Weekend of rail misery ahead as work on damaged track continues
COMMUTERS face more of misery on the rail network over the weekend following the derailment of a freight train.
Passengers have already endured two days of delays, diversions and route cancellations since the train came off the rails near Eastleigh on Tuesday morning.
Network Rail has now confirmed engineers will require Saturday and Sunday to sort out problems as extensive damage was caused to the track. “We are installing temporary track and will make alterations to the signalling and power supply as the full repair will take more time,” it added.
Assuring passengers it was “working around the clock” to “get the railway open as quickly and safely as possible”, Network Rail said it “apologised” to service users.
“We now expect the majority of services to run from the morning of Monday 3rd February, but continue to do everything possible to open the railway sooner,” it added.
As reported in the A&T, services have been severely affected between Weymouth and Basingstoke since Tuesday.
None at all will stop between Winchester and Southampton Central while those running between Weymouth and London Waterloo, which pass through the New Forest, are heavily affected, with all XX.05 services to the capital cancelled, along with all XX.20 services running the other way.
The XX.35 services from Waterloo to Weymouth and the XX.03 Weymouth to Waterloo will be diverted via Fareham and will add 60 minutes to the usual journey time.
The XX.50 services from Poole to Waterloo will end at Southampton Central, while the XX.39 Waterloo to Poole services will start at Southampton Central instead of Waterloo.
A shuttle will run between Winchester and Basingstoke, also calling at Micheldever, and replacement buses have been arranged at Southampton Central, Fareham, Basingstoke, Winchester, Southampton Airport Parkway, Eastleigh and Andover.
To find out more go to www.southwesternrailway.com/plan-my-journey/live-departures-and-arrivals
Any passengers who want to claim compensation from South Western Railway must fill out an online form and more information is available at www.southwesternrailway.com/contact-and-help/refunds-and-compensation
As part of the national Delay Repay scheme any passenger delayed by 15 minutes or longer when they travel with SWR can claim compensation – which is calculated against the normal or planned amended timetable and the cause of the delay is irrelevant.
The amount claimable depends on the type of ticket someone has bought and how long the delay; for instance someone who purchases a single ticket can claim up to 25% of the cost back if they are delayed by 15 minutes, 50% if 30 minutes or more and all of it if the delay lasts an hour.
On its website SWR adds: “Once we have received your claim we will process it within 20 days (we’re normally much quicker than this) and pay your compensation back to you by your chosen method at the same time.
“To avoid any delays, please make sure you complete all the details on the form as best you can.”
