Total Weekend Closure of Reading 14-15 October

[whole diary]

[ChrisB]

The police were called at Reading (do they ever feature in the Blyton canon?) and we're now 22 late.

I think they cropped up in Five Skim The Tesco Cashpoint Again..

Or nire likely, Five go without paying the correct fare?

[chuffed]

I think we've discussed that at some length before, and we pretty much all agree that some sort of public apology from him should have been forthcoming.

Why not both him & Mark Carne of Network Rail making an aology together?

I think we would have to Mark that down as a non-starter or perhaps more directors than usual requiring essential maintenance.

[ChrisB]

Carne's the one at fault here...and has an advertising budget!

[broadgage]

Carne's the one at fault here...and has an advertising budget!

Cancel the adverts and use the advertising budget to buy some buses instead.
This latest fiasco is not a "one off" but simply the latest in a long series of network rail failures, including the failed re-signalling project around Reading, and of course the failure to electrify anything on time and to budget.

Each time a major failure occurs we hear the cries of "we cant keep a fleet of busses on standby" Well going by the recent performances, a fleet of buses on standby would get a fair bit of use.
I suspect that major electrification failures are going to be a regular feature of the improved railway.

[Timmer]

Why not both him & Mark Carne of Network Rail making an aology together?

They probably will like they have done in the past by letter. Still, when the first scheduled IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) runs on Monday, all that would have gone on this weekend will all be forgotten. 

[ChrisB]

Carne's the one at fault here...and has an advertising budget!

Cancel the adverts and use the advertising budget to buy some buses instead.
This latest fiasco is not a "one off" but simply the latest in a long series of network rail failures, including the failed re-signalling project around Reading, and of course the failure to electrify anything on time and to budget.

Each time a major failure occurs we hear the cries of "we cant keep a fleet of busses on standby" Well going by the recent performances, a fleet of buses on standby would get a fair bit of use.
I suspect that major electrification failures are going to be a regular feature of the improved railway.

Why should it be any different to say, the East Coast?

[stuving]

Carne's the one at fault here...and has an advertising budget!

Cancel the adverts and use the advertising budget to buy some buses instead.
This latest fiasco is not a "one off" but simply the latest in a long series of network rail failures, including the failed re-signalling project around Reading, and of course the failure to electrify anything on time and to budget.

Each time a major failure occurs we hear the cries of "we cant keep a fleet of busses on standby" Well going by the recent performances, a fleet of buses on standby would get a fair bit of use.
I suspect that major electrification failures are going to be a regular feature of the improved railway.

Why should it be any different to say, the East Coast?

The new system should be better. Specifically, the adoption of the design mantra "mechanically independent registration" should mean that a single fault can be isolated and one track closed, rather than all tracks closing pending repair. We'll see how that goes. 

[stuving]

I went into Reading, and there were just a couple of people getting off the Gatwick train expecting to get on another one. I also had a look at Reading West, which I expected to be closed but wasn't. There was a guy waiting for a train to Waterloo, but obviously he was very unfamiliar with the railways. He wasn't helped by the lack of specific signs saying "no trains from this station ..." - I could only see the wall poster and the same "no trains to Paddington" warning posters as at Reading, which of course do say there are trains to Waterloo.

From the top of Garrard Street car park, you could see some RRVs^▸ (Road Rail Vehicle) awaiting a call, and some orange figures hanging about. These guys were (as last time) across from Platform 6, and did have their long pole with them. However, when called into action they didn't use that, just opened one of the isolator control boxes. Incidentally, I referred to those switches as manual before, but perhaps some are remotely operated? I would expect them all to be detected and reported to the ECR, and perhaps the signallers, and of course have a place for padlocks.

While on the car park, two other guys came up with rather impressive cameras. As I went for the lift one was waiting too, but when the lift arrived two officious security staff got out and told him he needed permission to take pictures. They appeared not to have seen me do the same, so perhaps they react to big cameras not small ones or phones. What the two visitors were photographing was the Oktoberfest tent in Station Hill (no connection with with Reading Oktoberfest, which was in September). The guy I saw challenged had a beer stein in his hand, about quarter-full - I'd have thought that was more of a reason to challenge visitors, frankly!

[bobm]

Why not both him & Mark Carne of Network Rail making an aology together?

They probably will like they have done in the past by letter. Still, when the first scheduled IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) runs on Monday, all that would have gone on this weekend will all be forgotten. 

I suspect if there are to be any public apologies they won’t be until after the weekend - just in case the work doesn’t get finished and, heaven forbid, they need another blockade.

[broadgage]

Carne's the one at fault here...and has an advertising budget!

Cancel the adverts and use the advertising budget to buy some buses instead.
This latest fiasco is not a "one off" but simply the latest in a long series of network rail failures, including the failed re-signalling project around Reading, and of course the failure to electrify anything on time and to budget.

Each time a major failure occurs we hear the cries of "we cant keep a fleet of busses on standby" Well going by the recent performances, a fleet of buses on standby would get a fair bit of use.
I suspect that major electrification failures are going to be a regular feature of the improved railway.

Why should it be any different to say, the East Coast?

Firstly, the east coast scheme DOES fail regularly, particularly in windy weather.
Secondly, whilst the Western electrification LOOKS a lot more robust, I perceive that the ever growing "safety culture" will lead to more shutdowns.
For example, whilst a defective pantograph on a train should only affect one track, the elfansafety may require that adjacent tracks be closed "just to be sure"
Likewise I expect prolonged and wide area shutdowns to protect trespassers from the consequences of climbing electrification structures or adjacent roofs etc.
And we have already seen the chaos resulting from a single pigeon exploding.

[CJB666]

Huh - topic might have been total weekend closure of Paddington too. NO INFORMATION WHATSOEVER FOR LONG DISTANCE PAX. Hardly any staff on duty - certainly no 'gold braids or suits' in sight, and only ONE info. desk open.

All destinations displayed were either Maidenhead or Heathrow. Why nothing long distance via the Greenford or Chiltern routes or even from Waterloo? It has been done in the past.

No Heathrow Connects were running, so all Heathow pax. HAD to pay the extortionate HEX fares. And even a Connect consist was running masquerading as a HEX. Bet HEX pax. weren't too happy paying top prices to travel on the scummy Connect stock.

Despite most platforms beinf free the ex-Maidenhead locals were frequently berthed at platform 4 etc., where the gates don't accept Oysters^▸ (Smartcard system used by passengers on Transport for London services) or Freedom Passes. Bet there were quite a few penalty charges issued for folks not touching in or out. Another TfL^» (Transport for London - about) scam.

AND Network Rail in the wisdom that only the truly incompetent of companies can manage decided to do major works in the Clapham Junction and Waterloo areas necessitating cancellations of many services including those to / from Reading.

The utter incompetance and mismanagement - no it must be deliberate - of Network Rail, Great Western, and South Western over this weekend reached new depths of disdain towards its hapless presumably paying passengers, sorry - customers. None of these railcos are fit for purpose.

[SandTEngineer]

You obviously haven't read the rest of this topic.....

[ChrisB]

He tends to copy 'n paste his stuff from uk.railway duscussion group. Might be worth reading threads here rather than simply posting without reading?

[paul7575]

He tends to copy 'n paste his stuff from uk.railway duscussion group.

I'm sure out of 47 posts over 5 years or so very few have been anything else.   Just a way of widening the audience of his complaints, he hardly ever takes part in an actual discussion...

Paul

[grahame]

Each to their own way of writing, Gentlemen.  For sure, it's appreciated where text is quoted from another source that the source be given, as that avoids confusion and suggestions of plagiarism.  But if someone else's words reflect what you're thinking, an attributed quote is AOK.   Some of us - I used to be this way - find other's words much more expressive of what we're thinking - "I couldn't have put it that well".  But it does need attribution!


Moving on ... the 2 day closure of Reading on 16th and 17th September was heavily advertised as a "one time only" requirement, yet we learned very quickly thereafter that the work was not done and there would have to be another attempt.  Does anyone know if "they" are managing to do the work this time yet, or is there the possibility of a further weekend like this one?