Southern disruption 19/04/2018

[FOH]

Unbelievably bad at London Bridge this evening. I've just left on the first train to Forest Hill in almost 2 hours.
Staff in disarray. Spent 30 mins on an advertised service trapped inside for most of it. No announcements, eventually passengers busted out using emergency handles after not getting any response pulling the alarm.

 

[Joe Paxton]

Unbelievably bad at London Bridge this evening. I've just left on the first train to Forest Hill in almost 2 hours.
Staff in disarray. Spent 30 mins on an advertised service trapped inside for most of it. No announcements, eventually passengers busted out using emergency handles after not getting any response pulling the alarm.

Where were you trapped? (As in the locality?)

 

[FOH]

Where were you trapped? (As in the locality?)

In London Bridge station, it never left. When I got out 4 carriages out of the 10 had flashing amber lights. Station staff said we did the right thing to break out.

 

[trainmania100]

Was it a 455? Sometimes the doors are locked from the inside

 

[FOH]

Was it a 455? Sometimes the doors are locked from the inside

No, 2 x 377/6

 

[otomous]

That doesn’t make sense. Doors are not closed until the road is given. If the train never left, the road could not have been given. There must be another explanation.

 

[tsr]

The day has been completely chaotic, it has to be said. It's perilously close to the service winding down and there's still a near-stationary queue of 11 "Metro" stoppers between Balham and Victoria.

It all kicked off earlier today with a points failure at Ashurst which trapped Uckfield Line trains, and then it all went rapidly downhill with a series of signal failures all over the place. The Salfords-Horley area has seen a tremendous amount of signalling failures, chiefly to do with track circuits, and there have also been track circuit failures affecting the signalling interlocking at Redhill and Norwood Junction. Then there have been points failures at Gatwick Airport, Hurst Green, Three Bridges, you name it.

At about the same time as all these signalling failures were happening, a person went on the track and was injured by a train on one of the lines between East Croydon and Purley, and there was a power surge which knocked out most of the signalling between Brighton and Hastings. This was mostly resolved quickly... apart from a slight defect which happened to mean only one platform was available at Eastbourne through the evening peak!

Then there have been level crossing failures around the area (Betchworth, Brockham and Crawley) and a few other bits and bobs.

A large amount of this has been blamed on the sudden and record-breaking April warmth. It's felt much more like August than April today. A lot of the trains have had to have thermostat settings changed straight from "Winter" to "Summer" overnight. Credit to GTR's Fleet people, as I can't say I've heard of all that many train failures in proportion to the Network Rail catastrophe, and I've not been on one service today which has been unbearably warm, though there will have been some, I'm sure.

The irony is that there have been efforts to predict and adapt to the potential infrastructure issues caused by the shift in temperatures, and yet some of the adjustments have allegedly made things go wrong. It's commendable that NR predicted this heatwave around a week ago and made sure it was highlighted in their weather bulletins, but things seem to have been rushed. It's also unfortunate that the TOC Hot Weather contingency plans for the Sussex area aren't actually completed yet, in advance of the "proper" summer season!

 

[JB_B]

Clearly it's been a worse than usual day on the Southern (* see below) but to be stuck on a train and unable to open the doors for 30m while the train remains at the station is very unusual and implies that something has gone badly wrong.


(* Source : https://www.southernrailway.com/ )
"Major disruption to Gatwick Express, Southern and Thameslink services until the end of the day

A number of incidents have occurred across the Gatwick Express, Southern and Thameslink network, causing major disruption to services until the end of the day.

Trains may be cancelled or delayed by up to 50 minutes.

Customer Advice:
You are strongly advised to check your journey prior to travelling and to allow extra time for your journey today.

There has been a number of incidents across the network which will cause severe delays and cancellations for the rest of the day

To assist you with your journey today your tickets will be accepted on the following services via any reasonable route:
Mutual ticket acceptance between Southern and Thameslink
Gatwick Express are accepting Southern and Thamelink tickets
London Underground
TfL London Buses between Central London to Redhill
Croydon Tramlink
Metrobus between Redhill and Three Bridges
Southeastern services between London Victoria to Beckenham Junction and Tunbridge Wells
Southwestern Railway services between London Waterloo, Wimbledon, Dorking, Guildford and Portsmouth Harbour


Ongoing Incidents

Points have failed at Three Bridges platform 1. This is affecting services travelling towards Crawley. At present there is no ETA for engineers as their teams are currently dealing with the other issues on the network.

Signal failure at Salfords. The signal is stuck on a red which means the drivers are having to be talked passed this particular signal resulting in further delays.

There is a signalling problem in the Kingswood area. This is affecting services to and from Tattenham Corner which are subsequently being delayed by an additional 10 minutes passing through this area.

Norwood Junction is currently experiencing a signal failure. Services from London running through this station will experience delays. Engineers are on site and working continuously to try and fix the problem.

There is a signalling problem in the Kingswood area. This is affecting services to and from Tattenham Corner. Engineers are due to attend as soon as possible however they are currently being delayed working on the signal failure issues at Norwood Junction.

In hot weather signals and points can fail easily.They might expand too much or get clogged with debris. Network Rail are working extremely hard to fix these issues and Southern will endeavour to run as many services as possible.


Previous Incidents

Earlier today Network Rail advised us of numerous signalling faults at Horley which they were working intensely to resolve however come the early evening an additional signalling fault had occurred at Horley which affected services travelling from London to Haywards Heath. This has now been resolved.

There was an on going issue with a set of points affecting platform 2 at Gatwick Airport. At the time we were able to work around this however this has now been fixed.

The signalling issue at London Victoria has now been repaired and services are now able to run in and out of the station on their normal platforms.

Earlier in the Eastbourne area, there was a power surge which affected services running in and out of Eastbourne station. Only platform 2 was in use which meant services need to wait outside the station for the platform to become available. As a result of this services have been delayed.

Shortly before 1500 today, we received reports that a person had been struck by a train in the Croydon area. Emergency services and railway response staff were dispatched to site and the individual is now in the care of the ambulance staff.

Earlier today a set of points at Hurst Green failed. This meant that services were temporarily unable to run up towards Oxted and London. Network Rail attended and were able fix the problem.

There were two earlier bridge strikes - one at Emsworth and another at Wivelsfield. Services had to run at a reduced speed whilst specialists investigated any damage to the bridges. No damage was found and trains were able to continue to run."

 

[lewisf]

Took me about 2 hours to get from Brighton to Surbiton this afternoon.

Good progress until Three Bridges where we ground to a halt. Stopped at every signal to Gatwick including switching to the slow lines at Stoat's Nest junction. Slow lines to Earlswood then a fast run along the quarry lines until grinding to another halt at Purley, then every single signal was red until East Croydon. We then sat at Thornton Heath for 15 minutes until suddenly we got a clear run all the way to Clapham Junction.

At least the air conditioning was working properly!

 

[al78]

A large amount of this has been blamed on the sudden and record-breaking April warmth.

The record breaking April warmth which is equivalent to a normal warm summer spell the SE gets every year in July or August.

If the rail network can't cope with weather that happens at least once every year and is not destructive (e.g. wind or flooding related), then something is badly wrong. I suggest if there really is a cause, look elsewhere for a reason. It sounds more like a lot of bad luck with multiple failures all happening together. Rare but very disruptive.

 

[tsr]

The record breaking April warmth which is equivalent to a normal warm summer spell the SE gets every year in July or August.

If the rail network can't cope with weather that happens at least once every year and is not destructive (e.g. wind or flooding related), then something is badly wrong. I suggest if there really is a cause, look elsewhere for a reason. It sounds more like a lot of bad luck with multiple failures all happening together. Rare but very disruptive.

A number of the incidents today are related to heat issues. These issues have been examined by those attending on-site and confirmed as such. The heat issues are, in turn, to do with the stresses of having gone from very cold -> damp -> very hot (for the time of year) in a couple of weeks instead of a few months. All of spring has essentially occurred between late March and mid April. The temperature range was declared (internally) as a possible concern for today's service, and this has proved correct.

This was correctly predicted by NR, and they tried to do stuff about it. They got enough staff in place but not enough technical fixes which worked. (To some degree, this applied to the TOCs as well.) Remember that summer is a reasonably logical point in the year, but this weather isn't. There's been no time to implement a timetable which reduces moves over vulnerable points, no time to apply reflective paint to the points, no time to distribute the latest analysis of plans to deal with passengers in hot weather, no time to... you get the idea.

However, that being said, Southern would likely not have gone into meltdown if the signalling system failures alone were the issue. Unfortunately they have been compounded by people wandering around on the railway who really shouldn't have been... and a power surge which was almost certainly outside NR's control.

 

[Bletchleyite]

That doesn’t make sense. Doors are not closed until the road is given. If the train never left, the road could not have been given. There must be another explanation.

It could have been given then taken back, it's not common but it can happen for various reasons.

 

[Bald Rick]

A number of the incidents today are related to heat issues. These issues have been examined by those attending on-site and confirmed as such. The heat issues are, in turn, to do with the stresses of having gone from very cold -> damp -> very hot (for the time of year) in a couple of weeks instead of a few months. All of spring has essentially occurred between late March and mid April. The temperature range was declared (internally) as a possible concern for today's service, and this has proved correct.

This was correctly predicted by NR, and they tried to do stuff about it. They got enough staff in place but not enough technical fixes which worked. (To some degree, this applied to the TOCs as well.) Remember that summer is a reasonably logical point in the year, but this weather isn't. There's been no time to implement a timetable which reduces moves over vulnerable points, no time to apply reflective paint to the points, no time to distribute the latest analysis of plans to deal with passengers in hot weather, no time to... you get the idea.

However, that being said, Southern would likely not have gone into meltdown if the signalling system failures alone were the issue. Unfortunately they have been compounded by people wandering around on the railway who really shouldn't have been... and a power surge which was almost certainly outside NR's control.

Indeed it is the temperature range that is the issue.

It has gone from 8/9C to 28/29C (shade temps, more in the sun) in 9 hours, and that has broken all sorts of things due to rapid thermal expansion and the resultant stresses.

 

[Warwick]

https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/brighton-main-line-upgrade-caused-14441788

That worked then.

 

[sbt]

It is not just Southern. Haselmere suffered a multiple Track Circuit failure last night. Thumbs up to those involved that, from my experience as a passenger making a single journey through the affected area, the impact was minimal.

 

[Nick66]

Victoria was just as bad, everything delayed then disappearing from the board, expected departure times coming, going and being changed but nothing leaving the metro part of the station, staff knew as much as we did. In the end I did a tube-bus-walk combination.

 

[FOH]

Not a single apology on board or at London Bridge this morning. I looked carefully, even no apology posters in sight.

GoVia can GoToHell as far as I’m concerned. If I was wearing Southern uniform I’d be ashamed of my company.

 

[ChrisHogan]

Not a single apology on board or at London Bridge this morning. I looked carefully, even no apology posters in sight.

GoVia can GoToHell as far as I’m concerned. If I was wearing Southern uniform I’d be ashamed of my company.

Perhaps as virtually all the problems yesterday were of Network Rail's making or were external events, and NR runs London Bridge station, it should be Network Rail apologising for its failures and yesterday's disruption? I imagine that Govia has had more important things to do other than printing apology posters overnight.

 

[Warwick]

Perhaps as virtually all the problems yesterday were of Network Rail's making or were external events, and NR runs London Bridge station, it should be Network Rail apologising for its failures and yesterday's disruption? I imagine that Govia has had more important things to do other than printing apology posters overnight.

So apologising to passengers - or "customers" as they insist on calling us - is not part of their remit. It's true, they don't give a damn about the passengers, they're just the people who get in the way of their running a shambles of a train company. Once again the poor old punter gets caught up in the blame game.

 

[Alfie1014]

GEML was pretty bad too. A track defect on the down line at Ingatestone in the afternoon, loss of power on the Southend Vic branch in the evening, train failure on the Clacton branch late afternoon and the most disruptive signalling problems between Stowmarket and Norwich, which meant talking past all the level crossings. This resulted in most of the Norwich hauled sets being at the the wrong end of the route for the evening peak and no direct Norwich departure from Liverpool St between the 18:10 and 21:30, though the 19:30 down did start from Colchester.

 

[ChrisHogan]

So apologising to passengers - or "customers" as they insist on calling us - is not part of their remit. It's true, they don't give a damn about the passengers, they're just the people who get in the way of their running a shambles of a train company. Once again the poor old punter gets caught up in the blame game.

Technically, you are a "customer" of the DfT (as that is the organisation that gets the farebox revenue) and not of Govia. Govia is simply the train service provider of the DfT for this franchise.

 

[sarahj]

https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/brighton-main-line-upgrade-caused-14441788

That worked then.

They had to close platform 0 at Redhill for a while for reasons that were, well...
I was having a decent day yesterday, my coastal trains were running ok. Yes, they were warm, but my phone was going mad as message after message popped up, and connections off the main line were getting later and later. Finally on a run from Seaford back to Brighton we had a red at Lewes. Odd, check the train map of OTT and all the block boxes were showing odd stuff. The 171 heading East was stuck on a red as well. After a few mins we got a green and did quite well, but were then held outside of Brighton. Why??? Came into Brighton on top of another 313 on platform 8 and the only other train in was another 313 on platform 1. Brighton looks odd empty. All Main line trains were just not running. As I left from home about 16.25 a 700 was finally leaving north. (I guess my delay from Lewes was due to the power surge, but never saw a message for that.)

 

[Bletchleyite]

So apologising to passengers - or "customers" as they insist on calling us - is not part of their remit. It's true, they don't give a damn about the passengers, they're just the people who get in the way of their running a shambles of a train company. Once again the poor old punter gets caught up in the blame game.

ATOS Annie was wittering enough apologies for delays to last a fortnight at East Croydon at about 1:30. She barely shut up.

I know the PIS has a mode to only show non-cancelled trains, maybe it should also have a mode in which it stops doing that and just issues a blanket apology every 5 minutes or something.

 

[greaterwest]

I know the PIS has a mode to only show non-cancelled trains, maybe it should also have a mode in which it stops doing that and just issues a blanket apology every 5 minutes or something.

The "Disruption mode" will do exactly that! Cancelled trains will no longer appear, and, at least in SWR land where he still exists, Phil Sayer will announce that "only services that are known to be running are being advertised." due to severe disruption.

I have no idea how the Southern's new ATOS system is set up, but it is possible with ATOS too.

 

[FOH]

At London Bridge we had a female auto voice apologising for a cancellation immediately followed by a male auto voice apologising for the exact same cancellation repeated maybe every 5 mins for the same service

 

[Stew998]

So apologising to passengers - or "customers" as they insist on calling us

They don't like to admit they're taking us for a ride...

 

[Joe Paxton]

Technically, you are a "customer" of the DfT (as that is the organisation that gets the farebox revenue) and not of Govia. Govia is simply the train service provider of the DfT for this franchise.

No, GTR provide the service. You are a customer of theirs.

 

[Joe Paxton]

Perhaps as virtually all the problems yesterday were of Network Rail's making or were external events, and NR runs London Bridge station, it should be Network Rail apologising for its failures and yesterday's disruption? I imagine that Govia has had more important things to do other than printing apology posters overnight.

Disagree. The TOC is a passenger's interface with the railway. Apologising and explaining is up to the TOC to do.

 

[Astonished]

Indeed it is the temperature range that is the issue.

It has gone from 8/9C to 28/29C (shade temps, more in the sun) in 9 hours, and that has broken all sorts of things due to rapid thermal expansion and the resultant stresses.

A rise of 20C in 9 hours is not what I would call rapid in relation to faults with thermal causes. I suspect all yesterday's failures would have shown up over the next few months as seasonal daily max temps climbed. It's just that sweeping right from recent maxs in the teens to 29C in one day revealed all the faults on that same day, whether they were due to fail at 21, 25, or 29. The question for me is why there are thermal failures at all at temperatures well within design requirements. Would all the failures be new equipment installed over the past winter?

 

[Bald Rick]

A rise of 20C in 9 hours is not what I would call rapid in relation to faults with thermal causes. I suspect all yesterday's failures would have shown up over the next few months as seasonal daily max temps climbed. It's just that sweeping right from recent maxs in the teens to 29C in one day revealed all the faults on that same day, whether they were due to fail at 21, 25, or 29. The question for me is why there are thermal failures at all at temperatures well within design requirements. Would all the failures be new equipment installed over the past winter?

Some of it might have been new, but old stuff is more susceptible. As I said it is the sudden change in temp that has caused the issue. My point was not so much that it went up 20C in 9hours (although that is an issue for some signalling kit); but more that it has hit these high temps much more quickly than usual. Summer prep won’t be complete yet (another month or so to go) so some things won’t have been adjusted for higher temps yet. Eg points mechanisms, rail joints, some rails will have outstanding stressing etc. Also, often, stuff that is close to breaking under normal circumstances is pushe Dover the edge by the rapid thermal expansion.