Fen Line Disruption (26/05/2026)

[Intercity_225]

Can anyone let me know what's going on? We just arrived at Cambridge, and alot of GN and GA services are delayed, reason unknown. I'm waiting for the 17.00 to March, will that be affected? RTT says the allocation is 170103, but it seems to be sat in platform 6 with a 'fault' (according to RTT, not a reliable source, I know, but the only one I've checked.) Does anyone know what's happening? Cheers

 

[Andy Pacer]

Crosscountry have been affected by a vehicle striking a bridge between Nuneaton and Leicester earlier although that provably isn't the reason for your issue.

There are also (according to National Rail) damage to the overhead wires between Cambridge and King's Lynn.

 

[Intercity_225]

Crosscountry have been affected by a vehicle striking a bridge between Nuneaton and Leicester earlier although that provably isn't the reason for your issue.

There are also (according to National Rail) damage to the overhead wires between Cambridge and King's Lynn.

Ah okay, cheers. 170638 has just coupled to 103 to be able to run the service, so now on a train.

 

[andy33gmail]

Do we have any idea if they plan to recover services to Kings Lynn (KLN) this evening or if it’ll be an overnight job?

If I am extrapolating/speculating correctly from Traksy, RealtimeTrains and GN’s service update, the lines became damaged, causing OZ99 and 1T22 to become stranded in the down near Littleport (LTP)? Does anyone know if this is correct

 

[Intercity_225]

Do we have any idea if they plan to recover services to Kings Lynn (KLN) this evening or if it’ll be an overnight job?

If I am extrapolating/speculating correctly from Traksy, RealtimeTrains and GN’s service update, the lines became damaged, causing OZ99 and 1T22 to become stranded in the down near Littleport (LTP)? Does anyone know if this is correct

0Z99 is the thunderbird rescuing 1T22 (specifically 37407 and 611), when I passed I saw the electrostars but didn't see the 37s.

 

[davews]

Lets hope they get it fixed tonight. I am meeting with my niece tomorrow who is coming down to London from Kings Lynn. National Rail say disruption until 2100 but they have lumped all sorts of issues into one post.

 

[An_Engineer]

Great northern back to their standard unreliability (though benefit of the doubt this sounds not their fault)

But Cambridge station really needs to rework their PIS displays. Their departures screen can only show 3 trains per page (2 pages max), which for a station the size of Cambridge is useless during disruption. And to rub wounds into the salt, they display trains in order of predicted departure time so delayed trains don't even appear on any board even if they're running.

 

[TSGN Spotter]

Lets hope they get it fixed tonight. I am meeting with my niece tomorrow who is coming down to London from Kings Lynn. National Rail say disruption until 2100 but they have lumped all sorts of issues into one post.

I wouldn't bet on it, the train needs to be moved and then wires repaired. I'd say leave extra time for journeys tomorrow

 

[ac6000cw]

0Z99 is the thunderbird rescuing 1T22 (specifically 37407 and 611), when I passed I saw the electrostars but didn't see the 37s.

The 37s were parked just south of the level crossing at Queen Adelaide. Opinion was the EMUs need to be hauled towards Littleport initially due to the OHLE damage towards the rear (Ely end) of the train (which was stranded around a mile north of the crossing).

 

[Bald Rick]

I wouldn't bet on it, the train needs to be moved and then wires repaired. I'd say leave extra time for journeys tomorrow

Its a very simple repair.

 

[Intercity_225]

Its a very simple repair.

What is the issue?

 

[andy33gmail]

The 37s were parked just south of the level crossing at Queen Adelaide.

Still there at 9:15, staff on their phones. I couldn’t resist taking a look

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 26 May 2026 ==

Dragged back towards Ely just now - I wanted another look out of curiousity and timed it perfectly:

 

[MikeWM]

The 387s and the 37s are still in the down sidings at the south end of Ely, or at least they were an hour ago. Things do indeed seem to have been repaired overnight.

But Cambridge station really needs to rework their PIS displays. Their departures screen can only show 3 trains per page (2 pages max), which for a station the size of Cambridge is useless during disruption. And to rub wounds into the salt, they display trains in order of predicted departure time so delayed trains don't even appear on any board even if they're running.

They are poor in disruption (and, given the number of departures Cambridge has, not terribly useful even when things are running well). Fortunately there are other screens that show more departures scattered around, but that's no excuse for having a useless set of screens that don't show enough information. Still, at least they're not the LNER ones with the signing bloke, which spends 3 minutes signing through all of page 2 when you're trying to find out what platform you need to go to for your train leaving in 4 minutes time...

 

[davews]

Niece's train left on time but is now 15m late crawling to KX probably nothing to do with yesterday's problems.

 

[ac6000cw]

The 387s and the 37s are still in the down sidings at the south end of Ely, or at least they were an hour ago. Things do indeed seem to have been repaired overnight.

The 387s are still there as of 13:30 today, the 37s are gone, I assume on 0R37 to Leicester LIP - https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:78314/2026-05-27/detailed (about 24 hours late, as that was where they were originally heading yesterday).

387112 is minus it's pantograph:

 

[Magdalen Road]

The first four Kings Lynn to Kings Cross were cancelled this morning, presumably due to yesterday’s issues; so the first direct to KGX was 0717.

 

[Obar123]

Things do indeed seem to have been repaired overnight.

From the photos I saw, the 387 pantograph was bent backwards in half and the overhead line support had fell off of the post, so the wires were not supported in that location.

 

[davews]

Niece's train left on time but is now 15m late crawling to KX probably nothing to do with yesterday's problems.

It seemed the train (1T21, 0945 Kings Lynn to KX) made four unscheduled stops (not picked up by RTT) which was presumably also related to catching up from yesterday. Having said that though we had a great day in town and great niece arrived from York, great nephew from Princes Risborough and myself from Martins Heron all arrived on time so the railways did their job.

 

[Fuzzytop]

I wonder why GN didn't serve Cambridge North, Waterbeach or Ely for the remainder of the evening, given those stations were south of the fault and other operators continued running trains (including electric 720s from Liverpool Street).

 

[wagnaga]

I wonder why GN didn't serve Cambridge North, Waterbeach or Ely for the remainder of the evening, given those stations were south of the fault and other operators continued running trains (including electric 720s from Liverpool Street).

I wonder if this is an agreed response to manage capacity at Ely as presumably all trains have to arrive at Ely northbound and depart back southbound so require a longer dwell time?

 

[MikeWM]

I wonder if this is an agreed response to manage capacity at Ely as presumably all trains have to arrive at Ely northbound and depart back southbound so require a longer dwell time?

It may well be, but it is rather unhelpful, as it reduces the capacity between Cambridge and Ely from 23 carriages per hour to an inadequate 7. Cambridge North to Ely reduces from 19 to 4 - with just one train per hour - and Waterbeach gets no service at all. (I'm ignoring the 4 peak Liverpool Street-Ely services in those numbers, though admittedly they do help quite a bit).

GN terminates one an hour at Ely for a good proportion of the day, it's hard to see why they couldn't do at least that.

Anyway, the 387s were still there yesterday evening. Are they going to be a permanent attraction?

 

[DR18037]

Anyway, the 387s were still there yesterday evening. Are they going to be a permanent attraction?

Today theres 5Z01-4

5Z01 Hornsey to Ely

5Z02 Hornsey to Ely 45 mins after

5Z03 and 04 are return workings

I can only assume that Z1 and Z2 will collect 1 unit each and then Z1 will return as Z3, with Z2 playing simon says and following as Z4

I didnt see 5Z04 originally and thought 5Z03 was going to be a 16 car 387 rescue

Links provided below

Realtime Trains | 5Z01 1100 Hornsey E.M.U.D. to Ely | 29/05/2026

Real-time train running information for 5Z01 1100 departure from Hornsey E.M.U.D. to Ely on 29/05/2026. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

Realtime Trains | 5Z02 1145 Hornsey E.M.U.D. to Ely | 29/05/2026

Real-time train running information for 5Z02 1145 departure from Hornsey E.M.U.D. to Ely on 29/05/2026. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

Realtime Trains | 5Z03 1320 Ely to Hornsey E.M.U.D. | 29/05/2026

Real-time train running information for 5Z03 1320 departure from Ely to Hornsey E.M.U.D. on 29/05/2026. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

Realtime Trains | 5Z04 1418 Ely to Hornsey E.M.U.D. | 29/05/2026

Real-time train running information for 5Z04 1418 departure from Ely to Hornsey E.M.U.D. on 29/05/2026. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

 

[ac6000cw]

Just passed 5Z03 in the carriage sidings at Cambridge (north of Mill Road), formed of 387112 at the north end and 387115 at the south. It came into platform 7 and reversed.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 29 May 2026 ==

Just passed 5Z04 heading south near Ely - too fast to see the unit numbers from my train. Edit: Looking at RTT now, I assume it's 387103 hauling 387108.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 29 May 2026 ==

387112 at the north end and 387115 at the south

Both are still at Cambridge