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

[whole diary]

[ChrisB]

Indeed, NR^» (Network Rail - home page) pit their name to apology notices when their side goes seriously tits-up

[broadgage]

Not looking good for this evenings rush hour. Signal failure between Paddington and Slough resulting in numerous cancellations or trains serving only part of the route.

[johoare]

There was also a signal failure at Hanwell yesterday morning.. I got the 12.17 from Maidenhead to Paddington which left half an hour or more late.. By the time we left Slough we were full up so the remaining stops were interesting to say the least. We left lots of people behind.

I was on the 19.57 home. There appeared to be some good planning that had gone on. The 19.42 was advertised first.. Once the hordes had sprinted off (most of them literally) to platform 13 the 19.57 was announced and left Paddington virtually empty (I was with my children and we had a carriage to ourselves). The 19.42 had already gone but we were allowed to pass it. The 19.57 was advertised as first stop Hayes and Harlington but was also (it appears) scheduled to pick up only at Ealing Broadway. This meant the people there had more than enough room (just) to get on the train and that the 19.42 which was already full didn't leave people at Ealing Broadway behind..

Hopefully the issues are all sorted out now before tomorrow's commute.

[Jason]

Train failure outside Paddington. I've already lost 22 minutes since leaving Reading on a direct service.

[lordgoata]

And the 07:38 from Goring was 17 minutes late due to waiting for a freight train at Didcot Parkway, according to the driver announcement. Time for a Didcot Viaduct ? 

[grahame]

Time for a Didcot Viaduct ? 

Many a true word spoke in jest.  Next pinch point Didcot, then Royal Wootton Bassett ...

[Adelante_CCT]

And the 07:38 from Goring was 17 minutes late due to waiting for a freight train at Didcot Parkway, according to the driver announcement. Time for a Didcot Viaduct ? 

It appears there was a problem with the freight loco between Oxford and Didcot so a Didcot flyover wouldn't have helped. Though 4 tracking the section might 

[lordgoata]

And the 07:38 from Goring was 17 minutes late due to waiting for a freight train at Didcot Parkway, according to the driver announcement. Time for a Didcot Viaduct ? 

It appears there was a problem with the freight loco between Oxford and Didcot so a Didcot flyover wouldn't have helped. Though 4 tracking the section might 

I'd prefer banning freight at peak times, but maybe that's just me 

[eightf48544]

I remember hearing a Junior Transport Minister saying, at the time of privatisation, that if a freight company was prepared to pay for a path from Willesden to Tillbury, which involves crossing all 4 of the GE lines around Stratford, during the rush hour then that was OK. This was to be the new competitive railway 

[grahame]

I remember hearing a Junior Transport Minister saying, at the time of privatisation, that if a freight company was prepared to pay for a path from Willesden to Tillbury, which involves crossing all 4 of the GE lines around Stratford, during the rush hour then that was OK. This was to be the new competitive railway 

Side question (I may split into a separate thread) ... how are "runs as required" freight paths priced / charged?   I probably need to ask in general to avoid getting a "commercial in confidence" answer, but looking at a Monday to Friday "Q" path which in practise runs less than 10 times a year ... is it paid for 10 times, or 250 times?

[Worcester_Passenger]

And the 07:38 from Goring was 17 minutes late due to waiting for a freight train at Didcot Parkway, according to the driver announcement. Time for a Didcot Viaduct ? 

It appears there was a problem with the freight loco between Oxford and Didcot so a Didcot flyover wouldn't have helped. Though 4 tracking the section might 

I'd prefer banning freight at peak times, but maybe that's just me 

Didn't the Southern Railway have a policy of running freight at night?

[eightf48544]

In the mid 60 s the Central Division used to work their 33s hard.
Newspapers to Brighton early morning
Pass to Victoria or London Bridge via Uckfield.
ECS^▸ (Empty Coaching Stock) to New Cross Gate or Stewarts Lane
Light Norwood Yard
Freight to Willsden or OOC^▸ (Old Oak Common (depot)) via West London Line or Ferme Park via Widenened lines.
Return freight to Norwood
Light to New Cross Gate or Stewarts Lane
ECS Victoria or London Bridge
Pass Brighton via Uckfiled
Vans to London and start cycle again.

[stuving]

I'd prefer banning freight at peak times, but maybe that's just me 

If you read the Route Studies, there are a lot of statements implying that a few freight paths present in the off-peak timetable are displaced by extra passenger services in the peak. That sounds like common sense, but I can't see anything in the Western RS, or elsewhere, that states this is what happens, and how it is managed. For example, for each path per hour off-peak, how many are available per day? How much of a freight path is over a part of the line that has a peak?

There are also several lines where extra loops are proposed as a way of coping with a mix of traffic including relatively slow freight trains. And, however much freight paths are reduced in the peaks now, one thing is clear from the study - there will need to be more of it in the future.

To see the other side of this - and everything has another side - see DB^» (Deutsche Bahn - German State Railway - about) Schenker's consulation submission after the draft WRS^▸ (Western Route Study - Network Rail's successor to the RUS). Its tone is rather plaintive - "why is everyone ignoring us" - but it does explain the limits of some of these measures. Like most of the "working group and board" submissions, it appears to restate their inputs to the study that were not taken into account in the draft. I can't see that they are in the final version either.

[TonyK]

It appears there was a problem with the freight loco between Oxford and Didcot so a Didcot flyover wouldn't have helped. Though 4 tracking the section might 

Mission creep, maybe, but I'm up for that...

[Electric train]

And the 07:38 from Goring was 17 minutes late due to waiting for a freight train at Didcot Parkway, according to the driver announcement. Time for a Didcot Viaduct ? 

It appears there was a problem with the freight loco between Oxford and Didcot so a Didcot flyover wouldn't have helped. Though 4 tracking the section might 

I'd prefer banning freight at peak times, but maybe that's just me 

The railways were built as freight movers ............... people moving was and after thought.

There is space for both, the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) railways have managed for almost two centauries mixing freight and passenger trains on a congested network