Great Western Main Line (GWML) disruption continues

[elementalpat]

Oh dear.

Some sort of signal failure has shut everthing into and out of Paddington. Report says all lines are blocked and considering there are 4 lines it must have been a major failure of some sort.

 

[tsr]

Fuses and a transformer need replacing in the Hayes & Harlington area. NR are working on it (obviously!).

 

[bnm]

Relief lines through Airport Junction have re-opened. Currently, Network Rail and First Great Western have what they call 'Contingency Plan Three' in action. Used when only a two track railway is able to operate.

 

[elementalpat]

According to the National Rail website, the ongoing delays will continue until midday on Friday!!!

Glad I will not be part of that Friday morning commute!

Question has to be why is it taking so long for NR to 'replace the components'

 

[ainsworth74]

Question has to be why is it taking so long for NR to 'replace the components'

They're busy trying to hold the South West together? Could also be a specialist part that they don't keep on hand or have a limited supply of that has to be sent for rather than just wandering down to a local supply cabinet and getting one.

 

[Rich McLean]

Great, I am going to have fun tomorrow, not.

Just waiting to see if they lift restrictions for tomorrow, so I can catch an earlier train, as on advance tickets

 

[SWT_USER]

Absolutely rubbish today. No communication to passengers on the platform. My train was showing as on time until 4 minutes after it was due then it disappeared off the board completely - no announcements or anything. I'm sure they knew it wasn't running before then. Would be nice if they could let the passengers know the contingency plan...

Very poor that it's taking over 24 hours to fix it too. Thought it was only next week we were getting no service at my local stations :mad:

 

[chemphys]

Thanks for PDF, very interesting.

It didn't seem that they were entirely following it at 8pm this evening when I travelled out of London, as the xx12 and xx42 Reading locals were cancelled as well. Which left Southall with no service (Heathrow Connect were cancelled as well). The driver of the 19:57 made some announcement as we (slowly) approached Southall, but was too quiet to hear in the carriage I was in, but I did catch a mention of a bus, I guess from Hayes.

I was going to West Drayton, arriving 20 minutes late (after leaving Paddington almost on time).

Not looking forward to the morning commute...

 

[swt_passenger]

Very poor that it's taking over 24 hours to fix it too.:

Maybe they did pop round to their local B&Q but the industrial sized transformer shelf was empty?

 

[SWT_USER]

Yes that must be it

 

[Rich McLean]

Problems expected today until 1500. Ticket restrictions have been lifted.

Does this mean I can get on an earlier train than booked due to delays. Dont fancy bring given an UFN as travelling on advance tickets

Also, could a mod add today's date in the title please, would be helpful to others due to this lasting most of today as well
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FGW coping quite well at Oxford so far, seems most of the local stoppers affected the worst. Fasts seem to be running to time

 

[Cletus]

Listening to Radio Kent earlier, they said there was a fire at Paddington.

Sounded quite serious, but looking on NRE, seems to be a lineside equipment fire. Is that new or just a continuation of yesterday's problems?

 

[Captain Chaos]

Listening to Radio Kent earlier, they said there was a fire at Paddington.

Sounded quite serious, but looking on NRE, seems to be a lineside equipment fire. Is that new or just a continuation of yesterday's problems?

That is correct. The problems are being caused by one of the lineside cabinets having gone up in smoke. This is what has killed the main lines. It was originally thought to be a transformer problem. It was. But the transformer appeared to have failed due to the cabinet having gone up in smoke, or so I understand it.

I'm sure we will know exactly all that has gone wrong once everything has been resolved and the dust has settled.

 

[Tomonthetrain]

I've come to the conclusion that everytime I plan to pass south of London something Will go wrong. Last time it was fatality at Bedhampton, time before it was snow. Just the luck of the draw

 

[Rich McLean]

An RPO has let me on an earlier train from Oxford on an advance in order to make a connection at reading as my train was cancelled

 

[GNER 91128]

NR have said the fires were caused by rain short circuiting the equipment.

 

[SWT_USER]

It worked out well for me today; got a direct train from Hanwell to West Drayton both ways, albeit I had to change my working hours to suit the hourly service. Only gripe is that given there are fewer trains running surely they could have made them all 5/6 coaches? Both of my trains left people on the platform.

 

[Captain Chaos]

It worked out well for me today; got a direct train from Hanwell to West Drayton both ways, albeit I had to change my working hours to suit the hourly service. Only gripe is that given there are fewer trains running surely they could have made them all 5/6 coaches? Both of my trains left people on the platform.

I think the reason for that is because they are Oxford stoppers. Some of the stations along the route cannot take 5/6 car turbos so cannot be formed of 5/6 if calling there unless the rear set is locked out of use.

They could perhaps lock out the rear set at Didcot Parkway but I assume the extra delays this would cause, not to mention the potential hassle of transferring people between the units may make it seem like it's not worth the hassle.

I suppose it might be possible to split units at Reading? With only the front set going forward to Oxford during these periods of disruption? Maybe have a 2/3 car set running between Oxford and Reading then coupling up at Reading to go forward to Paddington? Might be worth suggesting. I'd imagine it would be much easier to implement this sort of thing once the Reading re-build is complete.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Latest news I have heard is that disruption is to continue through tomorrow now too.

Whatever the damage caused is clearly proving to be a right nightmare to fix.

 

[Rich McLean]

My day in FGW Land,

Had an advance ticket, train booked for the 1101 OXF - PAD as far as Reading, then from Reading, the 1133 to Plymouth.

Got to Oxford early this morning, just to find out how bad things were. The RPO's were very helpful. The 1101 was cancelled, so they gave me permission to take an earlier train, rather than a later one, so that I could catch my connection. My connection was 8 mins down, got into Plymouth 10 down. So planning on my part, and co-operation from the RPO's made this journey as painless as it could be considering the circumstances.

So well done FGW on that part.

My only gripe is that they should come up with an emergency timetable, set in stone, rather than cancelling trains at the last minute

 

[SWT_USER]

Ah right I didn't know that about the Oxford route. Strange as I'm sure some of the evening peak stoppers to Oxford / Banbury are 5/6 coaches. If the problem was between Southall and Reading could they not started shuttles from Reading to Oxford? One of the hourly ones in to London this morning was 2 coaches!

 

[YorkshireBear]

Was on the 10:45 to Greenford yesterday, believe i saw the start of this with me passing three trains on the fasts, while still going good on the slows. Saw lots of NR staff working fairly frantically.

 

[Captain Chaos]

Maybe they could. I think it's only Appleford, Culham and Radley which won't take the full 5/6 which a fair few of them stop at (well Radley at least anyway). Though I don't sign the route so I'm only guessing really.
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According to the BBC the damage has been quite extensive:

Network Rail said a fire severely damaged a signal box next to the track in west London on Thursday morning, affecting its signalling system.

It said the fire damage was so extensive it was having to rebuild the box and associated equipment and engineers would be on site throughout the night to complete the work.

A spokesman said: "The work will continue throughout the night but there is likely to be disruption throughout Saturday."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-20808182

 

[GB]

NR have said the fires were caused by rain short circuiting the equipment.

Where and when did they say this as the log is (all though still stating its inconclusive) suggesting either return traction current getting into the location cabinet or lighting strike.

 

[Ploughman]

Is there something suspicious in this?
Another similar fire
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-20809763

 

[dk1]

Lost count of the amount of times BBC announced Paddington as being on the West Coast Main Line :roll:

 

[Rich McLean]

More woes for FGW:

Flooding is expected to disrupt services in between Taunton, Exeter St Davids, Plymouth and Penzance from the start of service on Saturday 22nd December until further notice.

Services operating between London Paddington and Bristol Temple Meads towards Exeter St Davids, Plymouth and Penzance will terminate at either Taunton or Tiverton Parkway in both directions.

Services due to operate through to/from Penzance will start/terminate at Exeter St Davids.

Limited road replacement transport will be in operation between Tiverton Parkway, Taunton and Exeter St Davids in both directions.

Customers with non-essential travel plans are advised to make alternative arrangements for their travel.

Tickets will be valid on alternative days.

 

[Captain Chaos]

Oh dear

I do believe they have some buses out already that was supposedly there to cover any excessive passenger numbers (though my guess is it was more than likely due to weather-related possibilities).

Hope it's not too bad and the line can re-open asap. Certainly not what we need so close to Christmas

 

[imagination]

Maybe they could. I think it's only Appleford, Culham and Radley which won't take the full 5/6 which a fair few of them stop at (well Radley at least anyway). Though I don't sign the route so I'm only guessing really.

The 7:00 from Oxford stops at all three and is a 5 coach train (adelante).

 

[TEW]

180s have SDO though, 165/6s don't.

 

[TheEdge]

I'm hoping to travel from Paddington to Hereford tomorrow. If there are still problems does anyone know if Euston-New Street-Hereford (VT and LM) would count as a "reasonable route?"