Bad week for Greater Anglia

[elementalpat]

Once again the dreaded fatality has struck the same line within 2 days.

Today, there was a person struck near Colchester and sympathy to those involved.

I wanted to know more about the incident at Goodmayes, where it was thought someone was struck and all the works were called to look for a person, but nothing was found. The train was even found with a dent apparently! Not much from local media, but one report says it was a fox.

Anyone know more?

 

[voyager8]

Ref the Goodmayes incident,amazingly BTP apparently found the person involved at a local hospital with non life threatening head injuries,very luck to be alive.

 

[colchesterken]

I was trying to get back from london. got to stratford at 1930 got into colchester at 0008. then left to walk home as they had no trains to colchester town 2 miles away.
The service dis intergrated there seemed to be no overall plan, took 1h30min shenfield to colchester. I waited 40 mins at shenfield and only 2 freights went up the main line
non stop to felix.and the other to colchester freight loop for a break
colchester was packed out with unoccupied trains..I have asked GA what went wrong
we will see
on my hornby layout if you have too many trains on the main line you stick them in the sidings to allow the main line to run, that did not happen at colchester

 

[tsr]

...on my hornby layout if you have too many trains on the main line you stick them in the sidings to allow the main line to run, that did not happen at colchester

I regret that Greater Anglia isn't run on model railway principles. (This is arguably a bad thing.)

 

[HH]

I don't think BTP covered themselves in glory here; over two hours to work out that there wasn't a body. Nor NR either - the signalman wasn't saying anything to 'my' driver. Lack of information is a killer.

Not sure what GA's options were. There had already been earlier disruption with cancellations and delays (not sure why). Then 2 and a bit hours where nothing mainline was moving (think we were first in line) and metro was stopping short. My train was very quick once we got going again. Just that by now it was 3+ hours late.

 

[GB]

BTP and Network Rail can only work with the information they receive. They had several reports of the Goodmayes incident taking place at different locations and as such a large area required searching...not easy in pitch black.

The Colchester incident was dealt with pretty swiftly. First report was at 1100, both lines open by 1150 and full clean up done by 1255.

 

[W230]

I don't think BTP covered themselves in glory here; over two hours to work out that there wasn't a body.

Ah! But therein lies the problem! If there is a body then they can crack on and get on with recovery once satisfied that it's not suspicious (unlikely to take too long).

But as they had a report of somebody hit they had no choice but to keep looking until they were 100% satisfied there was no-one injured. It was dark and different locations had been given for the incident, coupled with the fact they would have to check the surrounding lineside too. If as mentioned above the injured person had already made their own way to hospital then it really would be like searching for a non existent needle in a haystack!

 

[colchesterken]

To HH were you going up the main line. if how long from shenfield to your destination
I got stuck on the metro which did not start till well after the main line. fast trains were rushing past. It may be your train was one of the first in the blockage
I changed at shenfield then it was stop go all the way to colchester took 1.5 hrs

 

[dk1]

Last nights Ilford trip (90+buffet car) failed near Diss too. Assisted forward by the 20.00 Nrw-Lst which terminated & resulted in cancellation of the 22.30 return & causing the 23.30 to be very very cosy indeed. Ironically on the very day the Intercity team at Crown Point collected their Silver Spanner award :roll:

 

[HH]

To HH were you going up the main line. if how long from shenfield to your destination
I got stuck on the metro which did not start till well after the main line. fast trains were rushing past. It may be your train was one of the first in the blockage
I changed at shenfield then it was stop go all the way to colchester took 1.5 hrs

Reasonably quickly I would say. Normal timings. Maybe a Freight was regulated ahead of yours.

 

[15MPHMAX]

In several years of mainline driving on the GE that was the worst week for adhesion I have experienced. Coupled with other factors it's been a very tough week all round for everyone at GA and of course the people that travel.

 

[Dave1987]

Yeah that's what frustrates me. Passengers just don't seem to accept poor rail adhesion as a valid excuse for delays they think it is a cop out. But it was bad. Lots of units failing with wheel flats now.

 

[HH]

I guess that the question is whether this was just a very unfortunate combination of events, or whether NR have contributed through lax vegetation clearance, etc.

And really, communication has been very poor.

 

[Dave1987]

I guess that the question is whether this was just a very unfortunate combination of events, or whether NR have contributed through lax vegetation clearance, etc.

And really, communication has been very poor.

How has communication been poor? All boards have had poor rail adhesion up as a reason for delays. And On weds btp had to shut all 4 lines to look for a body. And it was up on the boards that a person had been struck by a train which was true.

 

[jamesontheroad]

In addition to the events detailed above, there was a chemical leak (hydrochloric acid) at the Arla dairy plant in Hatfield Peverel on Tuesday night that shut the line for more than two hours. We were on the 22:30 LST-NRW and were held at Ingatestone. Got to Norwich at 02:59

Local news: http://www.braintreeandwithamtimes.co.uk/news/10060295.Witham__Chemical_leak_at_food_factory/

 

[captainbigun]

Yeah that's what frustrates me. Passengers just don't seem to accept poor rail adhesion as a valid excuse for delays they think it is a cop out. But it was bad. Lots of units failing with wheel flats now.

I travelled on a trio of Desiros on Friday and the leading bogie had horrendous flats, they must have been near to restriction or outright withdrawal from service.

There were a number of short formed, 4 in lieu of 12 in one case, doing this with back to back services doesn't help matters. That's where GA aren't so good at stepping up/swapping.

Of course, now the minimal slack in the fleet shows and those 317/7s would've filled the gaps. We can only blame GA for that.

 

[HH]

How has communication been poor? All boards have had poor rail adhesion up as a reason for delays. And On weds btp had to shut all 4 lines to look for a body. And it was up on the boards that a person had been struck by a train which was true.

Because at Liverpool St that night the Duty Station Manager was giving out some stuff about Safety being the cause of delays, and on the train being told that someone was struck by a train for 2 hours with no further info is just not good enough.

 

[dk1]

In several years of mainline driving on the GE that was the worst week for adhesion I have experienced. Coupled with other factors it's been a very tough week all round for everyone at GA and of course the people that travel.

Today was none too good when the rain started. Got 22mph max up Chitts Hill. Less traffic & no RHTT dont help.

 

[SprinterMan]

I travelled on a trio of Desiros on Friday and the leading bogie had horrendous flats, they must have been near to restriction or outright withdrawal from service.

There were a number of short formed, 4 in lieu of 12 in one case, doing this with back to back services doesn't help matters. That's where GA aren't so good at stepping up/swapping.

Of course, now the minimal slack in the fleet shows and those 317/7s would've filled the gaps. We can only blame GA for that.

What would have been great would be if LM took the 317/7s, then we got all of their 321s so we maintain fleet commonality, and LM can use them to stop 350/2s turning up on BHM-LIV runs and such.


Adam

 

[colchesterken]

to DK1 it is interesting to hear a drivers point of view , as a passenger apart fron liv-beth green and brentwood bank the whole line seems more or less flat
I call a hill the barking line where the line goes from below ground at woodgrange park to the top of a viaduct at balmoral road bridge I used to live next to that, steam freight was sometimes a problem but they got pushed up by the next passenger which would be a 2-6-4-tank,even 1 generation dmu s . managed it
I would have thought that once you got rolling from colch or marks tey momentum and electric would do it...is it that they slip or does the wheelslip protection slow you down to the optium speed
it is good to hear the problems from the front line thanks

 

[GB]

Today was none too good when the rain started. Got 22mph max up Chitts Hill. Less traffic & no RHTT dont help.

I thought the DRS circuits took care of that area? If there is nothing then that is pretty poor. When I used to work the crossing box there it used to be bad for adhesion and wasn't uncommon to have 3.5 working between colchester and Marks Tey in the early hours.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

to DK1 it is interesting to hear a drivers point of view , as a passenger apart fron liv-beth green and brentwood bank the whole line seems more or less flat

LST to Brentwood is fairly level, the rest of the line all the way to Norwich is quite undulating.

 

[Dave1987]

to DK1 it is interesting to hear a drivers point of view , as a passenger apart fron liv-beth green and brentwood bank the whole line seems more or less flat
I call a hill the barking line where the line goes from below ground at woodgrange park to the top of a viaduct at balmoral road bridge I used to live next to that, steam freight was sometimes a problem but they got pushed up by the next passenger which would be a 2-6-4-tank,even 1 generation dmu s . managed it
I would have thought that once you got rolling from colch or marks tey momentum and electric would do it...is it that they slip or does the wheelslip protection slow you down to the optium speed
it is good to hear the problems from the front line thanks

Sorry you can't compare heavy steam engines and diesels to emu's. Chitts hill is not insignificant. During low rail adhesion you lose confidence the your train is going to brake at normally so you drive extremely cautiously and therefore lose time. Would you rather drivers drove normally and had crashes and station overruns?

 

[GB]

Chitts hill is not insignificant.

Indeed.

(Looking towards Colchester)

(Looking towards Marks Tey)

(Looking towards Colchester)

 

[Dave1987]

Those must have been taken before the resignalling with the 'D' on the signal plate. They are all 'CO' now.

 

[GB]

yeah, 7-8 years ago IIRC

 

[15MPHMAX]

Had a major change of underwear moment in the drizzle earlier. Be glad when this years leaf fall season is over.

 

[dk1]

to DK1 it is interesting to hear a drivers point of view , as a passenger apart fron liv-beth green and brentwood bank the whole line seems more or less flat
I call a hill the barking line where the line goes from below ground at woodgrange park to the top of a viaduct at balmoral road bridge I used to live next to that, steam freight was sometimes a problem but they got pushed up by the next passenger which would be a 2-6-4-tank,even 1 generation dmu s . managed it
I would have thought that once you got rolling from colch or marks tey momentum and electric would do it...is it that they slip or does the wheelslip protection slow you down to the optium speed
it is good to hear the problems from the front line thanks

My pleasure mate. You would be suprised at some of our East Anglian gradients. From what i have read much of the Great Eastern Railway was built somewhat on the cheap. However over the years the number of manned level crossings must have cost a bit on the payroll side. A trip up front across the East Suffolk line will prove what a rollercoaster it is. I have heard steam drivers on specials comment that is one of the more challenging routes to work with ithis and its constantly changing speed restrictions.

 

[Dave1987]

Think half of our passengers should witness first hand what it's like during poor rail adhesion.

 

[Richard1960]

Reading some replies from members on here from the other end of the county,i am pleased to say i have found the Greater Anglia service (copper railway wire being nicked apart) from Harlow-to Cambirdge to be very good and from Cambridge to Norwich only a couple of signal problems last week one at spooners hill nr Attleborough but we were kept fully informed and the train was on time at cambridge.

I do wish they could get newer trains on the Bittern line Norwich-sheringham!!!!!!! a few weekends ago they had a four car diesel on the route and at Gunton,and sheringham the train was too long for the platforms so you had to sit in the first two carriages.

Icidently out of a historical perspective does anybody know how many years ago all the waiting rooms closed on the Bittern Line its damm windy on Hoveton/Wroxham station and no shelter to boot even the smaller Salhouse has a shelter.!

 

[colchesterken]

mmmmm. Sounds like I need a cab ride