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Rail signal fiasco delays thousands
Dick Murray and Anna Davis25 Mar 2008
Thousands of rail commuters were delayed today when a vital signal was locked on red for three hours.
Travellers in and out of Liverpool Street were hit by cancellations and late trains after scheduled Easter weekend repairs were not finished on time.
For many rail passengers it was a repeat of the disruption at Christmas and the New Year which resulted in Network Rail being fined £14 million.
The problem meant that trains could not pass through Shenfield station, on the London side of a junction, in Essex. Trains should have been running from 5.30am but the line was not opened until 8.39am and delays continued through the morning.
Among angry passengers waiting at Liverpool Street stationwas Sarah Vote, a 26-year-old teacher from Wimbledon. She said: "I need to get to school in Billericay and I just can't get there. The replacement bus services are not going anywhere near where I need to be. I'm very, very annoyed." Shane Small, 25, an English teacher from Brick Lane, said: "This happened to me after Christmas and I couldn't get into school then either. It is so frustrating."
National Express East Anglia trains from Ipswich, Colchester, Chelmsford and Southend Victoria were affected. It also caused major problems for local services to and from Liverpool Street via Ilford.
It is understood that following replacement of the track points they were not "recognised" by the signalling system during testing. Engineers, who had gone home, had to be ordered back.
Network Rail said the points problem was not at exactly the same place as the repairs, but National Express East Anglia insisted that the delays were caused by over-running engineering works.
A Network Rail spokesman said: "We apologise to our passengers. We restored services as soon as possible following an early morning problem with the signalling system."
Brian Cooke, chairman of London TravelWatch, said: "Yet again NR appears to have let the public down.
"Despite all the promises, despite all the assurances, it seems NR again did not have the right people on site."
He added that commuters "have every right to be furious that yet again they are left without a train service".
Passengers on the West Coast Main Line also complained of delays to services into London because of engineering work.
Reader views (5)
The Jubilee Line was suspended all morning too!
- Sandra, Barkingside, Essex, 25/03/2008 14:22
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The sooner that the rail system (train companies and Network Rail) is put back under single control, the better. John Major was a total dope to privatize British Rail, which operated much more efficiently than the present mess.
- Phil Jones, London UK, 25/03/2008 14:14
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Once bitten twice stupid! Network Rail bosses have managed to reverse the famous adage. We pay these people a fortune to run the railway infrastructure and what do we get in return? A dreadful three-and-a-half hour journey from Colcheter instead of one hour. We can't, unfortunately, vote them out but we can vote out the people who have the power to sack them and don't!
- Moh Mansour, Colchester, Essex, 25/03/2008 14:01
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The Network Rail Website is still showing (at 13.35) a press release issued at 9:00 today congratulating themselves on completing all the engineering works on time. Trains to and from Chelmsford are still disrupted yet this "spin" is allowed to go unchallenged.
Not a good way to rebuild confidence after the Christmas debacle.
- Nick Palk, Chelmsford Essex, 25/03/2008 13:44
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Crash Gordon is letting the taxpaying traveller down as usual... Transport in this country is getting absurdly expensive and bad!!
- Georgie, Islington, London, 25/03/2008 12:15
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