Flooding at Farringdon

[Abpj17]

<<working from home [will be attempting journey tomorrow and grateful I live in Leagrave not Hendon seat-wise!!]

Not many go the full journey from Bedford to Brighton, but the core - when it works - does relieve the underground network, and there is significant passenger traffic from the north through to Gatwick (and from the south to Luton Airport Parkway).

City Thameslink is always a ghost station apart from a narrow peak window

 

[ModernRailways]

From what I've seen on Twitter, there are lots of frustrated people. But, one thing people seem proud of is the communication. There seems to be plenty of it, with nothing seemingly conflicting what others have said which seems to be a common problem whereby one staff member says one thing, another staff member says another and everyone is completely confused. Thankfully for commuters, it appears Thameslink are dealing with this incredibly well!

 

[DelayRepay]

A full service is expected to run tomorrow, says "^Jay" on Thameslink twitter

 

[fusionblue]

From what I've seen on Twitter, there are lots of frustrated people. But, one thing people seem proud of is the communication. There seems to be plenty of it, with nothing seemingly conflicting what others have said which seems to be a common problem whereby one staff member says one thing, another staff member says another and everyone is completely confused. !

My experience is the exact opposite of this:


1 - On the "alternative routes page", there is nothing for Denmark Hill to Sevenoaks for alternate routes (while the Sutton/Brighton/Bedford lines are all covered in detail) - when telling Thameslink this all they say is "a revised service is in operation".
2 - Thameslink say SET is developing the timetable.
3 - SET say Thameslink is developing the timetable.
4 - No mention of services to Sevenoaks on the emergency timetable. When Thameslink did finally own up to it, they just put "excluding sevenoaks" and gave a one sentence summary both on twitter and the SET/TL/NRE sites.

Whenever there is a major issue, that line is always the first to fall through the cracks and the finger pointing "talk to SET" "talk to thameslink" begins again.

It's one thing for a member of staff to contradict another, but not a TOC to do the same. So in reality, it was just as poor as usual.

 

[Bedpan]

Indeed, but I doubt that causing delays to trains resulting in consequential losses is an insured peril?

Doesn't need to be- insured perils relate to policies covering "own damage" ie damage to property belonging to the insured. In this case Thames Water have a strict legal liability under S209 of the Water Industry Act 1991 (I think) provided damage has been suffered (as opposed to pure economic loss).

 

[jon0844]

On the GN side today there was a pre-recorded (and rather quiet) announcement apologising for the problems on the TL side, but strangely nothing on the boards. The 'special notices' section was totally blank.

Very weird given I'm sure a fair few people going to King's Cross might walk over to continue their journey through the core.

 

[cjmillsnun]

Glad I didn't buy a house next to a railway line then. If your kids kick a football onto the track and cause disruption it could bankrupt you!

I would've thought that as long as it didn't hit a train from the initial kick over the fence, the the disruption would be pretty much zero. The ball would likely either be in the cess or the six foot which would cause no disruption at all as it's out of the way.

If it was in the four foot then (and I'm guessing) I would've thought that the most likely thing to happen was the ball would be popped.

 

[RJ]

My experience is the exact opposite of this:


1 - On the "alternative routes page", there is nothing for Denmark Hill to Sevenoaks for alternate routes (while the Sutton/Brighton/Bedford lines are all covered in detail) - when telling Thameslink this all they say is "a revised service is in operation".
2 - Thameslink say SET is developing the timetable.
3 - SET say Thameslink is developing the timetable.
4 - No mention of services to Sevenoaks on the emergency timetable. When Thameslink did finally own up to it, they just put "excluding sevenoaks" and gave a one sentence summary both on twitter and the SET/TL/NRE sites.

Whenever there is a major issue, that line is always the first to fall through the cracks and the finger pointing "talk to SET" "talk to thameslink" begins again.

It's one thing for a member of staff to contradict another, but not a TOC to do the same. So in reality, it was just as poor as usual.

I was affected by this today. The TL services were not shown on the departure boards at Denmark Hill. The information screen on platform 3 just said that the next train was not stopping at the station and was fixed on that for several minutes. To be fair, the member of staff on duty was doing a good job with making announcements and the train turned up roughly when it was due. The staff have TUPE'd over to Thameslink, who do seem to be good with keeping people informed. Must be a customer service training thing, like on SWT where the guard usually reassuringly makes a point of making their presence on the train known.

I haven't really been following this disruption, just turned up at the station to go. I was trying to get to St Pancras but only made it as far as Blackfriars, where I was advised to get a bus for the rest of the way.

 

[williamn]

Total lack of information at elephant and castle yesterday. A small sign next to the oyster reader saying that there was disruption but that was it. No explanation, no alternative routes - I just had to figure out myself why there were almost no trains on the departures board.

 

[bicbasher]

I was affected by this today. The TL services were not shown on the departure boards at Denmark Hill. The information screen on platform 3 just said that the next train was not stopping at the station and was fixed on that for several minutes. To be fair, the member of staff on duty was doing a good job with making announcements and the train turned up roughly when it was due. The staff have TUPE'd over to Thameslink, who do seem to be good with keeping people informed. Must be a customer service training thing, like on SWT where the guard usually reassuringly makes a point of making their presence on the train known.

I was surprised that Thameslink took over management of this station considering TL only operate 2tph from the station in comparison to Southeastern's 3tph and LOROL's 4tph.

 

[STPBTN]

Normal service this morning when I travelled from STP to BTN. The STP to ZFD leg was a lot slower than usual but there was still water in the tunnel. It didn't seem to go on top of the rails, though, as it had done before.

Hats off for yesterday's communications: I managed to get to work and back through Victoria by tube and Southern as suggested by TL without any hitches.

 

[FlippyFF]

Flooding is back. Being held outside Citythameslink on the 15:34 Blackfriars to somewhere north.

Simon

 

[Saint66]

'Safety checks' in the tunnel causing 40 mins delays at the moment.

 

[Class377/5]

Flooding is back. Being held outside Citythameslink on the 15:34 Blackfriars to somewhere north.

Sinon

Reflooding occured this morning. Pumps in the tunnel have been kept it level since early hours with speed restrictions in place.

Also a burst water pipe at New Cross causing issues too.

 

[westcoaster]

Went south about 05:30 and it was half way up the rail, came back about 09:00 and it was at the bottom of the rail head. So steadily rising again.

 

[asylumxl]

Safe to assume the water company did a half arsed job?

 

[ItchyRsole]

Can see this on running.

If they can't stop the leak due to the hospital how on earth are they meant to fix it?

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Came back around 1600 from Farringdon - some delays - a gang of stalwart NR Orange Guys in the tunnel monitoring the flood we crept sedately past on the POSA signalling - water being fairly well up (but not as bad as last Friday) ......delays ranging form 10 - 30 at the time.

NR and TL have done a very good job under challenging circumstances....credit for restoring the full through service overnight as the tunnel was not given the OK to well after 2300 hours...

 

[21C101]

Just got to Harpieland on the 55 late 1608 ex Blackfriars.

Posa signalled from Farringdon 'starting' signal. Only about one every 10 mins going through northbound. Southbound flowing better and crossed a train mid flood so dont know why northbound so consricted.

Journey time from Blackfriars to St Pancras approx 45 mins

 

[asylumxl]

Just got to Harpieland on the 55 late 1608 ex Blackfriars.

Posa signalled from Farringdon 'starting' signal. Only about one every 10 mins going through northbound. Southbound flowing better and crossed a train mid flood so dont know why northbound so consricted.

Journey time from Blackfriars to St Pancras approx 45 mins

I imagine they are being given priority at junctions south of the core.

Which is no surprise at all to be honest. Echos my usual feelings about the attitude towards TL Norrh.

 

[Class 170101]

If you run into the SPX platforms "upstairs" - you clock up rather impressive station access costs aka HS1 - something like £30 a vehicle ......

Another benefit of privatisation...

Send that bill to Thames Water too.

 

[Bedpan]

Can see this on running.

If they can't stop the leak due to the hospital how on earth are they meant to fix it?

What hospital is it and how much water does it use? Why can't they divert round the burst with a temporary pipe, above ground if necessary? I can't help wondering if the "hospital" is just an excuse - surely there have been mains bursting near hospitals before!

We've seen huge amounts of water being pumped when they had the Buncefield fire and when they were emptying the Somerset Levels last winter, so why not pump some into the hospital or arrange some other form of temporary emergency supply whilst they carry out a repair.

The water companies never hesitate in telling us to save water and imposing hosepipe bans, yet my experience is that whenever there is a main burst (and particularly a relatively minor one) it is left to run for weeks and weeks without anybody doing anything - there was one s few weeks back near Harpenden station that was running for at least 3 weeks a few weeks ago. All the compo paid out will presumably be recouped by raising the water rates.

 

[Zoidberg]

What hospital is it ...

A look at a map suggests to me that it could be St Bart's.

 

[causton]

So how long is this going to run for?

It seems you either have to give up and take the tube, as any service that goes from north London to south London from outside of London just gives up. I'm looking at you, Southern Clapham Junction - Milton Keynes services as well!

 

[tsr]

So how long is this going to run for?

It seems you either have to give up and take the tube, as any service that goes from north London to south London from outside of London just gives up. I'm looking at you, Southern Clapham Junction - Milton Keynes services as well!

On the latter front, Southern WLL services were delayed earlier today by a failure of the power supply to signalling equipment in the Wembley Central area. All now fixed. The failure is currently reported to have been linked to the external power supply.

 

[Saint66]

https://twitter.com/13milepost/status/560158159680331777

 

[21C101]

https://twitter.com/13milepost/status/560158159680331777

I didn;t think it was 80 foot below at the tunnel entrance, 50 feet perhaps?

 

[SpacePhoenix]

Someone's got to bite the bullet and turn that main off and keep it off until the leak is fixed

 

[mrmatt]

My understanding is that guards are not to dispatch trains if they would still end up partially in the platform if they do so. This evening on Thameslink the back 4 coaches were stuck on the platform with the front 4 in the Snow hill tunnel. Is the procedure different for DOO services? Will ATO when is is introduced be programmed to avoid this?

 

[Class377/5]

My understanding is that guards are not to dispatch trains if they would still end up partially in the platform if they do so. This evening on Thameslink the back 4 coaches were stuck on the platform with the front 4 in the Snow hill tunnel. Is the procedure different for DOO services? Will ATO when is is introduced be programmed to avoid this?

The signal spacing in the Thameslink Core is very close, with a maximum of 100m between signed. An 8 car is 160m long. Likely the train was held up at the next signal hence not clearing the platform.