No Heat-Related TSRs?

[Deepgreen]

Why have there seemingly been no/extremely few heat-related temprary speed restrictions (TSRs) imposed in this hot weather?

Up until last summer we saw numerous such restrictions every time the forecast was for temperatures in the high 20s, let alone the current low to mid. 30s - what has changed?

 

[30909]

I seem to recall that there were a few e.g. Woking to Waterloo 6 or so weeks ago.

Could it be that with the constant high temperatures and very warm nights the rails do not suffer changes in heat as wide ranging as they do in a period of a few days of high daytime temperatures?

There will be some permanent way experts on here who will know the answer.

 

[tsr]

There certainly are some, but often they are in reaction to recently installed or renewed track, and if there is none of that causing issues, then the speed restrictions in certain areas may be much less restrictive and therefore slip under the radar.

As an example, the Oxford area is seeing disruption today, and it’s recently had a lot of work done!

 

[DarloRich]

We have had WCML speed restrictions this week due to the heat.

 

[hwl]

There certainly are some, but often they are in reaction to recently installed or renewed track, and if there is none of that causing issues, then the speed restrictions in certain areas may be much less restrictive and therefore slip under the radar.

As an example, the Oxford area is seeing disruption today, and it’s recently had a lot of work done!

Recent work done dramatically raises the risk of problems

 

[TwistedMentat]

Huge props to the crews and engineers over the previous years if the TSRs are less than one would've expected due to the huge heat right now.

 

[Alfie1014]

They’re in place on the GEML complete with the evening peak being thinned out and the Colchester Town branch is suspended until later this evening. These were both advertised this morning.

 

[Ian Murray]

Right now there is a heat speed caused TSR for the jointed track at Malvern and as stated earlier on the newly re-laid but not yet completed track at Oxford. Network Rail has people and automated sensors recording temperatures as required, if over the maximum design temperature a heat speed restriction is applied. I gather the design temperature depends on how much tension (stretch) was put into the lengths of rail and on the gaps left to expand into.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

It was 34 degrees here in verdant St Albans yesterday - I hope someone spared a thought for the Cricklewood P Way gang who were out in the midday sun on the down fast Elstree - Mill Hill doing some emergency ballast work to get the line speed back for the evening peak. Ballast shovelling and kango- hammering really not what you want to be doing in that weather.

They got it done all right - and someone on a keyboard thanks you. Good railway work.

 

[Mugby]

It was 34 degrees here in verdant St Albans yesterday - I hope someone spared a thought for the Cricklewood P Way gang who were out in the midday sun on the down fast Elstree - Mill Hill doing some emergency ballast work to get the line speed back for the evening peak. Ballast shovelling and kango- hammering really not what you want to be doing in that weather.

They got it done all right - and someone on a keyboard thanks you. Good railway work.

Thanks for that. I was on the 20.01 STP - Leeds on Wednesday evening and I noticed we were only travelling at about 60 or 70 mph in that area despite green signals. I wondered what the reason was!

 

[DarloRich]

It was 34 degrees here in verdant St Albans yesterday - I hope someone spared a thought for the Cricklewood P Way gang who were out in the midday sun on the down fast Elstree - Mill Hill doing some emergency ballast work to get the line speed back for the evening peak. Ballast shovelling and kango- hammering really not what you want to be doing in that weather.

They got it done all right - and someone on a keyboard thanks you. Good railway work.

a good point that is often missed by experts here. Guys and girls out in all weather's keeping the show on the road.

 

[urpert]

I travelled from Vienna to London yesterday and was quite surprised that there didn’t seem to be any TSRs on the various high speed lines. I know the LGV Nord is frequently restricted when it gets hit.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

a good point that is often missed by experts here. Guys and girls out in all weather's keeping the show on the road.

Maybe Baldrick will pick it up and pass onto his useful local contacts. !...

I remember approaching South Tottenham on a boiling hot afternoon with one of our traditional (i.e worn out) class 117 diesels circa 1997 - and we got a track buckle literally right in front of us. So we pulled up clear of it - and checked it , and the driver had more courage than I had - so we traversed it at less than 5 mph (me on the ground watching each wheelset pass over , ready to give the stop signal to the guard who was up front with the driver and keeping a very sharp eye out) - told the excellent local signalmen and carried on with our peak working to Barking and back to Gospel Oak.

The local PW gang were grafting on it as we returned in awful heat , and had restored enough functionality for the next working to pass it at 10 mph under their professional sight , and thus we all kept the trains going and people got home.

Forgotten about this till now !

 

[Pete_uk]

I touched a rail the other day when it was really hot but without direct sunlight and it was quite cool

 

[Bald Rick]

I posted on another thread a few weeks ago why we get heat speed restrictions (I must learn how to use the search function).

For track, it is almost always triggered by recent work to the track that either ‘disturbs’ the ballast, or if new rail is installed and not stressed. When hot weather is forecast, only the most essential track maintenance that disturbs the ballast gets done - a lot of routine tamping is postponed for example. And rerailing work is reprogrammed such that the stressing is done immediately, rather than coming back on follow up nights to complete. It takes a few weeks after a hot spell starts for all the track work that was done just beforehand to stop causing speed restrictions.

This summer, because the hot / sunny spell has been going on for so long (the best part of 3 months here in parts of the south east), the amount of work done that could cause heat speeds has been reduced (for a long time now), and therefore so have the heat speeds. On top of that, and more of a factor, is that Network Rail has got much, much better in the management of ‘summer’, particularly doing all the necessary prep in the spring and managing the critical rail temperature registers that record the need for heat speeds.

The OLE heat speeds on the GEML in Anglia are a different issue; that is mostly down to the design of the equipment.

Re High Speed lines etc abroad - good quality track anywhere should not need a heat speed restriction unless it has been recently worked on. AIUI, the LGV Nord requires a lot of track maintenance to keep it in good shape because, in a few places, it is built on old mine workings etc. This requires regular tamping, hence the speed restrictions when it warms up.

And finally, the extended hot, dry, spell is going to start causing other issues. There will be a tamping backlog, which increases the risk of rough ride reports. Further, the lack of rain will cause clay embankments to desiccate, which leads to shrinkage, which leads to track movement. The last 2-3 week’s has seen a notable increase in rough rides / alignment faults, including the one on the DF near Elstree that @ChiefPlanner mentioned, and another on the US at Radlett yesterday. Neither of these would have happened in normal conditions.

 

[CC 72100]

Maybe Baldrick will pick it up and pass onto his useful local contacts. !...

I remember approaching South Tottenham on a boiling hot afternoon with one of our traditional (i.e worn out) class 117 diesels circa 1997 - and we got a track buckle literally right in front of us. So we pulled up clear of it - and checked it , and the driver had more courage than I had - so we traversed it at less than 5 mph (me on the ground watching each wheelset pass over , ready to give the stop signal to the guard who was up front with the driver and keeping a very sharp eye out) - told the excellent local signalmen and carried on with our peak working to Barking and back to Gospel Oak.

The local PW gang were grafting on it as we returned in awful heat , and had restored enough functionality for the next working to pass it at 10 mph under their professional sight , and thus we all kept the trains going and people got home.

Forgotten about this till now !

ChiefPlanner, I think I speak for many on the forum, to say thank you for your postings about your experiences 'back in the day' - it's very much appreciated.

 

[Bald Rick]

Maybe Baldrick will pick it up and pass onto his useful local contacts. !...

I remember approaching South Tottenham on a boiling hot afternoon with one of our traditional (i.e worn out) class 117 diesels circa 1997 - and we got a track buckle literally right in front of us. So we pulled up clear of it - and checked it , and the driver had more courage than I had - so we traversed it at less than 5 mph (me on the ground watching each wheelset pass over , ready to give the stop signal to the guard who was up front with the driver and keeping a very sharp eye out) - told the excellent local signalmen and carried on with our peak working to Barking and back to Gospel Oak.

The local PW gang were grafting on it as we returned in awful heat , and had restored enough functionality for the next working to pass it at 10 mph under their professional sight , and thus we all kept the trains going and people got home.

Forgotten about this till now !

That was probably the last time such a thing could happen. Imagine trying to do that now!

 

[ChiefPlanner]

That was probably the last time such a thing could happen. Imagine trying to do that now!

Had it gone wrong , that would have made the tally of derailments on the GOB line to two , which I had attended. The previous one was a genuine error by a young signalman who had clipped up a crossover - got train moving , then took 1 clip off at one end - and authorised another one over a set of points clipped in reverse. Driver spotted it but it gently derailed a bogie. I was actually on leave but picked it up off the pager and tore up there in a Black Cab , and was the first one there .....anyway , no great harm done to anyone - bar the young lad who needed some reassurance that we all get it wrong sometimes.

Re the South Tottenham one - actually saw it flex before us ...which is quite amazing to see - the driver insisted it was all right (he later told me he had done similar before !) - real old school and one that , on reflection , we should not have done. Anyway we both survived to collect our pensions.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

I posted on another thread a few weeks ago why we get heat speed restrictions (I must learn how to use the search function).

For track, it is almost always triggered by recent work to the track that either ‘disturbs’ the ballast, or if new rail is installed and not stressed. When hot weather is forecast, only the most essential track maintenance that disturbs the ballast gets done - a lot of routine tamping is postponed for example. And rerailing work is reprogrammed such that the stressing is done immediately, rather than coming back on follow up nights to complete. It takes a few weeks after a hot spell starts for all the track work that was done just beforehand to stop causing speed restrictions.

This summer, because the hot / sunny spell has been going on for so long (the best part of 3 months here in parts of the south east), the amount of work done that could cause heat speeds has been reduced (for a long time now), and therefore so have the heat speeds. On top of that, and more of a factor, is that Network Rail has got much, much better in the management of ‘summer’, particularly doing all the necessary prep in the spring and managing the critical rail temperature registers that record the need for heat speeds.

The OLE heat speeds on the GEML in Anglia are a different issue; that is mostly down to the design of the equipment.

Re High Speed lines etc abroad - good quality track anywhere should not need a heat speed restriction unless it has been recently worked on. AIUI, the LGV Nord requires a lot of track maintenance to keep it in good shape because, in a few places, it is built on old mine workings etc. This requires regular tamping, hence the speed restrictions when it warms up.

And finally, the extended hot, dry, spell is going to start causing other issues. There will be a tamping backlog, which increases the risk of rough ride reports. Further, the lack of rain will cause clay embankments to desiccate, which leads to shrinkage, which leads to track movement. The last 2-3 week’s has seen a notable increase in rough rides / alignment faults, including the one on the DF near Elstree that @ChiefPlanner mentioned, and another on the US at Radlett yesterday. Neither of these would have happened in normal conditions.

The MML formation of course , being just over exactly a 150 years old ! (well south of Bedford anyway) .......

The US at Radlett periodically gives trouble , called it in a few times over the years , and always been dealt with pretty quickly to be fair.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

ChiefPlanner, I think I speak for many on the forum, to say thank you for your postings about your experiences 'back in the day' - it's very much appreciated.

If someone puts a thread up on exploding tin cans causing track fires , I can regale you with the South Kenton tale !

 

[Hadders]

ChiefPlanner, I think I speak for many on the forum, to say thank you for your postings about your experiences 'back in the day' - it's very much appreciated.

I love reading about these incidents. I do hope you’re writing a book.