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Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading

Due to a problem currently under investigation between London Paddington and Reading all lines are blocked.

Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled, delayed or terminated at Reading. Disruption is expected until 18:30 02/01.

Customer Advice

Network Rail are currently investigating an issue with the overhead wires between London Paddington and Slough, which means at present, trains are unable to run between Paddington and Reading.

Trains heading towards London Paddington will be delayed or cancelled at Reading.

Looks proper bust

Nothing moving between Didcot & Oxford either - tree on the line.

Tree on top of a freight train to be exact.

GWR have this about Reading -Gatwick:

Looking at Traksy, I reckon that's a significant underestimate of the number of trees (and the odd gazebo or trampoline) involved. I've  never seen so many lines blocked at once. SWR have this to say about their services, life in general, and how sometimes it just isn't fair:

Was extremely gusty earlier - only for a couple of hours - but I'm not surprised it's brought multiple trees down.

Ouch.

Apparently some of the problems were caused by a tent on the line at Slough......odd time and place to go camping.

Not if you can fly there, surely?

And with saturated ground there is less support for the trees root system.

Met Office have issued a yellow severe weather warning for rain across the whole region from midday Thursday to 0300 Friday.....doesn't bode well

https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/warnings-and-advice/uk-warnings#?date=2024-01-04&id=dc5299a0-b2b4-47c3-a850-d392a7b1aca4

Is there a hosepipe ban to be expected later this year  :D ...

There must be very high ground water levels in many places.  That’s the worst kind of flooding for the railway.  Remember the lengthy disruption between Twyford and Maidenhead of ten or so years ago?  Electrical cabinets/equipment was all elevated as a result of that one.

For the far SW of England, Wales and the South Midlands part of our area where water is stored in reservoirs in the winter for use all the year round - that remains a possibility if we have a very hot dry summer.  However for much of our area that is supplied with groundwater the groundwater levels are very high and it usually requires a multi-year drought to cause problems. 

Have to say given today's severe weather forecast for heavy  rain throughout the GWR region & Southern England (now expanded into the Midlands) I'm surprised  there's no "check before you travel" type message on Journeycheck?

Urgh. Sounds like I should stop watching Traksy for Chipping Sodbury to dry out at this rate...

This has been put out on social media.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GC_5dOCWIAA0VTp?format=jpg)

Yes saw it on Twitter or whatever it's called these days!

Normal service resumed!

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading

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

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

Customer Advice
Due to a fault with the overhead wires near Ladbroke Grove, No trains will currently operate between London Paddington to Reading, until further notice.

London Underground are conveying passengers via any reasonable route until further notice.
London Buses are conveying passengers via any reasonable route until further notice.
Thameslink and Southern Railway are conveying passengers via any reasonable route until further notice.

The overhead line damage affects only lines 4 and 5 into Paddington. An attempt was made to cut the dangling wire….. but the cutter broke!  New cutter being sourced with lines 4 and 5 expected to reopen at 0930.

Unfortunately, lines 1 to 3 are closed because of engineering work.

Seems nothing can go GWR or NWR’s way at the moment.

Around Ealing Broadway I can only see 4 lines on OTT mapping.
Acton main line towards Paddington 5 lines,
North Pole IEP depot to Paddington 6 lines.

Apologies, not a railway person!

Just noting 1W01 0943 London Paddington to Hereford showing as line 4 but appears not on 4......

No apology needed! 

4 lines all the way to Ladbroke Grove where it becomes 6 lines. It use to be 6 all the way into Paddington but CrossRail bought a few changes, so it’s 6 to where the CrossRail joins, then a brief section of 5 lines and then just before Royal Oak it goes back to 6 lines.

The 5th line just after Acton is a reception line.  I don’t think it’s for passenger traffic.  Empty stock uses for positioning moves in the peaks.  It also use to allow trains to access Old Oak from Reading removing the need to go into Paddington itself.

Yesterday the OHL, today.........


Cancellations to services between Reading and London Paddington

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

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

Every. Single. Day.

Alterations to services between Didcot Parkway and Reading

Due to a speed restriction over defective track between Reading and London Paddington fewer trains are able to run on some lines. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.
Train services between Didcot Parkway and Reading may be terminated at Reading. London Paddington will not be served.

Alterations to services between Newbury and London Paddington via Reading

Due to a speed restriction over defective track between Reading and London Paddington fewer trains are able to run on some lines. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.
Train services between Newbury and London Paddington via Reading will be terminated at Reading. London Paddington will not be served.

Customer Advice
From 07:00, trains between Newbury and London Paddington, will only run between Newbury and Reading in both directions. Customers to/from London Paddington should change at Reading and use GWR high-speed services between Reading and London Paddington to complete their journeys

Makes a change from OHL, broken rails, points failures, signal failures I guess?

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading
Due to a broken down train between London Paddington and Reading fewer trains are able to run.
Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled, delayed or revised.




Disruption is expected until 16:00 10/01.
Customer Advice
We are sorry for the delay to your journey.

A train has broken down in the Southall area, this means that we only have one of the usual two lines available for trains running between London Paddington and Reading and as a result fewer trains are able to run. This will be the case until the broken down train is moved and Network Rail carry out any required inspections of the line.

Broken rail. 

Broken down train.

Broken railway.

AND
Cancellations to services between Reading and London Paddington
Due to a broken rail between Twyford and Maidenhead some lines are blocked. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.
Train services between Reading and London Paddington may be cancelled or delayed.

Scenes at PAD this evening on a TikTok video:

https://www.tiktok.com/@thesmilingfoodjournal/video/7322553099493690657?lang=en (https://www.tiktok.com/@thesmilingfoodjournal/video/7322553099493690657?lang=en)

Disruption with both problems lasting until the end of the day it seems.

Recurring Thames Valley service & infrastructure issues raised by Labour & Conservative MPs in Parliament this week....

https://www.maidenhead-advertiser.co.uk/news/slough/193777/slough-mp-debates-future-of-gwr-mainline-in-parliament.html

As the brokendown train was there most of the day, assuming it had wheels, do the train companies no longer have the means to push/pull a dead train out of the way. Or is this another case like before Christmas when passengers were left on trains for hours, of multiple actors not being able to come to a decision of who does what and when.

Delays to services between London Paddington and Reading

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

Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed. Disruption is expected until 08:00 11/01.

05:03 Penzance to London Paddington due 09:55
05:03 Penzance to London Paddington due 09:55 has been previously delayed, has been further delayed at Reading and is now 16 minutes late.
This is due to a fault with the signalling system.

No.  It was still able to move independently and passengers were taken off it fairly quickly at Southall and put on other trains.

The train was then recessed out of the way in Southall Yard, for several hours, but no longer affecting anything else.

It was (another) broken rail that caused most of yesterday’s disruption.

Suspect it may be this.....causing issues throughout Devon & Cornwall & Paddington-Penzance.

Hard to believe that 1 person (presumably) being ill can cause such extensive issues.....or given the obvious and evident lack of robustness & resilience throughout the system, perhaps not?

Due to signalling staff being taken ill at Liskeard all lines are blocked. Disruption is expected until 12:30 11/01.

Train services between Penzance and London Paddington via Plymouth may be cancelled, delayed or revised.

Unlikely, but hadn't spotted thue Liskeard issue.
1A973 ran mostly to time up to Exeter.
Single digit delays until Thatcham, thereafter arriving Paddington 33 down.

I have split the follow ups into a separate thread at http://www.passenger.chat/28377 as it's not a Thames Valley infrastructure problem ... keeping this thread clean, and avoiding Liskeard issues getting lost in Maidenhead!

My memory, from JounreyCheck (which I know isn't always reliable)k was that the broken rail was affecting trains going towards Paddington. Whilst the broken down train was removed quite quickly, the overhead wires had to be checked and that impacted upon Reading bound services for a lot of the day.

The first train through on the Down Main at Southall was the 14:48 PAD-SWA about 2 hours after the incident happened, so not immediately, but not what you’d describe as ‘a lot of the day’ either.

The broken rail meant the Up Main was closed between Twyford West and Maidenhead for the remainder of the day.

I'm not sure if it's possible to dig up a cached version of JourneyCheck but it was certainly saying that westbound disruption was expected to 1830 at one point yesterday. And a GWRHelp Tweet at 7.23pm yesterday said " due to a broken down train between London Paddington and Reading fewer trains are able to run. Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled, delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until 20:30"

All the trains, and the lines they were on, can be viewed on RTT.  It’s true that some after that Swansea train were still being routed via the relief lines, but others were running through without any delay on the mains, such as this one:

https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:L65726/2024-01-10/detailed#allox_id=0

The broken rail, meaning trains were presenting late at Paddington or not running east of Reading towards London, was causing more problems.

The raw data for our train disruption map is cached - similar to JourneyCheck's normal feed, but service updates only - so we can look back a day or two; it's useful where the map shows a wobbly.   We don't cache line updates so I can't give you a history of expected disruption forecasts and how they extended.

Thanks for the comments. I was really wanting to look back at the JourneyCheck text from yesterday evening as I seem to remember it saying something along the lines that electric trains couldn't be run on some of the westbound lines until the overhead wires had been checked overnight. That said, it does seem the later disruption was mainly down to the broken rail.

From what I recall the overheads weren't fully examined until later in the evening. I worked a service leaving Paddington at 20:00 and there was still a requirement to run in diesel as far as Southall to use the Down Main.

A useful summary in Parliament from Teresa May. Hopefully this is the sort of interest and attention which will get the likes of Haines & Hopwoods feet held to the fire and some explanations for the shambolic service over the last few months.

https://twitter.com/NoelDolphin/status/1745822391601639598?t=ohXHnQW49ZY7FpI2R96C0w&s=19

It's all very well blaming Haines & Hopwood, but they can't make a can't make a silk purse out of sow's ear.  We all know that under the present arrangements it is the DfT and the Treasury who are micro-managing the railways.

Government keep saying that revenue has not returned but people are starting to ask whether the reduced number of seats available is suppressing demand and therefore revenue. I would also ask whether reliability due to reduced maintenance is suppressing demand and therefore revenue. 

There is a theory of the anorexic company that keeps cutting costs and consequently loosing revenue until it ceases to exist.  You could see some element of that in BR.  We are seeing it again here. 

Fine. Then let's hear H & H stand up & say that, and explain what they'd do differently.

You know what this government does to people who publicly criticise their policies. Witness the people who have been suddenly disinvited to speak at government organised conferences for criticism of government policies. They would find a pretext to remove First Group and put in an operator of last resort who would led by someone who would not criticise, but may not have the ability that Hopwood undoubtedly has.  Haines would also find himself suddenly out of a job with similar consequences. 

It is quite possible that behind the scenes they are trying to argue for different policies, but to do so publicly would IMO probably not be helpful. 

Could make for some interesting autobiographies in the future.

I’m sure Taplow Green will be at the front of the queue at Mark Hopwood’s book signing.

Not quite Thames Valley?
Cancellations to services at Didcot Parkway
Due to damage to the overhead electric wires at Didcot Parkway fewer trains are able to run.
Train services running through this station may be cancelled, delayed or terminated at and started back from Reading. Some stations between Reading and Didcot Parkway will not be served. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.
Customer Advice
Due to damage to the overhead electric wires at Didcot Parkway we are unable to run most of our electric stopping train services that run between Didcot Parkway and Reading. As a result Cholsey, Goring & Streatley, Pangbourne and Tilehurst will see fewer trains than usual. During peak times some of our fast services will make additional calls at these stations to maintain customer connections.
Additional Information
We apologise for the disruption to your journey today.
........
Last Updated:15/01/2024 04:50

No service between Marylebone - Oxford today either.

Yesterday the Swindon Advertiser tried to put two and two together and make five.  They confused lift problems at Didcot with engineering work!

https://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/24048375.swindon-trains-cancelled-problems-didcot-parkway/ (https://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/24048375.swindon-trains-cancelled-problems-didcot-parkway/)

An IET shuttle has been put in place by GWR to provide stopping services between Didcot and Reading. Obviously no catering available, but well done to GWR for coming up with a temporary solution as short notice. On the flip side, GWR have also announced that services will be disrupted tomorrow (Tuesday).

Presumably GWR have had to find Train Managers for the shuttle as the 387s normally run driver only but I don't think there is an agreement in place to run the IETs the same way.

Not if they’re stopping at the local stations, no.

Is there any indication of the nature of the problem with the OHL?

Now ongoing until the end of Wednesday 17

Would be interesting to understand the nature of the problem if anyone has any knowledge of it?

Cancellations to services between Didcot Parkway and Reading

Due to damage to the overhead electric wires between Didcot Parkway and Reading fewer trains are able to run. Disruption is expected until the end of the day on 17/01/24.

Train services between Didcot Parkway and Reading will be cancelled, delayed or terminated at and started back from Reading.

Indeed not a good month so far for the Thames Valley.

Whatever the issue is it does appear to be quite localised - possibly to the platform area? - if difficult to repair.

Only about half the services on the IET shuttle seem to have run this morning. There's been nothing in the down direction since 0730 (it's now 0930).

Trains now running normally between Greenford and West Ealing
Following a fault with the signalling system between Greenford and West Ealing all lines are now open.

Looks like there was a points failure between Paddington and Ealing too and some services between London-Didcot are turning around at Reading with other Thames Valley alterations too.

According to National Rail (nothing on Journeycheck) the points issue is now resolved.

Interesting FOI return from Network Rail West on Twitter just now.
Look at how many faults in the one year to November 30, 2023

https://x.com/mattalexst/status/1747297975678702010?s=61&t=VlafMC5gF9tidw36b1Y8JQ

If you follow that through to the full data it's on whatDoTheyKnow (https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/delays_and_issues_on_gwml_betwee#incoming-2522207).

The data relate only to the GWML from Paddington to Reading, and there is a similar period of a year four years earlier for comparison. You may be surprised to see significant reductions in disruption due to signals and OHL, though points and rails are worse.

Ongoing ...


What's the problem with fixing it?  It's only six years since electric trains started to Didcot!!

Conflicting advice today
Cancellations to services between Didcot Parkway and Reading
Due to damage to the overhead electric wires between Didcot Parkway and Reading fewer trains are able to run. Disruption is expected until the end of the day on 17/01/24.

Trains now running normally between Didcot Parkway and Oxford
Following damage to the overhead electric wires between Didcot Parkway and Oxford all lines have now reopened.

Trains now running normally between Didcot Parkway and Reading
Following damage to the overhead electric wires between Didcot Parkway and Reading the line has now reopened.

Yeah, back to normal working AFAIK after defective parts were replaced during an overnight possession.

However, normal service wasn't resumed until after the morning peak. Looking much better now though.

Number of factors first is can NR get the track access, the GWML is not 100% electric traction, second are the number of required OLE staff available.

I suspect its access that was the delay to fixing it

Yes, I believe the techs needed a block that included the avoiding lines at Didcot to undertake repairs, so it meant no traffic from the Oxford direction unless it reversed via Foxhall Junction.  Because the problem wasn't too disruptive, and the important passenger and freight artery that would be impacted, even if overnight, such a block was delayed.

Paul Clifton discussing this shambolic performance on BBC South tonight - should be interesting.

https://x.com/PaulCliftonBBC/status/1747684542826070332?s=20

It's here - https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001vh1l/south-today-evening-news-17012024

starts at 7min10sec

Another glorious day on GWR begins.....let's hope those on the stranded trains and waiting on stations wore their thermals today......

Cancellations to services between Reading and Newbury

Due to a points failure between Reading and Newbury all lines are blocked.

Train services running to and from these stations will be cancelled, delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until 12:00 18/01.

Customer Advice
Due to a points failure between Reading and Newbury all lines are currently blocked until further notice.
-
Network Rail have attended and attempted rectification works however these haven't proven successful. The 05:33 Bedwyn to London Paddington service will be forwarded to Reading where it will terminate. The other services currently stuck between Reading and Newbury will then be looked at being moved to the next suitable location.

And this will affect the Thames Valley services
Cancellations to services between Taunton and Castle Cary
Due to a points failure between Taunton and Castle Cary the line is blocked.
Train services running through these stations may be cancelled or delayed by up to 60 minutes. Disruption is expected until 09:00 18/01.
Customer Advice
Due to a points failure between Taunton and Castle Cary the line towards Castle Cary is blocked.

As will the points failing in the Oxford area....

Brrrrrrrrr

A bit more on the FOI request......

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-68009661

"Brought in external experts" .................... that's  a worry !!!!!

Are DfT/HMT happy with the expenditure on external experts?

They are never happy

Given that the issue of the daily collapse of the service is now receiving attention in Parliament and more widely in the media I guess they have to be seen to be doing something or at least making the right noises about it.

Certainly more noise that Messrs Haines/Hopwood are making about it anyway.

Bonkers indeed............really couldn't make it up, and of course we all know who ends up paying for it.............

Report at around 18:00


Our thoughts with friends, family and staff - and with the person involved if (s)he is still with us. 

Edit to add - not Infrastuture, but reporting here as this is amongst the wider issues on the London to Reading line that so often lead to severe disruption and must be stopped.  And looking to full acknowledge these events and to discuss / see what can be done without giving them the wider publicity around guests and shares that new threads get.    Member feedback on whether to post here would be welcome.

Cancellations to services between Reading and Westbury
Due to the emergency services dealing with an incident between Reading and Westbury all lines are blocked.
Train services running to and from these stations will be cancelled, delayed or diverted between Reading and Westbury. Disruption is expected until 13:00 24/01.
Customer Advice
-

We've received reports of an incident involving a loss of life in the Hungerford area. Subsequently all lines are on stop.

......from National Rail (nothing on Journeycheck)


A fault with the signalling system between Maidenhead and Reading means some lines are blocked. As a result, trains may be cancelled, delayed or revised. This is expected until 14:30.

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading

Due to a safety inspection of the track 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 20:30 26/01.

Alterations to services between London Paddington and Newbury via Reading

Due to a speed restriction over defective track between London Paddington and Reading fewer trains are able to run. Disruption is expected until 08:00 27/01.

Train services between London Paddington and Newbury via Reading may be revised.
Customer Advice
Great Western Railway London Paddington to Newbury Electrostar services may be revised to operate only between Reading and Newbury (and vice versa)
Customers may travel on alternative services between London Paddington and Reading if needed.
Elizabeth line are conveying passengers between London Paddington and Reading via Slough in both directions until further notice. Arrangements have been made for Great Western Railway rail tickets to be accepted for these journeys


Alterations to services between London Paddington and Didcot Parkway via Reading

Due to a speed restriction over defective track between London Paddington and Reading fewer trains are able to run. Disruption is expected until 08:00 27/01.
Train services between London Paddington and Didcot Parkway via Reading may be revised.

Apologies for going off on a tangent...... this always amuses me. How else can you get from London Paddington to Newbury or Didcot without going through Reading?  Similarly, the CIS at Exeter St Davids..... "Exmouth via Exeter Central"   ???

Paddington - West Ealing - South Greenford - West Ruislip - Haddenham - Bicester Village - Oxford - Didcot?

..and then the Didcot, Newbury and Southampton.   Oh no.....

Which, after nearly 60 years has finally been replaced by the non-stopping X34 bus. Obviously, no ticket acceptance in place.

Cancellations to services between Bourne End and Marlow

Due to a points failure between Bourne End and Marlow all lines are blocked.

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

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading

Due to the emergency services dealing with an incident between London Paddington and Reading the line is blocked.

Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled or delayed by up to 90 minutes. Disruption is expected until 11:45 08/02.

Updated:

Train services running to and from these stations will be cancelled or delayed by up to 100 minutes. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

Not an infrastructure problem.  Perhaps the thread title needs changing?  Removal of 'infrastructure'?

Thoughts to all those involved in the incident and friends/family of the deceased.

Which is why I started a new thread on the London-Reading page, before noticing that the same sad news had been posted here

The frequency of these events on the line through Berkshire makes me think this is an infrastructure problem: there ought to be better physical obstacles to prevent these people from a clearly troubled part of the world from accessing the line. Do we need better fences? Maybe electrified? Maybe topped with razor wire?

I believe it's recognised to be a suicide "hotspot" and is recommended as such by the dismal suicide websites on some of the darker parts of the internet, however I am not sure electrified fences with or without razor wire would be the answer.

Sadly I think if someone is in such an awful place that they have decided to take their own life in such an awful way, such measures would only shift the problem elsewhere on the line.

Maidenhead station Platform 2 has recently undergone significant works to install fences and gates (which make it nigh on impossible to access a train quickly and which exacerbate crowding on the platform).  Have these been installed as a suicide prevention measure?

Followup question: what is the logic on these measures as it is still possible to access the platform and, to my knowledge, no one has successfully attempted suicide from the platform in the past decade. All the while other ‘hotspots’ exist throughout the network.

It's all part of lessening the risk at the PTI (Platform Train Interface) which is 48% of the total passenger fatality risk on the mainline railway network according to the RSSB: https://www.rssb.co.uk/about-rssb/key-industry-topics/platform-train-interface

At Maidenhead, when a busy train emptied out on platform 3, the swirling masses would often get uncomfortably close to the edge of platform 2 - where of course trains would flash by at 125mph.  I remember getting an uncomfortable feeling looking in the cab several times in one of those fast trains as people jostled for position to get down the stairs as quickly as possible.

Similar modifications have been made at other places the same thing happened.  Slough's platforms 1/2 and the island platforms at Hayes and Southall being examples.

It does also help stop people waiting for a train absent-mindedly chatting on their phones and wandering close to the platform edge - another thing that is guaranteed to get a drivers heart racing - so at station platforms where few trains call it makes very good sense to me.

You're right in that it doesn't stop people accessing those platform, but it does become a deterrent from doing so.  AIUI little obstacles like that can sometimes break the 'thought chain' of a suicide event, and they definitely allow station staff to better monitor the movement of passengers and reduce the likelihood of a fatality - whether deliberate of accidental.

In the case of Maidenhead, as you probably know, there's construction work currently underway to replace the lift and create a second stairway down to the subway.  So that should help with any crowding on platform 3, which is usually only during that surge for short periods when trains arrive and empty rather than when passengers are waiting to board.  https://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/news/new-lift-and-staircase-to-improve-access-and-safety-at-maidenhead-station

As II has said "Fast Line Safety Fencing" has been a safety measures on the RSSB and ORR list of improvements for a decade or so.  As for accessing a train quickly the RSSB and ORR would put the point you should allow yourself sufficient time to safely board the train.

Suicides then not to happen when platforms are busy, its when its quite that these sad events happen, Maidenhead having such a low level of incidents and the planned works posible placed it lower on the list.  There will come a time when the gates will be closed except for the norming peak services and when required when the Main Lines are used for stopping services.

The would still need an emergency release for when trains are stopped on the Up fast & require evacuation

Delays to services between London Paddington and Reading

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

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

......getting back to daily events?

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 some lines.

Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled or delayed. Disruption is expected until 16:00 19/02.

Customer Advice
Due to a fault with the signalling system near Ealing Broadway, fewer trains are able to run between Reading and London Paddington, affecting both semi-fast and longer distance services.

And I was thinking last week what a quiet Feb it has been….

Disruption now until 19.00 with Maidenhead, Slough and Twyford not being served by GWR. Lovely.

The semi-fasts resumed with the 12-car 17:51 PAD-DID.

That’s nice.  I followed the advice I was given, boarded a TfL service and have been dumped at Slough, with a 25 min wait for the next service.

Sorry to hear that, Nick.

Thank you. I’ve had worse, but it’s still frustrating.  Delay Repay claims seem to be taking longer to process these days too. Perhaps it’s a backlog!

......and today we have.....

Delays to services between Reading and London Paddington

Due to a points failure between Maidenhead and Slough some lines are blocked. Disruption is expected until 14:45 20/02.

Train services between Reading and London Paddington may be delayed.
Customer Advice
We're sorry for the delay to your journey.

A set of points in the Slough area have failed. Points are the moveable sections of track that allow trains to move from one track to another. Network Rail have specialist staff heading to site to investigate and fix the failure.

Plymouth to Reading today.....2 hrs 45 minutes.

Reading to Taplow 1 hr 30 minutes.

What a joke this line has become.

Alterations to services between London Paddington and Reading

Due to a landslip between London Paddington and Reading some lines are closed.

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

An issue has arisen with the state of some trees at the side of a cutting between Twyford and Reading where an unstable area of surrounding earth has been observed. Owing to its location it is not an issue that can be easily resolved and until the matter has been addressed two of the four running lines in the area will be taken out of use and the remaining line capacity will not be able to carry the full advertised train service.

Sounds serious and could take a significant period of time to resolve dependent upon the site and the unstable area.

Sheet piling as preventative reinforcement could take weeks to design and install - should that be assessed to be necessary.

It appears that a tree has fallen on the OLE at Burnham (a beech perhaps?)


9U51 is currently at a stand on the up relief.

It looks like there's now effectively a two-track railway between Reading and Paddington.

And now a no-track railway. A complete block while the orange army attempt some tree felling. That's the evening peak broken.

Network Rail closing all lines between Reading & Paddington from 1615-1715 to remove the tree.

Different tree I think. GWR stating that this is the Sonning Cutting tree. The Burnham one appears to have sufficiently combusted for the up relief to be open.

Paddington is now fully stacked with services ready to go after the block is lifted.

Block at Sonning delayed until 17:00 to allow trains held up by the overhead tripping at Hayes to clear.

Tree in contact with the overheads near Acton which is causing the overheads to trip.

GWR are in total meltdown and their hugely under staffed Control is being shown up yet again

Nothing moving out of Paddington until 19:00 now.

Now just saying  "all lines will be blocked..... disruption is expected until the end of the day....."

No time given for any resumption tonight?

However, the evening schedule is now toast, so GWR have arranged ticket acceptance with Chiltern, WMR and Avanti.

Up and Down Main appear to be blocked between Hanwell and Ealing Broadway too, so that's going to scupper any resemblance of recovery.

1830 Weston followed by 1836 Plymouth look like the first two to depart Paddington.

Line blocks all lifted outside of Padd.

I was thinking last night that there was a malevolent set to the wind which also, was from the east south east, not the most common of directions for what was quite a sustained blow. It possibly contributed to loosening the hold of trees growing on the north side of the cutting at Sonning. Photos from Network Rail Western are curious too, several trees on a slope and leaning into the line, it's surprising that they were tolerated.

Mark

Ah.....the wrong type of wind?  ;)

In somewhat timely manner, Tuesday 27th at 1830 Paul Clifton is presenting a report on BBC South regional news on the shambolic state of the Paddington-Reading service/infrastructure.

After repeated attempts at taking a block to sort this tree out at Sonning, on the third or fourth attempt they took a block at 17:15. 30 minutes later they lifted the block because they realised they couldn’t complete the required work. It’s going to be done overnight now.
The evening peak destroyed for no good reason. Someone at NR is going to have some serious explaining to do in the morning.

Now it's after 2200, the timetable of the day for tomorrow still assumes a 4 track railway (Didcot and Newbury semi-fasts are still in the timetable).

Either NR are certain it's going to get fixed, or there's going to be a huge amount of delay repay again.

I’ve noticed a strange blue flashing light on the overhead lines the last couple of nights on the main line just outside Charvil driving past. Can anyone elaborate what that is? I assume it relates to the plant being delivered to site. Initially I thought it was a police car or similar but presume it must relate to the main lines being closed at Sonning.

Indicates to those working on the lines that the overhead lines have been isolated.

Due to a fault with the signalling system between Bourne End and Marlow, all lines are blocked.

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

Things have now come to a head it seems with route renewals
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-68402089

Looks like it was all fixed.

Perhaps not

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading

Due to a landslip between Twyford and Reading fewer trains are able to run. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

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

Still ongoing......

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading
Due to a landslip between London Paddington and Reading some lines towards Reading are blocked.
Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled or delayed. Disruption is expected until 11:30 29/02.

Customer Advice
We're sorry for the delay to your journey this morning.
-
Due to a landslip near the railway in the Twyford area, Network Rail need to access the railway to make the area safe. This means they will need to close one of the 4 lines that run through the area for 1 hour from 10:15.
-
Some local stopping trains between Didcot Parkway and London Paddington will be terminated and started back from Reading. Customers at Twyford travelling towards Reading may wish to travel to Maidenhead and then circulate back to Reading

The Orange Army was out yesterday (Friday)afternoon at the layby on the Shepherds Hill roundabout, east of Reading. Clearing vegetation from Sonning Cutting. Possibly just a speed restriction remaining https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-68449788 (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-68449788)

Cancellations to services between Reading and Slough

Due to a broken rail between Reading and Slough trains have to run at reduced speed on some lines.

Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled or delayed by up to 20 minutes. Disruption is expected until 13:30 04/03.

Cancellations to services between Reading and Maidenhead

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

Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled, delayed by up to 10 minutes or terminated at and started back from Reading.
 Some stations between Reading and London Paddington will not be served. Disruption is expected until 09:15 06/03.
Customer Advice
Apologies to customers. Owing to a points failure between Reading and Maidenhead we have fewer railway lines available to use.

Delays to services between Reading and Maidenhead

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

Train services running through these stations may be delayed. Disruption is expected until 10:00 17/03.


.....also overrunning engineering works.

Customer Advice

Due to an engineering over-run trains will be delayed near Ladbroke Grove ( Between London Paddington - Reading).

Delays to services between Southall and London Paddington

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

Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed. Disruption is expected until 14:00 17/03.

Customer Advice
Due to a fault with the signalling system trains maybe delayed near Southall (Down Main Lines).

Cancellations to services between Newbury and Bedwyn
Due to a points failure between Newbury and Bedwyn fewer trains are able to run on all lines.
Train services running through these stations will be cancelled. Disruption is expected until 10:00 20/03.
Customer Advice
We are sorry for the delay to your journey today.


Can you tell me more about the incident?
Due to a points failure at Bedwyn we are currently unable to operate the Newbury to Bedwyn shuttle.

Network Rail engineers are heading to site to assess the issue.

High speed services will stop at stations between between Newbury and Bedwyn where possible

Cancellations to services between Newbury and Bedwyn

Due to a points failure between Newbury and Bedwyn fewer trains are able to run.
Train services running through these stations may be cancelled. Disruption is expected until 11:30 24/03.

Delays to services between Reading and Twyford

Due to checking reports of an obstruction on the line between Reading and Twyford the line towards London Paddington bound local stopping is blocked.

Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed. Disruption is expected until 12:30 25/03.

Customer Advice
-
Please be advised Network Rail have closed a short section of the local stopping line between Reading and Twyford in response to reports of vegetation hanging very close to the electric overhead line equipment.
-
This means only three out of the four lines between Reading and Twyford are available for all traffic. This will inevitably result in some congestion whilst local stopping services utilise the main line between Reading and Twyford. Delays of up to 15 minutes expected.

Complete chaos at Paddington due to an earlier trespasser at Ealing Broadway......cleared now but virtually nothing moving at the moment

According to the GWR website: "The emergency services had reported a member of public on the wrong side of a bridge in the Ealing Broadway area."

I would love to know how you get on the wrong side of a bridge. Tell it "your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries"?

Allegedly one person in custardy.

I was a Paddington caught up in the melee, it seem to take an inordinate amount of time to recharge the OLE.  The only think I can think of was a local isolation and Earthing had been put in place to make it safe for the Blue Light services which had to then be lifted

I too was caught up in the chaos at Paddington.  It was supposed to be the last leg of a return from the French Alps.  Bourg St Maurice - Chambery - Paris Gare de Lyon - Paris Gare du Nord - St Pancras - Paddington had all worked beautifully. Arrived Paddington 17:00 to catch the 17:32 departure via Stroud, so as to avoid the rail replacement bus service from Charlbury.  But very few departures between 17:00 and 18:15, so I gave up and spent the night in London with a friend.  Will go and endure the rail replacement some time tomorrow morning.

Having been awake since 0430 and in the office before 0700 it was the last thing I needed.

Decided to work late in the hope that things would calm down & I was extremely lucky to find a hugely delayed Elizabeth Line train heading for Reading just pulling into Bond Street as I arrived - made pretty slow progress and was eventually terminated at Maidenhead but it did get me to Taplow in the end.

I hope the trespasser in custody is suitably punished - the cost of yesterday's enterprise must be colossal in delay/repay alone.

Alterations 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 the line towards London Paddington bound local stopping.
Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed or terminated at and started back from Reading. Disruption is expected until 08:45 26/03.

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading

Due to damage to the overhead electric wires at Ealing Broadway fewer trains are able to run on some lines. Disruption is expected until 18:00 26/03.

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

Disruption now pushed out to 1900......another miserable evening peak for customers on this most wretched of lines  :(

.......and for today.....

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading
Due to a safety inspection of the track between London Paddington and Reading some lines are blocked.
Train services running to and from these stations will be cancelled, delayed or terminated at and started back from Reading. Disruption is expected until 11:30 27/03.
Customer Advice
-
Network Rail advise of reports a large dip in the track in the Ladbroke Grove area just outside of London Paddington on one of the lines running towards Slough.
-
In response there will be a pre-agreed contingency plan activated to assist in the management of the train service giving consideration to the reduction in line availability.
-
As soon as we have confirmation on what the impact will be on the train service we shall advise accordingly.
-
MTR Elizabeth Line are accepting GWR customers between Reading and London Paddington in both directions until further notice.

Grimness now reported on the Elizabeth line owing to overhead electrifications issues at West Ealing... a relative's just needed to leave the train at Paddington and head for the Piccadilly line for onward travel to Heathrow.

Mark

Genuinely couldn't make it up.....they thought there was a OHL fault, switched it off....there wasn't a fault......but they can't switch it back on again properly..... ::)


Cancellations to services between Reading and London Paddington

Due to the electricity being switched off for safety reasons between Reading 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 14:00 27/03.

Customer Advice
-
Network Rail now advise that a section of track between London Paddington and Hayes and Harlington has failed to reenergise meaning the local stopping line from London Paddington to Hayes is currently blocked.

Now "until the end of the day".......apologies for the language, but it's total shower of s**t, for the third night in a row.

Agreed. A total shower of s**t.
I’m on a dangerously overcrowded Elizabeth line service that reminds me of the worst days of FGW.
Paddington station platforms are overflowing and 20mins between services that can only pick up a handful of the passengers waiting.
A total joke, and dangerous for all involved.

….. All part of the plan to totally decarbonise the railway.

On a more serious note.  No need to apologise for the language. It is as you describe.

Today was a rare occasion that I travelled to Paddington then realised the chaos - so promptly travelled back to Bond Street on the Elizabeth Line to ride the train back. Thus ensuring I would be able to continue onward to Maidenhead on a train. It does feel good to ride a nearly empty train one stop back when services get that full!

I had an idea that might happen so went the long way around - Bond Street to Waterloo, Waterloo to Windsor Riverside, Windsor Central to Slough, Slough to Taplow - roughly 2 hrs 30 but a safer and a somewhat less stressful experience............and I got home to find that due to my late arrival I'd missed a visit from my Mother in law, so I guess there's always an upside!  :)

Another dreadful day on the Thames Valley routes though and especially for the Elizabeth Line - wonder if Mayor Khan will be having another word with NR?

It seems ‘words’ are the only thing any organisation involved can muster up. 

Paddington to Reading now closing(?) through Saturday night and Sunday morning to allow emergency engineering work to the track.
Post from GWR on Twitter.

Mark

https://twitter.com/GWRHelp/status/1773388868168888527 (https://twitter.com/GWRHelp/status/1773388868168888527)

Sounds pretty grim for anyone travelling this evening.....

https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/service-disruptions/newbury-20240328/

This may become a more regular event over the next few months as the Wales and Western Region tackle the defects that have caused the problems recently in the Thames Valley.

According to this X post from someone stuck at Dorking West the 17:29 GTW-RDG has struck a tree:

https://twitter.com/Flipthecoin3/status/1773434707281055793 (https://twitter.com/Flipthecoin3/status/1773434707281055793)

Here's a picture of some of the damage, miraculously no serious injuries.

https://twitter.com/CliveFlint/status/1773410207843905655?t=_GY368bM_KqTEwJNXHSU4w&s=19

Double skinned windows that are designed to shatter into small pieces and with an anti-vandalism laminate are pretty resilient thankfully.  Looks like that one behaved as designed under quite an impact.

Delays to services between Reading and London Paddington

Following a points failure between Reading and London Paddington all lines have now reopened.
Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed. Disruption is expected until 15:00 30/03.

Cancellations to services between Reading and Westbury
Due to a fault with the signalling system between Reading and Westbury the line towards Westbury is blocked.
We are sorry for the disruption to your journey today. Due to several signalling faults as a result of heavy rain flooding the railway earlier in the week between Reading and Westbury, the line towards Westbury is blocked. The flood water has now subsided, however there has been significant damage to the railway infrastructure so Network Rail need to close the line in order to make the railway safe and rectify the signalling faults. This disruption is expected to last until the end of the day.
-
We are currently unable to operate our local stopping trains between Newbury and Bedwyn. We are running replacement road transport in the form of taxis. These will depart from the front of stations at the designated taxi points. Our high speed mainline services from London Paddington towards Devon and Cornwall will be diverting after Reading in this direction only. Trains in the other direction will run on their normal route.

And now this........any idea what's happened? (GWR Twitter not working again due to "staff sickness" for the second time this weekend so no help from that direction)

Alterations to services at London Paddington

Due to urgent repairs to the railway at London Paddington fewer trains are able to run.
Train services running to and from this station have been revised. Disruption is expected until 12:00 31/03.

Customer Advice
We have been advised at short notice that Network Rail need to take possession of the railway in the London Paddington area from Saturday night until midday on Easter Sunday, 31st March 2024, in order to undertake crucial maintenance work to the track. As a result, most of the lines into and out of London Paddington will be closed, meaning significantly fewer trains will be able to run. To accomodate this work, a revised, emergency timetable is in operation.

***
Online journey planners have been updated to reflect the services that we are able to operate, but it is possible that there may be short notice changes and cancellations to the services that we are able to run on the day. Please check your journey before travelling.
***
With significantly fewer trains running, services are extremely busy. Passengers are strongly advised to avoid attempting to travel to/from London Paddington until after midday. Ticketing restrictions that would normally apply to advanced ticket holders have been lifted to allow you to travel later in the day.

A possession to undertake maintenance work on a series of points in the Paddington throat area.  Possession covers line 1-4 and Platforms 1-9 inclusive at Paddington.  Access to North Pole depot is also affected.

I think the work was first announced by GWR on Thursday afternoon.

Bus and Train User has a blog post that consolidates a number of issues with travel (he even caught a bus departures board mixing the... bus departures with a wildly out of date travel advice segment and then a third segment displaying... some random item from the BBC local news). Not helpful for anyone flying off a train at Northampton and needing to check the buses.

GWR doesn't escape scott-free either: at a time of large scale disruption to the network it was presumably the twitter feeds scheduled marketing let one loose on the subject of an easter-bunny-dropped easter egg hunt on their trains, complete with an alarming image, the exercise 100% guaranteed to annoy the majority of travellers, and may have resulted in the twitter feed's human staff signing off sick in despair..

Blog, complete with easter bunny on train tweet, here:

https://busandtrainuser.com/2024/03/31/seen-around-20/#more-57648 (https://busandtrainuser.com/2024/03/31/seen-around-20/#more-57648)

More on the origin of that bunny thing and its strange egg-laying powers from Wikipedia here.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Bunny (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter_Bunny)

Mark

Delays to services between Newbury and Reading

Due to a fault with the signalling system between Newbury and Reading trains have to run at reduced speed.
Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed by up to 10 minutes. Disruption is expected until 18:30 01/04.

Points failure at Pangbourne today. A friend was visiting me in Tilehurst and aimed to return on the 1406 to Paddington. She checked for travel updates and found it was running six minutes later. Various other up and down amendments to the local service. I see that the 1433 was cancelled and the 1359 to Didcot Parkway was "not stopping".

Since Lockdown she's nearly always used the car to get to me from South London, but today cycled to Paddington. We debated that, with the former stopping service now being semi-fast, whether it was worth her changing at Reading. "Might save you a handful of minutes," I opined.

BTW she's fascinated by the ravens (?) and their nests on the trees between Platform 4 and the Thames. Today they were in fine voice.

They are Rooks, Marlburian. One used the extensive metal structure forming part of the OHL equipment at Goring as a nest site over the main lines as a nest site last year!

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading

Due to a safety inspection of the track between London Paddington and Acton Main Line some lines are blocked. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

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

One of the four lines between London Paddington and Reading has been closed until it can be inspected by Network Rail. Until this is done fewer trains can run through the area, however, most of our long-distance services will still run, but may be delayed by congestion in the area. Our local stopping services that run between Didcot Parkway and London Paddington will terminate at Reading and the London Paddington to Didcot Parkway stopping services will start at Reading.

This has caused grimness for people attempting to leave London Heathrow by train. An affllicted correspondent has resorted to the Piccadilly line for the second time in a week, having needed to do the same on the way out.

Mark

Passengers in some numbers instructed to take trains at the station for terminal 4 to the next stop at terminals 2/3. Didn't go well, as no visible staff presence there and very full platforms - people with luggage waiting - meant that it wasn't easy to move from the platform to the concourse. Also, the signage between the national rail platforms and the Piccadilly line was absent.

For this station, the maps on the National Rail website don't exactly shine.

https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/heathrow-terminals-2-3-rail-station-only/

Mark

I thought that one would be a crow in that case. If you see a rook on its own, it's a crow, whereas if you see a lot of crows, they're rooks.

I don’t know if it’s the same incident.
https://x.com/PaulCliftonBBC/status/1775279348834250851?s=20

Where are The Railway Children and a white flag made from a petticoat when you need them?!?

Probably on strike  :)

More likely sat indoors glued to their phones watching YouTube or TikTok videos.

All joking aside though, that does indeed look like the same incident.  So now you all know what an emergency stop looks like...not quite in time on this occasion - though probably the best the driver could have done!

And to think the future is in driverless trains...  :-\

That reminds me, in another era, a friend, at an ungodly hour, witnessing a lorry driver getting something wrong and managing to drop a London suburban rail bridge parapet onto the track. Friend was straight off his bike, grabbed the rear light and was down onto the track and hot footing it* to caution any approaching train, red bike light in hand. His round's newspapers were delivered a little late that day.

Mark

*750 volt DC electrified track, so, cautiously hot-footed.

I once after a night out spotted a suspicious looking suitcase on a railway bridge over the West London Line. It was a case with what looked like a few wires sticking out of it and in the centre of the bridge. I’d had some training on what to look for and this definitely fitted the bill. i called the police who said they’d send someone to take a look and to stay put. I was called back to ask for a better fix on my location and they eventually arrived. They parked to block the bridge and then one went and took a look which he did so very carefully. After looking at the outside he tried opening it and it was empty save for the wires sticking out of it. They said it was fine and probably designed as a hoax and thanked me for reporting it.

Cancellations to services between Reading and London Paddington

Due to a derailed train between Reading and London Paddington some lines are blocked.
Train services running to and from these stations will be cancelled, delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until 12:00 05/04.

.
Customer Advice
Apologies to customers, a freight train has derailed between London Paddington and Slough closing some of the lines

National Rail said it happened at West Ealing at about 06:10 BST.

A spokesperson said a freight train travelling on to the West Ealing goods loop "passed a red signal, and three wheels of the locomotive came off the tracks".

Great Western Railway (GWR), Elizabeth line and Heathrow Express passengers' journeys have been affected.

"There were no injuries, and we closed the adjacent lines to assess that it was safe for trains to pass," the spokesperson added.

"One of the lines has now reopened to passenger trains and a team is on site to assess the situation with the freight train and whether the second adjacent line can be safely reopened."

Just wondering if freight loco's have an auto stop when passing signals at red if the driver takes no action.

Here's a picture (from Paul Clifton on Twitter)

They’ll just have TPWS equipment like every mainline registered unit or loco. 

Trap points done their job!

RAIB have been busy the last month or so!

Seems the traction motors have an Earth fault  ;D

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading

Due to earlier engineering works not being finished on time between London Paddington and Ealing Broadway all lines are blocked. Disruption is expected until 09:30 07/04.
Train services between London Paddington and Reading may be cancelled, delayed or revised.

Delays to services between Newbury and Bedwyn

Due to a fault with barriers at a level crossing between Newbury and Bedwyn trains have to run at reduced speed on some lines.

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

Newbury to Bedwyn isn't in the Thames Valley, which is the title of this thread.

Thanks for the information. I've contacted the Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police instructing him to withdraw his officers from Newbury and also advised West Berkshire Council that they should relocate...I'll drop a line to Oxford University too!  ;)

https://www.ox.ac.uk/oxfordforSE/thames-valley#:~:text=The%20Thames%20Valley%20area%20covers,Council%20and%20Wokingham%20Borough%20Council.

I think it would definitely be better suited in the London to Kennet Valley board:  http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?board=8.0

Agree

"Thames Valley" is an interesting one to define - to me it's synonymous with the "Thames Basin" - i.e. the land that drains out between Essex and Kent and it was probably that way to the early railway builders too - uphill from London to the watershed at - well, on the Berks and Hants line as far as Crofton / Savernake, and on the Bristol line to perhaps Royal Wooton Bassett, up to Cropredy or Claydon on the way to Birmingham, to Sapperton on the way to Gloucester.  They had to pull and push trains from London against gravity up to the summits.  "Thames and its tributaries", I suppose. And I note that this thread is posted in "Across the West" rather than "London to Reading", so Newbury / Bedwyn are in defines scope.

But

"Thames Valley" is a huge area, and there are other more specific boards such as the Kennet Valley / Berks and Hants line one where posts about that area will get more attention and not dilute the thread about the GW mainline with things about the line through Newbury which of course also features in the "London to the West of England" section.  Messy, isn't it?

No-one is wrong or right on this one; best post sensibly where you see fit, and for us all to accept that views of what is the best place will reasonably vary between different members.  Where something is very clearly out of place, I or other moderators can / could / do split, join, move, re-arramge things and on occasion that comes not from a thread's origin but rather how I has changed or digressed over time.  I am not minded to  make changes here / on this thread tonight (posting from far, far away from the Thames Valley) but if others on the moderator team think it would be a good idea (and brave it would be indeed to re-arrange this thread!) I'll go along with it.

Yes, I guess I would like to see things like that posted on a local board (where they exist).  There’s less chance it will be missed or quickly forgotten about amongst everything else that’s lumped in here, and it’s easier to follow disruption trends in a given area over time if they are on that specific areas board.

This is a thread I often don’t bother reading these days.  Quite ironic given I started it!  :D

Perhaps I should apologise.

Given its title I thought that this thread covered "infrastructure problems in Thames Valley causing disruption elsewhere"

The incident to which my post referred which has apparently (to my amazement) created so much brouhaha was a level crossing problem in Kintbury (in the Thames Valley) which affected services to and from Newbury (in the Thames Valley) and Bedwyn - incidents between these two stations have been posted previously under this heading by others without comment so didn't think it would be an issue.

The definition of the Thames Valley is as follows;

The Thames Valley area covers the 8 local authorities of Bracknell Forest Council, Buckinghamshire County Council, Oxfordshire County Council, Reading Borough Council, Slough Borough Council, The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, West Berkshire Council and Wokingham Borough Council.

(Newbury/Kintbury are covered by West Berkshire Council)

Anyway............I will now don sackcloth and ashes and contemplate the error of my ways! Have a good day all, hopefully uninterrupted by infrastructure problems, in whichever geographically distinct location they may be! :)

 ::)

Along with others, I've posted about problems between Newbury and Westbury as these cause problems for West Country services to/from London.
More sackcloth and ashes please.......

You could use the excuse it was in the Hungerford sanitary district (c. 1872) which extended over the county boundary to include Bedwyn!

Goes without saying  ;)

I really don't want to tempt fate, but either posters to this thread have all given up travelling on GWR or there has been a marked improvement in reliability in the past few weeks.

While some of this could be put down to the sightly improved weather, is there any evidence that NR's plan to improve reliability is starting to show some benefits, or is it just luck?

Certainly it's been a month of "no news is good news" with the forum noticeably quieter than usual - and I put that down in part to improved reliability right across the patch ... and in part down to us getting a bit tired with the industrial action topic which has become a bit of a "here we go again" after 2 years.   And, yes, I am aware that forums like ours have had a bit bite taken out of them by social media - especially those that have formats that make Noah's Ark look modern.

Yes, there’s been quite a large reduction in incidents and delays since the low point.

Oh dear.......fate can so easily be tempted.

Delays to services between Reading and London Paddington

Due to a points failure at Maidenhead trains have to run at reduced speed on the line towards Reading. Disruption is expected until 14:15 30/04.

Train services between Reading and London Paddington may be delayed.

Customer Advice
Due to a points failure in the Maidenhead area, trains are currently running at a much reduced speed through the affected area. This will lead to congestion and further delays as trains make their through.

This is a developing situation, and we will provide more information as we have it.

Cancellations to services between Reading and Newbury

Due to a points failure between Reading and Basingstoke some lines are blocked. Disruption is expected until 14:15 30/04.

Train services between Reading and Newbury may be cancelled or delayed.

Think that one has eased.
There were 3 Cross Country services and a few freights q'd up towards Reading earlier.  Think the longest delay was 119 minutes when I checked pre lunch.

Reading - Paddington delays due to points failure at Maidenhead now pushed out to 1700.

Cancellations to services between Reading and Newbury

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

Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled, delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until 12:00 01/05.

Definitely a huge improvement....... ::)



Alterations to services between Newbury and London Paddington via Reading

Due to a fault with the signalling system at Hayes & Harlington some lines are blocked. Disruption is expected until 16:45 01/05.
Train services between Newbury and London Paddington via Reading may be terminated at Reading.

Alterations to services between London Paddington and Didcot Parkway via Reading

Due to a fault with the signalling system at Hayes & Harlington some lines are blocked. Disruption is expected until 16:45 01/05.

Train services between London Paddington and Didcot Parkway via Reading may be started from Reading. Twyford, Maidenhead and Slough will not be served.

From National Rail website

Route(s) affected
Elizabeth line between Abbey Wood and Reading

Great Western Railway between London Paddington and Didcot Parkway

Description
A landslip in the Twyford area means some lines are blocked. As a result, trains between Maidenhead and Reading may be cancelled, delayed or revised.

This is expected until 10:00.

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading
Due to a landslip 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 the end of the day.
Customer Advice
Due to a landslip at Sonning Cutting between Twyford and Reading on the UP relief lines, some services will be altered or cancelled.

Over the weekend I saw that the Orange Army had started work on the northern side of the Sonning Cutting, adjacent to the A4 road bridge. I presumed that that had possibly meant that they had finished on the southern side. According to one.network Network Rail Infrastructure will be closing one lane of the Shepherds Hill roundabout until the end of June.

rains now running normally between London Paddington and Reading
Following an earlier landslip between London Paddington and Reading all lines are now open.
Train services running to and from these stations are now running normally.
Customer Advice
-
We're pleased to advise that following reports of a landslip earlier this morning in the Twyford area, all line have since reopened with a morning service being reintroduced

Amazing what can be achieved by a determined man with a shovel!

Apparently the nature of the failure means the risk is from material build up in the cess as it slumps over the temporary retaining wall as opposed to a rapid large scale failure.  The risk can be assessed by updates from a watch person and images from site.

Stabilisation work has been ongoing since the original slip a month or so ago, which you can clearly see as you pass it on the train.

Missed this earlier
Delays to services between Reading and Westbury
Following a road vehicle colliding with a bridge earlier today at Hungerford all lines have now reopened. Disruption is expected until 12:00 07/05.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3gq2zppp96o

Seem to be taking the opportunity tomorrow (strike day) to close Reading/Paddington for engineering work - I guess this?

ASLEF are providing Network Rail with some very cheap daytime access, (ie NR do not have to pay the TOC's any compensation) to get quite a number tasks done across the Network

ASLEF's ongoing action of course will also reduce wear and tear on the network (and its trains) by ensuring that fewer people are using it in future.

There is still a half hourly Elizabeth line service and the usual numerous freight trains but they can be easily accommodated on a two track railway.

At the moment trespassers at Southall are causing problems.......

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

Heathrow Express between London Paddington and Heathrow Terminal 5

Description
Emergency services dealing with an incident between London Paddington and Heathrow Terminals / Slough means lines are disrupted. As a result, trains running between these stations may be cancelled, delayed by up to 60 minutes, or revised.

Disruption is expected until 20:30.

Person struck by a train but not fatally injured.

Lines reopened but Southall not being served.

Cancellations to services between Reading and Newbury

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

Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled. Disruption is expected until 19:30 09/05.

Customer Advice
Due to a points failure at Newbury some services are cancelled.

Alterations to services between Slough and London Paddington

Due to a fault with the signalling system between Slough 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 20 minutes or revised. Disruption is expected until 13:00 10/05.

Not a very good day, especially when added to the industrial action.......

Alterations to services between Maidenhead and London Paddington

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

Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed by up to 20 minutes or revised. Disruption is expected until 16:00 10/05.
Customer Advice
We are sorry for the delay to your journey today.


Can you tell me more about the incident?
There has been an axle counter failure in the Hayes & Harlington area and Points Failure at Maidenhead East. Network Rail engineers are heading to both sites to assess the situation.

Cancellations to services between Reading and Newbury

Due to an obstruction on the track between Reading and Basingstoke the line towards Basingstoke is blocked. Disruption is expected until 10:00 11/05.

Train services between Reading and Newbury may be cancelled or delayed.

Delays to services between Oxford and Didcot Parkway

Due to a fault with the signalling system between Oxford and Didcot Parkway trains have to run at reduced speed on the line towards Didcot Parkway.

Train services running through these stations will be delayed. Disruption is expected until 16:30 12/05.

Delays to services between London Paddington and Reading

Due to a speed restriction over defective track between London Paddington and Reading some lines are closed.

Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed. Disruption is expected until 10:30 13/05.

Delays now forecast until 14:00..........we seem to be slipping back into daily incidents, despite the ongoing work.....

And now (surprise surprise) "disruption expected until the end of the day"

......and again today.....

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading

Due to a safety inspection of the track between London Paddington and Reading some lines are blocked.

Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled or delayed. Disruption is expected until 12:00 14/05.

Acton Main Line - both of these. Yesterday's was cleared in advance of the end of the day.

Err - inaction?

Touché, methinks ::) ::)

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 12:00 17/05.

The usual evening badness

Cancellations to services between Didcot Parkway and Reading
Due to damage to the overhead electric wires between Didcot Parkway and Reading fewer trains are able to run on some lines.
Train services running through these stations may be cancelled, delayed or diverted. Disruption is expected until 20:00 22/05.

.............and to end the working week.........

Cancellations to services between Reading and London Paddington

Due to a fire next to the track between Reading and London Paddington fewer trains are able to run on some lines.

Train services running to and from these stations will be cancelled, delayed or revised. Some stations between Reading and London Paddington will not be served. Disruption is expected until 17:00 24/05.

Not actually about infrastructure:

Delays to services between Reading and Didcot Parkway
Due to a safety inspection of the track between Reading and Didcot Parkway trains have to run at reduced speed on some lines towards Didcot Parkway.
Train services running through these stations may be delayed by up to 20 minutes. Disruption is expected until 21:15 29/05.

Cancellations to services at Newbury
Due to a points failure at Newbury some lines are blocked.

Train services running through this station may be cancelled, delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until 08:00 03/06.
Customer Advice
We are sorry for the delay to your journey today.


Can you tell me more about the incident?
A set of points on the approach to Newbury from Reading have failed.

Possibly the points related to the "outer" platform at Newbury Racecourse. Tend to be used on race days and if they are watering a steamer.

It is the crossover to the east of Newbury station itself which trains use to reach the bay platform. 

Cancellations 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 London Paddington bound local stopping line.

Train services running to and from these stations will be cancelled, delayed or terminated at and started back from Reading. Disruption is expected until 11:00 04/06.

Cancellations to services between Maidenhead and Marlow

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

Train services running to and from these stations will be cancelled. Disruption is expected until 12:00 04/06.

23:45 London Paddington to Penzance due 07:54
04/06/24 23:45 London Paddington to Penzance due 07:54 has been delayed at Slough and is now 45 minutes late.
This is due to a points failure

From National Rail (not appeared on Journeycheck yet) - causing a fair number of delays to local & long distance services.

Lines reopened: Disruption between London Paddington and Heathrow Airport / Reading expected until 09:30
See all service disruptions

Service alteration details
Incident reported: 12 Jun 2024 at 07:19

If you would like to follow this incident on X, please useEalingBroadway(external link, opens in a new tab)

Last updated

12 Jun 2024 at 07:40

Train operators affected

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

Great Western Railway between London Paddington and Hereford / Great Malvern / Worcester Shrub Hill / Cheltenham Spa / Oxford / Carmarthen / Swansea / Cardiff Central / Didcot Parkway / Bristol Temple Meads / Newbury / Weston-super-Mare / Westbury / Frome / Taunton / Exeter St Davids / Paignton / Plymouth / Newquay / Penzance

Heathrow Express between London Paddington and Heathrow Terminal 5

Description
Following a points failure and damage to the overhead electric wires earlier today between London Paddington and Heathrow Airport / Reading all lines have reopened. Trains running between these stations may be cancelled, delayed by up to 30 minutes or revised.

Disruption is expected until 09:30.

More of the same...............

Cancellations to services between Reading and London Paddington

Due to a points failure at Maidenhead trains have to run at reduced speed on the line towards Slough. Disruption is expected until 17:30 12/06.

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

Delays to services between London Paddington and Reading
Due to a fault with the signalling system between London Paddington and Reading trains have to run at reduced speed on the line towards Reading.
Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed. Disruption is expected until 14:15 19/06.

Due to foliage obstructing a signal between London Paddington and Reading in the Maidenhead area trains are being cautioned which may cause some delays to train services.

Engineers are working at the sight to cut back the foliage.

I have noticed on recent trips here west of Reading that the particularly profuse vegetation growth this spring and summer has seen a lot of vegetation encroaching towards the running lines and overhead wires too. Another maintenance issue for NR?

Not just railways - highways & generally. Very wet spring has seriously encouraged growth this year.

Well, the gardening's been done but.....

Cancellations to services between Reading and London Paddington

Due to a safety inspection of the track between London Paddington and Hayes & Harlington fewer trains are able to run on some lines

. Disruption is expected until 21:00 19/06.
Train services between Reading and London Paddington may be cancelled, delayed or revised.

Is that really what they wrote?  :o

Presumably on-site to improve the sight lines. Similar problems on roads.

Alterations to services between London Paddington and Reading

Due to a problem with line-side equipment between London Paddington and Reading fewer trains are able to run.

Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until 12:00 20/06.

Disruption now pushed out to 1430

Delays 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 delayed. Disruption is expected until 16:00 24/06.

......and apparently a signal failure at Slough as well now.

Now expected until 17.00.  Which will become 18.00 and then 19.00.

May as well say ‘delays expected until 2035, and that’s being ambitious’.

Now expected until 1830.

What year?

Services looked like they had recovered by about 2030 (the time, not the year). But don't worry, I'm sure there will be another infrastructure issue along soon, especially as temperatures will be rising over the next few days.

I believe it was a separate issue, the other side of Slough, that caused disruption beyond 17:00, happening just after the first fault had been rectified and with full 'normal working resumed' at around 18:10.  Of course, 'NWR' doesn't mean everything is back on time straight away as stock and crew are late and displaced for later workings for many hours after.

At least the techs weren't far away I suppose.

And now speed restrictions
13:38 London Paddington to Didcot Parkway due 14:51
13:38 London Paddington to Didcot Parkway due 14:51 will be started from Reading.
It will no longer call at London Paddington, Slough, Maidenhead and Twyford.
This is due to a speed restriction because of high track temperatures.

Applies to many trains, not just this one.

I guess they aren’t using the crossovers at Slough as a precautionary measure. 

From National Rail website

Route(s) affected
To / from London Paddington


A failure of the electricity supply is causing disruption to journeys running to / from London Paddington.

As a result, trains may be cancelled, delayed by up to 20 minutes or revised.

We anticipate disruption will continue until 16:00.

Overhead line problems at Ladbroke Grove too apparently.

Just looking at Open Train Times maps there's currently a queue of 6 trains on the Up Relief tailing back from Ladbroke Grove. Meanwhile 1K14 (13:05 PAD-NBY) appears to have been stationary there on the Down Main for about an hour.

Another day, another mess.

Journey check reporting that ‘taxi replacements have been authorisd’with disruption expected until 21.00.

Given the events of the past few days I question whether it is safe to travel on this route any longer. There appears to be no plan or inclination to solve the problems either

This morning’s joy. A trespass incident at West Ealing has resulted in a complete block to services in/out of Paddington. Journeycheck expecting disruption until 0900.

Bit more serious than just a trespass incident unfortunately

As a point of record there was also a points/signals failure at Didcot yesterday afternoon and evening (26/6) that caused chaos on services going to/from Oxford (see the North Cotswold thread). Not sure of the impact on those services going via Swindon.

And carnage at Reading after line clearance. IETS loading to brim & then being terminated, rather than run through to Paddington. One chap on X complaining that they'd been detrained 3 times in an hour.

Difficult & unpopular decisions, but that’s how you quickly recover the service.

Cancellations to services between Maidenhead and Slough

Due to an object being caught on the overhead electric wires between Maidenhead and Slough some lines are blocked.

Train services running through these stations may be cancelled or delayed. Disruption is expected until 18:15 27/06.

Indeed ... two points from the passenger perspective though

* Is there a tradeoff between quick recovery that really messes it up for those caught and a slightly slower recovery which will mess up some more people but won't excessively punish those unlucky enough to be caught at the white heat of the disruption?

* Irrespective of the early termination though, why on earth are people detrained three times?  That strikes me as not so much "quickly recovering the service" but not keeping passengers informed as those recovery steps are being taken.

My view is that ‘incident mitigation actions’ and ‘service recovery actions’ are focused upon minimising Delay Repay payouts, hence cancelling services rather than incurring delays.

Part at least of what you're seeing will be about how long to wait (in control) before making a decision about how to proceed. Information on the situation is going to be incomplete - about the original problem and what restrictions remain, about what stock is where and, more importantly, about which staff have hours to work it. So do you hold on, while fractious passengers continue to accumulate? Or do you pick what looks best option only to find out five minutes later that that it's not going to work?

Delay repay is not even a consideration from a Control perspective. 

It’s about getting services up and running.  Without service recovery the incident this morning would still be causing substantial delays right to the end of service today. 


I don’t know the journey that was made but it’s quite possible in order to thin the service out going into Reading.  No point trying to send everything and then running out of platforms at Reading.

OK - I appreciate the need to thin out and to move people between trains but the reported (not confirmed) three times seems a bit over the top - even in a developing situation.  Explained, it may be better understood - people are  typically very understanding if they know why.

There is a huge sympathy when there are "person hit by train" incident especially - but, geeze, I with there were far, far fewer of these.

I think there must have been discussions in Control about regaining timetable ASAP as the line was handed back & if so which trains ran all way into Pad and which to turn at Reading. Passengers were turfed off one train to another at another platform which in turn was turned around (as I read it) although I suspect there was a 'beat the announcements" by some who then got caught up again.

Difficult. Almost worth holding them outside Reading until a decision made, communicate to train manager & allow movement into Reading platform once passengers briefed by TM. But there are difficulties with that too.

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 may be cancelled or delayed. Disruption is expected until 21:00 27/06.

Customer Advice
Due to Signalling issues in the West Drayton area, some services maybe altered or cancelled.

Just becoming absurd now - multiple daily failures seem to be becoming the norm.............

Cancellations to services at Newbury

Due to a fault with the signalling system at Newbury all lines are blocked.
Train services running through this station may be cancelled or delayed. Disruption is expected until 11:15 28/06.

Due to a power problem with the signalling system at Newbury train services running to and from Newbury may be delayed or cancelled. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

This won’t help with services to/from the southwest that had been diverted to avoid the signalling issue at Newbury. This has now been resolved so southwest services can now run via their booked route.

Just to set the seal on another glorious day for GWR.......

Delays to services between Bedwyn and Hungerford

Due to an obstruction on the track between Bedwyn and Hungerford all lines are blocked.
Train services running through these stations may be delayed. Disruption is expected until 21:45 30/06.

It is reported to be a large hay bale....

Delays 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 are returning to normal. Disruption is expected until 12:00 02/07.

Customer Advice
Due to a points failure at Southall, some services maybe delayed or altered between London Paddington to Reading.

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Plymouth via Taunton
Due to a fire next to the track between Pewsey and Bedwyn all lines are blocked. Disruption is expected until 15:00 02/07.
Train services between London Paddington and Plymouth via Taunton and Exeter St Davids may be cancelled, delayed or diverted between Taunton and Reading.
Customer Advice
Several fires next to the railway in the area between Bedwyn and Pewsey means that both lines on that route are currently blocked. The Fire Service is attending the fire locations.

Trains will be diverted on alternative routes where train crew knowledge allows, or be held at stations pending events.

More information to follow.

Last Updated:02/07/2024 13:39

Also reported in http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=28867.new#new

wrong thread?

Just in time for the weekend.................


A fault with the signalling system at Ealing Broadway is causing disruption to journeys through this station. Elizabeth line services between London Paddington and Ealing Broadway may be cancelled or delayed by up to 25 minutes.

Disruption is expected until 17:00.

With the Henley Regatta this weekend there couldn't be a worse time for this:

Due to a tree blocking the railway between Twyford and Henley-On-Thames the line is blocked.
Impact:
Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed. Disruption is expected until 10:30 06/07.

Customer Advice:
We're sorry for the delay to your journey.
We will update this message with more information when we have it.


Current scenes at Twyford from BusAndTrainUser on X:
https://x.com/BusAndTrainUser/status/1809509748015796430 (https://x.com/BusAndTrainUser/status/1809509748015796430)

Ouch.

Everything seems to be cancelled this morning - pouring with rain too!

600 people reported to be waiting at Twyford.

More pictures and videos from BusAndTrainUser at Twyford who is reporting that EL trains are currently not stopping due to overcrowding at the station but GWR ones continue to do so:

https://x.com/BusAndTrainUser/status/1809527310388699489 (https://x.com/BusAndTrainUser/status/1809527310388699489)
https://x.com/BusAndTrainUser/status/1809527364897894733 (https://x.com/BusAndTrainUser/status/1809527364897894733)

Gap in services from Twyford from 08:27 to 12:27 - running again now

Firstly, OMG.

But I am curious as to how the issue at Twyford was resolved?  Was everyone left to wait in the rain or were coaches provided?

Delays to services between London Paddington and Reading

Due to a speed restriction over defective track between London Paddington and Slough trains have to run at reduced speed on the Reading bound high speed line. Disruption is expected until 10:00 07/07.

Train services between London Paddington and Reading may be delayed.

Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

I don't think you could source enough coaches to make a dent in those numbers....GWR found a seven car 165 to run one of the resumed services though

As my wife, who’s on one of the trains taking an age to get between Paddington and Reading, can testify. Another delay repay claim, to go with the one submitted for the journey to London last Thursday, to go in later this evening.

Still, we count ourselves grateful that the train is running being a Sunday. As mentioned on the other thread, next Sunday could be grim travelling on GWR if England make it to the final of Euro 24.

The seven car was on the branch from 07:15 and made a couple of round trips even before the line was closed.   It stayed until the final train off Henley at 00:34, to Twyford and Paddington only.

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Newbury

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

Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled, delayed or started from Reading. Disruption is expected until 20:00 09/07.

Customer Advice
Due to a problem with the signal system near London Paddington, we are having to reduce our train service in and out of Paddington this evening.

From National Rail

Disruption between London Paddington and Heathrow Airport / Reading expected until the end of the day

Incident reported: 10 Jul 2024 at 03:52

Last updated

10 Jul 2024 at 04:03

Train operators affected

Elizabeth line
Great Western Railway
Heathrow Express
Route(s) affected
Between London Paddington and Heathrow Airport / Reading

Description
A speed restriction over defective track at Hayes & Harlington is causing disruption to journeys running through this station.

As a result, trains running between London Paddington and Heathrow Airport / Reading may be cancelled, delayed or revised.

We anticipate disruption will continue until the end of the day.

Customer advice:

Heathrow Express

A half hourly service is in operation.

Additional information:

A track defect has been reported at Hayes & Harlington. A speed restriction has been imposed over the affected section of track to allow trains to travel through the area safely.

Some services may be subject to alterations or cancellations to ease congestion in the affected area.

The defect is clearly worse because the up main is now closed with the usual contingency plans in place (Didcot and Newbury services terminating/starting from Reading).

Journeycheck suggesting the Elizabeth Line as an alternative however it looks like two thirds of their services are cancelled too.

No doubt the newly enthroned Minister with responsibility for Rail in the Lords will be getting a handle on the infrastructure issues soon, given all his experience and perspective gained with Network Rail.

Roger French (bus and train user) not impressed with GWR Control decisions or GWR customer care
https://busandtrainuser.com/2024/07/11/a-disastrous-day-on-the-thames-branches/
Penultimate ending.... ..
Once again the company displays complete contempt for its passengers when inconvenienced. Not content with delaying you with a three hour gap in service (albeit for a reason outside of its control), leaving you stranded in the pouring rain for three hours by consciously preventing trains from stopping so you can escape, the company refuses to settle a delay repay claim. It’s about time Mark Hopwood sorted this disgraceful way of dealing with passengers (which keeps happening – see previous blogs) once and for all.

Wishing that Bus and Train User was able to implement a little time travel and make use of one of Salter Brothers' rail - river passenger vessel round trip tickets.

(Scratch the need for time travel, in 2024 this is actually still possible though only between Abingdon and Oxford - albeit, Abingdon, if not returning on the boat, will involve a bus. This is the sole survivor of various Salters services, including Reading - Henley - Marlow - Windsor, marketed with various options for rail. Also, the longer distance service from Kingston to Oxford, I can't recall how accommodation was organised for *that*. Anyone?)

Mark

https://guildhalllibrarynewsletter.wordpress.com/2015/09/30/the-pleasures-of-a-cruise-on-the-thames-the-salter-family-totally-thames-festival-blog-part-3/ (https://guildhalllibrarynewsletter.wordpress.com/2015/09/30/the-pleasures-of-a-cruise-on-the-thames-the-salter-family-totally-thames-festival-blog-part-3/)

https://salterssteamers.co.uk/oxford-to-abingdon-service-public/ (https://salterssteamers.co.uk/oxford-to-abingdon-service-public/)

I fail to see how the situation could have been handled any differently if I’m honest. Looks to be a good example of crowd management which ensured the safety of all concerned.

Route(s) affected
Elizabeth line between Abbey Wood and Maidenhead / Reading

Great Western Railway between London Paddington and Didcot Parkway / Oxford / Bristol Temple Meads / Bristol Parkway / Great Malvern / Hereford / Swansea / Weston-super-Mare / Paignton / Newquay / Penzance

Description
Lines have now reopened following an earlier trespass incident between London Paddington and Maidenhead. Trains running between these stations may still be cancelled, delayed by up to 25 minutes or revised.

Additionally there a speed restriction over defective track between London Paddington and Acton Main Line. Trains may be further delayed by up to 35 minutes, cancelled or revised.

This is expected until 19:00.

Cancellations to services between Reading and Didcot Parkway

Due to a fault with the signalling system between Tilehurst and Didcot Parkway fewer trains are able to run on the local stopping line. Disruption is expected until 18:30 17/07.

Train services between Reading and Didcot Parkway may be cancelled, delayed or revised.

Customer Advice
Apologies for the disruption to your journey today.

Network Rail advises that there is a problem with the track circuits in the Tilehurst area. Track circuits enable the signallers to identify where trains are on the railway. In order to fix this problem, Network Rail are sending technicians to investigate the fault.

From National Rail website....

Route(s) affected
Elizabeth line between Reading / Maidenhead and Abbey Wood

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

Description
A points failure in the Slough area is causing disruption to journeys running through this station. As some lines are currently blocked, trains may be cancelled, delayed by up to 20 minutes or revised.

Disruption is expected until 18:30.

I'm on the 16:13 from Bath Spa, currently at Swindon and around an hour late there late there. This train's seen the ones before/after it cancelled, so it's 'Cosy', catering staff desolè.

Mark

Around 75 minutes late at Reading, sat there for a while and then advised to transfer to the train that came in on the next platform, which loaded to sardine tin levels. On arrival at Paddington, and out of the door furthest from the barrier... well, what followed needed a risk assessment, with a train leaving from the opposite platform face and others pushing past to board and secure a seat at the front of the train, something that Paddington passengers have now adopted as normal behaviour though given the platform width changes and pinches there it's also inadvisable. Not sure what can be done about that, short of giving everyone a sedative - though that would only make things worse in other ways. Towards the barrier the train from which I'd alighted revealed itself to be the slightly late service to Penzance that has a restaurant, as tables were being laid with efficiently and supplies coming aboard at a gallop. (Not literally, I don't mean to suggest they were going to be serving horse).

Mark

Which platform width changes?

Apologies, I didn't intend to imply that there'd been recent alterations, rather that with a full and standing train full of people arrived, and quite a few thinking to make their way to the very front of the just arrived train to board it, and another service departing from the other platform face, and given that the platform space is narrowed by the stairs to the bridge and then by something else that's boxed in, things were getting a bit hairy.

Also, minority opinion: use of small luggage with long handles should involve mandatory training and a licence.

Mark

Delays to services between Reading and Didcot Parkway

Due to an object being caught on the overhead electric wires between Reading and Didcot Parkway some lines are blocked.

Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed. Disruption is expected until 09:30 21/07.

From National Rail:

Disruption between London Paddington and Reading expected until 12:00

Route(s) affected
between London Paddington and Reading

Description
Due to the police dealing with an incident between London Paddington and Slough, all lines are currently closed. As a result, trains may be cancelled, delayed or revised.


Looking at Open Train Times Maps it looks like the incident is at Ealing Broadway with trains currently backed up along the Up Main as far as Langley - however just checking again before I press 'Post', it would appear that trains are just starting to move again.

Alterations to services between London Paddington and Slough
Following the police dealing with an incident between London Paddington and Slough all lines have now reopened.
Train services running to and from these stations will be delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until 10:30 23/07.
Customer Advice
We are sorry for the delay to your journey today.


Can you tell me more about the incident?
More information will follow as we have it.

((No one was given any more information it seems!))

The return journey was, unexpectedly, on the 16:30 Paddington to Taunton, so, evening peak time travel on a super off-peak ticket.

Plan 'A' was to return from Waterloo on the 15:50 to Salisbury - the last before Waterloo's evening peak, which is an hour later than is Paddington's.

Arriving at Waterloo, an incident near Surbiton had stopped the job from around 2pm, and as it turned out they were not to send another train in the Salisbury direction until ~17:30. Ticket acceptance with GWR, so across to Paddington it was, then to platform 1 and onto the somewhat lightly loaded 16:30. No barriers and no ticket check so in the event I didn't have to explain the situation to anyone.

At the weekend, travelling around London left a couple of impressions but those are perhaps for another topic.

Mark

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading

Due to a broken down train between London Paddington and Slough some lines are blocked. Disruption is expected until 16:45 23/07.
Train services between London Paddington and Reading may be cancelled or delayed.

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

A freight train has broken down between Hanwell and Southall and is blocking one of the two Reading bound lines. With this line out of use we have to reduce the number of trains running between London Paddington and Reading, in both directions, to prevent delays and congestion.

We will update this message with more information when we have it.

Some bloke was spotted lying by the line and appeared to not be breathing.  Turned out he was just out of it on drugs.

And now the school summer holidays have started, which will possibly add to the problems.

Sorry you've lost me..........how do school holidays add to rail infrastructure problems?

[/quote]
Some bloke was spotted lying by the line and appeared to not be breathing.  Turned out he was just out of it on drugs.
[/quote]


I was thinking in terms of possible increase in trespass

Alterations to services between Bedwyn and Reading

Due to a road vehicle colliding with a bridge at Hungerford all lines are blocked. Disruption is expected until 08:15 27/07.

Train services between Bedwyn and Reading may be terminated at and started back from Newbury. All stations between Newbury and Bedwyn will not be served.

Additional Information
Apologies to customers, a supermarket lorry has hit a bridge at Hungerford and we are currently unable to run any services over it until it is inspected.

Am hearing all lines blocked.....person hit by a train at Hayes & Harlington.

Already eyeing my return commute for this evening and note cancellation of 50% of Elizabeth Line and almost all GWR services due to ‘warm track syndrome’.

Both GWR and TfL are suggesting that commuters use the other’s service….

I think the issues on the Elizabeth Line are due to overrunning engineering works. I don't see too many GWR cancellations listed on Journeycheck at the moment but it's not overly reliable and it is reasonable to assume that once we have the wrong type of sunlight everything will fall over.

Broken rail at Stratford.

Bit confused by this one?  GWR's Maidenhead services all appear to have run with nothing over 15 minutes late all day.

https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/search/detailed/gb-nr:MAI/2024-07-30/0600-2000?stp=WVS&show=pax-calls&order=wtt&toc=GW

That's with extra freight being pushed through because of the engineering block Oxford<>Leamington Spa.

My information was coming from Journeycheck which was showing cancellations to Didcot services around lunchtime, plus the Elizabeth Line cancellations due to the overrunning engineering works.

As it came to pass I took the 19.20 Didcot service, arriving 11 mins late at Maidenhead.  11mins is quite a long delay on an 18min planned journey time.

That's odd.  From what I can see, nothing was cancelled at Maidenhead, GWR wise, all day.  Indeed you could argue performance during hot weather has improved over the years, though from a hopelessly low bar!

The Elizabeth Line service was pretty grim for most of the day, mind you.

Pathetic.

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 will be cancelled or delayed. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

Customer Advice
Due to a points failure at Southall West, some services will be cancelled, delayed and altered

All rectified by 0730

Due to a broken down train between London Paddington and Slough fewer trains are able to run on all lines.
Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled, delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until 21:00 31/07.
Customer Advice
We are sorry for the delay to your journey today.


Can you tell me more about the incident?
Due to a broken down freight train in the Acton Main Line area, we currently cannot run our full train service.

A broken down freight train is not an infrastructure problem ie failure or fault ............... its a broken down train

Sort-of agree with you.  But.

<advoccate mode=devil>It IS an infrastructure problem.  The problem is that the infrastructure is not available when it should be for timetabled passenger services</advocate>

This question does NOT apply to this forum line, but it's not worth a new thread all of its own.

Do electric loco's fail as often as diesel ones?
I'm guessing there's far less mileage with overhead lines compared to non electrified lines, so diesel mileage will far exceed electric mileage.

Maybe not in this thread - please move to appropriate
Cancellations to services between Newbury and Reading
Due to a points failure between Newbury and Reading the line towards Reading is blocked.
Train services running to and from these stations will be cancelled, delayed or diverted between Taunton and Reading. Some stations between Newbury and Reading will not be served. Disruption is expected until 13:30 01/08.
Customer Advice
We're sorry for the delay to your journey this morning. Due to a points failure in the Newbury area, the line towards Reading is blocked. Points are the equipment used to allow trains to move from one track to another. Network Rail are sending staff to site to rectify the fault.
-
Our local stopping trains between Newbury and Reading / London Paddington are unable to run. Stations between Newbury and Reading will not be served by trains. Reading West station will still be served by our Reading to Basingstoke trains. Customers travelling from Newbury towards Reading / London may wish to make their way to Didcot Parkway station to start journeys there. Tickets will be accepted on this route.
-
Our high speed long distance services between London and Devon / Cornwall can still run, however trains in the London direction only will need to be diverted between Taunton and Reading.
-
We now have confirmed road transport in place. Coaches are shuttling between Reading and Newbury non stop. We have 8 seater taxis shuttling between Reading and Newbury calling at all stations. These taxis depart from the front of stations. Train tickets are being accepted at no extra cost on local bus Jet Black 1 (Newbury Wharf, Thatcham Cropper Close, Midgham The Angel, Aldermaston Bath Road, Theale The Crown, Reading Station Road).

Already in the London - Kennet Valley board....

Delays to services between Theale and Newbury

Due to a speed restriction because of heavy rain between Theale and Newbury trains have to run at reduced speed on some lines.

Train services running through these stations may be delayed. Disruption is expected until 20:00 01/08

Electric traction is generally more reliable than diesel traction, electric traction does have the extra risk of infrastructure failures.  All trains can fail irrespective of the type of traction, freight rolling stock is not maintained to the same level as passenger rolling stock

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading

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

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
Some urgent repair work has to be carried out on a short section of track in the Southall area. As a result of this one line in the area has had to be closed.

The latest failure of the decrepit infrastructure between Paddington-Reading has led to some pretty significant alterations for anyone planning to travel today, but at least GWR have provided more detailed information;

Train services which would normally operate between London Paddington, Reading and Swindon to Bristol Parkway, Newport and Cardiff Central will operate to a reduced frequency in both directions; note that certain trains may start from / terminate at Reading with customers being required to travel on alternative train services between London Paddington and Reading (and vice versa).
-
Train services which would normally operate between London Paddington, Reading and Swindon to Gloucester and Cheltenham Spa will be revised to operate from / to Reading only (i.e. these services will not operate between London Paddington and Reading in either direction. Customers will be required to travel between those points on alternative services).
-
Train services which would normally operate between London Paddington, Reading and Oxford will operate to a reduced frequency in both directions. Customers travelling from London Paddington to Oxford and Oxford to London Paddington may travel on Chiltern Railways services between London Marylebone and Oxford where GWR tickets will be valid. London Underground will convey GWR ticket holders between London Marylebone and London Paddington in order for customers to connect into / out of those services. Any customers travelling between Reading and Oxford, in either direction, may utilise CrossCountry services between those points on which GWR tickets will be accepted.
-
The local stopping services which normally operate between Didcot Parkway and London Paddington (calling at Cholsey, Goring & Streatley, Pangbourne, Tilehurst, Reading, Twyford, Maidenhead and Slough) will not operate between Reading and London Paddington. Where no GWR service is shown as calling at Twyford, Maidenhead or Slough GWR tickets will be accepted on Elizabeth Line services between Reading and London Paddington but do note that at London Paddington these services call at platforms A & B, which may be accessed via the entrances alongside platform 1 at Paddington, and these services do not appear on the main departure boards at Paddington.
-
The local services between Newbury and London Paddington which would normally call at Thatcham, Theale and Reading will not operate between Reading and London Paddington. Customers will be required to travel on alternative services over that section.

And that extra information is really good to see.

It highlights a few things

... all this business of "ticket acceptance" shows what an over complex and fragmented ticketing system we have.  Yes, alternative routes and services are correctly offered, but shouldn't that be enough, perhaps with a global "tickets accepted via alternative routes"?

... how (over) crowded will the trains actually be?   Horrid question but is the normal timetable a bit over the top these days?

I think comprehensive information of this nature is the very minimum which customers should expect.

I would imagine that travel between the destinations involved will be a fraught and unpleasant experience today given the circumstances, probably exacerbated by overcrowding.

It strikes me that a year or two ago, an event like this lasting all day and having such a comprehensive impact on services would have attracted considerable comment on the Forum, however now it doesn't get much of a mention.

Perhaps given the shambolic nature of the infrastructure between London & the Thames Valley we're too used to it - it's now just another regular failure, no longer of note?

Added to that I note that the signalling system has now fallen over from Taunton/Penzance due to a power cut in Exeter, and all lines are blocked throughout.

A lot of work for GBR to do, isn't there?

It was announced at Reading this afternoon the cause is a broken rail in the Southall area, I can only think its part of switch and crossing (points) such as one of the castings.  My guess is trains can run over the effected track but at reduced speed.

At least the service did not go into total melt down which shows that GW and NR working together to at least have a workable service

Yes that’s spot on ET.

You can only polish a turd for so long.

It shouldn't come to this.....for a whole day. It simply shouldn't.

And you know that almost certainly within 48 hours if not less something else will break or fail on this stretch of line......a rail, a signal, a set of points, OHL and the system simply should not be so fragile.

It's hard to avoid the thought that it's become so degraded that sooner or later there could be a serious incident which could cost lives.

The reason for the whole day is the total cancellation of services during the day while Network Rail work on the damaged track, the ORR (the HSE of the railways) have imposed very strict guidance regarding trackworkers working on a railway when trains are operating

The previous Government drastically cut Network Rail operational funding in 2022 to the tune of £100m per annum, this was and still in place a cut on operational expenditure; Network Rail went through a series of strikes, at the end of it there were some drastic cuts in frontline maintenance staff with many of the longer serving and experienced taking voluntary severance.

The GW mainline between Reading and Paddington especially the las 12 miles (Airport Jcn to Paddington) gaining access to do maintenance work is challenging, the operating times of HEX and the passenger demand for late night and early morning train services.  Its a 4 track railway with no practical alternative diversion

The above are not excuses but are some of the reasons.

Thankyou for those reasons.

The ORR report for 2022-23 states that;

"Network Rail received £10.9 billion of income for the operation, maintenance and
renewal of the railway infrastructure in April 2022 to March 2023. This is a 1% year
on year increase (£156 million) and a 5.7% (£577 million) increase compared to the
start of CP6".

From where do you get your £100 million figure for operational funding cuts for the same period?

Entirely possible I have missed something.

Delays to services between Reading and London Paddington

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

Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed by up to 20 minutes. Disruption is expected until 13:00 08/08.

The £100m is the real cut in funding year on year the £156m you stated should have been higher, the cut is the Government funding ie Tax payer, if the railways generates more income then the Government funding is not so bad, NR increases its funding by improving its performance thereby reducing the she dual 8 payments to TOC's

Cancellations to services between Westbury and Reading

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

Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled, delayed or diverted. Disruption is expected until 14:00 12/08.

Customer Advice
Due to a points failure at Hungerford train services between Westbury and Reading are being diverted where possible.

Not sure that's the 'Thames Valley' though?

Delays 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 the Reading bound high speed line.

Train services running to and from these stations will be delayed. Disruption is expected until 18:00 12/08.

At the risk of upsetting many, as a far Western member, "Thames Valley" to me is anything between Paddington and Reading.
Just as I am annoyed when the West Country is from Bristol down!

Nope - from someone who is a native - it goes at least as far as Cholsey - I'd suggest that Didcot or Oxford might be suitable end points, as disruption anywhere there still affects a lot of services.

South west of Reading, from Theale onwards, it's the Kennet Valley.

Yep, I agree with Eightonedee. At least to Oxford, but *not* down the Berks & Hants - that is the Kennet Valley

I agree.  ;)

Geographically, as the River Thames starts from a spring just to the north of Kemble, anything to the east of there could be called 'Thames Valley'.  But not in railway terms.  ;D

This should help to dispel any geographical confusion or ambiguity......

Far from it. The map shows the catchment area in which a website-development company (https://thames-valley-website-development.co.uk/what-we-do/) provides its services.

Googling led to other definitions: "the eight local authorities of Bracknell Forest Council, Buckinghamshire County Council, Oxfordshire County Council, Reading Borough Council, Slough Borough Council, The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, West Berkshire Council and Wokingham Borough Council"; "includes the 2 cities of Oxford and Reading, and a number of major towns (Slough, Maidenhead, Windsor, Henley-on-Thames, High Wycombe, Newbury, Aylesbury, Wokingham and Bracknell"; "three counties: Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and Oxfordshire". No doubt other definitions exist.

This is a public transport, primarily railway, forum. This thread is on the "Across the West" board and deals with problems in the "Thames Valley" affecting GW's network as a whole or substantial parts. It follows that it mostly relates to London-bound main line services (or those originating in London) on the GW network.

All main line trains into London pass between Reading and Paddington, along the overused and struggling section that generates most posts here. At Reading there is the first main junction, with "Hants & Berks" (Reading-Taunton direct) trains branching off. Shortly after on that line, south-west of Reading, at Southcote junction, the Basingstoke line (local trains & Cross-country) diverge from this, so this seems a logical place to divide between this thread and the London to Kennet Valley and London to the West boards.

At Didcot there's another major junction - "straight on" for Bristol, South Wales and South West via Bristol, "turn right" for Oxford, Banbury, the North Cotswolds and Cross-country. So it seems logical to include Reading to Didcot, as problems here affect most services between London and major destinations west.

After Oxford, the final major junction separates out Cotswold line services from the rest, so Oxford looks like a sensible northern end to the scope of this thread.

Does that seem sensible?

Yes.

And for neatness it roughly follows the path of the River Thames and its associated valleys.

The part of me that harks back to the BR sector era generally takes 'Thames Valley' in rail terms to refer generally to the London/suburban (also very much defined in rail terms here) part of the former Western Region, i.e. the routes that NSE called 'Thames Line', which would include Oxford and Newbury/Bedwyn. Thames Trains muddies the water here, of course, as I don't take it to include the Cotswold or North Downs routes! I think the name lives on as a the London & Thames Valley 'sector' of GWR.

Clearly a number of different opinions on the geographical question and no single "right" answer - I am sure we can all carry on posting from our own perspectives whilst respecting others which may differ, in the spirit of the Forum as a whole.

Source of the Thames near Kemble - That's a wholly different dispute - or is it at Seven Springs 4 miles SSW of Cheltenham!

Touche.  ::)

From Wikipedia, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thames_Head

CfN  ;)

With all the pedantry regards the geographical / geopolitical on how the Thames / Isis / Kennet / Loddon valleys are defined in railway terms .....................

All must be fine with the GWR and Elizabeth services today

 ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D 

There's nothing here that backs up the Berks & Hants as being located in the Thames Valley though!

This could send us down another alley - the Berks & Hants avoids Hampshire....

Thanks, Bob.  ::)

I was trying to avoid even starting that one again.  :o

Delays to services between Reading and London Paddington

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

Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed. Disruption is expected until 09:00 16/08.

Delays to services between Reading and Didcot Parkway

Due to a safety inspection of the track between Reading and Didcot Parkway trains have to run at reduced speed on some lines.

Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed by up to 10 minutes. Disruption is expected until 20:15 19/08.

Delays 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 some lines towards London Paddington.

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

Nudged by one of my fellow admins, I've now simplified the heading of this clearly ongoing topic.  ::)

This is clearly a very ongoing issue.  ::)

I have now split our historic huge topic on the Coffee Shop forum into calendar-sized, and hopefully more readable, chunks.

While I was doing this, I read / reviewed / reminded myself of all these historic posts.

My overall impression was of how many members of this forum have contributed to this great discussion.  You are all very welcome to post here and your input is much appreciated by our readers (I know, I get feedback!)

I would like to thank personally (probably just to embarrass them here ;D ) two of our main contributors to this particular topic - interestingly, from somewhat opposite corners.

Thank you, IndustryInsider and TaplowGreen, for your continuing input to the Coffee Shop forum.

Chris  ;)

Thankyou for those kind words Chris, and for your effort in splitting this ongoing topic into its constituent years.

I too would like to pay tribute to IndustryInsider for his spirited defence of the railway on this issue despite the best (or perhaps lack of!) efforts of Network Rail and GWR...........I hope they appreciate his commitment and his loyalty.

I think my main takeaway from the Herculean task you have undertaken is to make me realise how wrong I have been................there was me thinking that the infrastructure has been falling apart for the last few years, whereas in reality it's been at least a decade!  :)

Yes, that's a (brutally) realistic summary of this whole subject.  ::) ;) ;D

Delays to services between Reading and London Paddington

Due to damage to the overhead electric wires between Reading and London Paddington all lines are blocked.
Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed. Disruption is expected until 20:30 25/08.

Customer Advice
Due to a report of an obstruction on the overhead electric wires between London Paddington and Reading all lines are blocked.


Of concern is this:


This train is covering the cancelled 17:30 to Bristol, the 18:00 Plymouth via Bristol and the cancelled 18:03 to Penzance (see below)

I hope they’ve let people off the train until the OLE issue is resolved as this train must be absolutely rammed.

......something tells me there's going to be a lot of taxi drivers making some serious money tonight.....

Imagine if there was such a chronic shortage of crew that those few trains which are running are massively and dangerously overcrowded as well as the infrastructure falling over?

No, can't imagine that being allowed to happen ::)

That's probably all my fault, for tempting fate by splitting this topic. :o ::) ;D

Delays to services between Reading and London Paddington

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

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

Paddington station exit only....must be horrendous

https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/service-disruptions/london-paddington-20240825/

BBC presenter Sara Thornton has posted on X a short video from her son showing the scene tonight at PAD:

https://x.com/SaraThornton1/status/1827794876051669259 (https://x.com/SaraThornton1/status/1827794876051669259)

Wonder how old her son is?....  ::)

Probably by the time he got (gets?) home via GWR he was considerably older than he thought he'd be when he set out......

Journeycheck yet to catch up but this from National Rail;

Route(s) affected
between London Paddington and Heathrow Airport / Reading

Description
An object being caught on the overhead electric wires between London Paddington and Acton Main Line means that some lines are blocked. Trains running between London Paddington and Heathrow Airport / Reading may be cancelled, delayed by up to 20 minutes or revised.

Disruption is expected until 19:00.

Now updated to "Major disruption is expected until 21:00" - currently numerous Elizabeth Line cancellations but only one or two GWR affected.

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading

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

Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled. Disruption is expected until 18:30 27/08.

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

Cancellations to services between Reading and Newbury

Due to a bridge being damaged at Reading West all lines are blocked. Disruption is expected until 18:30 27/08.

Train services between Reading and Newbury may be cancelled or delayed.

From National Rail

Route(s) affected
between London Paddington and Heathrow Terminals

Description
A fault with the signalling system at Southall means some lines are currently closed. As a result, trains running between London Paddington and Heathrow Terminals may be cancelled or revised.

Disruption is expected until 14:00

That's 6,8,12,16,19,20,25,26,27 & 28 August (so far) this month that there's been significant delays/cancellations on this stretch of line due to points/signal failure, track defects & OHL issues, to say nothing of last weekends spectacular BBQ Sunday.

Wonder what the plan is?

We must ask Daryn McCombe, Director of Performance at GWR, when we meet him online here on the Coffee Shop forum at 14:30 on Thursday 3 October 2024.  ;D

Delays to services between Maidenhead and Reading
Due to a fault with the signalling system between Maidenhead and Reading the line towards Reading will be blocked.
Train services running to and from these stations will be delayed. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.
Customer Advice
Due to two signalling issues near Maidenhead the line between Maidenhead towards Reading will be blocked.

Was he booked to attend on 13th June but delayed due to travelling in the Thames Valley?

Delays to services between Newbury and Reading
Due to a bridge being damaged by a road vehicle between Newbury and Reading trains have to run at reduced speed.
Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.
Customer Advice
Due to a lorry striking a bridge near Newbury. Some services between Newbury Reading will be delayed.

Journeycheck not reporting it (do they not work Sundays either?), but this from National Rail....

Route(s) affected
Elizabeth line between London Paddington and Heathrow Terminal 4 / Heathrow Terminal 5 / Maidenhead / Reading

All Great Western Railway Routes to / from London Paddington

All Heathrow Express routes to / from London Paddington

Description
Overunning engineering works between London Paddington and Ealing Broadway means all lines are blocked. As a result, trains may be cancelled, delayed by up to 30 minutes or revised. This is expected until 09:30.


......won't help the already shambolic Sunday service at all.

Does the Elizabeth Line have it's own Journeycheck page?

https://tfl.gov.uk/ Is where I would go.

That'll be why it doesn't appear on journeycheck then

I'm guessing you missed the line that said

"All Great Western Railway Routes to / from London Paddington"

From National Rail....

Description
A fault with the signalling system at Ealing Broadway means trains have to run at reduced speed on some lines. As a result, trains may be cancelled, delayed by up to 20 minutes or revised.

Disruption is expected until 09:00.

That's why. The Elizabeth Line don't have a Journeycheck page

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 some lines.

Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed. Disruption is expected until 12:00 14/09.

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading

Due to the emergency services dealing with an incident 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, delayed or terminated at and started back from Reading. Disruption is expected until 20:00 14/09.

Customer Advice
We're sorry for the delay to your journey. Due to the emergency services dealing with an incident at London Paddington, Network Rail have had to turn off the electric power supply to trains. The nature of this incident means we are unable to operate any trains between Reading and London Paddington. More information will be provided when we have it.

Appears to be a trespass incident.

Yes, some fella has decided it's a good idea to climb onto one of the main spans.

London Paddington disruption: Passengers blast "disgraceful" response (https://www.readingchronicle.co.uk/news/24585915.london-paddington-disruption-passengers-blast-disgraceful-response/)

Cancellations to services between Oxford and Didcot Parkway

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

Train services running through these stations may be cancelled or delayed. Disruption is expected until 11:00 16/09.

.....and again...

Alterations 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 delayed by up to 15 minutes or revised. Disruption is expected until 10:00 17/09.

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

Network Rail are dealing with a couple of signalling issues in the Twyford / Slough area where trains have to run at reduced speed. Network Rail staff are on site trying to rectify both issues. To create some time between trains to fix the issues, the Newbury to Paddington services will only operate between Newbury and Reading (in both directions).

From National Rail......

Route(s) affected
Elizabeth line services between London Paddington and Southall

Description
A safety inspection of the track at Ealing Broadway means trains have to run at reduced speed on some lines. As a result of this, Elizabeth line trains between London Paddington and Southall may be cancelled, delayed by up to 15 minutes or revised.

Disruption is expected until 20:00.

From National Rail  - Journeycheck still asleep.

Train operators affected

Elizabeth line
Great Western Railway
Heathrow Express
Route(s) affected
between Slough / Heathrow Terminals and London Paddington

Description
A points failure at Southall means some lines are blocked. As a result, trains may be cancelled, delayed by up to 20 minutes or revised. This is expected until 07:30

Sounds like another sad "incident" between Reading & Paddington. Much at a standstill. Thoughts with all concerned.

Cancellations to services between Reading and London Paddington
Due to the emergency services dealing with an incident between Reading and London Paddington all lines are disrupted.
Train services running to and from these stations will be cancelled, delayed or terminated at and started back from Reading. All stations between Reading and London Paddington will not be served. Disruption is expected until 12:00 07/10.
Customer Advice
-
We are sorry for the disruption to your journey today, due to the emergency services dealing with an incident in the Reading area, all lines between Reading and London Paddington are currently blocked. Network Rail are working to get some of the lines open again as soon as possible. High speed long distance trains may be held in stations some distance away from the affected area, this is necessary to prevent further disruption to your journey. This page will be updated with the latest information when we have it.

Delays to services between Reading and Newbury

Due to a fault with the signalling system between Reading and Newbury trains have to run at reduced speed on the line towards Newbury.

Train services running to and from these stations will be delayed. Disruption is expected until 14:00 09/10.

From National Rail......

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

Great Western Railway between London Paddington and Didcot Parkway / Newbury / Bedwyn / Bristol Temple Meads / Cheltenham Spa / Worcester Foregate Street / Great Malvern / Hereford / Cardiff Central / Swansea / Weston-super-Mare / Frome / Plymouth / Penzance

Heathrow Express between London Paddington and Heathow Terminal 5

Description
A speed restriction over defective track between Acton Main Line and Ealing Broadway is causing disruption to journeys running between these stations.

As a result, trains running between London Paddington and Heathrow Airport / Reading may be cancelled, delayed by up to 30 minutes or revised.

Disruption is expected to continue until 20:30.

Delays to services between Reading and London Paddington

Due to trespassers on the railway between Reading and London Paddington all lines are blocked.

Train services running to and from these stations will be delayed. Disruption is expected until 22:15 12/10.

Only two trains bound for Reading have left so far this morning and they didn’t get very far.

This looks more positive for a resumption of services:

Following a points failure at Slough the line towards Reading has now reopened. Disruption is expected until 11:00 13/10.

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

Customer Advice
Following a points failure and overrunning engineering works, we are pleased to report that trains can start running between London Paddington and Reading once again. However, this has caused some significant disruption, and therefore it is likely cancellations will continue throughout the day.

Great start to the week.

Delays to services between Reading and London Paddington

Due to a safety inspection of the track between Reading and London Paddington some lines are blocked.

Train services running to and from these stations will be delayed. Disruption is expected until 09:00 14/10.

Delays to services between London Paddington and Reading
Due to a fault with the signalling system 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 15:30 16/10.
Customer Advice
Due to an axle counter failure at Southall, some trains passing through this location may incur some delays.

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading
Due to a fault with the signalling system between London Paddington and Reading some lines are blocked.
Train services running to and from these stations will be cancelled or delayed. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.
Customer Advice
We're sorry for the delay to your journey today. Due to a signalling fault in the Southall area, some lines are blocked to allow Network Rail staff to fix the fault. Our high speed long distance trains will be delayed between Reading and London Paddington as they will need to share the local stopping lines with slower trains.
-
Our local stopping trains between Didcot Parkway and London Paddington will only run between Reading and London Paddington. Our trains between Newbury and London Paddington will only run between Newbury and Reading. Customers travelling to or from London Paddington will need to change trains at Reading. Some of our high speed trains between London Paddington and South Wales ,Bristol and Cheltenham Spa may also need to be cancelled or terminated at Reading instead of London Paddington.
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Customers travelling between Oxford and London Paddington may use their tickets on Chiltern Railways services at no extra cost between Oxford and London Marylebone.
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Customers may use their tickets on Elizabeth Line services at no extra cost between Reading and Paddington. Please note: Elizabeth Line services are also affected by this issue. For more information on Elizabeth Line services, please visit www.tfl.gov.uk.
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Customers may use their tickets at no extra cost on London Underground services via any reasonable route at no extra cost.
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Customers travelling between Windsor and Eton Central and Central London may use their tickets at no extra cost on South Western Railway services between Windsor and Eton Riverside and London Waterloo.
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GWR customers travelling between Reading and Oxford may use Cross Country services. GWR tickets are being accepted on this route.
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For more information, please speak to a member of staff or trigger a help point located at platform level. Our social media team are also contactable on X (Twitter), via @GWRHelp between the hours of 06:00 and 23:00.
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Further Information
An update will follow within the next 2 hours.
If you arrive at your destination 15 or more minutes late because your GWR train was delayed or cancelled, you can claim Delay Repay compensation. Please keep your ticket and visit GWR.com/DelayRepay
Last Updated:16/10/2024 15:36

"Our local stopping trains between Didcot Parkway and London Paddington will only run between Reading and London Paddington." 

That seems hard luck on passengers between Reading and Didcot - stranded at stations with few facilities, if indeed any that are open in the afternoons. Usually in these circumstances, I think, there's a shuttle service between the two towns. At least Newbury-Paddington trains ran between Newbury and Reading.

A friend was talking of visiting me from London yesterday and might have been affected had she done so, prompting me to have to drive her into Reading from Tilehurst (direct route down the nightmarish Oxford Road). In previous instances like this, I have been known to lack gallantry and put them on a bus ...

Hi Marlburian,

I'd suggest going via Portman Road, Richfield Avenue and Caversham Road to get to the pick up and drop off area on the North side of Reading Station from the Norcot roundabout. One incidental benefit of the reconstruction of the station and junctions to the west last decade was the removal of the Cow Lane bridges bottleneck that made this almost as fraught as the Oxford Road.

Ah, the Cow Lane bridges ... Yes, that's the route I would take, though the ambulance that collected me the other day (no need for blues and twos) turned right into Beresford Road, then left, then right into Salisbury Road, emerging near Reading West Station.

The taxi driver who returned me home from hospital used the back doubles south of Oxford Street. (A friend had offered to collect me, but that would have meant her driving into  Reading from M4 JII, finding a parking space at the Royal Berks, finding me and then driving me home in the rush hour. Which might have strained our relationship.)

Fifty years ago (gulp!), my office was in Market Place House in Reading. There was a terrible Vauxhall Viva office car (smelly plastic seats, three gears with the lever on the steering column) that we were expected to use on business rather than our private ones. I have grim memories of taking it home to Tilehurst in the evening rush-hour for use next day:thirty minutes to cover four miles ...

When my office closed in 1982, we ended up in a grubby London office with "Holborn Viaduct"in its address.The office car was even worse, spending most of the time covered in pigeon poo in a triangular courtyard. For a while, the new boss expected me to drive the car 40 miles to my house, to use it rather than mine the next day for a 19-mile journey on the outskirts of Basingstoke. Eventually he saw sense ...

(I was tempted to laugh when the office car broke down on the M3 when he was driving it; a decision was taken to scrap it.)

Fortunately for those concerned this advice was wrong. GWR on social.media corrected this to them running between Reading & Didcot Parkway as would be expected in this kind of disruption.

So, GWR social media over-rides the official GWR online updates?   ::)

Apparently in this case  ;D

  ;D

I think that should be >:(  Chris....

From National Rail


Route(s) affected
between Southall and London Paddington

Description
Urgent repairs to the railway between Southall and London Paddington is causing disruption to services between these stations. As a result, trains may be cancelled, delayed by up to 10 minutes or revised.

Disruption is expected unil 14:15.

From National Rail


Train operators affected

Elizabeth line
Great Western Railway
Heathrow Express
Route(s) affected
To / from / through London Paddington

Description
A fault with the signalling system at Ealing Broadway means some lines are blocked. Trains running between London Paddington and Southall may be cancelled or revised.

Disruption is expected until 08:30.

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 19:45 31/10.

Customer Advice
Due to a fault with the signalling system at Slough, services passing through this station will be delayed.

Cancellations to services between Reading and Newbury

Due to the emergency services dealing with an incident between Reading and Newbury all lines are blocked.
Train services running to and from these stations will be cancelled or delayed. Disruption is expected until 08:40 06/11.

The incident is at Thatcham. (https://www.readingchronicle.co.uk/news/24703698.lines-blocked-reading-newbury-following-incident/)

Typically for the Reading Chronicle (https://www.readingchronicle.co.uk/news/24704409.person-killed-hit-train-near-thatcham-station/), its headline says "Reading train station death: Person killed near Thatcham".

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Slough

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

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

Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

My wife is on the 7.37 from Maidenhead (having waited 30mins for a service)and is reporting it as dangerously overcrowde.
Driver has apparently decided to make additional stops at Iver etc. not that anyone waiting can actually board the train.

Always amuses me when people think it’s the drivers decision to make additional stops.

I just knew that that would be the point that would be picked up on

Somewhat bizarrely the Elizabeth Line Heathrow service has been suspended due to "non availability of signalling staff"

Well you're in good company - it was Jerome K. Jerome who threw the related matter of whether drivers chose the destination of their train into the pot and that was around a century and a half back, at Waterloo when the driver of the Kingston train gently reverse-pulls their legs by pretending to be persuaded to choose Kingston as his destination.

Mark

We are a forum of pedants, Im afraid - but all done in the best possible taste and with almost complete politeness and mostly good humour and understanding  ;D

It reminds me of the story of the chap who drove out to the pub one night for a drink, and had rather a lot or alcohol. Advice was given that he should take the bus home, and he followed that advice.    Good job he did, because the police had a checkpoint and were stopping all cars to check that all car drivers were sober, but they waved the bus straight through.  In the morning as he sobered up, our chap wondered what the bus was doing parked outside his house then he remembered he had driven it home last night.   A good example of where the driver of a public transport vehicle does chose his destination.

[I thought I’d added some smiley faces to my comment to indicate that I’d taken the earlier reply in a positive, amused manner]  :D

Again. All day. Second time this week.

Cancellations 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 some lines towards Reading.

Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled, delayed by up to 30 minutes or revised. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

Heading up to London for the weekend this morning so that will probably mean another journey subsided by Delay Repay! Oh, and no we’re not returning Sunday. Travelling by train on a Sunday is an absolute no no, as is using the trains over the Christmas holidays.

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading

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

Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled, delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until 08:00 18/11.

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


Can you tell me more about the incident?

We have been notified that the Old Oak Common line block possession is over running this morning. We are anticipating this to cause disruption to our scheduled train service.

Disruption now until 1000

Surprise surprise. Returning from London later today, so now await to see if this affects our train. And to think we’ve got years of HS2 work at Old Oak Common to come, something that brings absolutely no benefit to the Western Region whatsoever. Unless you consider stopping every train to stop at Old Oak Common a benefit.

Hopefully no-one needs to get to work this morning  ::)


Delays to services between London Paddington and Reading

Due to engineering works not being finished on time between London Paddington and Reading all lines are closed.

Train services running to and from these stations will be delayed. Disruption is expected until 07:00 22/11.

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 the line towards London Paddington.
Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled or delayed.

Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

Customer Advice
Owing to a points failure at Southall train services between Slough and London Paddington are subject to delay and cancellation.

Delays to services at Slough

Due to a safety inspection of the track 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 07:00 03/12.

Customer Advice
Due to a track defect, trains will have to run at a reduced speed while passing through Slough. Network Rail are on site monitoring the situation.

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Slough

Due to a speed restriction over defective track between London Paddington and Slough 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 08:15 05/12.

Customer Advice
Due to defective track near London Paddington, trains are running at a reduced speed through the area.

In order to reduce congestion, it is possible some trains covering shorter distances might be cancelled at short notice.

...........and as if things weren't bad enough already with the aftermath of the storm + the usual Sunday shambles.............

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading

Due to failure of the electricity supply between London Paddington and Reading all lines are blocked.

Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled or delayed. Disruption is expected until 15:45 08/12.

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

We will update this message with more information when we have it.

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading

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

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

Disruption is expected until 12:45 19/12.

Delays to services between Reading and Newbury

Due to a fault with the signalling system between Reading and Newbury trains have to run at reduced speed on the line towards Newbury.

Train services running through these stations may be delayed by up to 45 minutes. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

Journey check was reporting that some of the Didcot stoppers had been cancelled between Didcot and Reading due to a track inspection.

Looks like the mains are closed in both directions between Reading and Didcot. Traksy is currently showing 7 down services queueing from Morton Cutting.

Not a good start to the Christmas getaway. 

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading

Due to the emergency services dealing with an incident at Acton Main Line all lines are blocked. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

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

Well, let's be fair, they didn't have long to plan it did they?  ::)

GWR ensuring everyone knows ‘it ain’t our fault guv’.

Not a great start to the first day of the three day blockade of passenger services due to work at Old Oak Common. And to think we’ve got years of this to come.

I am so looking forward to a changed, nationalised world in which we can close our "Smoke and mirrors" board where we deal the passing the buck!

Notwithstanding (I'm sure!) the tongue in cheek nature of that comment I suspect you'll find it'll continue, but in more of a circular fashion, and by the time the parcel is eventually passed back to the point where it started, it'll have been forgotten about, in the best traditions of British civil/public services, and no-one will be held responsible!  :D

Indeed, and judging by ‘normal’ service having been resumed on the shortage of train crew front, GWR aren’t really in a position to throw any stones.

Disruption now expected till 2pm now on the issue at Acton West.

Hmm...I expect that the majority of those affected will not draw that conclusion, and will be mystified by it. Will they assume it's Network Rail not GWR? I am not so sure. I expect that the TOC will be blamed by most, who (rightly) will not care whose fault it is, merely that it has occurred, and should not have.