Broken Down Train on the ECML (12 December)

[thetangoman]

Just read on the EastCoast website that there are a few delays caused by a broken down train between Darlington & York. Does ayone know what train caused this?

Cheers
Russell

 

[455driver]

Possibly 6Z21 1506 Butterwell (Dcr) to Kellingley Colliery (Flhh) which lost 111 minutes between Darlington and Northallerton-

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/R79433/2013/12/12/advanced

 

[attics26]

yup that was the cause lost all power had to wait for thunderbird which obviously got caught up in queue waiting for slw - twas great fun (unless you wanted to actually travel anywhere)

 

[YorkshireBear]

I think we are starting to get to the stage where we need more thunderbirds positioned around the country to be honest. It takes far too long to rescue a stranded train. I am aware that we don't have as many depots anymore and this is going to be a problem i just honestly think we should look at ways of speeding up recovery time.

 

[attics26]

but freight trains always come to a halt on 2 track sections never 4 so a thunderbird for every 2 track section would be somewhat expensive, indeed mebbe cheaper to 4 track everywhere - and I still believe in Santa Claus

 

[CockneySparrow]

I think we are starting to get to the stage where we need more thunderbirds positioned around the country to be honest. It takes far too long to rescue a stranded train. I am aware that we don't have as many depots anymore and this is going to be a problem i just honestly think we should look at ways of speeding up recovery time.

How about measures are put in place to reduce the failures such as fix them

 

[Sleepy]

GA Have decided not to have thunderbird cover at Colchester any more ???

 

[YorkshireBear]

How about measures are put in place to reduce the failures such as fix them

I agree.

Not for every two track section but would it hurt to have one at Darlington considering how much trouble a broken train between Newcastle and Northallerton causes.

But my secondary point still stands, we should look into making recovery time quicker. I know there are problems and costs involved but broken down freight trains especially are common. If reliability can be improved enough then it wouldn't be cost effective but at some point it becomes cost effective to have more Thunderbirds.

 

[Tetchytyke]

I'd completely agree- we need more Thunderbirds. Getting rid of them is a false economy- the delay minutes bill for this will be eye-watering- and even the best maintained trains break down. Leaving aside the freight, given the 91s' tendency to sit down and have a strop, it makes sense to have more than a 67 at Newcastle.

IIRC that freight train is normally a Class 60, which probably explains a lot.

 

[sprinterguy]

IIRC that freight train is normally a Class 60, which probably explains a lot.

6Z21 is operated by DCR using a class 56 for traction.

Unfortunately quite a few of the recent failures of freight trains appear to have involved class 56 locos. No reports of 60s causing major issues in recent times AFAIK.

 

[YorkshireBear]

The new 60s seem to be fairly reliable actually!

 

[dk1]

GA Have decided not to have thunderbird cover at Colchester any more ???

That's because our trains never break down anymore. Oh hang on...

...Let's not mention 90001 on the 07.00 Nrw-Lst this morning & the ensuing chaos & that was within spitting distance of Crown Point. Not helped by signalling probs I will add.

 

[High Dyke]

That's because our trains never break down anymore. Oh hang on...

...Let's not mention 90001 on the 07.00 Nrw-Lst this morning & the ensuing chaos & that was within spitting distance of Crown Point. Not helped by signalling probs I will add.

In the old days...the station pilot would've been commandeered to recover the train to the station, or the nearest available loco would be utilised. However with this fragmented system we have the situation has changed. I know a couple of times where a freight loco has been allowed to recover a failed passenger service, but 'head in the sand' mode from the TOC is commonly more the norm. In some cases it may just be that the next passenger service in the same direction will be the train that recovers a failure (usually more common on local, less well used routes.

Some of the delays that occur during a failure are finding sufficient Network Rail staff for responding. A Mobile Ops Manager (the first responder in such circumstances) may be many miles from the problem or otherwise occupied. In the case of simple single line working it may need a miniumum of 4 staff to facilitate.

 

[Aictos]

I've known of one delay when a train perfectly able to assist a failed train took 5+ hours to clear the line simply because a catalogue of cockups ranging from head in the sand to not bringing the correct equipment in fact I'm sure Monty Python could not have done a better job if they tried :roll: