Southern Train Parts at Battersea Park

[whole diary]

[ChrisB]

Reported on twitter last night, with photos



Southern responded

@BBCTravelAlert Services into and out of London Victoria are being disrupted due to a broken down train between Battersea Park and Victoria. No trains are trapped and there were no passengers on the broken down train. As a result, short notice alterations to some services and delays of up to 45 minutes are being experienced. Gatwick Express services have been reduced to half-hourly running.

 Passengers can use South West Trains, Southeastern, Thameslink, London Underground and London buses on any reasonable route.


 On first inspection it appears that the fault lies with a coupling pin on this empty train. This would have automatically applied the brakes. An investigation is already underway into what caused this to happen. Plans are underway to move the train so that normal services can be resumed as soon as possible.

[ChrisB]

Some more photos from twitter....

[PhilWakely]

It is fortunate no passengers were affected. I remember, many moons ago when I was a teenager in the early 1970s, I was travelling from Manchester to Lincoln via Retford Low Level with another trainspotting friend. The train was formed of 6 coaches of Mark I stock hauled by a Brush Type 4 (Class 47 to you youngsters!) - D1516 to be precise!! Me and my friend were the only occupants of the front carriage.

My friend was at the door window as we were pulling away from Retford. There was an very loud bang and jolt and we came to a stand very quickly. My friend was extremely lucky as the coupling between the first and second carriages had completely broken and the fabric ripped off the join. I can't remember exactly what happened after that except to say that we were about two hours late getting to Lincoln.

[paul7575]

I expect inter car couplings are being examined all over the country as a result, this design is by no means unique to this class of EMU^▸ (Electric Multiple Unit).   Probably fitted to DMUs^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) of similar vintage as well.

Paul

[a-driver]

Most modern units these days have vehicles coupled by a semi-permanent bar. 

[JayMac]

And it appears in this case that the coupler bar broke at the carriage end rather than where it joins to the other carriage's coupler.

[grahame]

07:12 London Paddington to Reading due 08:09
Will be formed of 2 coaches instead of 4.
This is due to a shortage of trains because of extra safety inspections.

One of a number of short-forms ... co-incidence, or related?