Thames Valley infrastructure problems causing disruption elsewhere - 2016

[whole diary]

[charles_uk]

And this evening....

Alterations to services between Slough and London Paddington

Due to a fault with the signalling system between Slough and London Paddington trains have to run at reduced speed on some lines.

Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed by up to 25 minutes or revised. Disruption is expected until 21:00 15/11.

[BBM]

Apparently this morning's engineering blockade between Reading and Paddington which was due to finish at 1230 has overrun with no current estimate as to when it will be lifted. Presumably the rail replacement buses have already stopped as planned?

EDIT: Tweet just now from GWRHelp: "Alternative transport cannot be arranged for all services so current advice is to hold off on travel".

[jdw.wor]

My wife was at Paddington (going to Worcester) and has suffered the problems.  As the first train out of Paddington to Reading was the 1202 (I think)Cardiff I hope the works were due to finish before 1230.

If anyone connected with this issue at GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) or NR^» (Network Rail - home page) is reading this please help me understand and let me know the following

a) When was it known there would be an overrun and how long was it expected to be.
b) Why were contingency plans not arranged immediately (on knowing of a delay) and their outcome transmitted to the staff at Paddington in time. (at 1240 my wife was told that no arrangements had been confirmed with Virgin (despite her asking to travel via Marylebone to Birmingham Moor St and on to Worcester). She has now been told to travel via Oxford Parkway with no guarantee a train will be in place at Oxford for onward travel. I suspect (hope) one of the up Worcesters may be terminated short to provide a service but, again, no one had a clue

It would be only fair to point out that I have had close connections with issues such as these in the past and I find it hard to understand that Paddington information staff had nothing to offer at 1230 other than "trains are delayed please wait for further information"

Also can we do something about the information that is put on GWR website when things such as this occur. Today the first information was loaded after the first train was due to have left and the HEADLINE said trains were delayed between Slough and Southall. To the average uninformed passenger this does not mean the railway between London and Reading is closed.

I still am heavily pro rail but this continuing inability to provide timely and reasonably accurate information in such situations tests my faith (and I do know how complicated the problems are)

[eightf48544]

We took our neighbours to Slough for the 12:40 (10:23 ex Worcester Foregate Street) AXED at Reading!

Just heard from them they are a bus from Slough to Padd.

So quite quick reaction from GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway). 

[jdw.wor]

Chiltern came up trumps and got my wife to Oxford for 14.30 only to find the 14.52 to Worcester is cancelled and the following 15.52 is "delayed". As she is now 2hrs+ late I am hoping a taxi will be provided.

Just been phoned to tell me that a cab has been arranged and that Oxford staff have treated her well, both with information and civility. Thank you Oxford

[jdw.wor]

My last post on this subject!
At 1508 the first page of the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) website still says there are no trains between Paddington and Reading (there are) whilst another, further in the site, says trains are returning to normal. Unfortunately the last paragraph of this page completely  contradicts it be re-asserting that the line is closed. Who is responsible for this information and does it not get checked!

[TaplowGreen]

I'm guessing this is the contradictory message you are referring to (italicised)

Following earlier engineering works not being finished on time between Reading and London Paddington all lines have now reopened.
Train services running to and from these stations are returning to normal but some services may still be cancelled, delayed by up to 60 minutes or revised. Disruption is expected until 16:30 27/11.
Customer Advice
Chiltern Railways, Cross Country and South West Trains are conveying passengers via any reasonable route until further notice.
Underground services are conveying passengers via any reasonable route until further notice.
London Buses  are conveying passengers via any reasonable route until further notice. Arrangements have been made for Great Western Railway rail tickets to be accepted for these journeys.
Additional Information
Services are resuming operation on routes between London Paddington and Reading but for the next couple of hours these are expected to be very busy owing to the extent of disruption and we thank you for your patience and understanding of the situation.
Further Information
An update will follow within the next 1 hour.
Owing to engineering work in the Maidenhead area not being completed on time we are currently unable to operate any train service between London Paddington and Reading until further notice, including the local branch lines.

[eightf48544]

Doesn't bode well for Xmas/New Year when there's 10 times more work going on.

[grahame]

Doesn't bode well for Xmas/New Year when there's 10 times more work going on.

Except that there's only one ending to ten times the work.   Question is - are over-runs naturally serial (cumulative) or parallel (concurrent)?

[Chris from Nailsea]

Question is - are over-runs naturally serial (cumulative) or parallel (concurrent)?

No, you're doing my head in now! 

[Jason]

So I woke up to quite a mixed bag this morning, now mostly cleared

No service between Bourne End and Marlow

Signalling fault with the between Reading and Slough

Track closures at Didcot

[lordgoata]

You can add in a broken down train at Twyford this morning, which caused yet further delays. It got going eventually.

By the way, does anyone know why the 0625 from Banbury is constantly being delayed/held at Didcot ? It forms the 0738 from Goring and I can't remember the last time it was actually on time, its been anything from 3-10 minutes late almost constantly for months ?

I know why this morning (multiple HST^▸ (High Speed Train) services came down the relief lines), but the other days it seems to be on time at Didcot, but then leaves late.

[BBM]

By the way, does anyone know why the 0625 from Banbury is constantly being delayed/held at Didcot ? It forms the 0738 from Goring and I can't remember the last time it was actually on time, its been anything from 3-10 minutes late almost constantly for months ?

I know why this morning (multiple HST^▸ (High Speed Train) services came down the relief lines), but the other days it seems to be on time at Didcot, but then leaves late.

The same thing often seems to happen about an hour earlier with the 0550 from Oxford which I get from Twyford at 0653 (it calls Goring at 0630). It too is quite frequently held at Didcot and most annoyingly if it arrives there a few minutes late it often also leaves a few minutes late even though it's scheduled to wait there for 11 minutes.

[Adelante_CCT]

By the way, does anyone know why the 0625 from Banbury is constantly being delayed/held at Didcot ?

Flicking back through it appears to be the XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) service 06:04 from Birmingham which the turbo waits at Didcot for that causes the problem, which is caused in itself by the occasional late running of the 05:53 Birmingham to Euston which runs semi-fast to Coventry and holds up the XC.

Until the XC has gone round the curve at Didcot, assuming it's only a small delay then the turbo gets held at Didcot.

So blame services that are 100 miles away for your train being delayed 

[IndustryInsider]

Until the XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) has gone round the curve at Didcot, assuming it's only a small delay then the turbo gets held at Didcot.

So blame services that are 100 miles away for your train being delayed 

The congestion at Didcot is slowly getting worse as more and more trains are squeezed through.  Although there's less freight trains overall due to the drastic reduction in coal trains, the number of freight movements through Didcot seems to increase year on year.  I've mentioned it before, but now Reading has been largely sorted, Didcot is the new pinch-point and a grade separated junction east of the station is looking likely to be the best solution, and would be more beneficial IMHO^▸ (in my humble opinion) than 4-tracking Didcot to Oxford which has been getting some mentions recently.  Both would be nice of course!

You only have to watch the opentraintimes map to see how the London bound stoppers are often delayed by a few minutes (at least half of them I would say) waiting for either delayed XC trains in either direction or for freights to pass by, or (worst of the lot) for a freight to crawl into Didcot Yard.  The performance implications don't get highlighted as much as they might - most of the stoppers have five or so minutes layover at Reading - but that's not much consolation to users of the Thames Valley stations.