Incident on WCML north of Wolverton

[Hellfire]

Being held north of Wolverton on VT northbound service due to "incident on slow line" Anyone have any info?

 

[Zoidberg]

Animals on the line according to a VT Tweet.

Owing to animals on the line between Milton Keynes Central and Rugby trains have to run at reduced speed on all lines.

 

[louis97]

Reports of some trains striking some cows in the Hanslope Junction area.

2Y21 1554 Euston to Birmingham hit a cow apparently, its now blocking the down slow with loss of power. Down fast is now open at line speed, up fast services being cautioned.

 

[martybabes]

2Y21 1554 Euston to Birmingham hit a cow apparently, its (sic) now blocking the down slow with loss of power.

The correct use of English means that the term "its" refers back to the cow. That the cow is now blocking the down slow with loss of power is not surprising if it has just been hit by a train!!!

 

[Zoidberg]

From the National Rail Enquiries website, timed at 17:36:

Animals on the line are causing disruption near Wolverton.

Because of this, there are delays of up to 20 minutes between Milton Keynes Central and Rugby. These delays are expected to last until approximately 19:00.

 

[Hellfire]

It's had a knock on effect further north as now crawling along behind stopper. Scheduled into Preston at 1830 but passing Wigan 1855

 

[ushawk]

This is the second time in a couple of days there has been cows on the line in this area, there surely must be something wrong with the fencing or the cows dont like being in the grass !!

 

[MK Tom]

There certainly have been a fair number of ''bovine incursions'' in the MK-Northampton-Rugby area. I'm sure the endless wall of palisade fencing will arrive before long.

 

[dtaylor84]

The correct use of English means that the terms "its" refers back to the cow. That the cow is now blocking the down slow with loss of power is not surprising if it has just been hit by a train!!!

That's not the correct use of English - that would be "it's".

 

[Zoidberg]

That's not the correct use of English - that would be "it's".

I think that is acknowledged by the use of (sic) in the quote

 

[David57]

Plenty of new fencing going up in the area, miles of it on the WCML around Weedon..

 

[table38]

Oh no, cue a load of cow jokes we've all herd before

 

[Zoidberg]

Oh no, cue a load of cow jokes we've all herd before

What heifer do you mean?

 

[rebmcr]

Are all the lines mooving again now?

 

[MK Tom]

The correct use of English means that the terms "its" refers back to the cow. That the cow is now blocking the down slow with loss of power is not surprising if it has just been hit by a train!!!

Terms plural?

In all seriousness this shouldn't be happening on a line with 125mph tracks, when you consider cows caused a major derailment on the GEML back in 1996.

 

[Hellfire]

This thread has turned into a load of bullocks in my view

 

[Johnuk123]

Terms plural?

In all seriousness this shouldn't be happening on a line with 125mph tracks, when you consider cows caused a major derailment on the GEML back in 1996.

It shouldn't be happening on any line whatever the line speed.

 

[xydancer]

The disruption continued until the early hours of Thursday morning.

I should have been on the 2146 Euston-Long Buckby, but actually got on the delayed 2113 (also scheduled to be a New Street service), which actually left around 2135. We were terminated at Bletchley (lack of a guard) around 2215. A train to Northampton showed up at 2310. At Northampton, the solitary member of staff had to be reminded of the company's responsibility to get people home and 'persauded' in the nicest possible way to arrange taxis for Long Buckby passengers (the last train had left); he certainly wasn't about to offer. I finally got home around 0030, which under the circumstances probably wasn't too bad.

I'm not a railway employee but have enough common sense to realise that of course guards and drivers finish up in the wrong place when things like this happen, and that trains get cancelled or terminated short as a result. And I couldn't help feeling sorry for the staff at Euston who were getting (somewhat understandably) hassled by people wanting to know what they should do, but who seemed to be as much in the dark about things as everyone else. What I do find difficult to accept is the poor management and the lack of information (to satff as well as customers, it seems) as to what happens next. Remember, we are talking four hours plus after the incident here.

Clearly, the guard only knew at the last minute that we were to be stopped short at Bletchley. But no announcements were made on train or at the station about what to do next, when the next train might be due etc etc.

At Bletchley the auto announcements were running - telling us every few minutes that a 19-something to Northampton was delayed! This was 2230 and later, remember. Around 100 people were detrained and there was not a single member of staff around or pertinent announcement. Even a 'please wait and we'll tell you something as soon as we know' would have helped the situation. I know things are automated these days, but surely something or someone should kick in when things go wrong. It was clear nothing was going to run beyond Northampton, which left many people trying to get further north at a complete loss. A simple manual announcement saying to change to a Virgin at MKC was all it needed. It was only when a guard came down for the Northampton train (who was brilliant, by the way; customer service at its best) that people had some idea of what to do.

Those of us travelling to Long Buckby had another wait at Northampton. An enquiry to the one member of staff on duty in the office elicited a big intake of breath, followed by the "the last train has gone." So what do we do now, we asked. "You'll have to get a taxi." No offer to arrange a taxi, note. It was only when actually asked to phone control that he got things moving. Customers should not have to ask that.

Things go wrong. Cows shouldn't get on the line, but these things happen. But as always, what defines a company is the response. Sorry LM, but (with one very notable exception) disappointing.

By the way, and out of interest, when things like this happen, does the TOC or Network Rail have any claim against the farmer? My understanding was that earlier in the week animals broke through a fence. Wednesday, I believe, it was a hedge.

 

[Muzer]

That's pretty awful - though not surprising given my experience with ticket office staff in general. They certainly seemed the worst-trained staff on the railway (not all of them, of course - but you must admit there are plenty of pretty bad ticket office staff).

 

[gordonthemoron]

it would have to happen near cow town. Fortunately my train home from MK last night was Southern

 

[33056]

it would have to happen near cow town. Fortunately my train home from MK last night was Southern

You were lucky it was running, got kicked off my Southern when it was terminated at Watford yesterday afternoon due to some farce with a Pendolino standing on the Up Fast at Leighton Buzzard with a roof hatch open. Think there was only a couple of Southerns affected though as the OHL department were preparing to take an isolation to sort it out just after 15:00.

 

[Tomnick]

By the way, and out of interest, when things like this happen, does the TOC or Network Rail have any claim against the farmer?

No - it's the railway's responsibility to make its fences stockproof.

 

[YorkshireBear]

No - it's the railway's responsibility to make its fences stockproof.

Not in many European countries though :/

 

[gordonthemoron]

Not in many European countries though :/

AFAIR most German rail lines have no fence at all

 

[tsubaki]

AFAIR most German rail lines have no fence at all

if only we cud do the same thing

 

[northern156]

Why can't they just moo-ve the cow out the way?

 

[Lockwood]

If there is a Cow Or Sheep Supervisor and one cow a suitable distance away from the herd to moo a warning is the situation less of a problem?

 

[Peter Sarf]

Crikey.
You folks really are milking this aren't you !.

 

[ReverendFozz]

Crikey.
You folks really are milking this aren't you !.

Just been reading about this on the BBC MOOS website...

What were they up to anyway, were they waiting for a cattle truck

Sent from my HTC Wildfire S A510e using Tapatalk 2

 

[Muzer]

If there is a Cow Or Sheep Supervisor and one cow a suitable distance away from the herd to moo a warning is the situation less of a problem?

The cow might have to have a horn or bell so that the moo isn't misinterpreted.