Posted 16th August 2017 | 3 Comments
Platforms reopen after Waterloo derailment
DISRUPTION has eased at London Waterloo today after one bogie of a Class 456 unit derailed as it was leaving Platform 13 about 05.40 yesterday, tilting the leading driving car into the side of wagons involved in this month’s blockade.
No one was injured, but the incident caused serious disruption to services, while an unrelated points failure meant that the former international platforms 20 to 24 were also isolated. These platforms had been brought into use during the August blockade to provide some additional capacity.
In an update issued a short time ago (Wednesday morning), Network Rail said: “The derailed train at London Waterloo has now been removed and repairs to the track were completed overnight, following yesterday's partial derailment.
“Two of the three platforms have now re-opened and we are expecting to operate virtually all of the planned services today. However, passengers are advised that there may still be delays whilst we work to re-open the third platform.”
South West Trains, which is due to hand over its franchise to FirstGroup and MTR on Sunday, said: “As a result of yesterday's disruption, many trains were not in their scheduled location this morning, so some alterations to services may be necessary and some trains may be formed of less coaches than normal.”
There were other problems yesterday, while the railway industry was already headline news because July’s RPI and therefore January’s likely regulated fares rise had been announced.
A Great Northern unit with passengers on board collided at low speed with buffers in the suburban station at London King’s Cross, although no injuries were reported, while the line between Ely and Peterborough remained blocked by a derailed freight train.
Greater Anglia said: “Services between Bury St Edmunds and Peterborough have been suspended until further notice.
“Network Rail engineers are on site working to recover the derailed wagons, which is likely to take a number of days as they will require to be lifted away by crane. The track is also damaged and will need to be replaced before services can run again.”
Some East Midlands Trains and CrossCountry services are also affected by the derailment, near Ely North Junction.
The Rail Accident Investigation Branch is gathering evidence from all three incident sites.
Reader Comments:
Views expressed in submitted comments are that of the author, and not necessarily shared by Railnews.
David Cook, Broadstone, Dorset
If anyone ever needed proof that building brand new railways is easier than upgrading existing ones, just look at HS1 (reliable and fast), Crossrail (on time and on schedule) and then Kings Cross upgrade a couple of Christmases ago (chaos), Great Western electrification (over budget, late, and now partially cancelled), and now Waterloo. Waterloo had to be done in one block and there was only ever going to be one outcome once something minor went wrong. With zero spare capacity, one points failure compounded by a low speed scrape and derailment, and the whole Southwest network was always going to grind to a halt. All the anti HS2 lot should have been forced to travel between Bournemouth and Waterloo for these 3 weeks so they can see what really happens when upgrades to an existing railway infrastructure take place.
Andrew Gwilt, Basildon, Essex
Glad that no one wasn't hurt. But what caused the train to derail just outside Waterloo station.
James palma, London
And people say upgrade the WCML instead of building new infrastructure?
They should read this, what has been happening at London Bridge, the GWR electrification and the work to upgrade the WCML a few years ago and decide how upgrading the WCML works would happen instead of HS2.