Thames Valley infrastructure problems causing disruption elsewhere - 2024

[whole diary]

[CyclingSid]

As the brokendown train was there most of the day, assuming it had wheels, do the train companies no longer have the means to push/pull a dead train out of the way. Or is this another case like before Christmas when passengers were left on trains for hours, of multiple actors not being able to come to a decision of who does what and when.

[TaplowGreen]

Delays to services between London Paddington and Reading

Due to a points failure between London Paddington and Reading the Reading
bound high speed line is closed.

Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed. Disruption is expected until 08:00 11/01.

[GBM]

05:03 Penzance to London Paddington due 09:55
05:03 Penzance to London Paddington due 09:55 has been previously delayed, has been further delayed at Reading and is now 16 minutes late.
This is due to a fault with the signalling system.

[IndustryInsider]

As the brokendown train was there most of the day, assuming it had wheels, do the train companies no longer have the means to push/pull a dead train out of the way. Or is this another case like before Christmas when passengers were left on trains for hours, of multiple actors not being able to come to a decision of who does what and when.

No.  It was still able to move independently and passengers were taken off it fairly quickly at Southall and put on other trains.

The train was then recessed out of the way in Southall Yard, for several hours, but no longer affecting anything else.

It was (another) broken rail that caused most of yesterday’s disruption.

[TaplowGreen]

05:03 Penzance to London Paddington due 09:55
05:03 Penzance to London Paddington due 09:55 has been previously delayed, has been further delayed at Reading and is now 16 minutes late.
This is due to a fault with the signalling system.

Suspect it may be this.....causing issues throughout Devon & Cornwall & Paddington-Penzance.

Hard to believe that 1 person (presumably) being ill can cause such extensive issues.....or given the obvious and evident lack of robustness & resilience throughout the system, perhaps not?

Due to signalling staff being taken ill at Liskeard all lines are blocked. Disruption is expected until 12:30 11/01.

Train services between Penzance and London Paddington via Plymouth may be cancelled, delayed or revised.

[GBM]

05:03 Penzance to London Paddington due 09:55
05:03 Penzance to London Paddington due 09:55 has been previously delayed, has been further delayed at Reading and is now 16 minutes late.
This is due to a fault with the signalling system.

Suspect it may be this.....causing issues throughout Devon & Cornwall & Paddington-Penzance.

Hard to believe that 1 person (presumably) being ill can cause such extensive issues.....or given the obvious and evident lack of robustness & resilience throughout the system, perhaps not?

Due to signalling staff being taken ill at Liskeard all lines are blocked. Disruption is expected until 12:30 11/01.

Train services between Penzance and London Paddington via Plymouth may be cancelled, delayed or revised.

Unlikely, but hadn't spotted thue Liskeard issue.
1A973 ran mostly to time up to Exeter.
Single digit delays until Thatcham, thereafter arriving Paddington 33 down.

[grahame]

Suspect it may be this.....causing issues throughout Devon & Cornwall & Paddington-Penzance.

Hard to believe that 1 person (presumably) being ill can cause such extensive issues.....or given the obvious and evident lack of robustness & resilience throughout the system, perhaps not?

Due to signalling staff being taken ill at Liskeard all lines are blocked. Disruption is expected until 12:30 11/01.

Train services between Penzance and London Paddington via Plymouth may be cancelled, delayed or revised.

I have split the follow ups into a separate thread at http://www.passenger.chat/28377 as it's not a Thames Valley infrastructure problem ... keeping this thread clean, and avoiding Liskeard issues getting lost in Maidenhead!

[charles_uk]

The train was then recessed out of the way in Southall Yard, for several hours, but no longer affecting anything else.

It was (another) broken rail that caused most of yesterday’s disruption.

My memory, from JounreyCheck (which I know isn't always reliable)k was that the broken rail was affecting trains going towards Paddington. Whilst the broken down train was removed quite quickly, the overhead wires had to be checked and that impacted upon Reading bound services for a lot of the day.

[IndustryInsider]

My memory, from JounreyCheck (which I know isn't always reliable)k was that the broken rail was affecting trains going towards Paddington. Whilst the broken down train was removed quite quickly, the overhead wires had to be checked and that impacted upon Reading bound services for a lot of the day.

The first train through on the Down Main at Southall was the 14:48 PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)-SWA^» (Swansea - next trains) about 2 hours after the incident happened, so not immediately, but not what you’d describe as ‘a lot of the day’ either.

The broken rail meant the Up Main was closed between Twyford West and Maidenhead for the remainder of the day.

[charles_uk]

My memory, from JounreyCheck (which I know isn't always reliable)k was that the broken rail was affecting trains going towards Paddington. Whilst the broken down train was removed quite quickly, the overhead wires had to be checked and that impacted upon Reading bound services for a lot of the day.

The first train through on the Down Main at Southall was the 14:48 PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)-SWA^» (Swansea - next trains) about 2 hours after the incident happened, so not immediately, but not what you’d describe as ‘a lot of the day’ either.

The broken rail meant the Up Main was closed between Twyford West and Maidenhead for the remainder of the day.

I'm not sure if it's possible to dig up a cached version of JourneyCheck but it was certainly saying that westbound disruption was expected to 1830 at one point yesterday. And a GWRHelp Tweet at 7.23pm yesterday said " due to a broken down train between London Paddington and Reading fewer trains are able to run. Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled, delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until 20:30"

[IndustryInsider]

All the trains, and the lines they were on, can be viewed on RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website).  It’s true that some after that Swansea train were still being routed via the relief lines, but others were running through without any delay on the mains, such as this one:

https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:L65726/2024-01-10/detailed#allox_id=0

The broken rail, meaning trains were presenting late at Paddington or not running east of Reading towards London, was causing more problems.

[grahame]

I'm not sure if it's possible to dig up a cached version of JourneyCheck but it was certainly saying that westbound disruption was expected to 1830 at one point yesterday. And a GWRHelp Tweet at 7.23pm yesterday said " due to a broken down train between London Paddington and Reading fewer trains are able to run. Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled, delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until 20:30"

The raw data for our train disruption map is cached - similar to JourneyCheck's normal feed, but service updates only - so we can look back a day or two; it's useful where the map shows a wobbly.   We don't cache line updates so I can't give you a history of expected disruption forecasts and how they extended.

[charles_uk]

I'm not sure if it's possible to dig up a cached version of JourneyCheck but it was certainly saying that westbound disruption was expected to 1830 at one point yesterday. And a GWRHelp Tweet at 7.23pm yesterday said " due to a broken down train between London Paddington and Reading fewer trains are able to run. Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled, delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until 20:30"

The raw data for our train disruption map is cached - similar to JourneyCheck's normal feed, but service updates only - so we can look back a day or two; it's useful where the map shows a wobbly.   We don't cache line updates so I can't give you a history of expected disruption forecasts and how they extended.

Thanks for the comments. I was really wanting to look back at the JourneyCheck text from yesterday evening as I seem to remember it saying something along the lines that electric trains couldn't be run on some of the westbound lines until the overhead wires had been checked overnight. That said, it does seem the later disruption was mainly down to the broken rail.

[Ollie]

From what I recall the overheads weren't fully examined until later in the evening. I worked a service leaving Paddington at 20:00 and there was still a requirement to run in diesel as far as Southall to use the Down Main.

[TaplowGreen]

A useful summary in Parliament from Teresa May. Hopefully this is the sort of interest and attention which will get the likes of Haines & Hopwoods feet held to the fire and some explanations for the shambolic service over the last few months.

https://twitter.com/NoelDolphin/status/1745822391601639598?t=ohXHnQW49ZY7FpI2R96C0w&s=19