Service disruption

admin · Service disruption

It wasn't a case of leaves on the line between Southend Central and Westcliff this morning, it was a tree that came down on the Overhead lines around 8am. With the battering winds the country woke up to, it is surprising that more damage wasn't caused to the lines. Buses were soon laid on between Leigh and Shoeburyness and Network Rail called to make repairs to the overheads. It was hoped to have services running again by this evenings Rush Hour.

TheMan

It was removed by about 10.30am but then as the first train went through there was some sheeting on the overheads at Southend Central so there was another delay while that was removed.
In the afternoon another tree fell on the overheads near Stanford-le-Hope. Not really suprising considering how windy it was!

admin

The drivers AND staff clearing the debris and carrying out the repairs in such conditions truly deserve medals to say the least. In my eyes, these people are by far, MORE worthy than some young sportsman/woman, who have yet to do something noticeable like these Railway people.

admin

Yet another day of service disruption yesterday, with Very Strong winds around the south-east part of Britain again. In one photo I saw last night, it showed a Marquee wrapped around the OHL at Pitsea. I couldn't see exactly where it was, but then as long as nobody was hurt, that's fine.

admin

According to newspaper reports today, TOC C2C have accused vandals of using a bridge in Wescliffe as a vantage point to PULL DOWN the OHL carrying 25,000kv. WHO in their right mind would even consider getting up or down onto and PULLING THE WIRES DOWN? Surely the reporters when covering stories of this nature, know the dangers of carrying out such acts and to write such garbage? Twisted Evil

purfleetsteve

admin

On January 31st, there was a train failure at Limehouse during rush-hour, when cab equipment broke down, causing delays and some people were seen to KICK trains because it caused delays. The same unit was then driven on to Barking sidings, so it was claimed by one regular passenger/commuter.

It seems there was a vast lack of communication between staff about exactly what was happening, because some staff were telling people to use the tube, which had to be closed through overcrowding, or Liverpool Street, which according to some, was too far to walk.

Tepic

admin

I can recall an incident many years ago when there was a Major fire alongside the rail-line at Harlow Mill and passengers were diverted to Kings Cross, Cambridge, THEN back to Audley End, due to the fact the OHL had to be turned off, in order for the fire brigade to put the fire out safely.

I was placed on the barrier at Cambridge to advise passengers of the disruption and one guy was going MAD at me, because the train laid on for Audley End, wasn't leaving there and then. For a start, I had NO authority to dispatch it, even if they had got the green signal. My answer to the pratt was hilarious: "Well Sir, if I send that train out now as you are demanding, you will miss it anyway." When he asked why, I just casually replied, "Well, you are here and the train is at platform 2, so if it goes, you will miss it anyway." Laughing

admin

It was a case of more severe delays between Fenchurch Street and Barking last night, after kids were reported to have thrown 'something' on to the OHL and bringing services to a halt for several hours, in the West Ham area. The usual complaints have been streaming in and some of the remarks made, literally were a BIG joke. One idiot claimed: 'ANYBODY can get in and just drive a train along the line, because it's the signalman who sets the route.'

Some passengers were saying they were detrained in complete darkness and no checks made with LUL to see if the power had been turned off. Some claimed they had to jump down off the end of platforms because there were no ramps, with one 'pulling a muscle' in the back of her leg doing so.

Others even FORCED the doors open on one unit and jumped own on their own accord, before walking along the tracks in the dark and NO communication from C2C as to what the reason was for delays. One driver was accused of making just 2 very garbled messages in three hours of them becoming stuck.

SteveB

My Brother-in-Law was effected by this last night. I got a call from my Sister at about 2025 to ask if I was about. John (BiL) had been sitting at Upton Park for about 3 hours before being de-trained. A majority of the c2c passengers were waiting to see if emergency buses were going to turn up (wrong side of Barking im affraid) so I ended up picking him up down on the Barking Road at 2050, getting him home at 2120 (just spoken to next door neighbour who finally got home at 2300).

admin

I heard on the radio tonight that a train had failed on the level crossing at Purfleet, causing not only service disruption, but traffic jams as well. I wonder if anybody complained they missed their train, like they do along here and almost daily these days?

SteveB

http://www.thurrockgazette.co.uk/...os_and_delays_on_c2c_services.php

COMMUTERS traveling to and from London were subject to chaos and delays today as problems with overhead wires in the Pitsea area wreaked carnage on services.

Services were largely at random, with travelers on all services told to discard electronic notices and pre-recorded announcements and take advice from platform staff only.

Services on the Tilbury loop to London were particularly hard hit, with a shuttle train running from Grays to Upminster to allow some commuters to take the option of using the underground service.

Delays and cancellations, which began last night, were expected to last throughout the day.

Buses have replaced trains between Pitsea and Leigh and are running about every 15 minutes.

At 8.30am today, c2c said the problems had been fixed and services would start to get back to normal. However, at midday trains were still severely disrupted.

SteveB

http://www.thurrockgazette.co.uk/...s_slam_c2c_over_service_chaos.php
COMMUTERS complained of inaccurate timetables,misleading website information and wrong announcements as rail services to and from London suffered another day of trouble.

Downed power cables in the Pitsea area caused massive disruption to services, prompting Thurrock Rail Users Group spokesperson Adrian Brown to: "We are waiting to hear from c2c to explain what happened.

"Since the chaos in April,they have told us that lessons would be learned but they obviously have not."

advertisementServices were largely at random, with travelers on all services told to discard electronic notices and pre-recorded announcements and take advice from platform staff only.

Problems for rail users in the capital were compounded by problems on the Underground, particularly the Circle Line, while in the north a 'catastrophic' signals failure caused huge disruption to services coming into the north through Finsbury Park, with trans to and from King's Cross particularly hard hit.

Passengers on some trains spent more than two hours in stationary carriages.

5:52pm Wednesday 16th January 2008

SteveB

http://www.thurrockgazette.co.uk/...es_blamed_for_rail_disruption.php
METAL thieves appear to be the cause for the latest disruption on the c2c line from Shoebury to London Fenchurch Street.

Copper cables running along the tracks were stolen, which affected the overhead power supply to the trains.

Thefts of metal are soaring across the county, as its high price makes scrap valuable.

Rush-hour services were severely delayed on Tuesday evening as a result of the thefts, which affected trains through to yesterday afternoon, as Network Rail worked to repair the cables in the Pitsea area.

Rebecca Richardson, spokeswoman for c2c, said: "The problem occurred between Pitsea and Benfleet, as a result of copper cable theft, and this resulted in the loss of power.

"Network Rail investigated it and worked through the night to fix it. The line was fully up and running again by 10.30am on Wednesday morning.

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"We were running a limited service until then and had only one line in operation.

"This is a problem for rail companies countrywide and c2c has suffered from it in the past."

admin

I bet the commuters blamed C2C and will be demanding compensation again. The thieves are even striking on some Preserved Lines. Wicked as it is, one day one of them just might cut through the wrong cable, or with the wrong cutter. It would certainly give them a shock!