Slippery rails, flooding, landslips and other issues - November 2016 (merged topic)

[whole diary]

[stuving]

If they don't work in those conditions Hitachi are in breach of contract.  IIUC it is a specific contract requirement.

I don't think we know, really, what specification was agreed by GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) and Eversholt with Hitachi for these AT300s. It might not be the IEP^▸ (Intercity Express Program / Project. This will offer more capacity on routes, save money, give a consistent and safe service and meet customer requirements. Intended to replace HSTs.) version, which is in any case pretty vague:

TS1983 Full Functionality of the IEP Trains must be maintained during and after exposure to salt water spray and such exposure must not cause excessive cosmetic degradation of exposed surfaces, components and equipment.

Though you'd think they would need to be fit for the route they were obtained for.

[1st fan]

From that Plymouth Herald report:

A number of Crosscountry trains have broken down after being hit by heavy spray at Dawlish. Passengers can switch to Great Western Railway services which have, so far, not been affected.

There's the answer, then: don't try to use Voyagers through Dawlish. 

What is the likelihood of the new GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) bi-modes surviving the Dawlish spray? I do not know whether it was a pure coincidence, but one of the recent late night test runs of the new train was cancelled on the same night that high winds coincided with a high tide at Dawlish.

Was on an HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) heading to Penzance going past Dawlish a few years ago when there were high seas and a strong wind. Driver said we'd be waiting for a lull in the waves before moving on so would be there a couple of minutes. The children in the American family sitting around the table opposite me said they wanted to smell the sea air. So Mum Dad and the two children go out to the vestibule to get a good snort of the Devon atmosphere. A couple of very large waves later they came back drenched to the skin but I wasn't disappointed though they lived up to their stereotype. There was the usual whooping and comments about a wild ride I associate with those from the USA. The mother had to quickly go to the ladies and put another top on because she was now sporting the wet t-shirt look.

[Chris from Nailsea]

 

[bobm]

The sea was starting to look a bit rough when I passed around 1pm yesterday - and that was just after low tide.

[TaplowGreen]

Lots of delays and alterations from/to the Westcountry today due to "slippery rails"............is this because of leaves or that other rare and extreme atmospheric phenomenon in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom), weather that is a bit chilly/frosty? 

[ChrisB]

leaves. NR^» (Network Rail - home page) don't appear to have done aas good a job as recently. I think one of their units has suffered a failure?

[IndustryInsider]

Probably a bit of both.  In other words, frosty leaves.  Some of the worst slipping I've encountered actually came on a fairly benign but cold autumn morning with little wind and no overnight rain at all.  Leaf residue coated in a hard frost meant the railhead was very treacherous though making rather a mockery of the adhesion forecast of 'yellow' for that day.

[stuving]

It depends on the train, too. Our leaf problems seem to be over now, and in any case it wasn't Wokingham where the slippage mostly happened, it being pretty level anyway. But I heard one train struggling for adhesion tonight - 34046 Braunton, as it happens, on a rare planned stop here.

Which is  reminder that whatever the problems now, they were far worse with steam. Or they would have been with trains of today's length - I don't suppose anything the length of the Cathedrals Express stopped at Wokingham, as the platforms only held four coaches. Even now the 10-car extension is still being built, so there's less than 160 m allowing for the loco + friends behind the signal sighting line.