GWML / Elizabeth line disruption due to OLE down near Paddington

[Desirolly]

At the end of the day, not evacuating passengers after 3+ hours simply isn’t good enough. I don’t buy the multiple trains argument, it’s that busy as a minimum every day!

 

[zwk500]

There are a lot of comments on here that could have been avoided by quick reference to publicly available material (e.g. EL Core Bi-di)

Are we to believe that although crossovers are provided here (you thump over them right at the tunnel portal) it can't be electrically isolated there from the main line, so cannot serve their intended purpose?

According to NESA there are OHNS on each of the connecting lines

Why they weren't used may be more down to drivers than anything else.

Regarding the extra crossovers in a tunnel decision - without being part of the engineering team, the people criticising it don't know if there was good technical reasons not to, the costs simply went too high, or it was a value judgement based on the premise Westbourne park could be used.

 

[Taunton]

without being part of the engineering team, the people criticising it don't know if there was good technical reasons not to, the costs simply went too high, or it was a value judgement based on the premise Westbourne Park could be used.

Well it has been left up to the engineers - and look what's happened.

Why they weren't used may be more down to drivers than anything else.

My normal experience is that drivers are a pretty decent lot, and will bend over backwards to help in an emergency - when asked. But it needs organising for who does what. And that is what seems to have been lacking.

 

[zwk500]

Well it has been left up to the engineers - and look what's happened.

As mentioned, it's not clear why Westbourne Park wasn't used given the Engineers have designed it to be isolated from the GWML.

My normal experience is that drivers are a pretty decent lot, and will bend over backwards to help in an emergency - when asked. But it needs organising for who does what. And that is what seems to have been lacking.

Apologies, I wasn't intending to imply that drivers were refusing to help. My intended point was rather that managing driver positions (especially drivers who needed to get back to OOC or Reading depots) was factoring into the decision making and not having drivers run out of legal hours at places where trains couldn't be worked around.

 

[Falcon1200]

I could understand the power being off upto ealing broadway , but they should have kept the power on for as much as the GWML as possible even to allow trains to stop in platforms west of ealing broadway and to stop the incident escalating by having self detrainments away from the incident site

I do believe individual lines can be turned on/off ie. Up/down mains and reliefs separately but the length of the switch off has to be between neutral sections. Somebody please correct me if I’m wrong.

An emergency switch off is neutral section to neutral section, the area affected can then be shortened by switching and erected earths in the damaged area, however this takes time and staff! Not sure whether the GWML has remote or manual switching?

 

[Robertj21a]

Very disappointing. Far too much like Lewisham.
While I understand the scale of the problem, 3-3.5 hours is simply far too long. What if it had been a serious fire or flood ?

 

[Mag_seven]

Just been past the site on a London bound IET on the Up Relief. A 57 is on its way to rescue the last remaining stranded train on the Up Main (a HEX unit). I couldn't see any signs of OLE damage though it was difficult to see due to the low sun.

 

[londonboi]

Just been past the site on a London bound IET on the Up Relief. A 57 is on its way to rescue the last remaining stranded train on the Up Main (a HEX unit). I couldn't see any signs of OLE damage though it was difficult to see due to the low sun.

What service is still awaiting rescue. Just had a look on tracksy and can’t see anything that was still awaiting rescue from last night ?

 

[jamesst]

There is a scissors crossover in the reversing sidings at Ladbroke Grove (sidings between running lines)
a scissors crossover in the tunnel between Royal Oak and Paddington (for use if line is blocked in the open, west of Paddington as per last night)
a trailing connection between Tottenham Court Road and Farringdon (Fisher Street crossover), so could run limited service to TCR from East and reverse there
a trailing connection between Liverpool Street and Whitechapel (Whitechapel crossover)
crossovers (both ways) between Victoria Dock portal and Custom House (Custom House West), to enable a service if line is blocked between Custom House and Woolwich
a trailing crossover east of Custom House, to enable service east of Custom House if blockage in City section
All lines are fully signalled for bi-directional, so no question of running unsignalled wrong line working

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 8 Dec 2023 ==



Oh dear, passengers stuck 3 hours without toilets, and you are prioritising a driver needing a tea break

You mean the legally mandated break without which a driver could get in serious trouble? Yes it very well should be prioritised.

 

[Acton1991]

At the end of the day, not evacuating passengers after 3+ hours simply isn’t good enough. I don’t buy the multiple trains argument, it’s that busy as a minimum every day!

Especially at the locations we had stopped! We could have walked back to Paddington high level! And to add insult to injury, I have been charged by TfL for not tapping out

 

[TrainSailing]

Oh dear, passengers stuck 3 hours without toilets, and you are prioritising a driver needing a tea break

Oh dear, please tell me how running a separate shuttle service helps passengers stranded on trains with no power?

 

[island]

I assume like the Lewisham incident some years ago the RAIB will be investigating some of the various self egressing by passengers. This situation is one that will be quite difficult to have managed by those involved.

Indeed, although the lack of 3rd rail perhaps makes things marginally less dangerous for self-detraining passengers.

At the end of the day, not evacuating passengers after 3+ hours simply isn’t good enough. I don’t buy the multiple trains argument, it’s that busy as a minimum every day!

This. When people are kept without sufficient information or updates for an extended period, it is inevitable they will decide help isn't coming. The railway needs to do better.

 

[43066]

Especially at the locations we had stopped! We could have walked back to Paddington high level! And to add insult to injury, I have been charged by TfL for not tapping out

Worth applying for a refund via the TFL website.

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

An emergency switch off is neutral section to neutral section, the area affected can then be shortened by switching and erected earths in the damaged area, however this takes time and staff! Not sure whether the GWML has remote or manual switching?

This is the rub of it an emergency iso was called for had no choice but to goto Maidenhead and ECRO then shortened back to nearest TSC but sounds like there is a lack of motorised isolators to allow any further sub sectioning towards Paddington. I believe, unlike third rail, there are far less people authorised to operate OLE section switches so that wouldn't have taken time. Also i wonder if they have arrangements to call in resources from WCML to assist.

 

[notverydeep]

A news digest circulated quotes the Telegraph as reporting that, "Andrew Haines, chief executive of Network Rail was on the 18:30 from Paddington to Cardiff and told them not to self-evacuate before they were told it was safe to do so, however the paper reports that BTP was trying to find those who had left the train before staff told them to." (I haven't seen the original article).

Perhaps the episode will illustrate to him the 'human factors' of situations like this. People will self evacuate without timely intervention. Comfort, working toilets, reassurance and information will delay this, but even then not for ever. Without these the moment will come much more quickly than the industry is prepared for.

And the moment will come much more quickly when a busy adjacent road is visible than it would in a snow drift on Rannoch Moor of course.

 

[Horizon22]

Bluntly - on a DOO train, why is the passenger information system being load shedded first?

LCDs/PA systems don’t use much power, and keeping passengers informed massively reduces the risk of an emergency egress.

Surprised that modern PIS systems don’t have their own separate battery backups, especially because they are updated over the air anyway. I know you won’t get the 10 hours+ of a phone but it’s better than what seems to be the case now.



Thanks for this detailed explanation!

Because bluntly although you may disagree it is more important to have a functioning radio system so the driver can call control and the signaller & heating/lighting that a passenger information screen that works, particularly when you are stranded and that won’t have any bearing on reality. The internal PA lasts longer. Everything is important, just some things more then others.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 8 Dec 2023 ==

Let’s be real though, evacuating in the COS is a completely different scenario than the GWML - especially with the side walkways in the tunnels!

And with a different infrastructure manager.

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

BBC has this

Passengers stuck for hours on Elizabeth line after cables damaged​

Services to and from Paddington railway station remain disrupted after hundreds of passengers were stranded on dark, cold trains for several hours.
Damage to overhead electric cables in the Ladbroke Grove area of west London affected Elizabeth line, Great Western Railway and Heathrow Express trains.
Some passengers reported being stuck for more than three hours while receiving little or no information.
Engineers managed to open two lines for electric trains serving Paddington.
Friday morning commuters were warned their journeys may be delayed by up to 90 minutes.
A Network Rail spokesman said: "We are so sorry for the difficult journeys passengers endured on our railway last night and we will be investigating how and why it happened.

They will investigate but unless RAIB do it will be an internalised report

 

[Horizon22]

Indeed, although the lack of 3rd rail perhaps makes things marginally less dangerous for self-detraining passengers.

This. When people are kept without sufficient information or updates for an extended period, it is inevitable they will decide help isn't coming. The railway needs to do better.

Or people were just more uncomfortable. It is perhaps notable there appeared to be more reported of self-evacuations on Elizabeth line trains where there are a) no toilets, b) passengers used to a metro operation c) more standing room for capacity, d) DOO only.

But yes anything beyond 3 hours is excessive and should be managed better.

 

[Anonymous10]

Especially at the locations we had stopped! We could have walked back to Paddington high level! And to add insult to injury, I have been charged by TfL for not tapping out

You should be able to get that refunded one would think in light of the incident

 

[Bonus55]

This is the rub of it an emergency iso was called for had no choice but to goto Maidenhead and ECRO then shortened back to nearest TSC but sounds like there is a lack of motorised isolators to allow any further sub sectioning towards Paddington. I believe, unlike third rail, there are far less people authorised to operate OLE section switches so that wouldn't have taken time. Also i wonder if they have arrangements to call in resources from WCML to assist.

The terminology "emergency isolation" is no longer used and is called an "emergency switch-off", largely to remove ambiguity around the term as isolation suggests electrically safe when it's not necessarily the case.

The plan for GWEP was remote switching and electronic securing, but it all got descoped due to cost so it is largely manually operated switches and lock-off, for which you need to be at least an Authorised Person.

The OLE infrastructure in that area are mostly headspans which means that damage to one road can affect the others; that's why the incident on the Queen's funeral was so impactful, as all 4 roads went down in one incident. This one doesn't appear to be quite as bad with only the Down Main affected.

Regarding re-energisation in a situation like this, firstly you need to fully understand how much has been damaged, then start drafting the isolation paperwork to arrange an isolation around that, then implement the isolation, before you can start turning things back on, to mitigate the risk of inadvertently livening up something that would create a risk of electrocution or further damage or fire or whatever. Again headspans complicate this due to the nature of the insulators being part of the span.

About 9.30pm they were ready to re-energise but the ECR were reluctant to given reports of members of public being on the infrastructure. It was around 11.30pm when the Reliefs were brought back in.

 

[Snow1964]

Especially at the locations we had stopped! We could have walked back to Paddington high level! And to add insult to injury, I have been charged by TfL for not tapping out

You shouldn't just be getting a refund (only if you ask), something more like a months free travel as compensation should be offered if forced to walk along the tracks

 

[LAX54]

If passengers want to be freed from stranded trains sooner than three hours after a problem occurs, I think they simply need to be less patient and start self-detraining sooner! With limited resources available from BTP/London Fire Brigade/Network Rail, a call from driver to signaller saying that passengers are getting restless enough to want to force their way out will bump up the urgency that is communicated to the powers that be.

I guess this would only work with lines in urban areas though.

that would just stop the job completely over a wider area, and slow down any response, wtih staff, BTP diverted to find passengers, and then they ALL have to be accounted for.

 

[Taunton]

Especially at the locations we had stopped! We could have walked back to Paddington high level! And to add insult to injury, I have been charged by TfL for not tapping out

And presumably only found this out because you have bothered to check this, and know how to do it. Many of last night's strandees probably have had other things to spend their time on.

It really does sum the 2023 railway up that they can take hours dilly-dallying around when it's perfectly obvious the stuck trains are not going to move again today, but can overcharge you in a flash!!! There must have been thousands of incompleted journeys last night, but let's stick maximum fares on them all and just see if we have to refund any who notice.

 

[43066]

There must have been thousands of incompleted journeys last night, but let's stick maximum fares on them all and just see if we have to refund any who notice.

To be fair that’s just the TfL payment system operating in the normal way where someone doesn’t touch out. It isn’t being done deliberately to target people caught up in this incident!

 

[Agent_Squash]

Because bluntly although you may disagree it is more important to have a functioning radio system so the driver can call control and the signaller & heating/lighting that a passenger information screen that works, particularly when you are stranded and that won’t have any bearing on reality. The internal PA lasts longer. Everything is important, just some things more then others.

I never said that it isn’t important to have GSM-R or heating/lighting.

However, modern technology means this shouldn’t be an issue. It’s a shock that it is - and surprising the ORR aren’t taking this as a risk.

Keeping passengers on the train is one of the most important things for safety. Why is one of the main ways being cut off at the earliest point?

 

[Bread & cheese]

A news digest circulated quotes the Telegraph as reporting that, "Andrew Haines, chief executive of Network Rail was on the 18:30 from Paddington to Cardiff and told them not to self-evacuate before they were told it was safe to do so, however the paper reports that BTP was trying to find those who had left the train before staff told them to." (I haven't seen the original article).

The print version of the Telegraph has the following report:

Passengers left stranded after cable hits train
By Gordon Rayner associate editor
The Daily Telegraph
08 Dec 2023

HUNDREDS of rail passengers have been left stranded after a power cable broke and fell on to their train leaving them trapped inside.

The 18.30 service from London Paddington to Cardiff stopped minutes into its journey after the overhead cable supplying power to the electric train broke and wrapped itself around one of the carriages. Passengers heard the broken cable scraping along the roof seconds before it came to a halt. There were more than 900 people on board.

Engineers had managed to remove the cable by 9.30pm, but the train was unable to move because passengers on other trains stuck behind it forced open doors and jumped on to the tracks. Four Elizabeth Line trains were reported to be stuck leaving commuters stranded in overcrowded carriages.

The damage to the power lines meant trains were unable to run between Paddington and London Heathrow.

British Transport Police were trying to locate the passengers who self-evacuated before allowing any trains to move.

Andrew Haines, Network Rail chief executive, who was among the passengers on the 18.30 service, took charge of updating the frustrated travellers, telling them not to attempt to force their way off the train.

Police boarded the train, as passengers were initially told that they would be evacuated on to the tracks one carriage at a time. But Mr Haines then explained that with so many people on board, it would be safer to find a way of getting the train back to Paddington and trying to find another train.

Dozens of passengers were forced to stand throughout the ordeal, as the train was packed because of cancellations caused by the strike. A total of 900 taxis had to be sent for the passengers on board.

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

The terminology "emergency isolation" is no longer used and is called an "emergency switch-off", largely to remove ambiguity around the term as isolation suggests electrically safe when it's not necessarily the case.

The plan for GWEP was remote switching and electronic securing, but it all got descoped due to cost so it is largely manually operated switches and lock-off, for which you need to be at least an Authorised Person.

At least out to Ealing Broadway this section needs motorised switches as im surmising there are just too many isolators to operate manually.

The OLE infrastructure in that area are mostly headspans which means that damage to one road can affect the others; that's why the incident on the Queen's funeral was so impactful, as all 4 roads went down in one incident. This one doesn't appear to be quite as bad with only the Down Main affected.

Yes but once you establish whether headspan is intact you can then renergise other lines depending on what you need to keep isolated to manage the incident of course which i guess is what your saying next.

Regarding re-energisation in a situation like this, firstly you need to fully understand how much has been damaged, then start drafting the isolation paperwork to arrange an isolation around that, then implement the isolation, before you can start turning things back on, to mitigate the risk of inadvertently livening up something that would create a risk of electrocution or further damage or fire or whatever. Again headspans complicate this due to the nature of the insulators being part of the span.

About 9.30pm they were ready to re-energise but the ECR were reluctant to given reports of members of public being on the infrastructure. It was around 11.30pm when the Reliefs were brought back in.

If by 21.30 they had isolated (and earthed?) the sections required to manage the incident its seems unusual the ECRO didn't recharge although it has to be there prerogative of course. In third rail areas they won't for obvious reasons but shouldn't be the same issue under OLE although by then nearly 3hrs had elapsed anyhow so now the bigger risk is dispersal of passengers across large parts of the infrastructure.

As an aside i wonder if any attempt was made to recharge the reliefs once a MOM had got on site and able to give an overview of what was damaged.

 

[34006]

Are there Headspans in the area where the incident happened ?

 

[pitdiver]

When I worked on LUL I had an incident where I was required to Evacuate a train in the dark on an open section of the Met. The train had come to halt due to trees being brought down across the track. This occurred at about 1800hrs in six inches of snow. The station was single manned by myself. So it was only me and the driver that were available for the evacuation. No other staff could get to my station as the roads were blocked and there were obviously no Met trains running.
That was night to remember.

 

[DanNCL]

Indeed, although the lack of 3rd rail perhaps makes things marginally less dangerous for self-detraining passengers.

Only marginally as the Hammersmith & City line runs adjacent so there was the risk of people being electrocuted by the LU fourth rail if they took themselves the wrong way.