On Dec 21, 5:00*pm, CJB wrote:
On Dec 21, 12:03*pm, "Patrick O'Neill" wrote:









"CJB" wrote in message

....

Does anyone know why ALL trains to / from Heathrow have been cancelled
without notice for TWO days?

Some reports say signal failure, others say cable theft, others say
points failure at Airport Junction, others say was a fire at
Paddington.

What IS certain is that the severe disruption into / out of Paddington
has been going on since 11.00 Thursday morning, and are likely to
persist until 15.00 Friday afternoon.

As is typical for FGW / Heathrow NO MANAGEMENT WERE IN SIGHT on the
concourse at Paddington during the day nor during the evening rush-
hour on Thursday.

NO CONTINGENCY PLANS WERE IN PLACE to get airline pax to Heathrow to
make their flights. HEX staff at Paddington were telling pax to get
the Piccadilly Line to Heathrow - actually not that easy to do esp.
with luggage. And T4L were not accepting HEX or HConn tickets.

And the thousands who missed their flights from Heathrow likely also
found that they missed their onward flight connections, missed meeting
accommodation bookings, and are likely to miss spending Christmas with
their relatives / friends. And with the Christmas getaway now in full
swing thousands will find that rebooking flights is not an option
before the New Year.

Also most (all?) Intercity trains from Paddington to the West were
cancelled. Again rebooking is likely to be an issue since all
subsequent trains are likely to be fully booked. And trains are not
likely to be running again until later Friday afternoon.

What few trains that were running - mainly Intercitys - were not
stopping at local stations due to over-crowding or more likely not
having stop orders issued. So pax at local stations had to wait and
wait and wait until a train condescended to stop for them.

Wonderful chaos as usual. And FGW / Heathriw */ NetworkRail management
doesn't give a damn.

The Acton Relay room has gone pop together with serious damage to lineside
cabinets.

The website at:

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/servic...ons/today.html

states:

====

Heathrow Express and Heathrow Connect

Services are currently suspended. No replacement transport is in
place.

Passengers may travel between Central London and Heathrow Airport on
London Underground, but a new ticket will need to be purchased.

====

So stuff any pax who bought over-priced HEX or HConn tickets - 15
minutes of fame? Huh!! Par for the course from Heathrow Ltd (ex-BAA).

Why don't they suggest catching a FGW local to Hayes and then the 140
bus. Oh - there are any trains!!

PATHETIC.

CJB.

Apparently the disruption will persist until 18.00 on Saturday. So
much for the big get-away.

But with the fires variously reported as being near Acton and
Westbourne Park and Hayes and Preston Park (Brighton) this is
increasingly looking like sabotage.

CJB.

CJB wrote:

But with the fires variously reported as being near Acton and
Westbourne Park and Hayes and Preston Park (Brighton) this is
increasingly looking like sabotage.

I assume no group has claimed responsibility?

Neil
--
Neil Williams in Milton Keynes, UK. Put first name before the at to reply.

On 21 Dec 2012 17:11:06 GMT, Neil Williams
wrote:

CJB wrote:

But with the fires variously reported as being near Acton and
Westbourne Park and Hayes and Preston Park (Brighton) this is
increasingly looking like sabotage.

I assume no group has claimed responsibility?

You suspect the Tooting Popular Front ?

CJB wrote:

Passengers may travel between Central London and Heathrow Airport on
London Underground, but a new ticket will need to be purchased.

The latter part is a disgrace, unless easy-to-obtain-from-abroad refunds
are being given on the much higher HEx fare. If they are, this makes
sense.

Neil
--
Neil Williams in Milton Keynes, UK. Put first name before the at to reply.

CJB wrote:

Also most (all?) Intercity trains from Paddington to the West were
cancelled. Again rebooking is likely to be an issue since all
subsequent trains are likely to be fully booked.

When was the last time you travelled by IC train in the UK?

Clue: the UK does not operate compulsory reservations.

Neil

--
Neil Williams in Milton Keynes, UK. Put first name before the at to reply.

On 21/12/12 12:40, Neil Williams wrote:
CJB wrote:

Also most (all?) Intercity trains from Paddington to the West were
cancelled. Again rebooking is likely to be an issue since all
subsequent trains are likely to be fully booked.

When was the last time you travelled by IC train in the UK?

Clue: the UK does not operate compulsory reservations.

True, but there is typically only one unbooked carriage, into which the
displaced passengers from several other trains are unlikely to fit.

Ian

In article , (The Real
Doctor) wrote:

On 21/12/12 12:40, Neil Williams wrote:
CJB wrote:

Also most (all?) Intercity trains from Paddington to the West were
cancelled. Again rebooking is likely to be an issue since all
subsequent trains are likely to be fully booked.

When was the last time you travelled by IC train in the UK?

Clue: the UK does not operate compulsory reservations.

True, but there is typically only one unbooked carriage, into which
the displaced passengers from several other trains are unlikely to
fit.

FSVO "unbooked". The no-show rate can be phenomenal.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

The Real Doctor wrote:

True, but there is typically only one unbooked carriage, into which the
displaced passengers from several other trains are unlikely to fit.

Seated probably not. There is no requirement for them to be seated, and no
rule against the entire train being "full and standing", which is generally
the best way to clear a mess like that.

Neil
--
Neil Williams in Milton Keynes, UK. Put first name before the at to reply.

On 22/12/12 20:03, Neil Williams wrote:
The Real Doctor wrote:

True, but there is typically only one unbooked carriage, into which the
displaced passengers from several other trains are unlikely to fit.

Seated probably not. There is no requirement for them to be seated, and no
rule against the entire train being "full and standing", which is generally
the best way to clear a mess like that.

"And standing" normally means at most one extra passenger per row of
seats, so 25% over capacity. Good luck carry several extra trains' worth
that way. This is long distance stuff we're talking about, not the
commute from Milton Keynes to Euston.

Ian

The Real Doctor wrote:

"And standing" normally means at most one extra passenger per row of
seats, so 25% over capacity. Good luck carry several extra trains' worth
that way. This is long distance stuff we're talking about, not the
commute from Milton Keynes to Euston.

The GWML is a glorified outersuburban operation these days. Crush-loads
are not at all unknown.

The term full and standing tends to mean "you're unlikely to fit on".

Neil
--
Neil Williams in Milton Keynes, UK. Put first name before the at to reply.