Fen Line - Not a good week so far

Aictos · 25 Sep 2011

I do feel sorry for the users of the Fen line this week, not only have the overheads came down at Littleport on Friday but today a tractor at Watlington impacted with the 10:10 Kings Lynn to Kings Cross service at a local level crossing with the overheads coming down again.

No services between Ely and Kings Lynn at the moment while the emergency services are attending.

RailUK Forums

suffolk_lp3 · 25 Sep 2011

All Ely-Kings Lynn services suspended for the rest of the day according to FCC.

Aictos · 25 Sep 2011

RIO has confirmed that the train has derailed, 532 is the train concerned.

jon0844 · 25 Sep 2011

suffolk_lp3 said:
All Ely-Kings Lynn services suspended for the rest of the day according to FCC.

Normal service not until evening peak on Monday apparently.

Aictos · 25 Sep 2011

This is the article from the local newspaper regarding the accident, by the looks of the photos taken it's lucky there were no fatalities.

Article

Images

OxtedL · 25 Sep 2011

It all looks harmless until you realise that that was the front of the tractor and not the back.

hock:

eMeS · 25 Sep 2011

Is a two hour wait for the power to be turned off, and I guess, proved OFF, a normal sort of period? (i.e. the delay before the passengers could be de-trained)

richw · 25 Sep 2011

eMeS said:
Is a two hour wait for the power to be turned off, and I guess, proved OFF, a normal sort of period? (i.e. the delay before the passengers could be de-trained)

It states that the fire brigade had to verify all power had been earthed, would that mean there is still power in the lines whilst off, until it gets earthed

dieselbashdave · 25 Sep 2011

Looks like the tractor's been chopped in half by the 365.

NightatLaira · 25 Sep 2011

All credit to the passengers for not breaking loose! (suppose they did have toilet though on this occasion)

ChrisCooper · 25 Sep 2011

richw said:
It states that the fire brigade had to verify all power had been earthed, would that mean there is still power in the lines whilst off, until it gets earthed

Yes, with very high voltages you can get residual voltage in the wires even after they have been isolated. The only way to be safe is to earth the wires. It can be done much faster than 2 hours though, and has to be as the emergency services can't start working until it's done. Not going to sound good after an accident if half the fatalities died because they could not be rescued for 2 hours whilst the power was isolated and earthed.

allticketspls · 26 Sep 2011

There is an image of 365532 on the FCC website, not pretty.

http://www.firstcapitalconnect.co.uk/announcement/

jopsuk · 26 Sep 2011

Coe off pretty well considering that's the engine block of the tractor that it has hit.

jon0844 · 26 Sep 2011

That looks like it came off pretty well, but for it to be the second 365 taken out by incidents along that line - I wonder what Network Rail can do to try and reduce these accidents? FCC can't afford to keep losing rolling stock (and, passengers probably don't like being on trains that crash either).

The only logical 'fix' is to have the trains go slow near all the crossings, but there are quite a few and that would hugely increase journey times - but with tractors/lorries and motorhomes all assuming it's safe to cross the line, something needs to be done. At the very least, the tractor driver is punished heavily.

Aictos · 26 Sep 2011

Question is how will it be moved from the site?

While I suspect a blanket speed restriction/horn warning when approaching such crossings would come into play on that section of route, I don't believe it is viable to increase journey times especially as services were already being slowed by a speed restriction between Littleport and Ely to slow the services any more would be unacceptable.

Of course safety must always come first but at what price?

jon0844 · 26 Sep 2011

This is the problem.

If you slow trains such that they can easily stop if some idiot crosses, imagine the delays and impact on timetables. Also, if locals realise trains will go at 5mph through a crossing, they'll happily chance their luck as they've got no real risk.

But, how do you deal with people that jump lights or cross on farmland because they think they know the timings so well a train couldn't be approaching? Was this train on time, early or late I wonder?

Do you close these crossings for farmers, or build bridges for them? Seriously, how do you cope with idiots like this?

DarloRich · 26 Sep 2011

jonmorris0844 said:
That looks like it came off pretty well, but for it to be the second 365 taken out by incidents along that line - I wonder what Network Rail can do to try and reduce these accidents? FCC can't afford to keep losing rolling stock (and, passengers probably don't like being on trains that crash either).

The only logical 'fix' is to have the trains go slow near all the crossings, but there are quite a few and that would hugely increase journey times - but with tractors/lorries and motorhomes all assuming it's safe to cross the line, something needs to be done. At the very least, the tractor driver is punished heavily.

Engineer out as many crossings as possible, buy out accommodation crossings, provide alternative access routes, educate crossing users, punish those who misuse crossings

Aictos · 26 Sep 2011

Disruption is expected to last until midnight tonight.

GB · 26 Sep 2011

Once rerailed (if it hasn't already) the unit should be skated down to Downham Market untill the opportunity arrises to skate it to a repair facility.

dk1 · 26 Sep 2011

Line re-opened at 17.08.

Aictos · 26 Sep 2011

GB said:
Once rerailed (if it hasn't already) the unit should be skated down to Downham Market untill the opportunity arrises to skate it to a repair facility.

Line now re-opened as of 17:08 and assisting unit nearly at Kings Lynn, does this mean the unit which was derailed has gone up to Kings Lynn then?

With two 365s now out of use, would be nice to borrow a pair of 317/6s or 317/7s for a few weeks

Crossover · 26 Sep 2011

ajax103 said:
Line now re-opened as of 17:08 and assisting unit nearly at Kings Lynn, does this mean the unit which was derailed has gone up to Kings Lynn then?

With two 365s now out of use, would be nice to borrow a pair of 317/6s or 317/7s for a few weeks

My guess would be they have maybe rescued it with another 365? Since the London end of the train is pretty knackered, they will probably have to be creative with the coupling so may have taken it to Lynn (where there is a working coupler) to get it out of the way for the rest of day.

Didn't comment previously, but it was lucky that no major injuries were suffered, and the tractor driver was really lucky when you see the state of the tractor.

87015 · 26 Sep 2011

ajax103 said:
With two 365s now out of use, would be nice to borrow a pair of 317/6s or 317/7s for a few weeks

Chances of FCC actually wanting to pay for any hire? The units are certainly available.

Aictos · 26 Sep 2011

87015 said:
Chances of FCC actually wanting to pay for any hire? The units are certainly available.

Well I certainly would welcome the units with open arms, NXEA getting them back is another thing though,

jon0844 · 26 Sep 2011

It would make sense, given there would be no staff training issues. If they're available then just charge the hire to the insurance company that covered the tractor driver.

Speedbird2639 · 28 Sep 2011

jonmorris0844 said:
This is the problem.

Seriously, how do you cope with idiots like this?

Some sort of sensible employment rules to deter the employment of vodka swilling Eastern 'Europeans' in farm work wld be a big start - its a guaranteed nailed on fact that the tractor driver here is going to be a Polish imigrant who cant read English and therefore had no idea what the warning signs said.

But while we're in th EC that will never happen. Too much like a common sense solution.

GB · 28 Sep 2011

Have you any prove of the accusations you have just made?

Bungle73 · 28 Sep 2011

GB said:
Have you any prove of the accusations you have just made?

No he doesn't. Its just a bunch of racist nonsense. BTW we are a member of the EU, not the EC (whatever that is).

jon0844 · 28 Sep 2011

Do we know if the tractor driver was Polish (or eastern European?).

I will say that I do have a concern about some of them (namely the Polish drivers brought in to drive buses for one local operator). They may or may not be able to read road signs, but they can't communicate with passengers and it takes a long time to board and pay.

There are problems, but there's no actual issue with employing someone from elsewhere in the EU. That's fine and 100% legal (and it works the other way - and the smart people have realised that they can actually make money going the other way too, instead of sitting here and getting outraged by the latest Daily Mail headlines), but I do think that we need to make sure that people doing a job are fit to do so - and if that includes better training or having to learn basic English then so be it.

That has nothing to do with foreigners though, given how badly some of our home-grown children struggle to communicate.

Bald Rick · 28 Sep 2011

It is a guaranteed, nailed on fact that the tractor driver was English.

Fen Line - Not a good week so far

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