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Overhead line problems at Radlett

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Bedpan

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Looks as though there is a major problem as the FCC website says that there will be no trains between Luton Airport Parkway and London for the rest of the day. Looks like its going ot be chaos tonight!

What annoys me though is that I won't be able to travel to Bedford this afternoon unless I drive to Luton Airport Parkway. If the trains are running from there to Bedford, surely they must have to travel to Harpenden Junction (south of Harpenden station) to set back. The same thing happened in reverse when the line was closed at Luton after the London bombers' car was found in the car park there in 2005. Trains only carried passengers from London to St Albans and we had to get off there and queue for a bus for a couple of hours, despite the fact that a lot of them were continuing ecs to into Harpenden station and setting back there.
 
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ushawk

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Fair to say it is a major problem from the picture below as the lines have completely came down (picture retweeted by NRE on Twitter).

Service suspended between Luton and London with buses being sourced to run between the stations - widespread ticket acceptance is now in place.

BC_HYXZCUAEtm_t.jpg
 

westcoaster

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1z99 en route to clear stranded units and freight (73202) , wonder if she will be able to pull all the weight of the freight.
 

philjo

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FCC report Overhead line problems so all lines are blocked at Radlett.


FCC Website:

No service between Luton Airport Parkway and West Hampstead.

UPDATE AT 15.30

We apologise for the severe disruption to the Thameslink route and strongly advise customers to allow extra time to complete their journey or use alternative routes.

Trains are only running between these sections of the network at a reduced service:

2 trains per hour in each direction between Bedford and Luton Airport Parkway
2 trains per hour in each direction between Brighton and West Hampstead
1 train per hour in each direction between Wimbledon and London Blackfriars

Passengers can use alternative routes using their existing travel cards on:

London Underground, London Overground, London Buses and Croydon Tramlink. Passengers can also use: London Midland between London Euston and St Albans Abbey and Between Euston and Bedford Stn. Passengers can also use Cross Country and Southern services. First Capital Connect GN route will accept Thameslink tickets and is running a good service. UNO and ARRIVA buses between Hatfield and St Albans

Disruption expected until at least end of service today.


the 17:23 and 17:53 KX-royston peak services are calling additionally at Hatfield and hitchin for connection to bus links.


National Rail information: EMT are not running south of Luton.

National Rail

Overhead wire problems are causing disruption at Radlett. Train services are expected to be disrupted for the rest of the day.

Because of this, the following changes will apply:

Trains are currently unable to run between Luton and London St Pancras International. Journey times using alternative routes are likely to be extended by approximately 90 minutes.

You can get real time updates on this issue by asking @nationalrailenq on Twitter and using hashtag: #Radlett

First Capital Connect

Services from Sutton and Sevenoaks will start or terminate at London Blackfriars or London Victoria
A limited service will run between Bedford and Luton Airport Parkway, between Brighton and West Hampstead and between Sutton / Wimbledon and London Blackfriars
Buses are running between Luton Airport Parkway and Elstree & Borehamwood


East Midlands Trains

Trains are unable to run between Luton and London St Pancras International
Buses are running between Wellingborough and Northampton to connect with London Midland services between Northampton and London Euston
Unused tickets dated for today Wednesday 13 February are valid for travel tomorrow Thursday 14 February


Southeastern

Trains are unable to run between Kentish Town and Denmark Hill
Trains will be diverted via London Victoria


Ticket Acceptance / Alternative Routes

East Midlands Trains passengers may use the following services:

East Coast trains between Doncaster / Leeds and London Kings Cross (use other trains between Doncaster and Sheffield)
CrossCountry trains between Derby / Leicester and Birmingham New Street (to connect with trains to and from London Euston), Leicester and Peterborough (to connect with trains to and from London Kings Cross) and also between Doncaster and Sheffield
Alternative East Midlands trains between Nottingham and Grantham to connect with East Coast trains between Grantham and London Kings Cross
Buses are running between Wellingborough and Northampton to connect with Virgin Trains and London Midland services to and from London Euston
Buses are running between Corby and Kettering
London Midland services between Bedford and Bletchley and also between Bletchley and London Euston
Virgin Trains services between Manchester and London Euston


First Capital Connect and Southeastern passengers may use the following services:

First Capital Connect (Great Northern services) between Hatfield and London Kings Cross to connect with UNO and Arriva buses running between Hatfield and St Albans
London Midland services between Bedford and Bletchley, between St Albans Abbey and Watford and also between Bletchley and London Euston
Buses are running between Luton Airport Parkway and Edgware for onward travel on the London Underground Northern Line
London Overground, CrossCountry, London Underground, London Buses and Croydon Tramlink via any reasonable route
 

ainsworth74

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Here you go:

BC_CAxFCUAEdVIA.jpg:large


To do this you need the URL of the image (I got it by right clicking on the image at the twitter link and selecting 'copy image URL' from the menu that appears. Then you can either click on the 'insert image' button and copy in the image URL or simply put the URL manually into the following tags:

[IMG] [/IMG]
 

Zoidberg

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Here you go:

...

To do this you need the URL of the image (I got it by right clicking on the image at the twitter link and selecting 'copy image URL' from the menu that appears. Then you can either click on the 'insert image' button and copy in the image URL or simply put the URL manually into the following tags:

[IMG] [/IMG]

Thanks. I did suss out that I'd to use the 'Insert Image' tool, but my mistake was, I think, to have copied the URL from the address bar of the browser (using Firefox) rather than using the right click 'copy image location'.
 

MichaelAMW

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Does anyone know why the fast lines can't be used, if I have correctly seen from the photos that the wire problems are on the slows?
 

C2L

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Does anyone know why the fast lines can't be used, if I have correctly seen from the photos that the wire problems are on the slows?

Looks like the Fast Line from the picture. however I do wonder why the Slows cant be used.

Appears like I'll have to travel from Euston to Leighton Buzzard :(
 

mwmbwls

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Does anyone know why the fast lines can't be used, if I have correctly seen from the photos that the wire problems are on the slows?

Need for repair crew to work in the six foot and the length of cable and number of hangers need to be replaced.
 

68000

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Flew into Luton Airport, got the bus to the parkway station to find chaos. Now on a bus to Hitchin, the driver is having great diffultly getting out of the car park! BBC news crew filming as well
 

revenueadvice

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It was a southbound FCC which left St Albans on platform 3 so was on the fast line into London. Speaking to a colleague who was there earlier they said that all the over head lines have been 'yanked' by the force and all need some repair.
 

222001

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A northbound 222 (a Corby service) hit the wires which had been bought down by the FCC, and then proceeded to take near-on a mile of overheads down on the down fast.
 

jon0844

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I think the railway should be commended for trying to seek a wireless solution to powering trains!
 

Bedpan

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1z99 en route to clear stranded units and freight (73202) , wonder if she will be able to pull all the weight of the freight.

That in itself must have taken ages. Assume that 73's are still 600hp on diesel.

What is annoying is the conflicting information being given out by Three Counties Radio - which I suspect may be down to their incompetence but nevertheless it would be nice to think that FCC would be keeping an eye out and putting them right. If 3CR are to be believed - No FCC trains between West Hampstead and Bedford (despite the fact that they say EMT are running to Luton, and also a replacement bus service south to Elstree - Lord knows what they think you're supposed to do if you want to travel to a station south of there.

Anybody able to explain why they are terminating at Luton Airport Parkway rather than Harpenden, assuming that they need to go to Harpenden to change from up to down lines.
 

westcoaster

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Anybody able to explain why they are terminating at Luton Airport Parkway rather than Harpenden, assuming that they need to go to Harpenden to change from up to down lines.

Normally they would terminate at Luton, but due to the bus way construction there is nowhere to stage the buses, similarly there is nowhere to stage the buses at harpenden, there is at parkway so given the above that's where trains will start and stop from ( running ecs to harpenden junction).
 

Bedpan

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Ah, I see the logic, but its frustrating getting turfed off a train which is going where you want to go. And surely there would be less strain on the coaches if they didn't have to carry passengers travelling south to Harpenden.
 

Bald Rick

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At least one of the head spans is down, with the insulators hanging below contact wire level, hence all blocked at first. Work to restore the wires on the up fast needs the down slow off.

Slows open and live for first thing tomorrow, fasts open for diesels only. Stock all over the place so unless Control pulls a huge rabbit out of the hat you can expect some cancellations and short forms in the morning.
 

ChiefPlanner

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I knew Baldrick would give the "proper" response ! - a big incident all round and pretty rare to lose the 4 tracks for so long - credit to the response teams (NR walking passengers off stalled trains) and the crews working out there tonight in this freezing weather. FCC have a good record in getting stock and crews in balance overnight , so tomorrow will not be a fun day but the best service possible will run (honestly)

It is a bad event when you get the whole peak up to London , and then cannot get them back on normal route - the 1810 Watford Jct to St Albans Abbey 321 tonight was full and standing - and guess what - no gripes from the ex MML / TLK refugees. All the extra calls on GN for Hatfield also help, - but EMT have taken a battering today.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
"New underpants please" situation if on the platform at the time!

FCC looked after the school run and local passengers homeward bound for Radlett /Elstree and so on with buses and taxis. Good job it didn't happen at say 0815 when both slow line platforms are very busy with commuters and school kids etc.
 

DelayRepay

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I have to say | wasn't impressed with FCC's response.

Followed advice at City Thameslink to travel to Hatfield where buses would be waiting. Arrived at Hatfield to a queue that snaked all around the carpark (easily 400 people or more) and waited for 50 minutes in the cold while they organised the coaches. But coaches were parked up - they weren't loading people onto them. And I believe there were 5 empty coaches parked up at St Albans with no passengers. All in all pretty poor but I'll get my £4 voucher which is supposed to make it all ok.
 

fsmr

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So here is a question to anyone involved on the continent or Japan,

Does the TGV or other HSS ever get OLE lines down, and if so, what does a train traveling at in excess of 200 mph do to the structure if a 222 travellingf at maybe 100mph can "take down a mile of line"

It would seem that before we rush any further into more electrification, we need to seriously sort out the reliability issue it seems hardly a day goes by without a OLE line down somewhere, and the backup for those poor passenger stranded on powerless stock seems to be very poor.
Give me a twin engined HST125 any day :D or even a 222 or then maybe not:roll:
 
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ChiefPlanner

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So here is a question to anyone involved on the continent or Japan,

Does the TGV or other HSS ever get OLE lines down, and if so, what does a train traveling at in excess of 200 mph do to the structure if a 222 travellingf at maybe 100mph can "take down a mile of line"

It would seem that before we rush any further into more electrification, we need to seriously sort out the reliability issue it seems hardly a day goes by without a OLE line down somewhere, and the backup for those poor passenger stranded on powerless stock seems to be very poor.
Give me a twin engined HST125 any day :D or even a 222 or then maybe not:roll:

The answer is "yes" - our brothers over the Channel also suffer from OLE and points failures - having been caught up in some of them over the years , the reaction is often (from a passenger point of view) - often worse than in the UK. One incident I was involved in on Lyon to Paris ended up with a 3 hour delay and the arrival at Paris had a large posse of armed police to meet the train "pour proteger les Cheminots" (to look after the staff)
 

pethadine82

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If you have a wire carrying 25000 volts are there any safety issues, like the EMT train is diesel running 25000 V through it would make the whole thing live.
Also if the wire was to contact the running rails then surely it would have blown a whole load of trains.

Please can someone explain / clarify
 
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