zwk500
Veteran Member
I wonder how that twitter account got hold of that video.
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Power Issues near Hemel Hempstead 07/05/2026
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And where is the pan cam footage from the train in front?
That dropper didn't suddenly fail like that...
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Birmingham International was busy yesterday with staff advising passengers to go to Birmingham New Street and walking to Birmingham Moor Street for Chiltern services to Marylebone or taking Arriva CrossCountry towards Oxford/Reading and heading towards London Paddington.
The LNWR services that were operating through Birmingham New Street were carrying not only their own passengers but also Avanti's which made the 8 carriage 350s rather cosy.
This disruption did kind of scupper my plans to head to Rugby for a pair of 730/2s into the capital but all was not lost as a diversion towards Leicester on a Turbostar meant I could see 99006 and some new EMR Auroras.
The LNWR services that were operating through Birmingham New Street were carrying not only their own passengers but also Avanti's which made the 8 carriage 350s rather cosy.
This disruption did kind of scupper my plans to head to Rugby for a pair of 730/2s into the capital but all was not lost as a diversion towards Leicester on a Turbostar meant I could see 99006 and some new EMR Auroras.
iamraymond
Member
Thats absolutely savage!
Vexed
Member
I would say it hasn't been particularly well controlled, I was shown that video yesterday
zwk500
Veteran Member
And that's just quite a poor reflection on some people working on the railway, I'm afraid.I would say it hasn't been particularly well controlled, I was shown that video yesterday
There's a reason comms teams exist. Some regions of NR were getting very good at one point of putting out clear, thorough, non-jargon explanations of what went wrong, with appropriate photos and videos, to keep passengers informed. NR should absolutely be doing this, as it was a good element of transparency and engagement. However, those posts usually came a little bit after the initial chaos had calmed down, so they weren't distracting from people who needed travel information, and there was confidence in the explanation being given being an actual account of what went wrong.
But just sending video clips around before the fault is even repaired just fuels speculation and make it harder for the railway to then actually get out the explanation of what did go wrong after fully investigating it.
rmHawk765
Member
The WCML wouldn't be Europe's busiest trunk railway if it was down to poor maintenance... we'd be having incidents like this every day!
It is very typical of high speed dewirements.
Agreed, but I can understand where the idea behind the suggestions come from, the WCML collapsing isn't an uncommon occurrence, we've gone through phases where it happened almost weekly for one reason or another.
That's not to suggest I agree with the X comments of course.
rmHawk765
Member
The past few weeks haven't been great overall to be fair. The ECML collapsed completely for over 2 days because of one trespasser (correct me if I'm wrong but this is what I saw), I think the wires went down on the ECML not too long ago as well and there were the North London power failures. The ECML is continually suffering from delays further north, the timetable is basically broken for the Cambridge line... it's just that with the WCML this sort of stuff all gets clumped up into large 'spots' of disruption when the infrastructure fails.
The WCML's reliability is certainly... subpar, for what should be a flagship intercity route. But unfortunately this is what you get when you cram everything you possibly can onto four tracks. At least the WCML's OHLE wasn't done on the cheap unlike the ECML, otherwise this sort of thing would've been an almost weekly occurrence!
Ultimately this is all just more reason to get HS2 built. HS2 will by nature be the most reliable north-south intercity route and this knock-on regular disruption will basically disappear... if and when we get that up and running.
Agreed, you raise some good points here.
I guess we're lucky in that so far the number of times that both the East and West coast mainlines have failed at the same time has been limited, given they are the core London to Scotland routes.
And LNWR retweeted it to show customers what is causing the issues todayI would say it hasn't been particularly well controlled, I was shown that video yesterday
SansHache
Member
The pantograph video is from the PANDAS OLE monitoring system fitted to the Class 350 involved in the incident. The video appeared on the Transmission Dynamics account on LinkedIn within 40 minutes of the incident occurring.
Transmission Dynamics are the manufacturer of PANDAS and host and analyse the data downloaded from the trains in real time.
The PANDAS equipment comprises a pantograph mounted accelerometer and high quality video camera, with GPS tracking and automatic data download to ground. I was involved with initial trials and subsequent partial fleet fitment of this equipment on Class 390 trains. A significant number of Class 350s are also fitted with PANDAS, and it is gradually being introduced on other UK rolling stock.
When PANDAS detects an excessive acceleration event an alert is automatically triggered directly to the local OLE maintenance team. The LinkedIn post mentioned that the particular location where the dewirement occurred had previously been identified as requiring high priority intervention, but unfortunately the failure occurred before maintenance could be arranged.
Although PANDAS has been operational for several years now, the interpretation of the data is a constantly evolving process. No doubt this particular incident will be closely analysed to provide learning for future processes and procedures. I know from personal experience that the PANDAS system has been invaluable in detecting OLE defects that would have almost certainly ultimately resulted in a dewirement. As with all such monitoring systems there are limitations. It is difficult to identify defects on the components that are not directly connected to the contact wire, although video analysis is now being used to identify issues such as detached droppers.
I have no direct relationship with Transmission Dynamics, but I have been very impressed with the manner it has been developed and integrated into Network Rail's maintenance regime. However, I suspect there may be some questions asked regarding the publishing of potentially sensitive dewirement videos onto social media!
www.transmissiondynamics.com
Transmission Dynamics are the manufacturer of PANDAS and host and analyse the data downloaded from the trains in real time.
The PANDAS equipment comprises a pantograph mounted accelerometer and high quality video camera, with GPS tracking and automatic data download to ground. I was involved with initial trials and subsequent partial fleet fitment of this equipment on Class 390 trains. A significant number of Class 350s are also fitted with PANDAS, and it is gradually being introduced on other UK rolling stock.
When PANDAS detects an excessive acceleration event an alert is automatically triggered directly to the local OLE maintenance team. The LinkedIn post mentioned that the particular location where the dewirement occurred had previously been identified as requiring high priority intervention, but unfortunately the failure occurred before maintenance could be arranged.
Although PANDAS has been operational for several years now, the interpretation of the data is a constantly evolving process. No doubt this particular incident will be closely analysed to provide learning for future processes and procedures. I know from personal experience that the PANDAS system has been invaluable in detecting OLE defects that would have almost certainly ultimately resulted in a dewirement. As with all such monitoring systems there are limitations. It is difficult to identify defects on the components that are not directly connected to the contact wire, although video analysis is now being used to identify issues such as detached droppers.
I have no direct relationship with Transmission Dynamics, but I have been very impressed with the manner it has been developed and integrated into Network Rail's maintenance regime. However, I suspect there may be some questions asked regarding the publishing of potentially sensitive dewirement videos onto social media!
Award-Winning Pantograph & Overhead Line Monitoring System - Transmission Dynamics
Boost rail safety with PANDAS-V®. Real-time AI for Pantograph, Catenary & Overhead Line Monitoring, reducing delays, improving reliability.
www.transmissiondynamics.com
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ChilliSauce
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Well it's Saturday AM so almost 48 hours since the dewirement on what is claimed to be a key mainline route and still the Infrastructure Owner hasn't repaired it ..
They have carried out significant repairs overnight and the line is open, albeit with an ESR - today’s disruption is due to a train hitting a ‘trolley’ and needed rescuing.
Knock off at least 12 hours since initial dewirement, several trains including the incident train needed moving.
They don't start repairing the minute it Happens!
Peter Mugridge
Veteran Member
Please don't tell me the trolley was one used during the repairs to the wires?
I believe it hit it at Primrose Hill, so don’t believe so. Although that was my first thought when I read the messages this morning.
Disruption has been severe, as the train was full of train crew commuting to Euston.
QueensCurve
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accelleration of which component in which direction?
ChilliSauce
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Not a trolley on the train (again) ..Sounds like another investigation needed by RAIB ..
Seems the Infrastructure Owner never comprehends "Lessons Learnt" are there to prevent reoccurrence.
185143
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I assumed it was a shopping trolley?
londonmidland
Established Member
Track circuit issues and point failures in the Euston and Willesden areas are now having an impact on service recovery.
Kilburn area, and if reports are true it was a trolley left on the track by NR, serious questions should be asked.
But surely a trolley on the track would occupy track circuit and prevent a route being cleared?
londonmidland
Established Member
Depends how it was positioned, I would have though? I believe both rails have to be in contact with something for it to detect it(?)
The trolley could have been positioned on top of the sleepers, but not touching the rails.
It's a core mainline, often quoted on here as one of the busiest in Europe, commencing work 12 hours after the incident, if I'm understanding your post correctly is a totally unacceptable timescale, it happens frequently enough that there should be plans in place to start repairs within a couple of hours.
When are lessons ever learnt?
It's just a soundbite rolled out for the media every time our highly efficient and competent infrastructure owner drops the ball...
How can you start repairs when there are several stranded trains on that section of line including the failed train which needs electricity to move?
Passengers need removing from the train, before that the damaged wires need making safe to enable to passengers to be removed.
You need to move the stranded train most likely with a locomotive due to know power.
That all takes time.
You then need to get the relevant materials/compinents, relevant staff etc to start the repair.
Can that repair be undertaken safely while adjacent lines are open? (I don't know).
Again, it's one of Europe's busiest rail lines, there should be thunderbird locos and repair supplies/equipment at strategic locations so repairs can start as soon as possible, it's not like this happened in the middle of the Lake District or Scottish Highlands, miles from anything.
It's just another example of infrastructure of national importance not being taken seriously enough.
Omnishambles
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From memory Bourne End is literally the border between Euston and Bletchley DUs so I would expect probably 2hrs response time for OHL teams from Stonebridge or Bletchley (possibly both at some point given the damage) and that would be if they weren’t out somewhere else in the area on routine maintenance.
I have no idea as to the extent of the damage to both lines but logic would (?) say less on the UFL than the DFL so maybe the focus could have been to look to repair that on Thursday night and possibly re-open the DFL only to diesel traffic ready for a full repair Saturday night. Again, no idea to the full extent but have done this in the past on the WCML
I have no idea as to the extent of the damage to both lines but logic would (?) say less on the UFL than the DFL so maybe the focus could have been to look to repair that on Thursday night and possibly re-open the DFL only to diesel traffic ready for a full repair Saturday night. Again, no idea to the full extent but have done this in the past on the WCML
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