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

[whole diary]

[TaplowGreen]

.......and for today, we have.....

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading

Due to a fault with the signalling system between London Paddington and Reading fewer trains are able to run on all lines.

Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled, delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until 09:00 15/12.

[TaplowGreen]

.......and for today, we have.....

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading

Due to a fault with the signalling system between London Paddington and Reading fewer trains are able to run on all lines.

Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled, delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until 09:00 15/12.

Update: Situation deteriorated - disruption now expected until 1100


Network Rail are now suffering from multiple infrastructure issues between Reading and London Paddington.

In response we're entering a pre-agreed contingency plan whereby there's effectively no service between Reading and London Paddington. No more trains will depart Reading towards London Paddington.

Those trains already between Reading and London Paddington will complete their journey to clear the section.

[BBM]

I've just been monitoring 1K03, the 06:00 from Bedwyn (which I used to regularly take from Twyford when I commuted from there) - it left Bedwyn 5 minutes late and arrived at PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) 49 late having taken 34 minutes to get from West Drayton to Southall.

[bradshaw]

Another one today but short lived this time

  Following a fault with the signalling system between London Paddington and Reading some lines have now reopened. (08.12)

[TaplowGreen]

Another one today but short lived this time

  Following a fault with the signalling system between London Paddington and Reading some lines have now reopened. (08.12)

Not so short lived unfortunately.....disruption now till 1500

[Interceptor]

As a life long railway engineer since 1978 and on Western TV area since 2007, I find it embarrassing that our infrastructure appears to be as fragile as apparently it is.
What I find worse is that internally within the business nothing appears to be getting said as how the situation is being addressed.
today, the Chief Executive was urging members of staff to complete the diversity and inclusion survey.......

[JayMac]

What I find worse is that internally within the business nothing appears to be getting said as how the situation is being addressed.
today, the Chief Executive was urging members of staff to complete the diversity and inclusion survey.......

Surely working for Network Rail isn't a zero sum game and the staff are able to do such a survey alongside their main role? Are you suggesting that doing this survey is somehow affecting the maintenance regime in the Thames Valley? Or suggesting that Andrew Haines is concentrating on this issue to the detriment of other problems?

As CEO^▸ (Chief Executive Officer) I'd hope he was able to multi-task.

https://www.networkrail.co.uk/who-we-are/diversity-and-inclusion/

[TaplowGreen]

What I find worse is that internally within the business nothing appears to be getting said as how the situation is being addressed.
today, the Chief Executive was urging members of staff to complete the diversity and inclusion survey.......

Surely working for Network Rail isn't a zero sum game and the staff are able to do such a survey alongside their main role? Are you suggesting that doing this survey is somehow affecting the maintenance regime in the Thames Valley? Or suggesting that Andrew Haines is concentrating on this issue to the detriment of other problems?

As CEO^▸ (Chief Executive Officer) I'd hope he was able to multi-task.

https://www.networkrail.co.uk/who-we-are/diversity-and-inclusion/

As the esteemed (in some, very dark corners) former Leader of the Labour party used to advise us, albeit in a rather unfortunate context, not everyone "gets" English irony.

I too am sure that Andrew Haines can multi-task, and I look forward at some stage (soon?) to a statement from him setting out what he plans to do to address the utterly woeful performance of the infrastructure in the Thames Valley for which is he accountable.

......as I stood at Maidenhead station earlier today amongst many others, forlornly contemplating the departure boards which displayed an almost universal "cancelled" against each train, I was pleased to be aware of Network Rail's commitment to diversity and inclusion, and having advised the assembled congregation on the platform that whilst their infrastructure is in bits, they could rest assured that strenuous efforts were being made to ascertain all of their employees preferred pronouns, one could sense the atmosphere of gloom lifting 

[eXPassenger]

today, the Chief Executive was urging members of staff to complete the diversity and inclusion survey.......

Well he had plenty of time to complete his copy while on a train last week.

[JayMac]

Irony or not, when attitudes and behaviours can impact safety and workplace harmony on the railways I think such initiatives are very important.

[NickB]

Important Announcement: Trains ARE currently running between Reading and Paddington

[TaplowGreen]

Important Announcement: Trains ARE currently running between Reading and Paddington

.............WERE..........

Delays to services between Reading and London Paddington

Due to a fault with the signalling system between Reading and London Paddington trains have to run at reduced speed.

Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed by up to 20 minutes. Disruption is expected until 10:45 16/12.

Customer Advice
Following a fault with the signalling system in the Southall area trains have to run at reduced speeds.

[Gordon the Blue Engine]

As a life long railway engineer since 1978 and on Western TV area since 2007, I find it embarrassing that our infrastructure appears to be as fragile as apparently it is.
What I find worse is that internally within the business nothing appears to be getting said as how the situation is being addressed.
today, the Chief Executive was urging members of staff to complete the diversity and inclusion survey.......

I too was a lifelong railway engineer.  If to-day's managers are incapable of devising systems to safely evacuate electric trains before the batteries run out you need either better batteries or better management. 

[Electric train]

As a life long railway engineer since 1978 and on Western TV area since 2007, I find it embarrassing that our infrastructure appears to be as fragile as apparently it is.
What I find worse is that internally within the business nothing appears to be getting said as how the situation is being addressed.
today, the Chief Executive was urging members of staff to complete the diversity and inclusion survey.......

What I find worse is that internally within the business nothing appears to be getting said as how the situation is being addressed.
today, the Chief Executive was urging members of staff to complete the diversity and inclusion survey.......

Surely working for Network Rail isn't a zero sum game and the staff are able to do such a survey alongside their main role? Are you suggesting that doing this survey is somehow affecting the maintenance regime in the Thames Valley? Or suggesting that Andrew Haines is concentrating on this issue to the detriment of other problems?

As CEO^▸ (Chief Executive Officer) I'd hope he was able to multi-task.

https://www.networkrail.co.uk/who-we-are/diversity-and-inclusion/

Yes, such surveys can be done alongside our daily rolls in Network Rail for those of us that use laptops in an office, our on track front line colleges have a very often only basic i-phone and access to multi user PC's at the depots.

It just seems that the focus is doing these types of surveys, there's at least 4 of these a year and other "workshops" and events lord able as they are they do take away from the day job ............... which is running trains.

[plymothian]

As a life long railway engineer since 1978 and on Western TV area since 2007, I find it embarrassing that our infrastructure appears to be as fragile as apparently it is.
What I find worse is that internally within the business nothing appears to be getting said as how the situation is being addressed.
today, the Chief Executive was urging members of staff to complete the diversity and inclusion survey.......

I too was a lifelong railway engineer.  If to-day's managers are incapable of devising systems to safely evacuate electric trains before the batteries run out you need either better batteries or better management. 

It's worse, there IS a system - the Elizabeth line had extensive evacuation drills - but it takes too bloody long for everyone to decide to actually put it into practice.  There's always a 'just one more thing' to try to fix the root cause before someone sighs and says 'I suppose we'd better think about evacuation'.