General Discussion
Speed Restrictions
Anyone know from local anecdotal chats or otherwise how long the crippling speed restrictions along the wall that foul up the punctuality of every single train by several minutes are likely to last? FGW do not have any slack in current timings to allow for this and so trains currently habitually arrive at both NA and Exeter a minimum of 3mins late (extra!)
Hardly crippling, goodness me. It will go on for as long as is needed to ensure the safety of all concerned whilst the repairs to the seawall continue.
And it's not even "every single train" anyway.
Yes I appreciate the H&S aspect and suspect it is also for structures to bed in as well. Wouldn't matter if timetimbles had slack for this.
The trouble is that FGW are never realistic about such things in their optimistic timetables. So last Easter my already delayed HST train at Exeter then lost another crucial 4mins Exeter to NA. This additional delay was the tipping point in it ever getting back on schedule. It meant it then got stuck behind another train sent ahead out of sequence before it. My train then was stopped on a steep gradient outside Ivybridge by a red light as the train in front was stopped at Ivybridge. HST then struggled to get going again, was even later at Plymouth. Was then out of sequence for crossing the Tamar single stretch so lost another ten minutes and was eventually 25 minutes late at Truro. Consequently passengers for Ivybridge, Liskeard to Looe, and Par to Newquay all missed their connecting services.
On the upside, the train manager heroically walked down the entire length of the train taking a head count of all the passengers that she was anticipating would miss their connections and phoned ahead so that specially arranged buses would be provided to provide onward travel to their destinations.
Hats off to FGW for this, but this sort of mitigated farce is what was in the back of my mind in the use of the word 'crippling'. Hardly gives a good impression to business travellers.
Similarly but not as badly, returning to London, we left NA on time but again lost 4mins getting to Exeter, never recouped it, lost our train path at Reading and so kept getting slowed by signals all the way to Paddington.
Still not personally complaining in a big way, as travel is clearly relatively back to normal compared with what it has been!! I am thinking of it more in the wider context of the ongoing 'lame duck' appearance it gives of rail services to the SW more generally.
The Tsr(Temporary Speed Restrictions) should be removed this weekend after the signals are fixed. Work is due to take place this Saturday and Sunday night. If I hear anything different I will let you know.
Thank goodness for that!!!! This NIGHTMARE will finally be over and I'll get the missing 3 minutes of my life back!!!
(Over-dramatic use of exclamation marks and capitals, deliberate)...
I cant believe someone would be concerned over 3 minutes my glass being half full that 3 mins would give me more time to admire the fab views the line has to offer but hey to some folk 3mins is life or death.
Yes ok, I know that makes me sound like a 'rat race sad-o'. I remember a lecturer once quiping to us, "...now you have saved 5minutes, what are you going to do with it?!"
The thing is that, as per my little tale above, for those folk on journeys to the far SW, say Newquay (never less than 5hrs even at the best of times), and which has optimistic 5 to 8 minute connections onto the branch line then every 3minutes delay on a timetable with no slack can result in a 2hour wait for the next service if missed. Try checking out the facilities at Par Station for 2hours and then ponder on whether that 3minutes mattered or not! And obviously not a good start to holiday/ checking in at hotels / missing your evening meal etc.
Also ponder on the amount of newspaper columns written about how even those only going as far as Plymouth grumble that most trains take at least 3hr15 rather than 3hr dead!!
Bottom line - Dawlish is so blessed to be on a beautiful coast and yet so much more accessible than the rest of the SW.
Oh fret not Clive, once the rail speed restrictions are lifted you could always get a quick fix with the temporary traffic lights that are back on Exeter Road. Sadly for me I've been a heavy user for so long that even though I got clean after I left the city I sometimes cave in to temptation and head for Exe Bridges at peak hour.
I nearly spilt my cup of t and started coughing when I had a phone call from NR. The signals will be fixed Saturday or Sunday. So by Monday the TSR (Temporary Speed Restrictions) will be lifted, but from Saturday night and all day Sunday there is engineering works anyway, replacement buses operate between EXD and NA. The signalling works cannot take place in daytime anyway.
@Stephen - Thank you very much for that excellent update.
@Everyone else above - Ha, Ha, Ha, yes I get it, Clive needs to 'get a life'.
I know, just for a laugh, let's all go on a jolly to Newton Abbot on Sunday to greet all the holiday makers returning home by 'Train' from Cornwall after their relaxing Easter week and tell them to never mind their bus ride as it will only delay them by 3minutes.
Better still let's erect a temporary 'platform', dress them up in '70's garb, see if they can all fit onto it and play 'I spy the connecting service' - just like in the good old days when things weren't perfect either. What-ho, nothing like a bit of nostalgia to cheer people up 
The reason the trains are delayed is because the axle counters have not been replaced but they are due to be put in place this weekend. Until they are replaced only one train can be on the line between the Warren and Teignmouth as the signal staff have no indication of precisely where the train is. All should be back to normal next week.
Ok Clive, you've taken it in good spirit, I confess I have had palpitations wondering if I'll make the Dawlish connection from St David's when the train from Paddingron is running late, even if there's another 25 minutes later.
Only 6% of visitors use the Train to visit the SW so 94%of folk wont be bothered and realy in the great scheme of things it just ain't inportant 3mins here 2hrs their just live with it or move to Germany where the trains run like clockwork.
For the vast majority, the Easter holidays ended last Monday. There will be few ending their Easter holidays this coming Sunday. Still, it gives something else for Clive to complain about in his one-man quest to get the railway line to bypass our town.
@Margaret. First of all signals are being fixed and axle counters are being fixed this weekend. Thats between Dawlish Warren and Teignmouth. Down line has no signals at all until Teignmouth. Hence the 30mph TSR. Up line Is Red and Green only. By monday eveything should be fine. This was told to me by phone this evening by NR.
No trains on Sunday except for 2 specials.
Connections are not garenteed.
The 07:50 from Dawlish to Exeter this morning departed on time (in fact, slightly early!). I'm not sure what to do with those extra 3 minutes...
Oh, I know, I'll waste that time by writing on dawlish.com... :-)
Oh dear, an innocent enough question, and thanks for all the informative as well as the counselling answers!!
@Stephen - Yes I think passengers are generally (and painfully) aware of connections not being guaranteed, which is why I was particularly impressed that the train manageress was going to all the trouble of checking from 400 passengers who was going to miss their connection and pledge a replacement bus for them even though it wasn't the last train of the day they were about to miss. Now that's what I call really excellent customer care 
The other interesting one was that for Ivybridge, passengers were told to go to Plymouth then change to go back up the line again. A tacit admission of how to work around the somewhat 'ghost service' that the shiny new Ivy station sees.
@leatash - it's not the 6% of tourists disappearing to germany that is half as vulnerable as the business market taking a dim view that west of newton is off their radar. that is the not infrequent hue and cry of plymouth leaders.
@Mrs C - just wondered how often you actually use the train or whether they are just something quaint to watch 'others' using? if you check out all the threads i have responded to you will see that i am a proponent of some serious infrastructure investment (not the demise of dawlish station) in the sw in the following order of priority:
- Proper sea defences to protect property AND the future resiliance of this critical stretch of railway.
- Re-open Oke-Tavy or at the very least protect it from further development because it will be needed at some point in the future principally on it's own merits, NOT as some sort of competition to SD. I am not a begger thy neighbour stratagist.
- When the g'ovt can see its way clear to do so, open a DAL (in as much tunnel as can be afforded to keep it as straight and direct as possible) as a 100mph min. route for expresses (possibly freight also) and as a precursor for electrification which is the game changer so badly needed for EVERYONE in the SW but particulary those west of NA. The big benefit for Dawlish is to release line capacity for it to have an improved stopping service and Torbay to have a more regular direct service.
Actually Clive, I use the trains every working day, hence my delight at not losing 3 minutes of my day this morning...
Now if you were campaigning for additional coaches on the Riviera Line, then I'd support you to the hilt.
I had to laugh, I'm finally making a meeting in London next week only to find out that there's a tube strike! Oh the joys!
@flo - commiserations - it seems that the ghost of mr crow lives on... 
Just as with the SW, buses are an alternative when trains foul-up, as long as you can actually get on one in a strike. Or a Boris bike perhaps? Worth keep checking travel updates, half the time these strikes are sabre rattling and get called off at the eleventh hour Also very often half the lines are kept open somehow in the strikes. Of course when Crossrail is finished I don't think it will count as LU so will often provide an alternative - not that it helps with next week. Good luck anyway.
p.s. Just a thought, but if your destination is nearer to Waterloo rather than Paddington then either SWT via Honiton or change at Reading and go SWT via Staines may be less grief in total.
@Mrs C - sorry about my sceptical question, stems from a thread where i think people were asked if they use dawlish trains and there were a lot of very ambivalent answers, so good for you
Train services are profitable from the summation of all the users so I am very pro absolutely every possible community having access to services. There are some very staggering blind spots in this respect. Ask the folk of Frome for example. Largest town between Newbury and Taunton. Direct sevices to London = 1 per day, direct services west of Castle Cary = none!
So longer and/or more frequent trains for you as well - yes, yes yes! Like for like rolling stock quality and quantity in the SW is little short of a joke c.f. most mainlines elsewhere. If it's any comfort, the 12.30ish Truro to London comprises starting one's journey on a two car train (same class as yours I think) and having to travel on it (crowded of course) all the way to NA (nearly 3hrs if from Penzance) before connecting with an HST from Paignton.
Lastly, unfortunately, I believe there is a general capacity rule in railway parlance, that if a journey is less than 20mins there is no requirement to seat those passengers. You may well be falling foul of that nice little caveat which is the bain of many a commuter.