Reading - Paddington route set for overhaul - BBC report

[Acton1991]

And again this morning, although at Heathrow this time so I'm not sure if NR are to blame.

Yes, I think we've had delays and cancellations on the west side of the route 2/3 times this week already. Plus TfL say it's only 'minor delays' when there are cancellations across stations between Heathrow and Paddington.

 

[Horizon22]

Yes, I think we've had delays and cancellations on the west side of the route 2/3 times this week already. Plus TfL say it's only 'minor delays' when there are cancellations across stations between Heathrow and Paddington.

It was an ETCS issue, so still think it's NR but its slightly complicated.

As for Minor Delays, it's all based on service frequency (i.e tph) although I swear I saw Severe Delays at one point?

 

[Jamiescott1]

For 2nd time this week there is disruption due to a broken rail on the mains.
Today it seems only gwr and hex have cancellations. No cancellations to EL.

 

[Horizon22]

For 2nd time this week there is disruption due to a broken rail on the mains.
Today it seems only gwr and hex have cancellations. No cancellations to EL.

Cracked crossing near Ladbroke Grove on the mains.

Elizabeth line skipping Acton Main Line towards Heathrow due to the ongoing congestion.

GWR heavily disrupted.

 

[mikeb42]

Just now from GWR:

"Apologies to customers, Network Rail advise we have multiple points failures between Reading and Slough in at least 3 different locations. In addition the high speed line from Reading towards London is currently shut."

A neat summary of what a shambles the whole thing has descended back into recently. It appears Network Rail don't even know for certain how many points failures they've got. Speaks for itself.

Yesterday there was major disruption with the usual mass cancellations for urgent repairs to ?points/?broken rail/?similar.

On Saturday there was some infrastructure issue near Reading which caused major problems all over including for the 6 Nations traffic to/from Cardiff.

On Sunday my journey was disrupted due to a broken rail, 5mph speed restriction or the like, again Paddington <-> Reading.

Tuesday of last week, there was significant disruption in the evening due to... a points failure between Paddington and Reading.

I don't travel 7 or even 5 days a week yet 100% of journeys in the last 10 days have been delayed by separate infrastructure fails. It's abysmal.

Isn't it at least a year since there was some sort of enquiry followed by the establishment of a plan/taskforce/other management bull... jargon to do something about this? There's been a long period of elongated journeys out of London at night, slower than they ever were routinely to Reading. Ostensibly this is to enable more maintenance work, of which there's only intermittent visible evidence when passing. On the evidence, it's not working, rather like this route.

Given that this bit of railway must be proportionately highly financially significant for GWR/TfL/Network Rail and the national interest compared with most of the rest of the rail network, how is this situation being allowed to continue with seemingly barely any concern? Most of the similarly financially significant routes will be those radiating out of London. They go wrong sometimes, but are any others really so consequentially bad on a routine basis?

Is there any prospect of more drastic action to actually do anything about it?

On a technical note, does anyone have an explanation for the recent rash of failure? Things are drying out and warming up a bit (big diurnal temperature swings at this time of year) so everything is breaking at the same time?

 

[Jamiescott1]

just looked on GWR app so check my journey home from work and see the issues (again).
4 days of travelling this week and 4 delay repay requests submitted (although 1 was due to issues on the branch line).

from my experience most issues seem to be on the mains with less on the reliefs.

 

[Mag_seven]

How is "Project Brunel" going. As far as I can recall NR were granted extra evening possessions to sort these problems out?

 

[Bald Rick]

Isn't it at least a year since there was some sort of enquiry followed by the establishment of a plan/taskforce/other management bull... jargon to do something about this?

How is "Project Brunel" going. As far as I can recall NR were granted extra evening possessions to sort these problems out?

Theres a large programme of work, not all of which is visible. Obviously, not all of it can be done at once.

Re the temperature point - yes the large swings in temperature are causing increased failure rates in equipment that has lots of metal with tight tolerances, eg points, insulated rail joints, and some types of equipment cabinet. This is always the case, and not limited to the GWML.

 

[mikeb42]

How is "Project Brunel" going. As far as I can recall NR were granted extra evening possessions to sort these problems out?

The evidence-based answer to that is: "see above"!

Yes it's more complicated than that, but the evidence suggests that whatever is being accomplished so far, fresh problems are occurring at an equal or greater rate and so the net result is nil.

Unless the programme is somehow cumulative and the benefits come later, it's not impressing so far.

Given that the work seems to mainly happen Monday-Thursday, they've had 200 nights and counting... Often while passengers grind along the relief lines in a big tedious queue most of the way to Reading there is zero sign of any work taking place anywhere that's visible from the train. Maybe it's all somehow behind the scenes but as the problems mainly seem to be failing track/formation etc rather than signalling this is surprising.

You'd think a year would be enough to achieve a major improvement.

 

[The Planner]

Just now from GWR:

"Apologies to customers, Network Rail advise we have multiple points failures between Reading and Slough in at least 3 different locations. In addition the high speed line from Reading towards London is currently shut."

A neat summary of what a shambles the whole thing has descended back into recently. It appears Network Rail don't even know for certain how many points failures they've got. Speaks for itself.

Clearly they do, but your average punter doesn't care if its 356A/B points at Dolphin or similar.

 

[Horizon22]

Theres a large programme of work, not all of which is visible. Obviously, not all of it can be done at once.

Of course not. However where there are repeated failures at locations which have previously been "rectified" with fixes (e.g. locations with wet beds) you really have to wonder about the level of competency, awareness and response. Other routes have their issues but the management of them is higher and provides confidence. There seem to be various elements of Network Rail between control / TVSC / maintenance who struggle to understand what the other is doing in the Thames Valley area during disruption.

A point comes when instead of just extended Sunday blocks or 2-track railway they may have to bite the bullet and do some full weekend closures (not just Ealing Broadway turnbacks). Tie it in with one of the HS2 closures which is happening anyway. Obviously the timing horizons for this may be 12-18 months away.

It has been over a year with very little to show for it.

 

[mikeb42]

Clearly they do, but your average punter doesn't care if its 356A/B points at Dolphin or similar.

Indeed they don't. However, the nuances of:

"Due to a points failure"

"Due to multiple points failures"

"Due to points failures in at least 3 different locations"

are very different and will be read as such by most literate laypersons.

Why not say 3 or 4 or 37, it is not an unknowable known unknown (copyright the late D Rumsfeld)?

My personal reading of it is as it having been written by some poor soul in GWR control with their head in their hands asking why they put themselves through this everyday and resisting the temptation to append a "FGS!" as that really would get them in trouble.

While this is all mildly amusing semantic wrangling, it relates to a much more serious matter: What tens of thousands of people are being subjected to on a routine basis as a result of this bit of infrastructure's failure to do its job competently. While it may not be in the league of impact of e.g. the crumbling NHS it has a real damaging impact on a lot of people's lives.

 

[rower40]

And in the same breath, we denounce Crossrail as being far far too expensive. But it adds 10 trains per hour each way onto the Relief line westbound, with no gaps for maintenance or inspection. At the same time, red-zone working on the live railway is banned, so that there's even less opportunity to get onto the tracks to maintain them.

There used to be a well-documented weekly cycle of patrolling inspections between Paddington and Ladbroke Grove, with a different line shut each day to provide a place of safety for the track inspectors to use while they examined the tracks either side. Some trains had to be re-platformed at Paddington to provide for this. All that went to the wall with the huge uptick in usage once the Elizabeth line opened.
As soon as there's a points failure, or trespasser, or both, then everything uses one pair of lines; freight, local passenger, express passenger all get in each other's way, and the poor controllers, signallers, fleet managers, and everyone else just has to make the best of it.

I recall a career railway employee, who worked his way up from Slough IECC signaller to being project manager, who took early retirement over just this issue - "When will we be able to maintain the tracks?"

At the risk of going off topic: it's a bit like Dawlish. Fix the immediate problem (new sea wall) but all work on an inland route gets kicked into the long grass. Same with the London end of the Great Western - London to Reading (or at least Airport Junction!) should be 6-track, but there isn't space/money/political will to push this through. So we firefight the immediate issues, and keep our fingers crossed that they'll stay fixed tomorrow.

Rant over. Sorry.

 

[Horizon22]

And in the same breath, we denounce Crossrail as being far far too expensive. But it adds 10 trains per hour each way onto the Relief line westbound, with no gaps for maintenance or inspection. At the same time, red-zone working on the live railway is banned, so that there's even less opportunity to get onto the tracks to maintain them.

It's not like GWR/FGW weren't running any service over the Relief lines before! Okay the frequency has increased, but I'm pretty sure it was still at least 8tph (considering the Didcot Parkway services were still on the Relief lines)

There used to be a well-documented weekly cycle of patrolling inspections between Paddington and Ladbroke Grove, with a different line shut each day to provide a place of safety for the track inspectors to use while they examined the tracks either side. Some trains had to be re-platformed at Paddington to provide for this. All that went to the wall with the huge uptick in usage once the Elizabeth line opened.
As soon as there's a points failure, or trespasser, or both, then everything uses one pair of lines; freight, local passenger, express passenger all get in each other's way, and the poor controllers, signallers, fleet managers, and everyone else just has to make the best of it.

The GWML is hardly the only casualty of the removal of red-zone working. There are also agreed contingency plans to reduce the service in a coordinated way.

I recall a career railway employee, who worked his way up from Slough IECC signaller to being project manager, who took early retirement over just this issue - "When will we be able to maintain the tracks?"

Its definitely an issue, but there have been multiple weekends of 48h+ of 2-track railways in the last 12 months alone - some of which is down to HS2. As a perfect comparison you have the GEML that has nowhere near the amount of failures yet an equally intense metro, Elizabeth line service. You could argue that it has been this way for decades sure, but it still presents the same issues. It is managed relatively well. Even during disruption, there is better coordination and control. Several times a year there are full closures of Liverpool Street - Shenfield. It might be something required for the GWML if the failure rate increases.

At the risk of going off topic: it's a bit like Dawlish. Fix the immediate problem (new sea wall) but all work on an inland route gets kicked into the long grass. Same with the London end of the Great Western - London to Reading (or at least Airport Junction!) should be 6-track, but there isn't space/money/political will to push this through.

6-tracking the Thames Valley section of the GWML sounds like all three! It's highly speculative though so no point discussing it further.

 

[Jamiescott1]

Paddington is chaos. Only 2 trains showing on the departure boards

 

[Horizon22]

Paddington is chaos. Only 2 trains showing on the departure boards

That is likely to be "disruption mode" where trains are only confirmed and posted to be running once fully crewed and stock is available.

Seems like there's trespassers now too.

 

[Class 170101]

A point comes when instead of just extended Sunday blocks or 2-track railway they may have to bite the bullet and do some full weekend closures (not just Ealing Broadway turnbacks). Tie it in with one of the HS2 closures which is happening anyway. Obviously the timing horizons for this may be 12-18 months away.

It has been over a year with very little to show for it.

Full weekend closures should be avoided where possible.

Whilst Reading and Oxford to London and West of England via Waterloo have their alternatives. How about those routes? When do they get maintained?

NR need to be working two tracks on Sunday between about midnight and 09:30 and on Sunday night between about 22:30 and 05:00, or access reflecting demand on Sundays and not just blocking the line because the engineers say so.

 

[The Planner]

Full weekend closures should be avoided where possible.

Whilst Reading and Oxford to London and West of England via Waterloo have their alternatives. How about those routes? When do they get maintained?

NR need to be working two tracks on Sunday between about midnight and 09:30 and on Sunday night between about 22:30 and 05:00, or access reflecting demand on Sundays and not just blocking the line because the engineers say so.

They get maintained at the times the GW isn't. The engineering plan is deconflicted between regions. There will be times where all lines will be needed, especially if a renewal job is on a centre line for adjacent line open reasons and needing somewhere to put any engineering trains. You are certainly not doing any significant track or s&c renewal in a 9½ hour block.

 

[Horizon22]

NR need to be working two tracks on Sunday between about midnight and 09:30 and on Sunday night between about 22:30 and 05:00, or access reflecting demand on Sundays and not just blocking the line because the engineers say so.

Well two lines are often already shut longer than that on Sundays and this is the state of the GWML currently. Something more drastic is probably required.

 

[matthenj]

My mother sat on the platform at Twyford for 45 minutes today, being told they'd be lizzy line train shortly.

£50 for two tickets return (+ parking at Twyford).

They ended up driving into Central London.

She's currently of the opinion that she won't bother with trying the train again - the failures absolutely will reduce effect long term use of the railway.

Imo we need a fast train to Waterloo from Reading - Stop at Wokingham, Bracknell, Ascot, Staines, Clapham and London Waterloo. It'd work as an actual alternative to GWML.

 

[JonathanH]

Imo we need a fast train to Waterloo from Reading - Stop at Wokingham, Bracknell, Ascot, Staines, Clapham and London Waterloo. It'd work as an actual alternative to GWML.

That would still take over an hour to get from Reading to Waterloo. With the best will in the world, the Reading to Waterloo line is not in existence to provide an alternative to the Great Western route. Indeed, one of the reasons why it generally runs fairly well is because no one tries to run out of course fast trains on it any more.

 

[jonb]

As someone who is involved in TOC operations, it’s certainly been a busy week. So far today the following points failed between Reading and Paddington:

8178B - Southall East
8336 - Maidenhead East
8326 - Slough West
8296 - Dolphin Junction
8334 - Maidenhead East
8301 - Dolphin Junction
8335 - Maidenhead East
8027 - Royal Oak

Add to this a trespasser at Ealing Broadway and a track defect at Acton West later in the evening, our services were significantly impacted. Priority was to ensure a consistent service through the Central Operating Section and to the Anglia Route, which was achieved (although some unit faults at Abbey Wood and Custom House did cause secondary delay). Yesterday, similar issues occurred at Ealing Broadway with another track defect through an existing ESR leading to a Contingency Plan being implemented.

 

[sharpener]

So far today the following points failed between Reading and Paddington:

8178B - Southall East
8336 - Maidenhead East
8326 - Slough West
8296 - Dolphin Junction
8334 - Maidenhead East
8301 - Dolphin Junction
8335 - Maidenhead East
8027 - Royal Oak

When you say "points failed" this could be a multitude of things. Mechanical failure of the switch and linkages, failure of the electrical supply, failure of the control signals to get to the point motors or those bringing the sensors/detection signals back again etc etc.

Does an FMEA reveal any common factors, or is it all completely random?

As well as a programme to fix the faults in situ it sounds to me as though an offline programme to improve the reliability of points might pay dividends.

 

[jonb]

Perhaps points “issues” would have been a better phrase here!

 

[800301]

When you say "points failed" this could be a multitude of things. Mechanical failure of the switch and linkages, failure of the electrical supply, failure of the control signals to get to the point motors or those bringing the sensors/detection signals back again etc etc.

Does an FMEA reveal any common factors, or is it all completely random?

As well as a programme to fix the faults in situ it sounds to me as though an offline programme to improve the reliability of points might pay dividends.

They weren’t all the same fault, mostly detection issues, yesterday they were having issues at Southcote Jn just past Reading.

The track defect at Acton West was a weird one, I was half expecting it to end up with a ESR as you really felt it at line speed in a 387 but has been deemed safe enough for normal running, been getting worse and worse

 

[Annetts key]

As someone who is involved in TOC operations, it’s certainly been a busy week. So far today the following points failed between Reading and Paddington:

8178B - Southall East
8336 - Maidenhead East
8326 - Slough West
8296 - Dolphin Junction
8334 - Maidenhead East
8301 - Dolphin Junction
8335 - Maidenhead East
8027 - Royal Oak

Do you have any breakdown of the cause in each case? The control log should say if you have access.

When you say "points failed" this could be a multitude of things. Mechanical failure of the switch and linkages, failure of the electrical supply, failure of the control signals to get to the point motors or those bringing the sensors/detection signals back again etc etc.

Does an FMEA reveal any common factors, or is it all completely random?

As well as a programme to fix the faults in situ it sounds to me as though an offline programme to improve the reliability of points might pay dividends.

It's normally a mix of issues. Each set of points (e.g. two point ends/turn outs forming a crossover from one line to another) is independent from other points. However, from a signalling interlocking perspective, some are conditional on others.

But it's not completely random because there will likely be some common factors. At least in my experience elsewhere on Western.

Point reliability depends on many things being correct or done properly. The formation under the ballast has to be sound. The ballast needs to be in good condition. The sleepers and fittings (including chairs/housings/slide chairs/chair rollers, screws, nuts and bolts etc.) need to be kept in good order. If all this is good, the rails and crossings then have a good life (defined as expected lifetime) regardless of the traffic level. But otherwise the extra vertical movement or lateral movement and strain will cause cracks to form, breaks or extra wear.

Lateral movement and rail wear (on switch and stock rails) then affects either the facing point lock or the electrical detection (the point operating equipment, point machine, clamp lock, HPSS/HPSA). Resulting in the signalling to fail to detect that the point equipment has completed its movement (when the points are swung) or detection is lost during the passage of a train.

Then there are various signalling equipment failures. Some of which occur due to vibration (caused by voiding). Or which are completely unrelated to the condition of the track or to the frequency of the train service.

The common factors may include the state of the original installation. Equipment age / type / condition. The location (some places experience more weather related issues than others). The level, quality and frequency of the maintenance (or lack of). Access problems, both physical access, location of the access point, state of the route from this to the site of work and when / how long staff are allowed on the line(s) (line block / T3 worksite).

They weren’t all the same fault, mostly detection issues, yesterday they were having issues at Southcote Jn just past Reading.

The track defect at Acton West was a weird one, I was half expecting it to end up with a ESR as you really felt it at line speed in a 387 but has been deemed safe enough for normal running, been getting worse and worse

And this is the other problem. If a problem is left, it will continue to get worse. Then take a lot longer and require more work to bring back to a good standard. But, modernising maintenance (which was really cuts to maintenance by reducing the number of maintenance staff) was the solution, right?

With less staff, if multiple issues occur, they can only deal with what they can deal with. A small team or gang can't split up to attend two jobs for example. Worse, for some jobs, two teams may have to combine hence only dealing with one job...

And when you are "fire fighting", other planned maintenance may have to be postponed. Which may then in some instances cause problems at a later date.

And yes, this has all been discussed many times before. But we keep going around and repeating the mistakes of the past. Because maintenance is not "sexy" and is seen by some as an easy way to reduce the budget.

 

[Class 170101]

They get maintained at the times the GW isn't. The engineering plan is deconflicted between regions. There will be times where all lines will be needed, especially if a renewal job is on a centre line for adjacent line open reasons and needing somewhere to put any engineering trains. You are certainly not doing any significant track or s&c renewal in a 9½ hour block.

I wouldn't expect to be doing a renewal in 9 hours. But maintaining what is there so it should require renewal less often I would expect.

Well two lines are often already shut longer than that on Sundays and this is the state of the GWML currently. Something more drastic is probably required.

I don't know the current two track strategy on GWML but it needs to fit in with passenger demand and a reasonable journey time. A strategy that works solely for NR is not what the railway needs right now. It needs to reduce costs or increase revenue to cover its costs so the amount of public subsidy falls. As can be seen with recent political announcements there seems to be insufficient money within the public purse for defence hence the cuts in foreign aid and welfare budgets. Whats next?

 

[Horizon22]

I wouldn't expect to be doing a renewal in 9 hours. But maintaining what is there so it should require renewal less often I would expect.

I don't know the current two track strategy on GWML but it needs to fit in with passenger demand and a reasonable journey time. A strategy that works solely for NR is not what the railway needs right now. It needs to reduce costs or increase revenue to cover its costs so the amount of public subsidy falls. As can be seen with recent political announcements there seems to be insufficient money within the public purse for defence hence the cuts in foreign aid and welfare budgets. Whats next?

There’s quite a few contradictions in your post I’m afraid.

At the moment there’s a lot of firefighting to keep things to an even bare minimum standard of service. Longer blocks (such as Project Brunel) might have achieved some things but that has not been day-to-day reliability of key assets. It is not an exaggeration to say that on a weekly basis there are several reports of kinks/bumps in the track (normally on the Main lines) resulting in stop & cautions, contingency plans, reduced service etc. for many hours.

“Passenger demand” & a “reasonable journey time” cannot be met if the infrastructure is up to scratch and there’s disruption on a near daily basis. And clearly there are some fundamental issues - some of which are cultural - which need to be addressed in the Thames Valley area.

It’s about short-term pain for longer-term gain to uplift the reliability of track assets. As I said, Project Brunel was implemented for about a year (not consecutively) but hasn’t seemed to have the desired impact. Therefore some other approach is needed.

And one good way to “increase revenue” is by running a dependable & frequent service and costs can be reduced with longer enginering blocks when work can be centralised as opposed to smaller, bitty closures.

 

[800001]

A very Interesting post from Rail Operations and Performance Manager for the Elizabeth line on Linkedln, highlight just some of the issues dealt with over the last week.

5 days and 5 very different shifts in the Elizabeth line Route Control Centre at Romford ROC! Monday started with an early turn on the Central desk, not much to report for the commencement of the… | Jon Bradley

5 days and 5 very different shifts in the Elizabeth line Route Control Centre at Romford ROC! Monday started with an early turn on the Central desk, not much to report for the commencement of the working week. Performance for the AM Peak was 94.3%, but some challenges later in the day on other...

www.linkedin.com

5 days and 5 very different shifts in the Elizabeth line Route Control Centre at Romford ROC!

Monday started with an early turn on the Central desk, not much to report for the commencement of the working week. Performance for the AM Peak was 94.3%, but some challenges later in the day on other routes saw the final figure close at 86.5%.

Tuesday it was onto the West, but owing to a structural issue with a bridge on the Anglia route, this saw the Shenfield - Heathrow Airport Terminal 5 service group impacted. This was swiftly rectified and normal working given, but later in the morning peak a passenger activated an alarm on a Heathrow Express service leading to some congestion in the Central Terminal Area. Later in the day, plastic became entangled in the pantograph of a Class 345 at Burnham, resulting in the unit being taken out of service. The AM Peak therefore delivered 81.6% PPM, with the day ending on 86.9%. It was nice to be able to host Aidan Knight (ACIRO) from GB Railfreight too, so thanks for visiting!

Wednesday it was the East, we incurred delays owing to a customer falling ill on a morning peak service at Stratford. The delay to this service saw a 17 minute late departure, which resulted in reactionary delays owing to the amount of services operating through this busy section. Separate issues occurred on the Western route, involving a track defect at Ealing Broadway, which meant using one of our “bolt hole” locations, Gas Factory Junction to alleviate congestion at Paddington. PPM for the AM Peak was 73.7% and for the day, 85.4%.

Thursday was a switch to the late shift and although the warm weather was welcome, this brought several infrastructure challenges between Paddington and Reading, including a vulnerable trespasser at Ealing Broadway. Owing to this, it was necessary for us to implement one of our pre-agreed Contingency Plans, with alterations and cancellations to alleviate congestion through the affected area. However, it was an opportunity to also use flexible signalling at Custom House, to turn around an Eastbound service for a Right Time departure back towards Paddington. PPM for the PM Peak dipped to 53.6% and the day ended at 75.3%.

Friday saw the significant impact of the overnight fire at Hayes & Harlington, which closed Heathrow Airport for the majority of the day. This led to an initial suspension of services into the Central Terminal Area, but later in the day it was possible to reinstate the Shenfield - Heathrow Airport Terminal 5 circuits for staff travelling to and from the airport. A Contingency Plan was applied, which saw alternate services terminating at either Paddington or Hayes & Harlington, but in good news the airport is expected to be up and running tomorrow. PPM figures are still being collated, for the cancellations and diversions.

Overall, an interesting and busy week for the MTR Elizabeth line, Network Rail, Alstom and Transport for London teams

 

[Bikeman78]

Just now from GWR:

"Apologies to customers, Network Rail advise we have multiple points failures between Reading and Slough in at least 3 different locations. In addition the high speed line from Reading towards London is currently shut."

A neat summary of what a shambles the whole thing has descended back into recently. It appears Network Rail don't even know for certain how many points failures they've got. Speaks for itself.

Yesterday there was major disruption with the usual mass cancellations for urgent repairs to ?points/?broken rail/?similar.

Wednesday was indeed fun. 1041 Cardiff to Paddington (nine car) terminated at Bristol Parkway. The 1118 was five vice 10. Imagine the fun at Bristol Parkway. I aborted in favour of the pair of class 387s on the 1150 which started at Bristol Parkway. They were already waiting on platform 4. Nice empty train but my joy was short lived because that one terminated at Reading. Over to platform 10 for another five car coming up from Bristol Temple Meads. Those class 175s can't come soon enough.