The news item on BBC Breakfast at around 0700 was that the DLR was
suspended at the southern end due to a broken down train, making it
sound like something that would soon be shifted (for those thinking of
using the DLR later in the day).

This afteroon I tried 020 7222 1234, press 3 for DLR service updates,
and it reported nothing other than escalator work at Bank and no lift
at Heron Quays.

In the real world, the service was suspended due to a derailment and
there was a replacement bus in operation. This is likely to last into
the weekend.

Not the best provision of information really.

Apparently DLR staff have been a bit cagey about it all day. Reminds
me of when a bit of the platform fell off at Mudchute on marathon day
last year suspending all services south of Crossharbour on the DLR's
most important day of the year. I'd heard today that a train had hit
an 'object' though they said it wasn't vandalism or terrorism. Has a
train scraped the platform again? If so I wonder if there's an
inherant design fault? Police were at the scene in the morning but
they weren't there all day suggesting it wasn't a crime scene. I
noticed that the TFL website seemed to be in denial of any problem for
much of the day but the Live Departure Boards seemed really bizarre as
the ones at Mudchute and Bank showed every other train as terminating
at Pontoon Dock!

I have to say I had the best journey ever into work this morning
thanks to the incident. Some trains were starting at Mudchute so I was
able to get on without fighting for a space and had a choice of seats!
Not much fun for those south of the river though.

MIG wrote:
Not the best provision of information really.

There was someone under a train at Turnpike Lane this evening. The east
bound Piccadilly was suspended for a while as a result. While the driver
of one affected train was explaining this for the third time, the 'all
services are operating normally' drivel echoed around the platform. The
LCD indicator at the surface said 'minor delays'. Within the space of
about 20 minutes, the same 'all services blah blah' was heard as I made
an alternative route through two other tube stations. According to TfL's
website, the problem only cleared around the time that I got home and
then 'minor delays' followed.

I'd rather have no information than misinformation.

ESB

On Apr 4, 11:36*pm, wrote:
Apparently DLR staff have been a bit cagey about it all day. Reminds
me of when a bit of the platform fell off at Mudchute on marathon day
last year suspending all services south of Crossharbour on the DLR's
most important day of the year. I'd heard today that a train had hit
an 'object' though they said it wasn't vandalism or terrorism. Has a
train scraped the platform again? If so I wonder if there's an
inherant design fault?

Well, they are so wobbly that it's not surprising that they scrape
things.

A DLR person told me that the supposedly broken down train had "come
off the tracks". Units 87 and 62 seemed to be stuck on the viaduct
adjacent to Creekside, but I can't say that they looked particularly
wonky. If it had scraped the platform, it would have had to restart
from the station having done so to get where it was.

Police were at the scene in the morning but
they weren't there all day suggesting it wasn't a crime scene.

It's not an obvious location for "vandalism" related objects on the
line, that's for sure. By the evening there were a lot of orange
people sitting on the platform at Deptford Bridge, but no one visible
near the train.

On 4 Apr, 23:36, wrote:
Apparently DLR staff have been a bit cagey about it all day. [...]

Variously described by the DLR staff I asked as a derailment, a power
problem, a failed train and "just an incident, I don't know anything
more than that".

I got myself caught up in this yesterday as I basically had had a free
day and was out and about in the Docklands, I'll report back with a
bit more about how the service coped with this all (in essence fairly
well, but on-the-spot information provision could nonetheless have
been a bit better).

Mizter T wrote:
On 4 Apr, 23:36, wrote:
Apparently DLR staff have been a bit cagey about it all day. [...]

Variously described by the DLR staff I asked as a derailment, a power
problem, a failed train and "just an incident, I don't know anything
more than that".

The TfL website says that the DLR is suspended between Greenwich and
Lewisham "due to an ongoing incident". If it was in fact a derailment, it
should have been immediately reported to the Rail Accident Investigation
Branch, but it's not (yet) shown in the list of current investigations on
the RAIB site.
--
Richard J.
(to email me, swap 'uk' and 'yon' in address)

On 5 Apr, 12:00, "Richard J." wrote:

Mizter T wrote:
On 4 Apr, 23:36, wrote:
Apparently DLR staff have been a bit cagey about it all day. [...]

Variously described by the DLR staff I asked as a derailment, a power
problem, a failed train and "just an incident, I don't know anything
more than that".

The TfL website says that the DLR is suspended between Greenwich and
Lewisham "due to an ongoing incident". If it was in fact a derailment, it
should have been immediately reported to the Rail Accident Investigation
Branch, but it's not (yet) shown in the list of current investigations on
the RAIB site.


RAIB were there - I saw a 4x4 vehicle carrying the RAIB logo at
Deptford Bridge on Friday morning.

RAIB don't appear to update their website immediately after an
incident, there is perhaps a gap of a day or two until it gets updated
with the latest incidents.

Mizter T wrote:
On 5 Apr, 12:00, "Richard J." wrote:

Mizter T wrote:
Variously described by the DLR staff I asked as a derailment, a
power problem, a failed train and "just an incident, I don't know
anything more than that".

The TfL website says that the DLR is suspended between Greenwich and
Lewisham "due to an ongoing incident". If it was in fact a
derailment, it should have been immediately reported to the Rail
Accident Investigation Branch, but it's not (yet) shown in the list
of current investigations on the RAIB site.


RAIB were there - I saw a 4x4 vehicle carrying the RAIB logo at
Deptford Bridge on Friday morning.

The RAIB have confirmed this morning (13/4) that they are investigating a
derailment.

"The RAIB is carrying out an investigation into a derailment of a Docklands
Light Railway train near Deptford Bridge station on 4 April 2008.

At 05:27 hrs on 4 April the 05:19 hrs service from Lewisham had just left
Deptford Bridge station, and was travelling towards Greenwich, when it
struck an object on the track and was derailed by the second axle of the
first bogie. The front of the train came to a rest 88 metres after hitting
the object. There were no injuries to the 59 persons on board the train and
all were evacuated safely back to Deptford Bridge station.
The train, which was the first train of the day from Lewisham, was under
automatic operation. The object on the track was found to be a steel
drilling template that had been in use during engineering activities the
previous night."

While it might be thought that manual operation would have been better for
the first train after an overnight possession, it would still have been dark
at the time of the derailment (sunrise that day in London was at 06:28 BST),
so the object might not have been visible anyway.

Are there any special precautions taken on the Tube for the first train
after overnight engineering work, especially on the lines with ATO (Central,
Victoria)?
--
Richard J.
(to email me, swap 'uk' and 'yon' in address)

On 13 Apr, 15:07, "Richard J." wrote:
Are there any special precautions taken on the Tube for the first train
after overnight engineering work, especially on the lines with ATO (Central,
Victoria)?

On the Wuppertal Schwebebahn the first train of the day now runs
empty after a similar incident killed 4 people in 1999 (can't remember
where I read this).

(and Germany's other fatal monorail accident involved a train hitting
a left-behind maintenance wagon)

U

--
http://londonconnections.blogspot.com/
A blog about transport projects in London

On Apr 13, 3:44*pm, Mr Thant
wrote:
On 13 Apr, 15:07, "Richard J." wrote:

Are there any special precautions taken on the Tube for the first train
after overnight engineering work, especially on the lines with ATO (Central,
Victoria)?

On the Wuppertal Schwebebahn the first *train of the day now runs
empty after a similar incident killed 4 people in 1999 (can't remember
where I read this).

(and Germany's other fatal monorail accident involved a train hitting
a left-behind maintenance wagon)

For a few days after (and possibly still, but I haven't been that way)
there was a very much more severe than usual speed restriction between
Deptford Bridge and Greenwich.

I don't know if that's because of track damage or a case of locking
the stable door.