ECML Signal Failure (22/05) - Special Working?

[800Travel]

Of course LNER, TPE and Northern are all DfT Operators already so have the same owner! Crackers that in that situation there's an argument over who pays.

Yep - would’ve hoped a more joined up railway would have avoided situations like this. Even if they just made a note and then sorted it out between themselves after, it does seem bad form to further delay an already heavily delayed customer just to determine which DfT bank account has the taxi fare taken from it

 

[Tomnick]

Do Northern sign Newcastle to York?

It occurred to me whilst stranded in Darlington for the best part of three hours that the local Northern Newcastle to Darlington 158s could have been extended to York.

Everything South of York was fine apparently.

Yes, I know they would have crawled there but it would have been a better plan than e everyone squeezing onto a full and standing LNER service three hours later.

How would that have helped? Emergency Special Working very much restricts the capacity of each line, which is why the service was quickly thinned out. If you can only run a couple of trains per hour, you want to be running 9/10 car trains, not 2 car trains.

 

[MichaelTrains]

How would that have helped? Emergency Special Working very much restricts the capacity of each line, which is why the service was quickly thinned out. If you can only run a couple of trains per hour, you want to be running 9/10 car trains, not 2 car trains.

In the bays at Darlington were two 156s and two 158s plus the 158 from Newcastle.

Just an idea in times like this with trains stuck at Newcastle awaiting crew from the south, why not put a 2 x 156/158 on to York?

There was nothing south of Darlington for nearly three hours.

 

[ainsworth74]

In the bays at Darlington were two 156s and two 158s plus the 158 from Newcastle.

Just an idea in times like this with trains stuck at Newcastle awaiting crew from the south, why not put a 2 x 156/158 on to York?

There was nothing south of Darlington for nearly three hours.

I know exactly what you mean but the issue wasn't a lack of rolling stock and crews (at least not initially, that didn't help towards the very end of the day) but the lack of track capacity due to the signal failure. Even if Northern had drivers and conductors that signed Darlington - York (they do already have some drivers that sign it) they wouldn't have been able to help out last night as there still wouldn't have been the capacity for them to run.

Hence why the priority is given to LNER with their 9-car trains. It makes for an uncomfortable journey but better that everyone can squeeze onboard than are left behind.

 

[Earle Grey]

Chester-le-Street and Yarm usually lose all service the second there’s the slightest bit of disruption on the North TPE route. Whilst Thirsk loses all bar GC.
It’s completely unacceptable when these stations lose all service despite not being in the disruption area - granted Thirsk was last night but the other two weren’t and Chester-le-Street especially should have been easy enough to serve with a shuttle, which would also have kept Newcastle - Durham/Darlington passengers moving too.

Bit difficult to serve Yarm with no ability to turnback from here, which would lead to an "additional service" not booked to call at Eaglescliffe... calling... and shunting to go back to Redcar (?)... when you can argue there is a perfectly good Northern service already on this route which would get the disrupted passengers just as far - without screwing over the rest of the Saltburn/Darlington/Bishop Auckland circuit.

To serve Yarm at the very least would require a move towards Northallerton to then return back - but as per agreed contingency plan 2tph - TPE, along with Cross Country are removed due to capacity restrictions.

At Northallerton you can not depart in passenger service from the Up Platform to Yarm as this would be on GPLs, so would be non passenger move... and no you can not shunt to get onto the Down Platform either via Low Gates, or reverse at Northallerton East Junction or Thirsk... to the limits of the ESW.

As whatever you are doing is bringing an additional train onto York North Workstation Panel, where the signaller is already dealing with all aspects (no pun intended) of this incident from authorising trains movements, to being the point of contact for S&T, MOM(S) and Control... as well as the neighbouring box "wanting the slot".

However in this instance, there was a freight stood (6D43) on the Up between Yarm and Northallerton.


Chester Le Street is though an interesting case, and whilst there was one "additional" working - Darlington to Newcastle, this was aset off a southbound service which couldn't go any further. (9M16>9G16 1740 DAR NCL - in the path of 9E15 stopped at York). What I can't see is what combination of crews, with route knowledge - hours left in their day TPE, would have had at Newcastle to provide/sustain a Chester Le Street service.

 

[Bristol LHS]

Communication from TPE has been dire. They’re advertising replacement road transport from York but staff at York were completely unaware of this, and there was no sign of any buses

I was on the 1648 GC from London. We were told between Doncaster and York that the train was cancelled from York and to find taxis and claim back, then as we approached York Station they announced that ‘thre previous Grand Central service’ had managed to get through the affected area so to stay on the train at York and that they hoped to reinstate it to Sunderland. Then after about ten minutes (during which time the train manager announced that ’our control aren’t answering the phone’) they announced that we were cancelled after all.

I was making my way to the front of the station to find a taxi to Northallerton when they announced there were buses on the forecourt for Thirsk, Northallerton and Thornaby. There were two small unmarked 15 seat minibuses and a larger single decker from York Pullman. I managed to get a seat on a minibus for Thirsk and Northallerton, but this got quite farcical when the A19 was closed west of Easingwold, and we ended up in a queue of traffic on a single track road with an oncoming car that refused to reverse(!) Got back over an hour late and will claim a GC ticket to KX rather than their measly 50% cash delay repay.