South West Trains disruption

[sarahj]

That's because it's a permissive platform and the protecting signal will show red because the Southampton stopper is already in the platform. Only when you get really close to the signal does the shunt signal switch to showing two white lights.

Right, thanx, thats good to know. I kind of guessed thats it might be, but just a bit unsure.

BTW, now that i know your always waiting for us, does that mean I have to wave each time we trundle in?

 

[ComUtoR]

Only when you get really close to the signal does the shunt signal switch to showing two white lights.

Why do you need to get really close ? Permissive working is about to take place and the train gets checked down to the red (understandably) Why can't the signaler pull the subsidiary.

Is permissive working approach controlled ? How ? Is there a track circuit at a permissive working signal that a unit must activate before it clears ?

 

[MotorcycleAlan]

I can tell you SarahJ those curries at Swanwick are something else. Would never dare bring one on to a 377 though and make fellow passengers suffer.

 

[455driver]

Why do you need to get really close ? Permissive working is about to take place and the train gets checked down to the red (understandably) Why can't the signaler pull the subsidiary.

Is permissive working approach controlled ? How ? Is there a track circuit at a permissive working signal that a unit must activate before it clears ?

Yes it is, the signaller can set the route early (invariably they do) but the relays wont lift until the controlling circuit says so, it can be a track circuit close to the signal that needs to be occupied or it can be a timer from the time another track circuit is occupied or some other method of control.

 

[Monty]

Isn't it axle counters down at Pompy anyway?

 

[455driver]

Yeah but they still have to be entered just like a track circuit is occupied and I thought I had better keep it simple.

 

[ComUtoR]

Thanks 455. I was not aware of it being approach controlled. Opens up a lot more questions but i'll leave that for now.

Cheers again.

 

[sarahj]

We get approach controlled permissive working at both Horsham and Haywards Heath when your the back train of a join. You do notice the P&S low level one on a 313 as there is a massive jerk when the driver takes power, esp as our line light drops out as you cross the points.

Mind when I'm trundling about in a 313 I'm always glad of that Southampton stopper stock in the platform. When our 9 min turn around time drops to just a few mins, that stock is handy place to go to the lav rather than use the one out the back. Mind I used it once and it then went out of service
Sorry to the guard who had it next.

 

[Monty]

More disruption this morning, someone decided it was a good idea to trespass at Clapham Jct, tickets being accepted on Southern, Thameslink, Tramlink and the LU. Not great considering the bad spell we have had lately.

 

[GodAtum]

A guy ran across the tracks at Woking last month, but there were "no" witnesses as we did not want to be late.

 

[Bigfoot]

My other half saw him. By the time staff reacted he was gone! Across all lines, lucky man.

 

[455driver]

Mind when I'm trundling about in a 313 I'm always glad of that Southampton stopper stock in the platform. When our 9 min turn around time drops to just a few mins, that stock is handy place to go to the lav rather than use the one out the back. Mind I used it once and it then went out of service
Sorry to the guard who had it next.

You broke one of our trains , bloomin saboteur!

 

[Olaf]

There is more to come:
http://www.networkrailmediacentre.c...-investment-project-tackles-railway-21c4.aspx
- Monday 17 Nov 2014

During the following dates, there will be no South West Trains between Clapham Junction and Surbiton, or between Clapham Junction and Kingston via Wimbledon:
December 25th – 9am Saturday December 27th
January 3rd and 4th
January 10th and 11th
January 17th and 18th
January 24th and 25th
January 31st and February 1st
February 14 and 15th
London Underground services are not affected by the work.

 

[Monty]

/groan #Byfleetcurvediversions

 

[bigdelboy]

There is more to come:
http://www.networkrailmediacentre.c...-investment-project-tackles-railway-21c4.aspx
- Monday 17 Nov 2014

Assuming the fast through lines are affected ... and this isn't totally clear to me .....

... This at least is planned disruption .. it tends to be quite normal in weekends in the spring.

... Some passengers from portsmouth/havant will have the option of using southern services .... who may of course simultaneously block that route or be surprised by extra passengers. I expect there will be some diversions via staines.

 

[infobleep]

Apparently it will

significantly improve one of the most important sections of railway on our route, which will boost reliability and punctuality for passengers travelling through Wimbledon and from many other stations and locations.

I get the impression a fair number of delays are caused by passengers. For example the 18.40 from Surbiton is often delayed by the Exeter service that stops at Clapham Junction. That service picks up lots of passengers. Trains from the Cobham line seem to be a minute or two late into Surbiton, again I imagine due to late running 8 minutes past the hour and half hour services. Surely that to would be passenger related.

If it's not that then it will be leaf fall combined with late working timetable trains into Guildford blocking the path out, which means trains leaving can't make much use of the extra time allowed for leaf fall.

No doubt they need to replace points at Wimbledon but most of the minor delays I experience don't seem to be due to the points.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

There was an apparent door interlock issue yesterday evening; train to dorking ran normally to Motspur Park then pulled away very hesitantly and slowly for a couple of minutes, ran normally off Worcester Park then sat down at Stoneleigh for about 10 minutes with repeated instances of the door closing alarms sounding but the train not pulling away, the doors being cut in again. Something like 7 or 8 attempts. No such problem at Ewell West

As both Motspur Park and Stoneleigh are right hand side platforms and the other two are left hand side, am I correct in my suspicion of an interlock issue developing at Motspur Park with a pair of doors on the right hand side?

 

[455driver]

/groan #Byfleetcurvediversions

Oh stop it, you love them really!

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

Today flooding at Fulwell Tunnel.

The flooding problems in Fulwell Tunnel seem to be occurring more often, i thought they had done some work there a few years ago to ease the problem, but last year it seem to happen quite often and again as stated here it happened last Friday morning for a few hours. There seems to be some sort of pumping system at the tunnel end of the Shepperton bound platform. Maybe the long period of rainfall was too much for it to deal with.

There seem to be several reasons this happens, the line is in a steep cutting either side of the tunnel which must channel the rain down there, it is also not that far from the Thames & a couple of other smaller rivers and the water table in that area is high. I was also told, there was an underground river under station/tunnel too, not sure if that is true though.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

More disruption this morning, someone decided it was a good idea to trespass at Clapham Jct, tickets being accepted on Southern, Thameslink, Tramlink and the LU. Not great considering the bad spell we have had lately.

Yes I got caught up in that problem too yesterday, I heard, not sure how true it was, that it affected platforms 6-11, so he must have been wandering around all the sidings too. A very large area indeed.

 

[swt_passenger]

Assuming the fast through lines are affected ... and this isn't totally clear to me .....

... This at least is planned disruption .. it tends to be quite normal in weekends in the spring.

ISTM it is the perfectly routine diversions when the Wimbledon area is blocked. Happens a few times most years on Sundays, this is only unusual in being 5 Sat & Sun weekends in a row - the diversionary routes themselves are well practiced...

 

[hassaanhc]

The flooding problems in Fulwell Tunnel seem to be occurring more often, i thought they had done some work there a few years ago to ease the problem, but last year it seem to happen quite often and again as stated here it happened last Friday morning for a few hours. There seems to be some sort of pumping system at the tunnel end of the Shepperton bound platform. Maybe the long period of rainfall was too much for it to deal with.

There seem to be several reasons this happens, the line is in a steep cutting either side of the tunnel which must channel the rain down there, it is also not that far from the Thames & a couple of other smaller rivers and the water table in that area is high. I was also told, there was an underground river under station/tunnel too, not sure if that is true though.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


Yes I got caught up in that problem too yesterday, I heard, not sure how true it was, that it affected platforms 6-11, so he must have been wandering around all the sidings too. A very large area indeed.

Yes only the "Mainline" side, not the (more reliable ) P3-6 "Windsor Lines" side which continued running with no issues. Good that the electric on both sides is controlled separately

 

[Uzair]

The 1739 WAT to PMH was formed of 4 coaches rather than 8 because of a shortage of coaches. The announcements at Waterloo said that due to this, the train would not be calling at Hilsea. Could someone explain how the train being short form is related to it not stopping at Hilsea?

 

[Kite159]

More slow moving diesels via Staines

I'm booked onto the Shropshire Union railtour on the 10th January, departing Euston at 7:20. I've worked out that I need to catch the 4:54 service from Basingstoke to get into Waterloo for 6:38

 

[hassaanhc]

The 1739 WAT to PMH was formed of 4 coaches rather than 8 because of a shortage of coaches. The announcements at Waterloo said that due to this, the train would not be calling at Hilsea. Could someone explain how the train being short form is related to it not stopping at Hilsea?

They miss out stops to prevent, or recover from, excessive dwell times as a result of the short train.

 

[danhenkes]

I have only just caught up on the original post but a lot of the infrastructure problems have been caused due to the twice a year Salt train flow that runs out of Southampton. One of the wagons was found to have a hole in the bottom, thus leaking large amounts of salt onto the track. Salt is corrosive when it mixes with the slushy water and forms an electrolyte; the railway doesn't like this and that will probably be why the delays have been occurring around Basing so frequently over the past few days....

 

[Olaf]

Assuming the fast through lines are affected ... and this isn't totally clear to me .....

... This at least is planned disruption .. it tends to be quite normal in weekends in the spring.

... Some passengers from portsmouth/havant will have the option of using southern services .... who may of course simultaneously block that route or be surprised by extra passengers. I expect there will be some diversions via staines.

In this instance, these disruptions are all weekend, for several weekends in a row, and for all services via Wimbledon - this is not just a delay but will impact on weekend leisure travel. The last time SSWT organised bus replacements they appeared to have gotten their organisers and customer facing staff from the local kindergartens.

 

[HarleyDavidson]

They miss out stops to prevent, or recover from, excessive dwell times as a result of the short train.

Wrong. I could say but I won't. Don't PM asking I won't say. All I can tell you is you are wrong.

 

[cjohnson]

They miss out stops to prevent, or recover from, excessive dwell times as a result of the short train.

Wrong. I could say but I won't. Don't PM asking I won't say. All I can tell you is you are wrong.

SWT have often tweeted this link
http://www.networkrail.co.uk/timetables-and-travel/delays-explained/knock-on-delays/

which says
Contingency plans have been agreed with all the train companies so we can quickly alter the timetable:

We may cancel trains to make room for the delayed trains to complete their journey quickly.
We may miss out stops to make up time or add stops to make sure we get everyone where they need to be - even if they are a little late.
Sometimes we cancel all trains in the affected area for an hour - the fastest way to get trains running back on time.
If we didn’t take any of these measures, on busy routes it would take many hours before all trains were back on schedule.

 

[HarleyDavidson]

SWT have often tweeted this link
http://www.networkrail.co.uk/timetables-and-travel/delays-explained/knock-on-delays/

which says
Contingency plans have been agreed with all the train companies so we can quickly alter the timetable:

That may apply during disruption, but doesn't apply to short forms.

 

[infobleep]

Missing stops on short formations is to cut passenger numbers on a train, although I'd have thought passengers to Hilsea would get on the train anyway and change at Havant, so perhaps there was another reason this day.