Blackhorse Road incident 15/01/2015

[RJ]

More curious than anything!

I boarded the 18:18 Barking to Gospel Oak today with the intention of changing at Blackhorse Road for the Victoria Line to Euston.

After leaving Walthamstow Queens Road (the stop preceding Blackhorse Road) the driver announced he'd just been informed that an incident of an unspecified nature had occurred at Blackhorse Road and he'd been instructed not to stop there. Despite what RTT (and LDB, Genius Mobile) say, the train did not stop at Blackhorse Road . I thought the station may have been evacuated but no - both platforms were full of bemused looking passengers, with no staff in hi-viz in sight.

I immediately went online to try and find out why - nothing on London Overground, but the Victoria Line was showing as part suspended between Seven Sisters and Walthamstow due to a signal failure at Blackhorse Road. Not an issue for me - I got off at South Tottenham, walked to Seven Sisters and caught the Victoria Line from there. At Seven Sisters, they were announcing that the service was suspended to Walthamstow Central due to a power failure at Blackhorse Road.

So does anyone have any idea what happened at Blackhorse Road - was it an "incident", a "power failure", a "signal failure" or all three? Why was the London Overground told not to stop there when passengers were on the platforms?

 

[CallySleeper]

I understood that the 'signalling failure' occurred on the LUL at Blackhorse Road. Didn't see anything about a power failure. Though they could have been the same thing?

 

[Tubeboy]

According to the Twitter feed of the Goblin user group, fire engines were in attendance at Blackhorse Road.

 

[W230]

Wondered the same. The gf drove past around 19.00hrs and the shutters were closed to the street but when we looked on Tfl it just said signal failure. Thought a bit OTT but none the wiser...

 

[leytongabriel]

I was at Blackhorse Rd at the same time and came off a Victoria line train which was evacuated. The train had been subject to stop/go procedure, especially since Tottenham Hale and we were intially told the delay and slow running was due to a broken down train at Euston before being told of the signal failure.

The underground station was evacuated and passengers on the train told to leave the station. No reason was given and passengers were left waiting on the overground platforms and not evacuated straight away as well, hence the observations above.

 

[Tubeboy]

I've read the report as I'm back at work now. Leytongabriel is correct, there was an ATO issue. There were also power problems at Blackhorse Road, which knocked out the PA system, half of the station lighting, and the CCTV was defective. To make matters worse there was a smell of burning which resulted in the Fire Brigade turning up.

 

[fgwrich]

How strange to happen in most if not all the Blackhorse Road area! An unfortunate series of events or the spirits of one of the nearby burial grounds playing up?!

(That last bit is tongue in cheek, although the Vic does run close to a few historic burial grounds in the North London area)

 

[RJ]

I've read the report as I'm back at work now. Leytongabriel is correct, there was an ATO issue. There were also power problems at Blackhorse Road, which knocked out the PA system, half of the station lighting, and the CCTV was defective. To make matters worse there was a smell of burning which resulted in the Fire Brigade turning up.

Cheers for the info, a most unusual set of circumstances!

I was at Blackhorse Rd at the same time and came off a Victoria line train which was evacuated. The train had been subject to stop/go procedure, especially since Tottenham Hale and we were intially told the delay and slow running was due to a broken down train at Euston before being told of the signal failure.

The underground station was evacuated and passengers on the train told to leave the station. No reason was given and passengers were left waiting on the overground platforms and not evacuated straight away as well, hence the observations above.

Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm curious now as how the evacuation is coordinated in the event the whole station is suddenly closed . I presume the dozens of people on the LO platforms were eventually evacuated as no trains stopped for a couple of hours.