Northern Rail YRK - BPN Services Terminating at Preston

[boing_uk]

Does anyone know what is going on with Northerns services between York and Blackpool North today?

According to NRE there is a "problem with lineside equipment" however all the services are arriving on time at Preston from York, and other services to Blackpool North are all operating on time, which leads me to suspect that its not entirely a lineside equipment fault.

Any ideas anyone?

 

[Multiple Unit]

Noticed this my self though it could be a problem with line side eqiptment as NR may be reducing the ammount of Trains in and out of Blackpool North for this reason its eithe rthat or something to do with recent Industral Action.

 

[tbtc]

Without knowing the details of the situation, *if* they were wanting to reduce the Preston - Blackpool service down to three an hour (to resolve anything on the line, and give a bit of breathing space) then I'd have thought the logical one to cap would be the Manchester Victoria service (since Manchester would still have a service to Blackpool - the direct TPE one from the Airport)

 

[Lampshade]

158902 currently sat in platform 3C in Preston, everything else is running fine to/from Blackpool North

 

[driver9000]

Blackpool North is operating at reduced capacity at the moment with only platforms 1-3 available for use. This has been caused by points being damaged on the station throat. The Blackpool - York service is being terminated at Preston to avoid congestion and trains being stacked up in the wrong order for departure (under permissive working). I suspect they have chosen the York service to be terminated as from Blackpool passengers can board the Victoria service to connect at Preston and the York has been held on occasion to also connect with the Liverpool service. Terminating the Victoria service at Preston would leave Layton without a service. Heading to Blackpool, the ex-York is closely followed by a TPE service from Manchester Airport which makes the same call at Poulton so passengers can board that and only lose around 5 minutes. Even with the York service being removed from the equation, trains are still being held at Carleton level crossing waiting for an outgoing train to clear the cross over to the Up main. Blackpool North No.1 signal box is still switched out, personally I would have liked to have seen it manned to allow trains to be held a little closer to Blackpool North at No.1s home signal.

This has been going on for a few days but with Monday and Tuesdays strike it didn't affect the service, The Yorks were terminating at Preston on Wednesday too. The 180 that stables at Blackpool off the Hazel Grove service has been going on to the carriage sidings to keep a platform free. The points should be sorted by Sunday from what I've been told.

 

[boing_uk]

< lots of useful stuff >

Many thanks for that info; explains alot! Now, if only that sort of information was communicated on to NRE or even Northerns own website...

 

[driver9000]

The only place I have seen it advertised to the passengers is on the concourse monitors at Blackpool North. At Preston the xx:34 is missing from the departures screen. Communication does need to be better regarding this problem though, even if it is only for tomorrow and Saturday as trains are still coming over the hill with Blackpool North on the blind.

 

[PR1Berske]

Communication was nil yesterday, absolutely nothing. The Virgin staff at Preston were trying their best (but nothng like the interesting information above)

When the departure screens at Preston read "DELAYED" without any additional explanation from screen or voice, it's no wonder people get annoyed.

I know it's a technical fault, but once again the train companies know something they won't tell passengers, and that's what makes people angry.

 

[boing_uk]

All it needed was a message saying something along the lines of "Due to points damage at Blackpool North, a reduced service is in operation. York services start and terminate at Preston and passengers should transfer to the next available service to Blackpool".

At the minute there is no explanation and the element of doubt is what frustrates passengers the most.

Doesnt really bother me, I just accepted the change of trains, despite its inconvenience... but the background information would have been nice.

 

[Anvil1984]

To be honest communication even to staff isn't the best and we are often the last to know, its only because I read stuff on here and other boards that I decided to give control a ring to find out where we are terminating. The email informing the staff didnt come out until just before 9, so the 0613, 0706 and 0812 services will have left York without staff being any the wiser (York guards dont sign past Hall Royd Jn so always change staff at Leeds), Leeds and York departure boards had Blackpool on for the majority of trains as well

 

[MidnightFlyer]

There is a problem with two sets of points on the approach to North station, and Network Fail haven't found replacements yet. This leaves only platforms 1, 2 and 3 in use at Blackpool North, with only Liverpool Lime St, Manchester Victoria and TPE Manchester Airport services having access to the three available platforms, this means that York trains terminate in either platform 3c or 4c at preston, the situation will continue into next week.

 

[driver9000]

The first set of points to fail prevented use of platform 8 at Blackpool North (no great problem as 8 is only really used for empty trains anyway) but the second set enabled access to platforms 4-8 so has really screwed the station up and it is a headache we could do without especially at the beginning and end of the day when trains are coming off or going onto the yard.
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Blackpool North is now operating normally.