Chaos for NXEA this Morning

[Desiro360]

There are currently severe Overhead Wire problems on the West Anglia Main Line at Sawbridgeworth. All Stansted Express and Liverpool St - Cambridge services this morning have been cancelled.

http://www.nationalexpresseastangli...ge-stansted-airport-until-approximately-11-00

Also a train (I think the 07:40 Norwich - Liverpool St Intercity) has failed near Diss on the Great Eastern Main Line causing 40 minute delays.

You have to feel sorry for the commuters on yet another day of National Express chaos.

 

[Aictos]

There are currently severe Overhead Wire problems on the West Anglia Main Line at Sawbridgeworth. All Stansted Express and Liverpool St - Cambridge services this morning have been cancelled.

http://www.nationalexpresseastangli...ge-stansted-airport-until-approximately-11-00

Also a train (I think the 07:40 Norwich - Liverpool St Intercity) has failed near Diss on the Great Eastern Main Line causing 40 minute delays.

You have to feel sorry for the commuters on yet another day of National Express chaos.

Yes but NXEA have advised other TOCs this is only until 11am - providing of course that Lady Luck is in a good mood this morning with Network Rail and NXEA.....

 

[talltim]

Also a train (I think the 07:40 Norwich - Liverpool St Intercity) has failed near Diss on the Great Eastern Main Line causing 40 minute delays.

You have to feel sorry for the commuters on yet another day of National Express chaos.

The Norwich Liverpool services aren't having much luck today, obstruction on the line near Alfreton causing delays too, and mentions of buses from Chesterfield to Alfreton too, so presumably they are bypassing it. Mind you XC were delayed due to 'planned engineering work' and Northern to Nottingham were cancelled due to a fatality so a busy day for the automated excuse machine

 

[Benno]

The Norwich Liverpool services aren't having much luck today, obstruction on the line near Alfreton causing delays too, and mentions of buses from Chesterfield to Alfreton too, so presumably they are bypassing it. Mind you XC were delayed due to 'planned engineering work' and Northern to Nottingham were cancelled due to a fatality so a busy day for the automated excuse machine

The obstruction at Alfreton and the Fatality are the same incident. BTP have ,of course, declared it a crime scene.

 

[DarloRich]

it is a crime scene until investigations prove otherwise :roll:

 

[Kingfisher200262]

Yes but NXEA have advised other TOCs this is only until 11am - providing of course that Lady Luck is in a good mood this morning with Network Rail and NXEA.....

NXEA keep pushing the reopening time backwards.... currently 15.00. Stuck at B-S. Anybody in the tea room and fancy offering a poor soul a brew?

 

[GB]

NXEA aren't pushing the time back, NR are.

 

[Kingfisher200262]

NXEA aren't pushing the time back, NR are.

You're right, of course. It's just that NXEA are the poor sods passing the info to the grumbling masses.

Any idea what brought the wires down?

 

[captainbigun]

Cable fairies with a love for things coppery.

 

[Kingfisher200262]

Cable fairies with a love for things coppery.

You mean the OHL just disappeared??? So literally, down and out then. At least there were no nasty wires to get tangled in any of those shiny new 379s.

--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
It's 16.35 and just got moving at Bishops Stortford on the up to London.

004 and 015 dead in Platform 2. Presumably auxiliaries died due to time off the wires. A couple of points: -

1. I thought that EMUs were supposed to have low voltage relays, so that enough juice remained in the batteries to get the pan up. That's how it used to be in the 90s. Has that got lost in modern designs?

2. What does the rule book say about train lighting? Obviously the batteries dead meant that the marker and tail lights were not lit, but I thought the lamp bracket had to be used and a flashing red put on. Does this only apply after dark, or is it not necessary if the signalman has protected the train?

 

[Bedpan]

The story I heard on the radio this morning was that the cable faries stole a length of OHLE. What I don't understand is how they managed to do this without electrocuting themselves. (Or maybe they didn't because they are faries). I thought that there was still a residual current of about 100v even after the overhead line has shorted out.

 

[es373]

I was told Overhead Line came down and went through the cab forward facing window.

NXEA driver told me that.

 

[dk1]

On the GEML the 07.40 ex-Norwich failed with possible bird strike damage near Flordon. The following 08.00 got as far as Trowse Jcn before returning to Norwich. First through train was the slightly delayed 10.00 with with a load of around 350 from Norwich! Some passengers travelled via Ely/Cambridge on 08.40, 08.57 & 09.40, whilst some down trains where terminated & sent back from Diss.

Just as service recovery was well under way the 11.30 up struck a person at Shenfield (who survived with leg injuries) which caused further disruption.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Had a meeting this pm - and the NXEA on call manager was there , we were trying to plan ahead - he got persistently called for updates and so on - plus a "one under" at Shenfield ......

Nightmare scenario - the Sawbo incident was bad , with both pans affected on an 8 car 379 set(s)

 

[387star]

Staying with NXEA I'd expect the 17 month franchise to be announced very shortly (Autumn)

I think it likely Stagecoach will win and go on to retain the franchise for the longer term

 

[Class377/5]

You mean the OHL just disappeared??? So literally, down and out then. At least there were no nasty wires to get tangled in any of those shiny new 379s.

--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
It's 16.35 and just got moving at Bishops Stortford on the up to London.

004 and 015 dead in Platform 2. Presumably auxiliaries died due to time off the wires. A couple of points: -

1. I thought that EMUs were supposed to have low voltage relays, so that enough juice remained in the batteries to get the pan up. That's how it used to be in the 90s. Has that got lost in modern designs?

The incident happened before midnight so that 379 had been sat there about 16hrs when you saw it. Doubt any train would have back up to last that long.

As for what was stolen, wasn't the overheads themselves but part of a support structure which then hit a cab of a 379 and the OHLE came down around the unit, partly wrapped up around the pans.

 

[dk1]

Staying with NXEA I'd expect the 17 month franchise to be announced very shortly (Autumn)

I think it likely Stagecoach will win and go on to retain the franchise for the longer term

Its around 2.5 yrs now.

 

[red circle]

Had a meeting this pm - and the NXEA on call manager was there , we were trying to plan ahead - he got persistently called for updates and so on - plus a "one under" at Shenfield ......

Nightmare scenario - the Sawbo incident was bad , with both pans affected on an 8 car 379 set(s)

The Shenfield incident is on a local papers website,they are saying a woman dropped her handbag over the platform edge and was reaching for it,she was airlifted to hospital.

 

[jon0844]

Stupid woman. Platform staff can easily pick up items that fall on the track (using their gripper, not actually going anywhere near the track themselves), although you may well miss your train (but, be late or be dead.. hmmm!).

 

[87015]

317504 is doing its best to destory tonights evening peak with a complete loss of power at Cheshunt...

 

[Alan1310]

support arm went through the window of a 379 at around 3 am

 

[Kingfisher200262]

The incident happened before midnight so that 379 had been sat there about 16hrs when you saw it. Doubt any train would have back up to last that long.

As for what was stolen, wasn't the overheads themselves but part of a support structure which then hit a cab of a 379 and the OHLE came down around the unit, partly wrapped up around the pans.

Nonetheless, in BR days (:roll units' electrical systems were designed such that when the overhead supply was lost and the unit had to rely on battery supplies, the control system would trip the various non-essential circuits as time passed and the batteries discharged. Crucially, the Low Voltage Relay (LVR) would sense the battery voltage and drop out all the electrics when the battery voltage fell to 76 V dc from the normal, nominal 96 V dc (sometimes referred to as 110 V dc, but actually 96V dc). The purpose of this was to enable the auxiliary compressor to be run from the batteries when the OHL was restored, so that the pantograph could be raised.

Has this knowledge been lost in the latest generation of rolling stock, or did this system simply malfunction on the two 379s that were stranded in Stortford Platform 2?

 

[jon0844]

If I had to guess, I'd say it was another Bombardier failure. I wonder how many trains that have safety functions like that are properly tested to ensure they will/would work when 'put on the spot'.

 

[Kingfisher200262]

If I had to guess, I'd say it was another Bombardier failure. I wonder how many trains that have safety functions like that are properly tested to ensure they will/would work when 'put on the spot'.

I was discussing this point with an old BR rolling stock engineer the other day. He reminded me that BR used to do very thorough "design scrutiny", which pretty much picked up such issues without fail.

In the modern railway world, the only ones doing design scrutiny is the Notified Body, whose only role is to check the design against the various standards. This doesn't pick up the unwritten stuff, such as the Low Voltage Relay, that the older engineers "just knew".

 

[Southern]

Person hit by a train at Harold Wood now:

http://www.nationalexpresseastangli...ool-street-and-shenfield-expected-until-21-00