Signalling fault between Bath and Bristol - 5 & 6 December 2017

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Cancellations to services between Bristol Temple Meads and Bath Spa
Due to a fault with the signalling system between Bristol Temple Meads and Bath Spa all lines are closed.
Train services running through these stations may be cancelled, delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until 21:00 05/12.
Customer Advice
Due to the extent of the disruption, affected customers are only advised to travel where absolutely necessary and alternative arrangements should be made where possible.
For all affected customers, tickets valid for travel today will also be accepted for travel tomorrow (6th December 2017).

Chaotic evening ... I was on 17:44 Trowbridge to Bath Spa (headed for London and beyond) which stopped at Bradford-on-Avon with "don't know how long we'll be here".  Back to Westbury on a Portsmouth, then the 18:32 to Swindon.  Heartstopping moment outside Trowbridge as there was a train ahead in the platform ....but they emptied that out , reversed it at Bradford Junction, and invited all the passengers onto the Swindon train.  Cosy - 79 passengers.

Top marks to the conductor (one of our regulars) as he sorted people out - some with long distance journeys who were going to have trouble completing. Top marks also for calling for me through the train to ensure I hadn't missed Melksham before we left there!

Even in the disruption, 90% of people are very good about it - especially when there are people there trying to help them.

[ChrisB]

Reading this stuck at Knebworth on the up fast line on a Cambridge-KGX fast - stuck behind train with wires round its pantograph - a thing still to come on GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)!

Been here 90mins so far. Possibly reversing to Stevenage says driver. But he's awaiting news from signaller. Could be a long night.

[IndustryInsider]

Hope you got on the move again, ChrisB? And I hope (and think) GWML^▸ (Great Western Main Line) electrification will be much more robust than the BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) ‘done on the cheap’ ECML^▸ (East Coast Main Line) electrification.

[Thatcham Crossing]

Caught up in this today indirectly as my parents were passengers on Northern Belle, which for them was a round-robin (via Swindon, Gloucester, Newport, Cardiff and Bristol) starting and finishing at Bath Spa.

They were due back into Bath at 1751, and I was waiting on the platform for them when things started to go awry (OTT^▸ (Open Train Times website) telling me the train was still at BTM^▸ (Bristol Temple Meads (strictly, it should be BRI)) at the planned arrival time). Only train I saw move was a terminated west-bound 158 which was turned-around back to Westbury with advice for Reading and London passengers to get on it and go that way.

After around 45 mins it was clear that nothing was moving, so we drove to BTM to pick them up. Chaos outside both stations with buses being organised.

The Northern Belle itself was due to transit to Norwich this evening, and looks currently (2220) like it's somehow made it's way into Essex and is running only about 45L.

[froome]

I was travelling from Bristol to Bath this evening. Spent 45 minutes at Lawrence Hill waiting for a delayed train to Oldfield Park from there (the screen at the station wasn't working so didn't know how long the delay was likely to be there, but did see the Northern Belle going through to BTM^▸ (Bristol Temple Meads (strictly, it should be BRI))). Train eventually arrived and got to BTM where all Bath Spa travellers jammed onto it as the London service was being diverted via Parkway. Incredibly uncomfortable. It waited on the platform for a long time, then said cancelled on the platform screen so we all got out. I waited around BTM for 2 hours, watching services say they were on time and then become cancelled. At one stage the 1923 to Portsmouth was on time on the screen at platform 9 at 1923, but at 1925 the screen said it was now on platform 1 due at 1927, so a huge mass of people went over there, by which time it said it was cancelled. Announcements said we could use local buses, so I went out to see about catching the X39 - the queue was at least 150 yards long so gave up on that idea. We were told there weren't any extra buses being put on, so I eventually decided to cycle back to Bath (I had a Brompton with me) and found myself being passed by rail replacement buses. What a complete mess. Got home getting on for 10pm.

Most journeys I make from Bristol to Bath seem now to be affected by 'signalling problems in the Bath area'. Can someone who knows about these things explain what is wrong with the signals there?

[grahame]

Reading this stuck at Knebworth on the up fast line on a Cambridge-KGX fast - stuck behind train with wires round its pantograph - a thing still to come on GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)!

Been here 90mins so far. Possibly reversing to Stevenage says driver. But he's awaiting news from signaller. Could be a long night.

Hope you got on the move again, ChrisB? And I hope (and think) GWML^▸ (Great Western Main Line) electrification will be much more robust than the BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) ‘done on the cheap’ ECML^▸ (East Coast Main Line) electrification.

Coincidentally, my final destination was Stevenage ... reached on a train that got in 57 minutes late.  Can't grumble too much as  had it left King's Cross on time I would have missed it.

[ChrisB]

I didn't get home. Bailed out at Stevenage just before 2200 & now just checking out of the IBIS. Hopefully, they'll pass last night's ticket to get into London. We'll see.

[grahame]

I didn't get home. Bailed out at Stevenage just before 2200 & now just checking out of the IBIS. Hopefully, they'll pass last night's ticket to get into London. We'll see.

Oh I'm not leaving the same hotel for a further 30 minutes ... small world

[ChrisB]

Well, I dud travel on last night's ticket - no revenue staff & barriers wide open (have Travelcard season, so used that to exit). Now to claim delay/repay. Great Northern allow claims after just 15mins apparently, but as mine was already 2hours+ when bailing out, I get the full return fare refunded it seems.

[RA]

Repeat of last night. Signalling failed again at approximately 10:30.

[rogerpatenall]

I get the full return fare refunded it seems.

I hope that your claim is straightforward. This is probably totally the wrong thread for this moan (sorry!), but here goes!
We had a day return with 1st class upgrades on Sunday Euston to Manchester. No trains, and the only way to claim a refund from Virgin seems to be to use their provided phone number (at a cost). I spoke with the handler who agreed that a refund was appropriate but was put on hold whilst he got authority from 'the Team'. 13 minutes later, he comes back to confirm. I don't know what that cost, or how much Virgin earn from the call, but after a day like Sunday why don't the handlers have authority to settle straightforward claims. The point has been made to Virgin.

[ChrisB]

Indeed, Virgin moved live a website upgrade before it was fully tested (they were warned before moving it from Beta to live status too!) which means online claims can't (yet) be made.

This also means changing an Advance ticket for the price of the difference plus admin fee in advance of travel can't be done online either....pain in the proverbial, both.

[Timmer]

Repeat of last night. Signalling failed again at approximately 10:30.

Yup, the latest:

Due to a fault with the signalling system between Bath Spa and Bristol Temple Meads:
Train services running through these stations may be delayed by up to 20 minutes or revised. Disruption is expected until 14:45 06/12.

[WelshBluebird]

Repeat of last night. Signalling failed again at approximately 10:30.

Yup, the latest:

Due to a fault with the signalling system between Bath Spa and Bristol Temple Meads:
Train services running through these stations may be delayed by up to 20 minutes or revised. Disruption is expected until 14:45 06/12.

They like to underplay things don't they! May be delayed or revised? They may want to look at the live departure boards that list the cancellations! (of course it was described the same last night, despite nothing stopping at Keynsham for several hours!).

[Thatcham Crossing]

As mentioned above, I was at Bath Spa yesterday at the time things started to go wrong.

First, the automated announcements said there were delays to due to "animals on the railway".
Then, some of them changed to "a problem with signalling equipment"
Then, there was human intervention stating that there was a "complete signals failure between Bath and the Bristol area"

Then multiple announcements for the same trains, stating "delayed by xx minutes", then "cancelled", then "delayed" (repeat ad nauseum) with manual human interventions to try to tell us what was really happening.

The automated announcements (CIS^▸ (Customer Information System)?) are really about as useful as a chocolate fireguard when big problems occur, and should probably just be turned-off or inibited somehow?