry it is claimed....

From WNXX.
No doubt more info will follow followed by wibble from the rest of the board.

[Dave]

Correct.

Signal UM218R (West side of Dainton) walloped by a renegade roadrailer bucket loader thingy at 02:00 SUN and rendered unsafe. Gantry had to be removed entirely as it overhangs both roads. Wiring damaged. Signal UM218R currently ground mounted in order for the signalling system to function normally. Both roads re-opened at 18:00 or so.

Ta TSM on WNXX Forum.

See here:
http://www.tauntontrains.co.uk/
(Cheers AA Milne on WNXX)

[Ameecher]

That photo was of another incident that screwed up the South West on Sunday, Dave.

[Dave]

That photo was of another incident that screwed up the South West on Sunday, Dave.

Same thing.

It's all a s*** down there anyway.

[SHADOW-XIII]

feel sorry for you 3pr;
like my nightmare of travelling to work for 5:30 AM on 26th of December ..... not even single taxi, train, tube, bus
or travelling to work for 5:30 AM on big snow day - no buses, tubes, was lucky to barely get on board of a train but still late

btw. am living close to paddy (20-30min by bus)

[3pr]

Cheers for the info.

It's all a s*** down there anyway.

The Southwest is actually the best part of the country- moors, coast, beaches, industrial heritage- unless you are talking about transport or second home owners which... well, I only went on an electrified line for the first time last year (just outside of Glasgow, and since in London and on a Leeds bound train), but second home owners are a different story.

I feel sorry for you on 26/12 I managed to wriggle out of work that day.

My big snow day was... far too easy. My 10 minute walk to Blackhorse Road tube station turned into 20 minutes trudging in the snow. The Victoria line was running absolutely fine because the whole thing(save the Seven Sisters depot) is underground) so then took another 10 minute walk doubed up to a 20 minute slog up Victoria St. instead of changing at Green Park. Of course, nobody else could make it in so I was sat on my arse all day and may have well of stayed home!

[Dave]

Well... Suppose.

[Brianetta]

The Beeching Axe left the network vulnerable to problems like this. Before it, trains could have been routed along "redundant" lines.

[3pr]

True, it definitely would have been an option to divert round Exeter area. There will always been areas where that isn't possible however.

I think it was a case of poor back up. In part because of it being a Sunday, in part because the split up of privatisations- TOC, infastructure, even local councils- mean there is no direct labour/ resource pool that can be called on in the event of this type of problem. If all arms were connected properly then a big enough crane to fix the gantry could have been found, workers from the region, no matter who they work for, that were available at the time could have been drafted in to work on the line, the crane, labouring to clear the mess etc.