Huddersfield-Stalybridge disruption

[M60lad]

Problems allday today on Huddersfield line due to problems with lineside equipment near Stalybridge means delays and diversions to all services running via Huddersfield and Stalybridge with the following happening:

Manchester Victoria-Leeds diverted not calling at Huddersfield
Hull-Manchester Piccadilly starting/terminating at Leeds
York-Manchester Airport services Cancelled throughout
Disruptions of upto 45mins to other services between Huddersfield and Stalybridge

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Any idea what these problems with lineside equipment near to Stalybridge are?

 

[chrissawer]

The guard on my packed Calder Valley train this morning has said that there are problems with the axle counters in Standedge tunnel, meaning people are travelling via Brighouse to avoid the disruption.

 

[TB]

According to journeycheck it is problems with signalling equipment in Standedge Tunnel.

 

[185143]

Is this the same problems I got stuck in twice yesterday? If so, its been going on for over 24 hours now!

 

[The Snap]

Is this the same problems I got stuck in twice yesterday? If so, its been going on for over 24 hours now!

The weather won't have helped, it's been pretty bleak on the tops for the last 24 hours so that will no doubt have contributed the axle counter issues.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

The line through Hebden Bridge is used by Transpennine Express as a diversionary route to Leeds. Are there not enough spare paths to allow them to run some services from Manchester Airport to York, via Leeds? The first posting states all such services have been cancelled.

 

[dggar]

The line through Hebden Bridge is used by Transpennine Express as a diversionary route to Leeds. Are there not enough spare paths to allow them to run some services from Manchester Airport to York, via Leeds? The first posting states all such services have been cancelled.

You are essentially asking how to get a train set from the airport to Rochdale.

I can only think that it runs to Salford Crescent and reverses
or runs to Piccadilly, reverses out to Ashburys,
then travels to the Rochdale line by the triangle near Oldham Road(A62).
(is it called brewery sidings?)

Is that what you are thinking?

 

[zuriblue]

The line through Hebden Bridge is used by Transpennine Express as a diversionary route to Leeds. Are there not enough spare paths to allow them to run some services from Manchester Airport to York, via Leeds? The first posting states all such services have been cancelled.

I did that once when there was engineering work. The train runs over Rochdale then goes through Victoria out to Salford Crescent and reverses there and goes through Oxford Road and Piccadilly 13/14. It might be OK on a Sunday but I would have thought that it would be too disruptive on a weekday, some of those lines are pretty congested. I don't think it could go over Phillips Park Junction (the other possible route) without reversing at Ashburys.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Journeycheck now reporting that the problem's resolved and they're trying to get services back to normal.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

You are essentially asking how to get a train set from the airport to Rochdale. I can only think that it runs to Salford Crescent and reverses (or runs to Piccadilly, reverses out to Ashburys, then travels to the Rochdale line by the triangle near Oldham Road(A62)...(is it called brewery sidings?)

Is that what you are thinking?

It was indeed so on the Salford Crescent option, having made a couple of diverted journeys that way in the past. Is it possible to reverse in the nearby sidings to Salford Crescent to ensure that the platforms there are not blocked by the reversal?

 

[Welshman]

The line through Hebden Bridge is used by Transpennine Express as a diversionary route to Leeds. Are there not enough spare paths to allow them to run some services from Manchester Airport to York, via Leeds? The first posting states all such services have been cancelled.

TPE services are sometimes diverted via Hebden Bridge in the early hours of the morning, and on a Sunday, but I suspect the fact that when the Standedge line was blocked at Stalybridge during the rebuilding a year or so ago, two TPE trains per hour were diverted via the Calder Valley in the paths of the Northern fast services [leaving the interesting situation of TPE calling at Rochdale, Todmorden and Hebden Bridge], means there is no room to impose new services on top of the existing Northern services through the Calder Valley. Plus the fact there has since been added the new Todmorden service since then.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

It was indeed so on the Salford Crescent option, having made a couple of diverted journeys that way in the past. Is it possible to reverse in the nearby sidings to Salford Crescent to ensure that the platforms there are not blocked by the reversal?

I have been on a diverted TPE service which reversed on the through, non-platform line at Salford Crescent, meaning the staff walked through the train.
Fortunately it was a single unit!

 

[Class 170101]

I have been on a diverted TPE service which reversed on the through, non-platform line at Salford Crescent, meaning the staff walked through the train.
Fortunately it was a single unit!

And not too many people to enable the unit to be walked through.

 

[alexl92]

Station Staff at Huddersfield told me it was a points failure?
Anyway, it ended up working out perfectly for me - the 13:46 Liverpool - Scarborough turned up at 14:27, meaning I could go direct to Dewsbury and then get the 14:41 to Cottingley. Normally the 14:27 is a Middlesborough (I think) train which doens't stop at Dewsbury.

 

[55z]

It was a problem with an axle counter in Standedge Tunnel which seemed to recur according to local paper.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

There is something of a very large difference between problems with axle counters and with a points failure. Were there two concurrent faults?

 

[edwin_m]

There is something of a very large difference between problems with axle counters and with a points failure. Were there two concurrent faults?

Perhaps the failure of the axle counters locked some sets of points because the interlocking thought there was a train on them?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

It was indeed so on the Salford Crescent option, having made a couple of diverted journeys that way in the past. Is it possible to reverse in the nearby sidings to Salford Crescent to ensure that the platforms there are not blocked by the reversal?

Presuming you mean the ones at the north end, are they even still in use? Even if they are, it's probably less disruptive to stay in the platform for a couple of minutes than to pass through and then come back a few minutes later.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Presuming you mean the ones at the north end, are they even still in use? Even if they are, it's probably less disruptive to stay in the platform for a couple of minutes than to pass through and then come back a few minutes later.

Indeed it was those at the north end to which I made reference to, but can someone confirm both the current age and operational availability of these sidings and also if it is possible to go from them directly onto the station avoiding line that would mean no need to use the station platforms at Salford Crescent station.

 

[Crossover]

The guard on my packed Calder Valley train this morning has said that there are problems with the axle counters in Standedge tunnel, meaning people are travelling via Brighouse to avoid the disruption.

It was the axle counters causing the problems on Monday, so likely a continuation

The line through Hebden Bridge is used by Transpennine Express as a diversionary route to Leeds. Are there not enough spare paths to allow them to run some services from Manchester Airport to York, via Leeds? The first posting states all such services have been cancelled.

I highly doubt it. During the Stalybridge blockade, TPE ran, IIRC, 2tph in each direction over that route, with a heavily amended Northern timetable. Even at that, a slight delay in one service threw the whole lot into disarray and I don't recall any of the services I took along that line on TPE running to time.

Besides which, with Ordsall Chord, the services to the Airport would have to reverse - also not likely to be possible - during diversions they didn't do that either, and continued onto Liverpool etc

Also, the York to Manchester Airport is the 5th tph that TransPennine run - other services still run the route but the York to Airport express service is likely to be the first to get canned in times where paths are severely limited

There is something of a very large difference between problems with axle counters and with a points failure. Were there two concurrent faults?

Could be down to delay reason and disparity with what has been entered. I do know from Monday that drivers were having to be talked past the signals at either end of the tunnel - certainly at the Marsden portal, there is a merger of the through line and platform 3 loop so the whole thing probably did involve points at some point along the line

 

[Tomnick]

Indeed it was those at the north end to which I made reference to, but can someone confirm both the current age and operational availability of these sidings and also if it is possible to go from them directly onto the station avoiding line that would mean no need to use the station platforms at Salford Crescent station.

Either way - taking loaded passenger trains into sidings isn't allowed, other than under the sort of very extreme circumstances (with appropriate measures taken and special authority granted) that don't apply here.

 

[Llama]

The age of the Up Sidings (to give them their proper name) I can't help you with, probably older than most of us would think. As to the operational status - they are indeed in commission but have nothing booked to use them at the moment. Over the last few years there have been odd Northern trains that have been booked to use them to lay over after terminating at Salford Crescent, although more often than not the signaller found a margin to have the unit turn around in the platform at Crescent instead.

No route is physically possible from the Up Sidings to the Up Bolton, or vice versa, the only routes possible are between either platform at the Crescent and the sidings.