Yet Another Engineering Train Failure

[Deepgreen]

The whole North Downs line has no trains this morning owing to the failure of an engineering train at Wokingham. Is it my imagination, or are these trains failing more and more often these days? The reliability seems well below par.

 

[DarloRich]

is it my imagination or did you post something with exactly the same words a little while ago save for the location?

The term "engineering train" is a wide catch all. Do you know what has failed? Does your view hold if a class 66 has broken down or is it only valid if a piece of engineering equipment has failed?

 

[theironroad]

Not sure I'd term a RRV a train, but yes it's blocking the line so not so good.

Originally I understood that GWR were running between Gatwick/Redhill and turning back at Guildford, but doesn't seem t be happening.

I belieive swr are running as far as Wokingham from London though.

 

[Deepgreen]

Not sure I'd term a RRV a train, but yes it's blocking the line so not so good.

Originally I understood that GWR were running between Gatwick/Redhill and turning back at Guildford, but doesn't seem t be happening.

I belieive swr are running as far as Wokingham from London though.

NRE described the problem as the failure of an engineering train. I wasn't on site so had no way of knowing the precise vehicle(s) involved.

 

[Deepgreen]

Mods - please correct my title typo, as it didn't happen near the Scottish east coast! Thanks.

 

[ComUtoR]

The reliability seems well below par.

What do you consider to be 'par' and are there any officially accepted numbers ?

 

[Deepgreen]

What do you consider to be 'par' and are there any officially accepted numbers ?

My 'par' is very unscientific - simply that engineering failures should be rare but seem to be common. I may be wrong. In any case, we still have no trains on our line today!

 

[swt_passenger]

Mods - please correct my title typo, as it didn't happen near the Scottish east coast! Thanks.

As the original author of a thread you can edit your own title, please look for the link marked “thread tools” just above the right hand side of the first post.

 

[Deepgreen]

As the original author of a thread you can edit your own title, please look for the link marked “thread tools” just above the right hand side of the first post.

Many thanks - done.

 

[ComUtoR]

Does anyone know what the MTIN (miles per train incident) (do I have that right ?) is for an 'engineering train' or those used for engineering purposes please ?

 

[GB]

The whole North Downs line has no trains this morning owing to the failure of an engineering train at Wokingham. Is it my imagination, or are these trains failing more and more often these days? The reliability seems well below par.

What are the past incidents that have led you to believe there are more and more engineering train failures?

 

[millemille]

Does anyone know what the MTIN (miles per train incident) (do I have that right ?) is for an 'engineering train' or those used for engineering purposes please ?

OTM (on-track machine, engineering machines capable of being on the track outside of a possession like Tampers etc.) and OTP (on-track plant, engineering machines which can only be on track inside a possession like road/rail vehicles) have their reliability measured in terms of planned work completed and the NR reliability targets are just short of 99%.

OTM didn't, I've been out of OTM/OTP world for about 3 years now, have any reliability targets for running mode as they run so few miles per annum when compared to passenger and freight stock the statistics would be meaningless.

 

[ComUtoR]

Cheers millemille.

 

[DarloRich]

OTM didn't, I've been out of OTM/OTP world for about 3 years now, have any reliability targets for running mode as they run so few miles per annum when compared to passenger and freight stock the statistics would be meaningless.

i would be very surprised if there aren't service/performance kpi for OTM's.

The problem is the wide catch all. This could be anything from a train loco failure, via a wagon hydraulic or electrical failure to a broken tamper or other bit of kit. It is far to wide a phrase to evaluate.

 

[Deepgreen]

What are the past incidents that have led you to believe there are more and more engineering train failures?

I can't recall all the individual specific incidents but there are (I believe) frequently reports of failed engineering trains causing delays to service. A high-profile incident quite recently was at Victoria when a derailment caused huge disruption to services. I include derailments in 'failures' as they are often reported as such by the press/NRE. Maybe my perception is at odds with reality, and that's partly the point of the thread.

 

[Dr Hoo]

Surely a derailment is most likely to be an operating irregularity rather than a ‘train failure’ unless an axlebox sheared off or something.

 

[Spartacus]

I suspect part, if not all of the issue is most of the time delays caused by a 'train' operated by an infrastructure company, such as Balfour Beatty, are going to be coded the same way, "MV", there simply isn't the variety there as for other operators, if it was a TOC or FOC individual causes are more likely to have different coding. Late start, MV; time lost in running, MV; driver late, MV; seized axle on an RRV, MV etc. As "M" delays are broadly mechanical it then becomes like an extreme case of RTT's grouping of some reasons for trains being cancelled: failed engineers train.

 

[millemille]

i would be very surprised if there aren't service/performance kpi for OTM's.

OTM spends so little time running as trains and is under so much so scrutiny for work performance there's no appetite/demand for service performance measurement.

Work performance is measured to 10th's of a decimal place and a being .1% below contract target can see massive financial penalty (£10k per shift, or more, and having to complete the unfinished work for free for a Tamper) and all kinds of implications including black listing of unreliable machines, grounding of whole fleets (happened when I was Engineering Support Manager at BB, the whole Matisa tamper fleet was blacklisted by NR until we went through an uplift program to bring reliability up) and loss of contracts.

A failure in traffic is irrelevant to machine work performance if the machine makes it to the start of the booked shift or it can be replaced by another machine.