Great Western Coffee Shop

Only just seen this on our wonderful journeycheck
Cancellations to services between Reading and London Paddington
Due to damage to the overhead electric wires earlier today between Reading and London Paddington fewer trains are able to run.
Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled or delayed by up to 30 minutes. Disruption is expected until 11:30 11/01.

Also a signalling problem around Kintbury adding to the morning delays.

And a track inspection Reading - Gatwick!
Not a good day to be in Control

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading

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

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 West Ealing and Greenford

Due to a points failure between West Ealing and Greenford all lines are blocked.

Train services running to and from these stations will be cancelled. Disruption is expected until 07:30 23/01.

Customer Advice
Apologies to customers hoping to travel between Greenford and West Ealing this morning. Due to a set of points freezing due to cold temperatures, we're currently unable to get our trains off the main lines and onto the Greenford branch. Network Rail are sending technicians to site to see if the issue can be rectified as temperatures are not set to rise much at all today.

That one's been cleared.

However, there's a breoken down train at Maidenhead that has closed some lines this morning

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

Cancellations to services between Reading and London Paddington

Due to a points failure at Maidenhead some lines are blocked. Disruption is expected until 10:30 23/01.

Train services between Reading and London Paddington may be cancelled, delayed or revised.

Additional Information
We are sorry for the disruption to your journey today.

Due to the failure of a set of points just to the East of Maidenhead, one of the lines from London Paddington to Reading is blocked and this is causing congestion as trains have to use a reduced number of lines.

Delays to services between London Paddington and Reading

Due to a fault with the signalling system at Langley trains have to run at reduced speed on the line towards Reading bound high speed.

Disruption is expected until 16:00 30/01.
Train services between London Paddington and Reading may be delayed by up to 25 minutes.

Cancellations to services between Reading and Westbury

Due to engineering works not being finished on time between Reading and Westbury all lines are blocked.
Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled or delayed by up to 60 minutes.

Disruption is expected until 11:00 05/02.

That leaves a conundrum as the alternative line through Swindon is closed for engineering work all day.

Which begs the question why engineering work was allowed to take place on the Berks and Hants with the line via Swindon also closed for engineering work leaving GWR no route in which to operate London services to/from Bristol, South Wales and the West Country  ???

GWR Twitter:

"Due to over running engineering works we are unable to run any of our long distance services until 1030."

Looking at RTT, services are at a standstill at various points of the network waiting for the line block to end.

There was nothing scheduled in advance (i.e. in the EAS). Three engineering trains were put in as STP during last week, so presumably it was urgent work on the track (or possibly something else). Just one of those things, I guess.

PS: there are further engineering trains out today - a TRU (a baby track measurement train) is currently approaching Bedwyn.

Alterations to services between Reading and Slough

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

Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until 08:00 23/02

Points failure impacting the up main at Ruscombe junction.

Update, sounds worse than first thought

Alterations to services between Reading and London Paddington

Due to a points failure between Twyford and Slough some lines are blocked. Disruption is expected until 11:00 23/02.

Train services between Reading and London Paddington may be delayed or revised.

Customer Advice
A set of points had failed in the Twyford area, leading to the discovery of a further fault. In order for techs to repair the fault, some lines need to be closed. This means we only have 2 of the available 4 lines in use, requiring us to enter a contingency plan.

Alterations to services between Reading and London Paddington

Due to damage to the overhead electric wires at Hayes & Harlington all lines are blocked. Disruption is expected until 15:00 24/02.

Train services between Reading and London Paddington may be delayed or revised.

-also affecting Heathrow services

Re-opened, disruption expected till 1700

I’m not sure blocked was quite the right word to use on this occasion as trains were passing through the affected area all be it on a stop start nature after passing through Slough. The wife was on one of them heading to London arriving 26 minutes late. Another delay repay claim gone in. Every train, either or both of us take ends up with a claim going in. Train travel has never been cheaper for us.

Thoughts with all affected;

Cancellations to services between Reading and London Paddington

Due to a person hit by a train between Reading and London Paddington all lines are blocked.

Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled or delayed. Disruption is expected until 09:00 28/02.

Noting all Cornish Paddington ran through Temple Meads today (1A13 0503 Pz) lost 46 minutes there.  Unusual as most (if not all) go via Westbury).
Engineering works perhaps?

Edit.
D'oh.  Yes, engineering works.
Please read journeycheck before posting...........

Cancellations to services between Reading and London Paddington

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

Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled, delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until 21:00 08/03.

Alterations to services between London Paddington and Heathrow Terminal 5 via Heathrow Terminals 2 & 3

Due to damage to the overhead electric wires between London Paddington and Slough some lines are blocked. Disruption is expected until 15:00 13/03.

Train services between London Paddington and Heathrow Terminal 5 via Heathrow Terminals 2 & 3 may be delayed or revised.

Delays now until 1700 with cancellations and delays to  local, long distance & Elizabeth line services.

Why is this system so fragile?

Don't know if it is related to the strong winds - but one of the wires over the London-bound main line has come down between West Drayton and Acton.

It’s old and wa done on the cheap when HEx was launched. Never really designed to handle all the electric trains using it today.

Bit more than one unfortunately.

Now delays/canx till end of day. Trains backed up along the Cotswold Line & over 80 minutes delays

Trying to get the wife back from London. As usual, little to no information as to when that actually be. Train was suppose to be leaving now. So yet another delay repay claim going in. Every journey it's the same, never on time.

"Useful in case of disruption" is the worst of arguments for retention of an alternative service.

However, the decision to kill the Bristol to Waterloo trains came at a very bad time, given that the industry was in a state of change, and the OHLE inbound from Southall has emerged as being a bit glass-backed - and users of the route also have the potential disruption from large scale construction at Old Oak Common to look forward to. It's at times like these when people are changing the way they live and travel that opportunities can be created and grasped and in the face of this the DfT has been rather good at shutting down possibilities for growth.

The Bristol to Waterloo trains enabled people who knew about them to sidestep a GWML meltdown, but also had a slew of other strengths, enabling a lot of journeys that are far more awkward without them and also improved the accessiblity of the railway system in the south west. Losing that service has been a disaster for the network. The scale of the disaster depends on how useful they were to the people affected.

Mark

Looks like yesterday's overhead line problem remains unresolved so it's another day of chaos to look forward to.

I was very lucky last night - managed to get on an Elizabeth Line service at Bond Street which delivered me at Taplow only about 5 minutes too late but have heard a number of horror stories from elsewhere.

As I went through Ealing Broadway there was an IET parked up on the London bound fast platform with engineers crawling over the roof so not sure if that had something to do with it.

Let's hope NR get it fixed this morning and come up with a more robust solution going forward.

It has been reported elsewhere that an access panel on the roof became loose which resulted in it coming into contact with the overhead lines. Why remains to be seen but it was reported a polythene sheeting had been entangled in the overheads near Hayes, that may be a contributing factor in the panel coming loose

The wires have been secured so that trains can run in diesel only on the mains.

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading
Delays to services between London Paddington and Bristol Temple Meads
Delays to services between London Paddington and Plymouth via Taunton
Delays to services between London Paddington and Swansea via Bristol Parkway
Delays to services between London Paddington and Hereford via Oxford


..............all due to the continuation of yesterday's OHL issue and expected to last "until the end of the day" according to Journeycheck.

The coffee shop's visual map of services is useful for an at-a-glance impression of things this morning, and for once it doesn't look as though it's been attacked by a furious three year old armed with a red crayon... so, Severn Tunnel, see you in a bit.

Mark

Don't speak too soon.............

Delays to services at Reading

Due to a fault with the signalling system at Reading fewer trains are able to run on some lines.
Train services running through this station will be delayed. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

What a hopeless week it's been.

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Slough

Due to a safety inspection of the track between London Paddington and Slough the line towards Slough is blocked.

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

Broken rail at one of the Southall crossovers. 

They seem to be suffering a lot of issues with crossovers

Cancellations to services between Slough and Hayes & Harlington

Due to a points failure between Slough and Hayes & Harlington some lines are blocked.
Train services running through these stations may be cancelled or delayed. Disruption is expected until 18:30 22/03.

Customer Advice
Apologies to customers travelling between Slough and London Paddington this evening.

Due to a points issue in the West Drayton area, the 'slow line' towards London is currently blocked.

Appears to be ongoing this morning, or possibly another points failure as there are a number of cancellations and part cancellations.

The Elizabeth Line is almost completly knackered this morning.

Power failure I think?

I got caught out on 23rdon way to Reading fortuantely the friend I was meeting phoned to say tha the train I ws intending to catch fro Taplow was not on RTT. however, the one beofre was running late so I just had time to rush to the station. Manged it but only because it was running late.

Cancellations to services between Newbury and Reading

Due to a fault with the signalling system between Newbury and Reading 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 11:00 27/03.

Looking at Journeycheck, Intercity services appear to be terminating at Reading.

UPDATE:

Heard reports that signalling cables have been damaged in the area.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FsYGAMhWcAIxS5z?format=jpg&name=small)

Photo on Twitter (https://twitter.com/networkrailwest/status/1641006086160363520/photo/1)  suggests that the fire is perhaps an electrical fire? So cables will have been damaged. 

Yes, definite damage to S&T cables, hence the ‘disruption to the end of the day’ as it will take time to replace them.

I'm wondering what this was as from the blackening to the OHLE supports this looks to have been big enough to start roasting anything stabled alongside.

Mark

Seriously, unless you have absolutely no alternative, don't go anywhere near Paddington tonight.....I took one look at the masses, turned around, went to Waterloo and boarded a train to Windsor where Mrs TG kindly collected me.

From the position of the fire, along the fence between the main line and the sidings, it can only be the railway's own fire (see pictures from the Chron (https://www.readingchronicle.co.uk/news/23419538.delays-reading-train-station-fire-maidenhead/)). And, since it seems to be at the foot of the masts that carry traction power connections from the east side of the section break to the Maidenhead MPATS, presumably the traction power cables were the source of the fire.

I used the Elizabeth Line, but it did not stop at Burnham or Taplow, it crossed on the DN Main at Salt Hill.  I did not even attempt to look at the Main Line Station for fasts to Maidenhead.

On the way in this morning I was on the 07:02 from Maidenhead it came to a  stop at Southall for about 15 / 20 mins, the Drive kept us informed that the power was off due to a line side fire at Maidenhead; we reached Padd where I picked up the Elizabeth Line the West bound were terminating, East bound Shenfield's were ok but the Abbey Wood's were MIA.


The fire does look a bit odd, being in 2 places.  The flames seem to be where a raised GRP trough route dives down to the OLE structures.   Could it have been a Traction Power (25kV) fault, these tend to clear very quickly (mili Seconds) and do not generally cause a fire.  A Traction Return Current fault that is a possibly but on modern AC Traction systems are extremely rare.  Other options low Voltage systems (signalling power, lighting etc) but these systems will clear a fault before a fire starts or vandalism or other non electrical cause

Letter arroving from NR & GWR to say both overhead power & Signalling going to be kaput into at least tomorrow mornng. So check before leaving home

Yes it looks as if that had previously been something larger because of the gap in the troughing. Also I can't help wondering if that is a cable hanging down from the extension on that very blackened middle support and perhaps that made contact with something. Saying that the cable, if that is what it is, in question could be hanging down from there as part of the correct workings of OLE: I don't know.

Dave

Certainly looks that way, more of the same.

The suspected cause is known within NR, I'm not at liberty to say what the suspected cause is, it is still subject of a live investigation.

If by "cable" you mean the vertical black line, then no - that's the actuating rod for the isolating switch sitting on the side arm. Compare it with the identical stanchion to the left of the portal. Each of those tall stanchions has a pair on the far side of the running lines, and there are four such pairs providing the traction connections for the four lines. There is an insulated cable going halfway up the near stanchion, then a bare wire on via that switch, up to the top, and across to the far side. Partway across there is an insulator and a wire drops down to connect to the catenary and contact wires. There are four of those, one for each line, each side of the midpoint section break.

A lot of the switchgear you see sitting on poles, or corralled by the lineside, and even more lurking in sheds, exists to prevent traction circuit currents getting high enough to cause damage. As ET says, big fault currents must be removed in a fraction of a second, before enough energy has been dumped into the wires to overheat them. If that happened, then evidently "something went wrong". Traction supplies can cope with hundreds of amps, and if that sort of current at 25 kV gets into other cables they can get very hot without tripping anything. Obviously that's still something going wrong. So, several possibilities!

Oooooh how intriguing? Sabotage?

No

Might have contractual implications though

The cables were not the cause of the fire but a victim.

It'll be embarrassing for someone, too.

Hopefully earthed  ;D ;D

Nice reply from Network Rail to someone who said fixing the damage had taken too long.

https://twitter.com/David__Brunt/status/1641007491470315520

Would have been great if Network Rail/GWR had put that message (or similar) out proactively.

Wednesday incident at Maidenhead

The info I have had from a number of sources point to the suspected cause of the fire to have been a fault with the OLE switch or a component / connection associated with the switch arcing.  Molten metal dropping onto the GRP cable trough below casing ignition of the cable sheath.

That is a surprising mechanism, though it can't be the whole story. Surely the protection should have stopped it happening?

I don't have any first-hand experience of arcing at that power level (fortunately), and I wondered why I couldn't find much on the subject. I guess that's because it's just called a fault. But once an arc is established, the voltage across it is very low - under a kV - so the current drawn should trip something, even at the far end of the section. Unless there was something very peculiar about this arc ... or some current-limiting impedance in the circuit ... which has to be reactive or it will dissipate more power than the arc. So as usual, more questions are raised to start with and more investigating is needed.

Looking at the photos the OLE switch in the area of the fire is purely manual operation, no spring assistance.  Although they are called switches technically they are Isolators (open / close operation only off load) (switches can be operated to  make / break load current)

Arcing is not Voltage dependant, load current and a relatively high impendence will cause arcing due to the Potential Difference between the 2 contacts.  The burning will cause carbonisation which increases the impedance.  It can get to the point where the air becomes Ionized which increases the arcing. 

Temperatures sufficient to melt copper are easily reached in the matter of milliseconds.

The load current on the switch would not be limited to the line it is connected to, Maidenhead being a Mid Point, in the case of this switch the remote end to the feed in from Kensal Green, there is an Intermediate Point at Slough, the circuit breakers and busbar in the Maidenhead Mid Point balance the load across all 4 lines.  At that time of the day there is I suspect a high traction load, 8 and 12 car class 387, 5, 9 and 10 car class 800 and class 345 all starting from stations, checked at signals.

Thanks for that explanation. I guess it's obvious it would be a series arc, though I understood the really destructive ones develop into a parallel arc. But the question of protection is still there; after all AFDDs are now recommended in domestic installations (18th edition of Wiring Regulations). There are quite a lot of those isolators (opened only for maintenance or during failures) along the section to worry about.

I can see that full protection would be difficult, given that some pantograph arcing is inevitable, and with a choice of parallel paths. You don't want to disconnect a whole section just for occasional pantograph arcing, so something clever would be needed. But I'd guess that clever detection is in place, if only for condition monitoring. Disconnection (of what? where?) might not be feasible in the available time before major damage happens. As usual, it's a compromise.

No doubt someone will be looking at alternatives to GRP conduit covers ...

AFDD's are being looked at, the problem is the railways operate a sliding contact current collection system which has many interruptions, building a profile for an arc fault device is challenging. 

The type of protection used on 25kV is Distance Protection, the link has a lot fo tech stuff and sums  ( https://pacbasics.org/fundamentals-of-distance-protection/#:~:text=Zones%20of%20distance%20protection,-Distance%20protection%20uses&text=The%20zone%20and%20time%20grading,respect%20to%20the%20protected%20line. )
Distance Protection is fast form of protection, it can react rapidly to low impedance faults, contact system conductors to traction return and Earth

NR third rail DC uses Impedance Protection which is a fast form of protection, this can react rapidly to low impedance faults contact system conductors to traction return, but not so good for Earth faults as these are high impedance, deliberately by design the third rail Neg traction return is not directly bonded to Earth to limit stray DC currents in the Earth.

Both the Distance and Impedance protection systems are not designed for the relatively rare serial arc as found in a burning connection or switch, thermal imaging is used for this periodically however this does need to be done while trains are running, heat is only generated with load current.

I expect the position of GRP trough routes and cables under OLE switches will be reviewed Nationally

Delays to services between London Paddington and Slough

Due to engineering works not being finished on time between London Paddington and Slough some lines are blocked.

Train services running to and from these stations will be delayed by up to 60 minutes. Disruption is expected until 10:00 02/04.

A hat tip to the Coffeeshop's map at top left, though it sadly too often looks as though it's been attacked by a three year old with a red crayon and anger issues, it's brilliant at providing an 'At a glance' answer to the question "What parts of the rail network are horked today?"

Also, the 'Via Salisbury' option for Bath and Bristol (and, this weekend, South Wales)... a pity, this weekend, as well as no through services for the past 15 months and no action on the many poor connections at Salisbury, the woes on the GWML have conincided with engineering works closing Andover to Salisbury, and today, Bracknell to Reading, and, just in case anyone was thinking of taking the long way round that somehow was a valid through fares routing until a few years ago, Southampton to Salisbury too.

Engineering works aside, I'm wondering if public awareness of travel via Salisbury is receding somewhat.

Mark

Cancellations to services between Reading and Newbury

Due to a fault with the signalling system between Reading and Newbury fewer trains are able to run.

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

Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

The failure of the bridge between Didcot and Oxford was initially posted here on this long thread (as it's an infrastructure issue) - however  it's become clear it merits ite own thread so posts on that bridge, please, to http://www.passenger.chat/27351 - Black Bridge, Nuneham: southern abutment failure

Please continue to post here (as, STOP PRESS, I see Taplow Green has done) with other infrastructure issues

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 or revised. Disruption is expected until 20:45 10/04.

As a lighter relief on this thread - a reminder that overhead problems are not unique to the Thames Valley (from IOM Today (https://www.iomtoday.co.im/news/part-of-manx-electric-railway-line-to-shut-for-two-days-606993))

Oh dear! Any forum members due to visit soon?

It's been snowing on the Isle of Man today as well. Delays to ferries also. Hopefully things will have calmed down by next month for my trip.

Back to the Thames Valley!

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Slough

Due to a tree blocking the railway between London Paddington and Slough:

Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled, delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until 19:30 12/04.

There is a tree which has fallen onto the railway and is making contact with the overhead electric wires, near Acton Main Line station. This means that two out of four railway lines are out of use in the problem area.

Delays to services between Reading and London Paddington

Following a points failure between Reading and Slough all lines towards Slough will be reopened shortly. Disruption is expected until 09:00 17/04.

Train services between Reading and London Paddington are returning to normal but some services may still be delayed.

Alterations to services between Reading and Newbury

Due to a points failure between Reading and Newbury fewer trains are able to run on all lines.

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

Again.......

Alterations to services between Reading and Newbury

Due to a points failure between Reading and Newbury fewer trains are able to run on all lines.

Train services running to and from these stations will be revised. Disruption is expected until 11:15 21/04.

Once again. Simply happening far too often.

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading

Due to a points failure between Maidenhead and Reading some lines are blocked. Disruption is expected until 18:00 26/04.

Train services between London Paddington and Reading may be cancelled, delayed or running non stop between Slough and Reading.

Seems the GW main line into Paddington is the most unreliable rail route into London.

....and again...

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 some lines.

Train services running to and from these stations will be cancelled or delayed. Disruption is expected until 08:00 28/04.

Disruption now till 1000

......today's Thames Valley offering.....

Alterations to services at Maidenhead
Due to a fault with the signalling system at Maidenhead some lines are blocked.

Train services running through this station may be delayed by up to 30 minutes or revised. Disruption is expected until 18:00 29/04.

The unit on the Windsor branch also failed and had to be swapped out.

Meanwhile there’s a temporary 50mph restriction on the down main between Reading and  Didcot Parkway.  Not sure how long it’s been there but causes services to lose a bit of time.

And nearly caused me to miss my 8 minute connection at Didcot yesterday because we were then held outside the station waiting for a path into Platform 3.

Virtually a daily event now......

Cancellations to services between Slough and London Paddington

Due to a points failure between Slough and London Paddington fewer trains are able to run on some lines.

Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled or delayed by up to 30 minutes. Disruption is expected until 15:00 02/05.

Cancellations to services between Slough and London Paddington

Due to urgent repairs to the railway between Slough and London Paddington fewer trains are able to run on some lines.

Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled or delayed by up to 15 minutes. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

⚠ Due to the emergency services dealing with an incident near the railway between #LondonPaddington and #DidcotParkway all lines are blocked. Disruption is expected until 19:00 16/05.

Make that 20:00.

Some trains being diverted via the Berks and Hants.

Delays to services between Slough and London Paddington

Due to a points failure between Slough and London Paddington the line towards London Paddington bound high speed is blocked.

Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed by up to 30 minutes. Disruption is expected until 14:00 18/05.

Some queues of trains building up on the Up Main at Slough West, and the Down Relief at Dolphin Jn. And there aren’t many class 9 trains, so it looks like the Elizabeth Line service had been thinned out.

Disruption now till 1700

Elizabeth Line suspended West Drayton -Reading.

Due to the emergency services dealing with an incident between London Paddington and Didcot Parkway, all lines are blocked.

Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled or delayed by up to 90 minutes.

Disruption is expected until 14:00.

I was travelling back from Windsor to Reading at about 5pm yesterday, and at that time, most trains running from Windsor & Eton Central to Slough were cancelled, due, I was told, to this points failure. I thought that line ran completely independently from the main lines through Slough, so don't understand why this points failure impacted on it.

Fortunately I had my Brompton and could cycle to Slough, where the Elizabeth line train was then (about 5.30pm) running normally.

Although it’s largely independent of the main lines it’s a fully signalled route and there’s also the siding which has points controlling it.  It looked like the unit had been put away in there yesterday evening as a result of whatever was wrong..

I'm not a signalling engineer so I'm kinda guessing if one of the sets of points lost point detection in the connection onto the DN Main the DN Main and Windsor branch signals would fail safe (Red), the quick fix may have been to clamp the Windsor Branch points, the S&T to do some overriding of the interlocking to allow the DN Main return to normal, as the branch is signalled the Windsor service may have had to be suspended due to the logic of the interlocking.

I could be wrong

Service alteration details
Incident reported: 24 May 2023 at 15:02



Last updated

24 May 2023 at 15:12

Train operators affected

Elizabeth line
Great Western Railway
Heathrow Express
Route(s) affected
Elizabeth line between Abbey Wood and Heathrow Terminal 4 / Reading, and between Shenfield and Heathrow Terminal 5

Great Western Railway between London Paddington and Didcot Parkway / Cheltenham Spa / Hereford / Newbury / Bristol Temple Meads / Cardiff Central / Swansea / Carmarthen / Weston-super-Mare / Frome / Exeter St Davids / Plymouth / Penzance

Heathrow Express between London Paddington and Heathrow Terminal 5

Description
A fault with the signalling system between Acton Main Line and Ealing Broadway is causing disruption to journeys running between these stations. As a result, trains may be cancelled, delayed by up to 20 minutes or revised.

Disruption is expected until 1700

05:10 Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington due 07:37
05:10 Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington due 07:37 will be terminated at Reading.
It will no longer call at Thatcham, Theale and London Paddington.
It has been delayed at Pewsey and is now 27 minutes late.

The return journey now starting from Reading.

This is due to a fault with the signalling system.

Urgent repairs are needed to the track between Heathrow Airport Terminals 2 & 3 and Hayes & Harlington.

As a result of this, Elizabeth line services may be cancelled, delayed by up to 10 minutes or revised. Heathrow Terminal 5 will not be served.

Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

Delays to services between London Paddington and Reading

Due to a speed restriction because of severe weather 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 delayed by up to 30 minutes. Disruption is expected until 19:00 12/06.

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 some lines towards Reading.

Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled, delayed by up to 15 minutes or revised. Disruption is expected until 16:00 13/06.

Cancellations to services between Maidenhead and Marlow

Due to a fault with the signalling system between Maidenhead and Marlow the line is closed.

Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled or delayed. Disruption is expected until 08:45 14/06.

Thames Valley branches doing well this morning............

Cancellations to services between Slough and Windsor & Eton Central

Due to a fault on this train between Slough and Windsor & Eton Central all lines are closed.

Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled or delayed by up to 30 minutes. Disruption is expected until 08:30 14/06.

Bus to Taplow it is then!

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

Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled or delayed. Disruption is expected until 10:30 20/06.

Customer Advice
London Buses are conveying passengers via any reasonable route until further notice.

Alterations to services between Didcot Parkway and Reading
Alterations to services between Newbury and Reading

Due to a points failure between London Paddington and Reading some lines are blocked. Disruption is expected until 21:00 22/06.

Train services between Didcot Parkway and Reading may be terminated at and started back from Reading. Some stations between Reading and London Paddington will not be served.

Cancellations to services between Theale and Reading

Due to a speed restriction over defective track between Theale and Reading trains have to run at reduced speed on all lines.

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

1B25 17:18 PAD-SWA has failed at Ladbroke Grove and is blocking the Down Main...

EDIT: It appears to have returned to PAD.

Cancellations to services between Bourne End and Marlow

Due to a fault with the signalling system between Bourne End and Marlow the line is blocked.

Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled or revised. Marlow will not be served. Disruption is expected until 12

Alterations to services between Newbury and Thatcham

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

Train services running through these stations may be delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until 19:00 07/07

Alterations to services at Didcot Parkway

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

Train services running through this station may be delayed by up to 45 minutes or terminated at and started back from Reading. Disruption is expected until 17:30 09/07.

Additional Information
There is a signalling fault in the Didcot Parkway area which is causing delays to our services whilst services travel through the affected area.
Some of our stopping services between Didcot Parkway & London Paddington will only run between Reading & London Paddington.

Delays to services between London Paddington and Slough

Due to a broken down train between London Paddington and Slough some lines are blocked.
Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed. Disruption is expected until 19:00 13/07.

Bridge near Hanwell has been struck by a road vehicle.  It’s a bridge that requires an examiner to pass as safe before trains can run, so another morning of major disruption beckons.

All lines now reopened (thankfully!)

This motivated me to check the bridges to either side of Hanwell Station, hopefully this lovely structure isn't the casualty.

Mark

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.5115645,-0.3410205,3a,75y,190.91h,89.32t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1ss_oh7goRGJpGlFcqj8MPhg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192!5m2!1e1!1e4?entry=ttu

Much sooner than was originally expected for once.  So much so that it caught GWR control out a bit as they were planning for much longer disruption as originally notified by NR!

Still some disruption, I’m currently on a Reading-bound EL service which started from P12 at PAD,

A good start to the day.....

Cancellations to services between Reading and London Paddington

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

Train services running to and from these stations will be cancelled, delayed by up to 60 minutes or revised. Some stations between Reading and London Paddington will not be served. Disruption is expected until 09:00 25/07.

Customer Advice
Other services 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. London Buses are accepting train tickets via any reasonable route on N11 and N207

Additional Information
A data link issue is preventing the signallers from being able to operate the points (the moving pieces of track that enable trains to change lines) and the signals. Techs are on-site trying to rectify the fault.

Puzzled by part of their customer advice -
Customer Advice
Elizabeth line 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.

Surely the Elizabeth Line uses the same signals/points, etc as GWR, so how come they are apparently running, but not GWR?

Elizabeth Line gets priority and/or points have been secured to enable Elizabeth Line trains to operate

Just checked National Rail, everything (all Elizabeth Line) between  0815-1000 from Taplow is cancelled.....if that's priority I feel sorry for those at the back of the queue.

GWR now advising disruption till midday.

That sounds more like a line blockage to allow for a fix to be implemented or testing of the signaling equipment to be carried out.

Disruption now expected "until the end of the day"

Just spoken to someone stuck at Slough Station who's been advised that everything towards Reading is cancelled for the next 90 mins.

Clipping and scotching points to give access to the CrossRail depot.

Disruption now forecast until 1000 on 26 July, well over 24 hours since it began.

It sometimes feels the system is so fragile that a feather could knock it over.

Disruption now forecast until 1200.

1800 now.

It appears to be a proper head scratcher!  They are still suffering interference on both the datalinks. The system has two datalinks for system redundancy. If one goes down you can run still run on the one good datalink.

I would suggest it's probably time for the head scratching to be replaced by arse kicking!

NR have just posted on X (Twitter) that it's 6pm 'at the earliest' which doesn't fill one with much confidence that it will be resolved before the day is out.

No confidence whatsoever.....I'm wondering what the public/media reaction would be if a major motorway or airport was restricted in a similar way for what will most likely be 48 hours?

Looks like London to Didcot/Newbury services now starting/finishing at Reading........which just leaves customers with the challenge of getting to/from Reading.......

All a process of elimination. Every single equipment cabinet in the Paddington to Acton area needs to be examined and tested. You could strike lucky and the problem might be in the first cabinet you test, or worst case, the last one.

We all still have a good moan! 
Motorways with lane closures where you don’t see a single person working and those average speed cameras…….. or alrports when they’re hit by IT failures or air traffic control goes down.

Quelle surprise.......

Alterations to services between London Paddington and Reading

Due to a fault with the signalling system between Reading and London Paddington some lines are blocked. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

Normal running given at 16:15

GWR expect to be running a good service from Paddington by 19:00.  MTR a good service by 21:00

.......never doubted them for a minute  ;)

It’s early yet….. it’s been given back after the system remained stable for an hour!  :-\

GWR journeycheck says to expect disruption still to the end of the day before a a full timetable can be restarted

NR did put out a video on (no longer?) Twitter (https://twitter.com/networkrailwest/status/1684215899295809538?s=46&t=0eD2f57GNzZU6XDIdukAug), and not a bad attempt at explaining the situation. But far too late - in the end it must have been after the fix was found, during the hour of watching and hoping.

I'll keep calling it Twitter for the time being. The URL is twitter.com. Type in X.com and it redirects to twitter.com!

Fault at Paddington has reoccurred again at around 20:30.

Multiple changes of signalling aspects reported.

Disruption expected again tomorrow morning.

From JourneyCheck:

Ah well.....it was good while it lasted!  ::)

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading

Due to a fault with the signalling system between Reading and London Paddington fewer trains are able to run. Disruption is expected until 10:00 27/07.
Train services between London Paddington and Reading will be cancelled, delayed by up to 30 minutes or revised.

Customer Advice
We're sorry for the delay to your journey.

A fault with a data link between signalling equipment has reoccurred meaning that we are unable to use some lines between London Paddington and Ealing Broadway. Network Rail engineers are investigating the fault.

Perhaps keep the champagne on ice for a few hours yet.......

Delays to services between London Paddington and Reading

Following a fault with the signalling system between Reading and London Paddington the line will be reopened shortly. Disruption is expected until 10:00 27/07.

Train services between London Paddington and Reading are returning to normal.

Bit time-sensitive this morning, so, currently on a 70% seats-free train at Warminster, heading for Bristol, returning from London via Salisbury.

Mark

Looks like you arrived as Salisbury from London at 10:48 and so missed the 10:44 major-stops-only to Bristol.  Instead, you caught the 11:12 to Bristol - a new train in May that actually started from Salisbury (2V92) - 158752 - and 30% loading as early as Warminster feels not unreasonable. The 11:12, after all, sets off from Salisbury just BEFORE the arrival of the SWR trains from Basingstoke and from Romsey.

Cancellations to services between Taunton and Reading via Westbury
Due to a fault with the signalling system between Taunton and Castle Cary trains have to run at reduced speed on the line towards Westbury. Disruption is expected until 16:00 27/07.
Train services between Taunton and Reading via Westbury may be cancelled, delayed or revised.

So the fault has transferred West!

That's the problem with a centralised system unfortunately.
Our Maritime Radio services went down a remote control route, it worked OK'ish after a fashion. Was heavily reliant on engineering services to kick something back into life; or BT line engineers to poke bits of wire somewhere.
The Coastguard thought this was a wonderful idea, so went down that route.  It works after a fashion, but I don't know their attrition rate.
Then the Fire service started remote working, as did the Police and Ambulance.
Remoting was to be the saviour of mankind. Would cut costs and reduce the need for 'people'.
Just about every industry now has remote/central control.
Not really impressed by it.

That's the one. The journey went as follows: anecdote not data: the barriers at Waterloo didn't fight my ticket. The exeter train left on time, dropped three busy ~60% occupied carriages at Salisbury, which left empty for the depot while the passengers for the most part left the station, and left Salisbury station pretty quiet.

There's now a Costa on the island platform, which is welcome competition from the usual concession on the other that once sold me a suspicious cake. The Bristol train was quiet from Salisbury, a little busier from Warminster, was checked slightly at Dilton Marsh perhaps because Westbury was feeling the heat of the disruption east of Reading  in the form of out-of-path arrivals at its generous three platform provision. Lots of people aboard at Trowbridge, so cheerfully busy thereafter.

End to end impressions of the journey - busy peak hour through trains from my origin point to Waterloo East meant no need to change at London Bridge, which helps. Out of Waterloo, takes twice as long now but less of a fairground ride, and, given the current  disruption on the Paddington route, a lot of confidence of an on-time arrival.

Mark

Someone's been waving that feather around again.

Reports on Twitter that this service set off for Exeter from Reading but some passengers aboard didn't get the message that its schedule had been changed to run non-stop to Exeter St Davids.

Mark

https://twitter.com/BinTwoPadstow/status/1684643596085899266

https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:P75395/2023-07-27

*Re-reads Realtime Trains* Ah, I was wrong, no stop at Reading, so Paddington to Exeter non-stop, despite which it stayed around an hour down throughout.

Mark

That stop (or non-) at Reading makes a huge difference. Once you have your passengers aboard you can tell them all what's what, in a way that's never 100% reliable at the originating station. Then the ones who need to can be tipped off at e.g. Reading, where they and the local staff know they need to be sorted out with alternative trains. 

Don't understand how it didn't make up time for that length of journey.
Something amiss?

Only three stations were ommitted, so a signal check or two en-route due to losing its path would more than swollow up the potential six or so minutes gained from removal of those stops.

Makes you wonder why they bother, doesn't it?

I have split this off to a separate thread - it merits its own discussion rather than being buried here!


New thread at http://www.passenger.chat/27733

Delays to services between London Paddington and Hayes & Harlington

Following damage to the overhead electric wires between London Paddington and Hayes & Harlington some lines are now open.

Train services running to and from these stations will be delayed. Disruption is expected until 13:30 01/08.

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading

Due to a points failure at West Ealing some lines are blocked. Disruption is expected until 08:15 02/08.

Train services between London Paddington and Reading may be cancelled or delayed.

........yet again.

Alterations to services between Reading and London Paddington

Due to a fault with the signalling system between Reading and London Paddington fewer trains are able to run.
Train services running to and from these stations will be terminated at and started back from Reading. Twyford, Maidenhead and Slough will not be served. Disruption is expected until 13:00 05/08.

Please be advised that due to an issue with the signalling system in the Southall area just West of London Paddington, Network Rail have asked GWR to reduce their service between Reading and London Paddington.

Delays to services between Reading and Slough

Due to a fault with the signalling system between Reading and Slough 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 08:30 08/08.

Disruption now expected till 1030

1230

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 the line towards Reading bound high speed.

Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled, delayed by up to 45 minutes or terminated at and started back from Reading. Disruption is expected until 21:30 10/08.

Welcome to the new week!  ::)


Cancellations to services between Newbury and Reading

Due to a fault with the signalling system at Reading West all lines are blocked. Disruption is expected until 09:30 14/08.
Train services between Newbury and Reading may be cancelled or delayed by up to 60 minutes.
Additional Information
Due to a fault with the signalling system in the Reading West area, we are unable to operate our Reading to Basingstoke & Reading to Newbury services at the moment.
Network Rail are on site investigating the fault.

The UM appears to be shut between Moreton Cutting and Reading, which means that all Up trains are currently using the UR.  This exposes a weakness in the layout at Reading, in that you can’t access P10 and P11 (the UM platforms) from the UR, so all Up trains have to use P12 -P15, which are getting a bit congested.  This is exacerbated by the fact that Crossrail trains normally take up 2 platforms, which wasn’t envisaged when the station layout was designed.     

A solution would be a trailing crossover between the UM and DR just west of the station, but I suppose the chances of that happening are about zero.

Little chance of any additional crossovers, I've often thought crossovers between Goring and Pangbourne would be useful.  Though they can also use P7 or P8 at Reading as well as P12-15 if needed, though that will often conflict with down main movements.

A Crossrail has been put in P10 which I've seen before to help free up P12-P15.   

Reading was designed with Crossrail in mind and there was always Paddington - Reading locals that occupied platforms at Reading.

I suspect there is an Operations plan for the eventuality of lines leading into Reading being blocked

Cancellations to services between Reading and Newbury
Due to damage to the overhead electric wires between Reading and Newbury fewer trains are able to run on all lines.
Train services running through these stations may be cancelled. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.
Customer Advice
-

What's happening between Newbury and Reading?

At around midday on 14/08/2023, a part of a trains overhead electrical system collided with a bridge just West of Newbury. This collision resulted in damage to both the train and the overhead line equipment. Network Rail are still assessing the damage to their infrastructure and as a consequence, we're unable to operate any electric-only traction (trains) between Newbury and Reading until further notice.

-

What's the impact on service for Wednesday 16/08/2023?

Services between Bedwyn - Newbury and Reading are going to be disrupted as we're still unable to operate electric traction (trains) between Newbury and Reading. GWR & Network Rail Western Control have been working overnight to formulate a plan to utilise diesel units from other areas of the network to try and maintain a good level of service between Newbury and Reading. The specifics of this plan will be announced later this morning but will of course be advertised as soon as they're confirmed. For the most part we will be able to maintain an hourly service as a minimum between Newbury and Reading. A basic summary of impact is as follows:

- There will be a reduced service between Newbury and Reading today.
- The Bedwyn - Newbury shuttles will operate as normal.
- Newbury to Reading shuttles will be subject to cancellations though some may operate using diesel trains.
- Fast London Paddington-bound trains that start at Bedwyn / Frome / Bristol during the AM peak period will run as booked.
- London Paddington bound trains booked to start at Newbury will start at Reading and terminate at Reading on their return journey.

Please consult online journey planners for specific journey enquiries where you will see an updated list of what is and isn't cancelled today.

13:45 - disruption now expected until 16:00 with delays of up to 60 minutes.

Yet again.....

Cancellations to services at Didcot Parkway
Due to a fault with the signalling system at Didcot Parkway trains have to run at reduced speed on all lines.

Train services running through this station may be cancelled, delayed by up to 60 minutes or revised. Disruption is expected until 20:45 21/08.

Well, would you believe it. Some sort of infrastructure failure is virtually a daily event now in the Thames Valley.

Alterations to services at Slough
Due to a points failure at Slough some lines are blocked.

Train services running through this station may be delayed by up to 30 minutes or terminated at and started back from Reading. Disruption is expected until 16:00 22/08.

This all may be the combination of "Modernising Maintenance" and staff holidays.  Quite a number of staff have been released under voluntary severance compounded by a very tightly controlled recruitment and promotion processes over the last year or so some of the teams that respond to faults have been depleted or have a much large area to cover.

The added restriction is the "Track Worker Safety Scheme" basically staff are not allowed on the track without a "Line Block" ie trains cannot run on the lines staff require to carryout repairs or lines required to access equipment.  The days of a "Lookout" ie someone with a flag and horn to warn of an approaching train have been consigned to the history books.

Modernising maintenance has been driven by the Treasury and DfT to reduce the cost to tax payer, track worker safety has been pushed by the ORR, NR had to implement both these in very quick order.

 

"Modernising maintenance" is basically returning to reactive maintenance rather than proactive.

....without the 'luxury' of lookouts on active lines. So even worse than what was had historically

The intended prosecution of Network Rail (Scotland) will also add to the multi layers of 'elf and safety, and to my mind, only increase future repair delays.

.....and again....

Delays to services between Reading and London Paddington

Due to a fault with the signalling system between Reading 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 delayed by up to 40 minutes. Disruption is expected until 19:00 23/08.

Scarcely credible. Almost literally becoming a daily event.

Cancellations to services between Reading and London Paddington

Due to a fault with the signalling system between Reading 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, delayed by up to 20 minutes or revised. Disruption is expected until 12:15 24/08.

Customer Advice
Fewer services will be able to run after 09:45 due to a safety inspection of the track

Alterations to services between Twyford and Henley-On-Thames
Due to a fault with the signalling system at Reading some lines are blocked. Disruption is expected until 08:00 25/08.
Train services between Twyford and Henley-On-Thames will be suspended. All stations between Twyford and Henley-On-Thames will not be served.
Customer Advice
Replacement road transport services are conveying passengers between Twyford and Henley-On-Thames in both directions until further notice. Arrangements have been made for Great Western Railway rail tickets to be accepted for these journeys. We have ordered road replacement, we will update when confirmed.
AND
Alterations to services between Reading and Basingstoke
Due to a fault with the signalling system at Reading some lines are blocked. Disruption is expected until 08:00 25/08.
Train services between Reading and Basingstoke will be suspended.
Customer Advice
CrossCountry and South Western Railway 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.
AND
Alterations to services between Greenford and West Ealing
Due to a fault with the signalling system at Reading some lines are blocked. Disruption is expected until 08:00 25/08.
Train services between Greenford and West Ealing will be suspended.
AND
Alterations to services between Reading and Gatwick Airport via Guildford
Due to a fault with the signalling system at Reading some lines are blocked. Disruption is expected until 08:00 25/08.
Train services between Reading and Gatwick Airport via Guildford and Redhill will be suspended.

Problems getting sets on and off Reading Traincare Depot.

Just becoming a complete farce now.

Cancellations to services between Reading and London Paddington

Due to a fault with the signalling system between Reading 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 by up to 15 minutes or terminated at and started back from Reading. Twyford, Maidenhead and Slough will not be served. Disruption is expected until 11:30 25/08.

Class 800's were running on the UP Relief through West Drayton, Hayes when I travel form Padd to Maidenhead around lunchtime today

Mostly back to normal now, except "A fault on a train between Newbury and Bedwyn means fewer trains are able to run on all lines. As a result, trains between these stations may be cancelled.We expect this to continue until 19:30."

It may be a strike day, but sure enough.......

Delays to services between Reading and London Paddington

Due to a points failure between Reading and London Paddington trains have to run at reduced speed on the line towards London Paddington.

Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed by up to 15 minutes. Disruption is expected until 14:15 26/08.

Additional Information
There is currently a points problem in the Slough area. Points are the moving pieces of rail that enable trains to change tracks. As a result of this services towards London Paddington are having to run on a slower line on a portion of their journey between Reading and London Paddington which may incur a small delay.

Furthermore, there is a fault with the signalling system in the Southall area that is also causing further delays.

And another one! Are Network Rail all on holiday?

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Heathrow Terminal 5
Due to a fault with the signalling system between London Paddington and Heathrow Terminal 5 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 10 minutes. Disruption is expected until 16:30 26/08.

They're not, but always reactive - so will take time to rectify. Meanwhile reports go out....

Judging by the performance over the last 7-10 days there appears to be a problem across the whole area so I would hope they will be investigating the root cause/treating it accordingly and not just applying tape and bits of string as and when this is happening once or twice daily.

If you want a week's closure to relay the whole track from Reading/Slough to Paddington?.... ::)

Didn't realise they'd allowed it to get into such a poor state of repair.

That's what happens if no proactive maintenance is done.

Yep with the added complication of in many places accessing lineside equipment requires a line block and always requires a line block if going onto the track.

Modernising Maintenance and Modernising Management my also have resulted in some skills gaps, people have had to be let go to meet Government driven cost targets

Probably explains why they prefer to fly!

https://www.railtech.com/all/2023/08/08/uk-industry-deeply-frustrated-by-network-rail-air-travel-policy/

You do not find frontline staff having the option of using flights

Ahhhhh the annual joy that is the Notting Hill Carnival (trespass at Westbourne Park apparently)

Alterations to services between London Paddington and Ealing Broadway

Following trespassers on the railway earlier today between London Paddington and Ealing Broadway all lines have now reopened.
Train services running to and from these stations are returning to normal but some services may still be delayed by up to 25 minutes or revised. Disruption is expected until 21:00 28/08.

Customer Advice
A trespass incident has caused considerable disruption to train services to and from London Paddington this evening. Please accept our apologies if your journey has been affected by this incident and thank you for your understanding for the need to halt train services when persons are seen on or about the line.

Well, we had a couple of days without one I guess........

Delays to services at Slough
Due to a points failure at Slough some lines are blocked.
Train services running through this station may be delayed by up to 45 minutes. Disruption is expected until 12:45 31/08.

Several of these......I mean OK it's warm......but "severe weather?" Really?

14:05 London Paddington to Didcot Parkway due 15:21

14:05 London Paddington to Didcot Parkway due 15:21 will no longer call at Maidenhead and Twyford.

This is due to severe weather.

No, not really. They were re-instated.  The freezing rain that was expected to lock the points did not happen.

 ;D  No doubt it would have been a precautionary measure to protect the crossovers at Slough those trains use, to avoid the risk of a failure causing more significant disruption along the the lines of which TG tells us about regularly.

At a guess the expected CRT wasn’t reached so it was deemed unnecessary.

I'm just relieved that there were no incidences of spontaneous human combustion on the platforms.

.......lovely weather for a BBQ though......let's see what Sunday brings!  ;)

Yes, lovely that the late summer is providing some hot weather after a poor time of it so far this year…upgraded weather warnings apparently - https://amp.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/sep/05/uk-weather-heat-health-warning-upgraded-as-heatwave-forecast

Cancellations to services between Slough and London Paddington
Due to damage to the overhead electric wires between Slough and London Paddington some lines are blocked.
Train services running to and from these stations will be cancelled, delayed or terminated at and started back from Reading. Disruption is expected until 10:00 07/09.
Customer Advice
-

Following an incident last night that caused damage to two electric trains in the Acton area just West of London Paddington, we have a block to electric traction (BTET) in place on the fast line through the Acton area going towards London Paddington. This means we've only three out of the four lines available between Hayes and Harlington and London Paddington.

Now extended to 1300 7/9

Overhead line this morning, now......


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 some lines.

Train services running to and from these stations will be cancelled or delayed. Disruption is expected until 19:30 07/09.

Delays to services between Didcot Parkway and Reading

Due to a fire next to the track between Didcot Parkway and Reading some lines are blocked.
Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed. Disruption is expected until 08:00 09/09.
Customer Advice
-

Reports are coming in of a line-side fire in the Cholsey area emanating from a signalling structure. Currently the main (fast) lines are on stop in both directions until an inspection has been carried out.

A good dozen or so stacked up either side of this.
Some delays and cancellations pending today (and nothing to do with the bruvvers and b-b-q weather)!

Except XC services with no rest day or overtime workimg.

Journeycheck has this being problematic until 1000

Latest

Delays to services between Didcot Parkway and Reading
Due to a fire next to the track between Didcot Parkway and Reading all lines are blocked.
Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed. Disruption is expected until 10:00 09/09.

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

Unfortunately due to a lineside fire we have had to block some lines between Didcot Parkway and Reading. Also, overhead wires have had to be switched off for safety reasons.

TMI (Too much information!)
Cancellations to services between Didcot Parkway and Reading
Following a fire next to the track between Didcot Parkway and Reading all lines have now reopened.
Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled, delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until 17:00 09/09.
Customer Advice
We are sorry for the delay to your journey.

Unfortunately due to a lineside fire we had to block some lines between Didcot Parkway and Reading. Also, overhead wires had to be switched off for safety reasons.

Ticket acceptance is in place with other operators which is detailed below.

We appreciate that this will have disrupted your travel plans, especially those on Advance purchase tickets, please note that you will be able to use your ticket on a later train today.

If you require any further assistance or information please speak to a member of Train Crew or Station Staff. Alternatively please use station help points where provided.

More information will follow as we have it.
-
Chiltern Railways are conveying passengers between Oxford and London Marylebone in both directions until further notice. Arrangements have been made for Great Western Railway rail tickets to be accepted for these journeys.
London Underground are conveying passengers via any reasonable route until further notice.
Reading buses jetBlack 1: Newbury (Wharf), Thatcham (Cropper Close), Midgham, Aldermaston, Theale (The Crown), Reading (Station) are conveying passengers via any reasonable route until further notice.
South Western Railway are conveying passengers via any reasonable route until further notice.
West Midlands Railway are conveying passengers via any reasonable route until further notice.
Stagecoach route 62: Gloucester (Bus Station), Stroud (Merrywalks), Stonehouse (Elgin Mall), Stagecoach route 63: Gloucester (Bus Station), Stroud (Merrywalks), Stagecoach route 64: Gloucester (Bus Station), Stonehouse (Elgin Mall), Stroud (Merrywalks) and Stagecoach route 65: Gloucester (Bus Station), Stonehouse (Elgin Mall), Cam, Dursley, Stroud (Merrywalks) are conveying passengers via any reasonable route until further notice.
CrossCountry are conveying passengers between Cheltenham Spa and Bristol Parkway in both directions until further notice. Arrangements have been made for Great Western Railway rail tickets to be accepted for these journeys.
Arrangements previously made with Go Cornwall Bus route 21: St Austell, St Columb Road (Co-op), Quintrell Downs (Quintrell Close), Newquay (Bus Station) and Go Cornwall Bus route 25: Par (Station), St Austell (Station), Quintrell Downs, Newquay (Bus Station) to convey passengers have now been withdrawn.
First Bus route 8: Slough (Wellington St), Windsor (Theatre Royal), Egham (Church Road) are conveying passengers via any reasonable route until further notice.
Go Cornwall Bus route 21: St Austell, St Columb Road (Co-op), Quintrell Downs (Quintrell Close), Newquay (Bus Station) and Go Cornwall Bus route 25: Par (Station), St Austell (Station), Quintrell Downs, Newquay (Bus Station) are conveying passengers via any reasonable route until further notice.

What caught my eye was the GoCornwall 21/25 routes.
Reducing the above for this information (which has nothing to do with Didcot/Reading) gives me
Arrangements previously made with Go Cornwall Bus route 21: St Austell, St Columb Road (Co-op), Quintrell Downs (Quintrell Close), Newquay (Bus Station) and Go Cornwall Bus route 25: Par (Station), St Austell (Station), Quintrell Downs, Newquay (Bus Station) to convey passengers have now been withdrawn.

Go Cornwall Bus route 21: St Austell, St Columb Road (Co-op), Quintrell Downs (Quintrell Close), Newquay (Bus Station) and Go Cornwall Bus route 25: Par (Station), St Austell (Station), Quintrell Downs, Newquay (Bus Station) are conveying passengers via any reasonable route until further notice.

So.
Withdrawn and are conveying until further notice.

How to confuse the passengers...........

Looks to have been one of the worst days on the GWR for a long while.

Signal gantry that caught fire this morning.
Overheads down at Langley
And a person struck by a train near Hayes. Whilst that was being attended to a person was struck at Southall.

Thank you for those updates.
Appreciated.

Route(s) affected
Elizabeth line between Abbey Wood and Maidenhead / Reading, and also between London Paddington and Reading

Great Western Railway between London Paddington and Didcot Parkway / Bristol Parkway / Bristol Temple Meads / Exeter St Davids / Weston-super-Mare / Swansea / Carmarthen / Plymouth, and also between Slough and Windsor & Eton Central

Description
Damage to the overhead wires at Slough means some lines are disrupted. As a result, trains may be cancelled or delayed by up to 15 minutes. This is expected until 13:00.

Its September 15 - can we get to a week with no reports?  ::)

Miracles have been known to happen........................but a week with no signal/points failures between Reading and Paddington?

Well, they did manage a week I guess!

Cancellations to services between Reading and London Paddington

Due to a points failure between Twyford and Slough some lines are blocked. Disruption is expected until 18:30 20/09.

Train services between Reading and London Paddington may be cancelled or delayed by up to 15 minutes.

Cancellations to services between Maidenhead and Bourne End

Due to a safety inspection of the track between Maidenhead and Bourne End the line is blocked.
Train services running to and from these stations will be cancelled or delayed. Disruption is expected until 11:00 22/09.

Not on Journeycheck but.....

Route(s) affected
Between Abbey Wood / Shenfield and Heathrow Terminal 4 / Heathrow Terminal 5 / Maidenhead / Reading

Description
Due to urgent repairs to the track between London Paddington and Acton Main Line some lines are currently blocked. As a result, trains may be cancelled, delayed or revised.

Disruption is expected until 14:00.

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 all lines.

Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled or delayed. Disruption is expected until 16:00 26/09.

"Disruption is expected until the end of the day"

Alterations to services between Reading and London Paddington

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

Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until 14:00 02/10

Delays to services between London Paddington and Reading

Due to trespassers on the railway earlier today between London Paddington and Acton Main Line trains have to run at reduced speed on all lines. Disruption is expected until 20:00 09/10.
Train services between London Paddington and Reading may be delayed.

Customer Advice
Elizabeth line 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.

Goodness - another week gone without any disruption being listed.

Don’t blink. Trespassers. Delays. Does that count as infrastructure problem?

Not really.

In hindsight I would agree; misjudged decision to post on my part.

From National Rail website. Local trains affected, quite a few cancellations listed.

Route(s) affected
Elizabeth line between Abbey Wood and Heathrow Terminal 4 / Reading, and also between Shenfield and Heathrow Terminal 5

Great Western Railway between London Paddington and Cheltenham Spa / Frome / Bristol Temple Meads / Weston-super-Mare / Hereford / Carmarthen / Paignton / Penzance

Heathrow Express between London Paddington and Heathrow Terminal 5

Description
Lines have now reopened following a fault with the signalling system between London Paddington and Ealing Broadway. Whilst service recovers, trains running between these stations may still be cancelled, delayed by up to 20 minutes or revised.

Disruption is expected to continue until 07:30.

I still feel putting all your eggs in one basket isn't that reliable.
Major signalling centre panels seem to be less reliable than the local signal box.

Or am I getting too old (a luddite).

Disruption now expected until 0815

Wouldn't failure of a box at say Ealing Broadway have had the same effect?

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading

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

Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled or delayed. Disruption is expected until 11:30 17/10.

Interesting question.

Boxes were local, and mostly mechanical.
Perhaps there were also more local technical people around, rather than being centralised, so a quicker response would have been available.
I wonder what their failure rate was (boxes, not staff!).

Several reports on social media this morning of an assault on the train manager on the GWR Bristol to Paddington service that's routed via Bradford on Avon (reports that is from travelling public concerned for the welfare of the member of staff). Hoping the individual responsible was detained.

The train: https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:P75519/2023-10-17/detailed#allox_id=0

Mark

Was there anything to suggest that this incident was related to the aforementioned signalling issue?

After Oxford, it's all individual signal boxes on the Cotswold line - at Ascott, Moreton, Evesham, Norton Junction, Worcester Shrub Hill, Henwick, Newland East, Malvern Wells, Ledbury and Hereford. It's difficult to tell whether they're more reliable - they cover a smaller area and so have fewer points and signals to go wrong by comparison with an area-wide centre. What is an issue is that there's nine signallers (ignoring Hereford) whereas there'd probably be one in an area centre.

And that leads to some different problems - on Sunday evening there were no trains between Great Malvern and Hereford because the Ledbury signaller had been taken ill.  That had knock-on effects on Monday morning - there's one train that should overnight at Hereford which had to be stabled at Shrub Hill instead.

.....Nice evening for it...... ::)

Route(s) affected
Trains between Abbey Wood and Heathrow Temrinal 4 / Maidenhead / Reading, and between Shenfield and Heathrow Terminal 4, and between London Paddington / Shenfield and Heathrow Terminal 5

Description
Failure of the electricity supply between London Paddington and Hayes & Harlington means some lines are blocked. As a result, trains may be cancelled, delayed or revised. This is expected until 19:00.

Cancellations to services between Reading and London Paddington

Due to a fault with the signalling system between Hayes & Harlington and Southall the London Paddington bound high speed line is closed. Disruption is expected until 21:00 18/10.

Train services between Reading and London Paddington may be cancelled, delayed or revised.

From National Rail - been ongoing for several hours.

Route(s) affected
Between Abbey Wood and Heathrow Terminal 4 / Heathrow Terminal 5 / Maidenhead / Reading, and also between Shenfield and London Paddington / Heathrow Terminal 5

Description
Lines have now reopened following an earlier points failure between Acton Mainline and Ealing Broadway.

As service recovers, trains running between these stations may still be cancelled, delayed by up to 35 minutes or revised.

Disruption is expected until 21:00.

Delays to services between Twyford and Maidenhead

Due to a points failure between Twyford and Maidenhead trains have to run at reduced speed on some lines.

Train services running through these stations will be delayed. Disruption is expected until 09:15 23/10.

Disruption now expected until 1100

Alterations to services between Maidenhead and Marlow via Bourne End

Due to a fault with the signalling system between Bourne End and Marlow all lines are blocked. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

Impact:
Train services between Maidenhead and Marlow via Bourne End may be terminated at and started back from Bourne End. Marlow will not be served.

Oh dear, I'm about to show my ignorance of these technical matters, but how many lines are there between Marlow and Bourne End - just one, I believe - and couldn't a driver - who would surely be familiar with the route - take a train along it slowly?

(I'm about to go to bed and next time I visit the Coffee Shop half-expect to see some "patient" explanations why not!)

I think someone feeding JouneyCheck has been reading you

One donkey in steam as it were. Or hay. Or something.

Mark

From National Rail

Route(s) affected
Between Abbey Wood and Maidenhead / Reading

Description
Lines have reopened following a fault with the signalling system between Southall and West Drayton. As service recovers, Elizabeth line services running between London Paddington and Slough in this direction may still be cancelled or delayed by up to 10 minutes.

Disruption is expected until 17:30.

Effect on service:

Services between Abbey Wood and Maidenhead may be cancelled

Services between Abbey Wood and Reading will additionally call at Iver

There are 2 lines,

Maidenhead - Bourne End which operates under Token Block

Bourne End - Marlow which operates one "engine in steam"  this service is effectively locked in when the token is out for the Maidenhead - Bourne End line.

A problem with the Token system or the signalling and points at Bourne End means the Marlow service gets capped

From GWR Twitter

Due to a points failure between Bourne End and Marlow all lines are closed. Disruption is expected until 10:00 01/11

Train services between Maidenhead and Marlow via Bourne End may be terminated at and started back from Bourne End. Marlow will not be served

Unreported on JourneyCheck today, but a points failure at Slough meant that down trains had to weave onto the relief lines and back again. My train, the 13:50 Paddington - Great Malvern, lost 12 minutes as a result of this. And ended up being cancelled after Shrub Hill (though they only told the TM about this as we arrived at Shrub Hill).

Slough yesterday, West Drayton (apparently) today.

Delays to services between Reading and London Paddington

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

Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed by up to 25 minutes. Disruption is expected until 11:00 03/11.

Disruption now ongoing until 3pm

Cancellations to services between Reading and London Paddington

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

Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled, delayed by up to 30 minutes or terminated at and started back from Reading. Disruption is expected until 18:00 03/11.

Customer Advice
-
Owing to a fault with the signalling system in the Hayes and Harlington area which is forcing all rail traffic to share fewer lines than usual, a contingency plan has been implemented to help thin-out the traffic going into London Paddington.
-
The following alterations to our services apply:
- Local Didcot Parkway - London Paddington services will operate between Didcot Parkway and Reading only.
- Newbury to London Paddington services will operate between Newbury and Reading only.
- Some Oxford to London Paddington and Cardiff Central to London Paddington services will be cancelled. Please note the longer distance Hereford/Worcester to London Paddington and Carmarthen/Swansea to London Paddington services will run as per timetable.
- All other long-distance services between London and Cheltenham / Bristol Temple Meads / Plymouth / Penzance will continue to run as normal.

The Open Trains Times map for the PAD area is currently showing Line 2 as blocked with an indication of 'WET BED' whatever that means?  ???

Doesn't bode well for tonight's sleeper.

The disruption which was expected to end at 10 am is now expected to go on until 10pm.

Paddington apparently "chaotic"

A "wet bed" is where ballast foundation ie the track bed under cribs for the sleepers becomes saturated , gets contaminated with the soil.  Basically a section of track looses its structural integrity, wet beds cause rough riding, cause sleepers and fasting's to fail, cause rail defects untimely lead to a derailment

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Newbury via Reading

Due to damage to the overhead electric wires some lines are blocked. Disruption is expected until 14:30 07/11.
Train services between London Paddington and Newbury via Reading may be cancelled or delayed

Now extended to 1730

2030 now according to National Rail, and there's also a points failure at Acton to add to the fun.

I was surprised to learn that a tree falling on the overhead wiring at Goring initially took out the power all the way from Maidenhead to Didcot Parkway and Newbury.    Presumably that is down to the way the current is fed.  Just seems a very wide area to be affected, and on two different routes, by one incident.

That’s the area covered by that particular live section.  ElectricTrain can hopefully give the details?

The power feed stations are at Didcot and Kensal Green - the extra feed from Bramley to Reading is due on line next year. Switching is possible at Maidenhead and Reading, so the outage could be limited to Didcot-Reading. For some reason it appears that didn't happen - possibly there was not enough power available from Kensal, which has to power the Crossrail core too. I'm sure this is the kind of situation the Bramley feeder was meant to help with.

Coincidentally, today the contractors working on the railway's substation at Bramley (Enable Power Systems and Enable Infrastructure, formerly known as BCM) put out a news item and video (https://www.enable-infrastructure.com/landmark-progress-on-the-reading-independent-feeder-project/). The 25-0-25 kV cable from the Bramley grid substation goes to an ATFS by the railway at a site called Holly Cross, and from there the "low level" feeder runs along the railway to Reading SATS/ATFS. At first sight it's odd there has to be a substation with loads of switchgear at this point, but there is - maybe it is still being built (as if) to power an electrified Reading-Basingstoke line, though no real plan for that exists.

This is the flaw in the GW Electrification, the original risk assessment would have taken such events into account.  However the major flaw is Reading Depot loosing all power during Isolations Kensal Green / Maidenhead and Didcot / Maidenhead  this has made it very difficult to plan in 2 sets of work requiring isolations between Paddington and Didcot; this will become very acute over the next few years with the all line blocks at Old Oak Common to construct the GWML HS2 station

Stuving sums it up, I suspect the commissioning and live system testing may be happening over Christmas.  Holly Cross was originally part of the "Freight Spine" that would have seen 25kV electrification from Southampton to the Midlands including EWR, the reason for retaining it as in feed point is purely down to a 400kV Grid location, there is nothing in the Reading area with the capacity required and be future proof

The are a few challenges of electrifying Reading / Basingstoke the local train service is just not sufficient to justify the cost, it would need the Cross Country and Freight to be able to go North of Didcot (Oxford if Didcot to Oxford electrification gets complete) and the AC/DC interface at Basingstoke is not a small piece of work.

Delays to services between Reading and Slough

Due to a points failure between Reading and Slough the line towards London Paddington bound high speed is closed.

Train services running through these stations may be delayed by up to 15 minutes. Disruption is expected until 20:45 16/11.

Customer Advice
In addition on the High Speed Line towards Reading, trains have to run at reduced speed.

......should make for an interesting rush hour.....

Cancellations to services between Reading and London Paddington
Due to a broken rail at Iver fewer trains are able to run. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

Train services between Reading and London Paddington may be cancelled, delayed by up to 20 minutes or running non stop.

Twyford, Maidenhead and Slough will not be served.

Having seen pictures of the broken rail….. well, it’s frightening.

They have been extremely lucky.

.....and again......

Alterations to services between Reading and London Paddington

Due to a safety inspection of the track between Reading 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 delayed or terminated at and started back from Reading. Disruption is expected until 11:00 23/11.
Customer Advice
-

Apologies to customers travelling between Reading and London Paddington this morning.

-

We've received reports of two track defects in the Twyford and Burnham areas. As such, services using the fast line TOWARDS London Paddington are required to be cautioned through the two affected areas at a slower speed.

............it's not been a good week.

Delays to services between Reading and Slough
Due to a safety inspection of the track between Reading and Slough trains have to run at reduced speed on the line towards London Paddington bound high speed.
Train services running through these stations may be delayed. Disruption is expected until 18:00 24/11.

Customer Advice


Apologies to customers travelling between Reading and Slough this afternoon.

One of our drivers have reported a rough ride between Reading and Slough on the fast line to London Paddington. As such, a 20mph speed restriction must be imposed until Network Rail track staff attend and inspect. There is no estimated time for this at present.

Delays now forecast until 11pm

Virtually every.......single.......day.

What has happened to the infrastructure between Paddington & Reading? Does anyone know if it's being addressed?

Delays to services at Slough

Due to a fault with the signalling system at Slough trains have to run at reduced speed on some lines.

Train services running through this station may be delayed. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

Yes, and talking with people in control they'll confirm that rarely a day goes by without *something* happening.  How much of this is a new situation, and how much is because we hear about it through modern communications?  And how much relates to the centralisation of activities - whereas you'll have reportable ongoing incidents daily at Swindon and via Didcot these days, were there the same number of incidents in the past just that they did not get wide visibility and went largely unnoticed by the signalman at Hullavington or Maiden Newton or Southall Goods Junction?

Things also seem to take far longer to fix - so appear more disruptive.  Is that because they really take longer by the time that specialists and specialist spares are brought in and modern health and safety considerations are taken into account, or because our electronic world spins faster and we feel the time taken more intensely?

All due (in my non railway view) to H&S with line blocks.
That track is now surely more intensively utilised with the Elizabeth Line and Heathrow Express services, so scant time for repairs these days.  Increased freight usage as well?
Lack of experienced local maintenance crews, all being centralised.
Ageing track and overheads both needing a modern replacement.

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


Alterations to services between Reading and London Paddington

Due to a speed restriction over defective track between Reading and London Paddington trains have to run at reduced speed on the London Paddington bound high speed line.

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

And to add to the "excitement"complete power failure at Reading Station about midday; no tickets, barriers open, no passenger information. Apparently longer queue to buy tickets at Paddington.

Photos turned up on x twitter of a broken rail (or two??) (and more) on GWML infrastructure.

https://twitter.com/littl_eengine/status/1728713418096689321 (https://twitter.com/littl_eengine/status/1728713418096689321)

... with a reference down thread to the redundancy of high output track renewal outfits from April 2024.

Mark

That is frankly frightening and as has been posted here and elsewhere GWR/NR have been extremely lucky that so far there haven't been worse consequences.....to say nothing of the customers.

Surely H & S should be all over this?

No details or provenance to the two separate photos, mind...

Mark

Bad news for tomorrow morning:

Disruption to Great Western Railway services between Reading and London Paddington expected until 10:00 on Monday 27 November

Urgent repairs to the track between Reading and London Paddington means some lines will be blocked. As a result of this, trains may be cancelled or delayed.

Disruption is expected until 10:00 on Monday 27 November.

Customer Advice:

A Track Circuit Failure means some lines between Reading and London Paddington will be blocked on Monday 27 November.

Ticket acceptance is in place with the following train operators:

Chiltern Railways from Oxford to London Marylebone. 

London Underground from London Marylebone and London Waterloo to London Paddington.

South Western Railway from Reading to London Waterloo.

Something of an update - interesting mixed message on timings but "blocked until further notice" doesn't bode well.

Given that this is virtually a daily event these days on one of the busiest rail corridors in the country, I wonder if at some point Hopwood/GWR will make some sort of statement to their customers as to what's to be done about the situation and what sort of a service they can expect going forward?

Cancellations to services between Reading and London Paddington
Due to urgent repairs to the track between Reading and London Paddington some lines will be blocked.
Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled or delayed. Disruption is expected until 10:00 27/11.

Customer Advice
Due to a urgent track repairs some lines between Reading and London Paddington are blocked until further notice.

Also, this photo. That presumably given the opportunity might be capable of causing a track circuit failure.

Mark

https://twitter.com/littl_eengine/status/1728793727118807397 (https://twitter.com/littl_eengine/status/1728793727118807397)

It's a bit of a shame, but the number of industry insiders posting on here has dwindled away over the years.  Several reasons for that, but there seems to be only really 'Electric Train' and myself left now, plus the odd post from 'a-driver'.  After over 15 years of posting on here, my own enthusiasm for answering questions is dwinding, especially when I consider how many people are likely to read it against the time involved in researching the detail and writing a reply.

Regarding your question above, it might be worth asking GWR/NR directly.  Or you could try signing up to railforums where there is a more even balance between those that work in the industry and enthusiasts/interested members of the public?

Personal message sent, and I am noting this in a moderator's thread.  Your inputs and others from the industry ARE hugely appreciated and perhaps that's not said enough ... and we do still have a substantive number of none-member reads of public posts. I suspect you're read a lot more than you think but, yes, this all takes time.

As a non railway person, I have always appreciated the more technical replies from 'the workers'!
Thank you so much to all the "insiders" for their time and effort - greatly appreciated.

Not forgetting the occasional post from Ollie who changed hats within GWR/FGW.

Paul Clifton via Twitter: he's prepared something on the broken rails issue for TV tonight, presumably on the local news.

Mark

Yes, it’s a shame we don’t hear much from Ollie these days.  SandTengineer, Incider and several others appear to have been lost for good.

Always appreciate your own objective input II.

The GWML no longer uses track circuits on plain line, track circuits have been replaced with axel counters.

The argument / risk assessment is the removal of rail joints such as IBJ (insulated block joints) in CWR reduces greatly the likelihood of rail fractures that track circuits might have detected; reliance on regular runs of the NMT ('new' measurement train, sometimes referred to as the flying banana) and other track recording trains. 
There is a lot of real-time data processing and the information is sent direct to the track maintenance engineer (TME) team for the section, they will then prioritise the teams to respond.  The defects are coded which dictate the priority of access the TME responds to and NR Route Control has to provide.
The response maybe an requesting the signaller to slow trains by signals until an ESR (emergency speed restriction) can be setup, until a team and equipment can be deployed.

Access to track by teams is now greatly reduced by the "Trackworker Safety Scheme" this has removed the use of "lookouts" certainly at full line speed, line blocks are now required to access and even  in most places walk across open lines, this process was imposed on NR by the ORR due to the number of fatalities of track workers and number of reported near misses by train drivers

A change just about to be enforced means if a mobile phone is dropped onto the track, instead of a PTS member of staff being able to retrieve it with litter pickers (whilst remaining on the platform), they will have to obtain a full line block first.

That really needs advertising to the public, with reasons for the change by ORR.

Basically, you can wave goodbye to your phone, as the earliest it might be retrieved is overnight, and then you would need to prove ownership in order to collect it. Do you know your phone's EMEI number?

I expect you won’t wave goodbye to it, it will just take longer to retrieve whilst a line block is put in place - which might persuade some owners to leap down and get their precious item themselves (as they do now at any unstaffed station of course).

Wow! Really doing it in style today!  ::)



Alterations to services between London Paddington and Reading
Due to a broken rail between London Paddington and Reading some lines are closed.
Train services running to and from these stations will be delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

Customer Advice
-
An inspection of the lines in the Hayes & Harlington area has revealed a defect in a rail of a set of points used to transfer trains from one track to another.
-
As a result we will have to reduce the number of train movements through the area. This will mean that local train services between London Paddington and Newbury will only operate between Reading and Newbury, in both directions. Customers travelling to / from Newbury, Thatcham & Theale from / to London Paddington will need (in most cases) to change trains at Reading.
-
In addition, local train services which would normally operate between London Paddington and Didcot Parkway, and return, will only operate between Reading and Didcot Parkway. Customers travelling to / from Didcot Parkway## / Cholsey / Goring & Streatley / Pangbourne / Tilehurst from / to London Paddington (and intermediate stations between London Paddington and Reading) will need to change trains at Reading. # = Didcot Parkway will continue to have Main Line services running to / from London Paddington.
-
Twyford, Maidenhead and Slough stations will see a considerable reduction in the frequency of train services and GWR ticket holders should utilise Elizabeth Line services instead where no GWR services are available. Note that at London Paddington the Elizabeth Line services operate to and from platforms A & B which are accessed through the entrances alongside platform 1 of the main terminus.
-
Please accept our apologies for any delay to your journey as a result of this issue.
-

Indeed - "here we go ... again". A subject that was greatly covered at yesterday evening's Stakeholder meeting (see separate thread).   There IS a contingency plan in place but "it should only be used very rarely and not several times a week" say GWR.

Graphics they presented show that the majority of reliability issues are down to Network Rail (but, really, what difference does it make to Joe Bloggs if his train is not running - rolling stock cracked, broken rail, no driver if he can't make his journey).  For Henley Branch passengers, Mark Hopwood agreed in public that passengers for London may double back via Reading at times of disruption (an easement of type MD - thank you Mark). 

Apperently, Network Rail are on a poor performance escalator from the ORR and must to better, or there will be further sanctions on them.  I do not understand (perhaps a specialist could?) how these sanctions will actually improve the situation rather than just make it harder to get the job done.

To be fair this morning the effect was limited. Instead of getting the 6.26am from Twyford I got the Elizabeth line at 6.21am and got to town by 7.20am. The proactive cancellation of the GWR trains I suppose has improved reliability for the Lizzie line?

It's been fortunate that the broken rails that have caused so much disruption on the Paddington services of late have been detected and acted upon.  Safety should not depend on good fortune, however

..

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-67547092

I think this is the real issue now and it's a question I've seen on other forums and elsewhere. 4 incidents in 10 days and the question is moving from whether the railway in this area is at all reliable to "is it safe?"

That article followed Paul Clifton's TV piece on Tuesday(?), rather than after today's cracked points.

iThe Office of Rail and Road (ORR) has today launched an investigation into poor train punctuality and reliability in the Network Rail Wales & Western region.

https://www.orr.gov.uk/search-news/rail-regulator-launches-investigation-wales-western-train-performance

Not looking to second guess what the ORR determines, but should it conclude that Network Rail is trying to send too many trains through too few lines, could the solution be to tell Network Rail to put in, for example, a track alongside platform 0 at Westbury or a loop to let out-of-path freight trains be passed / overtaken on single lines. Yeah, one lives in hope of proper solutions ...

I think most people are living in hope of proper maintenance that keeps the trains running and the customers safe, at least as a starting point?

The danger is they get told to merely run less trains?

Yes, I know - that thought concerns me. I have spent the evening in the audience at Dan Okey's talk to WWRUG and listening to vocal members of the audience  complaining about overcrowding as it is.  And at times, the audience is certainly right, the supply of enough trains of enough carriages on them in inadequate.

It is not as easy to say Network Rail just run less trains, the DfT through its contract with the ToC set the service level which the ORR regulate, the only way to run less trains is through a timetable change which the DfT, ORR and TOC's all have an input, if the TOC sees a reduction in revenue they will want compensation.   

NR often request "disruptive" access from the ToC's the TOC's can decline this.  I wonder what additional access has been requested to carryout the repairs to this recent broken rail, the other aspect effecting the repair could be the cold weather

Continuing all day today, with repairs apparently being undertaken tonight.

BBC London just ran a story on it reporting 4 similar incidents in 8 days and showing pictures of the broken rails.

Alterations to services between London Paddington and Reading

Due to a broken rail between London Paddington and Reading trains have to run at reduced speed on some lines.
Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

And just to add to the ongoing fun & games, now this......

Alterations to services between Slough and London Paddington

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

Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until 11:00 30/11.

It looks like there was some sort of issue between EAL and PAD, e.g. the 07:16 EL service from MAI took 75 minutes to travel between those two stations:

https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:L79515/2023-11-30/detailed (https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:L79515/2023-11-30/detailed)

EDIT: I've just seen this blog post from IanVisits, the delays were due to a broken down train at PAD:

https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/observances-of-the-elizabeth-line-problems-this-morning-67829/ (https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/observances-of-the-elizabeth-line-problems-this-morning-67829/)

A blog from IansVisits on the issues with the Elizabeth Line this morning, which bit Woolwich quite badly. A cogent observation that there was suppressed demand for travel there, now met by the new line, but when that stalls, the legacy transport systems  - the DLR and South Eastern Railways, struggle. Probably not helped by South Eastern run in a lackluster way under the command of the DfT who rather than continue to build their own market, saw the opening of the Elizabeth line as an opportunity to cut services and alter service patterns to break through routes.

Mark

https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/observances-of-the-elizabeth-line-problems-this-morning-67829/ (https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/observances-of-the-elizabeth-line-problems-this-morning-67829/)

Another day, another failure......

A fault with the signalling system at Iver means some lines from London Paddington towards Reading are currently blocked.

As a result, Elizabeth line services that run between London Paddington and Slough may be delayed by up to 25 minutes or revised.

Disruption is expected until 13:00.

Fortunately there are a number of cancellations which will help thin out the service...

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading

Due to damage to the overhead electric wires 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 the end of the day.

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



One of our trains has struck an obstruction on the line causing damage to the OLE.

Looks like nothing moving from Paddington to Slough. A sorry end to the week.

Stranded trains being evacuated by the emergency services outside Paddington & Reading according to GWR Twitter feed.

Far more detailed information on the National Rail website. Problems expected until 0900 tomorrow.

https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/service-disruptions/london-paddington-20231207/

Screenshot from X attached:

https://twitter.com/Charles83230639/status/1732888947221479921 (https://twitter.com/Charles83230639/status/1732888947221479921)  :-[

Disruption to continue all morning


I wonder if this latest chaotic incident will be enough to finally catalyse action on the infrastructure between Reading and Paddington which seems utterly decrepit & unfit for purpose based on months of regular failures, before one leads to a tragedy.

BBC News - Passengers stuck for hours on Elizabeth Line after cables damaged
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-67655656

Sorry, but, ooooooozzzz gonnna pay for it!

Possible addition to the daily woes. Major water main burst on Bath Road in Reading, between Castle Hill and Southcote roundabout. Flooding beyond the railway bridge so don't know if it will be affecting the line between Reading West and Southcote junction. This is likely to be one of the two major pipes that feed Reading from the west, so they wont fix this quickly, don't know if we are going to end up on bottled water. It has made it onto AA Roadwatch but not One.network.

Passengers obviously claim from their train operator; as for which of the rail companies pockets settles with the other companies it gets complex.  

There is a process of investigations, the *Pancam recordings and Pantograph sensor data will be submitted from the trains operating in the area to the investigation panel, the panel is made up of representatives from NR,TOC's etc.  The process is not quick.

* Pancam, there is a camera mounted in the pantograph well on all modern trains which constantly records footage of the pan head,  you may have noticed the OLE being illuminated where the pan is.   The recordings are made available to NR for us as part of maintenance inspections

'Another passenger described how fellow passengers were being let off their train "one by one to urinate".'

Were I still travelling to London, being stuck on a train and needing to urinate would be one of my fears, especially at my age! In the 2010s after an early evening out, I would make a point of weeing before I boarded a train at Liverpool Street and sometimes was "relieved" to get to Paddington and its facilities.

As an outdoor type, doing long walks and environmental tasks, I'm used to improvising, and a boarding-school education (no doors on toilet cubicles!) has left me less inhibited than many, but even so I would feel a little self-conscious in the situation described in the article. Who among the passengers would be the first to declare a "pressing need"? With there being no toilets on Elizabeth trains, staff training presumably includes the need to be aware of passengers' discomfort.

This was the concern raised about these trains…no toilets!
Yesterday we learned of a man taking a wee in a lay-by being fined for littering:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-67615231
Hello??? We’re humans and we all at some point need to pee! Sometimes the call of nature cannot wait. And if there isn’t a facility in which to do it, eventually improvisation is going to have to happen.

I feel for all those who were stuck on trains last night and don’t blame those after four hours decided enough was enough and self evacuated. Another shameful night on our railways.

Bad news for someone is good news for another.
Freight trains running without having to be stopped/diverted, etc!

The whole incident last night demonstrates why the railway needs to be properly staffed, and the need for a guard to be on every train. You’re putting one staff member in charge of potentially 1000 passengers welfare and safety whilst also looking after the train itself.
One lone driver will not be able to safely evacuate a train on their own and considering there were around 10 stranded trains it takes a lot of resource to evacuate them, and it’s not a swift process.. You also have the added complication of 25kV of overhead cables on the ground, that’s enough to give more than a tickle if you were to come into contact with it.
At the end of the day, with limited resources, you have to make a choice. Focus on freeing the damaged train so you can get things moving which enables train to train evacuations or simply go straight to evacuating everyone to ballast which is a very long and resource intensive process with substantially more risk.

Obviously there is a simpler alternative. Maintain the infrastructure!

Hear! Hear!

(https://i.gifer.com/UJr.gif)

A radical suggestion perhaps, but worth a go!  :)

Why would you do that when no one travels by train?

Assuming in this instance the fixed infrastructure was at fault!

Perhaps the other side of the coin is ............. ensure the rolling stock is maintained correctly

Some folk were lucky. They had the beautiful Rachel Riley for company.

Others less so. They had James Blunt. Fortunately he didn't have his guitar with him.

That would give potential for an A Cappella performance, to some that may be even worse.

It would need a three sided coin in this case.

Such is the complexity of the railway  :)

Rachel Riley and James Blunt were among those stranded on the Elizabeth Line train: Metro (https://metro.co.uk/2023/12/08/thousands-stranded-cold-dark-london-trains-hours-power-cut-19944985/?ico=just-in_article_must-read)

I wonder if the Famous Five got home in the end?

Almost beyond parody.......

Delays to services between Slough and London Paddington

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

Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed. Disruption is expected until 10:00 10/12.

More information on what’s causing the disruption this morning:

"A reminder that unfortunately South Western Railway are currently in disruption with overrunning engineering works and they are also running a planned road transport operation between Ascot and Hounslow. Therefore we will not be able to use their services between London Waterloo and Reading as an alternative"

No-one's getting to/from London for a while.

Just announced - expected disruption now extended until 1400 - all lines blocked, all trains at a stand - are we going to see evacuations again?

infoman has posted similar at http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=28248.new#new

GWR's post on X has about 50 very disgruntled replies:

https://twitter.com/GWRHelp/status/1733780947252699427 (https://twitter.com/GWRHelp/status/1733780947252699427)

The Grauniad via MSN (https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/watchdog-calls-for-investigation-after-thousands-get-trapped-in-trains-in-london/ar-AA1ld43d?ocid=msedgntp&pc=WSEDDB&cvid=9f168a007751495582edd776b2dbd4a2&ei=11) had the following article yesterday that throws a little light on Thursday night's event -

Great customer experience at Paddington.....

Power had tripped out on a section of OLE. No damage was found.

I was caught up in this. i arrived at PAD to catch the 1005 to BPW to find the concourse heaving. nothing happened until a late running 1130 to BRI was announced which caused a stampede towards platform 3. A large number were refused access to the platform as the train was already full. Other trains were announced, but nothing for south Wales. I eventually left on the 1330 to BRI, for a connection to BPW, as there was no indication as to when a south Wales service would depart. That train was full and standing to Bath. I eventually arrived 4¼ hours late.

Points failure at Slough. Delays. Again.

As per usual there is a politician trying to use the incident for their own ends without having a clue:


https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/travel-chaos-hits-rush-hour-202032481.html

Clearly she has a full grasp of the situation, what infrastructure was affected, who owns/maintains it and what caused the infrastructure to fail before making that statement. Obviously she should be the main witness at any investigation with that amazing knowledge.

Quite how TFL are going to ensure that an incident involving Network Rail infrastructure and potentially trains from another TOC is beyond me.

Maybe she is subtly suggesting TFL should run all the trains out of Paddington and that will be a manifesto promise.

I assume that the running of the 1857 HEx service from Terminal 5 on the Relief Line after Southall, resulting in a 30 minute journey time, and the 40 minute late departure of the 1903 GWR IET to Plymouth were in some way associated with yesterday's complete chaos. Or was this entirely down to the ASLEF spanner in the works?

Assuming you mean yesterday, both mains were still closed out to about Ealing. Presumably that was to do with repairing the OLE, and possibly much investigating of what happened to it. Running a Sunday service with two lines out of use ought to be possible, but the OLE issue was being blamed for cancellations all day.

From the afternoon, cancellations were also blamed on problems with staff, trains, and just having a bad train day. That Plymouth train (1C94) had come in from Plymouth at 19:24, so leaving within 20 minutes was about the best it was going to do.

Another day.......

Delays to services between Reading and Slough

Due to an object being caught on the overhead electric wires at Twyford some lines are blocked. Disruption is expected until 12:00 12/12.
Train services between Reading and Slough may be delayed.

Additional Information
Thames Valley Fire Service has advised that there is a fire near the railway at Twyford, as well as reports of a fallen tree which may have caused damage to the wires. The relief lines (served by local stopping trains) are closed. The highspeed mainline (served by fast non-stop trains) remains open. We're sorry for any disruption this brings to your travel plans today.

......and tonight, it's the tracks again!  ::)

Delays to services between London Paddington and Reading

Due to a speed restriction over defective track between London Paddington and Reading 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.

A genuine question.  When will the line from Maidenhead to Paddington be (properly) fixed and issues relegated to at least a fortnightly if not monthly occurence?

Best ask Network Rail on that one.
Or perhaps ask your local M.P to put pressure on Network Rail to close the line for a while to upgrade everything.
Don't think many passengers would notice a full line closure!

I'd rather have a full line closure, or evening/overnight closures to resolve these issues permanently and create a robust system, instead of what has become a daily lottery, potentially
ending in a much more serious incident with loss of life.

Currently it's shambolic, so it may have to be short term pain for long term gain.

Now's the time for those at the top of Network Rail to stand up and be counted and similarly GWR should be applying pressure on them to do so.

Tape & bits of string will only hold it together for so long.

Is there an attraction in the idea of running a two track railway for a month during the quieter winter period?  10 car IET trains in "cascades" every half hour which (example) divide at Reading for Hereford / Exeter and Cheltenham / Penzance  alternately, with 9 car services to Swansea and Bristol. Followed in each cascade by a 387 to Newbury or Didcot (and Cardiff?), a Heathrow Express and an Elizabeth Line service?     Oops - I am starting to suggest to the professionals what they might do.

Worry, mind, that during the first phase with two lines still unfixed, even the two track reduced service would be liable to break.

Turn everything around at Reading, perhaps a skeleton peak only Elizabeth Line service Reading- Paddington, otherwise Reading-Waterloo, Windsor- Waterloo.

Groundhog day  ::)


Looking at Open Train Times Maps there seems to be a queue of trains at a standstill currently on the UM from Ealing Broadway back to Hanwell.

And now they're on the move but being switched to the UR at Acton West.

Delays to services between London Paddington and Reading

Due to congestion between London Paddington and Reading trains have to run at reduced speed on some lines.

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

Today's Thames Valley treat.....


Alterations 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 will be delayed or terminated at and started back from Reading. Disruption is expected until 16:00 14/12.

Yesterday afternoon was a broken fishplate at Acton Main Line on the Up Main. Today was signalling issues as mentioned above. Delay Repay claims being submitted for each half of my return. Glad I no longer commute.

Now extended till 1800 so a miserable journey home for many.

What a shambles (yet again).

Sadly I’m not surprised.

.......and for today, we have.....

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 09:00 15/12.

Update: Situation deteriorated - disruption now expected until 1100


Network Rail are now suffering from multiple infrastructure issues between Reading and London Paddington.

In response we're entering a pre-agreed contingency plan whereby there's effectively no service between Reading and London Paddington. No more trains will depart Reading towards London Paddington.

Those trains already between Reading and London Paddington will complete their journey to clear the section.

I've just been monitoring 1K03, the 06:00 from Bedwyn (which I used to regularly take from Twyford when I commuted from there) - it left Bedwyn 5 minutes late and arrived at PAD 49 late having taken 34 minutes to get from West Drayton to Southall.

Another one today but short lived this time

Not so short lived unfortunately.....disruption now till 1500

As a life long railway engineer since 1978 and on Western TV area since 2007, I find it embarrassing that our infrastructure appears to be as fragile as apparently it is.
What I find worse is that internally within the business nothing appears to be getting said as how the situation is being addressed.
today, the Chief Executive was urging members of staff to complete the diversity and inclusion survey.......

Surely working for Network Rail isn't a zero sum game and the staff are able to do such a survey alongside their main role? Are you suggesting that doing this survey is somehow affecting the maintenance regime in the Thames Valley? Or suggesting that Andrew Haines is concentrating on this issue to the detriment of other problems?

As CEO I'd hope he was able to multi-task.

https://www.networkrail.co.uk/who-we-are/diversity-and-inclusion/

As the esteemed (in some, very dark corners) former Leader of the Labour party used to advise us, albeit in a rather unfortunate context, not everyone "gets" English irony.

I too am sure that Andrew Haines can multi-task, and I look forward at some stage (soon?) to a statement from him setting out what he plans to do to address the utterly woeful performance of the infrastructure in the Thames Valley for which is he accountable.

......as I stood at Maidenhead station earlier today amongst many others, forlornly contemplating the departure boards which displayed an almost universal "cancelled" against each train, I was pleased to be aware of Network Rail's commitment to diversity and inclusion, and having advised the assembled congregation on the platform that whilst their infrastructure is in bits, they could rest assured that strenuous efforts were being made to ascertain all of their employees preferred pronouns, one could sense the atmosphere of gloom lifting  :)

Well he had plenty of time to complete his copy while on a train last week.

Irony or not, when attitudes and behaviours can impact safety and workplace harmony on the railways I think such initiatives are very important.

Important Announcement: Trains ARE currently running between Reading and Paddington

.............WERE.......... :-[

Delays to services between Reading and London Paddington

Due to a fault with the signalling system between Reading and London Paddington trains have to run at reduced speed.

Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed by up to 20 minutes. Disruption is expected until 10:45 16/12.

Customer Advice
Following a fault with the signalling system in the Southall area trains have to run at reduced speeds.

I too was a lifelong railway engineer.  If to-day's managers are incapable of devising systems to safely evacuate electric trains before the batteries run out you need either better batteries or better management. 

Yes, such surveys can be done alongside our daily rolls in Network Rail for those of us that use laptops in an office, our on track front line colleges have a very often only basic i-phone and access to multi user PC's at the depots.

It just seems that the focus is doing these types of surveys, there's at least 4 of these a year and other "workshops" and events lord able as they are they do take away from the day job ............... which is running trains.

It's worse, there IS a system - the Elizabeth line had extensive evacuation drills - but it takes too bloody long for everyone to decide to actually put it into practice.  There's always a 'just one more thing' to try to fix the root cause before someone sighs and says 'I suppose we'd better think about evacuation'. 

I have to disagree. The 'day job' isn't about running trains - it's about moving passengers and freight.

Amounts to the same thing

With the greatest respect ET - and I speak as one intimately involved in railways - although that doesn't pay my mortgage. There is a perception amongst the paying public that many times their needs are low down the heap compared to keeping the big machine moving.

I think the Railway needs to address this and take on board that the customer is first - and wants/requires running trains. We all know that the railway would run seamlessly without passengers - ask me, I am a duty line manager on mine. But the system needs to reassess its messaging and realign its risk assessment/health and safety (established procedures) versus the comfort and basic needs of passengers.

It strikes me that there are not enough big voices in the management team to take command of the situation and say "just do that, and do it now!", and are prepared to accept as part of their remit (£££) that there might be a backlash, or criticism, in the future analysis.

I feel it is not so much 'risk' adverse as 'decision' adverse.

Extract from Andrew Haines communication of 8/12/23 concerning the major disruption incident  outside Paddington on the evening of Th 7/12/23.

“Thirdly, and importantly, we failed as a system. Too many individual actors seeing risk from their own perspective meant it was harder than it should have been to get things done whilst maintaining safety. Multiple self-evacuations, because of the pace at which we were able to move or even access trains, cannot be regarded as good safety practice.

Lastly, we have gone backwards on customer service. Tools to look after passengers that I would have used as a station manager in 1987 - before I'd even seen a mobile phone - were not available and we were hardly great at it then.
We can do better than we did last night when we take customers legitimate concerns seriously.”

Let me clarify my view as a professional railwayman of close on 50 years (I did start my railway career in 1975 with British Rail)

The railways were and remain to this day a complex operation, passenger trains are the most important part of the railway operation, I am a passenger myself! So is freight a failed / late running freight impacts passenger trains

How we as an industry treat, look after, protect our passengers is should be a vital part of the industry does and I totally agree with Andrew Haines, we the National rail industry let the travelling public down on that Thursday evening.  My current day job however is about supply vast amounts of electrical energy to the railway to ensure there is power for traction, signalling and whole host of ancillary equipment, which is all about keeping trains moving which I take extremely seriously.

I have in one of my past Network Rail engineering rolls worked on the emergency evacuation planning for the Thameslink core along side other NR Ops collages, LFB, BTP, Met, City of London Police, GLA and 5 London Borough authorities, and whole host of other support organisations.   

As a long serving professional railwayman with experience of emergency evacuation planning, can you advise which one person would have been in overall control of recent events where you had GWR, HEX and Elizabeth Line trains stranded and would have ultimately have made the decisions and the call on all those trains being evacuated?

Not a witch hunt, not looking for a name, more like a role - ie would it fall under the remit of a senior Network Rail manager, or someone else?

The event would (should) have escalated from Bronze to Silver to Gold command.  These command levels are an agreed process with the Blue Light Services and within Railway Industry. 

The NR Region will have a Silver Command "suite" a dedicated meeting room with all the tech resources, the lead on Silver is a NR Region / Route Director level with TOC or multiple TOC equivalents. 

Gold is National level which will be lead by Regional Route Managing Director or senior National Executive.

There is an on-call roster for all the excusive, director and senior leads National, Regional, Route level (including myself but I am not part of Wales and Western)

Generally the "command" process works very well.  I am sure there is a lesson learned on the "command" process in this incident (as there is for every time its used)

The ORR should have opened an investigation, although they may, as they often do, wait to see what comes out of the internal investigations 

Thank you ElectricTrain, a much appreciated explanation.
Just out of curiosity, when the final report on the failure is released, might you and other region managers have access to it to see the learning points?

The detailed report will be circulated, the ORR will require that a public version to be published

It'll be interesting to see their conclusions on whether or not any of the learnings from the Lewisham train stranding incident in 2018 had been put into practice.

The Lewisham incident was investigated by the RAIB. Has there been any indication that this incident will be investigated by them?

I don’t think that was what TaplowGreen was implying. He was asking whether lessons about ineffective evacuations have been learnt to prevent them reoccurring.

RAIB will be interested and will be investigating 

They have yet to send out their notification of thus doing

The Lewisham incident involved a mass self detraining of passengers, the recent GWML incident outside Paddington did not involve a mass self detraining.   

Passengers in the GWML outside Paddington may have been greatly inconvenienced and the lack of welfare (heat, water, toilets) but they were is a place of safety i.e. not immediate threat to life or of injury by remaining on the train.

The RIAB I am sure will have been in contact with Network Rail and the TOCs and they maybe satisfied that the internal railway investigations are robust enough.  The RAIB investigators are hold a warrant (same as the police) so when the RIAB interview a witness the witness is placed under caution, the witness will say they want their solicitor present which adds time and cost.  Internal investigations whist not having the power of under caution are more collaborative, however if the lead investigator (and these are trained individuals to a similar level as RIAB) come across anything that is criminal of serious safety related they will not hesitate to had the case over to BTP or RIAB   

Sorry, ET, I have to disagree.  The fact that the passengers were in a “place of safety” (although that is arguable) is no excuse for managers not acting more quickly to evacuate the trains. 

The management of safety requires a balanced and informed approach to risk and benefit.  It seems to me that to-day’s managers and/or management systems tend to find reasons – particularly around the interpretation of H&S - not to take decisive and quick action when things go wrong.   

Managers should have the competence and confidence to use their judgment to act decisively and solve problems quickly.  That’s what they’re paid to do. 

Yes, there were the inconvenience of being where they were, but also remember that evacuating a train is not risk free.  The two risks do have to be balanced.  I cannot judge which side the is correct, but I know it is not a simple decision. 

Exactly the point and makes me wonder whether some of the key lessons of the Lewisham stranding were learned and recommendations taken up - and there are a lot of relevant points in that report about speed of decision making, communications and speedier evacuation.

Furthermore, the public in general and those who were caught up in (to be frank) this s***show in particular have the right to know exactly what went wrong, what should have been done, who was responsible and what will be done to ensure it doesn't happen again or is at least managed in a more professional and responsible manner, and this requires a report by a body such as the RAIB, perhaps incorporating testimony from passengers on the stranded trains rather than a "circle the wagons" type affair produced by NR & the TOCs

Some of the more defensive answers on this thread give a clear indication as to how customer experience is too far down the list of priorities for the railway and that remains a huge cultural challenge.

My final comment would be that having a Regional MD responsible for region in question who lives in Aberdeen is probably not conducive to swift action and decision making at the necessary level in these circumstances, although she does appear to have paid the price, if not just for this but for numerous other failings.

Haines said "we failed as a system" and "we can do better" in the conclusion of his statement following his own stranding on one of the trains involved - let's hope so - I am sure we all look forward to hearing how that will be achieved in future, and why it wasn't on this occasion.

They absolutely could not evacuate until safety could be assured. That as a minimum means no movements of any kind possible and sufficient staff to ensure the evacuations are safe without allowing passengers to wander anywhere except the direction they are meant to go in. If eitrher can't be assured, they stay in a place of safety. If that means urinating on the train, so be it. Uncomfortable, horrible, but it ain't going to kill you! If RAIB are assured that no one was put at risk, or harmed, then they won't investigate a slow detrain.

Of course one of the issues that contributed to this was the failure to install toilets on the Elizabeth Line Trains

The RAIB say

Yeah, perfectly acceptable in the 21st century for people to be expected to **** in the corner of a train. Come on Chris, think of the female passengers who needed to go.

Unacceptable, but if needs must it won't kill you, whereas the chances are far higher if evacuation starts & the public wander off in all directions

I think we all agree that it needs railway people to guide evacuees from the trains to a place of safety.  The issue is why did it took so long for this to be organised, in this case within a few hundred yards of Paddington station.  The sooner “guides” are mobilsed with a controlled evacuation, the less chance there is of people self-evacuating and wandering off – that WOULD have been a safety hazard.

Indeed - BUT the trains were from 3 different TOCs, spread out along the inner GWML - so that's 4 (5 if =you include BTP) rail companies that have to talk to each other & find enough staff to attend to their services, meaning each team needs to be assembled at the nearest track access point to each failed train, handle all the HSE requirements and obtain permissions.

All that *after* ascertaining (probably from an initial site inspection, as to whether they might get them moving again in the time that evacuation takes)

So just where are all these staff 'hanging around' (working) such that they can all drop whatever they are doing straight away to mobilise to wherever their access point might be? And how long do *yoyu* think this ought to take? ??? ???

The Network Rail staff who carry out train evacuations are the MOMs (Mobile Operations Managers) they are mobile in the sense they are in road vehicles and are actually quite thinly spread out.  The Network Rail Maintainenance teams who could assist the MOMs at that time of the day also quite spread out.  Both the MOMs and Maintainenance are spread out to react to the normal run of the mill faults.
It would take time to get MOMs from other areas to the Paddington area basically they had to drive there, in traffic, in Network vehicles with a 56 mph speed limiter fitted.

BTP and the civil Police would not attempt to evacuate trains unless there was an immediate threat to the life of the stranded passengers, we are after all talking about stranded trains and not a crash.

As I have mentioned before the track is a very hostile environment especially in the dark, the risk of serious injury (broken bones) from just walking in unsuitable footwear is very high,

If an evacuation is not manage there will always be the impatient persons who will wonder off because they know better which means it will take even longer before trains can be allowed to move because the whole area has to be searched.

At the time of the incident I am guessing that between Reading and Paddington Network Rail possibly had less than 20 staff with the training and equipment to evacuate that many passengers, it is likely MOMs were called in from adjacent Routes to assist but that can only be done when cover is arranged for their area.

Thanks for that, ET. I'm sure that the RAIB has checked all this, and hence have nothing to say further as they understand the issues..

NOT infrastructure, but delays today (28th December)
Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading
Due to the emergency services dealing with an incident between London Paddington and Reading some lines are closed.
Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled, delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until 11:00 28/12.
Customer Advice
We are sorry for the delay to your journey today.


Can you tell me more about the incident?
It is with great sadness that we report a person has been struck by a train. Some lines have now reopened to allow the movement of trains once again but it will take a while to reintroduce a full service. Until that is in place, where we can, we will divert trains to run on other lines around the affected area.

1P75 (0621 Didcot to Paddington) has been sat at Langley since 0710.
1C03 (0700 Paddington to Bristol) sat between Iver and Langley since 0710.

Edit to modify train information

All lines reopened, residual disruption expected till 1500

Here you go: these are all of the posts for the calendar year 2023, which I have split off from that original (huge!) topic.

While doing this 'housekeeping', I reviewed the content of those posts, and it reminded me that 2023 was a rather shocking year for the rail industry - particularly Network Rail and Great Western Railway.

Hopefully, things will improve in 2024.  ::)