Disruption between London Paddington and Slough 16/17th Oct 2018

[scotrail170407]

So person hit by a train on Monday and OLE brought down on Tuesday...and I was travelling between Paddington and Reading on both days!

Monday - http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/C40144/2018/10/15/advanced

Tuesday - http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/C40283/2018/10/16/advanced

I was also on the 14:26 TPE service from Edinburgh- Preston on Saturday 13th heading to Reading and then the landslide happened at Oxenholme, so we got cancelled at Carlisle, got an LNER hst to Newcastle, XC voyager to Swindon and an 800 to Reading, arriving 2.5 hours late

 

[hassaanhc]

Update posted on GWR Journeycheck:

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading

Due to damage to the overhead electric wires between London Paddington and Reading fewer trains are able to run on the Reading bound high speed line.
Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled, delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.
Customer Advice
Repairs are continuing overnight on the damaged section of overhead line equipment. During Thursday 18th October it is anticipated that a near normal peak hour service will be able to operate between Reading and London Paddington. There will however be some restrictions on the use of the line from London Paddington in the Ealing Broadway area which is utilised by the express services. This will limit the use of electric trains from London Paddington during the evening peak period which will result in a small number of train service cancellations / alterations.
Last Updated:18/10/2018 00:39

 

[Gerald Fiennes]

Headspans widely used in Germany and Belgium, including to span c.12 tracks at once. Not really the cause of much unreliability there, train failures are much more common.
Europe's definitive reliable railway is of course Switzerland, which is entirely electric (other than the odd shunting move). So it's not the system that's the problem, but the design, maintenance and (in this case perhaps) the testing protocol.

 

[SamYeager]

So person hit by a train on Monday and OLE brought down on Tuesday...and I was travelling between Paddington and Reading on both days!

I was also on the 14:26 TPE service from Edinburgh- Preston on Saturday 13th heading to Reading and then the landslide happened at Oxenholme, so we got cancelled at Carlisle, got an LNER hst to Newcastle, XC voyager to Swindon and an 800 to Reading, arriving 2.5 hours late

When does the nationwide rail ban come into force?

 

[AM9]

When does the nationwide rail ban come into force?

A nationwide ban on what?

 

[SamYeager]

I see Tony Miles was on the Beeb this morning saying it appeared to be a fault with the pantograph raising/tensioning equipment. Seemed to be more than just speculation; any informed rail people able to comment?

 

[SamYeager]

A nationwide ban on what?

Nationwide ban for @scotrail170407 - it's just a joke so don't take it seriously.

 

[JN114]

I see Tony Miles was on the Beeb this morning saying it appeared to be a fault with the pantograph raising/tensioning equipment. Seemed to be more than just speculation; any informed rail people able to comment?

1) The pantograph was raised, in a location not authorised for high speed changeover. It is unclear whether the raising of the pantograph was human error or mechanical failure.

2) When the pantograph did raise, it didn’t do so normally. The head of the pantograph remained stowed and the elbow impacted the contact wire. There is strong suggestion that the Pantograph had been tied down for its transit to the UK to Pistoria, and had not been untied for the journey to Stoke Gifford.

 

[SamYeager]

There is strong suggestion that the Pantograph had been tied down for its transit to the UK to Pistoria, and had not been untied for the journey to Stoke Gifford.

Thanks for the update @JN114 . Rather surprised there isn't a train preparation process equivalent to the one new cars go through although perhaps there is and someone missed a step.

 

[Wilts Wanderer]

Was the move to Stoke Gifford meant to be on electric or diesel traction mode? If electric, it suggests the fault lies with Hitachi for not ‘unpacking’ the train properly prior to its first moves on the live railway. If diesel, perhaps the pan was still supposed to be tied down, and the fault lies with whatever / whoever initiated the pan-up process? Or both parties for the combination of errors. What a complete mess.

 

[alangla]

Nationwide ban for @scotrail170407 - it's just a joke so don't take it seriously.

With that sort of luck he’s probably got his own delay attribution code by now

 

[deltic08]

Also in the same bulletin, a passenger at Reading ranting that they should nationalise the railways. If only they knew it was BR infrastructure that caused or exacerbated the incident (and frequently causes problems on the ECML)

So what if it was BR. Government was the cause of the lightweight headspans as electrification had to be on the cheap. Wire is cheaper than girder.

As previously posted, Railtrack failed to maintain it properly.

 

[alangla]

So what if it was BR. Government was the cause of the lightweight headspans as electrification had to be on the cheap. Wire is cheaper than girder.

As previously posted, Railtrack failed to maintain it properly.

Because nationalisation is promoted as some kind of panacea. Consider this- over the last 10 years, spending on things like defence, prisons, roads and public sector pay has been seriously constrained. How would BR have fared in the government’s priorities compared to the NHS etc?

 

[silverfoxcc]

Do Eurostars still drop and lift pans on the move now?
I thought that since St Pancras opened it was a thing of the past

 

[GodAtum]

Looks like a sensible suggestion to me. High Wycombe and Marlow are only 5 miles apart.

Ah yes, I could have taken the 850 bus.

 

[DelW]

Do Eurostars still drop and lift pans on the move now?
I thought that since St Pancras opened it was a thing of the past

It's difficult to see why they'd want to, with no third-rail track or collector shoes any more ...?

 

[theblackwatch]

Heathrow Express only running every 30 mins today and no plans to increase frequency according to a tweet they made earlier.

 

[AM9]

It's difficult to see why they'd want to, with no third-rail track or collector shoes any more ...?

The do in Belgium when transitioning from 25kV ac to 3kV DC, and maybe now when passing through the Netherlands to Amsterdam.

 

[island]

The do in Belgium when transitioning from 25kV ac to 3kV DC, and maybe now when passing through the Netherlands to Amsterdam.

Yes they need to do so for a few neutral sections also.

 

[DelW]

The do in Belgium when transitioning from 25kV ac to 3kV DC, and maybe now when passing through the Netherlands to Amsterdam.

Oh, OK, I didn't realise that needed the pantograph to be dropped, I'd assumed there'd just be a neutral section but a more-or-less continuous contact wire. But as a civil engineer, I've never really understood the sparky bits...

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Do Eurostars still drop and lift pans on the move now?
I thought that since St Pancras opened it was a thing of the past

When E* used to go down the West London Line from North Pole Depot , they were the proud high achievers on lost pans at the signal near the Westway , - though I had 2 313's sets lose them in one day on the newly electrified Clapham line. An expensive business.

 

[ptreanor]

Oh, OK, I didn't realise that needed the pantograph to be dropped, I'd assumed there'd just be a neutral section but a more-or-less continuous contact wire. But as a civil engineer, I've never really understood the sparky bits...

Eurostars lower and raise their pantographs (at line speed) as part of the traction reconfiguration process, for example when going between HS1 to ET supplies near Sellindge. In this location the voltage is the same but the wire height changes. Similar issue when going between LGV Nord and SNCF classic systems near Gonesse. Neutral sections are different, trains just cut power (manually or automatically) and then coast until clear.

 

[scotrail170407]

With that sort of luck he’s probably got his own delay attribution code by now

About to get the Eurostar to Paris, if this gets delayed by any more than 30 minutes I’m never travelling by train again


Nah I’m joking but seriously all these delays and cancellations I’ve been involved in is unbelievable

 

[Siemens Staines]

1) The pantograph was raised, in a location not authorised for high speed changeover. It is unclear whether the raising of the pantograph was human error or mechanical failure.

2) When the pantograph did raise, it didn’t do so normally. The head of the pantograph remained stowed and the elbow impacted the contact wire. There is strong suggestion that the Pantograph had been tied down for its transit to the UK to Pistoria, and had not been untied for the journey to Stoke Gifford.

The youtube clip in post #140 shows one of the pantographs of 802016 in use on the 3rd but of course it may have been the other pantograph that was involved? I would have thought that both would have been untied at the same time because not doing so would seem to be a recipe for confusion. Does anyone know if the up run of 5Z64 from Stoke Gifford used the OLE or was that run entirely on diesel?

 

[DelW]

Eurostars lower and raise their pantographs (at line speed) as part of the traction reconfiguration process, for example when going between HS1 to ET supplies near Sellindge. In this location the voltage is the same but the wire height changes. Similar issue when going between LGV Nord and SNCF classic systems near Gonesse. Neutral sections are different, trains just cut power (manually or automatically) and then coast until clear.

Having travelled to Paris and back a couple of weeks ago, I didn't notice any flickers on board to suggest this, which presumably shows how sophisticated the electrical system on the E320s is.

Thanks for the info', one of the things I like about RUKf is the way I encounter interesting but arcane information that might be hard to find elsewhere, and which I probably wouldn't have thought to go searching for.

 

[Dave_Cardboard]

Readers interesting in the number of headspans versus portals between Paddington and Reading, can count them up for themselves in the following video (circa March 2018) if they like....

Enjoy.

 

[Railperf]

The do in Belgium when transitioning from 25kV ac to 3kV DC, and maybe now when passing through the Netherlands to Amsterdam.

I am also led to to believe pantograph is dropped either side of Lille on TGV Nord where the pan setting (tension) etc is configured for the much lower wire height through Lille tunnels. Driver selects the appropriate setting and then the pantograph is raised again. There are different settings for UK 25KV and French non TGV 25KV lines.

 

[bastien]

Having travelled to Paris and back a couple of weeks ago, I didn't notice any flickers on board to suggest this, which presumably shows how sophisticated the electrical system on the E320s is.

Thanks for the info', one of the things I like about RUKf is the way I encounter interesting but arcane information that might be hard to find elsewhere, and which I probably wouldn't have thought to go searching for.

Depending which coach you're in, you can certainly hear the pans clonking around.

 

[AndyNLondon]

John Bull (editor of London Reconnections) has tweeted a theory about how this happened, https://twitter.com/garius/status/1052853094223138817 (quoted below for those without twitter access.) The short version is, basically, that the pantograph is meant to be secured down at both ends for the delivery runs, but what if it wasn't secured properly at one end and this was the first point when that end was facing into the wind at speed? This relies on the assumption that the train didn't have to reverse anywhere along the route from Italy to here, which doesn't sound very likely, but of course I don't know what routes they take.

John Bull‏ @garius
So there's been some press out there blaming a @Crossrail train on testing for causing the Paddington delays. This is wrong. It was a new GWR 802. Here's the damaged unit. And if you're a train nerd you'll spot something weird about it. Let's play detective! #rail /1

10:25 AM - 18 Oct 2018


So it's clear now that a pantograph (the bit that gets power from overhead) went up when the train was travelling over 105mph in an area where no pantographs should be raised while moving (oops). BUT... what's interesting is that the HEAD of that pan appears to be intact

/2



So, if the HEAD didn't cause the damage, that means the other bit must have done - the joint bit (also known as the elbow). Oh dear. So how does the ELBOW go up, but not the head? /3



Well digging around for unit numbers shows that this particular unit seems to be Italian made and pretty 'fresh off the boat'. Oh dear. There have been claims of workmanship issues with the Italian IEPs (over the Japanese or local ones) for a while...

/4


But still - how does the ELBOW go up on the second pan, not the HEAD?! Oh... oh wait. Test run... fresh off the boat... The pans are meant to be secured down at BOTH ends (elbow and head) during transit aren't they? But, what if one of them kinda... wasn't? /5


Let's say you're strapping down the pantographs in Italy, and maybe not concentrating as much as you should. Let's say you make a bit of a boo-boo on one and only strap it down at the head. Let's say the quality control officer is also not really paying attention. /6



Let's say - hypothetically - that this train then goes all the way from Italy to England head first, so the strapped down end is always travelling INTO the wind. Nobody is going to notice are they? /7




Let's say that the first time that GWR 802 then runs elbow-first is on speed test run. Those those lovely little - but surprisingly aerodynamic - GWR 802 elbow winglets are now facing into the wind... ...SO FLY LITTLE PANTOGRAPH ELBOW! DON'T LISTEN TO THE HATERS! FLY! FLY! /8



...and that would be one way you'd strip 500m of old-but-still-kinda-important OHLE tech off of the main line. Oops.

(And double expensive oops if you're Hitachi, who supplied the train...) /END

 

[ArchieWoodbine]

John Bull (editor of London Reconnections) has tweeted a theory about how this happened, https://twitter.com/garius/status/1052853094223138817 (quoted below for those without twitter access.) The short version is, basically, that the pantograph is meant to be secured down at both ends for the delivery runs, but what if it wasn't secured properly at one end and this was the first point when that end was facing into the wind at speed? This relies on the assumption that the train didn't have to reverse anywhere along the route from Italy to here, which doesn't sound very likely, but of course I don't know what routes they take.

An interesting theory. But, that somewhat assumes that the pantograph is incapable of keeping itself stowed without the use of straps and that it naturally wants to raise itself at speed. I'm not sure that's correct. One would assume that it's locked in place mechanically until deployed and the straps are there (if at all) to prevent damage should this locking system fail in transit.

What's more, the leading elbow is pretty well sheltered when in the stowed-position by the roof equipment. I think it's plausable that the head was secured down, causing the elbow to rise into the wire; but my money is still on driver-error or a mechanical failure as the root cause of the initial pan-up.