Disruptions on ECML

Anybody have any experience of this? Apparently 1km of OHLE came down near St. Neots last night, bit of a bummer for anything electric, although the 43s will be able to truck on through...

BBC News: Major delays on London and Peterborough East Coast line

although the 43s will be able to truck on through...

365502 also lost its pan whilst examining the line.

Any ideas what caused the OHLE to come down?

91101 was the culprit working 5F09 Kings Cross - Heaton. 365502 also lost its pan whilst examining the line.

" said:

Any ideas what caused the OHLE to come down?

To follow up: culprit named downthread but I suspect the real problem is use of headspan catenary. On the WCML they have portal structures and only the one line is affected by a dewirement. The Kings X Suburban electrification pioneered the use of headspans; they're an awful lot cheaper and easier (not to mention quicker - and I've a suspicion many were erected between trains under the old TIV provisions, which made the overall job quicker still). But if something pulls the knitting down it affects an awful lot more than just its own line. (The little contretemps at Radlett was exactly the same thing.)

I recall several instances where the East Coast electrics have had speed restrictions imposed due to high winds affecting the OHLE. Don't seem to hear of it on the WCML though. Is this due to the use of headspan catenary or just down to the ECML being more exposed?

But before anyone criticises that decision, remember this was done during Margaret Thatcher's reign - probably the most anti-rail prime minister of recent times.

Her strategy (so far as I could see it) was to create near-impossible financial targets & burdens so the railway would deteriorate and have to close lines, selling them to the motorway conversion firms she preferred (that was certainly the plan for the Marylebone line).

What she didn't reckon on was that those managers were good. In fact, in my view, they were easily the equal of anyone in the private sector. And they rose to the challenge; my experience was that the whole railway took a great - and often personal-feeling - delight in seeing yet another improvement scheme slipped past the Treasury because its financial performance was such that they couldn't refuse it!

And - in contrast to an awful lot of post-privatisation schemes - the ECML electrification came in early and under budget.

The Original Mad Cow had a penchant for "it mustn't go over budget". When planning & building the M25 she was very strongly advised by the AA, RAC & various other road & motoring organisations to build it with 4 lanes each way rather than 3, but no, she INSISTED it must not go over budget and consequently less than a year after one of the final sections was opened (from Watford to Heathrow), so severe was the congestion that it was already being widened to four lanes (it's now six around Heathrow!) causing many hours of misery & delays to thousands of motorists in the process! And it cost TEN TIMES MORE to widen the M25 to four lanes than it would have cost to build it with four lanes in the first place!

And sadly it's the same story with the ECML - which was electrified when Britain's railways were in public ownership under her beady eye. The catenary support pillars/gantries on the ECML are placed as far apart as possible to save construction costs which means the wires tend to sag more between each gantry/catenary support (as well as having to be under greater physical tension to try and overcome the greater sag) which means there's a more pronounced risk of a "sag loop" developing immediately in front of the pantograph which greatly increases the risk of the pantograph snagging the OHLE - particularly if there's a good breeze blowing. And let's not forget that the area that seems to be most afflicted with OHLE problems has a topography that's flat and exposed.

Whilst OHLE problems are not unheard of on the WCML (or the MML for that matter), they happen far less frequently due to the gantry posts being spaced closer together as it was electrified in the 1960s in the days when things were done properly. not down to a price.

So it's my guess the OHLE problems that have and continue to plague the ECML will continue and worsen until the government and/or Network Rail bites the bullet and does the job properly - as it should have been done in the first place!

I also strongly suspect that if the cost of repairing all the damage to the OHLE that has occurred on the ECML since it was electrified is added to the millions that have had to be paid out in compensation for late/cancelled trains/resulting legal fees etc. is added up, the extra it would have cost to do the job properly will seem to be a drop in the ocean by comparison!

To me, what is so sad nay a great tragedy, is that one of the great ills that has afflicted this country ever since the days of Margaret Thatcher, is that we have become a nation run by bean counters who are obsessed with "saving that halfpenny-worth of tar". Or to put it another way, in this country we know the price of everything - and the value of nothing!

The Original Mad Cow had a penchant for "it mustn't go over budget". When planning & building the M25 she was very strongly advised by the AA, RAC & various other road & motoring organisations to build it with 4 lanes each way rather than 3, but no, she INSISTED it must not go over budget and consequently less than a year after one of the final sections was opened (from Watford to Heathrow), so severe was the congestion that it was already being widened to four lanes (it's now six around Heathrow!) causing many hours of misery & delays to thousands of motorists in the process! And it cost TEN TIMES MORE to widen the M25 to four lanes than it would have cost to build it with four lanes in the first place!