Great Western Coffee Shop

Cancellations to services at Reading.

Due to a points failure at Reading fewer trains are able to run on the line.
Train services running to and from this station may be cancelled or delayed. Disruption is expected until 11:15 24/01.

Cancellations to services between Didcot Parkway and Reading

Due to a broken down train between Didcot Parkway and Reading some lines are blocked.
Train services running to and from these stations will be cancelled or delayed. Disruption is expected until 10:00 01/02.

Spare a thought for the signallers at TVSC who are trying to keep the trains running west of Reading.  Up passenger trains from the B&H are currently being taken round Reading West curve into Tilehurst P3, and then reversing to get into Reading via the Up Loop.  The UR at Reading West Junction is currently occupied by 435F which failed at Pangbourne earlier this morning but managed to get itself to where it is which, thanks to the Up Loop, allows trains to pass it.

As II said a while ago, the new layout is very flexible.

It was another failed freight, 6A62, which caused most of the problems, failing at Reading West and blocking access to and from both the Feeder Main and Feeder Relief lines as well as the up and down Westbury and the Up Reading West Curve.

Not a good place to stop!  Basically, the only route available through Reading West in either direction was via the Down Reading West Curve, so up trains were sent from there to Tilehurst and then (if heading to Reading) reversing there and running via the Up Passenger Loop (around the other freight) into Reading.  That wouldn't have been possible until the resignalling, so it would have been much worse.   Also, the OHLE on the Down Reading West Curve doesn't get used often, but certainly came in handy today - not that many passengers would have been there to witness it!

Rescue loco has now moved 6A62, so it's 'NWR' (Normal Working Resumed).

How long does it take to change ends on a Class 80x? Is there a potential issue with keying in the train number in what was the rear cab, especially if the train is somewhere it shouldn't be?  I ask because, watching Tratsky maps, it seemed to take longer than it would do in a low tech Turbo etc.

It takes a little longer than something like a Turbo, two or three minutes at a guess, mainly due to having to enter the ATP data.  Plus of course a 9-car takes about 4 minutes to walk through when the driver changes ends, even longer for a 10-car.  The train number shouldn't be a problem, especially if doors aren't opened.

For a reference point, IIRC the allowance for a 5-car IET to change ends is 7 minutes.  That's to immobilise one end, walk to the other, and set-up the other cab.  Of course, at the moment, there may be an additional short delay whilst the driver sanitises the cab controls to their satisfaction.

Several of these cancellations this morning;

07:16 Didcot Parkway to London Paddington due 08:20 will be cancelled.
This is due to damage to the overhead electric wires.

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading

Due to urgent repairs to the track between London Paddington and Reading fewer trains are able to run on all lines.
Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled or delayed by up to 20 minutes. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

lengthy list of cancellations/amendments on Journeycheck - thank God for home working!

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading

Due to a fault with the signalling system between London Paddington and Reading fewer trains are able to run on all lines.

Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled, delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until 08:30 26/02.

Timed at 04:15 - until the end of the day - one heck of an "inspection"??

35+ service running "part route" as I write - mostly Paddington <-> Bedwyn and Paddington <-> Didcot services running west of Reading only.

Edit - this post merged in from "London to Reading" board - grahame

Good start to the week.....

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading

Due to a safety inspection of the track between London Paddington and Reading trains have to run at reduced speed on all lines.
Train services running to and from these stations will be cancelled or delayed by up to 15 minutes. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

Crack in the points on the Down Main Line at Southall West Junction, so a 20mph ESR imposed until the end of service.  No doubt the techs will be keeping a close eye on it throughout the day to ensure it hasn't got any worse, so I guess that is an all day inspection?  :)

Due to a broken down train between London Paddington and Hayes & Harlington fewer trains are able to run on all lines.

Impact:
Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled. Disruption is expected until 08:00 14/04.

Customer Advice:
A broken down Network Rail engineering train is blocking one of the 4 lines to and from Paddington. Local train services operated by Great Western, MTR and Heathrow Express have been reduced as a consequence.

Affecting services to Bristol, Wales & the South West as well as locals

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Hayes & Harlington
Due to a fault with the signalling system between London Paddington and Hayes & Harlington fewer trains are able to run.
Train services running to and from these stations will be cancelled, delayed by up to 40 minutes or revised. Disruption is expected until 14:30 18/04.

Cancellations to services at Reading

Due to a fault with the signalling system at Reading some lines are blocked.

Train services running to and from this station may be cancelled or delayed. Disruption is expected until 07:30 04/05.

Now extended to 08h30

Midday now......seems to be having quite a wide geographical effect.

I blinked and it was 13:30 ....

1500 now

Blink again ...

To explain the shifting timescales, I gather some signalling cables were replaced, but when re-energised the signals were still faulty, so further fault finding is ongoing.

Just had a quick look at Open Trains and realtime Trains. Southcote junction seems to affected. West England trains are being held at various signals presumably talked pass. Line to Basingstoke seems to be closed nothing moving.

Just watched !K22 (1735 RFG Bedwyn (cancelled from Pad) held at Oxford Road Jn for 40 minutes just arrivng at Theale 40 late.

If you ga on real time trains and search for 1K22 you get 8 trains with that number.

2000 now......not blinking any more!

A fault with the signalling system between London Paddington and Ealing Broadway means some lines are blocked. Trains running between these stations may be delayed, cancelled or revised.

Disruption is expected until 11:00.

Alterations to services between Reading and Maidenhead

Due to a fault with the signalling system between Reading and Maidenhead some lines towards London Paddington are disrupted.

Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed by up to 15 minutes or running non stop between Reading and Maidenhead. Disruption is expected until 08:30 08/06.


Updated:

Due to a fault with the signalling system between Reading and Maidenhead some lines towards London Paddington are disrupted.
Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed by up to 15 minutes or running non stop from Reading. Twyford and Maidenhead will not be served. Disruption is expected until 08:30 08/06.
Customer Advice
Due to a signalling problem, only one of the two London bound lines is available. To reduce congestion and delays in the area, GWR and TfL Rail train services are running non-stop between Reading and Slough to reduce congestion and delays.
.
If you are at Twyford or Maidenhead and travelling to stations from Slough to London Paddington, you are advised to travel via Reading and change for connecting train services to Slough and London Paddington.
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If you are travelling from Reading to Twyford or Maidenhead, you are advised to travel via Slough and change for connecting train services to Maidenhead and Twyford.

Delays to services between Maidenhead and London Paddington

Due to a points failure between Maidenhead and London Paddington some lines will be blocked.
Train services running to and from these stations will be delayed by up to 15 minutes. Disruption is expected until 16:00 13/06.

Again.

From National Rail

Seems to becoming far more frequent recently;


A fault with the signalling system between Maidenhead and Slough means some lines are disrupted. Trains running between these stations may be delayed or cancelled.

Disruption is expected until 10:00.

Alterations to services between Reading and London Paddington

Due to a points failure between Reading and London Paddington some lines are closed.
Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed or terminated at and started back from Reading. Disruption is expected until 21:00 01/07.

Just in time for the Friday "rush hour"

Delays to services between Slough and London Paddington

Due to urgent repairs to the track between Slough and London Paddington trains have to run at reduced speed on all lines.

Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed by up to 10 minutes. Disruption is expected until 18:00 02/07.

Customer Advice
One of the 2 lines that run into Paddington is closed following the report of a track defect. Network Rail engineers are investigating, and there may be delays due to congestion in the area.


......and

Delays to services at Reading

Due to trespassers on the railway at Reading all lines are disrupted.

Train services running to and from this station will be delayed. Disruption is expected until 16:30 02/07.

Customer Advice
British Transport Police are chasing a trespasser who is running around the tracks at Reading Station. All trains are stopped as a precaution.

.......and another one.

Seems to be becoming an increasingly common problem (again)


Cancellations to services between Didcot Parkway and Oxford

Due to a fault with the signalling system between Didcot Parkway and Oxford fewer trains are able to run on all lines.
Train services running through these stations may be cancelled, delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until 09:15 03/07.

There has been a significant change to how NR staff access the railway to carry out maintenance and fault repair; on the Wales & Western Region they have phased out completely access to the rail with 'unassisted lookouts'  that is you will no longer see someone with flags and a horn to warn staff of approaching trains.  Other Regions of NR are rapidly reaching the same.

What impact has this had, first more maintenance staff are having to work nights, this has reduced the size of the teams working days thereby stretching the resources to react to faults on days.  Second if the team sent to respond to a fault need to get to equipment that means they need to get onto the track to either walk to equipment or track equipment they need to have a 'Line Block'

There is work being done to improve access to equipment but this is a long lead item, recruiting more staff is unlikely currently due to NR going through a major restructuring due to Covid-19 impact on revenue, the restructuring will result in reduction of NR staff numbers

Thanks that's interesting background.

Probably not a great strategy to let reliability suffer and prolong disruption when the railway is facing a huge loss in business revenue and desperately needs to demonstrate reliability in order to attract more leisure travellers.

Very interesting background, and look ahead too to the future of staffing to deal with immediate faults.  Thank you.

The need to keep constant vigilance on systems and the danger of track staff working on the line anywhere near open lines / running trains was highlighted again this week in a RAIB report (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/safety-digest-032021-llandegai-tunnel/near-miss-with-track-workers-at-llandegai-tunnel-llandygai-gwynedd-13-february-2021) - in this case where one of a pair of lines (double track) was closed, but something went wrong and the workers were on the line that remained open.

This was YET AGAIN another case of a serious safety incident involving staff not directly employed by Network Rail, but Contractors to NR.

Don't be fooled by thinking that 'Orange Army' HV kitted and branded  'Network Rail'  personnel are 'in house' NR directly employed staff; they are increasingly Contractors, Sub Contractors, sub sub Contractors, Consultants and Zero hours agency labourers,
often travelling long distances, especially the latter often from the Welsh Valleys, to unfamiliar locations.

The rules about wearing NR branded PPE are quite strict.   The wearer must have the company name of their Sentinel sponsor.

The use of zero hour contracts has been greatly reduced for safety critical rolls.  The first tier contractor must also monitor the travelling time of its sub contract work force.   The signing in to a work site by the use of a Sentinel card is quite common on large work sites and is increasing in use for small / adhoc work sites.  The sentinel system knows the holders home post code and systems are being trialled to flag up where the post code to site travelling time exceeds 2 hours.

Sentinel is industry standard used by NR, LUL, HS1 etc and will identify anyone 'double shifting' on different infrastructure operators worksites; this used to be quite common in London and SE with people working a night shift on LUL or NR and then doing a day shift on the other 

It is good to know that there are robust systems in place to deal with the nasty smell associated with 'double shiting'...

There have been incidents serious enough for RAIB reporting to note a contributory factor being people working two shifts for different employers, at least one (both?) being safety critical.  The whole wider business of folks doing their safety critical jobs (often with the best intent - to "not let people down") when they have other stuff going on which means they're not on the ball.

Oppppppppppsie  ;D


It is not unknown for NR to remove Contractors / suppliers from the approved list where a contractor / supplier fails to improve their safety management

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading

Due to a fault with the signalling system between London Paddington and Reading all lines are disrupted.

Train services running to and from these stations will be cancelled or delayed by up to 30 minutes. Disruption is expected until 21:30 27/07.

Due to a derailed train between Reading and Reading West:
Impact:
Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled, delayed by up to 10 minutes or diverted between Reading and Reading West. Disruption is expected until 14:00 28/07.

Due to a broken down train between Bedwyn and Reading all lines are blocked.
Train services running to and from these stations will be cancelled or delayed. Disruption is expected until 15:30 22/08.

Cancellations to services between Slough and London Paddington
Due to urgent repairs to the track between Slough and London Paddington fewer trains are able to run.

Train services running to and from these stations will be cancelled or running non stop between Slough and London Paddington. Ealing Broadway will not be served. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

Customer Advice
Network Rail need to attend the slow lines between Slough and London Paddington for urgent repairs. Stopping services between Slough and London Paddington will be unable to call at Ealing Broadway.

Customer Advice
Network Rail need to attend the slow lines between Slough and London Paddington for urgent repairs. Stopping services between Slough and London Paddington will be unable to call at Ealing Broadway.

Network Rail will have upset GWR Relief lines please

Alterations to services at London Paddington

Due to a points failure at London Paddington fewer trains are able to run.
Train services running to and from this station may be terminated at and started back from Reading. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.
Additional Information
Owing to a Points Failure in the London Paddington area, Services originating at Bedwyn or Newbury heading for London Paddington will be terminated at Reading. Passengers are advised to change at Reading for London Paddington.

Services from London Paddington with the destination of Newbury or Bedwyn will be started at Reading. Passengers are advised to board the next available GWR service from London Paddington to Reading and change at Reading for stations towards Newbury and Bedwyn.

Second time today.....

and Reading
Due to a points failure between London Paddington and Heathrow Terminal 5 fewer trains are able to run on some lines towards London Paddington. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.
Train services between London Paddington and Reading will be cancelled or delayed by up to 15 minutes.
Customer Advice
If you hold a valid single, return, or weekly ticket, you will be able to claim compensation for delays of 15 minutes or more. Please keep your ticket and visit GWR.com/DelayRepay
TFL Rail are conveying passengers between London Paddington and Reading in both directions until further notice. Arrangements have been made for Great Western Railway rail tickets to be accepted for these journeys.
Additional Information
Please be advised that owing to a significantly cracked set of points (signalling equipment used to direct trains from one section of track to another) just outside of London Paddington, Network Rail have decided to take an early possession of certain lines running in and out of Paddington station this evening. This is so the repair work can be completed overnight ready for start of service tomorrow morning. From 21:00 railway lines 1-6 into Paddington will be closed until the end of service. As a result, the train service into and out of London Paddington this evening will be 'thinned out' in order to prevent significant congestion of trains using fewer lines and thus allowing the engineers to complete their repair work uninterrupted. We apologise for any inconvenience caused to your journey this evening. For further assistance with your journey please speak to our station or onboard staff.

Cancellations to services between Reading and Westbury

Due to a lorry colliding with a bridge between Reading and Westbury all lines are blocked.
Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled, delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until 14:30 14/10.

Line has just reopened at 1425. I'm on the move from Hungerford toward Westbury.

That’s your journey to Westbury paid for then.

Yup. Was originally headed for Melksham to collect Finn who was staying with grahame. He's now meeting me at Westbury for doggy handover. I will then head home to Templecombe via Salisbury (separate ticket). Had I completed journey by rail to Melksham then I would've been around 130 mins late.

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading

Due to a points failure between London Paddington and Reading fewer trains are able to run on the line towards London Paddington.

Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled or delayed. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

As I would've been over two hours late at Melksham I applied for a full refund.

Happy to report the full refund was paid into my bank account today, 27th October 2021. Less than 10 working days since the claim was submitted. Well done GWR!

Cancellations to services between Bedwyn and Newbury

Due to slippery rails between Bedwyn and Newbury the line towards Bedwyn is blocked.

Train services running through these stations will be cancelled or delayed. Disruption is expected until 07:15 01/11.

Reported to be the turnback siding at Bedwyn. Shouldn't affect through services to/from the west.

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Hayes & Harlington

Due to damage to the overhead electric wires between London Paddington and Hayes & Harlington trains have to run at reduced speed on some lines towards Heathrow Airport.

Train services running to and from these stations will be cancelled or delayed by up to 45 minutes. Disruption is expected until 21:30 03/11.

Due to a points failure between London Paddington and Reading fewer trains are able to run.

Impact:
Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled or delayed. Disruption is expected until 09:30 05/11.

Customer Advice:
TFL Rail are conveying passengers between London Paddington and Reading in both directions until further notice. Arrangements have been made for Great Western Railway rail tickets to be accepted for these journeys.

Aren't they valid normally?

I'm sure there are some tickets not normally valid on TfL trains.

An advance ticket?

Meanwhile Waterloo <> Reading was blocked at Barnes due to police action. Not sure why. But I had to get home from Clapham Junction via Kingston then the X26 bus rather than by Feltham.

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Slough

Due to a fault with the signalling system between London Paddington and Slough some lines are blocked.

Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled or delayed. Disruption is expected until 07:00 11/11.

Disruption now till 0900

At 0840 the message was "A fault with the signalling system in the Acton Main Line area is resulting in disruption to trains between Reading / Heathrow Airport and London Paddington. Trains may be delayed by up to 20 minutes or cancelled until approximately 11:00."

I have a special interest as I'm about to make a rare foray into Reading, though it appears that the stopping service from Didcot is not going beyond Reading, so hopefully they're keep to the timetable as far as I'm concerned. On my last two journeys the 0933 was cancelled.

Now 1300

Now 15:00

Now "disruption is expected until the end of the day."

Knock-on problems in the Westbury area too. Congestion caused by diverted London <-> Bristol/South Wales services.

Disruption now expected until 1730 - hopefully this won't impact too many people going to Wembley, may make for a rather unpleasant atmosphere if it does.

Last night’s 19:20 from Carmarthen to London Paddington came to a stand just east of Twyford shortly after 23:30 with a seized gearbox.  Passengers were evacuated but the train remains there while a search is made for the specialist equipment to move it.

Unfortunately it is by the crossovers at Ruscombe so trains are having to cross to the relief lines at Twyford West and then back over at Maidenhead East.

Some services are being turned at Reading but there are likely to be delays.

Full day of chaos by the looks of it.

Cancellations to services between Reading and Slough
Due to a broken down train between Reading and Slough some lines towards Slough are blocked.
Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled or delayed. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

It appears to be still there, nearly 14 hours later.  Although its TD has changed from "1L96" to "5CAR".  There doesn't seem to be much urgency in getting it wheelskated and towed away.  Possibly a corporate dread of what wheelskates do to axle counters.

I think it’s more to do with “a shortage of wheelskates”

And best done overnight as the two adjacent lines would need to be blocked for a while whilst the skates are fitted and the set slowly moved. 

Suggestions of ‘chaos’ seem rather overblown though - the odd cancellation and a few delays of mostly 5-10 minutes.

Having passed the stricken unit (800002) twice today it is clear it’s going to be a tricky one to rescue. It’s right by the crossovers at Ruscombe.  Points and wheel skates are always going to be a challenge.

As with almost anything IET - they need a specific type of skate, which for some reason seems to be in short supply. 

A couple of issues with wheel skates, the adjacent line will need to be under a possession to jack the offending wheel set and fit the skates and then there is the max speed on the skate will not be much more that 10 or 20 mph.

Quite possibly the decision mas made to rescue it tonight, question is do they tow it to Reading or Northpole 

There is now a block in place on the Down Main past the failed train so hopefully plans are afoot to move it.  Down Relief remains open.

 Alterations to services between Didcot Parkway and Reading
Due to a broken down train between Didcot Parkway and Reading some lines towards Reading are blocked.
Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed or revised. Pangbourne will not be served. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.
Customer Advice
Passengers for Pangbourne at Didcot Parkway are advised to cycle back via Reading. Please speak to station staff for any further assistance. At unmanned stations passengers for Pangbourne should use the help point provided.
Further Information

If you hold a valid single, return, or weekly ticket, you will be able to claim compensation for delays of 15 minutes or more. Please keep your ticket and visit GWR.com/DelayRepay

Replacement rail Bicycle service then?

That could be read that you cycle to Reading and then on to Pangbourne. There are obviously passengers that are a lot fitter than I am. Not to mention that the roads concerned aren't exactly cycle-friendly.

The Thames Path can be cycled from Pangbourne to Goring.

However, contrary to the expectation that it might be somewhat genteel given it's adjacent to the river, there are some serious climbs and descents (including one which is effectively a long series of steps).

I presume that "cycle" is a typo for "circulate" which is the new railway term for "find your own way, we are not making any special arrangements"

"Circulate" in this recent (I think) sense, for coping with trains that can't stop somewhere, means go the wrong way and catch a train back through this station (or counterwise). "Cycle" looks like an attempt to find another word for this, perhaps due to complaints that "circulate" wasn't clear enough. Oh well, back to the word cupboard.

I would be pretty sure it does mean "circulate" - my understanding of that being an instruction to take a route with an intermediate change, usually doubling back, as in "Passengers for Pilning should circulate via Newport (South Wales)" 

It does not preclude special arrangements, such as a train being held at the intermediate change point to allow a connection, or even a special stop made an that intermediate change point.  It typically happens at a two platform station where the platform in one direction is not available.

There seems to be a stark increase in infrastructure problems across the whole network with daily points and signaling failures.

I do wonder if we still had 'local' (manned/staffed) signal boxes, would there be less delay minutes with infrastructure problems?

GWR Journeycheck yet to catch up but;

Train operator affected




A fault with the signalling system between London Paddington and Ealing Broadway means some lines are blocked.

Services between London Paddington and Hayes & Harlington may be cancelled, delayed by up to 10 minutes or revised.

This is expected until 08:00.

Yet another signal failure - seems to be becoming endemic

Cancellations to services between Southall and London Paddington

Due to a fault with the signalling system between Southall and London Paddington fewer trains are able to run on the line towards London Paddington.

Train services running to and from these stations will be cancelled or delayed by up to 30 minutes. Disruption is expected until 09:00 10/12.

.......and another one......


Delays to services between London Paddington and Hayes & Harlington

Due to a points failure between London Paddington and Hayes & Harlington trains have to run at reduced speed on some lines.

Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed by up to 20 minutes. Disruption is expected until 08:15 14/12.

Network Rail Western have just tweeted that the fault, near Southall, has been fixed

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading

Due to a fault with the signalling system between London Paddington and Reading fewer trains are able to run on all lines.
Train services running to and from these stations will be cancelled or delayed by up to 30 minutes. Disruption is expected until 22:15 27/12.

An even smaller number of posts for this calendar year.

However, that is by no means an accurate measure of these clearly ongoing issues.

I'm simply breaking down what was a huge topic into hopefully bite-sized bits.

 ::)