⚠️Sorry to say @Se_Railway's Sidcup line is likely to remain blocked for most of the day while we work to re-rail a locomotive that came off the tracks at #Lee yesterday. The plan is to jack it up and move it back onto the rails from its current position (pictured). /1
@Se_Railway The location of the loco means it's impossible to run trains on the line as there's nowhere to switch tracks, so tickets are valid on some London buses (for full details see @Se_Railway ). We're checking over signalling and track at the same time as re-railing so... /2
@Se_Railway ... all being well we should have a railway back for tomorrow. Current estimations are that it will be at least nightfall before the engine has been moved and we will make sure everything is working properly before running passenger trains again. /3
@Se_Railway Many thanks for your patience and please accept our apologies for this grim start to your week.
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⚠️We’re sorry to say that despite our best efforts the derailed loco remains at #Lee, blocking the @Se_Railway Sidcup line this morning. The rescue team encountered serious problems last night with soft ground as it wasn’t solid enough to provide a stable base for the jack. /1
We’ve got 4 of 6 wheels on now and a new plan will see the involvement of another loco in dragging the engine back onto the rails. We’re just awaiting the arrival of that extra loco and driver and will be underway when they arrive. /2
We’re working with @Se_Railway to manage the emergency timetable so we can open the line as soon as it’s safe to do so. We’ll report back when we have a progress report from site but until then please accept our apologies for letting you down this week. /3
There’s just one more day of work on Sunday 3 October as part of our £22m Arun Valley Line Improvement Project. Please plan ahead and check before you travel at nationalrail.co.uk
Thank you @SouthernRailUK and @TLRailUK passengers for your patience while we’ve delivered this work to improve journeys today and long into the future. Here’s a quick recap of the work we’ve done to improve track, signalling, earthworks and stations on the #ArunValley Line
Our staff worked 80,000 hours on more than 40 miles of railway for a mixture of upgrades and maintenance across 120 different sites from #Arundel to #Crawley and from #Horsham to #Dorking
⚠️🚦 We're sorry @Se_Railway passengers have had a disrupted morning today, after a points failure at #NewCross . The kit that failed is what we call a "switch diamond", circled in the diagram below. As well as being sensitive, they are also disruptive when they go wrong... /1
... because they potentially affect 3 lines at the same time. As you look at the diagram, you can see it sits amongst 3 lines, and when it failed - effectively stopped telling the signalling system it was safely locked into position - signals on all 3 routes went red. /2
We've secured the diamond into straight running position, so trains can run again, albeit without being able to use the crossovers. We should be able to run a normal service like that until tonight, when our technicians will come in + fault-find and get it fully fixed. /3
VICTORIA UPDATE: We've found a short stretch of damaged live rail, which provides power to trains, in the section highlighted. A team is getting tooled up to fix it. Meanwhile we have platforms 2-6 and 2 lines (the top 2 in the pic) open. Sorry to @Se_Railway passengers today /1
@Se_Railway Here's what we think happened - a train came in over the highlighted section, and either a fault on the train or a fault on the track, caused its current collector shoes to be pulled out of alignment and the live rail too. /2
As the train made its way into Victoria, the shoes came off and were lodged between the live rail and the running rail. This caused a short circuit, causing a points failure and a small fire. You can see the extinguisher foam and the shoes here. /3
1) Here’s a short thread on why you might notice more railway ‘blockades’ in future (where we close a stretch of railway for a number of consecutive days versus multiple weekends of disruption).
2) ‘In the case of Bearsted (networkrail.co.uk/bearsted), why did you decide to close the railway line for nine days in the middle of the summer holidays?’
It might seem strange on the face of it but it’s actually more efficient this way. The alternative ...
3) ... would be working over multiple weekends throughout the year, which would be far more disruptive to passengers and our lineside neighbours.
⚠️We're sorry for the disruption to @Se_Railway trains travelling into Charing Cross this evening. There's no easy way to say this, but we have a problem with a lubricator. It should be greasing the edges of the rails to stop wheels screeching and rubbing on sharp bends... /1
...but it has got overexcited and has let all its grease out in one go. Trains have been rolling through the grease near Waterloo East and finding it very difficult to stop. /2
This is a stock image of a lubricator and you can see how they should work. They have a different name on the railway but it would have made these Tweets impossible to get through without making it sound like a joke, when we know people are being disrupted. /3