Disruption between London Paddington and Slough 16/17th Oct 2018

[zoneking]

This is very, very, very bad - to have both routes from Reading into London affected.

 

[Deepgreen]

It is the cheap 1990s electrification not the expensive over engineered stuff that is the problem in this case but don't let facts get in the way of a good rant!

Yes, but for 'joe public', who hears that the GW electrification is massively over budget, how does this look? Try seeing it from a passenger perspective! What does this sort of farce do for the railway's image - yet again?

 

[Railguy1]

I am fortunate that my trip to Bristol today is by coach. It may perhaps be a little busier however...

 

[Deepgreen]

If you read the replies above you will have seen that this is in the old headspan area, thus the reason all 4 lines are out.

The passengers' understanding/sympathy being...? My point is that the GW electrification has been widely publicised as over-engineered and over budget (with the implication that it would therefore be ultra-reliable), but to what end? Don't blame the messenger - see it from the passenger's viewpoint.

 

[Kite159]

I hope GWR have put on additional units to strengthen Reading - Basingstoke shuttles to help spreading the load (assuming there is ticket acceptance to go via Basingstoke and into Waterloo via Woking to help spread the load from the Reading - Waterloo services)

 

[Deepgreen]

Signalling issue at Earley, couple of Track circuits are down.
Gatwick services have been canned for the moment but running to Redhill.

Here is the problem in a nutshell - why should passengers bear with a problem at Earley meaning that trains can run to Redhill, but not to Gatwick??

 

[reddragon]

The suggestion on the class 800 thread is that the driver of 802016 raised the pan at 105 mph in an area where that was not permitted and this caused the problem

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Yes, but for 'joe public', who hears that the GW electrification is massively over budget, how does this look? Try seeing it from a passenger perspective! What does this sort of farce do for the railway's image - yet again?

Yes, that's probably all true. But in that case, would it not be better to post stuff that helps people to be informed about what the situation actually is, and helps dispel any false myths - rather than posting stuff that actually perpetuates false myths... such as - umm - this?

This is pathetic - the OHLE is hugely over-engineered and STILL this happens!

 

[Deepgreen]

I hope GWR have put on additional units to strengthen Reading - Basingstoke shuttles to help spreading the load (assuming there is ticket acceptance to go via Basingstoke and into Waterloo via Woking to help spread the load from the Reading - Waterloo services)

Not a hope! The 'railway' today does not cater for disruption - it makes an-often feeble attempt to provide buses and then gives up.

 

[Geezertronic]

Don't blame the messenger - see it from the passenger's viewpoint.

Because the messenger and the passengers are ill informed, it just means that communication of the actual cause of the issue needs to be made clearer which I am sure it will be once the investigation has happened.

 

[ArchieWoodbine]

Current gossip fresh from the rumour mill...

The pan was raised, either through driver error or malfunction, and the joint between the upper and lower arms rose above the pantograph head. This caused dozens of droppers to be hit, realeasing the contact wire and left some 500m of all over the main-lines.

I stress this is only what I've heard via secondary sources - so it could be nonsense!

 

[Taunton]

The suggestion on the class 800 thread is that the driver of 802016 raised the pan at 105 mph in an area where that was not permitted and this caused the problem

Just before anyone says "obviously that won't work", in 1955 when the French went for the world rail speed record, at 205mph the lead pantograph collector strip on the loco started to break up, so the driver just lowered it and raised the trailing one at that speed. No issue.

 

[WelshBluebird]

Looks like some lines at least are now open?

From Network Rail's Twitter (https://twitter.com/networkrailwest/status/1052512077712150528):

First trains are now leaving Reading for London Paddington.

 

[Deepgreen]

Yes, that's probably all true. But in that case, would it not be better to post stuff that helps people to be informed about what the situation actually is, and helps dispel any false myths - rather than posting stuff that actually perpetuates false myths... such as - umm - this?

How many passengers would go to this forum for information, rather than operators' sources? The key issue in this discussion, perhaps, is that the GW electrification has been widely reported in the media as hugely over-budget - most people will not distinguish between the HEX work and later stuff. Would it not be reasonable, therefore, to assume that it was reliable? Apparently not.

 

[reddragon]

Just before anyone says "obviously that won't work", in 1955 when the French went for the world rail speed record, at 205mph the lead pantograph collector strip on the loco started to break up, so the driver just lowered it and raised the trailing one at that speed. No issue.

The benefits of not having cheap 1990's head-span OLE

 

[Deepgreen]

Just before anyone says "obviously that won't work", in 1955 when the French went for the world rail speed record, at 205mph the lead pantograph collector strip on the loco started to break up, so the driver just lowered it and raised the trailing one at that speed. No issue.

EXACTLY - why does the UK make it so complicated and costly?! Possibly because privatisation has made it so easy to deflect the 'blame' and also deflect the solution? I couldn't possibly say.

 

[FGW_DID]

The passengers' understanding/sympathy being...? My point is that the GW electrification has been widely publicised as over-engineered and over budget (with the implication that it would therefore be ultra-reliable), but to what end? Don't blame the messenger - see it from the passenger's viewpoint.

Oh sorry, I must apologise, I didn’t realise you were posting on behalf of the normal, non-RailUK Forum reading passenger.

 

[43096]

Current gossip fresh from the rumour mill...

The pan was raised, either through driver error or malfunction, and the joint between the upper and lower arms rose above the pantograph head. This caused dozens of droppers to be hit, realeasing the contact wire and left some 500m of all over the main-lines.

I stress this is only what I've heard via secondary sources - so it could be nonsense!

It’s worse than that. From what I have seen, Hitachi sent it out with no pan head.

 

[nidave]

Don't blame the messenger - see it from the passenger's viewpoint.

Dont try and take any facts into account jut you keep ranting like a fool spouting misinformed information as facts and then try and claim your looking at it from a passanger point of view.

 

[TFN]

The culprit arrived at Paddington for a little while. Arrived and left on Diesel

 

[Clip]

EXACTLY - why does the UK make it so complicated and costly?! Possibly because privatisation has made it so easy to deflect the 'blame' and also deflect the solution? I couldn't possibly say.

Duuno about that - I was under the impression the old OHLE was introduced under a nationalised British Rail using the nationalised British Rail standards for electrification at the time. Or maybe it was just Brexit.

Things break - it happens its just how to deal with it that matters and not to get too outraged by it all

 

[rebmcr]

would it not be better to post stuff that helps people to be informed about what the situation actually is, and helps dispel any false myths - rather than posting stuff that actually perpetuates false myths.

How many passengers would go to this forum for information, rather than operators' sources?

"I can post nonfactual tripe because people might not read it."

 

[reddragon]

The culprit arrived at Paddington for a little while. Arrived and left on DieselView attachment 53907

I assume that pic is from before the incident?

 

[TFN]

I assume that pic is from before the incident?

That was around midday today. After the incident. Took it myself

 

[silverfoxcc]

If this happeend before the Greenford Branch Junction at West Ealing, why couldnt they run a limited service with DMU/HST via the Greenford loop and gain access to the Main line there?
At least a cobbled service would be better than nothing. Or are there reasons not to do so?

 

[JN114]

If this happeend before the Greenford Branch Junction at West Ealing, why couldnt they run a limited service with DMU/HST via the Greenford loop and gain access to the Main line there?
At least a cobbled service would be better than nothing. Or are there reasons not to do so?

Because the incident happened at Hanwell, so wouldn’t gain anything going via Greenford; and there are (were?) trapped EMUs everywhere anyway.

 

[Geezertronic]

So does the picture evidence confirm that the Pan was incorrectly maintained on the 802 or does it just show it as damaged due to the incident? If incorrectly maintained, I presume no quality of OHLE would have prevented yesterdays events

 

[DarloRich]

This is pathetic - the OHLE is hugely over-engineered and STILL this happens! There are (well respected) people on this forum who claim that OHLE is more reliable than third rail (and the physical elements are not in dispute here), but, it seems that OHLE 'outages' still cause far more disruption than third rail ones. How can all four lines be taken out at Paddington?! Is this operating hype or genuine?

Lets get a grip of ourselves shall we?

Yes, but for 'joe public', who hears that the GW electrification is massively over budget, how does this look? Try seeing it from a passenger perspective! What does this sort of farce do for the railway's image - yet again?

While the quoted poster is on the fruity wing of the board (shown by the final sentence) this is an important point many miss. It doesn't matter to the passengers where ( or even how) the wires came down or how old they are. It DOES matter the wires are down and that trains are not running.

The problem is the next question ( when will train run again) is often very difficult to answer.

 

[hwl]

I assume that pic is from before the incident?

The lack of most of a pantograph and some mangled and charged bits of roof cover strongly suggest AFTER!

 

[ArchieWoodbine]

So does the picture evidence confirm that the Pan was incorrectly maintained on the 802 or does it just show it as damaged due to the incident? If incorrectly maintained, I presume no quality of OHLE would have prevented yesterdays events

Prevent? By the sounds of it, no - this now appears to be a traction issue. But, reduce the operational impact of the initial incident? Possibly - but we're getting into hypotheticals here.