Great Northern Disruption on Thursday

[andy33gmail]

Does anyone have any insight into what was going on yesterday? There seemed to be 4 unrelated issues

1. In the morning, there were no trains (except freight) North of Cambridge on the Lynn line, as a result of a person sadly being hit by a train
2. When services were restored, I got a train from Littleport, which without warning stopped at Cambridge, with no announcement. A member of staff then walked down the train kicking everyone off. A station announcement said it was because “the driver was unavailable” but didn’t advise what to do. The dispatcher pointed people to a Thameslink St Pancras train
3. That night, the KGX train was due to terminate at Ely and be replaced with a peasant wagon due to engineering works
4. However, when passing about Cambridge South, the driver made around 12 announcements (some automated) saying he had a cab fault and had to stop. To be fair, the station staff were very efficient organising taxis

I can’t work out if any of these are linked. For example might the driver have continued working after operating the accident train, then decided he couldn’t? Or perhaps all the trains ended up in the wrong place & it made sense for it to turn back to re-jig. Was a defective train rushed into service to replace the incident train?

 

[skyhigh]

For example might the driver have continued working after operating the accident train, then decided he couldn’t?

This would definitely not happen. The driver would be relieved and not continue the shift.

Was a defective train rushed into service to replace the incident train?

If a train was defective, it wouldn't be knowingly put into service. They would just cancel.

 

[zwk500]

I suspect Point 3 is completely unrelated. I also imagine Point 4 is not related but just bad luck. The other week I noted 3 separate failrues the collectively sank the service between Birmingham and London.

Point 2 is likely related to your 2nd suggestion - after the incident everybody was in the wrong place and plans had to be rejigged. It is frustrating especially when no information is available. This happened to me today, travelling from Bristol to Manchester. A signalling failure at King's Norton meant we diverted via Stourbridge, making us about 40 late on arrival. Cue set swaps going on all over New Street with XC trying to juggle the balance of services on their four arms while one of them was badly impacted by the failure.

 

[andy33gmail]

Why would the driver abandon a train without an announcement though? Unless he tried & the intercom was faulty … which ought to be safety critical?

The first I know the train had terminated was another passenger noticing on her phone it was cancelled. The screens on the train also still showed the stops to KGX. At which point I looked & found the guard in the next carriage

This would definitely not happen. The driver would be relieved and not continue the shift.

I imagined that was the default position - rightly so.