Major signalling failure 9 July

[whole diary]

[Jonathan H]

Owing to signalling problems between Guildford and Reigate all lines are blocked.

Impact: Train services running through these stations may be cancelled, delayed by up to 30 mins or revised at short notice. An estimate for the resumption of normal services will be provided as soon as the problem has been fully assessed.

Customer Advice: Currently the line between Guildford and Reigate is closed due to complete loss of signalling. First Great Western are running a shuttle train service between Reading and Guildford and plan to implement a limited shuttle bus service between Guildford and Redhill. Replacement road transport has been ordered and is currently being sourced.
Southern Railway services are conveying passengers between Clapham Junction and Gatwick Airport in both directions until further notice. Arrangements have been made for First Great Western rail tickets to be accepted for these journeys.
Transport for London services are conveying passengers via any reasonable route until further notice. Arrangements have been made for First Great Western rail tickets to be accepted for these journeys.

Given that Reigate box fringes with Guildford box somewhere along the line and there are no trains to Shalford either presumably it is Guildford side that has the problem.  Southern trains are running normally to Reigate from Redhill.

[BerkshireBugsy]

According to staff at Guildford this morning this was due to cable theft between the two tunnels on the Shalford side of the station.

They were laying on Taxi's for passengers travelling onward via the Portsmouth and on the north downs lines. Our Taxi from Guildford to Reigate cost abou ^40 so multiply that (and fairs to Gatwick etc)  so someone somewhere is going to have to pick up a big bill!

It took a while to get the taxi queue system organised (during which there were some fracious exchanges) but T got to see different scenery than I would have otherwise done

[adc82140]

the usual duff standards of information though. I travelled from Wokingham on a delayed Redhill train to Guildford. The SWT^▸ (South West Trains) boards were announcing the train as Redhill, the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) boards at intermediate stations were switched off. The front of the train read 'First Great Western' rather than any destination. The onboard CIS^▸ (Customer Information System) wasn't working, and there were no manual announcements. The train terminated at Guildford, but no-one on board knew this until it happened. Thankfully I had access the the NRE^▸ (National Rail Enquiries) website which was giving accurate information which I could pass on to other passengers.

Disgraceful.