Gas leak at Didcot 23/09/26

[halfajob]

Carnage this evening at Paddington following a gas leak at Didcot which will affect the running of trains throughout tonight and into Wednesday. Customers for Oxford were advised to travel on Chiltern trains and those trying to get to Cheltenham to travel via Birmingham.

A do not travel warning has been put in place.

DO NOT TRAVEL: Passengers urged not to travel between Reading and Swindon tomorrow as gas leak causes major disruption

Passengers are being urged not to travel between Reading and Swindon on Wednesday 23 September as a gas leak close to railway land in the Didcot area is expected to cause severe disruption throughout the day.

www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk

 

[mrmartin]

Yes was caught up in this, surprised I didn't see a thread.

Ended up getting to reading on EL by luck (normally would change to GWR but was feeling lazy).

I did see they had a diverted train going to Bristol but by the time I figured this out it had left (wasn't on any of the boards).

Ended up managing to get back to South Wales via Bath Spa changing for the Portsmouth trains.

I get the impression most of the staff expected it to be called off as a semi-false alarm and service resumed quickly (GWR initially said it would clear by 1800, which was hopelessly optimistic).

Also shout out to the woman at the gates at Newport who didn't open them, AND the barriers are set to eat paper tickets. Think a bit of common sense would be to open the gates late at night after catastrophic disruption if the barriers are set to eat tickets.

 

[crablab]

NRE travel advice does not mention the recent crosss-TOC ticket acceptance and re-routing changes, although the guidance is otherwise pretty comprehensive.

CrossCountry customer advice for today:

You may use your ticket on the following services at no extra cost:

Between Manchester / Birmingham and Reading / Southampton / Bournemouth via London:

Avanti West Coast services between London Euston and Birmingham New Street / Manchester Piccadilly

Chiltern Railways services between London Marylebone and Birmingham Moor Street

Great Western Railway services between London Paddington and Reading / Oxford

London Underground services between London Terminals. Please show your ticket to gateline staff on the Underground to be allowed through the ticket gates

South Western Railway services between London Waterloo and Bournemouth



Between Birmingham and Reading via Oxford:

Alternative CrossCountry services between Birmingham New Street and Worcestershire Parkway

Great Western Railway services between Worcestershire Parkway and Reading

Chiltern Railways services between Birmingham Moor Street and Haddenham & Thame Parkway, and also between Haddenham & Thame Parkway and Oxford


You may also use your ticket on the following operators:

West Midlands Railway services between Coventry and Leamington Spa

Great Western Railway services between Banbury and Didcot Parkway, and also between Reading and Basingstoke

You do not need to amend your ticket to use it on these services.

Rail replacement transport:

Rail replacement transport has been requested to run as follows:

Two coaches will run hourly at XX:20 from 06:20 until 21:20 between Reading and Oxford

Two coaches will run hourly at XX:20 from 07:20 until 23:20 between Oxford and Reading

Other options:

If your CrossCountry train is cancelled, then you can use your ticket on the two CrossCountry services operating before and the two CrossCountry services after your cancelled service

Unfortunately, any seat reservations will not be carried over, but coaches B, H and L are the unreserved coaches on CrossCountry services where available, so please head to them.

If you decide to travel from a different station due to this disruption and need to return to that station later, you will also be able to use your existing ticket to do this at no extra cost
Great Western Railway customer advice for today:

Some services running between London Paddington / Reading and Exeter / Plymouth will call additionally at Westbury, allowing connections to Bath Spa, Chippenham, Swindon and south Wales.

You may use your ticket on the following services at no extra cost:

Avanti West Coast between London Euston and Birmingham New Street

Chiltern Railways between London Marylebone and Oxford

CrossCountry between Cardiff / Newport (South Wales) / Bristol Temple Meads / Bristol Parkway / Gloucester / Cheltenham Spa and Birmingham New Street

London Underground between London Marylebone and London Paddington

South Western Railway between London Waterloo and Salisbury. This allows you to connect on to services that go to Bath Spa, Bristol, Newport (South Wales) and Cardiff

West Midlands Railway between Hereford / Worcester Shrub Hill / Worcester Foregate Street and Birmingham New Street

Your ticket can be used at no extra cost on the following bus routes:

Reading Buses route sky blue 16 between Reading (Station Road), Reading West (Oxford Road) and Tilehurst (Kentwood Circle)

Stagecoach Buses route S6 between Swindon (Fleming Way) and Oxford (Osney Island, near the station)

Thames Travel routes:

X34: Newbury (Wharf), Didcot Parkway (Station)

X40: Oxford (Westgate), Reading (Northern Interchange / Station Road)

Replacement transport in the form of coaches and minibuses have been requested. A limited number will operate where possible.

If your train is cancelled, you may travel on either of the two services before, or two services after, your original train. If these are peak services or less flexible, you can still travel with your original ticket, at no extra cost.

You may wish to consider postponing your journey until service on this line returns to normal.

Incident: Didcot Parkway | National Rail

No trains between Oxford / Didcot Parkway and Reading: major disruption is expected until at least the end of the day . Find details of all current incidents on National Rail Enquiries.

www.nationalrail.co.uk

The gas leak must be pretty substantial to warrant this level of response - are there any more details on where that originates from?

 

[davews]

As posted over at WNXX:

It’s on the site of the old gasometer in Didcot itself which was demolished a few years ago. Now, it’s a building site for a remote storage and a new Lidl store and the old main was cut into. Yes, It’s next to the railway line. The roads have not been closed and all seems to be running normally with the exception of the railway. I’m guessing a spark from the overhead might not be ideal in such situations.

 

[TastyMaltesers]

Disruption is now expected to last until at least the end of the day today as well.

 

[EbbwJunction1]

I'm working at Didcot Railway Centre today, and will have to go via Bristol Temple Meads, which will involve a lengthy delay there.

 

[TastyMaltesers]

I'm working at Didcot Railway Centre today, and will have to go via Bristol Temple Meads, which will involve a lengthy delay there.

That's rough, plus most trains from Bristol TM are also being diverted to avoid Didcot...

 

[Falcon1200]

I'm sure we have discussed the problem of gas leaks affecting the railway before! Is the main danger not when gas is concentrated, ie inside rather than dispersing in the open air? And if the risk is considered to be sparks from the overheads, switch the power off and run on diesel through Didcot - The only services then affected would be the Class 387 operated stoppers. But this will surely have been considered so there must be issues we are unaware of.

 

[WelshBluebird]

Some very uncomfortable journeys today with essentially four trains per hour between bristol (temple meads and parkway) to Paddington being dropped to one.

Fair play to GWR for keeping things moving with that diverted train, the parkway trains headed to temple meads to connect and a shuttle between Bristol and Didcot.

Though I do wish info being given out via apps etc was better. E.g. making it clear if First class is declassified (which I think it is for the 7.30 service from BRI that I am on anyway), or even just stating in plain English that parkway to Paddington services are going to temple meads and to change there for london services (the on train announcements have been great around that, but the online info is less clear).

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: Today at 08:11 ==

That's rough, plus most trains from Bristol TM are also being diverted to avoid Didcot...

They are doing hourly bristol to Didcot shuttles calling at bath, Chippenham and Swindon at least.

 

[sammyg901]

Was supposed to be going out of Bicester Village but after my last uncomfortable journey due to Oxford disruption I diverted myself to Aylesbury instead! Looks like Chiltern have managed to add some capacity this morning

 

[Horizon22]

Elizabeth line this morning was absolutely rammed from Slough onwards. GWR were starting some Thames Valley services from Reading but also some cancelled.

 

[saismee]

Also shout out to the woman at the gates at Newport who didn't open them, AND the barriers are set to eat paper tickets. Think a bit of common sense would be to open the gates late at night after catastrophic disruption if the barriers are set to eat tickets.

It depends who is managing and/or supervising at the time. Some managers prefer to prioritise the DfT stats over the actual customer experience, while some actually take pride in delivering a good service.

You also cannot set the gates to return tickets as far as I am aware, or at least we don't get trained on how to. You can set them to "Accept All" which will return them, but again we aren't trained on how to, and some staff probably don't even know the passcode for it.

I can tell you from personal experience, some of my supervisors will leave me to operate the gates normally, some (well, one) will be disrespectful if you hint at the idea of opening them, and some will proactively pull me away to help out with buses/taxis/etc.

 

[55002]

Is it to the east of Didcot? As I notice a couple of freight gone round the curve onto and off the GWML

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Was supposed to be going out of Bicester Village but after my last uncomfortable journey due to Oxford disruption I diverted myself to Aylesbury instead! Looks like Chiltern have managed to add some capacity this morning

I’m also heading there today from Worcester. Not wanting to endure GWR or Oxford, I’m going via B’ham Moor St.

 

[Goldfish62]

Is it to the east of Didcot? As I notice a couple of freight gone round the curve onto and off the GWML

Yes, it's just to the west of Tesco where the roundabout and railway bridge are.

 

[800301]

Is it to the east of Didcot? As I notice a couple of freight gone round the curve onto and off the GWML

A medium volume gas main in the vicinity of Abingdon Road has been ruptured, as such a 60m cordon has been put in place which unfortunately includes the railway, Foxhall is still fine to use

 

[55002]

Yes, it's just to the west of Tesco where the roundabout and railway bridge are.

Ah I see it on google maps..thanks

 

[WillC]

I'm sure we have discussed the problem of gas leaks affecting the railway before! Is the main danger not when gas is concentrated, ie inside rather than dispersing in the open air? And if the risk is considered to be sparks from the overheads, switch the power off and run on diesel through Didcot - The only services then affected would be the Class 387 operated stoppers. But this will surely have been considered so there must be issues we are unaware of.

Concentrated gas burns (bad), gas diffused in air can explode (potentially catastrophic).

 

[cce]

What's the diversionary route for Bristol services please?

 

[John Webb]

I'm sure we have discussed the problem of gas leaks affecting the railway before! Is the main danger not when gas is concentrated, ie inside rather than dispersing in the open air? And if the risk is considered to be sparks from the overheads, switch the power off and run on diesel through Didcot - The only services then affected would be the Class 387 operated stoppers. But this will surely have been considered so there must be issues we are unaware of.

Concentrated gas burns (bad), gas diffused in air can explode (potentially catastrophic).

Another problem is that if an internal combustion engine operates in a area where gas is present, it is taking in extra fuel - I have in the past read reports of gas-powered factory forklift trucks and other equipment springing a leak, the engine takes in the extra fuel and runs away leading to explosions and fires. (Although I appreciate that a train already on the move would presumably move out of the affected area.)

 

[mickey]

What's the diversionary route for Bristol services please?

Presumably via Pewsey and Westbury. Pretty standard when Uffington is closed.

 

[halfajob]

Presumably via Pewsey and Westbury. Pretty standard when Uffington is closed.

Confirmed. It's round the B&H which is all good until you're stuck behind a freight!

 

[mrmartin]

It depends who is managing and/or supervising at the time. Some managers prefer to prioritise the DfT stats over the actual customer experience, while some actually take pride in delivering a good service.

You also cannot set the gates to return tickets as far as I am aware, or at least we don't get trained on how to. You can set them to "Accept All" which will return them, but again we aren't trained on how to, and some staff probably don't even know the passcode for it.

I can tell you from personal experience, some of my supervisors will leave me to operate the gates normally, some (well, one) will be disrespectful if you hint at the idea of opening them, and some will proactively pull me away to help out with buses/taxis/etc.

Yeah I understand, l could be misremembering but I am pretty sure the vast majority of times the gates are open at nearly 11pm normally at Newport and it was a surprise to see them closed at all - especially in disruption!

 

[TastyMaltesers]

I've been told that this disruption could last until Friday, yikes!

 

[zwk500]

I've been told that this disruption could last until Friday, yikes!

That's a lot of gas being lost!

 

[Dr Hoo]

That's a lot of gas being lost!

Better safe than sorry. Wasn’t there an incident in Russia when two electric trains ran into a gas cloud from a leaking pipeline near the Trans-Siberian? The explosion killed around 575 people.

 

[mickey]

I've been told that this disruption could last until Friday, yikes!

Urgh that’s annoying, I had plans to be in Didcot both today and Friday, and Oxford on Sat! Coming on top of the fire and other recent dramas on the GWML it’s a really tough time for commuters in these parts.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

I'm sure we have discussed the problem of gas leaks affecting the railway before! Is the main danger not when gas is concentrated, ie inside rather than dispersing in the open air? And if the risk is considered to be sparks from the overheads, switch the power off and run on diesel through Didcot - The only services then affected would be the Class 387 operated stoppers. But this will surely have been considered so there must be issues we are unaware of.

Apart from the issues mentioned in #18 and #20 above...

Brakes can spark.

Diesel exhaust systems are rather hot, and it's not unknown for unburnt fuel to ignite in exhaust outlets.


There's also the risk of an explosion being triggered from any other source within the leak area just as a train is passing the affected area.

 

[The Chimaera]

Have read on internal coms that a 10’’ gas main has a 12’’ hole put in it and it is venting towards the railway. It’s unable to be isolated and repairs could take up to two days. I don’t think you could blame NR for being over cautious about this event. We shall see how quickly the repair can be achieved but that is down to the gas supplier.

 

[moogal]

A friend is supposed to be travelling from Reading to Cardiff tomorrow and is very worried about this. Are there any alternative routes he could try? National Rail Enquiries journey planner is extremely unhelpful as it just lists all the cancelled services.