South Western Railway restores timetable after fuel issue

South Western Railway said fuel tanks had been cleaned

Some train services across the south and west of England have been restored following a week of disruption.

South Western Railway (SWR) has reinstated its full timetable for services in the Basingstoke, Exeter, Romsey, Salisbury and Yeovil areas.

These services were reduced last Friday after diesel engines were found clogged with biofuel.

The company apologised for the disruption and said the issue remained under investigation.

SWR previously found a fault in much of its diesel fleet at depots in Exeter and Salisbury.

The issue caused fuel filters on a number of trains' engines to become blocked, impacting their acceleration and speed, the company said.

In a new statement, SWR said fuel tanks at the depot had been deep cleaned, allowing all services to be restored.

Neil Drury, SWR's engineering director, said the firm believed the issue was related to the contamination of diesel fuel.

"It was a difficult decision to amend our timetables and we have worked hard to restore services as quickly as we can," he added.

Analysis

Paul Clifton, BBC South transport correspondent

There are 32 diesel trains based at Salisbury - 26 were taken out of service, their filters and fuel lines clogged up with sludge.

The trains burn 35,000 litres of diesel every day, containing a small amount of biofuel.

SWR won't say whether it was a dodgy batch of contaminated diesel, or just poorly stored in the depot fuel tanks. 

I think the storage is a more likely reason, because no other trains have been affected.

Nick Hurrell, of the Salisbury Exeter Rail Users Group, is furious. "The management of the West of England line goes from bad to worse," he told me. "They're not even getting the basics right."

Yet passenger demand is there - at most stations on this line, passenger numbers are higher now than before the pandemic.