Oil and bad weather disrupts Cornish rail services - 19 November 2012

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

From This Is Cornwall:

Train services across Cornwall were disrupted this morning due to wet weather and oil on the tracks.

One train on its way to London Paddington slipped straight through Truro station and missed its stop by four carriages due to oil on the railway line.

The high tide and strong winds also caused a track circuit failure between Penzance and St Erth, delaying several trains by a total of 58 minutes.

The problems started when the 6.45am Penzance to Paddington train reached Truro and overshot the station, a Network Rail spokesman said.

The driver reported poor rail head conditions as the reason for slipping and an inspection later revealed contamination issues, which they believed might be oil.

Later in the morning, the 6.24am train from Bristol to Penzance was held up at St Erth as the tide reached its peak in strong winds and rain, sending waves crashing over the shore.

The stormy conditions cause a track circuit failure, which affected signalling in the area for several hours.

Network Rail said six trains in total were affected by the signalling problems, but were running as normal again by early afternoon.

[Maxwell P]

You can take the alleged oil with a pinch of salt. More down to a prolonged dry period, followed by misty light rain and condition black leaf fall.