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Train fire at Craven Arms on the evening of 22/05/2022.

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Anonymous10

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It looks like the damage is to the front two units, one TfW branded and one in ATW turquoise
fire damage to both ? i only noticed damage to the gangway if so the tfw liver may be repairable relatively quickly to go back into service
 
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Anonymous10

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Did you watch right to the end? First 2 units definitely have fire damage, the 3rd may also.
i did just didn't notice how severe it was

a quick look on tfw journey check is showing aprox 35 cancellations and 20 service alterations for Wednesday. nearly all in the valleys routes and reason is more than expected number of trains needing repair. is this likely to be connected to the incident ie knock on if so its going to cause chaos for weeks maybe months
 
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Southern Dvr

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i did just didn't notice how severe it was

a quick look on tfw journey check is showing aprox 35 cancellations and 20 service alterations for Wednesday. nearly all in the valleys routes and reason is more than expected number of trains needing repair. is this likely to be connected to the incident ie knock on if so its going to cause chaos for weeks maybe months
Anything suitable in store that can quickly be re-activated to cover?
 

Steddenm

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From this Tweet...


We're so pleased to have reopened the railway between Shrewsbury & Hereford to passengers today.

Thanks to the incredibly hard work of everyone involved.

❗️We'll continue to support @BTPWales as they hold those responsible for this reckless act to account

#CravenArms https://t.co/dgqrPfeDXy

There seems to be some significant damage to both the ATW- and TfW-branded units.

Photos taken from the BTP Wales tweet.

20220525_074621.jpg
20220525_074624.jpg
Images show fire damage to two Class 150 DMUs
 

M60lad

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Is there much interior damage or is it just exterior and possible damage to the engines?

If the units can be fixed which is debatable how would they go about fixing them and getting them back in service considering the damage caused to the units?

Considering the line is now back open where and possibly how did they move the damaged units and any idea of where they might be stored?
 

Pakenhamtrain

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4F89

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Considering the line is now back open where and possibly how did they move the damaged units and any idea of where they might be stored?
There are some sidings on the up side at Craven Arms.
 

JetStream

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The front two units will be out of action for some time I'd imagine, especially the front one, and the rear of the 3 for a shorter period.

I anticipate fewer 4 car sets for the foreseeable, and I believe the valleys lines will have a reduced timetable for a few weeks at least.
 

Bikeman78

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Is there much interior damage or is it just exterior and possible damage to the engines?

If the units can be fixed which is debatable how would they go about fixing them and getting them back in service considering the damage caused to the units?

Considering the line is now back open where and possibly how did they move the damaged units and any idea of where they might be stored?
It must have been a grim experience for all on board. It's fair to say that all three units are quite badly damaged. Hopefully the bodyshells are okay. It's hard to tell what damage the fire has done to under floor equipment. There is likely some smoke damage to the interiors as well. Given the chronic stock shortage, hopefully they will be repaired. Of course the first challenge is getting them back to Canton.
 

John Luxton

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Here is the Videos and Photos I have taken

That is excellent material and shows what happened very well - having had my Chester to Cardiff trip on my Wales Rover knackered. Will be trying again on Friday!

Very lucky that no one was injured and the miscreants end up in jail PDQ. I doubt whoever did this was trying to steal the diggers as I am sure they would have not driven them near the railway but would have had some trailer nearby to take them away. Looks like a deliberate act against the railway.
 

swt_passenger

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That is excellent material and shows what happened very well - having had my Chester to Cardiff trip on my Wales Rover knackered. Will be trying again on Friday!

Very lucky that no one was injured and the miscreants end up in jail PDQ. I doubt whoever did this was trying to steal the diggers as I am sure they would have not driven them near the railway but would have had some trailer nearby to take them away. Looks like a deliberate act against the railway.
Alternatively, they may have thought driving them to somewhere else down a darkened railway was a good means of avoiding being seen on nearby roads, especially if they didn’t have a trailer. Also, perhaps there was far better site security towards the road, but not towards the rail embankment? That’s what the photos linked earlier suggest to me anyway.
 

John Luxton

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Alternatively, they may have thought driving them to somewhere else down a darkened railway was a good means of avoiding being seen on nearby roads, especially if they didn’t have a trailer. Also, perhaps there was far better site security towards the road, but not towards the rail embankment? That’s what the photos linked earlier suggest to me anyway.
Yes you may well be right heading to an accommodation crossing - not though of that.
 

Alanko

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Very lucky that no one was injured and the miscreants end up in jail PDQ. I doubt whoever did this was trying to steal the diggers as I am sure they would have not driven them near the railway but would have had some trailer nearby to take them away. Looks like a deliberate act against the railway.
I'm surprised there hasn't been more coverage of this in the news. It does look like the actions of people wilfully attempting to cause damage and disruption.
 

John Luxton

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I'm surprised there hasn't been more coverage of this in the news. It does look like the actions of people wilfully attempting to cause damage and disruption.
Yes but as swt_passenger has pointed out perhaps it could have been an attempt to escape with the diggers along the track to a remote location outside of the Craven Arms which thinking about it is plausible.
 

Spartacus

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Alternatively, they may have thought driving them to somewhere else down a darkened railway was a good means of avoiding being seen on nearby roads, especially if they didn’t have a trailer. Also, perhaps there was far better site security towards the road, but not towards the rail embankment? That’s what the photos linked earlier suggest to me anyway.

Hints of the Go-outdoors raid of a few years back when guys on stolen quad bikes raided the Cardiff Go-Outdoors and made off down the main line, only to encounter a late night ECS, which killed two of them.

 

swt_passenger

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Hints of the Go-outdoors raid of a few years back when guys on stolen quad bikes raided the Cardiff Go-Outdoors and made off down the main line, only to encounter a late night ECS, which killed two of them.

Yes, that’s the incident I was thinking of in my post yesterday (#27).
 

sefyllian

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The damage seems to be repairable but will take "several months" and services will be affected until the end of the year…

Transport for Wales (TfW) rail services will continue to be impacted for the rest of 2022 as a result of the recent train collision with a mini digger near Craven Arms.

The train – which was made up of three two-car Sprinter units – struck the mini digger at around 60 mph, causing major fire damage to the first two units.

The mini digger is believed to have been stolen from a nearby rental yard before being abandoned on the line. British Transport Police have launched a major criminal investigation and appeal for information about the incident.

The damage to the trains will take several months to repair, leaving TfW with four fewer carriages to use across the whole Wales and Borders network. Sprinter trains are the only trains used on many routes across the network, including the Core Valley Lines to Treherbert, Aberdare and Merthyr Tydfil.

More details in TfW news story.
 

Anonymous10

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The damage seems to be repairable but will take "several months" and services will be affected until the end of the year…



More details in TfW news story.
disappointing news for tfw right as things began to return to normality as well one presumes they anticipate it to be a issue until the new fleets enter service
 

John Luxton

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I imagine if it was as easy as that, they would already be in service by now...
My interest in transport goes beyond railways to ships. Generally merchant ships passenger and freight appear to have much shorter trials periods than railway rolling stock appears to have these days. Ships tend to be one off build too, batch building is much less common, though does happen to a limited extent. Only naval / government vessels a appear to undergo extensive testing which could be compared to that given to railway rollingstock. Given the rolling stock shortage can't thinks be hurried up or recent custom and practice short circuited?
 

L401CJF

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My interest in transport goes beyond railways to ships. Generally merchant ships passenger and freight appear to have much shorter trials periods than railway rolling stock appears to have these days. Ships tend to be one off build too, batch building is much less common, though does happen to a limited extent. Only naval / government vessels a appear to undergo extensive testing which could be compared to that given to railway rollingstock. Given the rolling stock shortage can't thinks be hurried up or recent custom and practice short circuited?
A lot of the units running around at the moment are on staff training duties, all very well rushing through testing to get them out quicker but a waste of time if theres nobody to crew them!
 

Efini92

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I'd be fairly surprised if it was. The 144 that caught fire at Smithy Bridge and had a hole cut in the floor was repaired. I suspect a lot of what looks bad up the side of the train is just smoke damage and will clean off without much difficulty- depends how it looks underneath as to how bad the damage actually is.
Did it? I thought they scrapped the middle car?
 
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