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

[whole diary]

[IndustryInsider]

Yes, definite damage to S&T^▸ (Signalling and Telegraph) cables, hence the ‘disruption to the end of the day’ as it will take time to replace them.

[Mark A]

I'm wondering what this was as from the blackening to the OHLE supports this looks to have been big enough to start roasting anything stabled alongside.

Mark

[TaplowGreen]

Seriously, unless you have absolutely no alternative, don't go anywhere near Paddington tonight.....I took one look at the masses, turned around, went to Waterloo and boarded a train to Windsor where Mrs TG kindly collected me.

[stuving]

From the position of the fire, along the fence between the main line and the sidings, it can only be the railway's own fire (see pictures from the Chron). And, since it seems to be at the foot of the masts that carry traction power connections from the east side of the section break to the Maidenhead MPATS^▸ (Mid Point Auto Transformer Site - electrification), presumably the traction power cables were the source of the fire.

[Electric train]

Seriously, unless you have absolutely no alternative, don't go anywhere near Paddington tonight.....I took one look at the masses, turned around, went to Waterloo and boarded a train to Windsor where Mrs TG kindly collected me.

I used the Elizabeth Line, but it did not stop at Burnham or Taplow, it crossed on the DN Main at Salt Hill.  I did not even attempt to look at the Main Line Station for fasts to Maidenhead.

On the way in this morning I was on the 07:02 from Maidenhead it came to a  stop at Southall for about 15 / 20 mins, the Drive kept us informed that the power was off due to a line side fire at Maidenhead; we reached Padd where I picked up the Elizabeth Line the West bound were terminating, East bound Shenfield's were ok but the Abbey Wood's were MIA.

Heard reports that signalling cables have been damaged in the area.

Photo on Twitter  suggests that the fire is perhaps an electrical fire? So cables will have been damaged. 

The fire does look a bit odd, being in 2 places.  The flames seem to be where a raised GRP trough route dives down to the OLE^▸ (Overhead Line Equipment, more often "OHLE") structures.   Could it have been a Traction Power (25kV) fault, these tend to clear very quickly (mili Seconds) and do not generally cause a fire.  A Traction Return Current fault that is a possibly but on modern AC Traction systems are extremely rare.  Other options low Voltage systems (signalling power, lighting etc) but these systems will clear a fault before a fire starts or vandalism or other non electrical cause

[ChrisB]

Letter arroving from NR^» (Network Rail - home page) & GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) to say both overhead power & Signalling going to be kaput into at least tomorrow mornng. So check before leaving home

[DaveHarries]

And, since it seems to be at the foot of the masts that carry traction power connections from the east side of the section break to the Maidenhead MPATS^▸ (Mid Point Auto Transformer Site - electrification), presumably the traction power cables were the source of the fire.

Yes it looks as if that had previously been something larger because of the gap in the troughing. Also I can't help wondering if that is a cable hanging down from the extension on that very blackened middle support and perhaps that made contact with something. Saying that the cable, if that is what it is, in question could be hanging down from there as part of the correct workings of OLE^▸ (Overhead Line Equipment, more often "OHLE"): I don't know.

Dave

[TaplowGreen]

Letter arroving from NR^» (Network Rail - home page) & GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) to say both overhead power & Signalling going to be kaput into at least tomorrow mornng. So check before leaving home

Certainly looks that way, more of the same.

[Electric train]

And, since it seems to be at the foot of the masts that carry traction power connections from the east side of the section break to the Maidenhead MPATS^▸ (Mid Point Auto Transformer Site - electrification), presumably the traction power cables were the source of the fire.

Yes it looks as if that had previously been something larger because of the gap in the troughing. Also I can't help wondering if that is a cable hanging down from the extension on that very blackened middle support and perhaps that made contact with something. Saying that the cable, if that is what it is, in question could be hanging down from there as part of the correct workings of OLE^▸ (Overhead Line Equipment, more often "OHLE"): I don't know.

Dave

The suspected cause is known within NR^» (Network Rail - home page), I'm not at liberty to say what the suspected cause is, it is still subject of a live investigation.

[stuving]

Yes it looks as if that had previously been something larger because of the gap in the troughing. Also I can't help wondering if that is a cable hanging down from the extension on that very blackened middle support and perhaps that made contact with something. Saying that the cable, if that is what it is, in question could be hanging down from there as part of the correct workings of OLE^▸ (Overhead Line Equipment, more often "OHLE"): I don't know.

If by "cable" you mean the vertical black line, then no - that's the actuating rod for the isolating switch sitting on the side arm. Compare it with the identical stanchion to the left of the portal. Each of those tall stanchions has a pair on the far side of the running lines, and there are four such pairs providing the traction connections for the four lines. There is an insulated cable going halfway up the near stanchion, then a bare wire on via that switch, up to the top, and across to the far side. Partway across there is an insulator and a wire drops down to connect to the catenary and contact wires. There are four of those, one for each line, each side of the midpoint section break.

A lot of the switchgear you see sitting on poles, or corralled by the lineside, and even more lurking in sheds, exists to prevent traction circuit currents getting high enough to cause damage. As ET says, big fault currents must be removed in a fraction of a second, before enough energy has been dumped into the wires to overheat them. If that happened, then evidently "something went wrong". Traction supplies can cope with hundreds of amps, and if that sort of current at 25 kV gets into other cables they can get very hot without tripping anything. Obviously that's still something going wrong. So, several possibilities!

[TaplowGreen]

And, since it seems to be at the foot of the masts that carry traction power connections from the east side of the section break to the Maidenhead MPATS^▸ (Mid Point Auto Transformer Site - electrification), presumably the traction power cables were the source of the fire.

Yes it looks as if that had previously been something larger because of the gap in the troughing. Also I can't help wondering if that is a cable hanging down from the extension on that very blackened middle support and perhaps that made contact with something. Saying that the cable, if that is what it is, in question could be hanging down from there as part of the correct workings of OLE^▸ (Overhead Line Equipment, more often "OHLE"): I don't know.

Dave

The suspected cause is known within NR^» (Network Rail - home page), I'm not at liberty to say what the suspected cause is, it is still subject of a live investigation.

Oooooh how intriguing? Sabotage?

[Electric train]

And, since it seems to be at the foot of the masts that carry traction power connections from the east side of the section break to the Maidenhead MPATS^▸ (Mid Point Auto Transformer Site - electrification), presumably the traction power cables were the source of the fire.

Yes it looks as if that had previously been something larger because of the gap in the troughing. Also I can't help wondering if that is a cable hanging down from the extension on that very blackened middle support and perhaps that made contact with something. Saying that the cable, if that is what it is, in question could be hanging down from there as part of the correct workings of OLE^▸ (Overhead Line Equipment, more often "OHLE"): I don't know.

Dave

The suspected cause is known within NR^» (Network Rail - home page), I'm not at liberty to say what the suspected cause is, it is still subject of a live investigation.

Oooooh how intriguing? Sabotage?

No

Might have contractual implications though

The cables were not the cause of the fire but a victim.

[stuving]

Might have contractual implications though

It'll be embarrassing for someone, too.

[GBM]

The suspected cause is known within NR^» (Network Rail - home page), I'm not at liberty to say what the suspected cause is, it is still subject of a live investigation.

Hopefully earthed 

[1st fan]

And, since it seems to be at the foot of the masts that carry traction power connections from the east side of the section break to the Maidenhead MPATS^▸ (Mid Point Auto Transformer Site - electrification), presumably the traction power cables were the source of the fire.

Yes it looks as if that had previously been something larger because of the gap in the troughing. Also I can't help wondering if that is a cable hanging down from the extension on that very blackened middle support and perhaps that made contact with something. Saying that the cable, if that is what it is, in question could be hanging down from there as part of the correct workings of OLE^▸ (Overhead Line Equipment, more often "OHLE"): I don't know.

Dave

The suspected cause is known within NR^» (Network Rail - home page), I'm not at liberty to say what the suspected cause is, it is still subject of a live investigation.

Oooooh how intriguing? Sabotage?

No

Might have contractual implications though

The cables were not the cause of the fire but a victim.

Nice reply from Network Rail to someone who said fixing the damage had taken too long.

https://twitter.com/David__Brunt/status/1641007491470315520

Network Rail Western
@networkrailwest

29 Mar
⚠️We're sorry for any disruption to your journey this morning as a result of a lineside fire in Maidenhead.

David Brunt
@David__Brunt
Replying to
@networkrailwest
It really took two hours to put out that small fire?
9:20 am · 29 Mar 2023


Network Rail Western
@networkrailwest

16h
Replying to
@David__Brunt
Hi David, at its peak the fire hit 600C. After the fire service put out the flames, the temperature started rising again. Only by 9pm last night had it reduced to a temp that our teams could assess the damage and start repairing/replacing cabling. I hope this helps explain.