Heathrow Connect suspended all day (13/10/17)

[cjohnson]

Due to "large number of trains are requiring urgent repairs" according to NRE.

Is this something that has gone drastically wrong with the 360s overnight? Or is it a repeat of the previous 332 issue (where HEx found defects the 332s, so "borrowed" the 360s resulting in no units available to run the Connect service...)

 

[matt_world2004]

Rtt said that it was due to a fault with the overhead line equipment so I wonder if someone nicked the cable at heathrow junction that leads to the slow tracks

 

[SpacePhoenix]

Rtt said that it was due to a fault with the overhead line equipment so I wonder if someone nicked the cable at heathrow junction that leads to the slow tracks

Where do the 360s get kept overnight?

 

[Quakkerillo]

Where do the 360s get kept overnight?

Realtimetrains shows that they do come from / go to Old Oak Common overnight.

 

[matt_world2004]

Where do the 360s get kept overnight?

The hex depot I believe in ooc. Unless they have been moved to the crossrail one

For a bit of humour ticket acceptance has been arranged by gwr on London buses running between Swindon/Heathrow and paddington

 

[JN114]

A significant number of HEX units (both 332s and 360s) sustained pantograph damage yesterday. HEX are running a reduced service with single unit formations; there are 2 360s out; one on the Inter-Terminal Shuttle and one on a Connect circuit.

 

[F Great Eastern]

What caused the damage yesterday?

 

[Bromley boy]

Rtt said that it was due to a fault with the overhead line equipment so I wonder if someone nicked the cable at heathrow junction that leads to the slow tracks

Tricky to nick a cable with 25kV running through it?!

 

[matt_world2004]

Tricky to nick a cable with 25kV running through it?!

Cable gets stolen regularly from the railways.

 

[Lrd]

Cable gets stolen regularly from the railways.

Not high voltage stuff!

 

[Lockwood]

Tricky to nick a cable with 25kV running through it?!

Very long handled boltcroppers, stood on a dry rubber mat, wearing 10 pairs of marigolds?

(Disclaimer: Don't do this. I am not suggesting doing it. Just no.)

 

[matt_world2004]

Very long handled boltcroppers, stood on a dry rubber mat, wearing 10 pairs of marigolds?

(Disclaimer: Don't do this. I am not suggesting doing it. Just no.)

I thought they somehow disrupted the power supply either by blowing a transformer box or chucking something on the cables to cause a short circuit. There have been people who have died of electric shock during cable thefts


For example
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-25447936

 

[rebmcr]

Cable gets stolen regularly from the railways.

Not high voltage stuff!

Yes, really!

 

[Bromley boy]

I thought they somehow disrupted the power supply either by blowing a transformer box or chucking something on the cables to cause a short circuit. There have been people who have died of electric shock during cable thefts


For example
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-25447936

Unbelievable, the lengths people will go to.

 

[Lockwood]

I thought they somehow disrupted the power supply either by blowing a transformer box or chucking something on the cables to cause a short circuit. There have been people who have died of electric shock during cable thefts


For example
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-25447936

I was in no way serious about that being a way to do it.

 

[matt_world2004]

I was in no way serious about that being a way to do it.

I know I was just providing evidence that ohle thefts do happen.

 

[Bromley boy]

I was in no way serious about that being a way to do it.

Sounds like that's exactly the method the guy in the article attempted. Evidently what killed him was the residual voltage in the wires when they had already been cut, and the circuit broken.

I'm surprised he survived cutting a live overhead wire in the first place given everything we hear about the ability of AC to arc.

 

[JN114]

What caused the damage yesterday?

Not sure at this stage - the same issue did happen a year or so ago and then it was eventually traced down to some damaged OHL droppers on the Airport Branch which were chipping the carbons on the pans. The symptoms are very similar; and as far as I’m aware GWRs 387s and IETs are undamaged.

OHLE inspections and cabrides by OHL staff are ongoing.

 

[theageofthetra]

Sounds like that's exactly the method the guy in the article attempted. Evidently what killed him was the residual voltage in the wires when they had already been cut, and the circuit broken.

I'm surprised he survived cutting a live overhead wire in the first place given everything we hear about the ability of AC to arc.

Never mind, one less of the vermin. These thefts do tend to attract a very low IQ community.

 

[broadgage]

Never mind, one less of the vermin. These thefts do tend to attract a very low IQ community.

I feel very sorry for railway staff and emergency services personnel who have to deal with the aftermath of these deaths, but for the thieves themselves, no sympathy whatsoever.

 

[talltim]

It's worth more if it's got electricity in it

 

[No Fault Found]

I know I was just providing evidence that ohle thefts do happen.

Except you haven't, the bloke died attempting it so no cable got stolen, proving that nicking OHLE cable with 25kv running through it is tricky

 

[greyman42]

I thought they somehow disrupted the power supply either by blowing a transformer box or chucking something on the cables to cause a short circuit. There have been people who have died of electric shock during cable thefts


For example
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-25447936

Serves them right.

 

[SpacePhoenix]

Not sure at this stage - the same issue did happen a year or so ago and then it was eventually traced down to some damaged OHL droppers on the Airport Branch which were chipping the carbons on the pans. The symptoms are very similar; and as far as I’m aware GWRs 387s and IETs are undamaged.

OHLE inspections and cabrides by OHL staff are ongoing.

Once you leave NR metals onto the Heathrow branch, who's responsible for inspections and maintenance of the infrastructure?

 

[Lrd]

Once you leave NR metals onto the Heathrow branch, who's responsible for inspections and maintenance of the infrastructure?

Network Rail on behalf of Heathrow I believe

 

[Taunton]

Once again the Connect takes the mantle for the most unreliable service in London, and entirely down to the operator's prioritisation of their Express service over the Connect, including robbing the latter's rolling stock for the former.

I feel someone at Express HQ must have a death wish, and/or know that come the end of the HEx agreement it will never ever be renewed, so milk it while they can. Roll on Crossrail.

 

[Wilts Wanderer]

There was damage to the OLE on Line 3 outside Paddington, which I imagine then caused further damage to every pantograph that subsequently ran over (under?) the same section. At least it happened this week and not next Monday morning - that would be embarrassing.

 

[GW43125]

Not high voltage stuff!

This guy won a Darwin Award for it... http://darwinawards.com/darwin/darwin2001-16.html

(2001, Scotland) Electric trains in Glasgow collect power from the overhead cable, and transmit any excess through the rails to a solid copper cable that routes it to a power redistribution box.

Copper is a favorite target for thieves. One enterprising fellow with a good knowledge of the electrical system planned to cut the copper cable during the time between trains, when no electricity was travelling through it. His plan might have worked... but for one small flaw.

In the pocket of his charred overcoat, police found an out-of-date rail timetable. The train arrived ten minutes before he thought it would, sending hundreds of volts of electricity through the thief's hacksaw and into his body, and putting an untimely end to his career.

 

[theageofthetra]

This guy won a Darwin Award for it... http://darwinawards.com/darwin/darwin2001-16.html

So low IQ it hadn't even heard of Darwin.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Regardless of how someone meets their end, do you not think it's a bit distasteful to revel in the death of a human being? Sure they were criminals but they were also someone's son or brother or father. Who's to say that under certain circumstances you wouldn't have ended up being foolish or misguided enough to end up on that path?

Get a grip, all of you.