ECML major disruption | 91107 fails at Knebworth (25/04)

[londonmidland]

91107 has failed just outside of Knebworth Station with a loss of power. This happened around 13.38, according to RealTimeTrains.

I’ve been told conditions onboard were extremely uncomfortable, as loss of power had caused the aircon so stop working, on a sealed train with no openable windows.

Subsequently, a few passengers have decided to self isolate and (presumably) walk to the station platforms.

Reports that all lines were blocked, however it looks like some may have reopened at caution now.

 

[Peterthegreat]

Kings Cross was in chaos. The worst I've known it in over 30 years. Lack of, conflicting and downright incorrect information.
I'm on 1D23 the 16.39 from Kings Cross which left 73 late and has lost further time.
The staff on here said a rescue train was sent to do a transfer but that has also failed. Both up and down fast lines were blocked.
And 1D23 has a stop order for Peterborough. However it has been signalled to the down fast.

 

[Amos390]

Update on this so far, 1D20 Kings Cross to Leeds was cancelled to provide a rescue unit for the passengers who remained on board, running under 5D20 to Knebworth to provide a side-by-side transfer to, unit being 91109 + Set NL13 + 82213, this has now arrived into Stevenage and has a path back up to Neville Hill (https://live.rail-record.co.uk/train/?c=70484&d=2026-04-25 ).

As for 91107, it has 67027 to accompany it back now and also has a path to Neville Hill under 5A18 (https://live.rail-record.co.uk/train/?c=70490&d=2026-04-25 ) , and will presumably start moving shortly.

 

[The Middle]

The 91s are becoming a huge liability

 

[Merle Haggard]

Update on this so far, 1D20 Kings Cross to Leeds was cancelled to provide a rescue unit for the passengers who remained on board, running under 5D20 to Knebworth to provide a side-by-side transfer to, unit being 91109 + Set NL13 + 82213, this has now arrived into Stevenage and has a path back up to Neville Hill (https://live.rail-record.co.uk/train/?c=70484&d=2026-04-25 ).

As for 91107, it has 67027 to accompany it back now and also has a path to Neville Hill under 5A18 (https://live.rail-record.co.uk/train/?c=70490&d=2026-04-25 ) , and will presumably start moving shortly.

Does this mean that the passengers stranded on the failed Leeds train were rescued by a train which should have run to Leeds but were then dropped off it at Peterborough and it continued ecs to ... Leeds?

 

[Failed Unit]

The 91s are becoming a huge liability

Most of the recent failures are Azuma’s which to be fair you expect as there are more of them. My concern as a passenger is how long it takes to sort. I guess in the old days the King’s Cross thunderbird would arrive much quicker. The azumas also seem to take ages to shift when they fail looking at recent threads.

 

[D1537]

Does this mean that the passengers stranded on the failed Leeds train were rescued by a train which should have run to Leeds but were then dropped off it at Peterborough and it continued ecs to ... Leeds?

I believe they were dropped off at Stevenage and 5D20 is then running to Neville Hill.

The 91s are becoming a huge liability

A couple of high-profile failures. The issue with 91110 was that it couldn't be moved at all which is why its stock and DVT were rescued separately. Quite a few of the recent shenanigans have been caused by Azumas though, such as the one with 1E01's loss of air earlier this week.

 

[Merle Haggard]

I believe they were dropped off at Stevenage and 5D20 is then running to Neville Hill.

Thanks. Two Leeds trains later they're and only at Stevenage, not even Peterborough (5D20 was previously 1D20 Leeds)

 

[D1537]

Thanks. Two Leeds trains later they're and only at Stevenage, not even Peterborough (5D20 was previously 1D20 Leeds)

The failed train was 1A18 - they were heading for London.

 

[ChilliSauce]

1E21 at a stand at Potters Bar. 32L and counting .. 7 trains ahead and no platforms at KX ..

 

[Merle Haggard]

The failed train was 1A18 - they were heading for London.

Ah sorry, makes complete sense now!
Should have read rather than jump to a conclusion.

 

[Twingo37175]

1E21 at a stand at Potters Bar. 32L and counting .. 7 trains ahead and no platforms at KX ..

I am on 1A30, directly in front. Currently 49 and counting

 

[Intercity_225]

Why are the delays so bad? Could they not have just went via the slow lines or Hertford Loop?

 

[Trainspecial]

I’m not surprised considering this has only compounded the delays caused by the failure of 1Z43 near York this morning

 

[Intercity_225]

Looks to be a holdup at Sandy aswell now, something going on?

 

[MikeWh]

Why are the delays so bad? Could they not have just went via the slow lines or Hertford Loop?

Depending on how far past Knebworth it got it may have been fouling Woolmar Green Junction. I think Hertford is only used for a lengthy failure which maybe they thought this wouldn't be?

 

[Intercity_225]

Depending on how far past Knebworth it got it may have been fouling Woolmar Green Junction.

The train failed at signal YB2206 (Platform 2 at Knebworth) so wasn't fouling it.

 

[john77]

We travelled back from Montreux today on the last day of our FC interrail passes, hoping to catch the 17:03 to Alnmouth. The lack of information in the FC lounge and on the website was amazing. I only knew something was up when I overhead a train crew member telling one of the receptionists that they had cancelled the 16:30 just as it was about to leave. Our train showed on the screens as 'waiting for a platform' until 17:01, when it vanished. This was despite other cancelled trains being shown on the screen as cancelled. I asked the staff what our options were and was told to take a train from Euston to Manchester, then to York, and then to Alnmouth. When I asked how long that would take I didn't get an answer. So we decided to stay in London overnight at the Premier Inn we normally use, which cost £293 (apparently there's a marathon on tomorrow). It just seems amazing that they can start cancelling trains left right and centre without telling anybody what's going on.

 

[Hophead]

Fortunate that the Thameslink core is closed this weekend, stopping the disruption spreading to the south of London

 

[GordonT]

Why are the delays so bad? Could they not have just went via the slow lines or Hertford Loop?

Post 10 indicates the problem was lack of platform availability at KGX rather than track capacity en route.

 

[harz99]

The affect on Grand Central services at King's Cross this afternoon Saturday 25th April.

1N96 now running 94 late towards Sunderland due to the additional delay between Biggleswade and Sandy...

 

[ainsworth74]

The affect on Grand Central services at King's Cross this afternoon Saturday 25th April.

1N96 now running 94 late towards Sunderland due to the additional delay between Biggleswade and Sandy...

Decent turn around job on 1A66 into 1D97! Just over 15 minutes to unload the arriving passengers, load the departing passengers, close up and dispatch! Not bad on a long distance service. I've seen LNER (or a predecessor) do one of their sets in about 20 minutes including a very quick litter pick and catering restock which I'm assuming that GC had to skip on this occasion!

 

[ChilliSauce]

1A02 departed LDS 05.00 and then lost time south of Doncaster ...arr KX 17L .

Then formed 1D06 08.10 KX to LDS which lost time north of Doncaster arr LDS 18L

Then formed 1A18 11.40 LDS to KX which then konked out at Knebworth .

Makes you wonder if the set was in trouble from the outset?

In which case LNER failed their customers today by keeping a known / suspected defective train in service.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 25 Apr 2026 ==

We travelled back from Montreux today on the last day of our FC interrail passes, hoping to catch the 17:03 to Alnmouth. The lack of information in the FC lounge and on the website was amazing. I only knew something was up when I overhead a train crew member telling one of the receptionists that they had cancelled the 16:30 just as it was about to leave. Our train showed on the screens as 'waiting for a platform' until 17:01, when it vanished. This was despite other cancelled trains being shown on the screen as cancelled. I asked the staff what our options were and was told to take a train from Euston to Manchester, then to York, and then to Alnmouth. When I asked how long that would take I didn't get an answer. So we decided to stay in London overnight at the Premier Inn we normally use, which cost £293 (apparently there's a marathon on tomorrow). It just seems amazing that they can start cancelling trains left right and centre without telling anybody what's going on.

Make sure you get LNER to honour the pass tomorrow .. (Sunday) it was 1 of their trains that failed that caused all the problems

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 25 Apr 2026 ==

The train failed at signal YB2206 (Platform 2 at Knebworth) so wasn't fouling it.

Yes but the TD map is a bit misleading as the berth is shown as if the signal is at the top of ramp of the UF Platform 2 at Knebworth but infact it's not, the signal is at least a train length past the platform .. As I observed when passing on the US.

So no option to detain punters directly onto the platform.

 

[riceuten]

I spent the afternoon in St Neots, and just missed the 1618 train to Stevenage, and then realised the 1648 was cancelled (RTT said "Planning Error").

Never mind, I though, I'll get an ice cream at the Tesco on the Love's Farm estate and mooch back to the station. All northbound trains were shown with that helpful epithet "Delayed" and our (1718) train left PBO 5 minutes late but caught some of that up. When we got just outside Hitchin, the train ground to a halt and we made fairly slow progress to Stevenage, arriving to find 3 police cars, a fire engine and 2 ambulances outside (and platforms 3 and 4 with numerous police present). It's a good job I did catch the 1718, as the next train didn't leave St Neots until 18.35.

Apparently the ambulances we for the people who couldn't cope with the lack of a/c.

Police I presume were there because of the people who irregularly disembarked

Fire brigade I have no idea - perhaps there was an issue with the failed unit.

Bought my ticket from Trainpal, who are now refusing any kind of refund as "the conditions have not been met". I'm not exactly devastated

 

[Sakuradori]

1A02 departed LDS 05.00 and then lost time south of Doncaster ...arr KX 17L .

Then formed 1D06 08.10 KX to LDS which lost time north of Doncaster arr LDS 18L

Then formed 1A18 11.40 LDS to KX which then konked out at Knebworth .

Makes you wonder if the set was in trouble from the outset?

In which case LNER failed their customers today by keeping a known / suspected defective train in service.

It's an interesting theory.
Actually though, 1A02 was delayed because of the points failure at Donny this morning.
The return working, 1D06, was swapped mid-service from a 9 car Azuma to a 5 car Azuma at Donny because of a train fault on the original unit.
The final, fateful 1A18 (booked to run as a 9 car Azuma, as seen on RTT) was then swapped again from the 5 car Azuma to the 225, to try and restore capacity. Almost the exact opposite of keeping a known / suspected defective train in service.

Funny how these things happen.

 

[Dan_g]

Looks like the 225 set was actually meant to operate 1A20 but was swapped with the original Azuma due to late running. Was on my way back from London earlier and it was an absolute mess. Trains being cancelled and then changed back to running but well over an hour late. Got into Stevenage around 5 minutes after the rescue train. Massive police and ambulance presence, along with some unhappy football fans headed to the emirates/wembley!

 

[Obar123]

Why are the delays so bad? Could they not have just went via the slow lines or Hertford Loop?

They were diverting through the Hartford loop. I was on a Great Northern and we went via the loop and LNER were going through there also. But the ones that had already gone past Alexandra Palace had no choice as they couldn't get through. There were lots of police, fire and ambulance crews on Stevenage platforms when we got there, and that was about 5:30 as the 67 was also in the platform still!

 

[MboroFC]

The 91s are becoming a huge liability

As long as the engineers are keeping on top of them, then they can never become a liability. They only become a liability if they were to stop receiving as much care and attention as they currently do.

 

[ChilliSauce]

It's an interesting theory.
Actually though, 1A02 was delayed because of the points failure at Donny this morning.
The return working, 1D06, was swapped mid-service from a 9 car Azuma to a 5 car Azuma at Donny because of a train fault on the original unit.
The final, fateful 1A18 (booked to run as a 9 car Azuma, as seen on RTT) was then swapped again from the 5 car Azuma to the 225, to try and restore capacity. Almost the exact opposite of keeping a known / suspected defective train in service.

Funny how these things happen.

Well me thinks that really shows LNER in shoddy light, not 1 defective train but actually 2..

 

[IanXC]

I spent the afternoon in St Neots, and just missed the 1618 train to Stevenage, and then realised the 1648 was cancelled (RTT said "Planning Error").

Never mind, I though, I'll get an ice cream at the Tesco on the Love's Farm estate and mooch back to the station. All northbound trains were shown with that helpful epithet "Delayed" and our (1718) train left PBO 5 minutes late but caught some of that up. When we got just outside Hitchin, the train ground to a halt and we made fairly slow progress to Stevenage, arriving to find 3 police cars, a fire engine and 2 ambulances outside (and platforms 3 and 4 with numerous police present). It's a good job I did catch the 1718, as the next train didn't leave St Neots until 18.35.

Apparently the ambulances we for the people who couldn't cope with the lack of a/c.

Police I presume were there because of the people who irregularly disembarked

Fire brigade I have no idea - perhaps there was an issue with the failed unit.

Bought my ticket from Trainpal, who are now refusing any kind of refund as "the conditions have not been met". I'm not exactly devastated

Sounds like you did actually travel but were delayed?

In that case Trainpal are right because you are not entitled to a refund. You may be entitled to Delay Repay compensation, which is claimed from the operator of the train you were delayed on.