ECML Damaged OHL

[D365]

That somewhere being the ECML more often than not :P

 

[CatfordCat]

More overhead wire problems reported 2321, no FCC trains between Peterborough and Biggleswade...

 

[Chris M]

More overhead wire problems reported 2321, no FCC trains between Peterborough and Biggleswade...

A friend is caught in that, East Coast have organised taxis Peterborough to London - but the taxi he's in has broken down on the motorway...

 

[ModernRailways]

I've been told by a driver at FCC that the overhead lines have been brought down by a 91 and apparently it is a right mess with tomorrow morning likely to have severe disruption. The 2200 service to Newcastle has been routed via Cambridge.

 

[EM2]

I'm hearing reports of buses Biggleswade - Peterborough tomorrow (today) morning.
EDIT - now confirmed.

 

[Class377/5]

I'm hearing reports of buses Biggleswade - Peterborough tomorrow (today) morning.
EDIT - now confirmed.

Fully railway expected back Friday morning.

 

[A-driver]

All 4 lines have had the wires ripped down at barford. A 91 pulled them down then the 2146 up service from peterbourgh to the cross was asked to examine then from the up slow which still had power but as he approached he lost his pan to. Lots if stock trapped north in the nene to plus lots if drivers trapped/delayed on the way into work so gonna be a fun rush hour all over!

They were hoping to get some lines opened at least by 0930 today but that seems to have now been put back.

Another to add to my list from yesterday!

 

[Skimble19]

Trains are apparently running between Biggleswade and London, with all Peterborough trains turning back there. Replacement coaches between Biggleswade and Peterborough, although according to Look East one has apparently had a slight mishap..

 

[gazthomas]

Why not divert via Cambridge?

 

[stut]

Trains are indeed running from BIW (I'm on a pretty lightly loaded 07:45 right now) - but it's the semi-fasts only for now. The team at BIW doing a great job of helping people out, I must say!

 

[Oswyntail]

Why not divert via Cambridge?

Passengers on the 07:40 ex Leeds have been told they are diverting via Cambridge, and will arrive in London about 2 hours late. IIRC, this is the HST from Harrogate. The 07:00 and 07:15 had been cancelled, and Mrs O seemed to be better informed than most of the station staff at Leeds, having been updated regularly from here. Thanks

 

[yorksrob]

The disruption made the Today programme this morning with many overnighting at Kings. Cross.

 

[crewmeal]

BBC Breakfast saying that lines will be fixed by 'at least 09.30' They didn't say which day!

 

[Failed Unit]

In this day and age of "blame railway" who will all these delay minutes go towards? Network rail or East Coast? (Assuming of cause they can prove it was the 91s fault that brought them down rather than it was the first train over a damaged section)

 

[oversteer]

How does a pantograph actually bring the wires down?

 

[Retorus]

To be technical I think it snags on a dangly bit.

 

[crewmeal]

If East Coast 91 sets operate on the WCML, would they bring down the wires? If so surely there is a problem with the locos. If not then there is a problem with the wires.

 

[MCW]

EMT and XC are accepting east coast tickets, so in theory people can use the mml as well if they catch a Stansted to brum XC service as far as Leicester from Peterborough.

 

[crispy1978]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-21516102

The BBC website reports on "stranded" passengers - obviously not forced to be totally unbiased, but even so it does seem a long time to arrange replacement transport?

Major delays on London and Peterborough East Coast line

Passengers on the East Coast main line are facing major delays between London and Peterborough.

About 200 travellers were left stranded at London's King's Cross station overnight after the last train to Leeds was cancelled.

One passenger said they were put on a coach to Peterborough at 03:40 GMT but it was involved in a minor accident in Huntingdon.

The problems have been caused by power lines in St Neots, Cambridgeshire.

The line is the main link between London and Edinburgh and also serves major cities in Yorkshire.

East Coast Trains say no services are running between London and Peterborough and they are looking to bring in buses. Limited services are expected to return after 09:30 GMT.

Network Rail said all four lines between Biggleswade and Peterborough are blocked but it hopes re-open two of them by noon.

First Capital Connect say buses are replacing trains in this area and are warning that journey times could be extended by an hour.

A nightmare

It is thought many of the passengers stranded overnight had been to the Arsenal's Champions League game against Bayern Munich at the Emirates Stadium in north London.

Jonathan Selwyn said his family got on the 23:30 GMT train at King's Cross and were kept on for about four hours with no information, when they were put on a coach to Peterborough.

"We were heading up the motorway and found ourselves careering through the central reservation," he said.

"I'm here with my 12-year-old son, my 15-year-old son, my wife and 80-year-old mother. It's bit of a nightmare."

Mike Manning had been to the Millwall v Peterborough football match and was also kept on the 23:30 train for several hours before getting on the coach which crashed.

He said: "The coached started rattling, I thought it was going to tilt over but fortunately everyone is safe."

Everyone on the coach got off at about 05:00 GMT and were kept in a lay-by until another replacement bus came to take them to Peterborough.

 

[Aictos]

Fully railway expected back Friday morning.

Great, if that means buses tomorrow then it's a longer trip to work

Looks like 1km of overheads have come down with a diesel only railway until end of service today.

 

[LexyBoy]

This eletrification thing sounds so great. I'm so glad we are spending billions introducing it to the rest of the network whilst increasing ticket prices to pay for it Hardly a week goes by without the OHLE coming down somewhere. on the ECML

fixed that for you

Don't forget though that we're getting bi-modes which will be unaffected by the lack of electricity. (we'll keep quiet about the wires everywhere thing, and the EMUs stuck up ahead )

 

[A-driver]

Why not divert via Cambridge?

East coast drivers don't sign Cambridge so would need to be conducted by freight/FCC/grand central/XC/hull trains. Takes a while to sort that kind if double manning out.

As for how a pan brings the wires down-don't know if that's exactly what happened here-they will investigate the cause, but it can happen-an object (branch etc) can get stuck in the overheads and tangled round the pan, a loose dropper can get tangled up, a defective pan can damage the wires etc.

 

[The 39 Steps]

When trains arrive into Biggleswade from Kings Cross are they departing south from platforms 3 or 4 or are they doing an empty shunt across to platforms 1 or 2?

 

[A-driver]

When trains arrive into Biggleswade from Kings Cross are they departing south from platforms 3 or 4 or are they doing an empty shunt across to platforms 1 or 2?

Empty shunt to the up slow. They will very rarely allow a train to run under a ground position light with passengers-even less so as you can't see that signal from the platform.

 

[The 39 Steps]

Empty shunt to the up slow. They will very rarely allow a train to run under a ground position light with passengers-even less so as you can't see that signal from the platform.

Many thanks for your speedy reply.

 

[Failed Unit]

How does a pantograph actually bring the wires down?

Added to other reasons already mentioned loss of the carbon head and lack of friction. If that happened it could be a fault further down the line that caused the loss of carbon. Hence my viewpoint in i suspect finding the route cause nearly impossible. It was emus involved at Hitchin, so I don't think that either the locos or EMUs are more common to cause the damage.

 

[A-driver]

Many thanks for your speedy reply.

Ignore what I said-they have now changed it as its a long term thing-all points are now clipped to starting back from the down with passengers. Was changed about an hour ago.

 

[MCW]

Shame they can't drag them on thunderbirds....

 

[philjo]

The FCC Cambridge branch services appeared to be running fairly normally this morning though my train was 4 coaches instead of 8 as there is a shortage of units due to the trains in the sidings at Peterborough unable to get past the line blockage.

I saw one EC HST going North at Wymondley around 7:30

 

[38Cto15E]

Wires down again, bus alternatives crashing, taxis breaking down, what a fiasco, commiserations to anyone caught up in all of this.

The ECML seems to have a large number of 'wires down' problems, I cannot recall too many 'wires down' probs on HS1 or Eurostar, does the ECML system need upgrading to 21st century standards?