Tisbury – Gillingham Emergency Speed Restriction Due to the exceptionally dry conditions recently experienced across the Southern region, we have been forced to introduce an Emergency Speed Restriction between Tisbury and Gillingham.
The extreme heat, combined with a lack of rain, has caused the clay soil in some of the railway embankments between these stations to dry out and shrink. This has in turn led to some track defects appearing which means we are unable to run trains at full line speed. Our engineers are closely monitoring the condition of the line and estimate that this speed restriction will need to stay in place for several weeks.
To ensure we can run trains as reliably as possible between Salisbury and Exeter St Davids, we are working closely with our colleagues at South Western Railway (SWR), who in the coming days will announce a temporary, revised timetable for the line.
Whilst the timetable has not yet been finalised, it is expected that there will be a train approximately every hour between Yeovil Junction and Salisbury and approximately every two hours between Salisbury and Exeter St Davids.
We are sorry for the disruption and inconvenience that the speed restriction and temporary timetable will cause, however, safety is our number one priority. When our engineers judge that it is safe to remove the speed restriction we will do so, enabling SWR to restore their original timetable.
Once again, please accept our apologies for the disruption that this will cause, and look out for an update from SWR in the coming days with further information on the revised timetable.
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