Dullingham... small box, regular annoyance...

[suffolk_lp3]

My usual commute from Thurston to Cambridge usually passes off without any drama or incident, as the GA 170's go from A-B without too much effort.

Now the trains are fine, but recently it seems the signalling between Cambridge and Chippenham Junction (between Newmarket/Kennett) seems to be going awfully squiffy on a increasingly regular occurance.

A quick scan on Twitter + personal experience highlights signalling issues at Dullingham:
This afternoon, 5th July, 4th July, 1st July, 25th June, 8th June, 3rd June etc. (sometimes affecting just a few trains, sometimes continuing for a few hours)

Personal experience means it causes the train sometimes to stop at Dullingham (when not booked) and going awfully slowly until near Kennett. Thankfully I haven't been on a train diverted to Ely instead of Cambridge yet...

Is this a repetition of a same fault, or is there more to it than that? Just baffles me slightly (and I'm the first to admit I'm no S&T techie) something has been going wrong on such a regular basis.

 

[dk1]

Absolutely nothing to do with 'recent occurrence'. This section of signalling has been a pain for years & years. Even when working at Crown Pt back in the mid 90s I used to ask why the Control log always shew signalling probs Dullingham to Cambridge. Still the same today only it occurs on a very slightly less frequency even though the train service & usage has gone from strength to strength.

 

[Bald Rick]

Two regular problems at Dullingham:

1) the gate locks on the LC not engaging - usually in hot weather

2) the single line control being 'lost' between Dulligham and Chippenham Jn, with modified working implemented. If you were slow bwetween these two places then that was the problem.

 

[Sleepy]

:cry: Sounds as good as Norwich - Ely with crossing staff replaced by obstacle detectors that fail several times a week ! GA must be coining it in from Notwork Rail ??

 

[michael769]

Both sound like candidates for improvement plans.

 

[YorkshireBear]

Both sound like candidates for improvement plans.

Norwich Ely has been improved by new modular signalling (see modern railways July 2013)

 

[Tomnick]

Perhaps an improvement as far as operating costs are concerned, but I doubt the TOCs and their passengers see it in quite the same light.

 

[YorkshireBear]

Apprently it is more reliable except for the crossings.

 

[Sidious]

Apprently it is more reliable except for the crossings.

That's OK then!

 

[Tomnick]

Apprently it is more reliable except for the crossings.

I don't think there were many reliability problems in the days of mechanical signalling! Even if there were, the seemingly continual OD problems must have offset those many times over.

 

[a good off]

Apprently it is more reliable except for the crossings.

Has that article been written by the NR press department??

 

[dk1]

Has that article been written by the NR press department??

As somebody driving over it almost daily, i thought that too. To be fair though, the OD covers seem to have helped but then this is Summer.