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Major disruption to / from Manchester Piccadilly - 16th April 2026
- Thread starter Killingworth
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They turn up for work as any other normal shift.
Arguably it's better that existing reservations for the 1701 are retained as you're not going to free up any space anyway by cancelling them.
Straus
Member
Id argue not - people getting on and forcing their way up absolutely packed isles to turf someone out of a seat, now with nowhere to go.
There should be consistent cross operator processes and it would be very sensible to cancel reservations where all preceding services have been cancelled. It doesn't feel fair that someone booked onto the 5 o'clock service is prioritized over someone who's been delayed for three hours.
yorkshirerail
Member
Yep 20096 and 20107 courtesy of LSL
The pair of Class 20s still at Piccadilly.
Admittedly I don't understand electrical stuff enough to see what's wrong with the wires others have posted or why it's "obvious" it has affected much more than just 1 section of track ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Admittedly I don't understand electrical stuff enough to see what's wrong with the wires others have posted or why it's "obvious" it has affected much more than just 1 section of track ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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notspy
Member
Tetchytyke
Veteran Member
Why on earth would the reservations be cancelled? If you have a reservation for the train you get your seat, if you don’t you don’t. Seems fair to me.
notspy
Member
I’ve managed to upload it as a YouTube video, I’m surprised how close to the running lines the damaged wires are located
hexagon789
Veteran Member
It's quite common for reservations to be cancelled during disruption.
The wires are quite thin so hard to spot in some of the images. They're hanging down and snapped apart in some places. They would be yanked further down by trains running on the affected lines, and could potentially swing into the path of trains on adjacent lines.
It is also likely that ALL lines have to be switched off together as they are (probably) all linked up as one circuit due to the various junctions.
Photos on Facebook of the 20s hooked up.
www.facebook.com
North Yorkshire Weather Updates
Couple of Class 20 locomotives attached to the Class 390 Pendolino at Manchester Piccadilly Station. Thank you to our great followers who send photos and info in via messenger.
www.facebook.com
Straus
Member
I've seen reservation voiding most times there is severe disruption; because of overcrowding and the issue of people forcing their way down aisles to get to their booked seat, and the inevitable arguments that follow.
It's a fairly common sense approach.
duffield
Established Member
Thanks for that, I really couldn't discern the damage in any of the earlier pictures, the video makes it really clear what a total mess it is!
Tetchytyke
Veteran Member
Can't say I've ever seen them disable reservations specifically because of disruption. I have only really seen it happen when trains are out of position and, as part of the recovery, are getting turned around too quickly to allow them to download the reservations. It tended to happen a lot more back in the days of paper reservation tickets, for obvious reasons.
The overcrowding is there anyway, if they've had time to download the reservations it seems sensible to enforce them.
Depending on the situation you might be used to work other services say they introduce shuttles or something, equally especially for drivers you might be used to move trains that are stranded elsewhere.
Sometimes you get lucky and sit spare and then go home, sometimes really lucky you even get to go home early.
The wires have parted and are dropping down close to the track level over one line, but that could affect other lines for a number of reasons. Even if it doesn't directly effect other lines it might be that the electrical section that will likely have tripped will cover other lines, and sometimes even if the specific subsection can be isolated a lot of the time this cannot be done remotely and requires OLE staff to go out and operate switches on the ground. The OLE staff would have also needed some track access to assess the damage/work out what is needed to repair.
The initial response to the incident would have been to stop everything and examine with diesels, and because of where it is reported the pendolino stopped between the last signal and P5 I imagine that was blocking access to a lot of other platforms as well. The evacuation of passengers from the stranded train would have also required a lot of lines to be blocked.
Is there a reason why despite engineering work taking place overnight to fix the wires their saying problems could last into the weekend?
What's the plan for getting the affected Pendalino to Longsight to be fixed considering one of its pantographs is broken unless once the electrics are back switched on it could run back with the unaffected pantograph?
What's the plan for getting the affected Pendalino to Longsight to be fixed considering one of its pantographs is broken unless once the electrics are back switched on it could run back with the unaffected pantograph?
Perhaps only a temporary fix overnight or a clean up but not full reinstatement of the OLE?
I would expect disruption at the very least in the morning cos there will be that many units out of place.
GuyGibsonVC
Member
Could be a few reasons:
There is already agreed access at the weekend with staff rostered accordingly. You make it safe tonight without sacrificing your plan which may have other high priority work in it. You then go back in at the weekend to complete the work.
They will want the start of service in the morning not to be compromised by any engineering work overunnning.
It is a PR move of under promising and over delivering.
Will be exactly this, won't be enough time overnight to clear the damaged wires and then repair.
So go in tonight and make safe the affected area. And then go in at weekend to ensure a full fix.
== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==
Post #43, 2 x class 20 arrived from Crewe to act as thunderbirds and move the Pendolino. I presume the move was straight onto Longsight.
I don't agree. One set of passengers is already inconvenienced, why does it help to inconvenience a second (and hitherto unaffected) set?
sprinterguy
Veteran Member
It wasn't; the Pendo couldn't be rescued from the rear to be moved onto Longsight due to the damaged OLE behind it, it had to be rescued from the front and photos show the pair of 20s against the bufferstops with the Pendo behind at Picc.
Ah! I hadn't seen any pictures.
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Straus
Member
It's less about inconvenience to individual passengers but overall safety.
When overcrowded, people forcing themselves down the aisles can result in falls, and the disagreements can result in arguments or worse.
Despite our opinions - I think there needs to be a cross operator single set of rules so that there's clarity for the public in these situations. An opportunity for gbr!
QueensCurve
Established Member
- Joined
- 22 Dec 2014
- Messages
- 2,195
Can the Pendolino move out to Longsight 'under its own steam' or does a damaged pantograph preclude that?
sprinterguy
Veteran Member
Yeah to be fair I think it was Facebook where the photos popped up.
How does delay/repay work for a London-Manchester journey that is stopped short at Stockport? My son is on the 1953 arriving Stockport around now, as far as I can see there are no trains on to Manchester so he will need to get a bus or taxi. What delay banding does this fall into, it is largely on time at Stockport but clearly he is going to be very late and out of pocket getting into Manchester
Baxenden Bank
Established Member
- Joined
- 23 Oct 2013
- Messages
- 4,743
So, yet again, Northern totally abandon passengers by simply issuing a Do Not Travel and refuse to put on any rail replacements. Just how are commuters supposed to get home, being at their workplaces etc when this incident happened.
Walking down from Macclesfield town late afternoon and saw a row of coaches outside the station. Large numbers of people trying to board, yet there was a train to Stockport shortly after and from there a train (TPE) after 30 minutes to Manchester (and beyond). Don't know if that was quicker than the RRB but more pleasant.
Plus got to see the knitting down and a smart looking pair of class 20's.
However, no information at Stockport, train arrived, you would think that would be the time to make an announcement of what the onward travel arrangements were. Eventually found a rail staff member and was sent to the bus stop on the approach. No indication of when, how frequent or how long RRB may be/take. No suggestion to catch the frequent 192 bus from the main road which was, in theory, accepting rail tickets. In the end, by the time a coach arrived (destination unknown) it was easier and quicker to go back into the station and catch the TPE.
Walking down from Macclesfield town late afternoon and saw a row of coaches outside the station. Large numbers of people trying to board, yet there was a train to Stockport shortly after and from there a train (TPE) after 30 minutes to Manchester (and beyond). Don't know if that was quicker than the RRB but more pleasant.
Plus got to see the knitting down and a smart looking pair of class 20's.
However, no information at Stockport, train arrived, you would think that would be the time to make an announcement of what the onward travel arrangements were. Eventually found a rail staff member and was sent to the bus stop on the approach. No indication of when, how frequent or how long RRB may be/take. No suggestion to catch the frequent 192 bus from the main road which was, in theory, accepting rail tickets. In the end, by the time a coach arrived (destination unknown) it was easier and quicker to go back into the station and catch the TPE.