Wires brought down in Didcot area (27/08/2019)

[father_jack]

I am "genless" but people on da facecloth are saying passengers have apparently been walking from west of Didcot Parkway to the station after a "dewirement".

 

[JN114]

I am "genless" but people on da facecloth are saying passengers have apparently been walking from west of Didcot Parkway to the station after a "dewirement".

802 brought 500m of wires down on the Oxford lines. Given they’re not energised or within the electrified/in use area I’d expect this isn’t an infrastructure or rolling stock issue....

 

[Railperf]

Are we suspecting a driver forgot to pan down?

 

[DidcotDickie]

802 brought 500m of wires down on the Oxford lines. Given they’re not energised or within the electrified/in use area I’d expect this isn’t an infrastructure or rolling stock issue....

Reported elsewhere that driver of up service from Oxford attempted diesel to electric changeover on the approach to Didcot. Given that the OLE on the up and down Oxford lines doesn't start until you reach the multi-storey Foxhall car park the outcome was never going to be good.

Platforms 3-5 at Didcot apparently out of use with no Oxford shuttles or stopping services to Paddington. Only the main lines through platforms 1 and 2 are operational. All Oxford services are using the avoiding lines. Disruption expected until 16:00 and the 802 has gone to North Pole depot - presumably to have a new pantograph fitted.

 

[JN114]

Are we suspecting a driver forgot to pan down?

The goalkeeper balises protect against exactly that so I doubt it was an up train, also with it happening late last night there aren’t any down IETs towards Oxford. I was speculating with a relatively high degree of confidence that it was a driver on an up service attempting to pan up too early. @DidcotDickie appears to have confirmed that is what is being reported elsewhere.

 

[TractiveEffort]

The goalkeeper balises protect against exactly that so I doubt it was an up train, also with it happening late last night there aren’t any down IETs towards Oxford. I was speculating with a relatively high degree of confidence that it was a driver on an up service attempting to pan up too early. @DidcotDickie appears to have confirmed that is what is being reported elsewhere.

One suspects that his DSM will be having more than “an appropriate conversation” with him (or her).

 

[Ben Glasgow]

The goalkeeper balises protect against exactly that so I doubt it was an up train, also with it happening late last night there aren’t any down IETs towards Oxford. I was speculating with a relatively high degree of confidence that it was a driver on an up service attempting to pan up too early. @DidcotDickie appears to have confirmed that is what is being reported elsewhere.

Out of curiosity, what signage is there to tell a driver they’re entering a part of the line that has an overhead supply or would it be more simply that they’d see the overhead supply approaching?

 

[Pete_uk]

Woops!

I'm sure technology could stop this from happening?

 

[vikingdriver]

One suspects that his DSM will be having more than “an appropriate conversation” with him (or her).

Hopefully just an appropriate conversation! We are all human after all!

 

[edwin_m]

Hopefully just an appropriate conversation! We are all human after all!

But likely to be a biscuit-free zone.

 

[DidcotDickie]

Out of curiosity, what signage is there to tell a driver they’re entering a part of the line that has an overhead supply or would it be more simply that they’d see the overhead supply approaching?

None in the up direction on the Oxford lines or the avoiders as far as I'm aware. There are signs for 80x units to switch to diesel in the down direction in Moreton Cutting and I believe that there are balises to enforce this automatically there as well (stand to be corrected on this though).

In this incident I'm surprised that raising the pantograph into thin air didn't cause the automated device drop (ADD) to activate as the pantograph went over-height in which case it would have dropped and all would have been well. Maybe the driver raised it just in time for it to clout the OLE termination portal by the car park before it reached the contact wire (which I believe is not energised at that section).

 

[Chris M]

In this incident I'm surprised that raising the pantograph into thin air didn't cause the automated device drop (ADD) to activate as the pantograph went over-height in which case it would have dropped and all would have been well. Maybe the driver raised it just in time for it to clout the OLE termination portal by the car park before it reached the contact wire (which I believe is not energised at that section).

Would it be possible for the pan to go up immediately before the contact wire but not reach the overheight threshold until afterwards, causing the ADD to bring the head down on top of the contact wire? If it is, I can easily imagine that causing quite a bit of mess.

 

[swt_passenger]

Would it be possible for the pan to go up immediately before the contact wire but not reach the overheight threshold until afterwards, causing the ADD to bring the head down on top of the contact wire? If it is, I can easily imagine that causing quite a bit of mess.

I think that’s less likely with the GW electrification equipment, because the wire runs are usually terminated vertically above the track, rather than running off to one side, and usually they’re terminated at a portal structure. (Correction welcome of course.)

If a pantograph is rising just before that portal, it will surely hit the portal and be badly damaged, possibly preventing it lowering by ADD operation.

But, I think, there must be only a very short distance available where this should be able to happen? Any earlier and ADD should prevent it, just a bit further afterwards and the riding pan should just meet the wiring.

 

[driver_m]

Would it be possible for the pan to go up immediately before the contact wire but not reach the overheight threshold until afterwards, causing the ADD to bring the head down on top of the contact wire? If it is, I can easily imagine that causing quite a bit of mess.

Of course this is all speculation, but if the wiring was already there, but unenergised. It shouldn’t result in the ADD operating. Just the VCB refusing to engage and the pan maybe to drop back down, if the NW OLE was any indicator, when it was unfinished, it wouldn’t have been tensioned properly and likely to be missing droppers, pieces of wire etc. All this is summoning and I hope it doesn’t result in anything too bad for the driver, after all, the banter that will follow from this will probably be harder to live down than the actual incident! Also as I dont sign bimodes, AC traction normally relies on batteries to supply the Aux Compressor to get a pan up, whether this is a different process with diesel power involved I’m not sure.

 

[AndrewE]

Reported elsewhere that driver of up service from Oxford attempted diesel to electric changeover on the approach to Didcot. Given that the OLE on the up and down Oxford lines doesn't start until you reach the multi-storey Foxhall car park the outcome was never going to be good.

Not the first time this sort of thing has happened..
I remember a terrible day on the WCML about 30 years ago when the wires were down near Weaver Junction and trains were being diesel hauled pan down via Chester. When the wiring was fixed and ready for normal working to resume an electric driver put his pan up just before he reached the wires at Warrington and pulled another lot down!

 

[irish_rail]

Hopefully just an appropriate conversation! We are all human after all!

Sadly the consequences likely to be much worse for this particular driver if found to be at fault which is still a very big IF at this stage.

 

[Edders23]

Woops!

I'm sure technology could stop this from happening?

doubt it the more complex you make technology the more likelihood it will fail

Is this the second or third OHLE incident with this type of unit ?

 

[JN114]

Is this the second or third OHLE incident with this type of unit ?

Second, the first similar occurrence being Autumn last year when an 802 was being transited to Eastleigh for commissioning; the Pan was physically tied down but not isolated - the GBRf driver attempted to raise the pan at speed (the motives for which were never really made clear) in the Hanwell area, the pantograph not quite raising properly proceeded to bring down the wires on all 4 lines (yay cheap 90s headspans!).

There have been 6 other, largely unrelated major/serious OHLE incidents on Western in the past year or so:-

• 387 wrong-routed onto an unelectrified line at Slough in early 2018
• 387 driven beyond the then limit of electrification at Foxhall Junction in Spring 2018 (and featured on Paddington 24/7)
• Damage to OHLE at Westbourne Park (cause never determined) causing total loss of power Padd - Maidenhead for an hour or so on a Sunday evening Autumn 2018
• 387 driven beyond limit of energised electrification at Didcot Parkway towards Oxford undertaking a shunt move during disruption, Winter 2018/2019
• Stray Umbrella blown into OHLE at Paddington station, causing a dead short between the OHL and a 387, causing significant damage to the roof of the 387 and tripping the power out Paddington to Maidenhead for over an hour in the evening peak, Spring 2019
• Damage to the OHLE near Reading West station (cause under investigation) which saw a 387 get tangled up in the damaged wires necessitating evacuation and rescue of the train, Summer 2019

There’s been some more minor incidents here and there, although few of those have caused significant/lasting disruption - although the significance of some issues may be diminished by the IETs being able to work around most issues by running on Diesel, a luxury we don’t have with 387s in the Thames Valley. For the flak the expensive/eyesore new OHL kit gets, it does seem to be incredibly resilient so far - and where there is an issue, even major damage such as at Reading West, it does achieve one of its design aims of keeping damage isolated to one line.

 

[Mark J]

Second, the first similar occurrence being Autumn last year when an 802 was being transited to Eastleigh for commissioning; the Pan was physically tied down but not isolated - the GBRf driver attempted to raise the pan at speed (the motives for which were never really made clear) in the Hanwell area, the pantograph not quite raising properly proceeded to bring down the wires on all 4 lines (yay cheap 90s headspans!).

There have been 6 other, largely unrelated major/serious OHLE incidents on Western in the past year or so:-

• 387 wrong-routed onto an unelectrified line at Slough in early 2018
• 387 driven beyond the then limit of electrification at Foxhall Junction in Spring 2018 (and featured on Paddington 24/7)
• Damage to OHLE at Westbourne Park (cause never determined) causing total loss of power Padd - Maidenhead for an hour or so on a Sunday evening Autumn 2018
• 387 driven beyond limit of energised electrification at Didcot Parkway towards Oxford undertaking a shunt move during disruption, Winter 2018/2019
• Stray Umbrella blown into OHLE at Paddington station, causing a dead short between the OHL and a 387, causing significant damage to the roof of the 387 and tripping the power out Paddington to Maidenhead for over an hour in the evening peak, Spring 2019
• Damage to the OHLE near Reading West station (cause under investigation) which saw a 387 get tangled up in the damaged wires necessitating evacuation and rescue of the train, Summer 2019

There’s been some more minor incidents here and there, although few of those have caused significant/lasting disruption - although the significance of some issues may be diminished by the IETs being able to work around most issues by running on Diesel, a luxury we don’t have with 387s in the Thames Valley. For the flak the expensive/eyesore new OHL kit gets, it does seem to be incredibly resilient so far - and where there is an issue, even major damage such as at Reading West, it does achieve one of its design aims of keeping damage isolated to one line.

Bring back the Class 165/166's and Class 43's

Never had any of this trouble in the "old days".

At least the seats were more comfy.

 

[JN114]

Bring back the Class 165/166's and Class 43's

Never had any of this trouble in the "old days".

At least the seats were more comfy.

Just no.

 

[irish_rail]

Bring back the Class 165/166's and Class 43's

Never had any of this trouble in the "old days".

At least the seats were more comfy.

Just yes.

 

[Chris M]

At least the seats were more comfy.

This at least is correct.
The newer stock has many advantages over the old, especially for people with less than perfect mobility, but seat comfort is not one of them.

 

[Edders23]

Bring back the Class 165/166's and Class 43's

Never had any of this trouble in the "old days".

At least the seats were more comfy.

nah class 117's and 50's with Mk2 aircons or even westerns and early mk 2 stock