Disruption management

[GordonT]

How well or how badly do other countries mitigate the effects of and recover from disruption caused by failures of traction, infrastucture etc? Been many years since I've visited Switzerland but at one time it was as if all their key rail traffic locations had lots of spare rolling stock and staff hanging on hooks in the back shop for the odd occasion when an opportunity to react instantly to an unplanned occurrence presented itself.

 

[Segedunum]

I remember being in the Czech Republic when a fatality had occurred on one of the 'slow' lines on the mainline out of Prague towards Kolin/Pardubice and beyond.

They didn't even stop the job and just closed the track on which it had happened. As a result, we were stopped for around five minutes then everything resumed with delays pretty quickly. A bit of slow running through the affected area, which was somewhat harrowing seeing the incident site, then back to linespeed.

I'm not saying this is the 'right' or 'wrong' approach, but certainly different to the UK. It was more about keeping everything running to where it should be, even of it resulted in some congestion buildup

 

[Austriantrain]

How well or how badly do other countries mitigate the effects of and recover from disruption caused by failures of traction, infrastucture etc? Been many years since I've visited Switzerland but at one time it was as if all their key rail traffic locations had lots of spare rolling stock and staff hanging on hooks in the back shop for the odd occasion when an opportunity to react instantly to an unplanned occurrence presented itself.

In Austria, not so well anymore. As everywhere, rules have been tightened so e.g. after a suicide the line will be closed for longer than used to be the case and trains pile up (they will turn around early if possible and useful, but that will not be feasible in all cases). The same happens in those not so rare cases where signaling is down, usually due to an issue at some electronic interlocking. Everything just stands (obviously) and waits.

For longer disruptions, they will try to organize RRBs, but it is also difficult to find them rapidly and in large numbers.

Diversions are rare - Austria doesn’t have that many mainlines so a diversion means diverting through half of the country over much slower lines and the time penalty is huge. On some very heavily-trafficked days (start of holiday e.g.) some diversions might take place. There is one exception though: the German „corridor line“ from Salzburg to Kufstein often has issues and „corridor trains“ from Vienna to the West of Austria are routinely diverted over the „Gisela“ line via Zell am See, incurring a delay of approx 1,5 to two hours.

If there is a train fault, however, ÖBB are quite good at finding replacement stock on short notice (not possible every time of course) and cancellations because of staff issues are extremely rare.

 

[Bletchleyite]

How well or how badly do other countries mitigate the effects of and recover from disruption caused by failures of traction, infrastucture etc? Been many years since I've visited Switzerland but at one time it was as if all their key rail traffic locations had lots of spare rolling stock and staff hanging on hooks in the back shop for the odd occasion when an opportunity to react instantly to an unplanned occurrence presented itself.

Switzerland has a network with high capacity, a lot of bi-directional lines and a relatively leisurely operation with lots of slack. This being the case delays don't often happen "at random" like they do in the "overworked" UK. However, they do keep stock and staff spare on routes where international services come in so they can put one out in its path if it is late, as it's normally those (particularly from Italy) that mess things up.

 

[duesselmartin]

Not much spare stock or capacity in Germany. Rationalisation in the 2000s in the hope of peivatisation still shows its effects today.

 

[DanielB]

How well or how badly do other countries mitigate the effects of and recover from disruption caused by failures of traction, infrastucture etc?

In the Netherlands NS has most options with regards to spare rolling stock and staff, which they do use incidentally to replace defective trains or trains stranded at the wrong side of an incident.
However, the options for mitigating effects have been significantly reduced since ProRail developed a severe allergy for points in recent years. When a train would be stranded somewhere between Amsterdam and Utrecht for example, probably the whole service between Amsterdam and Eindhoven will be affected as there are limited options for reversing trains in Utrecht Central.
Even getting trains to and from the main yard in Utrecht is challenging in between regular service, from some platforms that would even involve passing through the station twice.

Diversions are relatively rare in case of unplanned disruptions. The high frequencies complicate diverting trains, although diverting only the passengers via an alternative route is easier because of the same reason. Most diverted are probably international trains.

The worst options are probably with the regional operators: Qbuzz has only ten trains, Connexxion has only seven. So failure of only one train might already be affecting passengers. That has in the past led to reduced services when too many trains had been involved in collisions for example.
Arriva probably has most options being the largest regional operator. But even they cannot use all their stock on all their lines.

 

[XAM2175]

However, they do keep stock and staff spare on routes where international services come in so they can put one out in its path if it is late, as it's normally those (particularly from Italy) that mess things up.

Not sure if it's still the case, but it was always fun to see an EW II set turn up for a Basel-Zurich-Basel run in place of a delayed DB ICE.

 

[duesselmartin]

The EWii are certainly gone with the delivery of new stock in recent years.
At my last visit at Chiasso, there was no replacement for the delayed Trenitalia service from Milano.
Fascinating how much delays can be accimulated on that short trip in Italy

 

[43096]

Not sure if it's still the case, but it was always fun to see an EW II set turn up for a Basel-Zurich-Basel run in place of a delayed DB ICE.

The last time it happened to me at Basel several years ago when the incoming EC was very late, SBB kicked out a 460 and full EC set with bord restaurant (which was of course open). Much as I like a set of EW I/II stock with an Re4/4II, the 460 was one of my last few required ones, so I was quite happy.