Thames Valley infrastructure problems causing disruption elsewhere - 2014

[whole diary]

[chrisr_75]

Yet more problems today between Ealing Broadway & Paddington:

http://www.journeycheck.com/firstgreatwestern/

Alterations to services between London Paddington and Ealing Broadway Due to signalling problems between London Paddington and Ealing Broadway fewer trains are able to run on some lines.
Impact:
Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed by up to 10 mins or revised. An estimate for the resumption of normal services will be provided as soon as the problem has been fully assessed.
Customer Advice:
Owing to signalling problems affecting a couple of running lines on the approach to London Paddington we are unable to operate the full timetabled service to and from London Paddington at present.
There will be a reduction in the frequency of train services (in both directions) between London Paddington and Reading & Oxford and also between London Paddington and Swindon, Bristol Parkway, Newport & Cardiff Central.
Any other train service cancellations or alterations will be advised on an individual basis.

Apologies - this has been mentioned on the October 2014 thread - please delete this post if it doesnt require a separate theread!

Mod Note: No problem - merged with existing topic - bobm

[TaplowGreen]

To be honest it's simply appalling and an extension of the p*** poor "service" last week.

The fact that one of the richest, most technologically advanced countries on Earth is unable to maintain a railway without failing on basics such as bodging through cables or being unable to drain a couple of days worth of rainwater from the track bed, along with frequent mechanical failures and staff being "unavailable" bears all the marks of something which is rapidly becoming unfit for purpose.

I don't particularly care who is to blame, from where I sit there is a duality of ineptitude between NR^» (Network Rail - home page) and FGW^▸ (First Great Western) concerning their respective responsibilities and I'm sick of one blaming the other and/or the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about).......in the real World, you take it on the chin, front up and say sorry to your customers whilst having these arguments behind closed doors and making sure things improve......you don't point fingers, quibble over the miserly compensation which may be due or make it difficult to claim it.

Hundreds of thousands of customers spend millions of ^ a year on some of the highest fares in Europe and rely on FGW to get them to work and they are entitled to expect better than this 4th class weekly or more recently daily farce.........we constantly hear "it'll get better in a few years" - I have no faith in this at all based on the current incumbents- what a great advert for a new 5 year franchise.

[TonyK]

To me, it seems that with a major re-signalling programme, major infrastructure renewals, and a major electrification scheme all under way, as little money as possible will be spent on making the old stuff last a few more months, and puntuality will come a distant second to safety.

Sorry, TaplowGreen, but it will get better in a few years. Until then, it will hopefully stagger along reasonably well.

[broadgage]

As I have previously remarked, increasingly we have a fair weather only weekday only railway.
Services at weekends and near holiday times have been disrupted by ongoing "improvement" works that never seem to improve matters.
Monday morning services are liable to disruption from  overrunning engineering works.
Most of us are now aware that large areas of the network can be disabled by a single lightning strike or cable theft.
No one expects a normal service in bad weather.

It now seems that an entirely normal wet spell results in dozens of cancellations and many other services only serving a small portion of the intended route.

Any reasonable person would accept that things go wrong, but surely not this often ? Major problems seem to occur at least once a week, three days last week and once this week.

Whilst most of the problems seem to be network rail, I feel that FGW^▸ (First Great Western) could respond a bit better. After all signalling disruption is rapidly becoming a normal operating condition !
Since only a limited number of trains can run on certain days, FGW should perhaps give more attention to doubling up DMUs^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) so as to ensure that the reduced number of paths are utilised by full length trains.

[ChrisB]

Given notice the previous evening, I'm sure an effort to double-up tirbos could be made. However, failures of this kind aren't predicable. Thus I think its unfair to expect the operator to do this. It requires planning

[lordgoata]

Forgive me as I know NOTHING about how the railway, depots, stations etc work but, if there are multiple trains standing idle at Reading depot and there is severe disruption in the morning, is there really no one available to move a 3-car into one of the Reading platforms to hook up to another incoming 3-car service from Banbury/Oxford ?

This morning for example, the signal issues were reported before 6am according to JourneyCheck. One of the morning services (something around 7:26) from Goring was cancelled (think its an HST^▸ (High Speed Train)). The following service (7:38) was ontime and relatively quiet for a morning of disruption. By Pangbourne it was busy. By Tilehurst it was solid. Most got off at Reading, only to be replaced with similar numbers (side note, no one stopped the bikes getting on at Reading). By the time we left Twyford it was standing room only.

We pulled up at Maidenhead and the fight to get off ensued, but as I was getting off, one of the platform staff was apologising to those standing in the vestibule as he asked them to move so they could load a wheel chair. It was already standing room only, and that was without those at Maidenhead getting on. I have no idea what the outcome was but I felt sorry for the poor lady in the wheelchair knowing it would be like sardines once everyone else tried to push on.

All of that could have been avoided with a couple of extra carriages at Reading. Yes we may have been delayed a few minutes while it was hitched up, but in the grand scheme of things that would have been nothing.

I know some of the trains at Reading are in for maintenance or whatever, but not all of them are.

And yes this is a genuine question - there is nothing more frustrating than passing the depot full of trains (there were 9 sitting there the other week when the signal issues occurred), when you are crammed in the one that's moving 

[TonyK]

A lighter moment - checking on FGW^▸ (First Great Western)'s website for the current state of play, I came across this invaluable snippet of information in the Journey Checker:

19:34 Bourne End to Maidenhead due 19:45
 This train will now be formed of the usual number of coaches.
 This is due to an earlier train fault.

Eh?

[BerkshireBugsy]

I know our local (Thatcham) station master reasonably well. He is very proud of the station and in the early hours of the morning you will see him brushing up rubbish and fag ends from the (non smoking) platforms.

However when he ventures out on to the platform without his broom I've learnt that he is about to impart helpful but bad news. This morning was no exception.

I was in no mad panic to get to london as I had left myself plenty of time and got to my end destination only one minute late.

When I was in the office I was talking to commuters who had come in from Brighton , Colchester and Peterborough and it seems like they all have problems on their lines so we are no alone.

Here is hoping for a better day tomorrow

[tomL]

Spotted this at Oxford on my journey home last night: https://www.flickr.com/photos/tomlane_web/15560106151/

[stuving]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page)

16 October 2014 Last updated at 13:34
Oxfordshire rail works scaled back after service failure

Trains were delayed and cancelled

Work on the Great Western mainline through Oxfordshire has been temporarily scaled back after commuters were disrupted by failed signalling.

Network Rail said engineers carrying out piling works had hit a power cable on Monday 6 October which caused the problem.

The firm said: "We have stopped piling until we have reviewed the process that caused the problems."

The work forms part of Network Rail's ^1bn rail electrification project.

The power failure resulted in a severely reduced service into Paddington, adding up to an hour to a journey.

Services to and from the west of England, Swansea, Bristol, Oxford, Reading, Cheltenham Spa and Worcester were also affected.

That was from Thursday, though I don't think it was posted here.

Two points strike me. One is that "engineers carrying out piling works had hit a power cable" still leaves it unclear which of the piling crew's activities did the damage.

The other point is ... Oxfordshire? I though it was near Slough. Does the BBC Oxford know something we don't, or do they not know where Oxfordshire is?

[johoare]

Maybe Oxfordshire has expanded as far as Slough though no one has told me if so :-)

I got a letter from Network Rail warning me of piling works on the tracks through Maidenhead for the next few weeks and warning there might be noise.. I'm not THAT close to the railway line (probably a five minute walk if I were to be able to walk in a straight line to it) so hopefully it won't be too noisy when they are doing it on the stretch of track nearest my house.. Assuming they do it after that report..

[Surrey 455]

I'm not THAT close to the railway line (probably a five minute walk if I were to be able to walk in a straight line to it)

And how long does it take when sober? 

Apologies for being cheeky.

[johoare]

I'm not THAT close to the railway line (probably a five minute walk if I were to be able to walk in a straight line to it)

And how long does it take when sober? 

Apologies for being cheeky.

Ha Ha very funny :-) When sober I can't walk through people's houses and gardens so imagine it would be more like ten minutes ;-)

[tomL]

Due to signalling problems between Swindon and Didcot Parkway:
Impact:
Train services running through these stations may be delayed. An estimate for the resumption of normal services will be provided as soon as the problem has been fully assessed.

Next up are Didcot Parkway and Swindon as the works head West I guess? Either that or the rain 

[chrisr_75]

The last two freight train derailments on the network investigated by the RAIB^▸ (Rail Accident Investigation Branch) have both come back highlighting track faults as a cause.

And a third now - the initial thoery of the cause of the recent coal train derailment in the Vale of Glamorgan is a rail defect...poor, very poor - were no lessons actually learnt from Potters Bar, Grayrigg...?!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-29661936

There is a link on the above BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) page to the initial Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) report

Edit: VickiS - Clarifying Acronym