Travel

Railway lines open through the night to clear travel backlog

By Lewis Rudd
April 21, 2010

Railway lines which serve London airports will remain open throughout the night tonight to help get stranded air passengers home.

Network Rail has announced it will keep open the lines which serve Victoria, Paddington, Liverpool Street and Gatwick Airport stations in the hope it can help those returning to the UK complete their onward journeys safely.

This will mean Reading and Wokingham stations, which serve both London Paddington and Gatwick Airport, will be open around-the-clock.

Families and individuals from the area have faced disrupted travel plans or are stranded abroad after British airspace was closed last week because of the volcanic ash which has been erupting from an Icelandic volcano and floating over the country.

National Rail has also said engineering work planned on lines between London and Scotland this weekend has been postponed in order to allow more trains to run.

Robin Gisby, director of operations and customer services at Network Rail, said: “Network Rail is doing everything it can to help passengers whose journeys have been disrupted by the volcanic ash.”

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I think this is just another example of the muddle that always occurs when something goes wrong - the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing. It's not just the trains, but ferries, using the Navy, using Madrid as a hub, using coaches... This whole volcano saga has highlighted the ineptitude (again) of the authorities.

PM, Tilehurst
22/04/2010 at 19:13

In that case I take what I said back and apologies to Lewis.

Apologies for the inconvenience, this was caused by leaves on the brain, and signal failure. The comment about FGW affecting Bracknell, however, stands. My comment about Reading running trains to London all night also stands.

I find the article at http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/NewsItem.aspx?id=658 and also http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/NewsItem.aspx?id=659 It states there was two extra trains to Gatwick, and one each to Bristol, Cardiff and Oxford.

This is a bit in contrast to NationalRail who clearly state that the first and last trains do not stop at Gatwick Airport, but terminate at Redhill. http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/service_disruptions/today.html (will be removed by 23rd April) Perhaps both are true, although that would seem strange. Why terminate a single train one station short?

NationalRail journey planner also did not have these trains listed or I could have left London much later (and travelled through the night via Guildford to Wokingham).

mavdo, Wokingham
22/04/2010 at 17:34

Not according to FGW http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Content.aspx?id=4257 they ran EXTRA trains from Reading to Gatwick

PM, Tilehurst
22/04/2010 at 13:23

I have to agree with Terry. This is another story incorrectly written about the railways after a story about First Great Western's performance benefiting residents of Bracknell appeared a few week's back.

Let's get the facts correct PLEASE.

Wokingham station is NOT open around the clock (I was on the last train last night, and it was shut thereafter); it doesn't serve London Paddington as reported above; the North Downs line from Reading to Gatwick is currently running a *less than normal* service - quite a difference from the "24 hour service" suggested here; and trains from Paddington to Reading ALWAYS run through the night - at about 1am, 2am and 4am from Paddington to Reading, and in the other direction at roughly the same intervals, every night, except Saturday night/Sunday morning, strangely.

The only lines that are running extra services are those from Gatwick and Heathrow to LONDON.

I have to disagree with Terry on one point though. Reading Station is not 24 hours. Apart from the arrival, and subsequent departure, of the night services between Reading and Paddington, Reading station *is* shut - they close the shutters and say that the station is closing through the speakers, in between each of these trains to "maintain security". On Sautrday night, it is shut through the night.

mavdo, Wokingham
22/04/2010 at 09:56

I'm sorry this story is written following a combination of a lack of local knowledge and poor research. Firstly Reading station is open 24 hours a day anyway - it only closes from late Christmas Eve to the early hours of the day after Boxing Day each year when most of the rail network is shut. Secondly there are no extra trains though Wokingham. The additional night time trains from Gatwick are all on the lines into London Victoria, not over the North Downs Line into Reading via Wokingham. Indeed owing to engineering work - which has not been cancelled - the last train of the night from Reading doesnt get to Gatwick but stops short at Redhill and the first train of the morning leaves later and also only goes to Redhill. (see http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Content.aspx?id=4842). Other than that its a good story.