ECML - OHLE problems at Stevenage (17 & 18th December)

[philjo]

FCC & EC websites are reporting overhead line problems on the ECML between Hitchin & Stevenage affecting all lines.
FCC says delays of 30 minutes but the live departure boards have many services much later than that and a lot of cancellations or services turining round at WGC.

 

[ushawk]

Looks like its the southbound lines affected. NRE have tweeted that there is damage to the wires over a line and the affected train is being evacuated.

I believe the service involved is 1C66 1415 Cambridge to Kings Cross.

 

[rdwarr]

There are lots of alternative services listed but not (specifically) the answer to this one.
I have a ticket from Blackfriars to Stevenage. Can I go to Luton and get a lift from there?

There seem to buses running Luton-Stevenage but I just wanted to check that my ticket will be accepted on FCC to Luton.

EDIT: Meanwhile the "Live Train Times" bit of the EastCoast website is showing all Arrivals at KGX as delayed or cancelled but nearly all Departures as "On Time". Where are they getting the trains?

 

[ushawk]

There are lots of alternative services listed but not (specifically) the answer to this one.
I have a ticket from Blackfriars to Stevenage. Can I go to Luton and get a lift from there?

There seem to buses running Luton-Stevenage but I just wanted to check that my ticket will be accepted on FCC to Luton.

EDIT: Meanwhile the "Live Train Times" bit of the EastCoast website is showing all Arrivals at KGX as delayed or cancelled but nearly all Departures as "On Time". Where are they getting the trains?

They are delayed leaving KGX so there's no point going there. FCC say they are running buses between Luton Airport and Stevenage - I would think these would be very busy but your ticket will be valid.

 

[dk1]

Colleauge of mine is happy. Permitted to travel on a GC service from Peterborough to York.

 

[rdwarr]

They are delayed leaving KGX so there's no point going there. FCC say they are running buses between Luton Airport and Stevenage - I would think these would be very busy but your ticket will be valid.

Thanks - I can get a lift with luck.

 

[philjo]

Got to WGC in good time but only passed 313s going the other way towards Moorgate.
Train terminated at WGC but no onward buses available at 17:00 so caught the service bus to Stevenage & got a lift from there.
At least 100 poeple waiting on the bridge at Stevenage when I passed and loads of coaches waiting there.
A 67 in platfrom 1 waiting to go north presumably to rescue a stranded train. looks like the Hertford services running almost normally from platfrom 4 at Stevenage but not much else.

 

[stut]

Was awaiting the 1640 KGX-PBO... And no FCC services left until the 1650 KGX-PBO (at 1755), which was rammed, Tokyo-style, within about 3 minutes of the platform being announced. I failed to make it. A Royston train started boarding shortly after, followed by the 1740 KGX-PBO at 1800, which I caught. Annoyingly (for me) it lost time, so it didn't catch the earlier train to allow me to connect at Hitchin. So I'm still waiting at Hitchin, which a lot of trains seem to be skipping.

Seems to be doing better now. Should be a Peterborough train through in 5 minutes or so. Will be home a mere two hours late!

Front line FCC staff have done their best job with the information available, which has been scant. I'm just glad to be on the home straight.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Ah, the broken down train is currently blocking the up slow between Cambridge junction and Hitchin. Some impressive sparks visible, so I assume they're still fixing the overhead wires.

 

[A-driver]

Just spoken with one of the drivers involved.

The 1415 cambs-kings x went through hitchin with a damaged pantograph and came to a stand south of hitchin on the up main.

The 1430 cambs-kings x was behind it and followed it round and between the neutral section on the curve and hitchin station bent both pantographs and severly damaged the OHLE. He came to a stand a few coaches north of hitchin platform.

Passengers had to be walked off the trains but as far as I know neither train can be moved.

Sounds like it was lots of fun and apparently the pantographs are very badly damaged.

 

[tsr]

The 1630 Edinburgh to Kings Cross is supposedly currently calling at Biggleswade... is that a first for that service?

 

[amcluesent]

EC bosses have told pax to stay with friends in London tonight - Daily Mail.

 

[elementalpat]

This might be a bit of silly question, but what mainly causes so much damage to the OHLE?

Only thing I could possibly think off is an object tangled in the line and then the pantograph hitting hit.

 

[Goatboy]

EC bosses have told pax to stay with friends in London tonight - Daily Mail.

I wonder how accurate that is, given its the Daily Mail..

 

[philjo]

This might be a bit of silly question, but what mainly causes so much damage to the OHLE?

Only thing I could possibly think off is an object tangled in the line and then the pantograph hitting hit.

There was a broken down train in that area on Thursday morning last week whihc had caused the overheads to trip out and blocked the line from Cambridge - the 07:09 from Letchworth was held in the platform for over 30 minutes at a red signal waiting for the line ahead to be cleared. Maybe that had caused some damage. There was a lot of ice at the time and pantographs were sparking a lot on Thursday

 

[table38]

One of Britain's busiest train lines crippled by mystery damage

It was unclear last night what had caused the damage with Network Rail 'ruling nothing out' and putting all its energy into solving the problem. It did not believe sabotage was to blame but could not give a conclusive reason.

An extra 10 points if you can guess which paper this is in without following the link

 

[D365]

T'was another fun evening, at least my dad managed it back on the ECML without major delay. Sounds like lots of pantographs to be fixed!

 

[maddeningcrowds]

I wonder how accurate that is, given its the Daily Mail..

They advised against travel and are accepting today's tickets tomorrow. Which is not quite the same.

It is amazing how many hundreds of people were at Kings Cross staring at the departure boards despite the fact they announced every two minutes for people to go alternative routes. I moved over to the MML which was rammed and had a very stressed buffet man who had run out of everything except mini cheddars.

How do you claim delay repay if the ticket barrier at the final destination (Leeds in my case) eat your ticket?

 

[Tomonthetrain]

Was that link the daily fail?

 

[noddy1878]

I'm still stuck! I left Newcastle on the 1905 more or less on time. Once the train arrived and stopped at Doncaster we were all told it was cancelled and had to get off! We then had to wait for an hour for the 2139. That then got late and we left Doncaster at about 2215. Now stuck at Biggleswade.

To top it all off I had planned to arrive into London at 2217 and allow plenty of time to get to Paddington for the sleeper home to Plymouth. Now the eta into London is 0026 but that was before the current wait! No idea what will happen when I get to London.

 

[tsr]

I'm still stuck! I left Newcastle on the 1905 more or less on time. Once the train arrived and stopped at Doncaster we were all told it was cancelled and had to get off! We then had to wait for an hour for the 2139. That then got late and we left Doncaster at about 2215. Now stuck at Biggleswade.

To top it all off I had planned to arrive into London at 2217 and allow plenty of time to get to Paddington for the sleeper home to Plymouth. Now the eta into London is 0026 but that was before the current wait! No idea what will happen when I get to London.

I would hope EC will have someone there to provide you with overnight accommodation, if you require it. Given that some trains have been able to run through the affected area, albeit for a short time in limited numbers, you could claim that the fact your train did not get through to Kings Cross in a reasonable time is a "wilful omission" of the Train Company (maybe debatable), and thus you are covered by Conditions 43-45 of the NRCoC.

Please let us know how you get on, if you can. I hope that you are suitably assisted.

 

[Skimble19]

The 1630 Edinburgh to Kings Cross is supposedly currently calling at Biggleswade... is that a first for that service?

I managed to sneak onto one of the Peterborough services this evening (arriving into Biggleswade around 18:00) and there were two East Coast HSTs sitting in the Southbound platforms - one of which had the doors wide open! They can certainly feel free to continue stopping there from now on!!*

Since last Monday Biggleswade has been staffed in the evening (due to the new 12-car services) - it was nice to see the staff out and about around the station when I got there.. just a week ago the place would have been deserted!

*Don't worry, my tongue is very firmly in cheek.

 

[noddy1878]

Please let us know how you get on, if you can. I hope that you are suitably assisted.

Will do. The guard is supposed to be coming along the train finding out how people are gonna be stuck. For most I guess it's a taxi to whichever part of London they live! Not quite so easy in my case! But we are now moving again! Although its a painful 28mph according to my phone.

 

[ainsworth74]

My main advice is not to panic. Beyond that liaise with staff at all opportunities. The guard is a good starting point as you're clearly going to need a lot of assistance compared to most!

 

[tsr]

Will do. The guard is supposed to be coming along the train finding out how people are gonna be stuck. For most I guess it's a taxi to whichever part of London they live! Not quite so easy in my case! But we are now moving again! Although its a painful 28mph according to my phone.

"Plymouth" will not be a pleasant word for the guard to hear!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

My main advice is not to panic. Beyond that liaise with staff at all opportunities. The guard is a good starting point as you're clearly going to need a lot of assistance compared to most!

Agreed.

 

[Robsignals]

I would hope EC will have someone there to provide you with overnight accommodation, if you require it. Given that some trains have been able to run through the affected area, albeit for a short time in limited numbers, you could claim that the fact your train did not get through to Kings Cross in a reasonable time is a "wilful omission" of the Train Company (maybe debatable), and thus you are covered by Conditions 43-45 of the NRCoC.

It's Network Rails decision to allow trains through during which time no repairs can be done which sounds like a more fundamental "wilful omission". In these circumstances TOC's will call out their Emergency Assistance Teams or whatever they may be called to put passengers into Taxis or hotels as appropriate with no need to look at the NRCoC.

Meanwhile 3rd Rail lines are running without any supply problems as they do 99.99+% of the time - what fun South West Mainline travellers can look forward to when the wires go up...oops, there down!

 

[tsr]

It's Network Rails decision to allow trains through during which time no repairs can be done which sounds like a more fundamental "wilful omission". In these circumstances TOC's will call out their Emergency Assistance Teams or whatever they may be called to put passengers into Taxis or hotels as appropriate with no need to look at the NRCoC.

Meanwhile 3rd Rail lines are running without any supply problems as they do 99.99+% of the time - what fun South West Mainline travellers can look forward to when the wires go up...oops, there down!

Whatever's happened, it's quite clear that our fellow forum member is running incredibly late and should expect the maximum available assistance!

Hopefully they can get whichever train they require from Paddington in the morning - if need be, the earliest available. I shouldn't think that'll be a problem at all.

And as for the third rail... just you wait until we get some properly wintry weather again. The 1048 departure from Redhill to London Victoria (originating South of Horsham) was supposedly delayed by 198 minutes last Wednesday due to a very small quantity of freezing rain on the rails at Christs Hospital. And there are countless other examples, many of which are worse, each year!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Update from EC Control (via Twitter): Services are expected to be running normally tomorrow, but please check before travelling!

 

[noddy1878]

Well after arriving at Kings Cross I joined the queue (made sure I was near the front by being off the train quickly!) I'd already spoken to the guard and he said they'll make sure I'm ok.

So I write this post from the back of a black cab on my way to Plymouth. Quite bizarrely there is a fellow passenger with me who was on the same original train (although they were on it from Aberdeen!) and was also booked onto the sleeper from Paddington!

The only other excitement is we've just been pulled by the police! Just to tell the cabbie his fog light was on! So we've just hit the A303 and the meter is at...........£318 so far!

 

[jopsuk]

blimey. A black cab wouldn't be the most comfy vehicle for a journey like that. But I guess you're more than happy about it!

 

[stut]

And it begins again! Wires down at Hitchin just before 7am, trains turning round. Am stuck on the 0647 BIW-PBO somewhere near Ickleford. Luckily there was a driver in the back 4 so we're waiting to return to BIW.

 

[jon0844]

Down again? The news said there were problems and I assumed they didn't fix it. Oh dear!

Last week I travelled on two days and both days there were problems (marked as signalling problems) from between Knebworth and Letchworth - not very specific. I've been getting a lot more text alerts than usual so they've had problems on other days too.

Any idea why this bit of line is having so many problems on an almost daily basis? I realise OHLE problems are possibly totally unrelated and coincidental, but it's still a series of problems that causes carnage.

Meanwhile, I wonder if noddy1878 has got to Plymouth yet!!