Thames Valley infrastructure problems causing disruption elsewhere - 2020

[whole diary]

[NickB]

My feeling is that it was due to lack of accurate information from the driver. We were told from the outset that there were delays ahead, and those of us with access to the right internet sites could see that the train ahead ran more or less on time to West Drayton but then incurred a 45min delay.
However the news from the driver was of the ‘I don’t know what the cause of the delay is’ variety, accompanied by ‘we should be on the move shortly/in less than 5mins’.  That approach keeps the passengers optimistic but when fed continually over a 40min wait in the platform doesn’t encourage anyone to venture far from the train - and certainly not to go and seek a radar key!

I find it utterly astonishing that only a couple of years ago FGW^▸ (First Great Western) (as was) we’re ripping seats out of overcrowded turbos to create their big red disabled toilets, and now tfl can run services on the same route with no toilets at all!!

[Jason]

Due to the electricity being switched off for safety reasons between Slough and Hayes & Harlington some lines are blocked.
Impact:
Train services running through these stations may be delayed. Disruption is expected until 17:15 08/01.

[Thatcham Crossing]

Due to the electricity being switched off for safety reasons between Slough and Hayes & Harlington some lines are blocked.

Just watching on the Slough Railcam and it appears all up traffic is on the Relief, and crawling through the area.
Looks like 1K55 (a Newbury-Paddington 387) is stuck on the Up Main between Slough and Langley?

[TaplowGreen]

Due to the electricity being switched off for safety reasons between Slough and Hayes & Harlington some lines are blocked.

Just watching on the Slough Railcam and it appears all up traffic is on the Relief, and crawling through the area.
Looks like 1K55 (a Newbury-Paddington 387) is stuck on the Up Main between Slough and Langley?

I was at Slough and saw it happen......387 came barrelling through, there was a huge bang, flash of orange and down came some of the wires...…...there were some spotters on Platform 3 whose levels of excitement at what had happened seemed to know no bounds...….2 of them were seen to be offering advice to the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) chap who was trying to make an initial assessment which given the look on his face he could have done without!

According to said GWR chap, all lines were very briefly closed but then they started routing most down the slow lines, still quite a few delays though, now pushed out until 1915.

I was very lucky and jumped on the TFL^▸ (Transport for London) stopper which was approaching Slough when it happened and crawled onwards after a 5 minute wait (the train, not me!)

[IndustryInsider]

Damaged dropper, which that train's pantograph hit causing pan to drop and section to trip.  All fine with minimal damage after that dropper was removed with normal working resumed at 17:42, but heavy traffic delayed repair staff so trains routed through the up relief platform whilst waiting for them.  I would imagine proper repairs will take place overnight?

https://66.media.tumblr.com/ee8ba40fda563d662d31c48e65d4e288/tumblr_inline_pfvxb1EaGt1srob4n_1280.png 

I imagine that sort of thing have required a full isolation on the older style 'headspan' OHLE and trains would have been stopped for ages, instead of regaining 75% of capacity within a few minutes?

[NickB]

GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Journeycheck (un)helpfully suggesting that passengers should just hop on a TFL^▸ (Transport for London) service to Reading instead.

[nickswift99]

I think this has been the first significant incident since the timetable change. I’d be interested in how people think it went given the increase in services and what appears to have been a limited number of cancellations.

[TonyK]

Damaged dropper, which that train's pantograph hit causing pan to drop and section to trip.  All fine with minimal damage after that dropper was removed with normal working resumed at 17:42, but heavy traffic delayed repair staff so trains routed through the up relief platform whilst waiting for them.  I would imagine proper repairs will take place overnight?

https://66.media.tumblr.com/ee8ba40fda563d662d31c48e65d4e288/tumblr_inline_pfvxb1EaGt1srob4n_1280.png 

I imagine that sort of thing have required a full isolation on the older style 'headspan' OHLE and trains would have been stopped for ages, instead of regaining 75% of capacity within a few minutes?

It is good that the effect on rail services wasn't the degree of total and catastrophic that we have become used to, but is it worrying that the failure of such a small part caused such disruption?

[stuving]

Damaged dropper, which that train's pantograph hit causing pan to drop and section to trip.  All fine with minimal damage after that dropper was removed with normal working resumed at 17:42, but heavy traffic delayed repair staff so trains routed through the up relief platform whilst waiting for them.  I would imagine proper repairs will take place overnight?

https://66.media.tumblr.com/ee8ba40fda563d662d31c48e65d4e288/tumblr_inline_pfvxb1EaGt1srob4n_1280.png 

I imagine that sort of thing have required a full isolation on the older style 'headspan' OHLE and trains would have been stopped for ages, instead of regaining 75% of capacity within a few minutes?

It is good that the effect on rail services wasn't the degree of total and catastrophic that we have become used to, but is it worrying that the failure of such a small part caused such disruption?

That's really just the nature of the system, being a network. Big interconnected systems tend to have this "every little bit's gotta work" principle, though railways do have it more than some others. It does make it harder work getting resilience up to a worthwhile level - this was one of the main reasons why buses took over from trams and trolleybuses, after all. 

Maybe we need one of those Cummings-approved oddballs to bring the ideas behind IP routeing into railways? Obviously it would be possible if you rebuilt all those parallel lines Beeching closed, and then built a load more ... just as long as you don't mind having no idea which route you'll be travelling on, or how long it will take.

[Electric train]

Damaged dropper, which that train's pantograph hit causing pan to drop and section to trip.  All fine with minimal damage after that dropper was removed with normal working resumed at 17:42, but heavy traffic delayed repair staff so trains routed through the up relief platform whilst waiting for them.  I would imagine proper repairs will take place overnight?

https://66.media.tumblr.com/ee8ba40fda563d662d31c48e65d4e288/tumblr_inline_pfvxb1EaGt1srob4n_1280.png 

I imagine that sort of thing have required a full isolation on the older style 'headspan' OHLE and trains would have been stopped for ages, instead of regaining 75% of capacity within a few minutes?

Not necessarily, displaced droppers happen quite often, they are designed to give way if hit by a pan and the pan is designed to drop.

Risk on units with a single pan is it may need another unit to rescue it.

NR^» (Network Rail - home page)'s MOMs^▸ (Mobile Operations Manager) (Mobile Operations Managers) are trained to use live line poles with a range of attachments to remove objects from the OLE^▸ (Overhead Line Equipment, more often "OHLE") including damaged droppers.  This allows the resumption of traffic usually at a reduced speed until the OLE maintenance team arrive to assess if normal running can resume

[IndustryInsider]

Thanks for that, ET.  I believe that different rules apply if there has been a ADD^▸ (Automatic Dropping Device) in an area of headspan Over-Head Line Equipment (OHLE) as opposed to cantilever or portal, which will likely delay resumption of normal working?

Edit: VickiS - Clarifying Acronym

[Gordon the Blue Engine]

I noticed in Lisbon (the Portugal one) that the tram operator has a scissors jack vehicle with the platform mounted on 4 insulators, so they could maintain/repair the overhead wires while still live.  Sometimes they would just move the vehicle out of the way when a tram came along.

Of course they had to remember not to touch anything on the wrong side of the insulators while they were up there.  And I accept that a Risk Assessment may rule out that method of working for 25kV!

[Oxonhutch]

And I accept that a Risk Assessment may rule out that method of working for 25kV!

The laws of physics still apply - just use bigger insulators !  

[stuving]

I noticed in Lisbon (the Portugal one) that the tram operator has a scissors jack vehicle with the platform mounted on 4 insulators, so they could maintain/repair the overhead wires while still live.  Sometimes they would just move the vehicle out of the way when a tram came along.

Of course they had to remember not to touch anything on the wrong side of the insulators while they were up there.  And I accept that a Risk Assessment may rule out that method of working for 25kV!

Oddly enough, when I was in Lisbon I saw a couple of blokes dragging a steel tower on wheels around in the street - but no insulators. They were checking the (mains) bulbs in strings of decorative lights, which in the dark and drizzle seemed dodgy enough. But there were tram OLE^▸ (Overhead Line Equipment, more often "OHLE") wires too, and the tower only just passed under them.

Now that was 25 years ago, and I'm sure practices and attitudes to safety have moved on a lot since then. Likewise on the local trains, where you'd see people standing next to the open doors - and it wasn't even that hot (it was November).

[SandTEngineer]

Not like this then  https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/resources/images/4018337.jpg