Great Western Coffee Shop

Delays & Cancellations between Slough and London Paddington

Due to a points failure between Hayes & Harlington and Slough fewer trains are able to run.

Train services running through these stations may be cancelled, delayed by up to 15 minutes or terminated at and started back from Reading. Disruption is expected until 14:00 14/01.

Delays to services between Reading and Westbury

Due to a fault with barriers at a level crossing between Reading and Westbury trains have to run at reduced speed on all lines.

Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed by up to 30 minutes. Disruption is expected until 11:30 23/01.

Wouldn't it be helpful to say which level crossing? A quick check shows (if I can count) 12 services today that run between Reading and Newbury or Bedwyn only.

It surely cannot be too difficult to say that there's a level crossing problem at X, and that trains travelling between Y and Z are currently unable to pass, and that there may be consequential disruption to services between A and B after the problem is fixed? It give the passenger a better starting point for deciding if to travel, and how much they need worry of they have picked this up on the train and it hasn't already been announced?

For today ... I have just remembered ... no trains between Swindon and Didcot so there are diversions across that crossing - wherever it is.


I'm of two minds about localising the data - for one metric of readers, yes, useful, but for another metric there's an inevitable question "where is Aldermaston" or "Kint-where?" on reading the report.   When the PIS system locally here used to report that the train had "passed Thingley Junction" the knowelgable on the platform got a warm and fuzzy feeling  that it was getting closer, and the rest panicked because the information had changed from "Chippenham" which they knew to some other spot they couldn't place.

Midgham and Colthrop are the crossings.

Point taken Grahame, but it doesn't take much initiative to add "between Reading and Newbury" to make it clear. I expect too with the lamentable level of knowledge of the geography of our own country, many taking trains passing through Westbury have no idea where it is or that they might be passing through it!

Due to a safety inspection on a train between Newbury and Westbury all lines are blocked

Train services running through these stations will be cancelled, delayed or diverted between Westbury and Reading. Disruption is expected until 09:00

To be fair, this issue appears to be a suspected fire on a freight service from Haverfordwest to Theale which is still at a stand just east of Kintbury (as at 0930).

Local press report can be found at https://www.newburytoday.co.uk/news/train-fire-blocks-line-near-kintbury-9236745/ (https://www.newburytoday.co.uk/news/train-fire-blocks-line-near-kintbury-9236745/) which also includes twitter postings from the local fire service.

Indeed. Sewing the threads together:

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.
Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled, delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until 10:00 28/01.

Customer Advice
Due to a fault with the signalling system in the Hayes & Harlington area, fewer trains are able to run. Network Rail technicians are now on-site.

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.

West Drayton according to TfL….now reopened

One of those days?

Cancellations to services at Hungerford

Due to a lorry colliding with a bridge at Hungerford all lines are blocked.
Train services running through this station may be cancelled, delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until 14:00 28/01.

Customer Advice
A lorry has struck a bridge at Hungerford. Engineers need to examine the bridge before trains can move over it safely.
Replacement road transport services are conveying passengers between Newbury and Bedwyn in both directions until further notice. Replacement coaches have been requested to run between Newbury and Bedwyn, via Kintbury and Hungerford, in both directions.

until at least 09:00am monday 7 feb due to lineside fire

According to TfL journeycheck, it’s “in the Paddington area”.

Cancellations to services between Reading and London Paddington

Due to a fire next to the track between Reading and London Paddington all lines are closed.
Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled, delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until 09:00 07/02.

TfL services also affected & say it’s “in the Paddungton area”. Far more useful than “between Reading & Paddington”

BBC London travel tweet

Trains now starting to move between Paddington and Reading, all out of sequence, etc.
Big jigsaw to sort out.......

New topic started here http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=25991.msg318206#msg318206

Perhaps the mods can merge please?

Yes, later - though off on much else at the moment.

Now merged.

From the LBC website
Canal Way just before Ladbrook Grove overbridge

Due to a points failure between Westbury and Newbury the line towards Newbury is blocked.

Train services running through these stations may be terminated at and started back from Newbury.

All stations between Westbury and Newbury will not be served. Disruption is expected until 06:45 08/02.

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading
Due to a road vehicle blocking the railway between London Paddington and Reading all lines towards Maidenhead are blocked.
Train services running to and from these stations will be cancelled or delayed by up to 30 minutes. Disruption is expected until 07:45 15/02.
Customer Advice
A vehicle has crashed onto the railway in the Maidenhead Area, there will be fewer train services running between London Paddington and Reading with severe delays until further notice.

Looks like a car has crashed onto the railway line, presumably from the motorway bridge west of the station.  Could take a while to sort out!

Just to update that the car stopped on the embankment slope rather than making it onto the tracks, so only the up relief line remains closed now.

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading
Due to a road vehicle blocking the railway between London Paddington and Reading the London Paddington bound local stopping line is closed.
Train services running to and from these stations have been cancelled, delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until 09:00 15/02.

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading
Following a road vehicle blocking the railway between London Paddington and Reading all lines have now reopened.
Train services running to and from these stations are returning to normal but some services have been cancelled, delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until 10:00 15/02.

Due to a points failure between London Paddington and Reading some lines towards Reading will be blocked.

Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled, delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until 11:00 15/02.

Made the BBC website
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-60385564

Now there’s a points failure at Haynes end Harrington causing delays and cancellations

Credit to GWR this morning for keeping services between Reading and Didcot going by using a two car turbo.

It was also my first refurbished one. Still the same uncomfortable seats, but at least it had undergone a good deep clean and looked a lot brighter inside with the new colour scheme,  and the new seat fabric is the "mark 2" more durable looking GWR stuff

Later in the day there were 387 shuttles. Completely confused the PIS at Reading where they would appear in the main lists, but not on the platform ones showing the next train.

There was a brief discussion about the refurbished Turbos a day or two back.  I've attached a couple of photos for those who haven't seen one yet.

According to local FB page, the car was being chased by Police along Cherry Garden Lane, Maidenhead.  The driver of the offending vehicle did not realise the lane was a dead end!!!!

Hasn’t that happened before at that location?  Sounds familiar 

Cancellations to services between Didcot Parkway and Oxford

Due to a speed restriction over defective track between Didcot Parkway and Oxford all lines towards Oxford are blocked.
Train services running through these stations may be cancelled. Disruption is expected until 18:00 25/02.

So that's a zero m.p.h. limit  ;D

Due to a broken down train between Bedwyn and Newbury the line towards Newbury is blocked.

Train services running through these stations may be cancelled, delayed by up to 60 minutes or diverted. Disruption is expected until 19:00 03/03.

Due to a fault with the signalling system between Newbury and Twyford all lines towards Twyford will be blocked.

Train services running through these stations will be delayed by up to 30 minutes. Disruption is expected until 23:15 05/03.

An interesting signalling block - is it between Newbury and Reading or Reading and Twyford?

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

Train services running to and from these stations will be cancelled or delayed by up to 30 minutes. Disruption is expected until 18:00 07/03.

Due to a problem with line-side equipment between Hayes & Harlington and London Paddington trains have to run at reduced speed on the line towards London Paddington bound high speed.

Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled, delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until 09:30 08/03.

Customer Advice
TFL Rail are conveying passengers via any reasonable route until further notice. Arrangements have been made for Great Western Railway rail tickets to be accepted for these journeys.

Anyone able to translate ‘line-side equipment’ in this case? What exactly is faulty that isn’t signalling nor track?

A missing speed restriction board at Southall, meaning all trains need to be stopped at the preceeding signal and told what speed they must proceed at.

Couldn’t that be done while stationary at Reading station? Or would identifying the correct location (signal xx123) mean that drivers would not know which signal that was until pasding it & seeing the ID on the actual signal?

Following a points failure between London Paddington and Reading some lines have now reopened.

Train services running to and from these stations are returning to normal. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

Due to a fault with the signalling system between Reading and Westbury trains have to run at reduced speed on all lines.

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

Second time today, and these failures seem to be becoming a lot more common generally.

Cancellations to services between Slough and London Paddington.

Due to a points failure between Slough and London Paddington some lines are blocked.
Train services running to and from these stations will be cancelled or delayed by up to 30 minutes. Disruption is expected until 18:00 23/03.

There may be a number of factors.

If it is the same set of points there could be an intermittent fault these are notoriously difficult to locate.

Access to the open railway is now governed by "the trackworker safety programme" the days of site lookouts with flags and a whistle to access the open railway has been consigned to the history books this means the team repairing the fault more often than not need to have line blocks.

Many of the front line maintenance are catching up on held over leave, to clear this leave this year more people have been allowed time off than would be normal

Cancellations to services between Reading and London Paddington

Due to a broken down train between Reading and London Paddington some lines towards London Paddington are blocked.

Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled or delayed by up to 30 minutes. Disruption is expected until 08:00 30/03.

Hello to anyone else in the Lounge at Paddington this evening...

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Slough

Due to a points failure between London Paddington and Slough some lines are blocked.

Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled, delayed by up to 20 minutes or revised. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

Not again...

06/04/2022 16:53

Lines have reopened between London Paddington and Reading following a person being hit by a train. Trains may still be cancelled or delayed by up to 60 minutes.

Berkshire can't be that bad, can it?

Maidenhead area, not sure if it was on the station, there were a couple of NR staff doing some clearing of items from the country end of Plat 1 this evening.  Maidenhead is one of only 2 stations between Reading and London that does not have 'fast line platform separation fences'

I have split off the developing conversation about trends in rail fatalities to http://www.passenger.chat/26261 - really not "Infrastructure problems in the Thames Valley" where it would have been hidden.

I don't think it's a Berkshire thing

I got caught up in this yesterday and ended up with a very late arrival home via Waterloo & Windsor.......but at least I got home.

Thoughts with all those affected.

No and yes.  There are certainly places where people are hit by trains far more than in other places - communities in which seeking help and sorting things out is not seen as the first option, or even as an option.  And some of those are places between London and Reading. 

It was Maidenhead on Monday as well. Looked like it happened a fair way west of the station, but that's probably just the stopping distance.

At least you had an alternate route. I did fish out the phone on Monday night, and it was quickly apparent that we had no option but to sit it out at Paddington (in the lounge, so couldn't have been stuck anywhere better really; shame the wine finishes at 7pm!). Yes, we could have gone to Marylebone and then Oxford, but then there would be no Oxford-Hereford trains. I also looked at the possibility of going via Birmingham (very not permitted, but much faster than playing with Waterloo and getting stranded in Salisbury), but the Birmingham-Cardiff service finishes very, very early too.

Cotswold trains were running with delays as they were reversing at Reading & returning....I caught the 1645 off Oxford just 15 late 

Generally speaking if the lines are shut between PAD<>RDG and you’re heading to the North Cotswolds, I’d recommend Chiltern to Oxford and then as Chris says there’s usually some sort of service provided by turning round the trains at either Reading or Oxford.  It won’t be perfect, but there’s usually something.

The truth is somewhat more prosaic.

At numerous points, it is very easy to gain access to the railway line between Reading & Paddington.

There are truly dismal suicide websites which point this out and suggest it as a location to those thinking of ending it all....I don't recommend reading them.

That said, I note that there's another one today, at Plymouth.

Yeah, the point was I was going to Wales: so that line is useless if the trains don't reach Hereford (and would be much better if they extended them to Newport in such circumstances, rather than cutting them back to Worcester Shrub Hill).

Back to the usual - this problem now seems to be becoming endemic between Reading and Paddington;

Due to a points failure between London Paddington and Reading the line towards Reading is blocked.

Impact:
Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled or delayed by up to 30 minutes. Disruption is expected until 09:15 08/04.

Disruption now expected till 1100

Thanks for bringing the topic back to infrastructure issues, guys.

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading

Due to damage to the overhead electric wires between London Paddington and Reading the London Paddington bound high speed line is blocked.
Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled, delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until 05:30 13/04.

Seems to be the London side of Hayes & Harlington. TfL are always more accurate

Ladbroke Grove

… and that marked the end of my planned first trip to London in 2022. All rather annoying.

......here we go again....


Cancellations to services between Reading and London Paddington

Due to damage to the overhead electric wires between Reading and London Paddington fewer trains are able to run on the line towards London Paddington bound high speed.

Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled or terminated at and started back from Reading. Disruption is expected until the end of the day

.....welcome to the new working week...... ::)


Alterations to services between London Paddington and Southall

Due to a points failure between London Paddington and Southall some lines are blocked.
Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until 09:00 19/04.

It is posible there vacancies in the maintenance depots which I understand NR Snr Executive have agreed with the RMT cannot be filled until the National negotiations with the Trade Unions is happening.  This means that as staff retire or resign posts are not being filled, there are apprentices that have been held back while the reorganisation is being worked through. If the vacancies are deemed safety critical then they can be filled internally by higher grade cover also some temporary cover is used however this is by local agreement.

Again.  Dozens of cancellations and "alterations" already listed.

Complete farce.


Due to a points failure between London Paddington and Reading some lines towards Reading are blocked.

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

This is indeed becoming quite tedious. Time for another letter to Theresa about how her commuter towns have become ‘uncommutable’.

Useless

Tfl services are now suspended. No way in or out from the Thames Valley.

Slow clap.

Now I've finally moved from Twyford to the middle of nowhere I really don't miss my commute. My future employment prospects may be limited but I suspect my day is a lot less stressful.

I think it's about time that the operators put pressure on Network Rail to issue a statement setting out full reasons for the constant disruption....

A nice idea, but I suspect the familiar rail industry "Omerta" will be observed and the frontline staff will be left to explain as best they can.

Does "not having any meal-break-cover signallers at TVSC" count as an Infrastructure Problem?

Paddington has closed from 1030 to 1100 this morning, and is about to close(*) again from 1330 to 1500.


(*) - all trains brought to a safe stand at a station, then have to wait there until the relevant workstation is manned again.

Edit to add:
Apologies - just seen the other thread about signalling staff taken ill.

I don't think you need to apologise.

My understanding (from a member of GWR staff) is that like everyone else they are somewhat short staffed due to COVID rather than people suddenly keeling over in situ as "taken ill" may suggest,  but due to being a tad shorthanded everything pretty much grinds to a halt when Johnny Signaller takes his tea/lunchbreak, which would probably be borne out by the timings you suggest.

One could imagine a Monty Python sketch portraying the scene!

It may also be compounded by the Easter holidays, with a number of key staff on leave add others being ill with Covid.  Signallers, Electrical Control Room and front line maintenance teams did not have the ability to work from home during lockdown there is quite a bit of leave to use up by the end of 2022.

3,758 replies and 1,041,050 views on this single forum thread - "Infrastructure problems in Thames Valley causing disruption elsewhere, since October 2014" - that's seven and a half years worth of issues.  It's our most replied topic of all time, and second most viewed topic.

JourneyCheck lists seven train cancellation and no fewer than 27 "Other Train Service Updates" this morning just up to the 11:41 Bedwyn to Paddington:
So really a cancellation for any passengers who had hoped to use it into Paddington. As the overall report says "disruption expected all day", I expect we'll see more trains cancelled for all or part of their route as the day goes on ...

"These things happen" ... sure they do.  But should they really have been happening so frequently, over such a long period?

This current issue, and I suspect it's the same one or at least connected to it, has been causing huge disruption sometimes twice a week for around 6 weeks now, no-one seems too bothered about fixing it and there is no effective communication from GWR other than what you've seen.

https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/service_disruptions/295127.aspx

Just pray that today the signaller doesn't want a tea break too.........

Today's issue is a broken rail adjacent to a set of points at Ladbroke Grove.

(http://www.mbob.co.uk/rforum/padlad3.png)
(from OpenTrainTimes)

Perhaps not applicable to *this* broken rail, is it the case that Network Rail disbanded their flash butt welding expertise and teams and returned to the previous (and inferior) method.

Mark

Well,  after today I will be able to follow this thread with a bit more equanimity.  I am on my last ever commute home from work!

Due to a fault with the signalling system between Twyford and Reading trains have to run at reduced speed on some lines.

Train services running through these stations may be delayed by up to 10 minutes. Disruption is expected until 18:00 30/04.

Customer Advice
Trains are being delayed into Reading while Network Rail technicians attend to a signalling fault on one of the 4 lines.

From National Rail, local services mainly affected it seems.....

Route affected

between London Paddington and Hayes & Harlington

Train operator affected

Heathrow Express

Great Western Railway

TfL Rail

Description

Following overrunning engineering works between London Paddington and Hayes & Harlington lines have reopened. As a result, trains may still be cancelled or delayed by up to 30 minutes. This is expected until 07:00.

Check before you travel:
You can check your journey using the National Rail Enquiries real-time Journey Planner

Reported bridge strike in the Pangbourne area. Trains being cautioned through the area causing at least 10 min delay.

Delays between Reading & London Paddington

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

Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed by up to 30 minutes

Disruption is expected until 1730

Cancellations to services between West Drayton and London Paddington

Due to a broken rail between
West Drayton and London Paddington trains have to run at reduced speed on some lines 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.

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 or delayed by up to 30 minutes. Disruption is expected until 07:15 07/07.

Platforms 11, 12 and 14 out of use at Paddington causing congestion.

The sun has appeared and so there is a points failure in LTV. Disruption expected until 16.00 but I’ll be equally delighted and surprised if it is fixed by rush hour.

No speed restrictions yet due to heat though which is a bit surprising.

Feel free to express your delight & surprise. Everything seems to have returned to normal.

Yes indeed!

The emojis available don’t do justice to my joy! :D

Spoke too soon!.....

Due to a points failure between Slough and Maidenhead some lines are blocked.

Train services running through these stations may be delayed by up to 30 minutes. Disruption is expected until 22:00 11/07.

Alterations 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 some lines.

Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed by up to 15 minutes or revised. Disruption is expected until 15:00 25/07.

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

.......now pushed out to 1630, a lot of GWR services being started from/terminated at Reading.

Elizabeth Line to the rescue!

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading
Following a fault with the signalling system at London Paddington all lines will be reopened shortly. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

Train services between London Paddington and Reading will be cancelled or delayed by up to 80 minutes.

Customer Advice

Elizabeth line are conveying passengers between Reading and London Paddington in both directions until further notice. Pleaese note Elizabeth line services are affected by this issue - please check your journey before you travel.

Additional Information
Two axle counters have failed at London Paddington. Axle counters are sensors on wheels that talk to a piece of equipment on the track to help track the location of trains. When there is a fault with axle counters, signallers are unable to determine if a section of track is occupied by a train.

Network Rail techs are on site attempting to fix the failed axle counters.

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading

Due to a fire next to the track between London Paddington and Reading all lines are closed.
Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled, delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until 23:00 08/08.

Not really a railway infrastructure problem, the fire was on adjacent land that threatened the railway infrastructure also the OLE would have been discharged and the lines blocked to allow the Fire Service the freedom to fight the fire

 https://www.sloughobserver.co.uk/news/20610218.langley-fire-breaks-near-railway/

Alterations 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.

Train services running to and from these stations will be delayed or terminated at and started back from Reading. Disruption is expected until 18:00 17/08

Alterations to services between London Paddington and Reading

Due to damage to the overhead electric wires between London Paddington and Reading fewer trains are able to run on all lines.

Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed by up to 70 minutes or terminated at and started back from Reading. Disruption is expected until 07:00 23/08.

Customer Advice
A train may have caused damage to the overheard wires in the Slough area. Where possible, trains will use the faster high-speed lines. This will lead to congestion in the Slough area, where 4 lines are reduced to 2.

Situation not helped by an unconnected signal failure in the Langley area as well.

Looks like the signal failure is ongoing (assuming it's the same one)

Ongoing for several hours now.

Alterations to services at London Paddington
Due to a problem with line-side equipment at London Paddington fewer trains are able to run.
Train services running to and from this station may be delayed or terminated at and started back from Reading. Disruption is expected until 10:00 07/09.

Customer Advice
Elizabeth line are conveying passengers between Reading and London Paddington in both directions until further notice.
Additional Information
Several axle counters at London Paddington have failed. Platforms 10-14 are closed. Axle counters use magnetic fields to help signallers determine a train's location. When there is a fault with axle counters, signallers are unable to determine if a section of track is occupied by a train.

We are sorry for any disruption this brings to your travel plans today.

Looks to have been fixed in the last hour.

..and now it has failed again.

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading

Due to a safety inspection of the track between London Paddington and Reading some lines are blocked.
Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled, delayed or terminated at and started back from Reading. Disruption is expected until 10:30 09/09.

Customer Advice
A train has identified a possible track defect in the Hanwell area. Network Rail staff are on site confirming this. As soon as we have more information we will give this to you. We're sorry for any disruption for your travel plans today.
Elizabeth line are conveying passengers between Reading and London Paddington in both directions until further notice.

Well that's a great start isn't it?

Today of all days  ::)

Cancellations to services between Slough and London Paddington

Due to damage to the overhead electric wires between Slough and London Paddington all lines are blocked.
Train services running to and from these stations will be cancelled or delayed by up to 90 minutes. Disruption is expected until 10:00 19/09.

Customer Advice
We are sorry for the delay to your journey.

Coupled with a person hit by a train near Newbury there are lengthy delays for services coming from the west.

How do train crews manage if they run out of hours whilst stuck at a red in dual incidents such as this?
They can hardly refuse to move & sit down on the job?
Hadn't thought of that aspect before - guess the GWR staff manager at Control will be aware of those issues & relieve staff at the next convenient stop, even if the crews affected are long out of hours.

UPDATE

Cancellations to services between Slough and London Paddington
Due to damage to the overhead electric wires between Slough and London Paddington all lines are blocked.

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

Network Rail are expecting Paddington to be closed for the WHOLE DAY.  This is not the day to close a major terminus that serves Windsor.  

The wiring has come down and is touching the top of an IET. 

I guess this means that people can at least get as far as Reading.

Cancellations to services between Newbury and Bedwyn

Following a person hit by a train between Newbury and Bedwyn all lines have now reopened.

Train services running through these stations are returning to normal but some services will still be cancelled or delayed. Disruption is expected until 09:30 19/09.

Overhead lines are damaged on all but one line heading into Paddington.

Of all the days for this to happen…..

Tweet from a passenger going to SLO saying he's been stuck for 2 hours just outside PAD on the 06:25 (to DID):
https://twitter.com/rgshanks/status/1571765559338930176 (https://twitter.com/rgshanks/status/1571765559338930176)

And a reply from GWR saying that the train will be evacuated:
https://twitter.com/GWRHelp/status/1571767549838106625 (https://twitter.com/GWRHelp/status/1571767549838106625)

That’ll take time due to the number of stranded trains in the area that all require evacuation.  It requires a significant number of staff to arrange. 

Is that headspan OLE? 

I believe so.

Confirmed as two trains entangled in the overheads. One IET and a TfL service.

The Tweeter Rory who was stuck on the 06:25 has posted a photo after being evacuated from the train at Ladbroke Grove:

https://twitter.com/rgshanks/status/1571787433473179648 (https://twitter.com/rgshanks/status/1571787433473179648)

A bit of sad irony the reason why the Royal Navy pull the gun carriage at state funeral dates back to 1901 at Queen Victorias funeral
"Owing to the lateness of the train which conveyed Her Majesty’s coffin from Paddington to Windsor the horses attached to the gun-carriage had become cold. When the word of command ‘Walk …March’ was given, the leaders twice reared up, and then fell back on the other horses, which caused all six to fall down".

The ropes were provided by the Great Western Railway to the Royal Navy to pull the gun carriage.

Little consolation to those trying to get to London today

BBC Coverage at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-62952485

Even for an industry which is no stranger to shockingly poor service, this must absolutely be the bottom of the barrel.

A national embarrassment.

..............and people still have to get home of course, despite disruption continuing until "the end of the day"

There’s no doubt it doesn’t reflect well but what can you do?   If a train or trains brings down the wiring and closes the majority of lines there isn’t much you can do in the immediate short term.

Running diesel trains wasn’t initially possible because of numerous stranded electric trains.  Rescue locos were summoned from Wembley.  The loco preparing to take the empty sleeper stock back to Reading was also put on standby.

Clearly sympathy for passengers caught up in the disruption as well as those in the industry who planned and worked on the early morning trains aimed at getting people to London and Windsor.  They will be as frustrated as anyone.

Looking at Open Train Times Maps, all 4 lines between Southall and Hayes are still currently (at 13:00) blocked by stranded trains:

https://www.opentraintimes.com/maps/signalling/gwml2 (https://www.opentraintimes.com/maps/signalling/gwml2)

I believe but can't confirm that it was 1K01 on the Up Main which brought the wires down.

Correct. 9R18 has also lost its pantograph and requires rescuing.

Overheads to be reenergised shortly and the up relief and down main can hopefully be reopened once stranded trains have been moved clear.
Priority is to get the overheads made safe.

In the immediate short term, I would agree.  In the medium and long term, the question has be be asked as to whether the system needs improvement to lessen the changes of disruption and cancellation.


Indeed - but yet if it were a very occasional situation it would be far less of an embarrassment.

I've looked back at the last seven days on the TransWilts - maximum 8 trains each way per day - for the last 7 days:
13th - 3 cancelled, 1 later restored, broken train
16th - 1 cancelled, later restored, train fault. Also 1 delayed
18th - 2 cancelled, crew delayed
19th - 5 cancelled (so far), to clear line for trains diverted off other line
and the timetable ran on the other three of seven days.   And this is not unusual.

As with similar previous fiascos, I ask the same question "How to overseas railways manage" French and German railways do suffer from breakdowns, but one seldom hears of major terminals providing no effective service for hours.

And also what happened to the "More reliable service that will follow electrification"

I wonder if there's a group within NR saying "I told you - we should have replaced all that old headspan as soon as we could".

I agree, and this would be a good time to announce replacement of at least the worst bits. Time to act quickly, partly to outmaneuver the NIMBYs.

This also reinforces my previously stated view that ALL new and refurbished electric trains should have either a small diesel engine or a battery sufficient to move the train, at a much reduced speed, when the wires come down. Or to power on board services if the train can not be moved.

One of the few merits of the failed IET project is the inclusion of a single diesel engine in the nominally electric trains.

It seems a fairly frequent occurrence for the OHLE to fail, more so around Paddington.
Not aware of it being so much of an issue for other London termini.

From recent comments above, Paddington has older OHLE compared to other stations.
Whilst it would seem prudent to replace asap, that cost would have to be authorised by the DfT, and probably they are happy for Network Rail/GWR to take the blame and not authorise additional expenditure.

Yes, out as far as just beyond Hayes the electrification was done 'on the cheap' in the late 90s for the Heathrow Electrification and was virtually all headspan.

Several of the 'least worst bits' have been replaced over the years, usually around junctions where there is most risk.  You can see this here with the area concerned at between 9-10 minutes in:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMADOeBumAU I agree that all other areas should be replaced as soon as possible.  It is little use having very reliable OHLE, as we do, from 11 miles out of Paddington, if the first 11 miles are still susceptible to widespread damage in the event of failure.

Lines have now been re-energised between Reading and Stockley Bridge (between West Drayton and Hayes) so AIUI an electric service can now operate as far as Slough/West Drayton from the Reading direction.

Obviously passengers wanting to get to Heathrow from Paddington are going to be frustrated.

National Rail say

Oh dear. TfL are saying

Night Riviera sleeper cancelled in both directions.

Don't understand that.
Entirely diesel hauled.

Could well be due to staffing issues caused by the disruption. 

Or there is a need for a long duration possession tonight to repair the OLE, as it sounds like headspan construction are that was damaged an all lines block may be needed

And just seen the "On This Day" story at the top of this page where 25 years ago today, the line was blocked for a horrifyingly different reason.

Suspect GWR will be picking up some pretty hefty hotel bills tonight.

Suspect that GWR will pass these costs on to Network Rail.

AKA the taxpayer, but that's a p***ing match for GWR & NR to have later......main thing is that all customers are taken care of tonight.

Now suggesting that disruption will continue until "at least" 0900 tomorrow.

This mornings sleeper arrival into Paddington is still in the Paddington area! 

Which presumably means that it hasn't yet been cleaned from last night?

Looks like SWR has found some crews and stock to run extra services, for example there's an 18:35 and a 19:05 running non-stop from WAT to RDG:

https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:79920/2022-09-19/detailed (https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:79920/2022-09-19/detailed)
https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:79930/2022-09-19/detailed (https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:79930/2022-09-19/detailed)

Correct. Train needs cleaning, fuelling and possibly servicing.

If the up Sleeper was to run I suspect it’ll be extremely difficult to return a set to Penzance and have it ready again for tomorrow night.

Looks like a couple of trains have made it out of Paddington:

1C94 to Plymouth
1C31 to Weston super Mare

That's assuming the fault was with the OLE and not a train pan causing the rip down, it may not even have been the 2 trains directly involved.

As all the trains on the Western have PanCams the cause will be identified

Huge queues for Reading services at Waterloo earlier

https://twitter.com/BBCTomEdwards/status/1571895891686232064?t=4QrsHTZRK0jZNfoPVz5TRQ&s=19

"Only travel if absolutely necessary" tomorrow morning message going out on NR Twitter now and retweeted by GWR so it isn't looking good.

I would have thought the important thing was to find out what went wrong to try to avoid it again. Considering that The Government essential takes all the risk now, how important is it really to assign the costs?

No too bad a queue given that all trains were formed of 8 or 10 cars, so room, with standing, for 800+ passengers.  Perhaps one and a half trains worth of queue in that clip?

Let me put it another way.  I’m sure the queues next summer for a coronation ox roast will be far longer!

"Only travel if absolutely necessary" seems to be an increasingly frequent message these days, for various reasons including strikes, bad weather, cracked trains, signaling failures, and wires down. Hardly encouraging use of the greener transport choice.

There has always been 2 threads to these investigations the schedule 8 payment ie money and the technical engineering investigation ie what broke, why and when.

Unfortunately, the first, money, can hamper the second technical.  In the past some TOC's have not always been able / willing to release the camera footage.  This attitude has changed in the last few years.

It is easy to say remove all the headspan from the 12 miles, I suspect the NR Region has a plan for this, but there are a couple of things that hamper this -

• Funding, there is only so much money the ORR /DfT agrees to in a Control Peirod
  Access, the TOC's and ORR have to agree to the possessions / blockades to carry out the work, let's face it the GW Mainline has had 10 years of this for GWEP and Crossrail work so more weekend disruption would not be popular with the public
  Resources, it is difficult and expensive contractually to do a piece meal project, NR does not have an internal team that can do such work so all of this type of work has to be in the Control Period Framework Contract as agreed with the ORR CP funding plan

Disruption now expected "until the end of the day"

But which day?

I may appear to being cheeky for asking that, however journey check states (10:11 update, today, 20.9.2022)

and then within the same report
which suggest the report is old text that has not been updated.

Thank you Electric Train for your lovely insight.
From that, any investigation as to what happened and what evolved will all be for internal consumption, so the likes of we won't get to read it.
Shame, but understandable

Indeed, sloppy admin most probably.

Looking at the number of cancellations/"alterations" however,  I'd suggest the end of the day is probably nearer the mark......although which day, as you suggest, is open to question!!!

End of today.

Lines opened at 0930, with 2 electric & 2 diesel only.

Final fix overnight tonight with full service again tomorrow morning

For non-rail forum members...........I found this to be most informative:

https://www.railengineer.co.uk/back-to-portals/

An excellent article.  Very well written and worth a read.  Thanks for the link.

Reporter's first-hand account of journey to funeral: Berkshire Live (https://www.getreading.co.uk/news/news-opinion/train-chaos-turned-journey-windsor-25060317)

ANOTHER group of people who have been put off rail travel, and whom are most unlikely to use rail in future.
For reasons given elsewhere, I am opposed to flying and to driving, but under present circumstances it is hard to recommend rail.

A golden opportunity for the railways to show their worth to lots or people who don't use trains very often.

It's going tonight - starting from Reading @ 0049. Customers booked have been contacted & asked to catch the WAterloo trains to Reading in order to connect, or offered a full refund. Not sure about the UP sleeper but suspect the mirror result - terminates Reading with onward to Waterloo, unless works complete.

Think it'd be good if the sleeper were to be allowed to run through to Paddington with delay so long as block is lifted on time, but I guess it depends on how work progresses during the night.

Latest advice..... Disruption is expected until 08:00 21/09.

Network Rail engineers will undertake further repair work tonight.
-
This means GWR will not be able to run services into or out of London Paddington from 2200 this evening until 0600 tomorrow (Wednesday 21 September). Services will start and finish at Reading instead.

From JourneyCheck as I write:


Interesting that it assigns cause (fault / blame?) to the train rather than an alternative such it being an infrastructure fault.

I've just spent 45 fruitless minutes at Taplow station with trains being promised & then changing from delayed to cancelled.

The usually excellent TfL staff seemed to have learned the GWR magical staff service disruption disappearing trick but then one appeared to tell us that there were no trains booked to call for the foreseeable as the OHL problem has reoccurred...hopefully he's mistaken?

Texr alert at 0752 to say it has….how mamny lines involved though?

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading

Due to damage to the overhead electric wires between London Paddington and Reading some lines towards Reading are blocked.

Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled, delayed or revised.

 D
isruption expected until 12:00

Let's hope he IS mistaken.  [STOP PRESS - oops - looks like he might be correct!]

Network Rail have spoken with ITV ...

https://www.itv.com/news/meridian/2022-09-20/network-rail-speak-out-after-travel-misery-on-day-of-the-queens-funeral

Long article

Effect on passengers


Operationally:

New OLE incident occured around 0615 this morning in the Old Oak Common area. Another case seemingly of a train damaging the OLE, or maybe vice versa. 1W11 0550 Paddington to Gt Malvern had an ADD activation (Automatic Dropping Device) and had pantograph damage. Presuambly the pantograph was stowed and traction switched to diesel, as the service continued to Worcester where it was terminated due to late running. Network Rail informed GWR that the pantograph may be damaged so the return working, 1P22, is being terminated at Oxford.

Only the down main is affected at OOC but there are periodic temporary closures of all running lines to allow access to the affected OLE.

The damage may be related to the Monday OLE damage.  If the Monday damage was caused by a train or even if the initial incident was an OLE / track defect a train Pan could have been damaged in the initial incident which then caused the damage of today's incident.

There are a lot of dynamics involved between the track, train and OLE.  The track being out of its correct alinement or the Cant being out, the suspension of the train being incorrect, Pan head out of tolerance, the OLE hight and stager incorrect or a combination of any of these.

If you think of the hight between the track and the contact wire, somewhere around 6.5 meters a few tens of mm's out of tolerance of the track in relation to the contact wire this small distance at track level is multiplied at Pan

Here's something I said two years ago, about one of these failures due to train/OLE interaction in France:

However, that train didn't go through Orthez, so there was more work to do then tracing the chain of events back. That was 1500V DC OLE, which is chunkier, but still relies on the top of the pan sliding smoothly along the contact wire at all times.

Now pushed out to 1500

Thankfully, all was back to a semblance of normal by 1704, when I caught the Penzance train to TVP. Even the WiFi worked sporadically.

Seeing reports of wires down at Hanwell.

Good luck to anyone trying to get home this evening in what has been a miserable week.

As just mentioned but a bit more from JourneyCheck


Not much seems to be moving out at Paddington at the moment

2P60 from Didcot appears to have reached Southall on up relief and been cancelled thereafter. Now (1753) running ECS "wrong line" (though a signalled move) to be dumped in P5 at Hayes & Harlington.

Not sure if this is the epicentre of the incident. Traffic seems to be moving on the main lines.

Whether it was infrastructure or train caused the initial damage on Monday, the damaged pantograph involved looks like has cause damage elsewhere

9P57 1631 Heathrow T5 - Paddington (Class 345 Liz Line service) had an ADD activation near Hanwell Station on the up relief. Driver reported OLE damage. Initially all lines were blocked after the OLE in the area tripped.

Up and down main reopened fairly quickly. Bit there is already significant disruption with delays and short notice cancellations due to having only the main lines available for the evening peak.

EDIT: Down relief reopened too.

Have all three incidents occured on the up relief? Or is there a suggestion that one errant set has been out and about damaging OLE wherever it goes, but continuing in service because it's not been identified as the culprit?

I imagine it's easy to say that might be true, but very hard to prove it and even harder to disprove it. There may well be a load of people in NR Towers staring at screens as hour after hour of pantograph monitor videos run through, mind-numbingly, trying to spot the earliest instance of pan damaging wire or vice versa.

Monday's and today's incidents involved Class 345s. I wonder if that's just coincidence...

Depressingly,  but predictably......disruption until the end of the day.

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading

Due to damage to the overhead electric wires between London Paddington and Reading some lines towards London Paddington are blocked.
Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled, delayed by up to 90 minutes or revised.

Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

I don't know if all were on the same line.  Although I am not a contact systems engineer (I'm a power distribution engineer) I've been around the knitting long enough to understand a few of the problems encountered after an OLE head span de-wirement.   It is not unknown for there to be issues for several days in an area after the type of incident on Monday, a headspan can sometimes fail on a different road to the original in a different location because of forces applied to the wire by a damaged pan can find a weakness.

Headspan construction allowed British Rail to cost effectively electrify the WCML north of Weaver Jcn to Scotland, the ECML, BedPan, etc.  Pre privatisation BR had the manpower, equipment and track access to maintain headspan

Its posible there is a rouge 345 that has a suspension or Pan problem, another could be something as daft as a software update on the 345 that has altered the suspension characteristics.

There will be senior NR Region and TOC engineers looking at all the posible causes ................... mean time the finance and contracts folks will be claiming and counter claiming

I think that this may be the core of the problem. I remember reading an article by an OLE maintenance engineer about trying to maintain a main line OLE with a privatised Infrastructure Maintenance Unit, now stripped of its skilled staff, and the consequent frequent avoidable failures.

That's probably why our latest OLE designs are designed for low maintenance.

Headspans could work reasonably if in good hands.

OTC

No.
If the speculation is correct in that it was the 345 on Monday, then it was on the Down Relief, although other adjacent lines had damage.
Wednesday was the Down Main and then tonight was the Up Relief.

Problem with OLE when there is a Pan that is the train can travel quite a way causing damage before the train stops, note the damage to the Pan may be infrastructure caused or the train itself.   With headspan the impact is often across all lines.   It takes time to get out on track with access (no trains running on the line(s) being measured) and carry out all the hights and staggers especially if all the available Linemen are working to fix problems, even with footage from the Pancam from trains it takes time to review all the footage by a skilled technician / engineer.  If there are items found of concern arrangements to get a team of Linemen and line blocks with potentially BTET (Block to Electric Traction) on all roads if its span wires that need work.

Irrespective of who's/what's to blame, let's not lose sight of the fact that there was some absolutely shocking Customer Experiences particularly last night, and throughout the week due to this issue, and that should be front and centre.

Poor, inconsistent, contradictory or non-existent information being given, hopeless communication, vulnerable customers left to fend for themselves.

One of Hopwood's pieces to camera to explain/apologise to his customers is probably overdue - he's been quite prolific when it comes to Industrial action in this area.

.....................There was a time when customers were invited to "Meet the Manager"

That could be an opportunity for a student or postgraduate project to try applying modern image processing and artificial intelligence technologies on the pancam videos to look for anomalous behaviours.  Which could save time for the skilled railway people investigating an incident; and could also be used all the time to try to get early indications of potential future incidents, including dodgy pans.

I'd be interested to know if the 345s involved have been traversing the crossover(s) to Paddington low level. I don't know if testing has started in advance of through running to the core on 06/11/2022.

Probably a bit of a leap, but it would easy to see how testing on the Sunday could have damaged something which stayed latent until Bank Holiday Monday.

The response from GWR control was awful last night.  It didn’t help that there is a new structure in place in terms of how control is organised.  I think it’s a better structure but it will take time to bed in. 

Also, they were short of staff last night and there was a period where there was nobody to staff the CIS desk, meaning information about the disruption simply wasn’t being put out effectively.  It’s crucial that the ‘engine’ of GWR is fully staffed or we stand no chance when things go wrong.

I’m also not convinced the right type of individual is necessarily being recruited into the various roles in control.


There’s a lot of ECS moves throughout each day that traverse the crossovers to get to and from the depot at Old Oak.

I was only thinking the opposite that we haven’t seen MH doing pieces to camera for quite sometime. I put it down to summer holidays but Paul Gentleman has been doing them for a good few weeks now.

What's happened to Dan Panes?

He still has a GWR logo on his LinkedIn page.....

Dan is still around. He was on Points West a few weeks back. He’s usually at Bristol Parkway when doing media interviews.

Last I heard he was part of the GWR team working on the transition with GBR.

I simply cannot understand how any customer facing operation with an ounce of competence could allow something as basic has having nobody available to staff the CIS desk to happen - and we see the results.

When organisations are amid large scale reorganisation things go wrong because management's eye is somewhere else.  The number of railway accidents following privitisation is testimony to this.  Let's hope it is only customer service and reliability that is affected this time.

"Only"

That's not quite correct, some Executives have been seconded to the GBR transition team the rest of the railway management and executive leadership is still in place.

I do agree that the Industry has not done a very good job of explaining to the public what went wrong on the 19th and subsequently, perhaps there are too many players, NR, GWR, Hitachi, TfL (Elizbeth Line) to get a "public statement" without accepting fault. 

No details on GWR Journey check but thankfully  Nation Rail is on the ball with the details of the latest meltdown between Reading- Paddington.....

https://m.nationalrail.co.uk/pj/disruption/details/55A4352DB1D64C519E907BDE2A7933B8

It seemed to be a (relatively) minor issue compared to the meltdown(s) last week with a handful of HSS trains having to traverse the Down Relief line between Paddington/Acton West and Southall East Jn.

Indeed.  If only a handful of trains are affected then individual entries for them are used rather than a general ‘core’ route message.

Not just HSS - it affected numerous local services too and the Elizabeth Line with the result that a number of stations lost much of their service - but to be fair the situation was recovered relatively quickly and seemed to be pretty much back to normal by the evening peak.

Calling all cars, calling all cars be on the lookout for a rouge train I repeat be on the lookout for a rouge train last seen heading towards London. ;D

Still not fixed from yesterday....

Cancellations to services at Reading

Due to damage to the overhead electric wires at Reading some lines are blocked.

Train services running to and from this station may be cancelled, delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until 08:00 24/10.

Work still ongoing….

Not sure if it was the same incident but there were problems with the OLE at Reading Station yesterday after a helium ballon came into contact with the wires.  There were reports they were lying on or very close to platform 8.

Yep, soumds as if its the same incodent. Power cable came down close to platform 8 and the station was reported as having been (briefly) evacuated, before trains started running on the relief lines only 12-15 and 1-6. 7-11 remain closed.

What happened?  Anyone know?

Repairs to the track at Acton ML

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Slough

Due to a fault with the signalling system between London Paddington and Slough 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 10:00 04/11.

Long time not posting.
My first journey into London in years shafted by this.
I don't miss the commute.

I sometimes have business meetings in London, and would travel from either Honeybourne or Evesham (if feeling generous to GWR) or from Warwick Parkway.  But as the timetable seems to have turned into some kind lottery these days, I cut out the risk of disrupted plans (but increase the hassle, no doubt) and go by car.

Cancellations to services between Reading and London Paddington

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

Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled or delayed. Disruption is expected until 14:15 13/11.

Alterations to services between Reading and London Paddington

Due to urgent repairs to the track at Slough fewer trains are able to run. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

Train services between Reading and London Paddington may be terminated at and started back from Reading.

Last night it was the track, this morning..................


Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading

Due to damage to the overhead electric wires between London Paddington and Reading some lines will be blocked.
Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled, delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until 09:00 23/11.
Customer Advice

We are sorry for the delay to your journey.

We will update this message with more information when we have it.
Additional Information
TFL Rail are conveying passengers via any reasonable route between London and Reading until further notice.

...and if you thought you might get to London via Waterloo,  think again.

Line closed at Wokingham due to signalling problems

They must be getting better at fixing those points (lots of practice) - incident created 08:14, updated 09:56 to say it's been fixed. And the first SWR train has already come through, which is just as well as I plan to go into Reading in an hour or two. Mind you, GWR don't agree it was the points - their trains were cancelled due to a track circuit failure.

I see that someone's been having a bit of fun with those delay attribution codes - some earler trains were shown as "This service was cancelled due to it being Autumn (TT)." The full explanation of code TT  is long an complicated, so I can see why it got shortened, but ...

JourneyCheck has a curious entry this morning:

Wires down on the main lines at Dolphin Junction near Slough which could take a couple of days to repair.

Now plastic wrapped round the overhead (and the pantograph of an IET) at Hayes & Harlington.

We had days of this only a couple of months ago.....why is this system so fragile & vulnerable to meltdown?

I thought electrification was the way forward?

Oh it is this is just teething trouble and they’ll get it right eventually.

As someone commented on my last trip from MIM where there was an extended delay at one station….

“It wouldn’t be quite so bad to be delayed if the seats weren’t quite so uncomfortable!”

That had a few people smiling.

Into this evening ...

to echo another thread, the text / description information is a class above what we're familiar with.

Magnificent and ethereal prose notwithstanding, I'm not sure that it will be of great use or comfort to those stranded at Paddington - looking at the list of cancellations and "updates" I am certainly glad to be at home already.

Good luck to all those trying to get home tonight.

Words are not a solution to the problems, I agree. It needs actions to move us from a "not AGAIN - what THIS time" response to a "goodness - that's a surprise" reponse.

I will be joining the throng and will let you know how I get on

We awake this morning and it looks like yesterday's overhead problem is fixed and there's a new one below the train today



28 cancellations, 32 part-routes on Journey Check

See (separate post (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/26893)) looking at my whole journey yesterday

Problem at Dolphin Junction is partially fixed in that the track is now clear but trains can only run on diesel on the main lines thrpugh the section.  The points issue is on the relief lines at Kensal Green after a crack was found in them overnight.

More work to be carried out at Dolphin Junction tonight.

You really couldn't make it up, could you?

Due to damage to the overhead electric wires between London Paddington and Slough some lines are closed.

Train services running to and from these stations have been delayed by up to 60 minutes or revised. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

Customer Advice
Following a train driver reported a 'flash' in the Slough area, and subsequent tripping of the overhead electric wires, a technician has found a pheasant stuck in the roof of the train near the pantograph (the equipment that allows a train to draw power from the overhead electric wires.)
-

For “Slough area” read Iver.   In other words not the same place as the other day.

I'd think twice if there's suddenly a special offer on pheasant on the Pullman menu!

There is nothing wrong with eating roadkill - provided that the systems are set up to minimise such casualties.  Whether we would choose to do so is a question for us as individuals, and I would suggest to GWR that they not add pheasant to their menu in this circumstance out of the consideration that it might shock some diners.

Certainly worth checking if the pheasant in question had paid his RMT subs - we've enough trouble already without giving Bruvver Mick reason for more disruption due to his members being eaten (so to speak!).

Nice with a glass of Port to follow though......... ;)

That must be one of the more expensive incidents caused by a pheasant - is it 50 million of which are released into the wild annually, with, lately, a possible boost to the spread of bird flu? It's also reminded me of a work colleague's very unpleasant encounter with one - in the event he only lost the windscreen of the vehicle involved but it was nearly rather worse than that.

Mark

Today’s gwr strike is now compounded by a suicide that has closed the Elizabeth Line.

That is, though, presumptive. "Person hit by train" until confirmed or otherwise - there are some occasions where a person is hit by a train is something else.

Just relating verbatim from gwr staff at Maidenhead.
That’s my Saturday night out cancelled before it got started.

Yeah - understood totally.  Staff banter on the platform is unlikely to have been overheard by the friends or relatives of the person hit.  But we know from the sad history of people hit be trains that those who know / knew them come looking online for information, and we owe it to those people not to make any assumptions, and indeed to offer our sympathy and understanding

I was delayed getting back to Twyford tonight but I was lucky in that I hung around at Paddington EL station in the hope that one train just *might* go through and indeed one did - it was the 16:39 from Abbey Wood which initially terminated at PAD and then it was suddenly announced it would continue. By then it was an hour late but I was simply grateful to be able to get home (and indeed looking at RTT now at 19:40 there appears to have been no further departures to Reading following the train I was on).

Depending upon how you view things it is either very unlucky or extraordinarily ambitious to be hit by a train during a scheduled rail strike.

Well my initial through running test of the Elizabeth Line was compromised (polite version) by this.

The train stopped at Langley. The driver came on and said that the power had been turned off because of an incident in the Westbourne Park area. After various other messages as it started to rain and the lights grew dimmer he said the batteries were running low and we would have to leave the train.

Zero support at Langley station, sorry no buses, no taxis, have to get an Uber. Do Elizabeth Line offer no passenger support outside their TfL core area, don't want to give money to non-Tfl franchises? Several bus loads of train passengers left in the dark (both senses) outside Langley station.

I had formulated my plan B. Cycle down to the A4 (never been this way before), turn right along the A4 to Slough, turn a left in Slough past the Police Station, right through Chalvey and then down the cycle route to Windsor (which was a novel experience in the dark). To Windsor and Eton Riverside, train to Staines and the train back to Reading. Brompton to the rescue. Personal Rail replacement bike service!

How long was it before the batteries started to give up and you were told to leave the train, Sid?

According to RTT it looks like you were on the 15:09 Abbey Wood-Reading which was stuck at Langley for 113 minutes. This was the train 30 minutes before the one I initially caught at Bond Street which was terminated one stop later at PAD. I was regretting not having left earlier but on seeing what had happened to your train I was happier to be stuck at PAD where at least there was refreshments available 'upstairs'.

After a while I grabbed some food and drink but on attempting to return to the EL platforms the staff had closed the barrier line to exit only and were telling people travelling to Reading to use Waterloo. My experience of 30 years commuting from PAD has nearly always been that it's never a good idea to do this and that it's much better to wait for services to resume on the GWML which can happen very suddenly.

I was able to gain access to the EL platforms via the subway from the Bakerloo Line. It was now about 17:45 and I decided to wait and see what happened. Fortunately I didn't have too long to wait - as I mentioned in my post above, the 17:09 departure from PAD to RDG (which was the one 30 minutes after the service I'd first attempted to catch) arrived at 18:02 and after the platform staff had turfed everyone off, a shout came from the front end of the platform to say that the train *would* continue in service westwards so I jumped on and the train left almost immediately.

After then it was an easy journey on a very empty train, the only thing to note was that we caught up with the service to Maidenhead which had left PAD at 15:58 and had been stuck at Ealing Broadway for over 2 hours according to RTT. However that only caused a slight further delay and then the train I was on finally got busy at MAI.

On the subject of TfL offering support outside of their core area, I assume I need to do Delay Repay with GWR as I bought the ticket from them at Twyford. I'll see what happens but GWR were not being very helpful on Twitter last night with them referring queries from TWY and MAI passengers to TfL.

Sorry II I am notoriously not very time aware when I am out on one of my Saturday trips. The Aircon went off first, then the crys of there are no loos started! I would say at lest 30 minutes. My other thought was what if the driver ran out of hours, presumably they would have to taxi a replacement from Paddington, Maidenhead or Reading.

BBM, my other half was at PAD and eventually got on a rammed GWR train to Bristol/Swansea.

OK, thanks for that.  Always interesting to see how long it takes for an EMUs batteries to start 'load shedding'.  At least 30 minutes isn't too bad I suppose, but again if it was a baking hot day or a freezing cold night then it will become uncomfortable quite quickly without an engine to provide hotel power.

In these situations trains that are stranded at stations will be a much lower priority than any that are stranded between stations or in tunnels, etc.  So, whilst the Elizabeth Line will deal with their trains at any location they serve, if it's a large number of trains affected I can see why you would have felt rather left alone if at a stand at Iver station.

I was wondering if the driver on my train would run out of hours and we'd terminate at SLO or MAI but fortunately we ran through. My fallback option was to get the 19:32 to Bristol as far as RDG and then get a taxi back to TWY but luckily that wasn't necessary. (Another advantage of being stuck at PAD was the availability of loos!)


At around 18:00 last evening I took a quick look at Open Train Times maps for the EL core section and it was noticeable that practically every train was being held at a platform, the exceptions being two trains in the WB tunnel between Stratford and Whitechapel. I understand however from Twitter that an eastbound EL train was stuck just east of Hayes and Harlington.

So do forum members reckon that the DfT's want for NR to modernise and reform will be more effective or less effective at reducing all these infrastructure problems?

It very much seems like we're sweating the assets again, and we know where that ended up last time.

I'd expect you'd be referred to TfL as they ran the train you were on and there were no scheduled GWR services to Twyford due to the industrial action.

If the OHLE is switched off at Westbourne Park, either on purpose or because of a trip, why should it affect the OHLE at Langley 15 miles down the line, and the other side of Airport Junction?  Why is the OHLE not switchable in smaller sections, thus reducing service disruption?

There’s a parallel here with the National Grid and domestic electricity suppliers.  If there’s a cable fault in a road in Westbourne Park I wouldn’t expect my lights to go out in Langley.

How do you expect the power to reach there? It goes along the two wires over each track and, in autotransformer installations, the ATF wire(s) as well. Individual stretches of track can be isolated, though I think that needs manual switching on site. I assume power flows around the break above the other tracks.

Feed stations (ATFS) are about 60 miles apart (Kensal and Didcot), so if you need to remove power from all the overhead wires at one point they go dead up to the next place all those circuits are switched. In this case I guess that would be the Maidenhead MPATS.

Older systems needed feed stations closer together; AT feeding is preferred largely because it allows them to be further apart. As usual, efficiency and resilience pull the design in opposite directions.

Up main closed at Ealing Broadway. Long queue of trains now back past Iver.

Here we go again..................

Alterations to services between Reading and London Paddington

Due to a points failure between Southall and London Paddington fewer trains are able to run. Disruption is expected until 09:00 01/12.

Train services between Reading and London Paddington may be delayed or terminated at and started back from Reading.

Customer Advice
We've received notification from Network Rail that a set of points have failed. We are sorry for any changes this brings to your travel plans today.

Saw an IET "parked" at Iver and another near Hayes too.......disruption now expected till 10.

The requirement for an "Emergency Isolation" is all lines between 'Neutral Sections' for the GWML the area being discussed it means Maidenhead MPATS, (the Neutral Sections at Maidenhead are located to the West of Maidenhead station) to the Stop Blocks at Paddington Station and Neutral Sections at the NR / Crossrail boundary at Westbourne Park.

So quite a large area, but then these Emergency Isolations are a matter of life and death!

Original problem seems to have been resolved (albeit with disruption now until midday), but there's now another points failure outside Reading which is causing more problems.

Down main blocked at Goring. Not been my best commuting day today.

Another points failure this morning. This time at Twyford.

There’s a freight train blocking the up main so all services are having to run in the relief.

As usual Didcot stoppers getting CAPEd at Reading.

....and for a bit of variety....

Delays to services between Twyford and London Paddington

Due to a fire next to the track between Twyford and London Paddington some lines are blocked.
Train services running to and from these stations will be delayed by up to 30 minutes. Disruption is expected until 08:30 08/12.

And a lineside fire and "other issues". (https://www.getreading.co.uk/news/reading-berkshire-news/live-train-updates-today-lineside-25700636)

(TaplowGreen beat me to it by five seconds.)

Virtually every week now......

Alterations to services between London Paddington and Reading

Due to damage to the overhead electric wires between London Paddington and Reading fewer trains are able to run on some lines.

Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed by up to 20 minutes or revised. Disruption is expected until 18:30 08/12.

For "week" read "day"

I'm lucky to be on the first train out of Paddington, the 13:50 to Great Malvern. Never seen the concourse as full of waiting passengers. Several cancellations, none of which seemed to be listed on JourneyCheck.

I was rather worried by the lack of other posts about yesterday's problem, so I went back to RealTimeTrains to see if I was imagining things. Here's a bit of the log:

Trains from Paddington
12:33 to Exeter - left 16 late
12:48 to Swansea - left 24 late. Further delay after Cardiff.
12:50 to Worcester Foregate St - left 9 late. Further delay after Charlbury. Terminated at Shrub Hill.
13:02 to Bristol Temple Meads - left 13 late
13:04 to Plymouth - left 14 late. Further delays en route.
13:07 to Newbury - left on time
13:18 to Cardiff - left 2 late
13:20 to Oxford - left 11 late
13:28 to Cheltenham Spa - left on time
13:32 to Bristol Temple Meads - left 37 late
13:48 to Swansea - left 15 late. Further delays en route.
13:50 to Great Malvern - left 9 late. Further delays en route. Terminated at Worcester Foregate St
14:02 to Bristol Temple Meads - left 11 late
14:04 to Penzance - started from Reading
14:08 to Newbury - left on time
14:18 to Cardiff - left on time

Arrivals at Paddington had lost time between Reading and Slough
12:52 from Newbury. Arrived 10 late
12:54 from Oxford. Arrived 19 late.
12:59 from Cheltenham Spa. 22 late.
13:06 from Bristol Temple Meads. 13 late.
13:12 from Swansea. Late from Bridgend. Further delay Reading - Slough. 36 late
13:24 from Great Malvern. 22 late.
13:29 from Penzance. Started 39 late from Penzance. Terminated at Reading 48 late.
13:37 from Bristol Temple Meads. 14 late.
13:41 from Cardiff. 13 late
13:54 from Oxford. 11 late.
13:59 from Cheltenham Spa. 10 late.

So, delays inbound from Reading to Slough meant that there were no trains ready to depart - and I turned up at Paddington at possibly the worst moment.

Plus Heathrow Express seems to have switched off in its entirety with no outbound departures between 12:10 and 13:55.

Also points failures between  Newbury and Westbury and at West Ealing.....it is 1 degree below zero so I suppose we have to expect this in such Arctic conditions?

Add to the adverse weather a few things potentially impacting on maintenance and fault response -

NR have ceased using "un assisted Look-outs" ie the person with a flag and whistle / horn to warn staff of approaching trans, now the only way staff can access the track is by use of "Line Blocks" ie no trains running. 

The industrial dispute will almost certainly effected maintenance especially the overtime ban, 

The points of Switches and Crossing are electrically heated, the pre winter season maintenance for these can start as mid September for areas with lots of S & C there is actually a shortage of the skilled technicians that maintain electrical and signalling equipment in quite a few area of the country, the point heating is maintained by Electrification & Plant teams, the point machines, interlocking, detection is done by Signalling & Telecoms

09:03 London Paddington to Cardiff Central due 11:00 is being delayed between London Paddington and Reading.
This is due to a points failure.


Affecting a number of services but the points failure in question isn't listed under Journeycheck as an incident, neither was yesterdays

Perhaps points failures are now so common that they regarded as part of the daily landscape and not worthy of mentioning?

.....and again....

Cancellations 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 will be cancelled or delayed by up to 30 minutes. Disruption is expected until 15:00 21/12.

Yup, got caught up in this heading to London this afternoon. Moved onto the up relief at Dolphin Junction with a queue of trains in front of us. Another Delay Repay claim going in. Seems every journey I do at the moment by train I either get some or all my money back  ::)

The mix of cold and now wet weather and the industrial action is having an effect, this has started to become evident in some of the data I have seen ...................... it can only get worse the longer the industrial action continues, the backlog will be difficult to catch up on.

Bet the driver of the 9.32 to Bristol enjoyed driving this service:

Providing there wasn’t any signal checks en route of course.

Nothing moved in or out of PAD until quite recently as over-running engineering works blocked access into/out of North Pole depot

But it did call at the 'not stoppings'!
https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:G36808/2022-12-27/detailed#allox_id=0

Started 82 down, arrived 83 down

Looks like it moved from empty to full quite quickly. Empties arrived from North Pole at 10:35, 10:39, 10:42, 10:43, 10:46, 10:50, 10:52 and 10:56.  Passenger services arrived from Reading and beyond at 10:46, 10:51, 11:00 and 11:01 - the first of those having been held for a while at Slough

Reading (only) from what I can see - and it spent 18 minutes there.

This morning I had to return the car I borrowed over Christmas back to my sister in Taunton.

My train journey home to Templecombe was planned for connecting at Exeter into the first train up The Mule at 1325. Thus I was aiming for the 1245 from Taunton, 1C78 ex Paddington. That left Paddington over 70 minutes late, so I had to look at alternatives. The problems in the Thames Valley were compounded by the signalling failure between Bristol and Weston SM. Nothing would get me to Exeter in time for the 1325 to Templecombe.

Eventually left Taunton at 1335 on 2C73 Cardiff to Penzance service, which had been diverted via Westbury to get round the signalling problems in the Yatton area.

Arrived Exeter at 1404. Next SWR service to Templecombe at 1525.

As I type I'm on the second leg of my journey. Traction provided by a VW Caddy. The 'line' I'm travelling on? A30.

Taxi provided by GWR from Exeter St Davids to Templecombe.

Prescient decision to request the taxi rather than wait for the 1525 from Exeter to Templecombe. Line is now closed at Axminster following a person hit by a train.

Yet another, as yet unspecified, disruption to services between Salisbury and Exeter.
The line was only planned today to have services attempted to operate from Midday.
From  NRES 1530 27/12/22:-
The emergency services are dealing with an incident between Exeter Central and Axminster.
 As a result, all lines are blocked and trains may be cancelled, delayed or revised. This is expected until 20:00.
South Western Railway Customer Advice:
Trains between Waterloo and Exeter will run between London Waterloo and Yeovil Junction

Due to a fatality at Axminster as BNM said.

I fear it’s likely there will be a higher number than average of such incidents this winter.

For clarity. Person struck by train. No idea if fatal.

As with [too many / any] incident, things start a little confused.  First thoughts with all those closely involved - whatever the outcome, and then for those inconvenienced, but not so much.  The outcome will become clear in time, and little glitches in data will sort out.   SWR are telling us that trains will be running Yeovil Junction to Waterloo while this is ongoing - odd, because nothing diesel is headed east of Basingstoke today, and GWR is telling us that their Axminster service is terminating short due to a different reason (staff shortage, which is probably the default excuse).

II is correct - it's likely we'll see a higher number of such incidents this winter - and I will remind readers of the I need Help (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/6526) link at the top of this page, and to seek help if you need it.  That is irrespective of whether today's incident is one in which the person hit by the train has made a decision to be hit, or not - to know that we need to wait to hear more, and it's utterly wrong to make any assumptions until we know.

I should also say that my rail replacement taxi journey was subject to delay too. The A303 was stop start across the Blackdown Hills, along the Ilminster bypass (whoever decided that section being built as three lanes, with alternating use of the middle lane, needs committing), and from Podimore to Sparkford. So bad was that last section that Google Maps was suggesting the route through Podimore village and on to Queen Camel before rejoining the A303 at Hazelgrove roundabout was quicker.

Can say the same about the A36 Warminster bypass.  Darn right dangerous in some places as drivers attempt to overtake in the short second lane sections.

From Devon Live (https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/one-person-seriously-injured-incident-7971926)

Going back to yesterday at Paddington:

I experienced a second round of this disruption.  I arrived at Paddington at about 12:30 to catch the 12:50 back to Worcester. The concourse was very full, partly because the Underground entrance was closed for some reason. Even when that cleared:

12:04 to Penzance left at 12:41
12:07 to Newbury cancelled
12:20 to Oxford left at 12:53
12:28 Swansea on time
12:31 Bristol Temple Meads left at 12:33
12:33 Exeter St Davids cancelled
12:50 Worcester Foregate Street left at 13:35
13:02 Bristol Temple Meads left 13:14, conveying passengers for
13:04 Plymouth started from Reading and calling at the 12:33's intermediate stations

The 12:50 was on the boards as delayed due to "over-running engineering works", but announced on the train as being a "signal failure at the depot".

The 12:50 left 45 late but didn't recover any time.  I was expecting it not to go beyond Shrub Hill but (praise be) we did actually make it through to Foregate Street, where a lot of passengers were waiting for the return journey.

I was on the 0945 from Didcot. The night before the timetable showed an 8 car EMU that should have run fast from Reading. One VSTP later and it was a 2x3 car DMU which also called as Twyford, Maidenhead and Slough (presumably because TFL weren't running).

The train was full and standing leaving Reading and left passengers behind at both Maidenhead and Slough with long dwells resulting in a very late arrival.

Here are the posts from this topic in 2022.

On reading back through them, there are some which might possibly offend a sensitive reader: discretion is advised.

 :-X