Thames Valley infrastructure problems causing disruption elsewhere - 2017

[whole diary]

[Sixty3Closure]

No idea why but my train this morning was cancelled (06.53 from Twyford) - just after the previous very crowded one had left. Should have been a clue. There also seem to a lot of short formation trains recently. Has some stock already been redeployed or have they just been unlucky with breakdowns?

[Adelante_CCT]

It wasn't cancelled, it neglected to call at Twyford, presumably due to late running which was down to a freight train running late in the Oxford area.

[Jason]

Due to damage to the overhead electric wires between London Paddington and Maidenhead trains have to run at reduced speed on some lines.
Impact:
Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled or delayed by up to 30 minutes. Disruption is expected until 09:00 06/06.

[ChrisB]

Hmm. And it was cleared around that time.

Doesn't wire damage taken longer to attend, assess & fix than just over an hour or so?

[John R]

http://www.itv.com/news/meridian/update/2017-06-06/new-electric-trains-face-delays-weeks-after-launch/

ITV reporting "loss of power" and arcing around West Ealing.

Maybe three units has turned out to be one too many?

[Jason]

Not a good day for Maidenhead...

Following a points failure at Maidenhead some lines towards London Paddington have now reopened.
Impact: Train services running through this station may be delayed by up to 50 minutes. Disruption is expected until 12:45 06/06.

[TaplowGreen]

http://www.itv.com/news/meridian/update/2017-06-06/new-electric-trains-face-delays-weeks-after-launch/

ITV reporting "loss of power" and arcing around West Ealing.

Maybe three units has turned out to be one too many?

Frankly? Pathetic. Overdue, overspent, over promised.

[IndustryInsider]

From the NR^» (Network Rail - home page) log:

07:52 TVSC^» (Thames Valley Signalling Centre - about) SSM reports that they have lost all the overheads between Paddington & Hayes due to some sort of flash over. TVSC SSM speaking with the ECO^▸ (Electrical Control Officer) to sort out a reset.

So I would imagine the arcing near West Ealing tripped something which caused the power to fail between Paddington and Hayes, so not on the newly electrified section of track, and I would imagine the extra draw from the new electrics would not have been the cause, though perhaps ElectricTrain could clarify?

In all honesty it was reset within 15 minutes by the Electrical Control Officer and didn't really cause any very significant delays, but that and a combination of other issues (fire bells going off in a HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) cab being one, a driver injury another) combined to result in a very poor morning peak.

[chrisr_75]

In all honesty it was reset within 15 minutes by the Electrical Control Officer and didn't really cause any very significant delays

According to the NR^» (Network Rail - home page) spokesperson in the linked article above, the fault was reset in 12 minutes, which strikes me as being pretty efficient really.

a driver injury another

This is an unusual one - can you elaborate?!

[IndustryInsider]

a driver injury another

This is an unusual one - can you elaborate?!

Only to say that it happened whilst changing ends at Slough and (I think) caused one off the platforms to be blocked for 25 minutes.

[TaplowGreen]

A pretty grim day, especially in both peaks,  all sorts of issues, Paddington was chaotic tonight, very poorly managed - seems to be sorting itself out now, let's hope for better tomorrow.


Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading


Following a safety inspection on a train between London Paddington and Reading all lines are now open.
Train services running to and from these stations are returning to normal but some services may still be cancelled, delayed by up to 20 minutes or revised. Disruption is expected until 21:00 06/06.

[ChrisB]

There appears to have been a fatality somewhere, so not all the railway's cause

[Chris from Nailsea]

Possibly this sad incident - from DevonLive:

One person dead after being hit by train at Tiverton

A person has been killed after being struck by a train near Tiverton Parkway Station.

British Transport Police has confirmed that they were called at 12.08pm on Tuesday to reports of an incident. Trains services have been disrupted.

A spokesman for British Transport Police said: "We were called to reports of a person being struck by a train in the area of Tiverton Parkway railway station. Sadly we can confirm the person has passed away. It is not being treated as suspicious at this time."

[John R]

As an aside the 0509 Plymouth to Paddington this morning didn't have a 1st class customer host until Bath Spa.  Why?  Because the person rostered was 2 hrs late back yesterday and thus didn't have the minimum break (12hrs) before booking on again. Presumably other (more important) rosters were also affected thus needing some rejigging of this morning's rosters at relatively short notice.

Now clearly this was the most trifling of inconveniences, but it demonstrates how any disruption can have knock on effects well beyond what many people not involved in running the railway might expect.

Thoughts as always with the family and all those directly affected by yesterday's sad incident.

[W5tRailfinder]

Noticed this morning on OpenTrainTimes that the Slough-Windsor unit failed at Windsor.

It was rescued by cancelling a Paddington-Reading local service at Slough. This unit then went down the branch and brought the failed unit back to Slough platform 2. The units then split. The failed unit then set off for Reading (I assume a problem with the London end driving vehicle) and the rescue unit went back onto the branch.

When all the 165/166s on the main line are replaced they won't be able to do this. The sooner the branch is electrified the better.