Great Western Coffee Shop

Owing to a derailment in the depot all Heathrow Express and Connect units are trapped.  All services have therefore been suspended.

FGW local services will make extra calls at Hanwell to cover for Connect services.

Eh?  When I was a full time signalling scheme specifier we always made sure there was more than one exit from a depot to cover that scenario ::)

There is an emergency connection to the FGW side of Old Oak depot, but it's unwired!

Heathrow Express resumed with the 11:10 from London Paddington (which left at 11:16), Heathrow Connect started at 11:03.

There's also an exit from the HEX depot at the "Country" end onto the Friars Loop, and it is wired.  But maybe the derailment prevented use of either end.

I was on the 8.41 from Maidenhead today  which stops at Slough and Southall then Paddington.. I was expecting carnage at Southall due to this as it's a busy station at the best of times let alone when one of their trains services has been removed..

However it was more like a tumbleweed moment plus a few FGW/station staff there.. I've still not quite worked that one out!

In the good old days of BR we would have had a local re-railing team who would have got the job done in a flash and got things moving.
Now paperwork and investigations take precedence over the service and, I think, there are only two re-railing teams and equipment in the country and they are based at Cardiff and Derby.  Someone might be able to correct me on that???

Probably not helped by the fact the incident was not on Network Rail metals but "private" lines within the depot.

Disruption again today on Heathrow Connect. Multiple track circuit failures on the Up Airport Relief line at Airport Junction. The knock on is affecting FGW relief line services.