Thames Valley infrastructure problems causing disruption elsewhere - 2015

[whole diary]

[Tim]

Plenty around, you just haven't noticed them

there is plenty around, but clearly not enough.  Just a thought, but why can't rail be delivered from the factory with white paint already on it?  Must be easier and cheaper and safer to install in the factory than out on the track. Seems to be newer track that is more prone to buckling as it may not yet have been tensioned.   

[ChrisB]

Done to highlight specific areas that are going to cause real problems if it even moves by millimetres - such as points, crossovers, etc. Continuous rail is more easily tensioned.

[chrisr_75]

Done to highlight specific areas that are going to cause real problems if it even moves by millimetres - such as points, crossovers, etc. Continuous rail is more easily tensioned.

Continuous Welded Rail also has appropriate expansion joints anyway and is designed to expand and contract freely, within certain environmental constraints of course, so is less of an issue on open track. I believe the main issue is with fixed track, primarily at and in short sections between points and crossovers, which has less space to expand than CWR^▸ (Continuously Welded Rail) and you will see the white paint applied to the sides of the rails at these locations across the 'western region'.

It doesn't appear to be something that has been adopted nationally for some reason and as I recall from a bit of googling when I first noticed the white paint, it is a 'Western' region thing going back many years.

Quite why this appears to be such an issue in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) and not so much in countries on the continent that experience much larger annual temperature ranges is beyond me!

[Andrew1939 from West Oxon]

Long stretches of the Cotswold Line, particularly between Hanborough and Combe have had all trees removed over the past year - at what must have been an enormous cost. I had assumed that this was to reduce the Autumn leaf fall making the tracks slippery. If sunlight makes the rails more prone to buckling in high temperatures it would seem that one risk of problems seems to have been replaced with another as the rails are now in the blazing sun instead of being sheltered from direct sunlight.

[Jason]

This is flagging as a major disruption on the website.

"Due to signalling problems between London Paddington and Reading trains have to run at reduced speed on all lines.
Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed by up to 20 mins. Disruption is expected until 20:00 30/06."

[TonyK]

8 late at BTT today, for all three trains due around the time I was there.

[NickB]

All TV out of Paddington look rather messy at the moment. I'm on the 17.49 to Worcester that hasn't left yet and is now becoming overcrowded as the Maidenhead 18.18 crowd arrive and spy an earlier/better service.

[TaplowGreen]

This is flagging as a major disruption on the website.

"Due to signalling problems between London Paddington and Reading trains have to run at reduced speed on all lines.
Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed by up to 20 mins. Disruption is expected until 20:00 30/06."

So two sets of signal failures today (so far) and heat related disruption too on a very warm day..........tomorrow it will be v v hot, up to 96 degrees if forecasts are to be believed.....meltdown?

[NickB]

Now the brakes on the 17.49 set are broken. 😢

[NickB]

I really can't convey how much I hate rail travel right now. Whether it's the fault of fgw or network rail or Bob the builder I couldn't care less, it's just crap.

[TaplowGreen]

I really can't convey how much I hate rail travel right now. Whether it's the fault of fgw or network rail or Bob the builder I couldn't care less, it's just crap.

Hear hear, sums it up very succinctly!

[IndustryInsider]

So two sets of signal failures today (so far) and heat related disruption too on a very warm day..........tomorrow it will be v v hot, up to 96 degrees if forecasts are to be believed.....meltdown?

I would hope roughly the same as today.  A pretty good morning peak before the real heat arrives, followed by a few targeted and sensible speed precautions and cancellations leading to the majority of trains running, though with delays that slowly get worse throughout the afternoon, as crew and trains start to get displaced and the peak heat levels arrive. 

There may be the odd train failure, like today, as the systems on them get tested more than usual leading to the possibility of more failures than you might usually expect - just in the same way that the RAC usually get 20-30% more call outs on hot days for car breakdowns.  Hopefully there won't be 'meltdown' but certainly don't expect there not to be at least some disruption, especially later in the afternoon.

[NickB]

Looks fairly much like a meltdown from where I'm sat stood.
Trying to be constructive about things what vexes me is that adjustments to schedules aren't made to accommodate the flow of passengers from cancelled trains when specific peaks of destination are obvious.

Case in point being the services to Maidenhead which peak at 18.18 where all 6 carriages literally empty at Maidenhead.

So, what has happened today to let me call it a meltdown...
- the 17.49 via Maidenhead is held in platform soaking up most of the 18.18 flow.
- 17.49 develops brake fault and is eventually cancelled.
- 18.18 has just left half empty.
- 18.25 stopping service is declared as the next train to Maidenhead.
- 18.25 is 3 carriages not 6 and is dangerously overcrowded with people fainting and water being shared between passengers.
- 18.25 takes 45mins to reach southall where we are told that a train in front has broken down.
- in the meantime the 19.05 to Maidenhead is also cancelled.
- I've now taken 2hrs from arriving at Paddington to reach Langley and I have no idea when I will reach home. This is why I call it a meltdown.

Wouldn't it have been nice to add Maidenhead as a first stop on any of those Reading Hst sets??

[BBM]

The Henley Branch User Group (@HenleyBUG) tweeted earlier this evening that a train had hit a tyre on the track at Slough and another one in the same area had suffered a broken windscreen. I noticed that the 16.49 PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)-OXF^» (Oxford - next trains) was terminated at SLO so I wonder if that train was one of the two mentioned in the tweet?

[bobm]

A Bristol bound High Speed Train (HST^▸ (High Speed Train)) made an extra call at Slough to pick up the stranded passengers from the Oxford train.

Edit: VickiS - Clarifying Acronym