Disruption at Paddington 7 April

[LNW-GW Joint]

Nice contrast of items on NRE at the moment:

Hundreds of thousands of passengers and freight users are benefiting today after more than £100m of investment and improvement work was completed successfully – on time and on budget – across Britain’s railway over the Easter period

but also ...

A signalling problem near Southall is causing delays of up to 60 minutes to trains to and from London Paddington. There is no firm estimate yet of how long disruption will last but it is likely to continue until at least 18:00

The problems seem to have started near Slough, but most of the delays are now occurring around Hayes/Southall.
Some Heathrow Express services have been cancelled, RTT citing "points failure".
It's not clear if the problems are the result of the Easter work or not.

 

[VisualAcid]

It wouldn't be a week day without signalling problems between Reading and Padd.

 

[Stompehh]

On top of problems earlier on "near Didcot Parkway".

I was on the 1428 to Weston Super Mare, which was announced as diverting via Westbury when we left Pad (not calling at Didcot/Chippenham/Swindon), but ended up going the normal route and was on time at every stop.

 

[VisualAcid]

Delays increasing, good thing I stayed at home an extra day!

 

[jj1314]

Just saw an FGW HST trundle through Bath Spa, in a westerly direction, without any lights on in the carriages. Any connection to the above?

 

[VisualAcid]

Just saw an FGW HST trundle through Bath Spa, in a westerly direction, without any lights on in the carriages. Any connection to the above?

Think that's a regular occurrence.

 

[mr_moo]

There was huge works to the route over Easter so I hope these are just teething problems.

Slough PSB was closed with control of all signalling between Airport Junction and Twyford moving to TVSC in Didcot.

Also, Moreton cutting Jn East end ladder was completely re-laid, as well as a variety of other works.

So: The signalling problems are probably due to some last glitches in the system left from the transfer as the equipment beds in and the Didcot issues may have been one of the new sets of points not quite working correctly.

Today there also seems to be problems, with NRE posting this at 09:32:

An operating incident has occurred between Hayes & Harlington and Ealing Broadway and is causing delays of up to 30 minutes to trains between London paddington and Reading / Greenford / Bourne End / Heathrow Airport. There is no firm estimate of how long disruption will last but it is likely to continue until at least 11:00.

Does anyone know what said 'operating incident' may be?

 

[samogers]

A spad?

 

[VisualAcid]

Has there been signalling problems everyday since Easter? Some commuters must be on thin ice being delayed almost every single day.

 

[PHILIPE]

Has there been signalling problems everyday since Easter? Some commuters must be on thin ice being delayed almost every single day.

Almost continuous problems !!!

 

[TheNewNo2]

I was on a train from Bristol to London during those delays. Unfortunately it only came in 53mins late so I can't claim compensation. It did leave me time to read a book and admire the electrification progress though.

 

[LexyBoy]

Thought NR were a bit hasty issuing press releases after the Easter works - "travellers in the Thames Valley will benefit from faster journeys through Reading IMMEDIATELY". Er, except for the fact that the reliefs are closed between Reading and Cholsey and there's a reduced service and trains getting stuck behind stoppers for the next week...

 

[WelshBluebird]

I was on a train from Bristol to London during those delays. Unfortunately it only came in 53mins late so I can't claim compensation. It did leave me time to read a book and admire the electrification progress though.

Same except mine was exactly 60 mins late so yay compensation. We were sat outside Paddington for about 8 mins and I was counting down pretty much every second haha.

 

[mr_moo]

After Easter we've had, that I'm aware of:
Tuesday: Points failure at Southall - Lost detection.
Wednesday: Ditto.
Thursday: One of the new axle counters failed near Twyord.
Friday: Air con failure in a relay room, with the signalling equiment inside shutting down.
Saturday: Ok, as far as I know!
Sunday: Problem with a datalink between TVSC and Hayes, with the associated local interlocking thus putting all signals to red.
Monday: Failed train at Slough West.
Tuesday: Points failure at Acton West - Exact reason for failure under investigaion.
Today: 'Signalling problems' (I know no more) this morning near Hayes.
Tomorrow: Place your bets now please...

 

[bussnapperwm]

After Easter we've had, that I'm aware of:
Tuesday: Points failure at Southall - Lost detection.
Wednesday: Ditto.
Thursday: One of the new axle counters failed near Twyord.
Friday: Air con failure in a relay room, with the signalling equiment inside shutting down.
Saturday: Ok, as far as I know!
Sunday: Problem with a datalink between TVSC and Hayes, with the associated local interlocking thus putting all signals to red.
Monday: Failed train at Slough West.
Tuesday: Points failure at Acton West - Exact reason for failure under investigaion.
Today: 'Signalling problems' (I know no more) this morning near Hayes.
Tomorrow: Place your bets now please...

Tomorrow? Wrong kind of Sun?

 

[louis97]

Today: 'Signalling problems' (I know no more) this morning near Hayes..

This morning was the failure of 13 axle counters I think I heard, resulting in the closure of the DM between West Drayton and Slough. There was some issues with resetting them in the usual way.

 

[carriageline]

Wonder what brand of axle counter they use, as there is a nationwide problem with a certain brand...