Old Oak Common/Paddington blockade, December 2024. Service changes, diverts, engineering etc

[whole diary]

[TaplowGreen]

From a train driver at Euston this afternoon.......tweeted under a pseudonym for obvious reasons given Gareth Dennis's fate!

Wow. I've never seen Euston as crazy as this.
Megaphones and police being used for crowd control. Gateline shut because of a train being full and standing to Crewe.

This is not my idea of a safe environment, and I work to this station.

[ChrisB]

Railnews sent out an email last week....I wonder why?

September, 2024

We listen to your safety concerns

It takes courage to raise safety concerns. You could be stepping out of your comfort zone or making yourself more visible. Fear of judgement or repercussions can stop people in their tracks. The important thing is to be heard. Sometimes, using our voice to raise a safety concern doesn’t seem to make a difference. Is anyone listening? Are they listening carefully enough to get the point? That person may not be ready to listen right now. They may never properly listen. But if you feel that no one is really listening, remember—you have options. There are people who want to listen. Perhaps this is your line manager, a supervisor, a site manager, or internal reporting channels that will help your concerns reach health and safety professionals where you work. You can turn to union representatives or colleagues in listening roles, such as workplace wellbeing champions. If you prefer to report concerns in confidence, you could speak to CIRAS^▸ (Confidential Incident Reporting and Analysis System). We’re a confidential safety hotline. We protect your identity and make sure your concern reaches the right people who want to listen. You can also use CIRAS to share safety concerns with companies that aren’t your employer.
Make the right call and report it

Use the CIRAS reporting app:

[Timmer]

From a train driver at Euston this afternoon.......tweeted under a pseudonym for obvious reasons given Gareth Dennis's fate!

Wow. I've never seen Euston as crazy as this.
Megaphones and police being used for crowd control. Gateline shut because of a train being full and standing to Crewe.

This is not my idea of a safe environment, and I work to this station.

‘Euston’ was trending earlier on X with the now usual pictures of Euston absolutely rammed full of people. I still think having GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) using Euston when Paddington is closed is a crazy idea. The station cannot cope with the services it has now without adding GWR trains and their passengers.

[TaplowGreen]

From a train driver at Euston this afternoon.......tweeted under a pseudonym for obvious reasons given Gareth Dennis's fate!

Wow. I've never seen Euston as crazy as this.
Megaphones and police being used for crowd control. Gateline shut because of a train being full and standing to Crewe.

This is not my idea of a safe environment, and I work to this station.

‘Euston’ was trending earlier on X with the now usual pictures of Euston absolutely rammed full of people. I still think having GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) using Euston when Paddington is closed is a crazy idea. The station cannot cope with the services it has now without adding GWR trains and their passengers.

Well, if yesterday was anything to go by, this clip and the attached picture from Euston yesterday is what GWR customers have to look forward to............

https://x.com/JohnBrewin_/status/1837942267824513334

[IndustryInsider]

I don’t know, it’s almost as if we need a rebuilt Euston station with loads more platforms and space to help the legacy station cope. 

Perhaps at the same time there could be a new, reliable High Speed line to help the legacy trains cope as people flock back to rail travel?

[Electric train]

I don’t know, it’s almost as if we need a rebuilt Euston station with loads more platforms and space to help the legacy station cope. 

Perhaps at the same time there could be a new, reliable High Speed line to help the legacy trains cope as people flock back to rail travel?

The 1960's design of Euston was based on diminishing numbers of passengers and the view of Intercity would be more "Airline" style travel and not the increase in passenger numbers seen in the past 20 years.  Add to that Euston is constrained with only really one entrance, the Western side being closed off due to HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)) which also means the loss of a number of platforms.
There were plans 15 years ago to convert the Parcels Deck into a new concourse, NR^» (Network Rail - home page) never got the funding for this because HS2 would solve all of Euston's problems as the whole station would be rebuilt, the whole station rebuild was shelved because of the cost HS2 Ltd basically saying to NR your on your own

[ChrisB]

I suspect that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) will terminate at Reading should Euston ever get to that state while they are using it. Or Ealing Broadway perhaps for one or two an hour.

[eightonedee]

A thought..

We seem to have quite a serious case of "thread drift" here - shouldn't most of these recent posts be on the thread about what will happen during the blockades rather than the Lord Hendy one?

[Timmer]

I suspect that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) will terminate at Reading should Euston ever get to that state while they are using it. Or Ealing Broadway perhaps for one or two an hour.

I'm expecting that to happen anyway. Not just because of issues at Euston, but because of shortages of traincrew. Off at Reading and all pile onto the Reading-Waterloo stoppers.

[Chris from Nailsea]

A thought..

We seem to have quite a serious case of "thread drift" here - shouldn't most of these recent posts be on the thread about what will happen during the blockades rather than the Lord Hendy one?

Agreed - now done. 

[Noggin]

Going into Paddington yesterday there seem to be quite a few new OLE^▸ (Overhead Line Equipment, more often "OHLE") gantries on the north side around Old Oak Common, presumably to enable the track to be slewed.   

[TonyK]

A thought..

We seem to have quite a serious case of "thread drift" here - shouldn't most of these recent posts be on the thread about what will happen during the blockades rather than the Lord Hendy one?

Agreed - now done. 

Thank you.

[Chris from Nailsea]

That's what I'm here for (mostly).

[Western Pathfinder]

A long time ago in a land not so far from here,when Paddington was Shut our little train service up to the smoke used to get sent Of to the strange world down by the water,provided that it had the right sort of damper links,on other occasions a trip to the north was on the cards being sent to Marly could this not be possible today ?...

[bobm]

One of the reasons given for not going to London Waterloo was the greater distance the IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train) would have to run on diesel.   This would then reduce their range and affect the number of diagrams needed.