Great Western Coffee Shop

Not a good morning it seems....

Service incidents
07:30 Carmarthen to London Paddington due 11:32
This train will be terminated at Swindon.It will no longer call at: Didcot Parkway, Reading and London Paddington.This is due to signalling problems.


07:30 London Paddington to Penzance due 13:21
This train has been diverted.It will no longer call at: Swindon and Chippenham.This is due to signalling problems.


07:38 Paignton to London Paddington due 11:42
This train has been terminated at Bristol Temple Meads.It will no longer call at: Bath Spa, Chippenham, Swindon, Reading and London Paddington.This is due to signalling problems.


08:18 London Paddington to Exeter St Davids due 11:12
This train has been cancelled.This is due to signalling problems.


08:42 Penzance to London Paddington due 13:45
This train has been revised.It will additionally call at: Taunton, Castle Cary and Newbury.This is due to earlier signalling problems.


08:51 London Paddington to Hereford due 12:06
This train will be started from Oxford.It will no longer call at: London Paddington, Slough, Reading and Didcot Parkway.This is due to signalling problems.


09:06 London Paddington to Plymouth due 12:25
This train has been revised.It will additionally call at: Newbury, Pewsey, Westbury and Castle Cary.This is due to signalling problems.


09:15 London Paddington to Cardiff Central due 11:23
This train has been cancelled.This is due to earlier signalling problems.


09:30 London Paddington to Oxford due 11:14
This train will be started from Reading.It will no longer call at: London Paddington, Ealing Broadway, Hayes & Harlington, West Drayton, Iver, Langley, Slough, Maidenhead and Twyford.This is due to earlier signalling problems.


09:45 London Paddington to Swansea due 12:45
This train has been revised.It will additionally call at: Didcot Parkway.This is due to signalling problems.


09:51 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street due 12:28
This train has been revised.It will no longer call at: Slough, Pershore, Worcester Shrub Hill and Worcester Foregate Street.This is due to earlier signalling problems.


09:55 Cardiff Central to London Paddington due 12:02
This train has been cancelled.This is due to signalling problems.


09:55 Oxford to London Paddington due 11:32
This train has been revised.It will no longer call at: Twyford, Maidenhead, Slough, Langley, Iver, West Drayton, Hayes & Harlington, Southall and Ealing Broadway.This is due to earlier signalling problems.


10:00 London Paddington to Paignton due 13:48
This train has been revised.It will additionally call at: Didcot Parkway.This is due to signalling problems.


10:15 London Paddington to Cardiff Central due 12:23
This train has been cancelled.This is due to earlier signalling problems.


10:21 London Paddington to Oxford due 11:18
This train has been cancelled.This is due to earlier signalling problems.


10:31 Cheltenham Spa to London Paddington due 12:39
This train has been cancelled.This is due to earlier signalling problems.


10:45 London Paddington to Swansea due 13:45
This train has been revised.It will additionally call at: Didcot Parkway.This is due to signalling problems.


10:55 Cardiff Central to London Paddington due 13:03
This train has been cancelled.This is due to earlier signalling problems.


11:00 Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington due 12:42
This train has been revised.It will additionally call at: Didcot Parkway.This is due to earlier signalling problems.


11:00 London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads due 12:42
This train has been revised.It will additionally call at: Didcot Parkway.This is due to signalling problems.


11:15 London Paddington to Cardiff Central due 13:23
This train has been cancelled.This is due to earlier signalling problems.


11:54 Exeter St Davids to London Paddington due 14:45
This train has been cancelled.This is due to earlier signalling problems.


11:55 Cardiff Central to London Paddington due 14:03
This train has been cancelled.This is due to earlier signalling problems.


12:39 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington due 14:59
This train will be started from Evesham.It will no longer call at: Worcester Foregate Street, Worcester Shrub Hill and Pershore.This is due to earlier signalling problems.


12:55 Cardiff Central to London Paddington due 15:03
This train has been cancelled.This is due to earlier signalling problems.


13:55 Cardiff Central to London Paddington due 16:03
This train has been cancelled.This is due to earlier signalling problems.

More from FGW website:

Train services at Didcot Parkway have been disrupted due to earlier signalling problems in the Didcot Parkway area.Engineers have worked as fast as possible to restore services to normal. Short notice alterations, cancellations and delays of up to 60 minutes may still occur.

Train services are starting to resume between Swindon and Reading via Didcot Parkway in both directions and also between Oxford and Reading in both directions. Ticket restrictions have been lifted for customers travelling on affected routes between South Wales, Worcester and Cheltenham to London Paddington and also for Didcot Parkway customers travelling to all stations. First Great Western tickets are being accepted on Chiltern Railway, South West Trains and London Underground services via all reasonable routes. Train services from Swansea to London Paddington will operate to London Paddington. Train services at 55 minutes past the hour starting from Cardiff Central to London Paddington are suspended. Services between Cheltenham Spa and London Paddington are starting to operate to timetable but may be subject to alteration. All on the hour 00 services from Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington are starting to operate to timetable but may be subject to alteration. All on the 30 minutes past the hour services from Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington are starting to operate to timetable but may be subject to alteration. On the hour services 00 from London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads will operate to timetable. The 45 minutes past the hour services from London Paddington to Swansea will operate to timetable but may be subject to alteration. The London Paddington to Greenford services has been reinstated. Customers with First Great Western tickets who were unable to travel today Tuesday 17th June on affected routes between South Wales, Worcester and Cheltenham and London Paddington can use their tickets for travel tomorrow Wednesday 18th June.

BBC article link.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/oxfordshire/7458402.stm

Apparently, FGW was having difficulty getting hold of its usual replacement bus service due to Royal Ascot.

Quite a few mess ups by NR today then - Didcot & Portsmouth!

But then Portsmouth does have a new fangled Siemens signalling system

Further related links.
http://www.maidenhead-advertiser.co.uk/news/article-6872-power-surge-affects-over-100-train-services/

http://www.oxfordmail.net/display.var.2347669.0.signals_failure_causes_chaos.php

Which happens to break more frequently than a Desiro, and that ain't hard....

hhmm, the maidenhead advertiser says it was sorted by 8.30am.. Yet there was not a single train (in either direction) that stopped at Maidenhead from about 8.45 to 9.45am...weird..

Interesting in the Oxford Mail they say the problem was down to a "power surge" in all the years I have worked with electricity I have yet to come across a power surge a dip yes a surge no. its usually used to explain the unexplainable or something you wish to hide

Failure was in the IECC at Swindon 'B' box, comms links for the SSI dropped out.  What about lightning? Isn't that a power surge?  Signalling equipment can be very susceptible to it even with lighning protection arrangements in place.

Not really its a high transient spike power surge would be a sustained high voltage on a system with the consequential high current flow.  SSI is very prone to spikes also it does not like dips in the supply system voltage which is why a lot of UPS have been installed

Is it my imagination or has the general power supply got dirtier since privitisation? I believe the CEGB was under an obligation to keep the supply within a certain frequency and voltage variations. Does that still apply?

Or is it we now use far more low voltage chips which are sensitive to variations in voltage  and being the mean lot that we are don't want to pay for UPSs or the high quality transformers and rectifiers needed to give a stable voltage?

It always seems to me to be false economy to installed a cheap power supply for something as vital to the running of the railway as an IECC or SSSI interlocking. But that's "bean counters" for you.

What has happened in the past is when a resig project came along the new fangled electronic kit is connected to a power supply system designed for electromechanical equipment where voltage regulation is not so crucial

The view from Economy Klaus (link below.)
http://firstlatewestern.blogspot.com/2008/06/debacle-at-didcot.html