Thames Valley infrastructure problems causing disruption elsewhere - 2018

[whole diary]

[Birdie100]

The 18.59 driver this evening was particularly witty in his announcement outside Acton, inviting any passengers with an engineering or operations background to submit a CV to ‘runtherailwayproperly.com’! When staff morale is that low it says a lot! On the other hand, the humour makes the inevitable delay a smidge better...

[TaplowGreen]

Just to add to the joy, according to the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) twitter feed there is no ticket acceptance in place with Chiltern or South West, so the Waterloo Reading/Windsor fallback isn't an option, or Chiltern to Oxford?

One could see the temptation to go via Chiltern or South West, and claim that one had been told this was OK.
In your particular case though I would not try this after posting on a public forum.

Quote from GWR is that there is no acceptance via Waterloo/Marylebone  because "although there are cancellations there are still services running" (out of Paddington) - seems to suggest a change in policy during times of mass disruption?

[Timmer]

The 18.59 driver this evening was particularly witty in his announcement outside Acton, inviting any passengers with an engineering or operations background to submit a CV to ‘runtherailwayproperly.com’! When staff morale is that low it says a lot! On the other hand, the humour makes the inevitable delay a smidge better...

I’m sure that driver is one of many who feels that way.

[mjones]

Just to add to the joy, according to the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) twitter feed there is no ticket acceptance in place with Chiltern or South West, so the Waterloo Reading/Windsor fallback isn't an option, or Chiltern to Oxford?

One could see the temptation to go via Chiltern or South West, and claim that one had been told this was OK.
In your particular case though I would not try this after posting on a public forum.

Quote from GWR is that there is no acceptance via Waterloo/Marylebone  because "although there are cancellations there are still services running" (out of Paddington) - seems to suggest a change in policy during times of mass disruption?

But aren't a lot of tickets already valid via Waterloo and Reading? I've travelled back to Didcot that way without difficulty more than once, using a Travel card. I actually checked the online Routing Guide, and it looked valid,  as far as I could understand it anyway!

[didcotdean]

Maybe SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) and Chiltern don't want to attempt to deal with hoards of diverted people seemingly every day unless there really isn't a going alternative. A number of the Chiltern services to Oxford were short of a carriage today as well.

[a-driver]

The track fault in the Acton area was a buckled rail presumably as a result of high track temperatures should all be rectified by the start of service tomorrow..... should.

[ellendune]

The track fault in the Acton area was a buckled rail presumably as a result of high track temperatures should all be rectified by the start of service tomorrow..... should.

Shouldn't have buckled in these temperatures - unless it was a lot hotter there.  Is this because the rail had not been destressed after engineering works?

[TaplowGreen]

The track fault in the Acton area was a buckled rail presumably as a result of high track temperatures should all be rectified by the start of service tomorrow..... should.

Really? What is classified as "high temperatures?" It's been pleasantly warm over the last few days but barely into the 20s. Is this just the usual lack of resilience? God knows what it'll be like in "flaming" June/July if it really gets hot.....presumably the whole system will just liquify?

[a-driver]

The track fault in the Acton area was a buckled rail presumably as a result of high track temperatures should all be rectified by the start of service tomorrow..... should.

Really? What is classified as "high temperatures?" It's been pleasantly warm over the last few days but barely into the 20s. Is this just the usual lack of resilience? God knows what it'll be like in "flaming" June/July if it really gets hot.....presumably the whole system will just liquify?

Air temperature and rail temperature are two different things. You can have air temperatures in the 20s but if the rail is in direct sunlight the temperature can reach well into the 30s.
Having read a bit more, the section of track already had a temporary speed restriction over it so it might not entirely be heat related.

[a-driver]

The track fault in the Acton area was a buckled rail presumably as a result of high track temperatures should all be rectified by the start of service tomorrow..... should.

Due to urgent repairs to the track between London Paddington and Ealing Broadway some lines are blocked.

Impact:
Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled or delayed by up to 60 minutes. Disruption is expected until 10:00 16/05.

Emegency Engineering Overun by 3 hours. Line expected to be handed back at 09:00 on Wed 16th.

Well that was predictable.  Contingency plan 2 remains in place.

[Timmer]

Now 10am.

Third day in a row for long suffering Thames Valley commuters.

[lordgoata]

Everything out of Didcot cancelled or delayed since I got here at 0620. What's the betting the first one not cancelled is the 2-car Banbury to Reading.....

[johoare]

They might be best to just give up and declare a void week... Another horrible commute coming up.. Most Mai to pad services are cancelled again

[Birdie100]

This morning the station dispatcher at maidenhead decided to encourage us all into the stopper at 6.59 from Furze Platt. Bit disappointed on checking the app to discover this won’t get in to Paddington until 7.45am but even the delayed 7.06am is due in by 7.35am.

[Jason]

Everything out of Didcot cancelled or delayed since I got here at 0620. What's the betting the first one not cancelled is the 2-car Banbury to Reading.....

Broken down train. Now Reading is congested due to poor service regulation as a result of that.