Weather disruption caused in 2014, and how to prevent it happening again - ongoing discussion

[whole diary]

[BBM]

Following the problems at Cowley Bridge there were plans to put a lot of the location cabinets on stilts.

I noticed the other day that while some have been raised there are still a lot on the approach to Exeter St Davids where the new stilts have been erected but the actual cabinets have not yet been raised.

Perhaps the idea of raising cabinets will now be explored elsewhere.

I've seen some between West Drayton and Slough (e.g. just west of Iver alongside the DM) so it looks like they were installed during the recent resignalling there.

[Network SouthEast]

As we only had to stop once between Twyford and Maidenhead to be talked past a signal I can't help but feel that more trains could be run if there was a bit more of a will.

The start/finish location for Temporary Block Working is Maidenhead station itself, so basically the location you stopped at to Maidenhead is just one signal section instead of the six it usually is.

[bobm]

Out of interest the section being worked as one block spans the boundary between the TVSC^» (Thames Valley Signalling Centre - about) at Didcot and Slough panel.  Does that make for more complications?

[BBM]

Looks like there maybe a new Twyford information issue today. Both FGW^▸ (First Great Western) and Live Departure Boards are showing stoppers from Paddington for Oxford calling at Twyford leaving at 27 & 57 minutes past the hour.

However Real Time Trains is showing an hourly stopper for Reading leaving at 12 minutes past the hour with nothing else stopping at Twyford - the 27 & 57 departures don't appear to exist there.

Checking Real Time Trains backwards this morning, the only down departures at Twyford do indeed appear to have been the xx.12 departures from PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains). FGW & LDB show the xx.27 & xx.57 departures to have been allegedly all stuck at PAD and the xx.12 ones to have terminated at Maidenhead.

Can somebody in this so-called information age please just sort all this out? 

[James]

Cause of the Maidenhead problem

We know that weather events like this are rare (or not depending on your viewpoint)
but really the cabinets which have been posted here, should be higher up on stilts, then the electric cables are less likely to be damaged, apart from if the Wind is strong then you may have a problem. Lets hope Network Rail can now spend a little more money on upgrading this equipment so that this is less problems in future. I know it cant be completely resolved but sorting the basics out can help out a lot - Just saying

[Network SouthEast]

Out of interest the section being worked as one block spans the boundary between the TVSC^» (Thames Valley Signalling Centre - about) at Didcot and Slough panel.  Does that make for more complications?

London bound trains are under the control of Slough PSB^▸ (Power Signal Box) West panel entirely through the section.

It's only Twyford bound trains that cross two signal boxes, Slough PSB West and TVSC Twyford panel. But it doesn't really complicate things - it just slows things down as there is an extra person to talk to.

[BandHcommuter]

Because of the significantly reduced capacity and severe delays predicted between Reading and Paddington, I decided yesterday that I would take the advice to travel from Westbury to London on a different route, starting on the 0524 (ouch) to Salisbury, and changing onto South West Trains to Waterloo. An enlightening experience. The overall journey time was longer by about half an hour (although Waterloo was much closer to my central London destination, so I got 15 minutes of this back). The South West Trains service had more comfortable seats than I am accustomed to on FGW^▸ (First Great Western), and a very convenient trolley service of refreshments. There were a handful of passengers standing between Basingstoke and Clapham junction, but it didn't feel crowded. Early arrival at Waterloo. Similar positive experience on the return. The fare was about ^77 return, compared with ^157 return via Newbury, although the latter can be made cheaper with split tickets. I might consider this option again in the future, even when there isn't disruption.

A colleague who lives in the Thames Valley also tried a different option, and got a lift to High Wycombe for the Chiltern service to Marylebone. He had a similarly trouble free service although he had to stand for the 40 minute journey, but not in excessively overcrowded circumstances. I have massive sympathy for those who have no option but to travel on the disrupted FGW services, but relieved that many of us appear to have viable alternatives.

[Thatcham Crossing]

Whilst driving eastbound on the M4 between Maidenhead and Slough at around 10 this morning (instead of getting the train into London today as originally planned!), I passed an FGW^▸ (First Great Western) Mk3 coach on a low-loader.

I guess part of an HST^▸ (High Speed Train) being moved by road from west of Dawlish?

[ChrisB]

The rails are already rusting at Teignmouth.....



And, just to show that the roads are in much the same state - between Taunton & Glastonbury....

[insider]

Looks like there maybe a new Twyford information issue today. Both FGW^▸ (First Great Western) and Live Departure Boards are showing stoppers from Paddington for Oxford calling at Twyford leaving at 27 & 57 minutes past the hour.

However Real Time Trains is showing an hourly stopper for Reading leaving at 12 minutes past the hour with nothing else stopping at Twyford - the 27 & 57 departures don't appear to exist there.

Checking Real Time Trains backwards this morning, the only down departures at Twyford do indeed appear to have been the xx.12 departures from PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains). FGW & LDB show the xx.27 & xx.57 departures to have been allegedly all stuck at PAD and the xx.12 ones to have terminated at Maidenhead.

Can somebody in this so-called information age please just sort all this out? 

Unfortunately the systems that control the LDB boards, as with most things railway has a glitch....It has a database of all the planned trains that will run which is fed from the TSDB (Train Service Data Base) which is created & updated by Network Rail. However it only gets updates once every 24hrs and short term planned cancellations (which is what this disruption is) can get missed....

Therefore the system then in place is a train service alteration or cancellation message is sent out via a system called Tyrell, this updates LDB, Journey Check, station CIS^▸ (Customer Information System), sent to staff etc... However this is where today's problem is...

The Tyrell system also has a database of trains pretty much identical to the LDB system, and as Network Rail has amended the TSDB with the cancelled trains first these made this systems overnight update, thus removing them from said database and now they don't exist to be amended...sounds crazy but that's the system..

The amended trains were then created in TSDB, that's why realtime trains works so well as it has a direct feed from that system....perhaps the industry can look into how that works and update the LDB system accordingly??

It should also be noted that the LDB boards (or at least the data displayed) in the public domain are controlled at NRES^▸ (National Rail Enquiry Service) control centre. So they have to manually delete trains, which is a slow process....so in a nutshell the LDB sites other than realtime trains are probably a 'little' unreliable today, to say the least.

[Tim]

Presumably, they'd then need to be twice as high/big?

or twice as numerous. Assuming that they are full which might not always be the case.

But it is good to see that they are starting to be installed on stilts.  Small things like this won't break the bank and could make a difference.  In fact they might even pay for themselves.  Telling people not to travel must be an expensive thing to do.  

[insider]

Tree on Slough to Windsor Branch.....

Service suspended pending staff arrival

Info @ 1350

[James]

Tree on Slough to Windsor Branch.....

Service suspended pending staff arrival

Info @ 1350

Oh dear oh dear, i hope that get's cleared before the peak season starts. yet another train stuck if it is on the Windsor side that is

[insider]

Paddinton to Exeter Services now also further disrupted....

Athelney is reported to be flooded again...

1106 dep from Pad diverted via Yeovil

1206 dep from Pad diverted from Westbury to Bristol TM^‡(resolve) and terminate

[bobm]

Meanwhile the 10:06 hit a tree near Lavington and was terminated at Westbury.