Victoria Closure Sunday Evening

[whole diary]

[CJB666]

Massive disruption at Victoria (London) last night Sunday. At about 18.00 ex-Brighton train just entering the station came to a sharp juddering halt. Indistinct announcement from the driver. Then the lights dimmed out. And there we stayed for TWO hours. Could easily have walked onto the platform. The front end of the train was at the platform. So WTF? Appalling attitude by the staff keeping us locked up for TWO hours just outside the station, no announcements, no air-con, no water. Eventually the lights came back on, and the train continued into the platform. No apologies from any staff, no delay repay, no water, no ‘are you OK?’, and TWO hours delayed with connections well missed. And now no info. on the web as to what happened. Does anyone know?

[Witham Bobby]

Massive disruption at Victoria (London) last night Sunday. At about 18.00 ex-Brighton train just entering the station came to a sharp juddering halt. Indistinct announcement from the driver. Then the lights dimmed out. And there we stayed for TWO hours. Could easily have walked onto the platform. The front end of the train was at the platform. So WTF? Appalling attitude by the staff keeping us locked up for TWO hours just outside the station, no announcements, no air-con, no water. Eventually the lights came back on, and the train continued into the platform. No apologies from any staff, no delay repay, no water, no ‘are you OK?’, and TWO hours delayed with connections well missed. And now no info. on the web as to what happened. Does anyone know?

I can't offer any thoughts on what might have caused this very bad experience, but it's a disgrace that the initial coming to a stand of the train was made many times worse by what happened thereafter.  Whatever happened to nous?

[Mark A]

Sorry to hear that. That's poor.

Mark

[Ollie]

There was a fatality last night, your train would've lost power when the power to the 3rd rail was switched off. When the train loses power on board facilities do stop working as only so long the trains battery can handle on board services. As for your other experiences, couldn't say, be worth sending an email to Southern.

[CJB666]

Heard it was one of those eco protesters glued themselves to the track, then got hit. Meanwhile staff did sfa to help passengers when they finally got released after two hours entrapment.

[broadgage]

There was a fatality last night, your train would've lost power when the power to the 3rd rail was switched off. When the train loses power on board facilities do stop working as only so long the trains battery can handle on board services. As for your other experiences, couldn't say, be worth sending an email to Southern.

All but the very smallest and simplest public buildings are required to have emergency lighting that operates for three hours in case of power failure.
Yet on trains this seems to be optional or a low priority.

[broadgage]

Heard it was one of those eco protesters glued themselves to the track, then got hit. Meanwhile staff did sfa to help passengers when they finally got released after two hours entrapment.

Is anyone able to confirm or deny this ?

IF TRUE, I am appalled. I have considerable sympathy with the aims and concerns of Extinction Rebellion and related groups. But I can not support the disruption of public transport. If these groups are serious about minimising fossil fuel use then they should be encouraging use of public transport, not disrupting this.

[stuving]

There were several cancellations during the afternoon attributed to "high winds", presumably as a precaution rather than actual stuff on the track (which is given a different label". But from just after 6 pm, a flood of cancellations due to "trespass". That kind of thing often gets reported, even at a lower level of disruption. So, whatever the specific cause, the lack of news items on it is surprising.

[Ollie]

There was a fatality last night, your train would've lost power when the power to the 3rd rail was switched off. When the train loses power on board facilities do stop working as only so long the trains battery can handle on board services. As for your other experiences, couldn't say, be worth sending an email to Southern.

All but the very smallest and simplest public buildings are required to have emergency lighting that operates for three hours in case of power failure.
Yet on trains this seems to be optional or a low priority.

I can't speak for all train types, but certainly with the newer models I'm familiar with, there is lighting that will stay on, but you're looking at about an hour, or 2 - possibly longer with intervention to try and reduce load on the batteries. Control teams are well aware of limitations in this respect though for stranded trains and would take it into account when making decisions in regards to arranging evacuation or train to train rescues.

[CJB666]

There were several cancellations during the afternoon attributed to "high winds", presumably as a precaution rather than actual stuff on the track (which is given a different label". But from just after 6 pm, a flood of cancellations due to "trespass". That kind of thing often gets reported, even at a lower level of disruption. So, whatever the specific cause, the lack of news items on it is surprising.

‘The flood of cancellations’ was due to the sole trespasser that caused our train to shudder to a halt just before the platform. All the other surrounding tracks had trains already parked at platforms, but the current to all of the tracks was switched off. Hence the ‘flood’ of cancellations - presumably all were departures. It seems that we were the only arrival directly affected. Quite why we could not have detrained from the front onto the nearest platform is a moot point, especially after the current had been switched off. One thing was the first announcement from the driver did not mention a ‘one under’ only a ‘trespasser.’ Apparently said ‘trespasser’ had either been hit by our train, or he was running around all over the tracks with the ‘emergency services’ in hot pursuit. From what the driver announced I got the impression that the ‘trespasser’ was deemed to be one of those eco loons.

[Electric train]

A person had been electrocuted.  It takes time for the Police to release the scene and the body to be recovered. 

[broadgage]

Thanks for the updates.

[CJB666]

A person had been electrocuted.  It takes time for the Police to release the scene and the body to be recovered. 

Sorry about that. But why were we not allowed to detrain at the platform since the current was switched off? And two hours to get a body off the tracks seems a very long time. Being electrocuted implies he / she was running all over the tracks for some reason.

[broadgage]

A person had been electrocuted.  It takes time for the Police to release the scene and the body to be recovered. 

Sorry about that. But why were we not allowed to detrain at the platform since the current was switched off? And two hours to get a body off the tracks seems a very long time. Being electrocuted implies he / she was running all over the tracks for some reason.

"Keep them on the trains, no matter what" seems to be the general policy. If any passengers escape then blame the whole incident on "passenger action"

[grahame]

A person had been electrocuted.  It takes time for the Police to release the scene and the body to be recovered. 

Sorry about that. But why were we not allowed to detrain at the platform since the current was switched off? And two hours to get a body off the tracks seems a very long time. Being electrocuted implies he / she was running all over the tracks for some reason.

I can appreciate your frustration.  But, no, it's not a long time with the steps and stages to be gone through.  I thank goodness it's a rare occurrence and that means the people doing the job are not gone to be quick and slick - they'll be methodical and safe.  And they'll be in something of a state of shock themselves - something they don't want to induce in passengers too by having them walk past the scene.