Watford woe 13/11

[33056]

OHL down on the Slow Lines between the tunnel and Watford Junction station, at least one train trapped; its going to be a fun morning (not!)

 

[The Planner]

Naaah it will be fine, LM will have given up by now and dumped all their units at Northampton and Euston.

 

[33056]

Naaah it will be fine, LM will have given up by now and dumped all their units at Northampton and Euston.

Need a "like" button on here .

I won't be liking it a bit later though as no doubt all the Southerns will be cancelled which leaves me at the mercy of LM to get home.

 

[ushawk]

Fasts are open and LM are actually running a service.

No Southern North of Shepherds Bush though due to reduced line capacity.

 

[oversteer]

I think 2N06 took the wires out just south of the Watford tunnels

http://twitter.com/LondonMidland/status/400544545143676929/photo/1
http://twitter.com/LondonMidland/status/400544288947183616/photo/1
http://twitter.com/LondonMidland/status/400544894340440064/photo/1

Sizeable delays as everything is going a over to the fasts through Watford, but at least things are running!

 

[Tibbs]

Nothing was stopping at Bushey for sure, so it was the LO into Euston this morning.

Thanks for reminding me - better send in my Delay/Repay...

 

[oversteer]

Only delayed half an hour in the end, so a good performance by LM considering!

 

[Tibbs]

Nothing stopping at Bushey tonight, so it's up to WFJ and back on the LO.

Got this ok'd with the chap on the platform, so I'm good should I encounter an RPI... :roll:

 

[33056]

Well, getting home was surprisingly painless; the Southerns were running to Watford Jn by 14:00 and the 14:24 from Euston was on time though a little delayed by stopping at Kings Langley & Apsley. Only wish I could have got a photo of the class 57 Thunderbird shunting the 350 unit out of the way, just had to make do with this slightly unusual sight instead.

 

[Trog]

Well, getting home was surprisingly painless.

No such luck coming home southbound.

XX:30 trains off Birmingham cancelled with an extra stop on the XX:50 at Milton Keynes instead. This gets you to Milton Keynes just as the XX:47 stopper pulls out, with a half hour wait for the next one. The PIS screens were all blank on platform 1 and the big TV display opposite the stairs was giving incorrect information, about what trains were running. Not a very impressive piece of co-ordination twelve hours after the incident that caused the problem.

 

[RichmondCommu]

Well, getting home was surprisingly painless; the Southerns were running to Watford Jn by 14:00 and the 14:24 from Euston was on time though a little delayed by stopping at Kings Langley & Apsley. Only wish I could have got a photo of the class 57 Thunderbird shunting the 350 unit out of the way, just had to make do with this slightly unusual sight instead.

Just out of interest what service is that? I presume its heading to or from France?

 

[DXMachina]

So the plan to replace that OHL section in August 2014 might need to be brought forward.

 

[MK Tom]

According to my close friend who was late for his job interview due to this, the 11:50 and 12:05 off Northampton were both cancelled with the 12:25 leaving around 12:40. Fortunately his interviewers understood and he had me to keep him apprised of developments but Northampton had over an hour with no London-bound departures.

MKC had an XX:41 service to Euston from Virgin (the Rugby stopping Birmingham one) and no XX:19.

 

[33056]

Just out of interest what service is that? I presume its heading to or from France?

6A42 Daventry to Wembley Yard returning to France for another load of mineral water. It is normally worked by a class 92 or a sometimes a class 66 but class 90s are comparatively rare and only used for the Daventry / Wembley leg when there is nothing else.

Update at 07:00 this morning; Up and Down Slow lines still appear to be closed between Bourne End and Watford

 

[The Planner]

That is got to be well over 10000 minutes now surely, it was over 7500 when I looked yesterday afternoon.

 

[trainplan1]

That is got to be well over 10000 minutes now surely, it was over 7500 when I looked yesterday afternoon.

It is over 10000 as of this morning...

 

[Tibbs]

Still no AC trains stopping at Bushey.

It's the slow service again today so I get a seat.

 

[33056]

It's the slow service again today so I get a seat.

Surprised that you can get a seat on the DC but it doesn't usually get very busy until south of Harrow. Funnily enough the Slow lines were re-opened about the time you made your post at 08:20.

 

[Tibbs]

Surprised that you can get a seat on the DC but it doesn't usually get very busy until south of Harrow. Funnily enough the Slow lines were re-opened about the time you made your post at 08:20.

That was annoying - but I had to make my call before 8 as that's when I need to leave the house.

If I walk up to Watford High Street, rather than Bushey then I can get a seat. They're both in Zone 8, so my ticket covers either.

 

[gordonthemoron]

yet more amunition for HS2

 

[The Planner]

13503 minutes, shouldn't creep up anymore.

 

[ushawk]

yet more amunition for HS2

Even though HS2 of course could suffer a severe dewirement, the damage could also be much, much worse with trains going at a faster speed.

The 350 yesterday suffered minor damage - a train going at 200mph could be very badly damaged.

 

[edwin_m]

Even though HS2 of course could suffer a severe dewirement, the damage could also be much, much worse with trains going at a faster speed.

The 350 yesterday suffered minor damage - a train going at 200mph could be very badly damaged.

The overhead line on high speed routes is constructed to more stringent standards and doesn't appear suffer from these major dewirement incidents. As far as I'm aware there has never been a serious dewirement on HS1, and no passenger casualty has ever occurred on the European high speed network.

 

[whhistle]

Makes you wonder why they don't look at using the high speed overhead wire arrangement for domestic lines...

 

[edwin_m]

Makes you wonder why they don't look at using the high speed overhead wire arrangement for domestic lines...

On high speed lines the contact wire is the same height everywhere. On other UK routes the OLE goes lower under bridges and tunnels, and higher at level crossings to maximise road vehicle clearance. So upgrading British OLE to this standard would involve rebuilding most bridges and getting rid of level crossings.

The other aspect would be to provide equipment that is more robust but still keep the variable contact wire height. That's been done under the WCML upgrade ... um ... some mistake here surely?

 

[gordonthemoron]

Even though HS2 of course could suffer a severe dewirement, the damage could also be much, much worse with trains going at a faster speed.

The 350 yesterday suffered minor damage - a train going at 200mph could be very badly damaged.

I was referring to the subsequent chaos, coupled with LMs usual trick of cancelling most services