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How Often Does a Driver Forget to Stop at a Station and What Are the Consequences?

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dk1

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Not quite the same, but I remember a few years ago an Edinburgh bound Pendolino happily took the route offered at Wolverhampton into platform 5- the south end bay platform. After a considerable delay it got shunted into a far more suitable platform and terminated at Wolverhampton.
That would come under wrong routing & is 50/50 the fault of driver/signaller.
 
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Rambler2978

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Skip Reminder!

This is rather the opposite to the OP! On the Liverpool to Chester route most trains stop at Capenhurst but some do not. At Hooton and Bache, the stations either side of Capenhurst, there is a reminder notice for drivers to check their stopping pattern.

If a train is not due to stop at Capenhurst, it is not included in the station announcements on the train but I bet a few must have boarded a train wanting Capenhurst when the train is not due to stop there!
 

dk1

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I agree, I'm surprised the Driver didn't question the 5 shown on the signal protecting the bay platform.
Must’ve been more excited about maybe the end of the shift. Very easy done. I suppose the only time the signaller wouldn’t be at fault is if say the train length had been input incorrectly.
 

Y Ddraig Coch

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Due to TfW single door policy currently very few trains are stopping at Conwy, the only one that was meant to on a Sunday afternoon recently went flying past the 12 odd passengers waiting to board and there wasn't another train that day. The excuses from TfW customer services via e mail were quite amusing they changeg the reason every e mail back and forth.
 

43066

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Slipping isn't just about "leafs on the line"

Also very true. Grosvenor Bank (the steep up slope leaving London Victoria) is a strictly urban location, well known location for adhesion issues.
 

EssexGonzo

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At the London end of platforms 1 and 2 at Shenfield are “Romford?” signs presumably as reminders to drivers.

For the GA fast services, Romford is an irregular and infrequent stop, so I can see how it would be easy to miss.
 

Metroman62

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In the late 1970s I used to catch a train from Coventry to Berkhamsted on early Saturday mornings. I was actually able to take a London Euston inter city train which Called at Bletchley where I would change. One winter morning the train sailed through Bletchley not stopping and we ended up at Euston. This was a nuisance as my dad was waiting at Berkhamsted! I felt a bit sorry for the driver at Euston as he was surrounded by a group of angry people who had wanted to get off at Bletchley
 

Bill57p9

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I have been on a slammer which stopped as advertised at Farnborough Main, but on the platform-less down fast.
Following pleas from the crew to remain on the train we did an interesting shunt onto the down slow.
 

AlterEgo

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I must have been on 10,000 trains or so and it's only happened once - an overshoot at Milton Keynes on Virgin Trains by such a distance we couldn't set back. We stopped at Rugby to take another train back home...
 

The exile

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I once read the opposite in one of the reference books. GWR in the 1930's. busy summer Saturday. Train booked to stop at Exeter St Davids. Train comes in and slows to a stop. Driver sticks his head out and says " I think I'm supposed to stop here?"

He had been routed into the middle line, without a platform interface !! Obviously signalling routing fault. It didn't say how they resolved it !
This was the solution, railtour-style, at Stockport back in 1990. I'm guessing it was down the platform ramp then up a ladder into the brake coach. Anyone recognise themselves?19901027 STOCKPORT - unorthodox boarding process_censored (1).jpg
 

Horizon22

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The train was doing about 30mph into the station and overshot the platform by about 5 carriages in an area where lineside trees aren’t a big issue. I’m no expert but it’d be significantly more worrying if leaf fall was a factor!

Fair enough! I only said it potentially might have been.

I once read the opposite in one of the reference books. GWR in the 1930's. busy summer Saturday. Train booked to stop at Exeter St Davids. Train comes in and slows to a stop. Driver sticks his head out and says " I think I'm supposed to stop here?"

He had been routed into the middle line, without a platform interface !! Obviously signalling routing fault. It didn't say how they resolved it !

Techincally now that would be wrong route given and accepted. Why route knowledge is so important (for the doubters out there!)
 

Ianigsy

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If the station was Ryde Pier Head, I'd imagine the consequences would be particularly serious....
 

Stampy

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Various signs around the network are placed as an aide-memoir to drivers to remind them to think about their next stop, e.g:

-Pretty sure the ECML approaching Grantham (from Newark) has a "Grantham?" sign somewhere in the Barkston area

There's one just North of Stoke Tunnel on the Northbound line that says the same as well..

Saw it recently when the train I was on was held at a signal just before Grantham station.
 

Metal_gee_man

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Slipping isn't just about "leafs on the line"

But thanks for the sarcasm anyway.
It's more of a case the nearest tree lined area of track is a fair few miles away, you'd hope any residue or leaf build up would have been worn off in the 5 or 6 miles of multiple points, curves and general running. But hey take it how you want
 
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Remember a London Midland driver once failed to stop at Colwall. Subsequently on arrival a Ledbury the service passing us in the loop was held for any passengers to scarper over the bridge wanting to travel back to Colwall.
 

philthetube

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I failed to Stop at Chorleywood many years ago on the Met, this was February, so not leaf fall season. The station is on a down gradient

It was a dark November night and about half a mile from the station I was doing 50 mph, it started drizzling, I started to slow down, by the time I got to the start of the platform I was doing 35 mph, I was still doing 30 at the other end, I gave up at that stage, told the controller and stopped at Rickmansworth.

No consequences and thanked for not putting flats on the train.
 

24Grange

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Wasn't this one of the saddest things where the driver of the Moorgate tube train in the 1970's terrible crash didn't stop and actually accelerated into a dead end tunnel ? We can all find the humour in overshooting a platform, but it can have very serious consequences.
 

ClagLover

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The most common locations for such occurences are either:

-Fast Lines out of London that have stations where most fast trains don't stop but some so (e.g. Watford, Romford, Stevenage, Slough)
-Lines with skip-stop patterns (e.g. Coventry corridor), particularly when there's an odd pattern at certain times of day

Various signs around the network are placed as an aide-memoir to drivers to remind them to think about their next stop, e.g:

-Stratford Platform 10 has a sign reading "Romford?"
-Leaving Stansted Airport towards London there is a sign reading "Stansted Mountiftchet?"
-Bolton Platform 3 has a sign that reads "Drivers: Where is your next stop?" (for Moses Gate/Farnworth/Kearsley)
-Pretty sure the ECML approaching Grantham (from Newark) has a "Grantham?" sign somewhere in the Barkston area
On the Merseyrail network on the Wirral line there are signs saying something along the lines of “Chester trains check your calling pattern”
 

Bletchleyite

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I once read the opposite in one of the reference books. GWR in the 1930's. busy summer Saturday. Train booked to stop at Exeter St Davids. Train comes in and slows to a stop. Driver sticks his head out and says " I think I'm supposed to stop here?"

He had been routed into the middle line, without a platform interface !! Obviously signalling routing fault. It didn't say how they resolved it !

Probably people just walked across and climbed up in the 30s. I've seen that exact thing happen in Germany as recent as the late 1990s!
 

XAM2175

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Wasn't this one of the saddest things where the driver of the Moorgate tube train in the 1970's terrible crash didn't stop and actually accelerated into a dead end tunnel ? We can all find the humour in overshooting a platform, but it can have very serious consequences.
Thankfully, with improved protection systems for trains entering terminal roads (and increasingly now also higher-risk junctions, etc) the chances of another Moorgate-style disaster are much reduced.
 

sjm77

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The driver slammed on the brakes and reversed back to the station.Probably shouldn’t have!
Must have been a shock for those on the train.

I had this many moons ago at Bempton (1980s and probably a class 101). I thought we were going too fast to stop when the driver slammed the brakes on and we stopped around 300 metres beyond the platform. The train reversed here too but if I remember correctly the guard gave a 'set back' signal on the buzzer. I guess no need to consult with the signaller as the driver was already in possession of the single line token.
 

GB

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It's more of a case the nearest tree lined area of track is a fair few miles away, you'd hope any residue or leaf build up would have been worn off in the 5 or 6 miles of multiple points, curves and general running. But hey take it how you want

Who mentioned trees or leaves (other than you)?
 

6Gman

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I can recall two incidents as a passenger.

Quite recently on the Paddington - Reading line where we sailed through somewhere (Burnham or Taplow) where the timetable said we should have stopped.

Many years ago on a Penzance-somewhere summer train. Very busy, I was in the corridor (Mk Is) when a family, laden with luggage, emerged from a compartment to alight at Tiverton Junction. As he moved toward the door (no central locking those days) I felt it necessary to say "he's not going to stop mate". And he didn't. Through at line-speed with the 45 on the front at full throttle! I told them to alight at Taunton, tell staff there'd been a "failure to stop" and they would arrange for them to join the next Down service (that was scheduled to stop at Tiverton Jn, of course). Though I was left with a fear that, like the Flying Dutchman, they were cursed to travel forever between Exeter and Taunton on a succession of trains flying through their intended destination! :D
 

D6130

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Couple of times my old morning train to work sailed through it's first calling point from the siding (Bicester North). Think it then started as normal from Haddenham & Thame!

Another occasion, the same train overshot Haddenham by about 1 1/2 carriages, but that was due to some pretty dense mist/fog that morning. Couldn't reverse back into the platform so onto High Wycombe it was.
Back in 1987, when Haddenham & Thame Parkway first opened, the intention was to use the 06 53 Banbury-Paddington loco-hauled commuter express to perform the opening ceremony and the local MP, the mayor of Thame, various senior railway managers and other local dignitaries and the local brass band duly assembled on the platform shortly before the appointed time, while a ceremonial ribbon was strung across the (then) single track. At this time there was no train crew depot at Banbury and the evening and morning expresses were worked by Old Oak drivers and Paddington guards; the evening train being shut down and stabled in the yard with the crew travelling passenger back to London, while the morning crew came out to Banbury by taxi from London to work the train back. At the time, Old Oak, in common ;))) with many London area depots, was experiencing a severe driver shortage and was unable to cover the Banbury job on this particular morning. Luckily there was a 47 on the job that morning, instead of the booked 50, so Control arranged for the early turn Aylesbury cover driver to go to Banbury by taxi and work the train to PAD. Unfortunately, the special instructions for the ceremony had been sent to Old Oak and neither the Aylesbury supervisor or driver had any knowledge of what was happening.....so with a loud blast on the horn, the 47 swept through the station at the then maximum line speed of 70 mph, sending the mayor's hat and ceremonial ribbon flying!

After I moved from Aylesbury to Skipton in 1991, I was told by a Leeds traction inspector that the same thing had happened with the ceremonial re-opening of Bentley station when, due to a last minute driver swap at Leeds, the 321 went flying through because the replacement driver hadn't been advised. BR often seemed to be unlucky with these events, which obviously didn't do their reputation much good in the eyes of the dignitaries involved.
 
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LancasterRed

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I've had it happen once as far as I can recall, speeding through Huyton at speed on a Liverpool-bound train completely failing to stop. No idea what came of it as the train proceeded as normal.
 

Meerkat

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Do drivers change ends on the ballast/cess if at all safely possible to avoid a walk of shame, or is the ballast/cess easier than all the doors and crowds anyway?
 

Furrysquid

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Only had it once so far - southbound service failed to call at Durham, at teatime on a Saturday in term-time. The next service north from Darlington was a 2-carriage DMU that ended up looking like a railway-themed version of "how many students can you get in a phone box?"
 

Ken H

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Scuse my ignorance, but if a station has a stop signal at the end of the platform (Yes I know they dont all have them) then cant that signal be held at red till the train is in the platform with some sort of approach control. The signalling would have to know if the train is a stopper so non-stoppers are not held. up.
Just an idea....
 
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