Euston closed, wires down.

[whole diary]

[broadgage]

No main line services to or from Euston for some hours due to the OHLE coming down north of London.

Whilst in theory electric traction is a forward step, news like this does not bode well for the proposed electrification of Great western services.
The West Country gets some extreme weather, and electric railways in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) seem to be becoming fair weather only railways.
FGW^▸ (First Great Western) coped better than most other TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) in last winters severe weather, due I suspect to being diesel worked.

[IndustryInsider]

Yes, there will no doubt be examples of delays on the Great Western Main Line that wouldn't have happened before electrification, though advances in wiring technology will help (WCML^▸ (West Coast Main Line) wires are very old, and ECML^▸ (East Coast Main Line) was done on the cheap - 'Electric Train' may care to elaborate?), and also having the majority of IEP^▸ (Intercity Express Program / Project.) sets as bi-mode trains may help in certain circumstances.

[Brucey]

Absolute nightmare journey.

Havant to Milton Keynes Central, all on Southern via the West London Line.

0930 to Clapham Junction, on time.  At Clapham, we were informed the service to MKC^▸ (Milton Keynes Central) would be cut short and an announcement would be made on the train.  On boarding the train, we were told it would terminate at Shepherds Bush.  Customers for stations beyond this were told to go to Victoria and use the Underground where tickets would be accepted by any reasonable route to Euston.

Off I trot to Euston on the tube.  On arrival, only London Overground services were operating.

One hour to travel the 17 miles to Watford Junction ... and stood up the whole journey.  I phoned Southern to see if any replacement transport had been arranged, but they seemed a bit oblivious to the whole disruption (one person told me to get the Underground from Watford Junction where my ticket would be accepted by any route ).

During this journey, we could see many trains stuck, including one where passengers were being evacuated onto the track.  I understand the Overground was also closed later during the evacuations.

At Watford, there was no information whatsoever.  No one knew what was happening.  In the end (around 2pm), a Virgin Trains service appeared which we were told would be going to Manchester Pic and would make an additional stop at MKC.

Arrived about 1hr 30mins late.

I have some photos of the queue for coaches at Milton Keynes.  Many passengers were clubbing together to organise taxis to reach their destinations instead of waiting for the coach.

Oh well, at least I managed to bash the Watford DC^▸ (Direct Current) line and travel on a 378 (and at a cost of ^3.25 for the whole journey which will duly be refunded in full by Southern's Delay Repay, it was also a bargain!)

[Electric train]

Yes, there will no doubt be examples of delays on the Great Western Main Line that wouldn't have happened before electrification, though advances in wiring technology will help (WCML^▸ (West Coast Main Line) wires are very old, and ECML^▸ (East Coast Main Line) was done on the cheap - 'Electric Train' may care to elaborate?), and also having the majority of IEP^▸ (Intercity Express Program / Project.) sets as bi-mode trains may help in certain circumstances.

What you have said is true.  IEP may help but if the wires are down across all lines even they may have problems.
The GWML^▸ (Great Western Main Line) will be wired (west of Airport Jcn) with a modern system even the ECML design now 25 years old was based on 1960's technology and the WCML ate Wemberly is based on 1950's design which despite being rewired only used modern components.  Locking pulley wheels on counter balance weights are being now installed something Europe has been using for decades help to prevent total collapse of large lengths of wire.

[ChrisB]

Are you sure bi-mode IEPs^▸ (Intercity Express Program / Project.) sets will firm the majority of IEPs?

[IndustryInsider]

Form the majority I presume you mean?

And, yes, pretty sure based on previous announcements on the likely orders - see the 'GWML^▸ (Great Western Main Line) Electrification Gets the Go-Ahead' thread on here for details, especially if you add the remaining HST^▸ (High Speed Train)'s into the mix, though of course there's caveats in there should the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) change their mind about whether to go through to Swansea with the wires.

You may be in the position where emergency removal of damaged wires could take place in a reasonably short amount of time, and Bi-Mode IEPs^▸ (Intercity Express Program / Project.) and HSTs can still pass (and perhaps even electric services coasting past the damaged area with the pantograph down - I believe that was tried on the ECML^▸ (East Coast Main Line) for the first time recently?), whilst proper repair work takes place overnight.

Better solutions have to be found to avoid total service meltdown for pretty much the entire day, such as seen on the WCML^▸ (West Coast Main Line) today (though I am not privy to how serious the damage was), and better wiring technology and bi-mode trains can play their part in that.  I note that at least some of the Euston-Chester diesel services were operating today, albeit with heavy delays - though looking at National Rail Enquiries they weren't being advertised as such.

[Brucey]

There were no diesel services when I was there (up to 2pm).  I believe this was for safety to allow passengers to be evacuated onto the track.

I did wonder if it could have made sense to send Voyagers down the Watford DC^▸ (Direct Current) line (instead of LOROL^▸ (London Overground Railway Operations Ltd), perhaps cutting out some stops) and then continue their journey from Watford onto their original destinations.  Not sure about clearance on this line though.

[paul7575]

Unfortunately the 2009 sectional appendix (online snapshot version) suggests no 23m bodied DMUs^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) are allowed on the DC^▸ (Direct Current) lines, and surprisingly the range of EMUs^▸ (Electric Multiple Unit) allowed is very limited, even the 20m 350s are barred...

Paul

[Electric train]

Unfortunately the 2009 sectional appendix (online snapshot version) suggests no 23m bodied DMUs^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) are allowed on the DC^▸ (Direct Current) lines, and surprisingly the range of EMUs^▸ (Electric Multiple Unit) allowed is very limited, even the 20m 350s are barred...

Paul

There were no diesel services when I was there (up to 2pm).  I believe this was for safety to allow passengers to be evacuated onto the track.

I did wonder if it could have made sense to send Voyagers down the Watford DC line (instead of LOROL^▸ (London Overground Railway Operations Ltd), perhaps cutting out some stops) and then continue their journey from Watford onto their original destinations.  Not sure about clearance on this line though.

This does not surprise me the clearances due to curved platforms at places like Willesden Jcn low level are tight also the platforms south of Harrow & Wealdstone have to accommodate Tube stock.  Also the train services on the Watford dc lines are now operated by London Overground.

[IndustryInsider]

There were no diesel services when I was there (up to 2pm).  I believe this was for safety to allow passengers to be evacuated onto the track.

There certainly weren't many, but here's a couple that did run:

Train Schedule 1D86
12:10 London Euston to Chester
Cancelled from Crewe
Schedule View Working Times
FullHalts Now
Location   Public
Schedule   Act/Est   Dly
Euston       12:10      12:48   38L
CmdnSth      12:12      12:50   37L
CmdnJn       12:13      12:51   38L
WlsdWLJ      12:16      12:54   38L
Wmby       12:17      13:32   74L
HroW       12:19      13:44   84L
WatfdJ       12:23      13:53   90L
Bonendj      12:27      13:59   92L
Tring       12:30      14:02   92L
LedbrnJ      12:33      14:06   93L
Bltchly      12:37      14:10   92L
MKnsCen   12:40   12:41   14:14   14:16   95L
HanslpJ      12:47      14:21   93L
Weedon       12:54      14:28   94L
HMTnJ       13:01      14:35   93L
Rugby       13:02      14:38   96L
RugbTVJ      13:02      14:39   96L
Brinklw      13:05      14:42   97L
AtlbrjN      13:09      14:46   97L
Nntn       13:09      14:48   98L
Amngtnj      13:15      14:54   98L
Lchtnj       13:19      14:58   98L
RuglyNJ      13:23      15:03   99L
Colwich      13:26      15:04   97L
Staffrd      13:31      15:15   104L
NtnB       13:34      15:20   105L
Madeley      13:40      15:26   105L
CrewBHJ      13:44      15:29   104L
Crewe    13:47   13:49   15:35      108L
CreweSW      13:53         
BestTsb      13:59         
Chst    14:12



Train Schedule 1A40
13:35 Chester to London Euston
Schedule View Working Times
FullHalts Now
Location   Public
Schedule   Act/Est   Dly
Chst       13:35      14:11   36L
BestTsb      13:44      14:20   36L
CreweSW      13:50      14:26   36L
Crewe    13:54   13:56   14:31   14:33   37L
CrewBHJ      14:00      14:36   36L
Madeley      14:05      14:39   34L
NtnB       14:12      14:45   33L
Staffrd      14:15      14:49   34L
Colwich      14:20      14:53   33L
RuglyNJ      14:21      14:55   34L
Lchtnj       14:25      14:58   33L
Amngtnj      14:29      15:02   33L
Nntn       14:35      16:39   124L
RugbTVJ      14:43      16:52   129L
Rugby       14:43      16:53   130L
HMTnJ       14:44      16:54   130L
Weedon       14:50      17:01   131L
HanslpJ      14:56      17:07   131L
MKnsCen   15:01   15:02   17:16   17:18   136L
Bltchly      15:05      17:21   136L
LedbrnJ      15:10      17:26   136L
Tring       15:14      17:29   135L
Bonendj      15:17      17:32   135L
WatfdJ       15:21      17:56   155L
HroW       15:24      18:05   161L
Wmby       15:26      18:09   163L
WlsdWLJ      15:29      18:12   163L
CmdnJn       15:32      18:35   183L
CmdnSth      15:33      18:36   183L
Euston    15:38      18:40      182L

[Brucey]

I'm quite surprised actually.  Didn't see this service overtake us (presumably we were on a section away from the WCML^▸ (West Coast Main Line) at the time) and it definitely wasn't advertised at Euston.

Edited to say: do you know what platform it passed through at Watford Junction?  I was stood there at 13:53 and an empty Virgin service came through (can't remember whether it was Pendo or Voyager).

[paul7575]

London Overground are still running as a normal TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) on NR^» (Network Rail - home page) metals though (on that particular route), signalled and controlled by NR.  

The main problem as we've already discovered is that no-one else's stock is route cleared - and of course an issue not yet mentioned will be the lack of LU trip cocks even if other stock actually did fit down the line...

Paul

[IndustryInsider]

Not sure what line it was on.  You may be right that it ran empty through the section possibly, but reports at all the locations between Euston and Milton Keynes suggests something ran!   I could see why they wouldn't risk advertising it - mob scenes if hours worth of passengers try to decent on one 5-car Voyager!

[Brucey]

I was chatting to my flatmate about this Voyager service.  He remembered more as I was on the phone at the time (I didn't even realise he was travelling that day - we just randomly bumped into each other later on at Watford Junction).

It passed through Platform 8 and stopped at the platform for about 15-30 seconds.  The signal at the end of the platform was showing proceed well before this train's arrival, with the white direction lights thing (excuse my poor terminology) pointing left.  We were under the belief (having been informed by Southern on the phone) that a service would be stopping there on that platform at that time.  Perhaps someone in control decided to keep moving onto MKC^▸ (Milton Keynes Central)?

Anyway, I think I should stop over analysing the situation and just conclude that the queue of Pendos out of Watford Junction was quite an amazing sight.  (Hint: clue for my next picture quiz)