Signalling problems at Didcot - 30 November 2009

[whole diary]

[Electric train]

Whilst I think most passengers would appreciate that you get problems like this, I think they would expect that there would be a contingency plan that means trains don't sit in the countryside for 2 1/2 hours.

The permutations of what can fail or go wrong are endless therefore it is impossible to have and off the shelf plan of action for every eventuality.   

To nights problem seems to be a major signaling power supply failure, signaling power supply systems do have backup supplies but if the problem is with the main switchboard in a power signal box or IECC^▸ (Integrated Electronic Control Centre) then there is not much that can be done except fix the equipment in the switchboard, in the mean time all that the signal and other traffic personnel can do is attempt to move trains basically one at a time out of the affected area this is something that has to be done with extreme care.

[Mookiemoo]

Whilst I think most passengers would appreciate that you get problems like this, I think they would expect that there would be a contingency plan that means trains don't sit in the countryside for 2 1/2 hours.

The permutations of what can fail or go wrong are endless therefore it is impossible to have and off the shelf plan of action for every eventuality.   

To nights problem seems to be a major signaling power supply failure, signaling power supply systems do have backup supplies but if the problem is with the main switchboard in a power signal box or IECC^▸ (Integrated Electronic Control Centre) then there is not much that can be done except fix the equipment in the switchboard, in the mean time all that the signal and other traffic personnel can do is attempt to move trains basically one at a time out of the affected area this is something that has to be done with extreme care.

Immediate thought would be a back up switchboard that can be interfaced when the main one goes down.

I'd love to see ATC^▸ (Automatic Train Control) lose their main centre (swanage?) and do without it for 2.5 hours........I'm almost certain they have redundancy or a back up..........I don't know for a fact but I cant see how you could operate without it

[John R]

Swanwick actually, but close. Weren't there similar failures in its early days?

[Oxman]

Before this goes too far, lets focus on reality.

There was a major signalling failure at Didcot, and it was all on stop for an extended period. This is not run of the mill. I don't yet know why it happened, and a major failure such as this will be subject to a major drains up - tomorrow!

What I do know is that a lot of FGW^▸ (First Great Western) staff were out in the front line attempting to cope with the situation. It could not have been easy, or a very nice place to be. Most of the contributors to this site understand something of the realities of railway operations. Unfortunately, there are many passengers out there that don't, and are quite happy to subject the nearest "official" to full on abuse.

Lets hope that, whatever the cause was, something can be learnt that will help to avoid similar situations in the future. Its not something that staff on the front line really want to handle as a matter of course.

[Mookiemoo]

Before this goes too far, lets focus on reality.

There was a major signalling failure at Didcot, and it was all on stop for an extended period. This is not run of the mill. I don't yet know why it happened, and a major failure such as this will be subject to a major drains up - tomorrow!

What I do know is that a lot of FGW^▸ (First Great Western) staff were out in the front line attempting to cope with the situation. It could not have been easy, or a very nice place to be. Most of the contributors to this site understand something of the realities of railway operations. Unfortunately, there are many passengers out there that don't, and are quite happy to subject the nearest "official" to full on abuse.

Lets hope that, whatever the cause was, something can be learnt that will help to avoid similar situations in the future. Its not something that staff on the front line really want to handle as a matter of course.

To be fair - the FGW staff were great.  The WOS^» (Worcester Shrub Hill - next trains) guard on the 1751 asked me if I has any spare armour as he had to make a patrol through the train and didnt want to be injured (was a joke but we knew what he meant)

The info from the driver and the guard was only either seconds in advance or behind what I got from here HOWEVER the seriousness of the issue I only put together from the info from here.  And that is what I based my (correct) decision to run for a hotel tonight (apart from uber expensive rooms most of reading is fully booked tonight). 


As irritated as I was - and as we all know I can get mightily irritated - FGW staff did the best they could

There were people on the train still in the naive belief they would make it to oxford only an hour or so late

[inspector_blakey]

Last time I got stuck in a big signalling black-out was a long time ago on a Sunday morning, and again the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) staff were great. We were greeted off the rail replacement bus at Swindon by a helpful member of platform staff who already had the taxis lined up to take us on to Bristol!

[IndustryInsider]

When the Thames Valley Signalling Centre at Didcot becomes fully operational and takes over all the regions signals, it will be interesting to see whether reliable back-up equipment will consign this sort of thing to the past, or whether a major problem will actually end up affecting a larger area.

[IanL]

THanks for whoever clarified Saturdays signalling chaos, waiting for over an hour at Oxford with nothing other than 'temporary signalling fault and eventually 'signalling fault outside london Paddington' on the boards to explain the rapidly increasing delays mid-evening. At about 8pm finally a manual announcement that the temporary signalling failure had just been upgraded to a severe signalling failure.

[adc82140]

And it looks like something happened this morning as well- everything in to Paddington was at least half an hour late- signals down in the Slough area.

[Mookiemoo]

Was there any knock on effect with stock not in the right position?

I know that did factor in my decision to stay over but I had a quick check of the boards in Reading and it looked like the first Hereford ran - did the 0517 from Malvern?

[polonia]

On the 06:58 from reading this morining, we were told that the delays were caused by a failed Heathrow Express blocking the main line and we duly diverted onto the relief for as low trundle to London and passed a stationery EMU^▸ (Electric Multiple Unit) at Hayes   

[BBM]

On the 06:58 from reading this morining, we were told that the delays were caused by a failed Heathrow Express blocking the main line

Yes, that was being announced at Paddington this morning.

[eightf48544]

Now, serious question - am I likely to get any sort of compensation from FGW^▸ (First Great Western) - I know they are putting on buses etc but it really didnt help me.  Whether its a PEAK first class return or some form of other compensation to slightly (and only slightly) offset the hastle and cost it would be nice.

And how do I go about claiming...

Give it go with FGW Customer Services but don't hold your breath.

As it was Networkrail problem and not a FGW one, the "bean counters" are involved in arguing which TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) is owed what for the delay. Presumably at least FGW, Cross Country and the freight TOCS who use Didcot directly but possibly other TOCS who were affected by late running tains from FGW.

Swindon IECC^▸ (Integrated Electronic Control Centre) seems very fault prone especialy in wet weather. Rain and elctronics don't seem to mix well.
 Could say roll on Thames Valley signalling centre but then it's all the eggs in one basket.

I've never been really happy with the IECC concept and leaving it to the computer. Much prefer NX panels and nice solid relays.

I used to breathe a sigh of relief when I was commuting and we got to Hayes and onto Slough Old panel.

[inspector_blakey]

There are mechanisms in place to deal with this - is the delay is deemed to be within the control of the railway industry (and signal failures count!) then Network Rail will compensate FGW^▸ (First Great Western) for the delays, who in turn will compensate passengers who submit refund claims.

If you're travelling on a season ticket then standard procedure is not to compensate you directly for the journey that was delayed. However, FGW may declare yesterday as a "void day" which means an extra day would be added free of charge onto any season ticket renewal. If the disruption was bad enough then they may also make special "one-off" arrangements.