South West Trains Mainline Blocked.

[Lrd]

Taken from NRE:

A person has been hit by a train at New Malden.

Because of this, trains between London Waterloo and Kingston, between London Waterloo and Woking and between London Waterloo and Guildford are being delayed by up to 90 minutes. There is currently no estimate for a normal train service to resume.

The following alterations will also apply:

New Malden station is closed.
Trains between London Waterloo and Hampton Court will only run between Surbiton and Hampton Court.
Trains between London Waterloo and Woking will only run between Surbiton and Woking.
Circular services to/from London Waterloo via Twickenham and Wimbledon will only run between London Waterloo and Kingston via Twickenham.
Trains between London Waterloo and Poole will only run between Southampton Central and Poole.
Trains between London Waterloo and Portsmouth via Guildford will only run between Guildford and Portsmouth.
Trains between London Waterloo and Weymouth will only run between Woking and Weymouth.

All lines blocked through New Malden. Waterloo Live Departure Boards has everything as delayed or cancelled.

 

[elementalpat]

Well, I can't imagine the sight those poor rail workers have to deal with in sorting out things like this.

Incidently, it seems a little excessive to close all 4 lines right? I know BTP have to deal with these sorts of things so I guess it is their call.

 

[Lrd]

Third rail was turned off at first. They turned it back on to clear the trains in the area. Turning it back off soon for the emergency services to do their stuff.

Everything is being turned around at Surbiton, Woking and Guildford.

 

[ushawk]

Well, if it's a bit of a mess there, they can't leave some lines open for obvious reasons, that and it could be pretty bad.

 

[Schnellzug]

Ah, is that why? I saw that everything was "Delayed" (unspecified), and then suddenly everything seemed to be an hour late. It's much better in PR terms if they say the reason, rather than that feeble phrase "due to an incident", since I'm sure people would be much more understanding.

 

[Lrd]

I saw it on their twitter.

 

[Schnellzug]

I saw it on their twitter.

I may have to invest in this Twitter thing. The mobile National Rail Enquiries system, at least the one that my phone company uses (I don't know if there's different ones for different companies) still has nothing under "Service Disruptions", there's just all the trains an hour late or so and no explanation at all.

 

[Lrd]

Twitter is a very useful tool to easily get messages to people, but it should be used in addition to all previously used tools I.E, TOC Websites, NRE.

It may be worth signing up just to follow the TOC's as they tend to provide a lot of info as soon as something has happened.

Most TOC's have their own twitter feed, there is also the general NRE feed which tweets about the whole country, and there are TOC specific NRE feed's.

Take your pick

 

[adc82140]

I'm currently on platform 8 at Guildford. There is not a single train in the station, which is very rare. However it's all good natured as the announcements are being honest about a fatality. I'm glad I'm travelling on FGW tonight though.

 

[tsr]

Due to a programming error, Southern's website is showing a far longer list of Clapham Junction Departures (and indeed Departures from other stations) than normal. Here's a link: http://www.southernrailway.com/your-journey/live-running-information/CLJ/departures/

I post this on the off chance that it may be useful.

I believe SWT passengers will be accepted from Victoria to Redhill on SN and then on FGW Redhill to Guildford services if that's any use.

 

[wintonian]

Got back to Winchester on the 16:31 to Bournemouth after playing around with a Thames rover and I didn't see any sign of disruption, there were certainly no announcements and this is the first I have heard of anything up.

*shrug*

 

[tsr]

Got back to Winchester on the 16:31 to Bournemouth after playing around with a Thames rover and I didn't see any sign of disruption, there were certainly no announcements and this is the first I have heard of anything up.

*shrug*

I hear Waterloo has been virtually shut down, though. Looking at Twitter and the departure boards it certainly seems like there are very few trains either entering or exiting. I haven't seen quite such severe disruption due to a single fatality in quite a while. You're lucky...

 

[SWT_USER]

Why did this affect the Windsor lines so badly? Everything still showing as delayed and I've just had to get a bus!!

 

[Schnellzug]

According to the Liv Departure board thing, the 1600 into Weymouth is shown as three hours late. Three hours!!! Wouldn't it have been more sensible to terminate it short?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

I hear Waterloo has been virtually shut down, though. Looking at Twitter and the departure boards it certainly seems like there are very few trains either entering or exiting. I haven't seen quite such severe disruption due to a single fatality in quite a while. You're lucky...

yes, why has every single service to anywhere at all gone completely out of the window? Is there more to it than what they're telling us? Why shut everything down for three hours? Thousands of people will have been seriously --------!ed about by this, and if it's the Police that insists on it then I think that someone somewhere is going to have to have the !!!!!s to challenge the way the Police handles things like this, and I'm sorry for crude lamguage if it isn't asterisked out.

*It wasn't, so I did myself.

 

[tsr]

yes, why has every single service to anywhere at all gone completely out of the window? Is there more to it than what they're telling us? Why shut everything down for three hours? Thousands of people will have been seriously buggered about by this, and if it's the Police that insists on it then I think that someone somewhere is going to have to have the balls to challenge the way the Police handles things like this, and I'm sorry for crude lamguage if it isn't asterisked out.

I would be very cautious before you ask whether there's "more to it", but I too am struggling to see why everything is so mucked up. I imagine there is simply a big mess to clear up and if there's any suggestion it's a crime scene it may need forensic examination. I hate to imagine what the emergency services will be seeing. Forensic examination requires great care and time, though.

 

[Cherry_Picker]

yes, why has every single service to anywhere at all gone completely out of the window? Is there more to it than what they're telling us? Why shut everything down for three hours? Thousands of people will have been seriously --------!ed about by this, and if it's the Police that insists on it then I think that someone somewhere is going to have to have the !!!!!s to challenge the way the Police handles things like this, and I'm sorry for crude lamguage if it isn't asterisked out.

*It wasn't, so I did myself.

Lets not throw the baby out with the bathwater here. Somebody died. It might be a crime scene and if somebody has died then it is about as serious a crime as you can get. The police have every right to investigate the scene before they give the line back to the railway. This is an extreme example of disruption (evening peak, one of the busiest railway routes in the world, in a location which shuts down almost everything, DC rails, poor visibility due to the sun setting at 4pm at this time of year etc) but that is just something we have to live with. It doesnt happen very often and handing over the right to a through investigation of an incident which causes death because commuters dont want to be late home for dinner is not a road we should go down.

 

[Lrd]

All lines through New Malden were opened at about 1600, still delays due to out of place crew/stock.

Apparently all tube lines were not stopping at Waterloo about an hour a go, but are stopping again, this was due to a very busy station.

All taken from Twitter.

 

[47832]

Waterloo was heaving when I got there about 4.30 o'clock to catch the train back to Poole, only about 5 departures showing on the boards at that time. Everything was at a standstill. Managed to catch the 17.05 Weymouth train which only left about 6 minutes late but was delayed on route and moving very slowly til past Wimbledon. Guard was excellent and gave us updates every 10 to 15 minutes or so.

Train was formed of 10 coaches and was the quietest I had every seen it and left Waterloo about 5 minutes after the platform being announced. Only about 10 people in the carriage I was in. Only 41 minutes late which isn't as bad as other Weymouth services I believe.

 

[SWT_USER]

Just travelled home from Brentford to Putney. All trains still just showing as 'delayed' with no indication as to when or if they will turn up. Thankfully I got lucky as one wads pulling in as I got to the station. My friend who was going to Ashford Middlesex wasn't so lucky. No trains on the board and no indication as to how long he would have to wait..

Appreciate it's a suicide and a difficult situation for all involved etc but I find it absolutely shambolic that 6 hours after the event the whole network is in a mess and there is no information being given out on stations.

 

[tsr]

I imagine with all the millions of pounds lost to the economy due to the delays (compensation, missed business deals, customers not making journeys, etc.) it would be good value to install platform edge doors or passenger side doors on platforms in areas where it is known that depression and suicide are at a relatively high level amongst the general population. I would also dearly love to see this feature at Clapham Junction and other busy stations where it would be so easy one day for overcrowding to push someone off the island platforms. Not to mention tube stations...

EDIT: Before someone says I am naïve and a suicide can happen in any area - of course, it can happen anywhere, but why not start with limiting it in areas of known higher risk, as I am sure there are some areas like this? There seem to, for example, be lots of incidents in South London of late.

 

[swt_passenger]

I imagine with all the millions of pounds lost to the economy due to the delays (compensation, missed business deals, customers not making journeys, etc.) it would be good value to install platform edge doors or passenger side doors on platforms...

In my opinion it's impossible to have PEDs outside of a discreet system like the tube. Which particular type and length of train would these doors line up with then? As an example, a 444's doors would need the PEDs to change if it turned up the wrong way round, ie with First at the country end. Even if all your trains were similar, if they came in different lengths you'd need a 100% safe way of ensuring that the doors matched the train length.

If OTOH you have doors or barriers set back that only allow access to the platform edge from a waiting zone once a train arrives you need longer dwell times and much deeper platforms, and that just isn't practical either.

 

[tsr]

In my opinion it's impossible to have PEDs outside of a discreet system like the tube. Which particular type and length of train would these doors line up with then? As an example, a 444's doors would need the PEDs to change if it turned up the wrong way round, ie with First at the country end. Even if all your trains were similar, if they came in different lengths you'd need a 100% safe way of ensuring that the doors matched the train length.

If OTOH you have doors or barriers set back that only allow access to the platform edge from a waiting zone once a train arrives you need longer dwell times and much deeper platforms, and that just isn't practical either.

I agree it would be difficult to fit doors. At larger stations where you would probably have this feature first, I'd speculate that you could fit more waiting people onto longer and wider platforms and then add the space needed for the doors to be set back so passengers can move to the required entry/exit point. Some remodelling would be needed, of course. As I say, I am speculating about the best methods for doing this.

Another way would be to have a more flexible system where uniformly sized of perspex, glass or whatever material can slide on a track to open or close, or permanently remain closed, where they need to be, with any section able to move to fit any train. How you'd arrange that so that gaps weren't left if the system needed to dynamically adjust to a different class of train I have no idea. If you have a wardrobe with a few sliding doors you'll have a simplified model of this.

 

[NSE]

I guess the Windsor lines would eventually get affected, as some of the services via Kingston run on the SWML, and Weybridge services ofc. Small, but it all adds up. Plus the stock from the 458's and 455's come from Wimbledon, so I guess any ECS workings were also screwed.

 

[Schnellzug]

I see they have an Apology on their website, albeit a brief one:

Service Disruption on 7th December 2011


I apologise for the disruption to your journey on Wednesday 7th December. This was because a person was hit by a train at New Malden.

Emergency Services were called to deal with the incident and as a result, train services were severely disrupted.

I am very sorry for the inconvenience this will have caused.



Jake Kelly

Customer Service Director


altough of course it was hardly their fault. I tell you what might be appreciated, an explanation from the Police about why such an extraordinary amount of "inconvenience" was caused. But you never see that, do you. You never see the Police ever trying to be helpful or co-operative with the people they claim to "serve". "We are the Authorities, and every else has to do just as we say, and no one is ever able to question us in any way".

 

[Lrd]

Why does the Police need to apologize? They had a job to do and to do that job they took the actions that they thought were to be neccsasary. Why don't you go and do what they had to do with the traction current still on and trains shooting past at ~80Mph.

 

[wintonian]

Fallen tree at Shawford today, I'm on the 19:31 to Manchester which left at 20:26.

Sent from my HTC Desire S

 

[wintonian]

Just heard from the XC guard that the tree was hit by a train.

And well done to FGW they have apparently held the Plymouth train for us.

Sent from my HTC Desire S

According to SWT twitter it was the 17:50 Poole to London Waterloo that hit the tree.

 

[Lrd]

It's been a rubbish week for SWT. They've had all sorts of signalling problems, fatalities, fallen tree's.

Hopefully they have a better one next week.

 

[The Colonel]

More disruption this morning . . .
Just had a report that the 159 working the 05.44 Salisbury - Waterloo has caught fire in the Pirbright Jct area. Power off on all lines and pax evacuated to cess. All lines blocked. Sounds quite serious.

NRE showing major delays.

 

[wintonian]

I see the 05:44 ex Salisbury is 237 min overdue at Woking due to a train fault!

and yesterday at Brookwood as well;

18:55 W'loo to Alton is being delayed at Brookwood waiting for an ambulance. Will update as soon as I have more info

Lots of problems this week mostly if not all out of SWT's control.