Euston closed (power outage) and other stories...

[urbophile]

I'd also wonder if they could start the sleeper (maybe the lowland later) from King's Cross. Are there oaths at that time of night?

In the circumstances I would imagine the air is blue with them.

 

[GW43125]

The aforementioned 1T14 additional has departed RT.
9M59 is coming up to Watford and is looking to be the first arrival.

 

[northern156]

1S26 left Euston R/T.

 

[GW43125]

1S25 has made up 10 mins already, and it's not even at Nuneaton yet. 90 I presume?

 

[Trainfan344]

Presumably kept on Fasts rather than shafted onto slows?

 

[Dolive22]

Whose were the 11Kv lines? From my very limited knowledge they sound like "mains electricity" (National Grid/DNO), rather than traction supply. Is that likely? If they were mains cables routes alongside the track for ease, a grid connection might not help.

What power was actually out?

 

[Scotrail84]

1S25 has made up 10 mins already, and it's not even at Nuneaton yet. 90 I presume?

Nope, 92 023 the night. Nothing ahead of it mind. DF and greens all the way.

 

[GW43125]

Nope, 92 023 the night. Nothing ahead of it mind. DF and greens all the way.

Just a bloody slack timetable then? Fair enough.

 

[Elecman]

Euston station does have 2 DNO derived power supplies as well as a feed from the 11KV ring from Acton traction feeder.

 

[Mag_seven]

Trust me, I well aware of that. It won't be starting at Watford Jn I'm sure of that.

Oh dear.


http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/C74104/2017/04/19/advanced

 

[Scotrail84]

Oh dear.


http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/C74104/2017/04/19/advanced

**** happens eh. Do you know a lot about what happened last night? Do you know how this came about?

 

[DarloRich]

The Marston Vale line was very busy last night carrying people caught up in this distribution. Twitter pictures show full and standing both ways and i bet people were left behind on the one car services.

 

[Metroman62]

BBC 5 live travel this morning were confused over Harrow & Wealdstone. Overground appears shut from Harrow & Wealdstone to Euston but 5Live were saying a short branch between Harrow and Wealdstone was closed. I mailed them to point out the confusion


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Darandio]

**** happens eh. Do you know a lot about what happened last night? Do you know how this came about?

Yes.

They did plan to start it at Euston but then someone in planning was directed to this thread and saw someone who was adamant that it wouldn't start at Watford Junction. They changed their mind.

 

[Oxfordblues]

Travelling around the network I often observe cable-troughing with the lids missing or not correctly fitted, with the cables exposed to any discarded cigarette or sparks from rail-grinders. There seems no discipline by the S&T engineers to ensure their vulnerable cables are protected from fire or other damage.

Judging by the blurred images in the media the cables at South Hampstead were similarly left exposed and vulnerable. I bet the S%T would fit the troughing-lids properly if they had to pay even a small proportion of the multi-million pound delay penalties for yesterday!

 

[Bletchleyite]

Was that the cause, or was it a cable that started it?

FWIW, it reads like there were some good quality operations yesterday to at least try to get people where they were going.

 

[GW43125]

Presumably kept on Fasts rather than shafted onto slows?

Looks like 1S25 got thrown onto the slows at Stafford.

 

[tsr]

To be fair, Scotrail84 should have been correct at one point, and the decision to divert to Watford was not the most likely of scenarios at the precise time they posted that, as that was the first point at which the news was just in that Euston might reopen in time. I actually made that suggestion based on events earlier in the afternoon, and not directly due to the issues which actually led to the final decision being made. At the time which I queried this, I was rather relying on the reopening of Euston remaining as an unstable situation, which it indeed was...

=====

As for today, there's now a broken rail on the Up Fast (ie. Southbound) line at one end of Northchurch Tunnels, near Tring. This means there's effectively a two-track railway on part of the stretch between Milton Keynes Ctl and Watford Jn. In turn, VT have pulled 1tph to/from both Birmingham and Manchester, LM have pulled the Tring terminators, and Southern aren't going to run beyond Watford Junction (or Shepherds Bush) if they can help it...

 

[GW43125]

=====

As for today, there's now a broken rail on the Up Fast (ie. Southbound) line at one end of Northchurch Tunnels, near Tring. This means there's effectively a two-track railway on part of the stretch between Milton Keynes Ctl and Watford Jn. In turn, VT have pulled 1tph to/from both Birmingham and Manchester, LM have pulled the Tring terminators, and Southern aren't going to run beyond Watford Junction (or Shepherds Bush) if they can help it...

SSOs on other services to cover?

EDIT-I can't see any cancellations on Brum services, other than a late start on one (and subsequent turning at Int'l) and a late start on the 1103, but the 1100 Manchester has been pulled.

 

[Devonman2014]

I assume delay repay with VT, LM and CS will apply for all delayed and amended journeys yesterday and through the night ?

 

[QueensCurve]

Not having a standby power supply in a major London Terminus shows a complete lack of resillience in that part of the Network.

I have refrained from commenting, but from a business resilience point of view it seems disappointing that this could happen. Some thought seems to need to go into the "what if" the power goes down and how to they keep the systems running. If there is no emergency alternator and/or B supply then it is probably a bit late to be thinking about putting portable lighting in when the systems fail.

Euston is gloomy on a sunny day and is an architectural monstrosity. If John Betjemnan was still alive I am sure that he would have adapted his Slough poem to describe it and what he wished for it.

[OT]Never bought into those views. While not as grand as the Art Deco Euston that the LMS had planned, the station itself is a gem of its period. It is the Euston Square development from the 1970s outside that spoils the environment. For a few short years from 1968 Euston station stood in relative isolation and was seen for what it is.

 

[tsr]

SSOs on other services to cover?

EDIT-I can't see any cancellations on Brum services, other than a late start on one (and subsequent turning at Int'l) and a late start on the 1103, but the 1100 Manchester has been pulled.

Yes, SSOs on other LM services for Kings Langley & Apsley.

I'm pleased to say that one or two trains have just been reinstated. Fortunately, the situation is presently looking optimistic, and NR think the affected line could reopen soon, with a speed restriction.

 

[tsr]

[OT]Never bought into those views. While not as grand as the Art Deco Euston that the LMS had planned, the station itself is a gem of its period. It is the Euston Square development from the 1970s outside that spoils the environment. For a few short years from 1968 Euston station stood in relative isolation and was seen for what it is.

I quite agree. Euston, in its most basic and uncluttered form, was (and perhaps could still be, with a lot of work) quite a masterpiece.

 

[QueensCurve]

That was not true when I was there in 1980s - It had both "traction supply" and "LEB national grid supply" I think it was a split of 70/30. Certainly we tested switching to just LEB lighting. In fact we had several areas solely powered by the national grid supply. Partly because changes through the 1980s meant we started to install meters to off charge commercial tenants and parts of the railway like the BTP police station. The traction supply used to be fed into two transformers for the station use. The P&M manager always complained that the commercial expansion meant his beloved policy of each only operating at 40% capacity (so that he could always switch one out for maintenance without compromising the station) was under threat. That was 27 years ago, I am sure that things have improved since the cash strapped BR days.

Thank you for your comment based on direct experience. Far from having "improved since the cash-strapped BR days" it seems perhaps the Corporate memory has been lost allowing this failure (cf ECML OHLE or flood-scouring of viaducts such as Lamington).

 

[Bletchleyite]

I quite agree. Euston, in its most basic and uncluttered form, was (and perhaps could still be, with a lot of work) quite a masterpiece.

Even with the clutter I find it pretty good. It's pig-ugly outside, but apart from the Euston scrum (which is just a poor method of operation and could be replaced) it works well.

 

[QueensCurve]

Even with the clutter I find it pretty good. It's pig-ugly outside, but apart from the Euston scrum (which is just a poor method of operation and could be replaced) it works well.

The New Euston Station 1968

 

[The Planner]

As for today, there's now a broken rail on the Up Fast (ie. Southbound) line at one end of Northchurch Tunnels, near Tring. This means there's effectively a two-track railway on part of the stretch between Milton Keynes Ctl and Watford Jn. In turn, VT have pulled 1tph to/from both Birmingham and Manchester, LM have pulled the Tring terminators, and Southern aren't going to run beyond Watford Junction (or Shepherds Bush) if they can help it...

Thats the standard cull if there is an oops on the West Coast. I like what the OTT maps shows "bust rail"

 

[Dolive22]

Do we actually know what power went out? If the 11kv cables were for the DNO (what most people call "the grid"/"mains") a connection to the conventional power grid may not have done any good, with the mains out or under serious strain. I know lots of old parts of London struggle for electricity (the DNO does a great job of hiding it day to day, but I know they have cables they can only renew in one season, unless they black out Canary Wharf, and new towers in some places may be looking at paying for new 11kv cables to handle the load).

At what point were the signalling cables fixed? Presumably without those you can at best run a few trains?

 

[boxy321]

I am intrigued by the burning cables yesterday.

A dead short to ground or across phases would (should) cause whatever protective devices to trip immediately, disconnecting the power until reset or replaced.

A partial short due to damage to part of the cable could cause local arcing and a small fire without tripping the fuse/breaker. This wasn't the case.

Unless the ignition source was some kind of fuel, the only cause of an entire length of cable burning is electrical overload. Protective devices in low voltage systems (<1kV) should be rated to trip at a current beneath what the cable can handle indefinitely - the bigger the overload, the quicker they trip.

This sustained high current was going somewhere, where I have no idea. Did someone bypass a fuse with a nail/spanner?

 

[Dolive22]

I am intrigued by the burning cables yesterday.

A dead short to ground or across phases would (should) cause whatever protective devices to trip immediately, disconnecting the power until reset or replaced.

...

Unless the ignition source was some kind of fuel, the only cause of an entire length of cable burning is electrical overload. Protective devices in low voltage systems (<1kV) should be rated to trip at a current beneath what the cable can handle indefinitely - the bigger the overload, the quicker they trip.

This sustained high current was going somewhere, where I have no idea. Did someone bypass a fuse with a nail/spanner?

I thought high voltage switchgear was normally oil-filled or air blast, and under automatic and/or manual control, rather than a fuse you can bypass. So what would be a fuse on a low voltage system was switch gear that broke the circuit when a fault was detected (although I've seen them described as doing so with "explosive force").