Major Signalling Failure Swindon to Didcot 29/04/2017

[whole diary]

[SandTEngineer]

It doesn't mention whether Emergency Special Working was introduced (before Temporary Block Working was eventually set up) which is authorised between Ladbroke Grove and Wootton Bassett as part of a trial and is designed to get things moving quicker in such a situation.

https://www.rssb.co.uk/rgs/deviations/15-088-DEV.pdf

I think the loss of point detection would have prevented this.  Noted in BNMs post above that the MOM^▸ (Mobile Operations Manager) (Mobile Operations Manager) was running around clipping and padlocking points.

[DidcotPunter]

Hope that makes sense and is not too technical (and apologies to CfN who might have to add a few things to the acronyms and abbreviations page )

Yes it does and thank you for explaining.

I have a question which perhaps others can answer. According to the incident log it appears that the points on the Bourton and Uffington crossovers were clipped up to enable Temporary Block Working (TBW^▸ (Temporary Block Working)) and it seems that this was instituted sometime around 5:00pm. If this was available why then were no trains sent through the section until after 8:00pm (1Z89 Plymouth to Padd appears to have been the first up service)??

I understand that Swindon to Challow would be a very long block section, but surely this would have allowed them to get some trains moving? It was reported elsewhere that there weren't the staff available to implement TBW but the above log suggests that wasn't the case.

[SandTEngineer]

So a) no trains reported as having revered to DID^» (Didcot Parkway - next trains); indeed, states 'brought through to Swindon

I was watching Open Train Times maps and saw at least one Bristol bound train reverse from Steventon back to Didcot station but this was outside of the failed area so was done using the working reversible signalling.

[Adelante_CCT]

(FTN - though apparently that stands for Fixed Telecom Network).

Really? I thought it stood for 'Four Track, Now!'   

[didcotdean]

I see from local media (sorry can't link to easily ATM^‡(resolve) as on mobile) that Oxfordshire County Council's emergency response team stepped in at Didcot helping to provide for the people stranded there with such items as buses, taxis plus obtaining food and drink via deploying the local fire station. I trust ultimately NR^» (Network Rail - home page) will be picking up the bill for this, useful a training exercise it might have been for OCC.

[Rob S]

I see from local media (sorry can't link to easily ATM^‡(resolve) as on mobile) that Oxfordshire County Council's emergency response team stepped in at Didcot helping to provide for the people stranded there with such items as buses, taxis plus obtaining food and drink via deploying the local fire station. I trust ultimately NR^» (Network Rail - home page) will be picking up the bill for this, useful a training exercise it might have been for OCC.

I was on the 1832 Reading to Swansea train (to go to Swindon) that ended up sitting at Didcot station for just over an hour and a half and can confirm that bottled water, apples and oranges were provided by people on the platform there. Nobody said anything about buses or taxis though

I felt rather sorry for the people that took the advice of the train manager (to catch the 2005 back to Reading before heading to south Wales via Basingstoke and Salisbury!) as our train eventually carried on it's journey at about 2020hrs

[Chris from Nailsea]

... (and apologies to CfN who might have to add a few things to the acronyms and abbreviations page )

With thanks for your concern on my behalf, SandTEngineer, I have now reviewed, and inserted where necessary, definitions for all of the abbreviations / acronyms that have been used in this topic. 

May I take this opportunity to thank all of our members for posting any such abbreviations, together with their full description the first time they are used.

I'm happy to add them to our 'acronyms / abbreviations' page whenever a new one is used - or indeed you can offer me updates / clarification of existing entries by PM.

[grahame]

Follow up news story ...

http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/15259860.Family_stranded_on_platform_as_train_home_cancelled

[John R]

A bit of a no news story as many of the comments suggest ( and just for clarity, I did not post a couple of them despite the similarity in user name).

Whereas most people just get on with it, a few attention seekers will always try to blow the story up out of proportion. In South Wales we had the sob story of the girl who didn't get back from London in time for her 18th birthday family meal. Hardly merits a news story, does it?

[chuffed]

Just read that 'the FTN network is very diverse' in an earlier post. Didn't realise just how diverse it was ...it seems that our ubiquitous friend FT,N gets everywhere, with or without the comma !

[Electric train]

I see from local media (sorry can't link to easily ATM^‡(resolve) as on mobile) that Oxfordshire County Council's emergency response team stepped in at Didcot helping to provide for the people stranded there with such items as buses, taxis plus obtaining food and drink via deploying the local fire station. I trust ultimately NR^» (Network Rail - home page) will be picking up the bill for this, useful a training exercise it might have been for OCC.

There is an agreed National process for Local Authorities to off charge to public agencies like NR, no real cash exchanges hands.  The Rail Industry also has agreements with Charities that provide support

[TaplowGreen]

A bit of a no news story as many of the comments suggest ( and just for clarity, I did not post a couple of them despite the similarity in user name).

Whereas most people just get on with it, a few attention seekers will always try to blow the story up out of proportion. In South Wales we had the sob story of the girl who didn't get back from London in time for her 18th birthday family meal. Hardly merits a news story, does it?

If it was your daughter, or you were one of her family, you may well feel differently. It's very easy to be blasé about something like this, a pal of mine missed a wedding in Cornwall a while back because the trains completely  fell over (again), it may not be front page news to those not directly affected, but those involved were devastated that he wasn't there. He didn't go to the Press, but it's the sort of thing that does get into the papers.....it's called Human interest and it's the bread and butter of local newspapers.

[John R]

I may feel differently, but I wouldn't go the press about it and that seems to be the general sentiment of the comments. The problem is that local media have so few journalists left that they have to rely on "free" stories to fill the space, both print and online. That doesn't make for quality journalism.

And besides, they were advised to take a train to Bath where transport would be provided. But they didn't follow the advice. So hardly surprising that they then waited for ages. If you don't take the transport operator's advice in such circumstances then I don't think you can have a complaint.

[TaplowGreen]

And besides, they were advised to take a train to Bath where transport would be provided. But they didn't follow the advice. So hardly surprising that they then waited for ages. If you don't take the transport operator's advice in such circumstances then I don't think you can have a complaint.

I was referring to the specific case you mentioned about the "sob story" as you put it about the girl who missed her 18th birthday party thanks to the railways and your rather disparaging attitude towards it......I agree that the family referred to in the Swindon Advertiser link didn't help themselves however.

[grahame]

Hmmm ... agreed, they didn't help themselves ... but then not everyone who uses the train (especially on the TransWilts, where it's not been a realistic option for very long) has the skills and background to make good short term decisions.

I appreciate they were put off using the train to Bath and then the bus ... but they could have walked five minutes into Trowbridge and caught the direct bus to Swindon where they would have arrived (according to the timing in the story) before they even abandoned Trowbridge Station.

For sure, some cases get highlighted out of proportion. And for sure the railways get the blame when they're blocked in a way the Highways Agency doesn't get the blame if a road is blocked (compensation for arriving late due to a traffic jam, anyone?), but there is a case at some stations for providing more effective customer guidance, understanding too that in a developing situation no-one can provide 100% sure advise.