Also known as "fire & forget"

 

Buffer, or buffet?

 
There are reports in the Spanish media, unconfirmed, that two other trains in the area affected by the system failure were given instruction to proceed at line speed, one in each direction heading to the incident location. One driver refused the instruction and the other proceeded, only to be stopped when the OHLE failed following the collision.

Had that first driver acceded to the instruction to proceed and had the OHLE stayed energised...

Screenshots of Google translated news items from El Mundo and El Confidencial.

 
Some of us may know of the old Home Office buffer stores where emergency rations were stored. There was one outside Wallingford close to the station, another on the Didcot, Newbury & Southampton line at Hermitage (or was that a cold store) and another between Steventon and Grove, served by a siding off the GWR. The first two were retained for some years after rail services ceased, and on the site of the one at Wallingford is a very new housing estate.

When there was a firemen's strike decades ago, army fire engines known as Green Goddesses stored at Steventon were deployed. As I was cycling on the main road between Tilehurst and Pangbourne, a column of them came the other way.

 

Last train Melksham to Carlisle 16:39, to Newcastle 18:53 (if you count an 01:35 arrival as 'same day') ... with 12 ticket journey sales year between Melksham and Carlisle, and 8 between Melksham and Newcastle, there's hardly a mass transit flow there that warrants timetable changes to suite!

 
Another MP obsessed with trains between London and the constituency. Haven't they got the message that everything being London-centric is out of fashion? In the case of Carlisle a decent last train home from Newcastle is ironically probably more relevant for many purposes, though I see that is currently also rather early. Last train home from Manchester if he ever visits No. 10 North isn't significantly later than from London.

 

It gives news that may be bad time to settle and fade. From https://davebusiek.substack.com/p/beware-the-friday-news-dump


And indeed I too have "got stuff out before the weekend".  Where the "Public Affairs" teams do this regularly, and fail to follow up even with people who write in the following week, I get to an uneasy feeling that it may be being done to try to minimised any need to deal with incoming consequential questions.

 
No, that's not a problem in itself, Ralph Ayres.

However, it perhaps demonstrates a rather cynical attitude from senior staff in 'public affairs' roles.

When grahame previously responded, with constructive comments and suggestions, after the weekend (and indeed after several more weekends), he received no response whatever.

If the Great Western Railway and Network Rail 'Public Affairs' departments don't want the answer, why do they ask the question?

CfN.

 
From the BBC:

 
The earliest date involved is a month away so is it really a problem if they won't see any responses until Monday? Sending that sort of comms out is very much the type of task I would have finished on a Friday to avoid overlooking it after a weekend off.

 
I share your disappointment, grahame.

That does seem to have become something of a habit for both of those senior 'Public Affairs' staff, Olivia & Heledd - sending out such e-mails on a Friday afternoon, just as they leave their respective offices for the weekend.

CfN. 

 
Thank you for posting here in such detail, grahame.

As a fellow administrator on this forum, I have no issue: you are, fortunately or perhaps unfortunately, able to post such comments 'live from the scene' in Spain.

I have simply added a definition for IRYO to our forum's 'abbreviations page', for clarity.

CfN.

 
Receive from GWR and NR this afternoon, shared as per their request to help them maximise reach


As seems to be standard for these communications, received on a Friday afternoon - POETS day.   Past experience suggests that letting them know if there's anything else we need, as per the invite, may (or may not) be heeded.  Being kind to Olivia and Heledd, they may make use of inputs so received, but certainly don't rely on hearing back is you email them; they have not promised a response.

 
Governments telling us to stockpile much more officially now - so what do they know? Mar-a-largo being equipped with surface to air missiles (defence??). US military training soldiers to dig mass graves.  Russia Is Ready For War With Europe, Putin Warns.  What was going on at Fairford?  Trump threatens Iran escalation after the mid-terms.   

This thread, I note, is in "The West, but not trains in The West".   Am I straying too far from trains?

 
In the aftermath of a UK accident, we are very careful on the Coffee Shop not to speculate and place blame until there is official indication of what happened.  In this (Spanish) case the evidence has very much emerged into the public domain, and I may be  tempted to comment.  The more so because we arrived into Madrid's Atocha station this morning, where both of the two trains had departed from.  My first time here - I can't say whether or not it was quieter than normal, but flag on buildings around are flying at half mast and it didn't have the hustle and bustle I would expect at a major London terminal.

So - how do I analyse this as the "local" reporter and yet with no more evidence than that available to other readers?

"There is never just one failure that leads to an accident"  we often say, and even after multiple failures it comes down to elements of luck.

1. The Computer (signalling) system failed and brought loads of trains to a halt.   We don't know why as yet, I don't think, and we don't know if this was a regular happening or the first time it had happened.  And we don't know if it was component failure, operator failure, data failure or even some sort of malicious attack.

2. The IRYO train (the one in front) was also told to proceed but having come to halt, the driver could not get it to restart / reboot.  Again, much we don't know - was this a design issue, a training issue, or something that's a perfectly normal set of circumstances when there's an unexpected shutdown and (!) for saftey the train won't restart.   Again, we don't know whether these were common circumstances (not restarting) or this was unique

3. Instructions from control to the RENFE (rear) train to proceed without restriction on speed are described as "inexplicable", and in hindsight they were, but perhaps at the time if both the IRYO and RENFE trains had restarted, both would have moved into the / an area where the signalling was working and proceeded on their way - no smash, no public comment, perhaps praise to control for sorting things out.

4. Did the people in control have the correct systems and management to ensure that the systems were safe and that came first, above getting the trains running again after a signalling failure

There is much, much more to learn.  The guy who told the trains to proceed must be in mental turmoil, whether or not his action was a unique and foolish one, or whether it was something that was common practise in manual control and it went horribly wrong this time, or somewhere between. The lady driving the IRYO train must also be torn - if only (for what ever reason) had got the darned thing on the move there would probably not have been an accident.  And the driver of the RENFE train ... had not been accounted from what I read.  The people who specified, designed, installed and looked after the day to day maintenance and operation of the signalling system will almost certainly by mortified with concerns too - we cannot specifically place them as we can other players.  And the people who set the safety framework for rail travel in Spain, and implement it, must be asked and be asking of they got this right.

I have written - an extraordinary amount - outside the forum norm so soon after an accident.  If my fellow moderators feel I have overstepped the mark, please move this post out of public view.

 
“Only a matter of time” until more cyclists crash into pedestrians on Oxford Street, planning chief warns.

 
From the BBC:

 
An interesting pictorial history item, from the BBC:

 
https://www.worcesternews.co.uk/news/26682561.commuters-fined-park-opposite-worcestershire-parkway/

"AROUND 20 motorists were hit with Fixed Penalty Notices (FPN) near a Worcestershire railway station as cars were left parked on a grass verge. The vehicles were parked opposite Worcestershire Parkway station on Thursday, which has a 483-space long-stay car park."

There has been an issue with the car park filling up for a while now, particularly Tuesday to Thursday. Get there after 9:30 and you'll have a heck of a job finding a free space.

I do wonder if the problem has been exacerbated this week though by all the Hereford and Malvern passengers driving there to get trains to London, due to this week's engineering works.

You can see the problem with the satellite view on Google Maps. I don't know what time of day this is from, but it was clearly a weekday as I would estimate the car park is 90% full here.

 

I think if you look at the longer term plan for Oxford Street that dedicated lanes wouldn't work, that said, if the rules aren't properly enforced (and they aren't at the moment), some cyclists will continue to create a hazard, I've seen footage of the usual clowns cycling up and down pulling wheelies in the midst of pedestrians.

Crossed Henrietta Place yesterday on way to office, buses thundering around there and apparently bus drivers are already expressing concern that there are going to be accidents - those roads and junctions just aren't designed for it.

The large community of homeless people who generally slept at the front of John Lewis on Oxford Street have been relocated to the back - not sure if they had any choice in this, but they are now forced to occupy a much narrower space.

 

Half term so too many staff allowed leave to maintain the service. Familiar story. Poor workforce planning.

Cotswold services suffering this afternoon/evening, 2 consecutive longer distance services cancelled.

 

 

If it's purely for stabling, then potentially 'yes'.

But usually, cleaning, emptying of toilet tanks, 'fitness to run' certificates and light maintenance is involved as well.  That requires specific facilities and equipment for the type of train concerned.

And we should remember that even when GBR is up and running, the trains (initially at least) are all owned by ROSCO's and maintenance is often tied in with the manufacturer.

 
So under GBR, it could mean that any TOC (as was) could use any existing stabling depot anywhere!?
Or too fanciful perhaps.

 
The last few days a few shuttles (Exeter/Plymouth/Penzance) cancelled because of staff shortages.

Several 'expresses' to/from London down to 5 cars.

St Ives down to 2 cars - more trains than usual needing repairs.

 

Why?

Well, the population of Carlisle is 77,000.  Population of Newcastle and Gateshead is 380,000 with over a million in the wider Tyne & Wear area. 

The east coast route has Darlington and Durham as previous stops (adds another 150,000).  Oxenholme (including nearby Kendal) and Penrith on the West Coast only adds another 45,000.  Lancaster can be reached on the 20:30 with a change at Preston.

There could just about be a case for the 20:30 EUS-PRE to extend to Glasgow via Carlisle I guess, but surely nothing later than that would make sense.  And there's no point running something just to Carlisle as the stabling/maintenance points are at Glasgow and Manchester which is why the 20:30 and 21:10 from Euston only go to Preston.  The former runs empty to the depot in Manchester, the latter lays over at Preston for five hours before running empty to Lancaster to form the first London bound train next morning.  That makes sense because the crew depot is at Preston so the late shift immobilise the train and the early shift then mobilise it.

By contrast, the East Coast stabling point is actually in Newcastle.

 
More logical to extend the 21:10 from Euston to Preston as far as Carlisle, arrival about 1 a.m.?

According to my journey planner, the 22:03 from KX to Newcastle gets there at 01:38 - say 02:50 to Carlisle if extended. 

 

Could they be waiting for 13th December, for final preps not to be the responsibility of the TOCs shareholders, and for them to come into service at that date as a quick win for the new operator?

 

Interesting thoughts, as there was a proposal at one time to close the East Coast main line north of Newcastle with all traffic routed onward via Carlisle.

In current time, you have London to Newcastle electric but not onward to Carlisle, you have crew hours and route knowledge issues, as well as servicng and a question about who would pay for an extra service extension that late at night.

 
103+110 (the Green ones) have been on a siding next to the shed in Laira since arriving on 1 October 2026.

There seems to be no effort to get these trains in service or even move them.

One problem seems to have arisen with the 175s is one door will not open unless kicked if it is in a station with a cant.