Total Meltdown on GA Tonight 6/07/17

[F Great Eastern]

- Overhead Line damage between Norwich and Diss
- Signalling Fault at Illford
- Train fault at Hackney Downs causing disruption on WA
- Lightning damage between Attleborough and Ely
- Trespasser was standing in front of a freight train near Trimley taking Felixstowe Line out

Cambridge to Norwich line will not be back until Saturday.

50 Cancellations and 30 trains delayed according to Journeycheck

Manic at LST, this after coming from the GWML and all the hassle there.

 

[Busaholic]

- Overhead Line damage between Norwich and Diss
- Signalling Fault at Illford
- Train fault at Hackney Downs causing disruption on WA
- Lightning damage between Attleborough and Ely
- Trespasser was standing in front of a freight train near Trimley taking Felixstowe Line out

Cambridge to Norwich line will not be back until Saturday.

50 Cancellations and 30 trains delayed according to Journeycheck

Manic at LST, this after coming from the GWML and all the hassle there.

Just think of all the permutations of delays/cancellations that will be possible when Crossrail starts!

 

[TheEdge]

You can't blame us too much for this, the signalling problems were mostly caused by direct lightning strikes to equipment. In fact the lightning took out the one bit of signalling controlled by Trowse that stopped services for Sheringham, Yarmouth and Lowestoft, efficiently done there nature.

 

[F Great Eastern]

Don't worry, I wasn't blaming GA, not GA's fault, more so saying that a lot of services are out because of many things in the GA area

 

[Ianno87]

Just think of all the permutations of delays/cancellations that will be possible when Crossrail starts!

Not really. It connects the inner Electric Lines on one side to the inner Relief Lines on the other. So it doesn't operate *that* far on either route and is largely self-contained from longer-distance stuff on the Main Lines.

So a loss of signalling at Norwich is pretty unlikely to throw the Severn Beach line.

 

[WelshBluebird]

So a loss of signalling at Norwich is pretty unlikely to throw the Severn Beach line.

The Severn Beach line, probably not because that is more isolated from the rest of the GWML. But stopping services that use the GWML between Bristol and Bath? They could easily be affected by issues in the Reading - Paddington area (and often are), which itself probably will have the potential to be affected by Crossrail issues. Likely? Probably not, but possible!

 

[dk1]

All kicking off at Ipswich late afternoon today. Thankfully I ended up going home earlier than planned tonight. Not looking good for those using the busy Breckland route tomorrow.

 

[Busaholic]

Not really. It connects the inner Electric Lines on one side to the inner Relief Lines on the other. So it doesn't operate *that* far on either route and is largely self-contained from longer-distance stuff on the Main Lines.

So a loss of signalling at Norwich is pretty unlikely to throw the Severn Beach line.

I was more making the point that signalling issues at both Hayes and Ilford simultaneously would have the potential to impact the Elizabeth Line greater than services terminating at Paddington (from the west) and Liverpool Street (from the east). Just look at Thameslink!

 

[F Great Eastern]

To be fair the info on Journeycheck is pretty comprehensive in relation to the Norwich - Cambridge Line, such facility is a godsend during disruption, when I lived in Ireland where there was no equivalent I really missed such a system.

 

[AndyHA]

I caught the 1928 ( Cambridge Service ) from the Street last night . They were announcing that Norwich passengers should not join this train . As there were no forward connections from Cambridge to Norwich .

Mind you that service had minor issues in "inner North East " London . Right time off the Street , but 10 late by Tottenham Hale . Then a crawl up the Lea Valley line , but regain a few mins back . But again 10 late when I alighted at Bishops Stortford.

 

[ocelocelot]

Do we know specifically what signalling equipment got hit near-ish Norwich? Three places, I gather? Something between Shippea Hill and Ely, something around Eccles Road and something controlled by Trowse, I think? In the Fens (the first of those), I could imagine signal posts being quite tall relative to the landscape!

 

[TheEdge]

Not sure about exactly what was done. But all signals between Lakenheath and Ely reported to be blank. Multiple signal, TPWS and track circuit faults between Attleborough and Thetford.

 

[dk1]

At Attleborough there where 25 strikes in one minute according to local media.

 

[ocelocelot]

At Attleborough there where 25 strikes in one minute according to local media.

Maybe Mother Nature doesn't like modular signalling! I was looking on the weather radar and it looked so intense just in a narrow band. We got a little bit in Cambridge but not anything like that.

 

[dk1]

Maybe Mother Nature doesn't like modular signalling! I was looking on the weather radar and it looked so intense just in a narrow band. We got a little bit in Cambridge but not anything like that.

The storm seemed to follow the line. Wymondham saw constant storms from 13:00.

 

[jamesontheroad]

From lightningmaps.org, attached is a screenshot of all the lightning strikes in one hour up to about 13:30 yesterday (Thursday). Lighter (yellow) dots are more recent, darker (brown) dots are less recent. The weather system off shore had passed from west to east. The storms continued until mid-afternoon.

 

[eastdyke]

From lightningmaps.org, attached is a screenshot of all the lightning strikes in one hour up to about 13:30 yesterday (Thursday). Lighter (yellow) dots are more recent, darker (brown) dots are less recent. The weather system off shore had passed from west to east. The storms continued until mid-afternoon.

I don't have a screenshot, but when I was looking yesterday evening, the storms were several orders of magnitude more intense over both Northern France around Dunkerque and parts of The Netherlands.

Were their rail systems also badly affected?

 

[jamesontheroad]

I don't have a screenshot, but when I was looking yesterday evening, the storms were several orders of magnitude more intense over both Northern France around Dunkerque and parts of The Netherlands.

Were their rail systems also badly affected?

Nope, but then they probably wouldn't have invested in such an reliable signalling system.

Here's Richard Clinnick writing about it back in 2014... http://www.railmagazine.com/infrastructure/signalling/breckland-s-signalling-strife

 

[eastdyke]

Nope, but then they probably wouldn't have invested in such an reliable signalling system.

Here's Richard Clinnick writing about it back in 2014... http://www.railmagazine.com/infrastructure/signalling/breckland-s-signalling-strife

Thanks! Having lived in Norwich until around 18 months ago I was aware of the obstacle detection issues from the outset but thought that they would have been overcome by now.

As the current situation appears to arise from lightning strikes do you know if it is power supply issues or pure signaling issues at play here? Either way it would appear that resilience is not yet at an ongoing acceptable level.