Sheerness branch disruption 02/02 - damage to trains caused by passengers?

[hvordan]

Noticed on the Southeastern whatsapp channel today that the Sheerness branch was suspended from around 1630 to 2030, due to passengers causing such a disturbance and damage to the train set that it had to be taken out of service, and a replacement set be sent over. Is the Sheerness branch particularly susceptible to anti-social behaviour?

Does anyone know the train involved and what kind of damage was made? Curious to know how severe it was to have the train taken out of service, and whether this is a common occurrence across the network?

Quoted from National Rail X post:

'Passengers have caused disturbance on a train between Sheerness-on-Sea and Sittingbourne, damaging the unit that is used to run the service on this line. As a result, trains are currently unable to operate between these stations, and have been cancelled.'

See X post from NR regarding the disruption, https://x.com/nationalrailenq/status/1886095122179264644

 

[CFRAIL]

The route is notorious for ASB and fare evasion... With threats and abuse (verbal/physical) towards staff. This particular incident saw 7 windows smashed as a result of being shot at, presumably by an air rifle.

 

[Horizon22]

I think a similar thing happened on the Sheerness branch within the last a year or two as well; vandalism to such an extent a train had to be taken out of service.

It is not common at all, but the Sheppey area and the Sheerness line is known to be a particularly bad ASB hotspot.

 

[hvordan]

The route is notorious for ASB and fare evasion... With threats and abuse (verbal/physical) towards staff. This particular incident saw 7 windows smashed as a result of being shot at, presumably by an air rifle.

I'm assuming the stations (except Sittingbourne) are all unstaffed and not barriered as well? Especially on a Sunday.

 

[Edsmith]

The route is notorious for ASB and fare evasion... With threats and abuse (verbal/physical) towards staff. This particular incident saw 7 windows smashed as a result of being shot at, presumably by an air rifle.

Reports suggest that the disturbance occurred on board the train, but yes antisocial behaviour is commonplace on this line but usually nothing on this scale.

 

[hvordan]

Reports suggest that the disturbance occurred on board the train

Is there any info on whether the disruptive passengers were caught and reported? Or is it another 'hit and run' kind of situation

 

[Trainguy34]

The route is notorious for ASB and fare evasion... With threats and abuse (verbal/physical) towards staff. This particular incident saw 7 windows smashed as a result of being shot at, presumably by an air rifle.

Wow that's bad, any idea on the train involved?

 

[Gerard92]

The route is notorious for ASB and fare evasion... With threats and abuse (verbal/physical) towards staff. This particular incident saw 7 windows smashed as a result of being shot at, presumably by an air rifle.

A similar incident happened this evening between Cambridge and Cambridge North where shots were fired at a GA train by a air rifle (don’t know which unit) and suffered some damage to the windows

 

[Travelmonkey]

What is it with people, hopefully the BTP can put protections in place by a fly by night shooting from a random field there is no hope anyone being caught,

 

[arb]

A similar incident happened this evening between Cambridge and Cambridge North where shots were fired at a GA train by a air rifle (don’t know which unit) and suffered some damage to the windows

You say "this evening" which would have been Sunday when you wrote the post, is that correct? Because it's possible there was an identical incident at Cambridge North the day before, on Saturday. My train on Saturday evening was held at Cambridge for almost an hour with the official announcements saying "police investigating an incident at Cambridge North", but the rumour amongst other passengers was the air gun story.

EDIT: Searching through RealTimeTrains and various Twitter feeds, there were definitely cancellations around Cambridge due to "vandalism" on both Saturday and Sunday evenings.

 

[jammmmmsssssss]

You say "this evening" which would have been Sunday when you wrote the post, is that correct? Because it's possible there was an identical incident at Cambridge North the day before, on Saturday. My train on Saturday evening was held at Cambridge for almost an hour with the official announcements saying "police investigating an incident at Cambridge North", but the rumour amongst other passengers was the air gun story.

Yesterday it looks like it involved what would've been 2H53, 1742 service to LST. Formed of 720545 and 720551

 

[Anonymous10]

The route is notorious for ASB and fare evasion... With threats and abuse (verbal/physical) towards staff. This particular incident saw 7 windows smashed as a result of being shot at, presumably by an air rifle.

Well.. that's not good, certainly wouldn't be a pleasant experience for passengers on board.

 

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