Thames Valley infrastructure problems causing disruption elsewhere - 2016

[whole diary]

[Jason]

"Due to congestion between Reading and London Paddington trains have to run at reduced speed on the high speed line."

Ah thanks for that, I was wondering why I trundled into Paddington 10 minutes late.

[eightf48544]

"Due to congestion between Reading and London Paddington trains have to run at reduced speed on the high speed line"
 
How does the Thames Valley affect Ashford - St Pancras  ?

[GBM]

Not signals or points for once:

1A03 06.00 Bristol TM^‡(resolve) to Paddington late presenation at Reading causing out of booked order running ^{due to freight train overweight causing delays in the Swindon area}."[/i]

Forgive the ignorance, but I thought all freight was automatically weighed as it left any yard?

[JayMac]

Just relaying the industry feed. No idea on the freight weight that made things late before eight, mate. 

[broadgage]

Not signals or points for once:

1A03 06.00 Bristol TM^‡(resolve) to Paddington late presenation at Reading causing out of booked order running ^{due to freight train overweight causing delays in the Swindon area}."[/i]

Forgive the ignorance, but I thought all freight was automatically weighed as it left any yard?

Not normally, apart from any other reason most freight yards are not equipped with weighbridges.
The empty weight of all common types of freight wagons  are known, as are the maximum gross weights including contents.

Wagons for loose loads like ballast are either marked with a maximum load line, or are designed to be of such cubic capacity that they are full up before the weight becomes excessive.

I suspect that an overloaded freight train either contained more wagons than was planned for, or was perhaps of the normal weight but that an engine of inadequate capacity was sent, perhaps in error.
It sometimes happens that a freight is diverted via a different route that has either a higher line speed or steeper gradients than the usual route.  The train is then overweight/underpowered for the diversionary route and delay thereby caused.
A long and heavy freight that can only achieve say 40MPH on level track and 15 up a gradient, might be fine in Outer Worzelshire at 4AM but not near Paddington in the morning rush hour.

[GBM]

Thank you broadguage, that clears up my muddled brain-cell; and apologies to BNM as I wasn't challenging your post in any way.  Just thought all freight weights were known before they left any yard, so was puzzled as to why the weight of a train wasn't known.  This error now cleared up.

[laird]

The 0437 Whatley Quarry to Appleford Sidings does seem to adversely affect 1A02 and 1A03 when it runs late luckily it only runs on Wednesdays and Thursdays. I'm surprised at the specific cause given today, the practice seems to be to run the freight early to Westbury but it leaves late upsetting 1A03.

Shame 1A02 also had the ATP^▸ (Automatic Train Protection) problems between Maidenhead and Heathrow Airport Junction.

1A03 running late meant 1K71 ended up gaining its passengers at Reading prompting a 60 second late departure which in turn meant it missed its slot at Heathrow Airport Junction and therefore had to wait for 1Y31 from Terminal 5 which whilst on time leaving Heathrow was itself delayed en-route to the junction.
1K71 then also couldn't go in to its booked platform because the empty stock from 1A02 had been routed in to platform 9.

[TaplowGreen]

The 0437 Whatley Quarry to Appleford Sidings does seem to adversely affect 1A02 and 1A03 when it runs late luckily it only runs on Wednesdays and Thursdays. I'm surprised at the specific cause given today, the practice seems to be to run the freight early to Westbury but it leaves late upsetting 1A03.

Shame 1A02 also had the ATP^▸ (Automatic Train Protection) problems between Maidenhead and Heathrow Airport Junction.

1A03 running late meant 1K71 ended up gaining its passengers at Reading prompting a 60 second late departure which in turn meant it missed its slot at Heathrow Airport Junction and therefore had to wait for 1Y31 from Terminal 5 which whilst on time leaving Heathrow was itself delayed en-route to the junction.
1K71 then also couldn't go in to its booked platform because the empty stock from 1A02 had been routed in to platform 9.

  .........
amazing, that's exactly what I thought, took the words right out of my mouth! 

[IndustryInsider]

Just goes to show how every second can count otherwise a chain reaction can lead to significant delays.

[TaplowGreen]

........here we go again! 


Cancellations to services at Maidenhead


Due to a fault with the signalling system at Maidenhead all lines are blocked.
Train services running through this station may be cancelled, delayed by up to 90 minutes or revised. Disruption is expected until 11:30 23/10.
Customer Advice
Virgin Trains are conveying passengers between London Euston and Birmingham New Street in both directions until further notice.
South West Trains are conveying passengers between Reading and London Waterloo in both directions until further notice.
London Underground are conveying passengers via any reasonable route until further notice.
Cross Country are conveying passengers via any reasonable route until further notice.
London Midland are conveying passengers between Birmingham New Street and Worcester Shrub Hill in both directions until further notice.
Chiltern Railways are conveying passengers between London Marylebone and Banbury in both directions until further notice.

[IndustryInsider]

Axle Counter failure again.   

Wouldn't have been too bad, but there's an all day possession on the main lines so literally nowhere for anything to go until techs can sort the problem.  Points currently being secured so that trains can start moving (by being talked by one signal at danger in each direction).  NFL game at Twickenham means the Waterloo option is also complicated., but fortunate at least that it's happened early in the day rather than later on when many more are travelling.

[IndustryInsider]

Down trains (heading away from London) now on the move as of 10:00.  As are up services as well at 10:10.

[TaplowGreen]

Sounds like the recovery will be long and painful...........

Due to a fault with the signalling system at Maidenhead trains have to run at reduced speed on all London Paddington lines.
Train services running through this station will be cancelled, delayed by up to 75 minutes or revised. Disruption is expected until 12:30 23/10.
This is due to an axle counter failure at Maidenhead. Lines have reopened at Maidenhead however trains are having to be talked past signals on both lines due to the failure. Delays are to be expected.


This won't help either;

Delays to services at Oxford

Due to engineering works not being finished on time at Oxford:
Train services running through this station may be delayed by up to 40 minutes. Disruption is expected until 10:45 23/10.

[IndustryInsider]

Services to London need to be 'talked by' two red signals so that will take twice as long as those heading away from London that just need the one talking by.  Trains are at least getting though now and will be less and less delayed as the backlog is worked through and the odd train cancelled to thin things out a little.  The 08:10 from Weston Super Mare to Paddington only lost 5 minutes through the section thanks to the generous Sunday timing allowances.

You may have better things to do with your Sunday morning, but watching how the signallers are dealing with the issues on the map http://www.opentraintimes.com/maps/signalling/slough can be quite fascinating... 

[TonyK]

You may have better things to do with your Sunday morning, but watching how the signallers are dealing with the issues on the map http://www.opentraintimes.com/maps/signalling/slough can be quite fascinating... 

More important things, maybe, but they can wait.