CrossCountry rescues stranded SWR passengers

A build-up of ice on the third rail stranded four South Western Railway (SWR) trains in Dorset on March 1.

Passengers were forced to spend the night on the stranded trains before a Cross-Country Voyager train was able to evacuate trains the following morning.

The SWR trains affected were the 1848 Southampton Central-Poole (stranded a quarter of a mile from New Milton station), 1705 Waterloo-Weymouth (which lost power near Hinton Admiral), the 1805 Waterloo-Weymouth (at Beaulieu Road station), and the 1735 Waterloo-Weymouth.

Snowbound roads hampered efforts to evacuate the trains, but the 1527 Manchester-Pi cc a dilly-Bournemouth( which was also caught up in the disruption at Ashurst) was permitted to return ‘wrong line’ to Totton, cross over and run towards Bournemouth via the Up line, and stop adjacent to the trains to rescue passengers on the four SWR services on the following morning.

At Bournemouth, passengers were provided with hot food and drinks by SWR staff, and hotel accommodation was booked for those unable to travel onwards from Bournemouth.

Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling paid tribute to the efforts of rail staff caught up in the disruption, but RMT General Secretary Mick Cash pointed out that guards on the trains (and another which ran into a snowdrift in Cumbria) were the communications points for passengers.