Rescueing a failed train

[Failed Unit]

Just thinking about this thread, it feels (probably unfairly) that not many days go by without a train failure disrupting the ECML.

https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/shadow-transport-secretary-stuck-on-broken-train.158796/

From experience I have found it typically takes about 2 hours from the train failing to getting it moving again on a class 91. Just interested what the general process is for sorting it. I know the 91 has many SPOFs whereas a HST at least can run on a single power car in some circumstances.

High level is it something like..

1. Driver notices problem.
2. Speak with control and hits it with a hammer a few times (or attempts to fix it if that upsets some members)
3. Drive / control agree nothing further can be done so dispatch a rescue loco.
4. Rescue loco arrives (but again takes a while as other trains in the way, needs to travel from whereever it was)
5. Attach rescue loco and hopefully it talks nicely to set and off you go.

If my high level steps are correct I can see why it takes so long,

If the train is a unit, do most of them have coupler adapters, or if say a 180 has failed and the following train is a 158, the control teams do a little more cursing?

I know things break and that is life and IEP will help the ECML in some failures, but is there really much more we can do to speed up rescue?

 

[D365]

I must say your username is most appropriate for this kind of posting

Are you asking specifically about unit failures then, as opposed to dewirements and the like?

 

[Failed Unit]

I must say your username is most appropriate for this kind of posting

Are you asking specifically about unit failures then, as opposed to dewirements and the like?

Yes the good old fashioned failure - dewirements are a totally different issue of course when you have debris added into the equation as well. As we know on something silly like hitting some rope with a lawn mower sorting that kind of mess out isn't trivial even if you don't need the juice.

 

[edwin_m]

By the time the train has been sat there for a few minutes there will be several others stacked up behind it, unless it happens to be in or had just left a multi-platform staiton. So any rescue from the rear has to wait until all those trains are reversed out, and then haul the train "wrong line" or propel it. So rescue from the front is more likely but the rescue locomotive still has to approach on the wrong line, with the added hazard of possible collision with the train being rescued. Hardly any lines have bi-directional signalling, and even if provided it probably can't be used to signal two trains towards each other on the same piece of track. So there is much slow running and general messing about involved in bringing up a rescue loco.

 

[bramling]

Just thinking about this thread, it feels (probably unfairly) that not many days go by without a train failure disrupting the ECML.

https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/shadow-transport-secretary-stuck-on-broken-train.158796/

From experience I have found it typically takes about 2 hours from the train failing to getting it moving again on a class 91. Just interested what the general process is for sorting it. I know the 91 has many SPOFs whereas a HST at least can run on a single power car in some circumstances.

High level is it something like..

1. Driver notices problem.
2. Speak with control and hits it with a hammer a few times (or attempts to fix it if that upsets some members)
3. Drive / control agree nothing further can be done so dispatch a rescue loco.
4. Rescue loco arrives (but again takes a while as other trains in the way, needs to travel from whereever it was)
5. Attach rescue loco and hopefully it talks nicely to set and off you go.

If my high level steps are correct I can see why it takes so long,

If the train is a unit, do most of them have coupler adapters, or if say a 180 has failed and the following train is a 158, the control teams do a little more cursing?

I know things break and that is life and IEP will help the ECML in some failures, but is there really much more we can do to speed up rescue?

A lot depends on what is wrong with the defective train. If complications start occurring like brakes can't be released then it will take time, and rightly so as it's essential to get everything right in that situation. Much also depends on having the right staff on site who are trained and familiar with the situation. The railway doesn't have a familiar expert waiting at every location (and it wouldn't be good value to do that), so there will always be some variation in how efficiently things get dealt with simply on the basis of who happens to be nearby.