Maintenance problems affecting WoE services

[whole diary]

[bradshaw]

Mentioned by SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) yesterday but now with service revision until further notice. Seems to need three trains to get to Waterloo from west of Salisbury!
 RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) shows FIVE cancelled services west of Salisbury by 08.15.

Another forum suggests that this is due to contamination of fuel affecting a number of units

  Cancellations to services between Basingstoke and Exeter St Davids
Due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time between Basingstoke and Exeter St Davids fewer trains are able to run on all lines.
What's Going On:
Train services running through these stations may be cancelled, delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.
What We're Doing About It:
Yesterday, we were informed that many of our diesel fleet needed repairs at the same time. Unfortunately this issue has continued into today.
Until further notice, the following service alterations will take place.
- Services between London Waterloo and Exeter St Davids will run between Salisbury and Exeter St Davids only. Trains may have to run at reduced speed between these stations and due to the single line sections along this route trains may be delayed awaiting to pass a train in the opposite direction.
- A shuttle service will operate between Salisbury and Basingstoke
If you require a train between London Waterloo and Basingstoke, you are advised to board one of our services between London Waterloo and Weymouth, Poole and Portsmouth via Eastleigh or a stopping service to Basingstoke.

[Mark A]

Fuel contamination...? That's an issue that's on a range from 'High impact' to 'Terrible'.

Mark

[bradshaw]

Paul Clifton not being optimistic about it, presumably more information will emerge over the day.

https://twitter.com/paulcliftonbbc/status/1649317160622370817?s=61&t=VlafMC5gF9tidw36b1Y8JQ

[bobm]

News release just issued by South Western Railway includes the phrase

"•   Trains have been affected by a problem with fuel meaning fewer services can operate"

[Mark A]

Paul Clifton reporting that it's precipitated by an issue with biofuel content.

Mark

[Red Squirrel]

Paul Clifton reporting that it's precipitated by an issue with biofuel content.

Mark

He also mentioned a 'big job'. Yuck. Glad I don't have to clean that out.

[Timmer]

Expecting older diesel engines to be happy to run on fuel with added vegetables may have been a tad optimistic.

Is there another rail line in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) that suffers more misfortune (other than the Transwilts) that the West of England line suffers? You can understand why it gets the name the mule.

I suspect our member for Templecombe may have something to say about the latest misfortune to hit the WoE line.

[JayMac]

The member for Templecombe just hopes the issue is resolved before his trip to the Isle of Man!

Expecting older diesel engines to be happy to run on fuel with added vegetables may have been a tad optimistic..

How else will they get their five a day?

[bradshaw]

Message from SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) to SERUG today

    I wanted to make you aware of an issue currently affecting our diesel
fleet, operating on the West of England line between Basingstoke and
Exeter and between Southampton and Salisbury via Romsey.

After becoming aware that some of our trains running on this route have
not been performing as well as expected, we then discovered a problem
with the fuel that these trains use. This is causing performance issues
and means they cannot travel at their usual speeds. Trains that have
reported problems are being taken out of service for inspection and the
replacement of engine filters.

In order to be able to accommodate these additional inspections and
repairs, and to try and minimise short notice delays and cancellations,
our control team has had to reduce the timetabled frequency of services
as of today (Friday 21st April) until further notice. A summary of the
changes are as follows:

   * One train per hour will operate between Basingstoke and Salisbury
   * One train every two hours will operate between Salisbury and Exeter
St Davids
   * One train every two hours will operate between Southampton Central
and Salisbury via Romsey
   * Services to Westbury and Yeovil Pen Mill will not run

We expect to face this issue for several days as investigations continue
and engineering mitigations are put in place. We will of course provide
a further update with more information when we can. I would take this
opportunity to apologise for the delays and disruption that will still
be caused despite the mitigations we are taking.

[stuving]

Reported on BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) South news at lunchtime as due to the small biofuel component of the diesel causing filters to get blocked. It was not made clear whether this biofuel was as intended (though the consequence obviously was not), or whether it was contaminated (i.e. by something that should not be there).

[TaplowGreen]

Wouldn't it have been an idea to test it before using it?

[Clan Line]

Ah ............I get it now.  "Net Zero"  =  NO trains.  Brilliant !!!! ......................

[paul7575]

Wouldn't it have been an idea to test it before using it?

I was wondering about this, because nothing said so far today suggests the use of biodiesels is new, does it?

Paul 

[didcotdean]

Clifton says everything was fine until a couple of days ago and it is limited to Salisbury, pointing towards either a bad fuel batch or something up with the tank/filters there.

[bradshaw]

Previous use but not sure if it was introduced fleet wide

 One of the SWT^▸ (South West Trains) fleet of Class 159s, 159 007, was chosen to take part in a Network Rail bio-fuel test in 2008 [2]. It ran for several months on a mixture of diesel, soya bean and oil seed rape oil. The fuel mixture did not affect performance or cause any damage to the engines of the unit though was found to be more expensive than conventional fuel.

https://topstastic.blogspot.com/2016/01/class-159.html

https://m.stagecoachgroup.com/media/news-releases/2008/2008-08-19a.aspx