GWML severe disruption PAD-RDG due to OHLE issues (18 Sep)

[Watershed]

Can anyone advise what has happened to the OHLE on the GWML this evening that has caused virtually all services to be cancelled between Paddington and Reading?

It appears GWR are now running a handful of services - though their JourneyCheck claims otherwise. There have been no Elizabeth line services on that section since around 6pm, from what I can tell.

These incidents happen of course, but TfL are once again demonstrating that their disruption plans are totally inadequate for a closure affecting this section. Ticket acceptance on London Buses is no use once you get beyond the M25, you need replacement buses or ticket acceptance on non-TfL buses.

Moreover, why has no attempt been made to run any sort of shuttle service spinning at West Drayton/Hayes & Harlington etc.? And why have Network Rail seemingly been unable to isolate the issue so that electric trains can run over unaffected sections?

Not a good look at all, it has to be said.

 

[sheff1]

On the National Rail disruption page we see

Elizabeth line services will not run between London Paddington and Heathrow Airport / Reading.

Then a bit further down

Advice for Great Western Railway customers:
You may use your ticket at no extra cost on the following routes:

• Elizabeth line services between London Paddington and Reading

Next we have

• Advice for Heathrow Express customers:
  Heathrow Express service has been suspended.

Which is no advice at all.

Does nobody have responsibilty for providing clear and useful co-ordinated info ?

 

[Purple Train]

It can be dreadful. More than once over the past year or so I've been stuck in Slough of an evening with no Elizabeth Line service in sight, and GWR services still running, and nothing stopping with no information for hours on end (because at that time, the Didcot services are first stop Maidenhead). Surely there's a better way than leaving all stations between Paddington and Maidenhead with no service for hours in the evening peak? Obviously with an incident of this magnitude, there's very little that can be done by rail, but I wish to goodness TfL would arrange ticket acceptance on local buses as well because a London bus will only take me to Hounslow, and I have no reason at all to go to Hounslow. The world doesn't stop at the M25, as you said. But I accept that I am out in the sticks and therefore of less concern than the thousands of affected passengers in London. In emergencies I could walk home. But it's a nicer walk from Windsor, and the Windsor branch is out of action if there's no service for a while, because the driver will be stuck at Paddington or Reading.

As for the actual issue in this case, it seems to be reasonably close to Paddington (from a cursory glance at OpenTrainTimes). Obviously someone with more knowledge of the specific fault in this case will be able to address this question, but in my experience the amount of disruption a failure of the electricity supply will cause is inversely proportional to the distance from Paddington, even when applied to the section between Paddington and Hayes & Harlington. I'm sure there is an obvious reason for this, but I am a layman.

On the National Rail disruption page we see

Then a bit further down

Next we have

Which is no advice at all.

Does nobody have responsibilty for providing clear co-ordinated info to passengers ?

The same page (here) also claims that:

Attempts are being made to introduce a rail replacement bus service between Hayes & Harlington and Maidenhead. More details will follow once confirmed.

I appreciate that sourcing replacement buses is extremely difficult, so fair play to them for trying. But it's now 11pm and five hours since disruption started; if replacement buses are a non-starter, surely it's time to have moved on by now? But this is the first time in my experience of the line that I've heard of TfL trying to source a replacement bus service to cover disruption, as opposed to planned engineering work.

 

[800001]

Don't know what has happened, however GWR tweeting that the issue is now resolved.

https://x.com/gwrhelp/status/1968796186053079186?s=46&t=JLp3J2Up_Gl_m9cQz-au6w

We’re really sorry for tonight’s disruption caused by an issue with the Overhead Line Equipment (OLE) between London Paddington and Reading.

This has now been resolved but disruption is expected until the end of the day.

Customers delayed by 15 minutes or more will be entitled to Delay Repay compensation. Please keep your ticket and visit GWR.com/DelayRepay

Tickets for travel tonight will be valid on GWR services tomorrow, Friday 19 September, but some morning services may be subject to delays and cancellations caused by trains being displaced by the disruption.

 

[Uncle Buck]

I was on a train heading from Paddington to Bristol which was severely delayed by this. But I am wondering why the trains did not simply switch to diesel?

 

[D6130]

I was on a train heading from Paddington to Bristol which was severely delayed by this. But I am wondering why the trains did not simply switch to diesel?

Wires could have been draped across the track?

 

[Uncle Buck]

Wires could have been draped across the track?

Ah right, “issue with the overhead wires” suggests to me a failure of the power supply- and indeed, that seemed to be tge implication from the wording of the announcements at Paddington.

(This is the second time I have taken an intercity train out of London this year and both times it has been chaos!!)

 

[hassaanhc]

I was on 9N72 from Bond Street at 1656, which later turned out to be the third-last service to go beyond Paddington (although I was only going to Southall). We were held at Bond Street waiting for the supply to be restored after a trip, then it went again briefly around Ladbroke Grove. Luckily we reached Ealing Broadway by the time the engineers started investigating and they kept the supply off for about 15 minutes. The other three lines were restored, but trains on the Down Relief were held longer, with one train at a time allowed to move (according to the driver). My train had the pantographs lowered during this time. We were allowed to move off about 45 minutes late at a low speed, luckily I made it to Southall but the service was suspended later. Looks like they suspected that a train was tripping the supply.

 

[Uncle Buck]

I was on 9N72 from Bond Street at 1656, which later turned out to be the third-last service to go beyond Paddington (although I was only going to Southall).

Certainly on my train there were a lot of frustrated people who had been travelling by Elizabeth Line to stations in Berkshire, who had jumped onto this WSM-bound express as the only thing heading to Reading and therefore in their general Direction

 

[Rhinojerry]

A failure of the electricity supply between Paddington and Southall.So says the National Rail website page.

 

[Jimini]

Mainline services have been ok albeit delayed, throughout the evening.

 

[Horizon22]

Moreover, why has no attempt been made to run any sort of shuttle service spinning at West Drayton/Hayes & Harlington etc.? And why have Network Rail seemingly been unable to isolate the issue so that electric trains can run over unaffected sections?

Not a good look at all, it has to be said.

The OHLE tripped on 4-5 separate occasions over a 2-3 hour period. On the last two occasions all power was lost between Paddington and Maidenhead and the root cause was not yet identified.

To prevent stranded trains and incident like the Ladbroke Grove OLE dewirement a couple of years ago, the decision was made to remove any electric traction from the area as a reliable service could not confidently be provided. This prevents any Elizabeth line (or Heathrow Express and GWR 387s) trains running, let alone a shuttle.

Only much later on was the issue found and isolated to a specific line.

 

[Watershed]

The OHLE tripped on 4-5 separate occasions over a 2-3 hour period. On the last two occasions all power was lost between Paddington and Maidenhead and the root cause was not yet identified.

Thanks for the information. Shame they couldn't have said that upfront, clear communication is always the best policy.

To prevent stranded trains and incident like the Ladbroke Grove OLE dewirement a couple of years ago, the decision was made to remove any electric traction from the area as a reliable service could not confidently be provided. This prevents any Elizabeth line (or Heathrow Express and GWR 387s) trains running, let alone a shuttle.

Only much later on was the issue found and isolated to a specific line.

Why could an isolation not have been used to separate the problematic area and run the rest normally? As I understand it, the problem was known to be further east.

As I say, there seems to be no evidence of adequate contingency arrangements by TfL for the outer stations. It's as if nobody realises that they now serve a large number of stations beyond the London bus network...

 

[Jamiescott1]

It tripped 3 times between 1705 and 1730 whilst we were between taplow at Maidenhead.
Looks like I was one of the lucky ones who actually made it home before all services cancelled

 

[ANDREW_D_WEBB]

a London bus will only take me to Hounslow, and I have no reason at all to go to Hounslow.

TfL Route 81 runs between Hounslow and Slough.

 

[800301]

Thanks for the information. Shame they couldn't have said that upfront, clear communication is always the best policy.


Why could an isolation not have been used to separate the problematic area and run the rest normally? As I understand it, the problem was known to be further east.

As I say, there seems to be no evidence of adequate contingency arrangements by TfL for the outer stations. It's as if nobody realises that they now serve a large number of stations beyond the London bus network...

To isolate smaller areas you need a lot of staff physically there to do it, you either have Pad to Maidenhead but anything else you need staff on the ground, as many people have said it seemed to be tripping while a train was passing but it’s not always easy to identify the exact section that is the problem

 

[Watershed]

To isolate smaller areas you need a lot of staff physically there to do it, you either have Pad to Maidenhead but anything else you need staff on the ground, as many people have said it seemed to be tripping while a train was passing but it’s not always easy to identify the exact section that is the problem

How is it that during the whole evening they were unable to get staff out to put in place an isolation? NR Western region have been rightly raked over the coals for the huge amount of disruption occuring on the inner GWML - so you'd imagine they would have plenty of standby staff for when things do go wrong.

I would have thought neutral sections keep the problematic sections separated anyway, but perhaps I'm mistaken on that point.

 

[800001]

How is it that during the whole evening they were unable to get staff out to put in place an isolation? NR Western region have been rightly raked over the coals for the huge amount of disruption occuring on the inner GWML - so you'd imagine they would have plenty of standby staff for when things do go wrong.

I would have thought neutral sections keep the problematic sections separated anyway, but perhaps I'm mistaken on that point.

Were the tripping in the same place? On the same line? In the same sections?

Potentially with tripping you are looking at some kind of damage somewhere, droppers missing, sagging wire etc.

No point isolating a section to run a diesel through if it is then going to clatter into some damage and make the situation worse.

 

[Watershed]

Were the tripping in the same place? On the same line? In the same sections?

Potentially with tripping you are looking at some kind of damage somewhere, droppers missing, sagging wire etc.

No point isolating a section to run a diesel through if it is then going to clatter into some damage and make the situation worse.

All the information given stated the issue was between Paddington and Southall. So no reason to assume that an electric shuttle service couldn't run west of Hayes & Harlington/West Drayton.

I agree that running diesel services through would not necessarily have been feasible, but they also recovered much more quickly with at least some running by late evening. What was unbelievable is how Elizabeth line services just shut up shop for the rest of the night with no attempt to run any sort of service to the unaffected stations.

 

[Horizon22]

Why could an isolation not have been used to separate the problematic area and run the rest normally? As I understand it, the problem was known to be further east.

As I said, seems like the problem wasn’t isolated until much much later on and after energising several times previously, it tripped all 4 lines Paddington to Maidenhead. That just isn’t safe, so Network Rail made the decision to block electric traction west of Paddington. Once you’ve done that and recovered stranded trains and implemented contingency plans for several hours there is no way that you’ll be able to get recover the service after 10–11pm because the crew and fleet is totally displaced.

As I say, there seems to be no evidence of adequate contingency arrangements by TfL for the outer stations. It's as if nobody realises that they now serve a large number of stations beyond the London bus network...

What would you suggest? Other that local bus ticket acceptance (which was in place but not mentioned) and emergency buses (unavailable) and no electric trains allowed, you really do run out of options. The nature of the isolation and the large sections of OLE do not help. You’re basically looking at taxis for people stuck at stations and stranded.

Even with local buses, they often finish by 2100-2200 in the outer areas. Looks like GWR ran an IET or two on diesel for Slough / Maidenhead / Twyford / Reading

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 19 Sep 2025 ==

What was unbelievable is how Elizabeth line services just shut up shop for the rest of the night with no attempt to run any sort of service to the unaffected stations.

You don’t seem to understand. Network Rail blocked all electric traction Paddington - Reading after the 5th tripping and recovering trains that had been stranded or trapped for 30-60 minutes.

What is good (relative!) unlike Ladbroke Grove instead a couple of years ago is that there were no stranded trains for hours and hours that needed to be evacuated, albeit some where trapped in platforms where at least alternatives are available.

 

[Purple Train]

TfL Route 81 runs between Hounslow and Slough.

Yes, that's what I was referencing. No point if I live west of Slough and am already in Slough. No real point for anybody else, if GWR run fast between Paddington and Maidenhead and Slough doesn't get any calls.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 19 Sep 2025 ==

What would you suggest? Other that local bus ticket acceptance (which was in place but not mentioned) and emergency buses (unavailable) and no electric trains allowed, you really do run out of options. The nature of the isolation and the large sections of OLE do not help.

If they arrange local bus ticket acceptance but don't mention it, that is rather strange, to put it mildly. If they do it as a matter of course, then I wonder if I can claim compensation for the hours of my life I've spent waiting at Slough station for a train that'll never arrive, when I could have taken a bus at no extra cost to myself but wasn't told I could?

 

[Horizon22]

If they arrange local bus ticket acceptance but don't mention it, that is rather strange, to put it mildly. If they do it as a matter of course, then I wonder if I can claim compensation for the hours of my life I've spent waiting at Slough station for a train that'll never arrive, when I could have taken a bus at no extra cost to myself but wasn't told I could?

Surely you claim compensation / delay repay anyway due to the significant delay you faced? The other bus fare on top would be a customer complaint I suppose.

 

[Purple Train]

Surely you claim compensation / delay repay anyway due to the significant delay you faced? The other bus fare on top would be a customer complaint I suppose.

I've tried getting compensation from TfL in the past and it's been like getting blood from a stone - totally impossible, and I consider myself reasonably tech-literate, albeit less so then most people of my age. Anyway, the service seems to have totally collapsed today as well - credit to TfL for at least trying to run a service, but the information is totally haphazard. In the past three minutes the information screen has said that the next train towards Slough is delayed and not moving, then had left Reading, and now cancelled. With all the Maidenhead trains seemingly cancelled as well, despite the fact that a Maidenhead terminator has just left westbound, it isn't a good look. I appreciate that things change during disruption, and there may of course be reasons for Maidenhead sidings acting like a black hole, but it is seriously frustrating.

 

[800001]

Do we know what the actual cause was yet?

 

[Horizon22]

I've tried getting compensation from TfL in the past and it's been like getting blood from a stone - totally impossible, and I consider myself reasonably tech-literate, albeit less so then most people of my age. Anyway, the service seems to have totally collapsed today as well - credit to TfL for at least trying to run a service, but the information is totally haphazard. In the past three minutes the information screen has said that the next train towards Slough is delayed and not moving, then had left Reading, and now cancelled. With all the Maidenhead trains seemingly cancelled as well, despite the fact that a Maidenhead terminator has just left westbound, it isn't a good look. I appreciate that things change during disruption, and there may of course be reasons for Maidenhead sidings acting like a black hole, but it is seriously frustrating.

Broken down Heathrow Express train on the Down Main. Contingency plan implemented. Maidenhead services get cancelled west of Paddington due to reduce capacity. Anything terminating at Maidenhead would be a Reading train turning short.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 19 Sep 2025 ==

Do we know what the actual cause was yet?

Damaged bit of OHLE equipment on the Down Relief I believe.

 

[Purple Train]

Broken down Heathrow Express train on the Down Main. Contingency plan implemented. Maidenhead services get cancelled west of Paddington due to reduce capacity. Anything terminating at Maidenhead would be a Reading train turning short.

Thank you, that's useful to know.

 

[saismee]

Ah right, “issue with the overhead wires” suggests to me a failure of the power supply- and indeed, that seemed to be tge implication from the wording of the announcements at Paddington.

(This is the second time I have taken an intercity train out of London this year and both times it has been chaos!!)

It's always just reported as something like "damage to the overhead wires" on screens. It's not super accurate because this could just be a power trip or an entire tree across a line. Putting anything more descriptive onto information screens just becomes too wordy.

Thanks for the information. Shame they couldn't have said that upfront, clear communication is always the best policy.

It's often a big game of Chinese whispers from Network Rail to TOC control, then through station supervisors/managers and finally to frontline staff. I'd be willing to bet that information goes through at least 8 people before getting to customers and most of it is unfortunately lost or omitted to save time.

On a side note, we played a game of Chinese whispers during part of my training to teach us how easily information can be misunderstood when being relayed.

 

[Jamiescott1]

Thank you, that's useful to know.

Today it says disruption expected until 17.00. Does it really take 4 hours to clear the broken down train and get things running again ?

 

[Horizon22]

Today it says disruption expected until 17.00. Does it really take 4 hours to clear the broken down train and get things running again ?

It needs to be rescued I believe. The actual incident will be resolved before then, but the residual disruption will likely go on beyond that. It’s not just a click of a fingers to go from a contingency plan to booked working when it comes to fleet and crew workings.

 

[NickBucks]

Where is the battery Class 230 when you need it ?