Line problem, Reading / Twyford, causing major disruption tonight (9 May 2011)

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

Sounds bad

It was indeed a bad day on the railways, animationmilo - but welcome to the Coffee Shop forum, anyway! 

[6 OF 2 redundant adjunct of unimatrix 01]

talking of displacement 142064 plus 143619 on 0740 Paignton to BTM^▸ (Bristol Temple Meads (strictly, it should be BRI) but BTM is a commonly used alternative)) replacing hst..... is/was this service busy?

[bobm]

Don't know but it was 11 late by Bristol and was terminated.

[ChrisB]

talking of displacement 142064 plus 143619 on 0740 Paignton to BTM^▸ (Bristol Temple Meads (strictly, it should be BRI) but BTM is a commonly used alternative)) replacing hst..... is/was this service busy?

That would be BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains).....?

Don't know but it was 11 late by Bristol and was terminated.

Which is where it was due to finish its journey.....

[Bob_Blakey]

The 0740 Paignton - 1138 Paddington via Brizzle is generally rammed between Torbay & Exeter, largely with a mix of incoming Exeter College students and commuters.
It also ran as a 2 x 2 DMU^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) as far as BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains) a couple of weeks back when the ECS^▸ (Empty Coaching Stock) HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) from Laira failed before departure.

[bobm]

talking of displacement 142064 plus 143619 on 0740 Paignton to BTM^▸ (Bristol Temple Meads (strictly, it should be BRI) but BTM is a commonly used alternative)) replacing hst..... is/was this service busy?

That would be BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains).....?

Don't know but it was 11 late by Bristol and was terminated.

Which is where it was due to finish its journey.....

Not according to FGW^▸ (First Great Western) website an HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) was due to take up the reins from Temple Meads but about 10 minutes after the units arrived from Paignton the onward service was cancelled.

[Louis94]

Service ran as 1Z12, left Bristol about 10 minutes late, however it was reported No Log until just after Swindon.

[bobm]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page)

Seems the delays in the Reading area on 9th May were the worst across the country last month.

Cows on the line among top delays

Cows on the line led to 15 train cancellations on Britain's rail network in May, Network Rail has said.

The incident on the West Coast line between Nuneaton and Rugby came fifth in a new listing of top delays from the company behind the rail infrastructure.

Signal failure on the Western route near Reading, which saw 139 cancellations, was top, followed by power failure and theft of cable.

On average, 93.7% of trains ran on time in May, matching the figure for 2010.

This is the first time the list of the top five incidents the company is responsible for in a month has been published, Network Rail said.

Power failure caused by overhead wires resulted in 101 train cancellations on the East coast line between Stoke and Tallington junction, the list showed.

There were a total of 95 cancellations caused by two incidents of cable theft - on the East Coast line near Scunthorpe and on the Anglia route between Chelmsford and Witham.

Above average

The incident involving cows on the line took place on 27 May.

It comes after cows got on to the line between Swindon and Didcot in January, causing delays on the main line to Paddington when one of them was hit by a train.

Among train companies, only the East Coast company (85.9%) and West Coast operator Virgin Trains (89.6%) had punctuality of less than 90% in May.

The best-performing company last month was the London to Tilbury and Southend operator c2c which ran 97.5% of trains on time.

Merseyrail, London Overground, Arriva Trains Wales and First TransPennine Express all had above average punctuality in the month.

[hornbeam]

I know some issues are down to cable theft, but is the signalling getting less reliable? Also is the 1960^s signalling being replaced? I notice a few new signal heads popping up but nothing like a major replacement. Also, when the GW^» (Great Western - used as an abbreviation for the area / lines under the Great Western franchise, as opposed to FGW which includes "First", the company operating them too. For tickets - about) mainline was done most of the cables were put in sand filled trenches. So a cable fault means new cables above ground, is this correct? 

[ChrisB]

Why wouldn't they just replace the cables in the trenches?

[hornbeam]

From what I remember when I did work experience its because they were so deep in the ground, and the worry is of moving other cables alongside could damage them in the process. The advantage was that rats couldn^t get to them and of course now cable thefts, but makes repairs much harder.

[Electric train]

I know some issues are down to cable theft, but is the signalling getting less reliable? Also is the 1960^s signalling being replaced? I notice a few new signal heads popping up but nothing like a major replacement. Also, when the GW^» (Great Western - used as an abbreviation for the area / lines under the Great Western franchise, as opposed to FGW which includes "First", the company operating them too. For tickets - about) mainline was done most of the cables were put in sand filled trenches. So a cable fault means new cables above ground, is this correct? 

Some cable were buried in the ground and yes they suffered from damage and are difficult to fault find and repair, also the civil engineers are not keen of trenches along side the railway destabilises embankments and cuttings etc.

The GW Mainline is having substantial work done, Crossrail, Reading rebuild and electrification there are also a number of resignalling / relocking / renewals programs in the pipeline