I have received this update from Mark Hopwood, Managing Director of First Great Western and Patrick Hallgate Western Route Managing Director for Network Rail
Railway update: Maidenhead
We promised to keep you up to date with the developing situation at Maidenhead. We are working together as a joint team to do all we can to improve the service to customers. This letter is to explain the current situation and how we are responding.
At Waltham, near Maidenhead, the water table has risen significantly through the chalk underneath the railway (pictures attached). This is causing ground water flooding which has affected our signalling equipment, despite sandbags being in place in advance. Consequently services out of Paddington, along the GWML, have been reduced to around 20% of their normal levels and are taking around 20-25 minutes longer than usual. The Environment Agency has suggested, though it cannot be precise, that flooding could remain at these levels for some time. Clearly, something has to be done.
Network Rail and FGW have created two joint teams. One team has been looking at what we can do together to get more trains running between Reading and Paddington as quickly as possible and safely. We have come up with a solution that could mean, that from Monday, we can run double the number of services that we ran this week. This is still just under half the services that would normally run, but represents a real improvement from this week. More detail on the specific works are included below.
Over the weekend Network Rail will have engineers and signal experts out on the track making the necessary changes. There isn't a simple operation owing to the flooding. We are developing a number of parallel measures at Maidenhead, some of which are 'UK firsts'. This group has also been looking at raising the height of the track to make sure we can still run trains through the area once these changes have taken place. One of the lines was raised last night and we will be reviewing how this has worked today. First Great Western will be calling its drivers in to special briefing sessions with Network Rail to discuss how to pass through the area safely.
The second joint team is exploring options for what we can do together in the longer term, should Environment Agency estimates for the groundwater to reduce prove correct. We expect this team to report its recommendations soon.
We would like to make clear that there are no plans to close the railway at Maidenhead to passenger traffic. The long-term benefits of such a move would have to be considerable for such action to be considered.
In the meantime we are doing all we can to make the situation as bearable as possible for passengers. This includes complimentary refreshments, extra staff at stations offering advice and support and a number of local services replaced by buses. Volunteers from Network Rail, First Great Western and from its sister companies throughout First Group have been on hand to offer additional support to our staff, who have already put in a superhuman effort over the past 10 days to keep customers informed and moving. This is a very difficult time for our customers and we are sorry that the severe weather has caused such disruption.
The advice to passengers remains to check before they travel at national rail enquires (www.nationalrail.co.uk<http://www.nationalrail.co.uk>) or their train operator (First Great Western<http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk> or CrossCountry<http://www.crosscountrytrains.co.uk>).
I hope this information is helpful. Once we have a further update we will be sure to share it with you.
Mark Hopwood
Managing Director
First Great Western
Patrick Hallgate
Western Route Managing Director
Network Rail
Supplementary briefing
We are working on several parallel measures to increase the flow of services through the affected section of track, and prevent further problems caused by rising ground water.
1) Enhancing our temporary signalling procedures
By working with train and freight companies’ drivers, Network Rail staff and trade unions, we hope to agree a revised way of working. We hope to be able to combine the signals in the affected area into one long block, which could allow us double the current level of capacity from 20% to 40%. Subject to trials, this could be in place by early next week.
2) Raising the track
Last night we raised one of the tracks by approximately 50mm to get it out of the water. This will mean that it is more resistant to flooding.
3) Improve power cabling
We have changed the power lines to the signalling equipment to make it more resistant to flooding. We had planned to make this change as part of the resignalling scheme for Crossrail next year, but have brought this forward.
4) Installation of a temporary different method of train detection
We are exploring the temporary installation of a different type of sensor, known as an axle counter, on the line. It could be linked to the signalling system to improve the speed that trains could run through the section track at Maidenhead.