European Railroad Discussion > derailment at Paddington (London, UK)

Quite a mess. Driver of an unoccupied train entering the station ran a red signal. Note that the train was longer than 2 carriages, but only the first 2 derailed and the remainder were pulled away from the scene early on.

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/transport/paddington-station-rail-delays-dramatic-aftermath-of-derailment-which-sparked-travel-chaos-a3274296.html

 

This was an empty move back into Paddington which was coming off sidings. When they went past the red signal they went over the trap points which derailed the set. What made the situation even worse is that they derailed into an overhead line mast, which brought wires down and stranded all of the electric sets in the area. Quite a mess. A few questions are being asked now about the placement of the mast, which was put up around 1995.
Hopefully they'll get the set out of there tonight and get people in working on the wires over the weekend. At the moment only 4 of 6 lines into Paddington are useable, and platforms 1-5 are closed.

I wonder how many flights were missed if the Heathrow Express service was affected. I doubt there would be enough taxis available to pick up the slack. Well, at least the angry commuters didn't burn the place down as was the case in Pretoria a few years back when service was interrupted!

Those who often fly out of LHR are accustomed to irregularities of HEX operations. I always get to Paddington early enough so that I have sufficient time to take the Tube or a taxi to LHR in case HEX isn't running or has reverted to half-hour schedules.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/18/16 05:33 by ctillnc.

andersonb109 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I wonder how many flights were missed if the
> Heathrow Express service was affected. I doubt
> there would be enough taxis available to pick up
> the slack. Well, at least the angry commuters
> didn't burn the place down as was the case in
> Pretoria a few years back when service was
> interrupted!

England is so much more civilized than that. They also don't burn the trains or kill the train crew and throw the bodies off of the train...before setting it on fire.

TAW

TAW Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> andersonb109 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I wonder how many flights were missed if the
> > Heathrow Express service was affected. I doubt
> > there would be enough taxis available to pick
> up
> > the slack. Well, at least the angry commuters
> > didn't burn the place down as was the case in
> > Pretoria a few years back when service was
> > interrupted!
>
> England is so much more civilized than that. They
> also don't burn the trains or kill the train crew
> and throw the bodies off of the train...before
> setting it on fire.
>
> TAW

Thanks for the compliment - I agree.

But also remember that the Heathrow Express is just  a sideshow at Paddington for the benefit largely of a few "foreigners" who insist on coming to London! I am worried that in the current xenophobic mood many may rejoice. It reminds me of the famous (if possibly apocryphal) headline : "Fog in Channel!  Europe cut off!"

Much worse is the effect on the residents of the West Country who will be home late for tea!

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/19/16 13:40 by spflow.

Oh dear! Somebody should try and laugh, even if you don't get the jokes!  We Brits are sensitive souls, even if we don't go ape every time things get a little screwed up.

I am travelling out of Paddington to Devon tomorrow evening, so I can report as to whether it has all been cleared up.