East Coast Disruption 21/10/13

[Mainliner]

Currently sat on southbound EC 1Y27 at Retford - guard has announced wires down at Tallington.

EC website saying "A normal service is expected to resume by approximately 18:00."

Edit: now "Disruption is expected until 23:59"

 

[tsr]

Indeed. No trains are running Peterborough-Grantham, now possibly for the rest of the day, due to a dewirement in the Tallington Jn area - with Hull Trains advising not to travel. Tickets OK on virtually all reasonable routes - see NRE. Severe delays to the majority of trains in the area. 1S13 1100 King's Cross - Edinburgh (http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/Y50146/2013/10/21/advanced) appears to be involved. I believe EC tickets will be OK for use tomorrow.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Just had a further update. An OHLE insulator has reportedly gone through the train's cab window. Messy.

 

[Furrball]

Sat on 1E11 (Aberdeen London) just north of york waiting for a platform.

Due to be diverted via Lincoln

 

[Boothby97]

Indeed. No trains are running Peterborough-Grantham, now possibly for the rest of the day, due to a dewirement in the Tallington Jn area - with Hull Trains advising not to travel. Tickets OK on virtually all reasonable routes - see NRE. Severe delays to the majority of trains in the area. 1S13 1100 King's Cross - Edinburgh (http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/Y50146/2013/10/21/advanced) appears to be involved. I believe EC tickets will be OK for use tomorrow.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Just had a further update. An OHLE insulator has reportedly gone through the train's cab window. Messy.

91101 is loco involved.
No a good day for railways, with a bridge strike near Stoke-on-Trent, flooding between Chesterfield and Derby, trains suspended between Grimsby and Cleethorpes, and more.

 

[GB]

It is possible the line at Tallington could be blocked for up to 2 days according to sources.

 

[alex17595]

I was following a tamper down helpston junction last night, and there was a guy testing wires? (a hook on a pole.)


Would you be able to pick something like this up before it happens. Also what's the line speed around there?

 

[edwin_m]

Several of the yellow trains have equipment that checks that the OLE is in the correct position, and there are also several Panchex systems around the network that report any problems detected with passing pantographs. However there is always the possibility of rapid or sudden failure of some component either of the OLE or the pantograph, which either can't be detected by the equipment or causes a dewirement before it is detected or acted on.

A hook on the wire sounds like earthing the line for safety after a section of it is isolated from the power supply. This may mean that some work was being done on the OLE section in question, and it is possible someone made a mistake. Tamping moves the track slightly so the OLE might need re-registering to keep its position relative to the track within the limits set by standards. However it is equally possible that this is just a coincidence - the work may have been some activity that didn't touch the OLE but could not be done safely under a live line.

 

[Mainliner]

Having fun.

Some of the pax on 1Y27 headed off from Retford for Sheffield, shortly after which it was announced that the Sheffield-St Pancras line was closed due to flooding.

Am currently on a Pacer heading for Lincoln, to catch connection to Peterborough

 

[philjo]

NR site is now reporting delays due to a person hit by a train at Radlett so FCC & EMT services to Bedford delayed by approx 80 minutes. (also no trains between Didcot & Oxford due to a fire in lineside equipment causing signalling problems)

 

[Rich McLean]

Nighmare all round.

Won't be long until Cowley Bridge floods again by the looks of things either

 

[CallySleeper]

Any idea if EMT are accepting EC tickets?

 

[rdwarr]

Annoying that the online departures board is saying that most trains are expected to depart on time. This may give potential travellers false hope.

 

[Furrball]

Delays compounded by signal failure in Sleaford area. Slowly proceeding signal to signal.

 

[Mainliner]

Now on a single-coach "train" from Lincoln to Peterborough which is rammed with a good number of passengers from 1Y27.

ETA: oh great, thanks for that, Furrball!

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Any idea if EMT are accepting EC tickets?

They were, but the acceptance has been removed from NRE because of the problems on the MML.
Euston only for the north...

Edit: EMT acceptance back on now, with MML problems easing.


1E06 (0650 Glasgow-King's Cross) has just arrived 241 late.
Seems to be the first southbound train to get through.
http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/Y50101/2013/10/21/advanced

On the other hand there is rubbish being reported for some trains, so maybe this info not reliable.
EC website still has "No planned alterations to services today".

 

[marks87]

They were, but the acceptance has been removed from NRE because of the problems on the MML.
Euston only for the north...

And we all know that when Euston isn't an option, life isn't worth living #virgintotherescue

No problems on Chiltern (so far!) - is going out of Marylebone seen as a "reasonable route" for any disrupted journeys?

 

[38Cto15E]

1S16, London Kings Cross to Inverness, The Highland Chieftain currently showing 212 minutes late at Doncaster.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

1S13 1100 King's Cross - Edinburgh (http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/Y50146/2013/10/21/advanced) appears to be involved. (

This train appears to have got going again after 4 hours and reached York 266 down.
1S16 1200 King's Cross-Inverness 221 down approaching York.

 

[rdwarr]

Feeling sorry for twitter user @ajctwit at the moment. She set off from Durham on the 10.37 to see a Verdi opera starting at 6pm at Covent Garden. Train cancelled at Retford so went to Sheffield to get a train from there.
That was going well until a person was hit by a train at Radlett. Hope she gets to see some of the performance though.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Feeling sorry for twitter user @ajctwit at the moment. She set off from Durham on the 10.37 to see a Verdi opera starting at 6pm at Covent Garden. Train cancelled at Retford so went to Sheffield to get a train from there.
That was going well until a person was hit by a train at Radlett. Hope she gets to see some of the performance though.

Sicilian Vespers.
The disruption also delayed Labour's Energy spokesperson Caroline Flint, who didn't reach the Commons in time for the Hinkley Point statement.
Her stand-in apologised for her absence due to "the power failure on the railway" - to general tittering.

 

[mtmikethom]

Don't know whether it is relevant but the Loco on 1E06 at Kings Cross has a damaged pantograph? arrived with 67024 on the front.

 

[YorkshireBear]

Don't know whether it is relevant but the Loco on 1E06 at Kings Cross has a damaged pantograph? arrived with 67024 on the front.

Could quite easily get damaged in the incident or be the cause of the incident. Hard to tell which is which!

 

[CallySleeper]

Any idea if EMT are accepting EC tickets?

They were, but the acceptance has been removed from NRE because of the problems on the MML.
Euston only for the north...

Edit: EMT acceptance back on now, with MML problems easing.

Was booked on the 1930 north from KGX. Normally would have thought about MML but remarkably found the 1757 nonstop to Tamworth from Euston. Probably quicker than the MML too.

 

[jon0844]

Annoying that the online departures board is saying that most trains are expected to depart on time. This may give potential travellers false hope.

Ah, the usual problem where trains in the future are still 'on time' until they reach departure time and then begin to show 'delayed' until they either run or are cancelled.

I did notice (and should start a separate thread) that on one day when FCC had disruption recently (a Saturday) I noticed that the screens at New Barnet had a message saying only trains confirmed as running would be displayed - as if someone was actually making sure all of those 'no report' trains that might be shown as on time weren't displayed.

If so, I have to say well done - but that needs to be done more often, or indeed ALL the time, during disruption.

 

[[email protected].]

This train appears to have got going again after 4 hours and reached York 266 down.
1S16 1200 King's Cross-Inverness 221 down approaching York.

A very long delay on this service, I bet EC will have the complimentary free flowing, whiskey for first class, tea coffee for std.

 

[stut]

KX was surprisingly calm this evening, and very well organised. EC are running a half-hourly London - Stevenage - Peterborough shuttle, and the GNs are all running to time. Great effort from those involved at that end.

 

[High Dyke]

It is possible the line at Tallington could be blocked for up to 2 days according to sources.

Don't you just love rumours? Still you never know.

Delays compounded by signal failure in Sleaford area. Slowly proceeding signal to signal.

That was a panel failure at Gosberton

Don't know whether it is relevant but the Loco on 1E06 at Kings Cross has a damaged pantograph? arrived with 67024 on the front.

That was reported as affected as was 1S13 (the one that had a damaged windscreen.)

A very long delay on this service, I bet EC will have the complimentary free flowing, whiskey for first class, tea coffee for std.

Until the Have-nots complain they aren't getting any...and the Haves complain when it runs out. :roll:

Currently the engineers possession of both the Up Slow & Down Slow lines have been lifted, but EC services are still terminating at Grantham and Peterborough respectively.

 

[Skimble19]

Ah, the usual problem where trains in the future are still 'on time' until they reach departure time and then begin to show 'delayed' until they either run or are cancelled.

I did notice (and should start a separate thread) that on one day when FCC had disruption recently (a Saturday) I noticed that the screens at New Barnet had a message saying only trains confirmed as running would be displayed - as if someone was actually making sure all of those 'no report' trains that might be shown as on time weren't displayed.

If so, I have to say well done - but that needs to be done more often, or indeed ALL the time, during disruption.

Should be like that at any future disruption on the FCC network. Seems to work well, the very occasional ghost/non-existant train still slips through but largely it's been very accurate and a massive improvement.

 

[GB]

Don't you just love rumours? Still you never know.

Well that was the information at the time. Obviously more detailed assessments have been done since then.

 

[Andrewlong]

I was at KX this afternoon and there were plenty of announcements recommending passengers not to travel today on EC.

Only northbound service beyond 1400 KX to Aberdeen additionally stopping at Peterborough and Doncaster. It did look like EC were managing it well ie the was no hysteria.