As the earlier Plymouth was cancelled as well, there will be lots of Taxi's needed at Birmingham to head south. My son has decided to miss a day at work and travel in the morning. I feel for everyone stuck in this disruption.
I know very well that it's hardly unheard of for long-distance cab rides to be organised by TOCs, but it's hard to think of how to get enough taxis and willing drivers from Birmingham to the Plymouth area, multiplied by however many passengers need it. Juicy fares, maybe - but also a long drive with a lot of "dead time" for the company (or individual) on the way back, probably well into tomorrow.
The longest comparable TOC-organised cab ride I've ever heard of was Redhill to Penzance, but that was only for one passenger, and started right next door to several large cab offices with access to drivers based all over the place.
And, of course, a bus or coach could not be mustered for every conceivable route or connection, particularly on the XC network, so taxis or hotels it would need to be.
Hotels might actually be more sensible. It's a Sunday night on a random weekend in October. There must be a bit of flexibility somewhere.
My fiancé has been on his stag do in London and they were booked on the 1500 from Edinburgh to KX. They haven't even reached York yet. He gave up trying to make it home tonight (we live in Sussex) and is staying with friends in London. Worst of all is that the catering was shut from Edinburgh to Newcastle (about four hours) and, when it opened, it's so overcrowded they can't reach it. No-one is handing out water and the train manager has given up telling people when (or if) they can expect to make London. The Twitter feed is full of their staff cracking jokes about doing a late shift or their Thunderbird coming to the rescue.
All because Virgin can't maintain their trains properly.
We have the misfortune of commuting to London with Southern every day but I have to say that this chaos almost makes Southern look good.
I've heard a lot of similar stuff recently about a lack of consideration given to people needing food/water on VTEC long distance trains. It's one thing to be stranded on a metro-like suburban service, where trains don't have refreshment facilities anyway, but there is an expectation that people on longer journeys will need sustenance. The Virgin brand image also does seem to rub people the wrong way when their network falls apart, which I can totally understand in the circumstances.
(Though, funnily enough, given you mention them, free water and even hot drinks are actually something Southern does have impressive capability to issue! A number of long standing arrangements are in place for doing that.)
Some of the detail on the failures today does make me wonder how well VTEC are maintaining their fleet. If the issue on 1E14 was indeed an interlock failure, there are progressive levels of overrides even on very complex stock, which should get a service moving within (say) an hour or two. Ultimately, there are lots of ways to move trains which can't gain interlock, none of which should take several hours to deal with, and I'd be surprised if this was not one of the longest delays caused by such an issue. However, even the overrides can go wrong if there are enough maintenance failures. More than a bit frustrating, I'll bet.
Given the extent of the delays, what happens to traincrew who are over hours but are away from base? For example Edinburgh crew who are stuck at Newcastle, are they allowed to work back to Edinburgh?
Train crew are typically allowed to work for approximately 12 hours, although they may be rostered for maximum booked hours spanning much less. Generally, there is a contractual agreement to continue working on a stranded train for "x" amount of time after your booking-off time (note this booking-off time may be generous, as it could also include time taken to get back to your home depot and book off / deposit commercial equipment), after which you can start asking for someone else to come and relieve you of duty at a safe location. Aside from this, you also can't just abandon your train anyway, if it's not an approved berthing location as defined in the Sectional Appendix, or if you have passengers to look after.
After this point, you'd be looking at the most practical option to get back to your depot - be it train, taxi or replacement bus - then claiming overtime, and making sure you have a minimum of 12 hours until your next duty.
If you are feeling distressed by the incident, you might also ask to be taken off duties for a little longer. This might occur, for example, if somebody has been abusive to you on a stranded train, which is sadly a strong possibility.