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Elizabeth Line now has most cancellations

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Taunton

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Do other trains break down as much as these? One broken down train yesterday caused so much havoc normal service hadn't resumed until the late afternoon

When I used to get the central line every day I honestly can't remember being stuck in a tunnel for half an hour due to a train in front breaking down but it happens almost daily for the Liz
You are indeed correct. I can remember a few odd issues on the Tube, but have had more significant breakdowns on the Liz, in 12 months, than previously on the Tube in my total experience.

What seems to be needed is an analysis of the "breakdowns". Number 1 is the problem with trains failing to make the transition from one signalling system to another at the intermediate points. It is surely well known that transitions of signalling, or of current supply, are far and away a key cause of unreliability. It happened with power on the GN electrics at Drayton Park in the 1970s, with Thameslink at Farringdon in the 2000s, and now with signalling systems on the Liz. So, firstly, don't design such changeovers of key items. Don't. Don't. Don't. But if they are really forced on you, select a station to do it where you have two parallel tracks, ideally an island platform, where if one train fails to do this (because it always seems to be train based rather than fundamentals) the subsequent ones can be routed round. One very much hopes the Paddington changeover can be moved out to Old Oak, and the new station there has island platforms which allow such resilience. Because whatever your brilliant engineers tell you, THESE THINGS HAPPEN.

The RER in Paris, on the North-South line B, does just this change, from 1.5kV DC to 25kV AC, right in the middle of Paris. Guess what, they have two platforms each way at the changeover station.

Longtime railway author Cecil J Allen took a pioneer TEE train in the 1960s, in the cab, from Paris to Zurich. After Dijon it changed from 1.5kV DC to 15kVAC. Guess what, it didn't work, and they coasted along, fortunately downhill, while the inspectors accompanying him struggled with the technics until it was fixed. Don't change your fundamental systems at a critical point. Don't. Don't. Don't. Are you listening, Mr Howard Smith, CEO of the Liz, decent chap, who must be tearing his hair out at the issues.
 
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