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

[whole diary]

[Western Enterprise]

say Hayes (where I was) at 15.00, were given NO information whatsoever yet the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) Duty Manager (Mr. Singh) was there on the platform chatting to a friend - he seemed totally unconcerned about anything

This does seem to be particularly damning. If the station duty manager was chatting to somebody who appeared to be a friend, then that that is not what they are there for. Whilst anybody coming ' on shift' would not really know the state of play to begin with, even with handover, part of the training in such a situation is surely to get out there and tell the customers what is going on.
Although sadly, upon reflection, it does't happen at Maidenhead either. They usually get the trainee or the managers boy to go and face the music from the customers. These situations will always be fast moving 'live' situations but honestly, hiding behind closed doors helps nobody......
On a positive note, at least the share price has gone up recently....

[TerminalJunkie]

And almost without fail, this results in automatic knee-jerk ranting from CJB, the full time FGW^▸ (First Great Western) critic of the uk.railway and uk.transport.london usenet groups...

If his profile is to be believed he registered on December 2009, so his knee hasn't actually jerked on here for three years...

[argg]

JourneyCheck now reporting disruption until 16.00 on Saturday 22nd.  Wow!

[grahame]

say Hayes (where I was) at 15.00, were given NO information whatsoever yet the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) Duty Manager (Mr. Xxxxx) was there on the platform chatting to a friend - he seemed totally unconcerned about anything

Err - you're certainly NOT quoting me there, Western Enterprise. Where is Hayes?    And I have deleted the name of the operational staff member involved.

Perhaps the quoted item (from CJB666) assumes the worst of Mr Xxxxx without full backup;  You'll find me appearing unconcerned at times of extreme pressure when at work - doesn't mean I'm not working my darndest.   And you'll find me chatting there with my friends / colleagues - often (in these circumstances) working out the best way to handle the circumstances to the maximum benefit of our customers.

[Electric train]

Heard on Radio 4 todays problem is a fire in an equipment room at Padd. Sounds bad!

There would seem to be two problem areas Hayes and Acton

Not a fire at Padd, I believe (and this is only speculation on my part) its a problem with signalling power supply point at Hayes, these are containerised units with an electricity supply from the public highway and a diesel generator and a UPS there is space to dump a mobile generator unit (kept at Sudbrook or used to be) next the the containers although if there is a burn out in the change over panel this is a little more difficult to deal with.

The other problem area would seem to be between Acton Main Line and Ealing Broadway on the UM side, there is evidence of  OHLE piling in the area wonder if that has hit cables perhaps in several places, there is also evidence of OHLE piling on the UM side just east of Hayes this may also be the cause.

What ever the cause(s) is it is major and if its two major items NR^» (Network Rail - home page) contingency planning allows for a single major failure in one area, it is not easy to bring teams in from other areas as they will not always know the patch or the equipment although I suspect they will have.   

[TaplowGreen]

Overall though its utterly pathetic - nowhere on FGW^▸ (First Great Western)'s website does "sorry for the inconvenience" appear or an acknowledgement that these constant meltdowns are affecting people's jobs and now likely ruining Christmas plans....how can infrastructure lack the robustness for an incident to practically cripple the system for what looks likely to be 48 hours or more?

And I have to concur with others - in my experience at the first sign of any problems the "Customer Service" staff scuttle off to their crew room - especially at Slough.

[ReWind]

From FGW^▸ (First Great Western):

Flooding is expected to disrupt services in between Taunton, Exeter St Davids, Plymouth and Penzance from the start of service on Saturday 22nd December until further notice.

Services operating between London Paddington and Bristol Temple Meads towards Exeter St Davids, Plymouth and Penzance will terminate at either Taunton or Tiverton Parkway in both directions.

Services due to operate through to/from Penzance will start/terminate at Exeter St Davids.

Limited road replacement transport will be in operation between Tiverton Parkway, Taunton and Exeter St Davids in both directions.

Customers with non-essential travel plans are advised to make alternative arrangements for their travel.

Tickets will be valid on alternative days.

--------------

http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/disruption

[phile]

This already posted on "Mass disruption etc" thread.   This thread involves signalling problem Paddington to Reading.

[thetrout]

Well... I'm on then 20:43 and we left Bath Spa 1 or 2 minutes late. So far seem to be doing ok. Driver did just use the brakes rather euthisastically around Wotton Bassett. Nice smell of burning brakes in the carriage now!

First Class very lightly loaded. I am sharing the carriage with one other Gent at the opposite end. Quiet carriage has 3 occupants and 5.75 Standard Class carriages with plenty of seats spare.

The Train Manager did just say he isn't sure if we'll get to Paddington for 22:14 and that yesterday it took him on a working 50 minutes to go from Paddington - Airport Junction. Lovely lass in the Buffet also said it was an absolute nightmare as well. Really feel for the staff on the front line at the moment. Nevertheless I am comfortable where I am right now. I'll update as we go on

[thetrout]

Left Reading 4 minutes late... Picked up a 3 minute delay at Swindon. Train still practically empty in First Class

[HexDriver]

The CJB666 thread was locked - this is the reply I tried to post to it:

This site was originally set up in answer to ... frustrations ... at "things rail" in the area served by First Great Western, and indeed a noticeable increase in visitors to the site tells me that those frustrations are still there.   Heck - many of us feel them, and it's common that on long distance journeys its the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) area end that's the problem.

snip

The big issues - as with every disruption to the GWML^▸ (Great Western Main Line) are:

1/ lack of management visibility at Paddington inc. BAA or Heathrow Ltd / FGW / Network Rail

2/ conflicting information from station staff who themselves aren't kept informed - this latest disruption was known about at 11.00 Thursday morning - yet no-one bothered to announce that it was a major fire or where - pax at, say Hayes (where I was) at 15.00, were given NO information whatsoever yet the FGW Duty Manager (Mr. Singh) was there on the platform chatting to a friend - he seemed totally unconcerned about anything

3/ complete abandonment by Heathrow Ltd (ex-BAA) of pax for Heathrow, no coaches, no cabs, no real alternatives to get to Heathrow other than the over-crowded Piccadilly Line

Yet this line and Paddington has severe disruptions almost every month from cable thefts, suicides, points failures, signalling failures, etc. YET FGW / HEATHROW (EX-BAA) / NETWORK RAIL ALL SEEM INCAPABLE OF HANDLING THE EMERGENCIES. PATHETIC.

Speaking from a hex perspective it isn't abandonment as such but the harsh reality is due to the crossrail work there is now no chance of running a bus replacement service as buses previously used the old taxi road whereas the new one struggles with taxis most of the time.

Also there has been a continual staff presence offering information to customers regarding alternative routes etc and handing out compensation forms. So I'm not sure what a management presence would offer as I'm assuming your referring to senior management then surely putting pressure on network rail to rectify the problem and come up with a robust contingency plan would be a better use of their time.

[phile]

This already posted on "Mass disruption etc" thread.   This thread involves signalling problem Paddington to Reading.

Sorry but I've discovered that you were the poster on the other Board also.

[JayMac]

Overall though its utterly pathetic - nowhere on FGW^▸ (First Great Western)'s website does "sorry for the inconvenience" appear or an acknowledgement that these constant meltdowns are affecting people's jobs and now likely ruining Christmas plans....how can infrastructure lack the robustness for an incident to practically cripple the system for what looks likely to be 48 hours or more?

And I have to concur with others - in my experience at the first sign of any problems the "Customer Service" staff scuttle off to their crew room - especially at Slough.

Welcome to the forum TaplowGreen.  

A shame that you've come here following some pretty major disruptions on the FGW network. I understand your frustrations, but I hope that the comprehensive coverage this forum has given to this recent disruption has a least given you some idea of the challenges faced by rail staff. Do stick around though. We may not have the answers at times like this, but we can empathise and discuss.

FGW are doing their best to get people to where they want to be going. I'm neither rail staff or a FGW apologist, but I feel it's only fair to point out that this isn't a problem of their making. The infrastructure had failed, and the responsibility for that lies with Network Rail.

I do however partly agree with your observation that the information given to customers by the operator (FGW) could and should be better. This is a common theme that crops up whenever there is major disruption. Ultimately the train operator is trying its best to get people from A to B and up to the second information on the ground may be lacking. Often times those staff 'at the coalface' may be just as much in the dark as the punters. That said, there isn't really any excuse for staff to be hiding away, and if that really was what was happening at Slough today then you should raise a complaint with FGW.

[JayMac]

Disruption is likely to continue into Saturday 22nd December 2012.

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Paddington rail disruption to Christmas getaway

Passengers travelling to and from London's Paddington station continue to face severe disruption after a fire damaged lineside signal equipment.

Services to Heathrow Airport have been suspended and First Great Western trains have been cancelled or delayed since the trouble started on Thursday.

Fire damage to signal equipment in west London closed two of the four lines.

Network Rail said it was working to fix the problem but delays were likely to continue into Saturday lunchtime.

Friday was due to be the busiest day of the year for road, rail and air travel as thousands of people began their festive getaway.

Tube delays

Network Rail said two fires - one near Acton and another near Heathrow - severely damaged equipment in west London, affecting its signalling system.

It said the fire damage was so extensive it was having to rebuild the box and associated equipment and engineers would be on site throughout the night to complete the work.

A spokesman said: "The work will continue throughout the night but there is likely to be disruption throughout Saturday."

The Heathrow Express cancelled its services due to a signal failure at Hayes and Harlington, leaving many of the 123,000 passengers heading out of the capital forced to take the Tube.

First Great Western has been operating a reduced service, running about half the normal number of trains into and out of Paddington.

Spokesman for the train operator James Davis said: "We are continuing to operate as many services as we can with only two lines open but it is half of the usual capacity."

He said trains were running with a delay of up to 30 minutes as they have to slow down as they travel between Slough and Southall.

Heavy rain

During the morning the reduced service put extra pressure on the Tube network.

There were severe delays on the Bakerloo line and minor delays on the Jubilee line due to a signalling systems failure.

BBC Berkshire's Patrick O Hagan, at Reading station, said: "If you're heading to Paddington through Berkshire and Oxfordshire you would normally expect around eight trains every half an hour through Reading.

"There's about half that number and there's been no express services from further west at all."

Heathrow Airport said it was expecting 123,000 passengers to depart and 104,000 to arrive.

At Gatwick about 1.5 million people are expected to travel through the airport between 17 December and 2 January.

Volunteers from the London 2012 Olympic Games have been drafted in to help passengers at both airports.

They have been handing out children's packs and giving safety advice.

On the roads, dozens of sets of roadworks have been lifted on major routes but the Highways Agency is urging drivers to check the weather forecast, with heavy rain in much of the country expected to cause more flooding.

I travelled out of Paddington today (21/12/2012) in the late afternoon peak and was pleasantly surprised at how painless my journey was. I had no problem finding a seat and I was only 20 minutes late into Bristol Temple Meads. I did see evidence though of how few services FGW^▸ (First Great Western) were running. Old Oak Common was filled with HST^▸ (High Speed Train), HEx and HC sets at 4pm. Normally at that time on a Friday afternoon the depot would be all but empty.

[johoare]

That does make me wonder....I did ask today and was told that trains being displaced was the reason that they could only find 2 (out of very many carriages that I know are used in the rush hour) to operate the emergency half hour timetable between Reading and Paddington (mid morning today in my case)...