Derailment near Watford Junction (16 September 2016)

[jon01]

Reports of a London Midland unit derailed:


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-37382635

Two people were hurt when a train derailed near Watford Junction after torrential rain caused a landslide at the mouth of a tunnel.

The 06:19 BST service from Milton Keynes to Euston left the track at about 07:00, Network Rail said.

Part of the train derailed and was clipped by another. The fire service helped evacuate almost 400 passengers.

London Midland has warned that delays will run into the weekend with many services cancelled out of Euston.

One traveller was treated for a neck injury and the other for chest pain.

 

[syorksdeano]

Just been on the news that the 6:19 London Midland from Milton Keynes to Euston has derailed due to flooding.

No injuries reported but it is going to mess up things today.

Train derailed near Watford Junction - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-37382635

A train has derailed near Watford Junction, operator London Midland has confirmed.

It is the 06:19 BST service from Milton Keynes to Euston, but there are no details of injuries at this time.

It is understood the accident was caused by flooding in the area.

A spokesman said London Midland and Virgin services would be "severely disrupted" from the north-west of England, Scotland, and the Midlands into Euston station in London.



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[AM9]

According to BBC News, a train was derailed owing to a landslide at Watford.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-37382635

A train has derailed near Watford Junction, operator London Midland has confirmed.

It is the 06:19 BST service from Milton Keynes to Euston, but there are no details of injuries at this time.

It is understood the accident was caused by flooding in the area.

A spokesman said London Midland and Virgin services would be "severely disrupted" from the north-west of England, Scotland, and the Midlands into Euston station in London.

I know that this thread is about SWT impacts but maybe that is just part of more widespread issues and rather than lots of little threads about the same storms, the title of this one could be changed.

 

[syorksdeano]

Sky News now saying it derailed after a landslide and hit another train...or thats what virgin have told them

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[oversteer]

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/P64250/2016/09/16/advanced
http://www.opentraintimes.com/maps/signalling/lec2
Guessing it's in the tunnel or partially in it? Be a lot of people on board with no mobile signal. Hope they can be rescued quickly.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Surprisingly nobody has Tweeted from on board, which seems an almost normal thing these days.

I imagine it hasn't even woken them up. On LM commuter trains, particularly the earlier ones, *all* coaches are quiet coaches, and woe betide anyone not respecting that

 

[MisterWhippy]

Sky News Newsdesk ‏@SkyNewsBreak 3m3 minutes ago
Update - Virgin Trains says the London Midland service "hit a landslide causing it to strike another train and derail"

 

[Bletchleyite]

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/P64250/2016/09/16/advanced
http://www.opentraintimes.com/maps/signalling/lec2
Guessing it's in the tunnel or partially in it? Be a lot of people on board with no mobile signal. Hope they can be rescued quickly.

One Tweeter (not on board) suggests it to be just outside - though if it's inside that'd explain why nobody has Tweeted from on board!

It is on the separated section so the fasts are unaffected. So a Sunday style service with 12-car everything should at least be able to be instituted, most probably I expect with a split at Northampton to allow recovery. And as it happened early in the morning peak, a good many commuters will have gone home and given up, so LM won't have as big a problem getting them back.

 

[MisterWhippy]

National Rail are Tweeting that two lines are open now, so I'm assuming that's the fast?

 

[Bletchleyite]

National Rail are Tweeting that two lines are open now, so I'm assuming that's the fast?

Yes.

This is the train:

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/P64250/2016/09/16/advanced

which runs on the slows throughout. It is fortunate that it was on that section, where there are effectively two totally separate railways.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Sky News now saying it derailed after a landslide and hit another train...or thats what virgin have told them

One Tweeter (not on board) suggests it to be just outside - though if it's inside that'd explain why nobody has Tweeted from on board!

It is on the separated section so the fasts are unaffected. So a Sunday style service with 12-car everything should at least be able to be instituted, most probably I expect with a split at Northampton to allow recovery. And as it happened early in the morning peak, a good many commuters will have gone home and given up, so LM won't have as big a problem getting them back.

Those statements are incompatible. You don't get landslips in a tunnel.
If the Fasts are unaffected, how come NRE says all lines are closed (edit: just reopened apparently)?

 

[87015]

No injuries reported on either train at Watford. Fasts just reopening, closed earlier due to emergency call and getting details etc I expect (block put on as far as Coventry on all movements)

 

[DarloRich]

Those statements are incompatible. You don't get landslips in a tunnel.
If the Fasts are unaffected, how come NRE says all lines are closed (edit: just reopened apparently)?

because they would all have been closed pending working out how bad things were, what was damaged, who was injured etc.

 

[Martin nx]

Sky News saying this is around the Hunton Bridge area just Sth of Kings Langley, the tunnel seperation of fast and slow lines is further south from there so a bit confusing as to where it actually is!

 

[96tommy]

Passengers on the train on a radio said they are in a tunnel, no injuries, just a couple of bad backs. Confirms 2 trains involved after hitting a mudslide. Says driver has bad back.

 

[CockneySparrow]

National Rail are Tweeting that two lines are open now, so I'm assuming that's the fast?

They have said "at reduced speeds" so not really fast :roll:
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Sky News Newsdesk ‏@SkyNewsBreak 3m3 minutes ago
Update - Virgin Trains says the London Midland service "hit a landslide causing it to strike another train and derail"

Could we be looking at a SPAD then if the train hit another train

 

[Sanatogen]

Not a SPAD, up slow train collided with a down slow train after derailing.

 

[toppington]

I'm usually on that train. There's no mobile signal from the tunnel mouth to just outside the platforms at Watford hence why there are no passenger tweets. It's usually 50% full by Hemel.

The embankments on cutting near tunnel mouth are very steep and could easily be one of them that has slipped. I hope everyone is ok and not injured at all.

 

[talltim]

London Midland 06:19 train from Milton Keynes to Euston has hit an landslip and derailed on the approach to Watford Tunnel.
It has come to a stand within the tunnel and has come into contact with the 06:39 LM Euston - Birmingham.
No injuries reported

 

[oversteer]

http://www.networkrailmediacentre.c...dent-on-the-west-coast-main-line-near-watford

Martin Frobisher, route managing director for Network Rail, said: “A train hit a landslip, caused by torrential rain, resulting in a small section of the train to leave the tracks a few miles north of Watford today. The train remained upright and there are no reported passenger injuries.

"Engineers are on site and train services are now running through the area but it will be some time before a normal timetable resumes. Passengers are advised to check www.nationalrail.co.uk before they travel for the latest information.

“Our priority is to reopen the railway as soon as it is safe to do so. A full investigation into what happened will take place.”

Notes to editors:

Shortly before 7am today a train heading south to London hit a land slip, caused by torrential rain, at the north end of the Watford Tunnel. This caused the train's wheels to leave the tracks. A short time after this another train heading north had a glancing blow with the derailed train. The train heading north did not leave the tracks. Passengers will be taken from the partially-derailed train and we will work to remove the train and reopen the railway as quickly as possible.

Guessing it collided with the 0634 service to Birmingham New Street
http://www.opentraintimes.com/schedule/P65994/2016-09-16

 

[341o2]

there are reports of a landslip between Watford Jcn and Kings Langley causing a derailment, thankfully no injuries. for a short while, all lines were closed, two have now been reopened trains running under caution

 

[Sanatogen]

BBC Look East tweeted the following picture, if it's genuine then very lucky not to have been a lot worse.

 

[Varney]

BBC Look East tweeted the following picture, if it's genuine then very lucky not to have been a lot worse.

Indeed. A train derailing at a tunnel mouth and another train hitting it could have ended up as a catastrophic event. We could have been looking at a real disaster here.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Indeed so.

It has always occurred to me that that cutting is very steep and would be liable to slipping. Time perhaps for some strengthening work?

 

[Sanatogen]

Virgin have tweeted some more, this is one of them.

 

[Martin nx]

Very lucky the unit stayed upright! With the mouth wall of the tunnel there it could have been much much worse! Recovery will be awkward with both trains inside the tunnel though.

 

[Ash Bridge]

Looking at the BBC images is there defoliage/deforestation work taking place above that location presently?

 

[Juniper Driver]

BBC Look East tweeted the following picture, if it's genuine then very lucky not to have been a lot worse.

Why shouldn't it be genuine?

 

[Sanatogen]

It's not unusual for images on Twitter to be from previous incidents so I'm always a bit cautious of info from there.

 

[Kristofferson]

Explains all the sirens I heard earlier... Given how bad the weather has been overnight, I'd assumed they were for the M25.

Surprised to hear it was the railway, and glad everyone's pretty much OK freak accident for sure, but I'm sure Network Rail will be looking at how to prevent a land slip there in future...


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