Infrastructure problems in Thames Valley causing disruption elsewhere - ongoing, since Oct 2014

[whole diary]

[Jason]

Due to a fault with the signalling system between Slough and Hayes & Harlington the London bound main line is closed.

This has now been pushed out to 17:00

Customer Advice:First Bus route 58: Slough (Bus Station Bay 2) - Langley (Business Park) - Iver (King's Church) - Uxbridge (Station) and First Bus route 75: Maidenhead (Town Centre) - Taplow (Bath Road) - Burnham (Everitts Corner) - Slough (Bus Station) - Langley are conveying passengers via any reasonable route until further notice.

[BerkshireBugsy]

Due to a fault with the signalling system between Slough and Hayes & Harlington the London bound main line is closed.

This has now been pushed out to 17:00

Customer Advice:First Bus route 58: Slough (Bus Station Bay 2) - Langley (Business Park) - Iver (King's Church) - Uxbridge (Station) and First Bus route 75: Maidenhead (Town Centre) - Taplow (Bath Road) - Burnham (Everitts Corner) - Slough (Bus Station) - Langley are conveying passengers via any reasonable route until further notice.

Yup - and I got caught up in this trying to get back from Aylesbury to Thatcham to go to my Sons' parents evening (where they picked up on his punctuation:) ) I was due to arrive  in Thatcham about 4:04 but this got pushed out to 445 + my 38 minute walk home + 4 minutes to walk to school from home...just did it!

[Thatcham Crossing]

I got a bit caught up in this disruption today aswell.

Rushed back to PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) this afternoon to get the 1618 Bedwyn, which was cancelled, I assume due to the problems documented above.
Jumped on the 1622 OXF^» (Oxford - next trains) High Speed Train (HST^▸ (High Speed Train)) (to get me as far as RDG^‡(resolve)) which was somewhat rammed as a result!

Edit: VickiS - Clarifying Acronym

[Electric train]

I got a bit caught up in this disruption today aswell.

Rushed back to PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) this afternoon to get the 1618 Bedwyn, which was cancelled, I assume due to the problems documented above.
Jumped on the 1622 OXF^» (Oxford - next trains) HST^▸ (High Speed Train) (to get me as far as RDG^‡(resolve)) which was somewhat rammed as a result!

16:40 Padd to Maidenhead all 6 cars of it loads of space, and only a few mins late at Maidenhead; but then is has so much slack built in its timings it would be difficult to be late arrival

[BerkshireBugsy]

I got a bit caught up in this disruption today aswell.

Rushed back to PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) this afternoon to get the 1618 Bedwyn, which was cancelled, I assume due to the problems documented above.
Jumped on the 1622 OXF^» (Oxford - next trains) HST^▸ (High Speed Train) (to get me as far as RDG^‡(resolve)) which was somewhat rammed as a result!

That was my "itinerary" but with the addition of musical escalators at Reading. I had made my way to P1 to catch the 1612 only to hear the announcement "the Bedwyn service is currently waiting outside the station" at which point I made my way up to the overbridge expecting the Bedwyn train to be a limited stop ...which it was...back to P1 then!

Probably not a good day to leave my time travelling delorean at home

[rower40]

... I got caught up in this trying to get back from Aylesbury to Thatcham ...

So there's at least one customer for East-West Rail when it opens.

[ChrisB]

Doubt it'll help much....

THA-RDG^‡(resolve)-DID^» (Didcot Parkway - next trains)-OXF^» (Oxford - next trains)-Wendover (reverse)-AYS

Quicker via London, I reckon, depending on frequency & whether EWR gets extended to RDG

[BerkshireBugsy]

Doubt it'll help much....

THA-RDG^‡(resolve)-DID^» (Didcot Parkway - next trains)-OXF^» (Oxford - next trains)-Wendover (reverse)-AYS

Quicker via London, I reckon, depending on frequency & whether EWR gets extended to RDG

Given my experiences on the railways this week sadly driving would seem to be the quickest (and least stressful) option.

A34 permitting of course.

[grahame]

THA-RDG^‡(resolve)-DID^» (Didcot Parkway - next trains)-OXF^» (Oxford - next trains)-Wendover (reverse)-AYS

Winslow rather than Wendover?

[ChrisB]

yep!

[NickB]

Article in the Maidenhead Advertiser today about TV delays.

http://www.maidenhead-advertiser.co.uk/News/Areas/Maidenhead/What-else-can-you-do-in-the-40637-minutes-lost-through-delays-caused-by-Network-Rail-signal-failures-between-London-and-Reading-in-2015-22102015.htm

[BerkshireBugsy]

Article in the Maidenhead Advertiser today about TV delays.

http://www.maidenhead-advertiser.co.uk/News/Areas/Maidenhead/What-else-can-you-do-in-the-40637-minutes-lost-through-delays-caused-by-Network-Rail-signal-failures-between-London-and-Reading-in-2015-22102015.htm

Thanks for posting. My initial reaction was "WOW" to 40637 minutes being lost but - IMHO^▸ (in my humble opinion) - this is a Daily Mail style headline.

However even if you convert it to hours (677 that is still a considerable amount of time - about 13 hours per week by my reckoning (over 2 hours per working day on average)

Still, this will get better...seriously, they WILL get better!

[NickB]

I assume (and it just that, an assumption) that 'delays' doesn't include cancellations so these numbers are just for 'arrived later than 5mins at destination' and 'we didn't even try' is counted elsewhere(??)

[ChrisB]

10mins for long distance, I believe

[Oxman]

If this headline figure (40637 mins) is the standard NR^» (Network Rail - home page) measurement of delays caused by infrastructure faults in the Thames Valley (and I can't think it will be anything else), then every delay to every train of more than two minutes will have been counted. Every train means all TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) and FOCs^▸ (Freight Operating Company), so freight train delays as well. It will also include knock on delays outside of the Thames Valley. So a late train from the Thames Valley might delay a freight service in Wales which then delays a passenger service in the Midlands etc. All of those delays will be attributed to the root cause - the infrastructure fault, and will added up to give the headline figure.