Easter engineering works and subsequent ongoing disruption - April / May 2015

[whole diary]

[a-driver]

I think the problem today was the same as Tuesday.  Axle counter failure.  Today a piece of equipment failed that meant in the region of 15 axle counters failed in the Slough area. 

We've moved from track circuits to axle counters because they are more reliable......... no doubt when installed correctly.

[stuving]

I think the problem today was the same as Tuesday.  Axle counter failure.  Today a piece of equipment failed that meant in the region of 15 axle counters failed in the Slough area. 

We've moved from track circuits to axle counters because they are more reliable......... no doubt when installed correctly.

To be fair, if 15 "failed" at once it's not the axle counters themselves (the head, and the electronics on its mushroom), and probably not the box that combines two track sensors and keeps count. There's a lot of long dangly wires joining all these bits, to each other and to the outside world (Didcot), even if they are by definition new kit.

For many years now I've been saying: "The great majority of faults in electronic equipment are due to wire that doesn't conduct. And most of the rest are due to insulation that does." Of course that's not true of software faults ...

[grahame]

We've moved from track circuits to axle counters because they are more reliable......... no doubt when installed correctly.

I remember being told of the bathtub effect - graph of reliability v age of something.



When it's new there are teething problems.   Settles down to a quiet reliable life.  And then gets problematic again as it gets old.   I think we may have moved from "problem/too old" to "problem/new" - no real way of installing something new that isn't new / doesn't have potential teething issues, but message is "should now be able to get better"

[a-driver]

I think the problem today was the same as Tuesday.  Axle counter failure.  Today a piece of equipment failed that meant in the region of 15 axle counters failed in the Slough area. 

We've moved from track circuits to axle counters because they are more reliable......... no doubt when installed correctly.

To be fair, if 15 "failed" at once it's not the axle counters themselves (the head, and the electronics on its mushroom), and probably not the box that combines two track sensors and keeps count. There's a lot of long dangly wires joining all these bits, to each other and to the outside world (Didcot), even if they are by definition new kit.

For many years now I've been saying: "The great majority of faults in electronic equipment are due to wire that doesn't conduct. And most of the rest are due to insulation that does." Of course that's not true of software faults ...

It was the axle counter evaluator that failed.

I've never heard of the 'bathtub effect' but you're in what you're saying.  The equipment has been tried and tested elsewhere in the country, and has been in use on the GWML^▸ (Great Western Main Line) in places already, just seems this one particular area has problems.

[stuving]

It was the axle counter evaluator that failed.

I've never heard of the 'bathtub effect' but you're in what you're saying.  The equipment has been tried and tested elsewhere in the country, and has been in use on the GWML^▸ (Great Western Main Line) in places already, just seems this one particular area has problems.

There's quite a bit of redundancy in the ACE, and from there upwards, so a single failure inside it shouldn't stop the ACE as a whole working. No doubt there's more to it, especially if the process of recontrol and resignalling is still going on.

[Adelante_CCT]

On a positive note : signs have gone up saying remaining Cow Lane underpass / bridge is being demolished week beginning 12th April. Closed for 4 days

I vaguely noticed signs had gone up at either end of Cow Lane this morning, sadly I didn't get the chance to read them, however both had been removed by this afternoon!?

[Adelante_CCT]

On a positive note : signs have gone up saying remaining Cow Lane underpass / bridge is being demolished week beginning 12th April. Closed for 4 days

I vaguely noticed signs had gone up at either end of Cow Lane this morning, sadly I didn't get the chance to read them, however both had been removed by this afternoon!?

Aha, here we go...http://www.getreading.co.uk/news/local-news/cow-lane-not-close-next-9013406

[Adelante_CCT]

Network Rail have released a statement regarding the past few days
http://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/news/network-rail-comment-on-this-weeks-disruption-in-the-thames-valley-area

[SandTEngineer]

Extracted from the NR^» (Network Rail - home page) press release linked above

The vast majority of these signalling issues were not related to the re-signalling project that was completed over the Easter weekend. This only goes to reinforce the importance of replacing all our ageing signalling equipment across the Western route

Well then if it wasn't the new kit the rest of it certainly isn't that old.  Excuses, Excuses...........

[JayMac]

The discussion about Long Swing Link/Short Swing Link HST^▸ (High Speed Train) Mk3 bogies from earlier in this thread has been given its own topic:

http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=15602.0

[ellendune]

Extracted from the NR^» (Network Rail - home page) press release linked above

The vast majority of these signalling issues were not related to the re-signalling project that was completed over the Easter weekend. This only goes to reinforce the importance of replacing all our ageing signalling equipment across the Western route

Well then if it wasn't the new kit the rest of it certainly isn't that old.  Excuses, Excuses...........

How old would it be if it was not new then?

[a-driver]

Extracted from the NR^» (Network Rail - home page) press release linked above

The vast majority of these signalling issues were not related to the re-signalling project that was completed over the Easter weekend. This only goes to reinforce the importance of replacing all our ageing signalling equipment across the Western route

Well then if it wasn't the new kit the rest of it certainly isn't that old.  Excuses, Excuses...........

How old would it be if it was not new then?

When it comes to those axle counters, I'd think it's probably no more than 2 or 3 years old

[TaplowGreen]

..........hey I've just realised, I got to work and home on the train today without any delays.........is this a record for the week? 

[SandTEngineer]

Extracted from the NR^» (Network Rail - home page) press release linked above

The vast majority of these signalling issues were not related to the re-signalling project that was completed over the Easter weekend. This only goes to reinforce the importance of replacing all our ageing signalling equipment across the Western route

Well then if it wasn't the new kit the rest of it certainly isn't that old.  Excuses, Excuses...........

How old would it be if it was not new then?

Well.  If it was the axle counters then they are relatively new to the Thames Valley area.  If it was the solid state signalling then that technology dates from 1985 but has been further developed since then and its application on Thames Valley at the earliest dates from the mid 1990s.  I don't call that old.  Now if you were talking about mechanical signalling in Cornwall which in some cases is over 100 years old then that is a different matter.

I am beginning to believe that the fundamental problem is NR has lost all of its skilled and experienced staff and that is the basis of the, and its, problems.  Of course never admit that, so blame it on the equipment..........

[SandTEngineer]

..........hey I've just realised, I got to work and home on the train today without any delays.........is this a record for the week? 

Think you might have been (very) lucky.  I believe there were further signalling problems later in the evening..........