Major delays/cancellations, Paddington to Reading, 20 December 2012 and ongoing ...

[whole diary]

[woody]

Just heard one of the two booms erected at Cowley Bridge by Network rail deflated and gave way but the other is still in place at the moment but its still more bad news sadly.

[Electric train]

God knows what Brunel would think....

I suspect that IKB^▸ (Isambard Kingdom Brunel), if alive, would be chuffed to see his railway still doing sterling service...

Also IKB did not always produce the most reliable bits of kit his locomotive were not reliable at all

[grahame]

God knows what Brunel would think....

I suspect that IKB^▸ (Isambard Kingdom Brunel), if alive, would be chuffed to see his railway still doing sterling service...

Also IKB did not always produce the most reliable bits of kit his locomotive were not reliable at all

He would probably be chuffed to see so many trains and so fast.  Looking at London to Bristol, in 1895 there were around 12 trains - from 135 minutes (for a nonstop service that went on to Cornwall). In 1949 there were 14 trains ranging from around 135 minutes for the journey upwards. There are now 33, many of them taking 100 minutes. By 2020, there should be nearly 60 trains, and there's an estimated journey time of 80 minutes.

Victorian Railways had their fair share of accidents, crises and the like - there are tales of station lockouts when too many people showed up for the trains the first time that the Derby was run after the opening of a station at Epsom, for example, so I suspect that IKB wouldn't have let a few problems like the ones we've had in the last week stop his quest.  But I do suspect he would have asked "how can we prevent this problem next time"?  And - yes - some of the early locos were distinctly naff;  that's what comes from being at the (b)leeding edge of technology.

[Andy W]

And - yes - some of the early locos were distinctly naff;  that's what comes from being at the (b)leeding edge of technology.

Maybe (b)bleeding edge then - State of the Ark now.

[Electric train]

And - yes - some of the early locos were distinctly naff;  that's what comes from being at the (b)leeding edge of technology.

Maybe (b)bleeding edge then - State of the Ark now.

Some of the kit being installed now is leading edge or at least very modern, have you seen the new LED tilt over signals being installed on the main running lines through Ealing and Acton,  all the new trough routes being installed around Maidenhead to Hayes if for resignalling which will support ETRMS level 2

[TaplowGreen]

..............so why can't all this "leading edge" technology cope with the vagaries of weather? I don't mean floods, no-one can legislate for that, I just mean a bit of frost, heat, snow, ice or leaves?

Personally I think Brunel would be very disappointed that over a 100 years later we still can't cope with the basics, with all the technology we have available, that he could only dream of....then again he was a real engineer.

[rogerw]

The airlines don't cope any better at times.  I had the misfortune to be attempting to fly out of Heathrow last February when the snow arrived.  British Airways just gave up, cancelling over 95% of their flights from terminal 5 which looked more like a refugee camp than an air terminal.  Thankfully someone else was sorting out my flights and I finally flew out with United on a half empty plane 7^ after my scheduled departure.  If it had been left to BA^» (British Airways - about) I would not have left that day and would have missed the boat (literally) at New York.

[BerkshireBugsy]

I don't claim to be an expert but I suspect that there are some weather related issues which may be difficult to address

I remember (I think it was 2003) the temperatures here in the uk the tracks got so hot they expanded and services were disrupted as a result. I know this has happened at least once since but given that metal has this habit of expanding when heated this could be a bit difficult to sort

On my recent journeys, when it has been very cold, the services have had problems with "rail head adhesion". The experts out there may be able to offer hope on this one but as of nowim not aware of a solution.

As a frequent traveller I am (sadly) resigned to the fact there are a couple of months a year when train travel can be problematic but I don't remember it being ths bad before.

[TaplowGreen]

Heat - Australian Railways seem to manage OK..."very cold....rail head adhesion".....ever heard of the Trans Siberian?

[Electric train]

Heat - Australian Railways seem to manage OK..."very cold....rail head adhesion".....ever heard of the Trans Siberian?

Neither of which operate the traffic densities of the GWML^▸ (Great Western Main Line).

There have been 2 major incidents one on top of the other, the equipment failure in the Acton and Hayes area I will try to find out what the post mortem is on this when I get back to work in the New Year; the other is flooding which is Force Majeure the floods have also effected many many local roads in the same area.

The Railway system is very complex a system that gets going every morning literally from a standing start at 04:30 and within 2 hours is operating one of the most intense service in the world.   The Railway system is both technological and human, the human interaction is complex.  The Railway system is risk adverse which means a small thing will cause it to stop it is this way to prevent us killing people.

Every Railwayman and Railwaywomen I ever come across whether they are TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) FOC^▸ (Freight Operating Company) NR^» (Network Rail - home page) or contractor; front of house or behind the scenes are very dedicated to what they do and work very hard to reduce failures and to improve reliability.

[old original]

Heat - Australian Railways seem to manage OK..."very cold....rail head adhesion".....ever heard of the Trans Siberian?

Neither of which operate the traffic densities of the GWML^▸ (Great Western Main Line).

There have been 2 major incidents one on top of the other, the equipment failure in the Acton and Hayes area I will try to find out what the post mortem is on this when I get back to work in the New Year; the other is flooding which is Force Majeure the floods have also effected many many local roads in the same area.

The Railway system is very complex a system that gets going every morning literally from a standing start at 04:30 and within 2 hours is operating one of the most intense service in the world.   The Railway system is both technological and human, the human interaction is complex.  The Railway system is risk adverse which means a small thing will cause it to stop it is this way to prevent us killing people.

Every Railwayman and Railwaywomen I ever come across whether they are TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) FOC^▸ (Freight Operating Company) NR^» (Network Rail - home page) or contractor; front of house or behind the scenes are very dedicated to what they do and work very hard to reduce failures and to improve reliability.

+1

[John R]

..............so why can't all this "leading edge" technology cope with the vagaries of weather? I don't mean floods, no-one can legislate for that, I just mean a bit of frost, heat, snow, ice or leaves?

Personally I think Brunel would be very disappointed that over a 100 years later we still can't cope with the basics, with all the technology we have available, that he could only dream of....then again he was a real engineer.

As others have pointed out, safety is paramount. It's only 25 years since 4 people died when a bridge collapsed on the Heart of Wales line as a train was going over a very swollen river ( a couple of days after the hurricane). 

As with most things in life, there's a trade off between the additional expense in engineering things to deal with the most extreme of conditions, and the inconvenience of when those conditions happen. (The best example of this is the criticism when it snows that Sweden is geared up to cope with such conditions, so why can't we be,forgetting that in Sweden it's the norm, so the expensive equipment is more easily justified.  And it's not only the state that makes such decisions. At a personal level, how many of us buy and fit winter tyres or snow chains?)

However, I've no doubt that recent events will result in a reconsideration of some clear weak points given the apparent increase in flooding related incidents across the country in recent years.

[IndustryInsider]

At a personal level, how many of us buy and fit winter tyres or snow chains?)

Funny how the adverts on TV and in the papers from last year for snow tyres have gone away this year when severe winter snowfall starts to seem a distant memory again.

[johoare]

Huge mistakes were made.  Funnily enough, the local service out of Paddington was just about spot on in principle given the number of paths available, but several trains were running around as 2-cars.  To suggest that three is the maximum length doesn't cut the mustard with me I'm afraid.  They should all have been 6-car (or 5-car at the very least).  Should Appleford or Culham get in the way then there's time to lock/unlock the other portion at Didcot with no/minimal delay - it happens daily on a couple of scheduled services.  Or cancel the stops at Appleford and Culham and run a shuttle 2-car Turbo service, or buses/taxis. 

The priority is maximising the seating for available paths during disruption like that...

Indeed (with apologies to IndustryInsider for quoting part of his post only). I would still really like to know (from someone with inside knowledge?), where the rest of the trains/carriages were that could have been forming longer trains during the disruption? Displaced trains (which I was told) just makes no sense knowing how many 5 or 6 carriage trains run up and down that line during peak times.. This was off peak after all.. 

[IndustryInsider]

Indeed (with apologies to IndustryInsider for quoting part of his post only). I would still really like to know (from someone with inside knowledge?), where the rest of the trains/carriages were that could have been forming longer trains during the disruption? Displaced trains (which I was told) just makes no sense knowing how many 5 or 6 carriage trains run up and down that line during peak times.. This was off peak after all.. 

There were no shortage of sets stabled in Reading fuel point as I went past around noon on Friday - probably about ten at a guess.  Not all would have been available for use, but I bet a fair few of them would have been.