Faulty HSTs - 4 November

[whole diary]

[charles_uk]

Journeycheck suggests a lot of faulty HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) on the Cotswold Line this morning:

"05:28 Hereford to London Paddington due 08:29
This train will call additionally at Kingham.
This is due to a fault on a train in front of this one.

06:42 Hereford to London Paddington due 09:47
This train has been delayed at Colwall by 19 minutes, has been further delayed at Evesham and is now 25 minutes late.
This train has started from Colwall.
This train will no longer call at Hereford and Ledbury.
This is due to a fault on this train.

07:10 Moreton-In-Marsh to London Paddington due 08:51
This train will be started from Oxford.
This train will no longer call at Moreton-in-Marsh, Kingham, Charlbury and Hanborough.
This is due to a fault on this train."

Probably not the full story but a frustrating morning for those travelling.

[bobm]

There was talk of a lot of slippery rails on that route this morning.

[brcw2]

The announcements on the 06:42 from Hereford allegedly said that the delay was due to carriages without lights, though they still weren't on later in the journey - passengers were not allowed in those carriages.

At Kingham, the information screens were having a bit of confusion earlier in the morning: I arrived there at 06:20 to see a train leaving, next to a display board saying that the 06:24 was on time.  It turned out that that was the train before, running late rather than the 06:24 leaving early.  The 06:24, then variously was announced as on time, disappeared from the boards (and realtime info claimed it had already left) then reappeared as running late. 

Full credit to whoever put on the extra stop at 07:03 though, to catch some of the traffic that should have been on the cancelled 07:20, which caught even more of that traffic thanks to its late running.

[charles_uk]

Full credit to whoever put on the extra stop at 07:03 though, to catch some of the traffic that should have been on the cancelled 07:20, which caught even more of that traffic thanks to its late running.

The fact the 0528 Hereford - Paddington was running late and could pick up passengers for the cancelled 0710 from Moreton-in-Marsh was a sort of bonus as, otherwise, it's the two coach 0653 Worcester Foregate Street - Oxford that takes the brunt.

[IndustryInsider]

At Kingham, the information screens were having a bit of confusion earlier in the morning: I arrived there at 06:20 to see a train leaving, next to a display board saying that the 06:24 was on time.  It turned out that that was the train before, running late rather than the 06:24 leaving early.  The 06:24, then variously was announced as on time, disappeared from the boards (and realtime info claimed it had already left) then reappeared as running late. 

Welcome to the forum.

As you may know the information screen accuracy on the Cotswold Line remains patchy, though slightly better than it was with the old system, due to it relying on manual reports from signal boxes on the route at almost all locations.  This means that wrong information will be displayed if a report is missed or entered incorrectly, and trains will disappear from the displays at places when they are overdue.  For example, if a train has left Moreton 5 minutes late, if it then gets further delayed en-route to Kingham it will disappear shortly after that 5 minute delay period as there is no ability to report at Kingham.

The reasonably modern signalling controlled from Evesham and Ascott boxes may move to Didcot signalling centre one day, and old fashioned signalling at Moreton and Norton Junction (along with Worcester) may also be replaced, and that would allow for more automatic reports but until then I can't see any improvement unless a GPS system is installed on the trains and interfaces with the GSM-R^▸ (Global System for Mobile communications - Railway.) radio and CIS^▸ (Customer Information System) systems.

[brcw2]

As you may know the information screen accuracy on the Cotswold Line remains patchy, though slightly better than it was with the old system, due to it relying on manual reports from signal boxes on the route at almost all locations.  This means that wrong information will be displayed if a report is missed or entered incorrectly, and trains will disappear from the displays at places when they are overdue.  For example, if a train has left Moreton 5 minutes late, if it then gets further delayed en-route to Kingham it will disappear shortly after that 5 minute delay period as there is no ability to report at Kingham.

Thank you - it's useful to have some understanding of why we get such confusing messages.  It's particularly annoying to sit at a station along the line and watch the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) app reporting on your train's progress along the line, when you know full well that nothing's come past!

[stuving]

The reasonably modern signalling controlled from Evesham and Ascott boxes may move to Didcot signalling centre one day, and old fashioned signalling at Moreton and Norton Junction (along with Worcester) may also be replaced, and that would allow for more automatic reports but until then I can't see any improvement unless a GPS system is installed on the trains and interfaces with the GSM-R^▸ (Global System for Mobile communications - Railway.) radio and CIS^▸ (Customer Information System) systems.

This should be available once SETs^▸ (Super Express Train (now IET)) take over almost all services. The IEP^▸ (Intercity Express Program / Project.) spec. calls for GPS-based SDO^▸ (Selective Door Opening), and the built-in infrastructure monitoring (not always on all trains) also needs it, and in one case needs differential GPS. However, it's not been put in as a train sub-system serving other needs, just implied in the various capability requirements. And of course, even if the train knows where it is, communicating that to the rest of the world has to be provided too, and that's not in the spec.

All SETs will have AVI - an RFID tag specified by NR^» (Network Rail - home page). If they put in readers that gives another way to know where each train is, at least at stations. As its use for CIS not safety-critical, putting those in should cost a lot less than if it's for signalling.

[IndustryInsider]

Let's hope the boffins can make that interface with the CIS^▸ (Customer Information System) systems then.  I'm not sure it will be as high up the priority list as I would like.  The GSM-R^▸ (Global System for Mobile communications - Railway.) system also knows where each train is to a reasonable level of accuracy (an individual cell area), which could in theory also provide much more accurate train location monitoring on routes such as the Cotswold Line, but as far as I know there's no plans to develop such a interface.