Aberdeen - Inverness Signalling

[Norther Monkey]

Following another early morning arranging alternative travel at the last minute I'm left wondering if there are persistent problems on this line.

Recently there seem to have been a number of issues with the new set up between Forres and Elgin, are there any problems with the new installation.

A longer term issue seems to be Dyce which seems to regularly be the source of signalling induced delays, is there a problem here that is proving tricky to resolve?

It may just be my bad luck, but I'm idly curious if there are any known persistent problems.

 

[Highlandspring]

The issues this morning stemmed from difficulty restoring some axle counter sections after an overnight engineering possession. A minor adjustment was made to one of the axle counter heads which fully resolved the fault. As for Dyce it is no more prone to signalling failures than anywhere else in the country, from the perspective of someone who deals with this every working day.

 

[DuncanS]

I'd say between Haymarket and EP is far more prone to failures (signalling, track inspections) than anywhere else in Scotland.

 

[Carntyne]

^^ It's not really. Lugton or Hilton Jn for me.

 

[GusB]

The issues this morning stemmed from difficulty restoring some axle counter sections after an overnight engineering possession. A minor adjustment was made to one of the axle counter heads which fully resolved the fault. As for Dyce it is no more prone to signalling failures than anywhere else in the country, from the perspective of someone who deals with this every working day.

The wee man who is normally employed to count the axles slept in, with the inevitable consequences...

Seriously, though - the improvements on the Aberdeen - Inverness line do seem to have made a difference, especially at Forres. I can't remember exactly which day it was, but I was staying at my dad's place in Nairn for a couple of nights last week, and was following things on RTT. The eastbound was a couple of minutes late leaving Nairn, but the westbound was a good 10 mins late from Keith and Elgin. Both managed to depart Forres within a couple of minutes of their booked departure times. Before the remodelling the westbound would have been held in the loop outside the station, and probably would have delayed both trains.

 

[Highlandspring]

^^ It's not really. Lugton or Hilton Jn for me.

If we're talking repeat failures then the regular worst offenders are Dalrymple Jn - Kilkerran track circuits, Lugton - Barrhead block, Inverurie - Insch block, the Motherwell Remotes, Eglinton St track circuits on the Slows and various Far North AOCL+Bs when it's windy. Oh and Girvan, Kilkerran and Barrhill points in the summer. The Newburgh single line certainly has it's moments but has mostly been behaving recently.

 

[Ben.A.98]

There are no major outstanding issues with the new installation between Keith & Inverness at the moment. Now that we're two months in, the equipment has settled down, most minor snags have been fixed and everyone is getting used to working on and around it.

As Highlandspring has said there are other areas of the railway that have a higher fail rate, I expect a number of far north crossing failures tomorrow due to Storm Caroline.