Ashford fire 20/12/18

[telstarbox]

According to reports on Twitter and announcements from my driver, there is a fire at Ashford ROC so all signals in Kent have reverted to danger.

A fire and incident being attended to by emergency services. A signal box has been evacuated and electricity is OFF on all lines in the area. The outlaying problem of this will knock onto ALL services in/out London. Follow this thread for updates.

 

[MikeWh]

Just spoken to brad465 whose stuck on a train at Northfleet. There's a fire in a substation which has resulted in Ashford signal box being evacuated. Thus trains in most of Kent are at a standstill.

 

[bionic]

Apparently a fire in Goddington substation has got out of control and Ashford ASC has been evacuated. All trains under the box's jurisdiction are being held.

 

[KingJ]

Via Southeastern's twitter. Very wide disruption!

https://twitter.com/Se_Railway/status/1075872186945155072

See attached snip for services this is currently affecting. Please avoid traveling if possible. Apologies if we cannot reply to all tweets at present but please follow this thread for the latest information and updates.

 

[londonmidland]

Looks like all South Eastern services out of London are affected following the signal box having been evacuated and the electricity supplied turned off.

 

[yorksrob]

Stuck in Maidstone East at present. Will see what happens

 

[LAX54]

Looks quite serious, two separate incidents, smoke as said, at the IECC, but a sub station fire with injuries at another location

 

[yorksrob]

Out of interest, are HS services affected as well ?

 

[Andrew S]

Signalling staff are apparently being allowed back in now so movement may resume gradually soon.

 

[JN114]

Out of interest, are HS services affected as well ?

HS1 signallers are in the same room
as the 5 “main” Ashford IECC Workstations and the 2 “North Kent” Workstations.

 

[KingJ]

Signalling staff are apparently being allowed back in now so movement may resume gradually soon.

Looks like a number of services across Kent are back on the move, but nothing around Ashford itself. Presumably although signalling is back, track power in the area is still off?

 

[MotCO]

Trains now seem to be moving after a delay of around 70 minutes (source - RTT)

 

[yorksrob]

HS1 signallers are in the same room
as the 5 “main” Ashford IECC Workstations and the 2 “North Kent” Workstations.

Cheets for the info.

 

[TheEdge]

Is this the first (probably of many) mass disruptions due to a fire directly impacting a ROC?

 

[JN114]

Is this the first (probably of many) mass disruptions due to a fire directly impacting a ROC?

No, it isn’t.

 

[voyagerdude220]

Is this the first (probably of many) mass disruptions due to a fire directly impacting a ROC?

There was one in September at Rugby ROC

https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/rugby-roc-evacuated-18-09-18-evening.169945/

It caused some rather long delays to a number of services at the time.

 

[jnjkerbin]

Network Rail have shared some more details

There was a major incident at Godinton substation near Ashford at 8.30pm last night in which one of our engineers sustained severe injuries. The incident and subsequent fire meant trains couldn’t draw power between Ashford and Staplehurst.
Once firefighters had dealt with the fire, our engineers worked through the night to repair the damaged cables and get lines reopened by 4am. We're very sorry for the disruption and would advise passengers to check with our colleagues at @Se_Railway before you travel.
As a result of the incident and power surge, smoke forced the evacuation at 21.25 of our signalling box at Ashford, which then impacted other lines. Staff were able to return to the box once the smoke had cleared at 22:45.

 

[Antman]

Network Rail have shared some more details

First and foremost best wishes to the injured engineer.

Disruption expected until 17.00.

 

[nom de guerre]

Is this the first (probably of many) mass disruptions due to a fire directly impacting a ROC?

Ashford isn’t a ROC.

 

[LAX54]

Ashford isn’t a ROC.

Tiz an IECC

 

[LAX54]

First and foremost best wishes to the injured engineer.

Disruption expected until 17.00.

Severe burns I hear lets hope he recovers well.

 

[nom de guerre]

Tiz an IECC

Exactamundo.

And IECC evacuations have been happening since the late 1980s...

 

[Trainfan344]

We had York ROC die in July. Lost all of the signalling in Yorkshire.

 

[DarloRich]

Network Rail have shared some more details

The most important point here is that someone was inured.

 

[John Bray]

SE have just rejected my delay repay claim, as after their "tickets valid on other routes" tannoy message I went from LBG to Orpington via Victoria, with hour+ delay, but they say a train left London Bridge after I'd bailed. As I'm not psychic, I'm appealing, and will take it to the ombundsman.

 

[Surreytraveller]

SE have just rejected my delay repay claim, as after their "tickets valid on other routes" tannoy message I went from LBG to Orpington via Victoria, with hour+ delay, but they say a train left London Bridge after I'd bailed. As I'm not psychic, I'm appealing, and will take it to the ombundsman.

You really would think that anyone travelling that evening would just be automatically paid out!

 

[Elecman]

I had a similar issue with Virgin after the Wembley debacle last year, rejected as the train apparently left around 35 minutes late after telling everyone no trains and to travel via Marylebone. I emailed them back pointing that out again ( was mentioned in the original claim email) and they then paid out within a week.

 

[telstarbox]

You really would think that anyone travelling that evening would just be automatically paid out!

Mine's just been paid out from that day. According to RTT the train did eventually complete its journey (more than an hour down), but I didn't want to risk getting stranded overnight so I cycled home and put "Journey Abandoned" on the Delay Repay form.

 

[FlippyFF]

You really would think that anyone travelling that evening would just be automatically paid out!

The following day they were giving out complimentary £3 Costa Coffee gift cards at St Pancras - result for me as I didn't even travel on the affected day.