Signal failure in the Croydon area (18/12)

[tsr]

I’ve heard it suggest that the main fault at Gatwick is in a cable directly underneath the flight path, repairing it is a bit tricky one imagines!

If the infrastructure is already there, adding a couple of technicians and a van probably won’t get in the way of planes (and don’t forget aircraft also have to clear an annoying small hill vaguely near the end of the runway, the railway on an embankment, and the A23)!

But in this case the fault was found in a substation and seems to have been fixed. A second generator is still in use, after the first one completely packed up, but the power should be switched back to mains supply tonight - fingers crossed.

 

[Deepgreen]

I’ve heard it suggest that the main fault at Gatwick is in a cable directly underneath the flight path, repairing it is a bit tricky one imagines!

An overhead cable? I'm surprised there are any that are so positioned that maintenance is awkward owing to flights - the safety margin would have to be tiny if works would interfere with 'planes.

 

[Deepgreen]

If the infrastructure is already there, adding a couple of technicians and a van probably won’t get in the way of planes (and don’t forget they also have to clear an annoying small hill vaguely near the end of the runway, the railway on an embankment, and the A23)!

But in this case the fault was found in a substation and seems to have been fixed. A second generator is still in use, after the first one completely packed up, but the power should be switched back to mains supply tonight - fingers crossed.

It's shame the weather has closed in again - very heavy rain for several hours. Flooding may return.

 

[tsr]

It's shame the weather has closed in again - very heavy rain for several hours. Flooding may return.

Yes, it really will not help. The overall local picture is dire, as you probably know - I have only seen waterlogged fields on the Kent/Sussex boundary on this scale once or twice before. Many of the local back roads yesterday were completely flooded and the main roads are struggling to cope as well. And now there are suggestions a railway embankment on the Up line north of Wivelsfield may be slipping, with trains under caution, causing big delays. The landslip near Guildford may worsen as well. Eridge is nearly underwater. Not heard anything much about the Arun Valley, surprisingly, but no doubt it may come.

 

[Bald Rick]

An overhead cable? I'm surprised there are any that are so positioned that maintenance is awkward owing to flights - the safety margin would have to be tiny if works would interfere with 'planes.

Buried. Nevertheless it surprised me that a cable would be in a place where it is difficult to repair. In any event I’m not sure about this!

 

[Islineclear3_1]

I travelled to Brighton this morning uneventfully. Returned via Lewes late afternoon and briefly held at Keymer Junction, but I assumed it was just waiting for a path towards Haywards Heath. Loads of flooding around Lewes; wouldn't be surprised if the water level in the surrounding fields spills over to the railway if more rain falls overnight

 

[R G NOW.]

Did anyone in the above mentioned areas suffer any damage to their products in their homes?. If there was a large surge in the Croydon area did it affect householders or was it just Network Rail. Time I think everyone needs a spd fitted to their fuse boards.

 

[R G NOW.]

Lastly a merry Christmas to the members of the forum and the mods and admins that kept it going throughout the year.

 

[infobleep]

Yes, it really will not help. The overall local picture is dire, as you probably know - I have only seen waterlogged fields on the Kent/Sussex boundary on this scale once or twice before. Many of the local back roads yesterday were completely flooded and the main roads are struggling to cope as well. And now there are suggestions a railway embankment on the Up line north of Wivelsfield may be slipping, with trains under caution, causing big delays. The landslip near Guildford may worsen as well. Eridge is nearly underwater. Not heard anything much about the Arun Valley, surprisingly, but no doubt it may come.

If the landslip South of Guildford could hold off until the 25 December. No passenger trains then. Obviously I don't know what impact it would have on the Network Rail engineering works happening then.

There is a separate thread for this though:
https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/landslips-on-swr-network.197021/page-2#post-4345538

 

[Surreytraveller]

Did anyone in the above mentioned areas suffer any damage to their products in their homes?. If there was a large surge in the Croydon area did it affect householders or was it just Network Rail. Time I think everyone needs a spd fitted to their fuse boards.

A power surge a couple of years ago fried my electricity meter. Can't remember how long it was until I noticed

 

[LAX54]

A very informative and detailed article.

Question is, if NR and the TOC in this area can do such a detailed response. why can't the other regions ? With the ROCs now in place, they are all in one location to put it all together !

 

[Surreytraveller]

Question is, if NR and the TOC in this area can do such a detailed response. why can't the other regions ? With the ROCs now in place, they are all in one location to put it all together !

The PR departments aren't based in the ROCs. The ROCs are for operational staff

 

[BRblue]

The PR departments aren't based in the ROCs. The ROCs are for operational staff

Wrong... you will find many non operational staff in ROC,s, although as you say I am not sure if that stretches to PR departments.

 

[Deepgreen]

Buried. Nevertheless it surprised me that a cable would be in a place where it is difficult to repair. In any event I’m not sure about this!

I had a mental picture of a cherry-picker with engineers ducking every time a plane passes over!

 

[Horizon22]

My question is how can what is one of the most technologically up to date sections of railway (the Thameslink core) not know about a train about to pass through it? And how can the control team seemingly not know about a journey taking more than an hour and update the departure scree s accordingly?

The train itself was empty in my carriage, maybe 10 people total. There would have been hundreds of spare seats, let alone standing room, for the thousands of people displaced that evening who were constantly being told there were no trains.

On that particular point, if Route Control have strung together a train and crew and late notice, and given it a totally different running code from normal (something like a 9Zxx), and there's been no information posted to / by inundated CIS or local control teams, and it hasn't been uploaded to the system as a passenger train there is every chance they may not now without asking the driver.

I'm sure if the controller at Blackfriars knew what was happening, hundreds more would have boarded even if it couldn't be displayed on the screens and manual announcements happened. Sometimes its got to be done manually rather than spend more minutes updating systems when you've got hundreds of alterations in a Black scenario.

 

[Horizon22]

Basically, the generator is occasionally shutting down (to be investigated...) but can't restart due to the immediate load from the escalators and lifts around the station. It's still physically there, it just won't boot up, and it's not quite as simple as just unplugging various things and hoping for the best, as only very very few contractor staff have competency for the switching system.

This is not specifically to do with the Croydon issues but does relate to UK Power Networks still being unable to supply power to the station for some considerable time now - basically several days. This is virtually unprecedented for a major GTR station of this level of importance. UKPN also appear to have been involved in a few other massive railway mishaps recently, as well as some smaller ones, some not mentioned on here. I can imagine they are facing serious questions from Network Rail at director / CEO level.

Indeed there have been some on Southeastern routes too. It does seem to have been a concerning issue over the past few months and relying on whether UKPN will give your station or signalling systems power is not normally an issue you'd ever be considering...