The Bristol Railway Archive

Time Reported: 05:34
Route Affected: All services to/from/via Cheltenham Spa
TOC/s Affected: Central Trains, First Great Western, Virgin Trains, Wessex Trains
Description: All services to, from and via Cheltenham Spa are being affected by a derailed freight train in the area. Short notice alterations, cancellations and delays can be expected. There is currently no estimate for normal services to resume
Easements: First Great Western will accept Virgin Trains tickets between Bristol and Reading in both directions after 09:30 today Tuesday 18 October

Updates: 07:20 Virgin Trains are unable to operate a service between Gloucester and Birmingham New Street. Road replacement transport is operating between Gloucester, Cheltenham Spa and Birmingham International.
07:52 Virgin Trains further information:
All south-bound services will terminate at Birmingham New Street until further notice. Services due to depart Bristol Temple Meads travelling north-bound at xx:58 past the hour will start from Birmingham New Street. Services due to depart Bristol Temple Meads at xx:28 travelling north-bound will terminate at Gloucester. An hourly service will operate from Gloucester at xx:55 past the hour calling at Bristol Parkway, Bristol Temple Meads, Taunton, Tiverton Parkway, Exeter St Davids, Newton Abbot, Totnes and Plymouth
08:25 Central Trains are advising passengers travelling between Birmingham and Cardiff to travel by train between Birmingham New Street and Worcester Foregate Street, and by road replacement transport between Worcester Foregate Street and Cardiff Central.
First Great Western are terminating services at Gloucester with road replacement transport operating between Gloucester and Cheltenham Spa.
Wessex Trains are terminating services at Gloucester with road replacement transport operating between Gloucester, Cheltenham Spa and Worcester Foregate Street.

Gawd...both tracks blocked? At least nothing hit it or we'd be seeing "ANOTHER SELBY" headlines.

Nice weather for relaying track

James wrote:Gawd...both tracks blocked? At least nothing hit it or we'd be seeing "ANOTHER SELBY" headlines.

We'll probably get the likes of Virgin etc stating that all freight should be removed from rail and go by road. All these freight train derailments getting in the way of them running their services.

I wonder what it's like for the driver in one of these incidents? One minute they're trundling along quite happily, the next they're rapidly slowing and applying the throttle trying to figure out why they're slowing down.. (panto mode) It's behind you...(/panto mode)

Gotta be better than seeing something on the line ahead that you know you're going to hit

Thank goodness I don't have to go to Uni at Cheltenham today! I hope they fix it by thursday, don't particularly want to be travelling into Gloucester all the time to get packed services home...

Apparently, the freight train travelled several miles along the track partially derailed, causing "considerable damage" to the track. I'm not holding my breath!

Nat from SWRG reports:

"Twas a SSA scrap wagon that has left the road and damaged 4 miles of
track between Cheltenham and Barnwood Jn... Apx 88 to 92 mileposts..."

4-bloody-miles without noticing a thing! Make you wonder what finally brought it to their attention! I bet if there was a guard's van it wouldn't have gone on for so long

An Update:

12:44 Virgin Trains have now resumed in the Cheltenham Spa area, however delays of up to 60 minutes can be expected. Virgin Trains are operating a hourly service from Bristol Temple Meads to Birmingham New Street at xx:28. Services departing Birmingham New Street to Bristol Temple Meads at xx:42 will be cancelled until further notice. First Great Western and Wessex Trains will continue to terminate train services at Gloucester with connecting road replacement for the remainder of today

From Wessex Trains:

http://www.wessextrains.co.uk/news/news ... ubnavID=95

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Service Disruption between Cheltenham Spa and Gloucester
Updated 19 October: Buses are scheduled to replace Wessex Trains services between Cheltenham Spa and Gloucester until Wednesday 26 October. This is due to the derailment of a freight train between these locations early on Tuesday 18 October.

Wessex Trains services are terminating at Gloucester. The bus services is replacing trains between Cheltenham, Gloucester, Ashchurch for Tewkesbury, Worcester Shrub Hill, Worcester Foregate Street, Malvern Link and Great Malvern.

If you are planning to travel between these locations by rail please allow extra time for your journey.

A limited train service is in operation during the day between Gloucester and Cheltenham from Virgin CrossCountry, up-to-the minute information is available from National Rail Enquiries on 08457 48 49 50 or via their website at www.nationalrail.co.uk

Four miles of track were damaged between Cheltenham and Gloucester by the derailed freight train.

Andy Hancock, Network Rail's General Manager for the West Country, said: "The train was removed from the site on Tuesday afternoon and we now have a major campaign in place to repair the extensive damage to our infrastructure. Our engineers will be working around the clock to re-open the line; work will include replacing almost 10,000 sleepers and repairing signalling and points."


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Published: 18 October 2005

From BBC News website

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/glou ... 377702.stm

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Services resume after derailment

A railway line, which closed when a train derailed, has reopened.
Services in and out of Cheltenham were affected when a wagon hauling industrial materials left the line at Barnwood on 18 October.

Four miles of track were damaged, but the line has now been repaired and services between Gloucester and Cheltenham are up and running.

About 10,000 sleepers were repaired, plus signalling and points, and bus services were temporarily in place.

Robbie Burns, Network Rail's western route director, said: "This has been an enormous repair effort and our engineers have been working around the clock to reopen the line for rail passengers."

A full investigation is under way into the causes of the incident by the Rail Accident Investigation Branch