What’s to say it wasn’t an existing signal on the mainline at Gateway
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Birmingham New Street disruption 02/07/25
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The Planner
Veteran Member
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Nothing, Im speculating.
1407 sat at international. Was the Birmingham that was sat at Stetchford.
Tilting007
Member
Twice yesterday!
Russel
Established Member
I'd love to be able to say I've just been unlucky, but when disruption happens so frequently, it becomes normal, there is usually weekly threads on here about the WCML collapsing and Euston being in chaos.
Yes, you're right, disruption can happen with any form of transport, but at least if 'I'm stuck in traffic, I can pull into a service station or find an alternative route, my experience of rail disruption is you're generally left to fend for your self with little information and doubt if you're going to get home that day.
I'd love to be able to defend rail too, but I just can't, any more.
DarloRich
Veteran Member
and yet i use the WCML everyday and rarely see these terrible problems. It is just pot luck but things aren't as bad as "informed commentators" suggest
Russel
Established Member
It must be bad luck then, for me, it's 50/50 and I'm checking National Rail and RTT frequently in the hours running up to departure time!
DarloRich
Veteran Member
i have about 120000 times more problems with the Marston Vale than the WCML!
Russel
Established Member
Try using XC Birmingham - Nottingham...
DarloRich
Veteran Member
thats not on the WCML
but, no, i dont use XCWorks was progressing when I left on the 1509 to Nottingham with a couple of road rail vehicles on the viaduct for the Cross City line. Seems that only the Coventry lines were being used today into and out of the station.
Elecman
Established Member
I was watching it sat at Stechford before it diverted
Tilting007
Member
Estimate for works to be done is now 2200…
Russel
Established Member
Is this going to cause much of an issue tomorrow?
Uncle Buck
Member
I was caught up in this travelling from Euston to Glasgow, and while I managed to get the next train (albeit a much slower one resulting in my getting home ninety minutes late), I was struck by two ladies who sat next to me and said they had been travelling Telford to Durham.
On arrival at Wolverhampton the train was stopped and they were told to take the Birmingham Metro to New Street and join an Edinburgh train, which they duly did. This train turned up, stuffed to the gunnels, with hundreds waiting to board, and was cancelled upon arrival at New Street.
They then got on the same train as me and arranged for someone to come and pick them up- from Carlisle!! They said they were just doing what they were told but that there was little information given.
Really a very bad look for the railway, and I must say that it is usually my experience that this 1730 from Euston has something wrong with it on the few times a year that I use it.
On arrival at Wolverhampton the train was stopped and they were told to take the Birmingham Metro to New Street and join an Edinburgh train, which they duly did. This train turned up, stuffed to the gunnels, with hundreds waiting to board, and was cancelled upon arrival at New Street.
They then got on the same train as me and arranged for someone to come and pick them up- from Carlisle!! They said they were just doing what they were told but that there was little information given.
Really a very bad look for the railway, and I must say that it is usually my experience that this 1730 from Euston has something wrong with it on the few times a year that I use it.
Taking Avanti as a prime WCML operator, latest figures are 4% cancellations and 5% of services arriving at destination more than 30 minutes late.
That suggests that serious delays are rare.
Compare that with driving on the M1 or M6 (those are the only ones I use with any regularity) and delays are almost inevitable. If you’re stuck in traffic you’re not going anywhere, no alternative route and no service station.
I don’t think the railway is perfect, but it generally does a damn good job in my experience.
Tilting007
Member
andyjhatton
Member
I hope it's fixed by Saturday.
There are going to be a lot of folk heading to Aston.
There are going to be a lot of folk heading to Aston.
ABB125
Established Member
How long did it take for the problematic unit to be moved from site? Is that a relatively normal amount of time for this sort of thing?
TheTallOne
Member
I think it was moved circa 1400 hrs, so at least 24 hours it was stuck there?
Believe it was coupled to some diesel units to get it moved.
Think the line was scheduled to open around 2200 last night, then estimated 2300, but not sure what time it actually did.
Trains are running on the cross city north route again now.
No idea how long these things should take, but it did sound like a fair bit of damage to repair once the train was out of the way.
SLC001
Member
The problem on Wednesday evening was that we couldn't control the situation we were in. None of the options given to us were possible solutions and so an expensive taxi was the solution. Being late we could handle but we had no idea if any trains would run that evening noting of course they would be crammed if they did.
I am sure people worked hard to fix the problem but again, the lack of definitive information and the poor customer experience just puts people off trains.
I am sure people worked hard to fix the problem but again, the lack of definitive information and the poor customer experience just puts people off trains.
KNN
Member
If you weren't given definitive information it was because there was no definitive information to give.
but that is why the railways carry - and pass on - the extrra costs of having Control and senior management.
Their job shoud be to make an informed guess about the likely outcomes of the current situation and then formulate a plan and issue instructions to front-line staff to help passengers get moving somewhere useful along the way to their destinations.
Somewhere like Brum with about a dozen rail approaches (I know I exaggerate) should be able to have an emergency plan put in somehow, even if it's electric trains approaching as far as the station beyond an electrical section break then buses shuttling round the line ends.
And this comes up time and time again, where do you get the quantity of busses you would need at such short notice?
== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==
Class 20s with barrier vehicles moved the 730s.
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Shaw S Hunter
Established Member
Unfortunately there are not enough of them, particularly "out of hours", to be able to cope with major situations in busy areas. Not only are we sweating the physical assets of the railway, we are also failing to provide sufficient staff to manage front-line operations in real-time. Much like the NHS the tendency is to staff only to the level needed for the quietest times and then somehow expect everyone to cope when things get chaotically busy.
Tilting007
Member
And what if that location isn’t suitable to turn trains back either….
A few issues getting it moved too…
SLC001
Member
A definitive statement could have been simply that there will be no trains tonight to Northampton. That was obvious. Another statement, if you wish to travel to Northampton get a taxi. National Express buses weren't going to help as we weren't local travellers. LNWR website was useless.
As for putting on buses, that I understand was not possible. It couldn't be done. There were 12 buses available though. They were waiting to ferry spectators from Edgbaston at close of play. They were going to the station!
As for putting on buses, that I understand was not possible. It couldn't be done. There were 12 buses available though. They were waiting to ferry spectators from Edgbaston at close of play. They were going to the station!
WesternLancer
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This is exactly it - if you can't resource the replacement or the substitute buses (because they don't exist and you do not want to pay for a fleet to have in store just in case - and that is a sensible decision not to have such a fleet for a rare event ) then you need to state clearly to passengers when the rare event does happen 'get your own taxi and we will re-imburse you' - that has to be the actual plan because the other options have been decided against.
Or you have other option - eg you could decide that you are going to tell people 'to do their best to sleep on the platforms' - whatever you decide to do, but decide something, and then tell people what that decision is.
Then people can have the confidence to know what to do and they can rely on that instruction when it has been clearly given.
When I looked at the official info source NRES at about 8pm it did not say 'do not travel', it said things like 'replacement buses have been requested' which while no doubt true isn't really going to be that helpful given the scale of the incident.
I was on it, got a road straight through stetchford once the hitachi got out of the way.
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