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

[whole diary]

[Electric train]

Obviously there is a simpler alternative. Maintain the infrastructure!

Assuming in this instance the fixed infrastructure was at fault!

Perhaps the other side of the coin is ............. ensure the rolling stock is maintained correctly

It would need a three sided coin in this case.

Such is the complexity of the railway 

[Marlburian]

Rachel Riley and James Blunt were among those stranded on the Elizabeth Line train: Metro

[TaplowGreen]

Rachel Riley and James Blunt were among those stranded on the Elizabeth Line train: Metro

I wonder if the Famous Five got home in the end?

[TaplowGreen]

Almost beyond parody.......

Delays to services between Slough and London Paddington

Due to damage to the overhead electric wires between Slough and London Paddington some lines are blocked.

Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed. Disruption is expected until 10:00 10/12.

[Timmer]

More information on what’s causing the disruption this morning:

Delays to services between Slough and London Paddington

Due to damage to the overhead electric wires between Slough and London Paddington all lines are blocked.
Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed. Disruption is expected until 11:00 10/12.

Customer Advice
-
Please be advised that we're currently experiencing disruption on the lines on approach to London Paddington as one of our drivers has reported something stuck and wrapped around the overhead line equipment and the pantograph of their train.
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As a consequence, all the overhead lines have been switched off for safety with most of the lines on approach to Paddington blocked.
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As the overhead lines have been switched off with all traffic between Slough and London Paddington at a stand. The driver of the affected train has taken a line block to enable them to inspect the train track-side.

[TaplowGreen]

More information on what’s causing the disruption this morning:

Delays to services between Slough and London Paddington

Due to damage to the overhead electric wires between Slough and London Paddington all lines are blocked.
Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed. Disruption is expected until 11:00 10/12.

Customer Advice
-
Please be advised that we're currently experiencing disruption on the lines on approach to London Paddington as one of our drivers has reported something stuck and wrapped around the overhead line equipment and the pantograph of their train.
-
As a consequence, all the overhead lines have been switched off for safety with most of the lines on approach to Paddington blocked.
-
As the overhead lines have been switched off with all traffic between Slough and London Paddington at a stand. The driver of the affected train has taken a line block to enable them to inspect the train track-side.

"A reminder that unfortunately South Western Railway are currently in disruption with overrunning engineering works and they are also running a planned road transport operation between Ascot and Hounslow. Therefore we will not be able to use their services between London Waterloo and Reading as an alternative"

No-one's getting to/from London for a while.

Just announced - expected disruption now extended until 1400 - all lines blocked, all trains at a stand - are we going to see evacuations again?

[GBM]

infoman has posted similar at http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=28248.new#new

[BBM]

infoman has posted similar at http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=28248.new#new

GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)'s post on X has about 50 very disgruntled replies:

https://twitter.com/GWRHelp/status/1733780947252699427

[ChrisB]

The Grauniad via MSN had the following article yesterday that throws a little light on Thursday night's event -

Watchdog calls for investigation after thousands get trapped in trains in London

London’s passenger watchdog has called for an investigation after thousand of people were trapped on trains on Thursday evening when power lines were damaged.

Passengers, who were given no information during the ordeal, were stuck for more than three hours on dark, cold trains – including on Elizabeth line trains, which have no toilets and rely on the overhead lines for power.

Around seven trains were stranded, operated by the Elizabeth line, Heathrow Express and Great Western Railway (GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)).

Damage to the overhead lines in the west of London caused severe disruption that was set to last into Friday evening.

The watchdog, London TravelWatch, said an investigation was needed and it expressed concern over the “lack of communication and slow response time” following the stoppages.

The incident occurred during a 24-hour strike by train drivers in the Aslef union on GWR and Heathrow Express services

It is understood that the GWR train caught in the damaged wire was being driven by a manager while regular drivers were on strike. Most companies around England have not attempted to run any trains during this week’s rolling strikes.

Network Rail said on Thursday that the problem was caused by a train striking an “obstruction between Paddington and Acton mainline”, causing damage to the overhead wires.

Transport for London said in a statement: “We’re sorry that the damage caused to Network Rail’s overhead power lines by another rail operator’s train has caused significant disruption to our Elizabeth line customers as well as all train operators out of London Paddington.

“We worked to get customers off stranded trains as quickly as possible and to provide any support needed.”

A spokesperson for Aslef said: “Some train companies choose, quite sensibly, take the practical decision to suspend all services on strike days.”

According to Aslef, the driver of the GWR train that ended up caught in the wire usually worked as an operations investigations manager. The spokesperson added: “I suppose, as an operations investigations manager, he is uniquely qualified to investigate … what went wrong.”

A GWR spokesperson said: “The only people who can drive our trains are competent train drivers, properly qualified with appropriate route knowledge.

“As yet, there is no evidence that the overhead line equipment fault was due to a train.”

The singer James Blunt, and the TV presenter Rachel Riley, were among the passengers caught up in the disruption on Thursday.

Blunt posted on X: “Been stuck somewhere outside Paddington for close to 4 hours now. Out of peanuts and wine,” while Riley wrote: “Nearly 4 hours after we got on, we’re getting off the Elizabeth line, woohoo!”

Network Rail’s own chief executive, Andrew Haines, was also on board one of the stranded trains, which he said was a “painful experience”. In a message to staff, he wrote that railways had “gone backwards on customer service”.

He told them: “As an industry, we let down thousands of passengers after a hugely disruptive incident just outside of Paddington station.”

Haines said it was not yet “the place to go into the whys and wherefores - the causes of the incident are yet to be determined”.

[TaplowGreen]

infoman has posted similar at http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=28248.new#new

GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)'s post on X has about 50 very disgruntled replies:

https://twitter.com/GWRHelp/status/1733780947252699427

Great customer experience at Paddington.....

[JayMac]

Power had tripped out on a section of OLE^▸ (Overhead Line Equipment, more often "OHLE"). No damage was found.

[Worcester_Passenger]

Following a safety inspection of the track earlier today between Slough and London Paddington all lines have now reopened.
Train services running to and from these stations are returning to normal but some services may still be cancelled, delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until 15:00 10/12.

Customer Advice
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All lines have since reopened with normal working resumed. The residual delays and disruption will continue into the early afternoon whilst we recover the service as there are displaced trains and members of crew across the network.
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We're looking at reintroducing a service on all routes affected by this incident as we're aware there have been large gaps in service on several of our routes in and out of London Paddington this morning.
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The alternatives outlined below will remain in place until further notice.
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As an alternative please be advised customers may use their GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) rail tickets on the following:
- Chiltern Railway services between London Marylebone and Oxford.
- South Western Railway services between Guildford and London Waterloo.
- London Underground services via any reasonable route.
- First Berkshire Thames Valley buses accepting GWR customers on routes 3,4,7,8,13 & X74.
All of these alternatives are in place until further notice.
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Withdrawn agreements:
- GTR Southern Thameslink between London Victoria and Gatwick Airport.
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If you require further assistance planning your journey you may contact one of our social media team via Twitter (X) handle @GWRhelp, or alterntively you may contact National Rail Enquiries on 03457 484 950..
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We apologise for any inconvenience caused to your journey with us today.
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Last Updated:10/12/2023 14:26

[rogerw]

I was caught up in this. i arrived at PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) to catch the 1005 to BPW^» (Bristol Parkway - next trains) to find the concourse heaving. nothing happened until a late running 1130 to BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains) was announced which caused a stampede towards platform 3. A large number were refused access to the platform as the train was already full. Other trains were announced, but nothing for south Wales. I eventually left on the 1330 to BRI, for a connection to BPW, as there was no indication as to when a south Wales service would depart. That train was full and standing to Bath. I eventually arrived 4¼ hours late.

[NickB]

Points failure at Slough. Delays. Again.

[1st fan]

The whole incident last night demonstrates why the railway needs to be properly staffed, and the need for a guard to be on every train. You’re putting one staff member in charge of potentially 1000 passengers welfare and safety whilst also looking after the train itself.
One lone driver will not be able to safely evacuate a train on their own and considering there were around 10 stranded trains it takes a lot of resource to evacuate them, and it’s not a swift process.. You also have the added complication of 25kV of overhead cables on the ground, that’s enough to give more than a tickle if you were to come into contact with it.
At the end of the day, with limited resources, you have to make a choice. Focus on freeing the damaged train so you can get things moving which enables train to train evacuations or simply go straight to evacuating everyone to ballast which is a very long and resource intensive process with substantially more risk.

Obviously there is a simpler alternative. Maintain the infrastructure!

As per usual there is a politician trying to use the incident for their own ends without having a clue:

  Tory mayoral candidate Susan Hall called on Sadiq Khan, who is the TfL^» (Transport for London - about) chair, to “make a full apology to those affected”.

She said: “What happened on the Elizabeth line was undoubtedly distressing for thousands of passengers. I hope TfL gets to the bottom of how this happened, so it can ensure this never happens again.”

https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/travel-chaos-hits-rush-hour-202032481.html

Clearly she has a full grasp of the situation, what infrastructure was affected, who owns/maintains it and what caused the infrastructure to fail before making that statement. Obviously she should be the main witness at any investigation with that amazing knowledge.

Quite how TFL^▸ (Transport for London) are going to ensure that an incident involving Network Rail infrastructure and potentially trains from another TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) is beyond me.

Maybe she is subtly suggesting TFL should run all the trains out of Paddington and that will be a manifesto promise.