Question on Failures

I come from the midlands, and rarely see signal/signalling failures listed as a reason for delays. However, from what I've seen, signalling failures seem quite frequent on the underground (news, tv, the like). I realise that might be simply media showing me the faults, but I am curious to know if signal equipment failures are really that common place, and how long it may take to fix a given problem?

In Absolute Block, facing point locks are not required when setting routes though trailing points. What would a TCB panel say? Would routes that cause the points to be trailing be allowed, and routes that cause the points to be facing not allowed? Would whole line simply be unusable?

Perhaps the signalling system may not be sophisticated enough to realise that the fault is with the lock instead of the motor, and instead treats it as a total points failure?

In SimSig, various failures may happen if the option is selected.

But in real life, are these failures really common place? If I understand correctly, SimSig determines the number of failures at a certain time based on the difficulty setting selected (harder difficulty = more failures at a certain time), but in real life, are these failures really that common place?

I come from the midlands, and rarely see signal/signalling failures listed as a reason for delays. However, from what I've seen, signalling failures seem quite frequent on the underground (news, tv, the like). I realise that might be simply media showing me the faults, but I am curious to know if signal equipment failures are really that common place, and how long it may take to fix a given problem?

On a more niche note, I was wondering about a particular case:
Say the lock to some points were faulty: the system has detected a fault with the lock, and subsequently no routes that require movement facing the points may be set/made. But say these points were to a single line branch: this means they would act as both facing and trailing points. In Absolute Block, facing point locks are not required when setting routes though trailing points. What would a TCB panel say? Would routes that cause the points to be trailing be allowed, and routes that cause the points to be facing not allowed? Would whole line simply be unusable?

Note that in the failure above, the point motor still functions, but rather the lock does not.

Perhaps the signalling system may not be sophisticated enough to realise that the fault is with the lock instead of the motor, and instead treats it as a total points failure?

I am curious!!!

Interesting! It seems that with the spider-like branching of the national rail network, diversions are a much more viable solution compared to the underground, where many routes may use the same lines, and combined with the impressive frequency of trains, a failure would seem more catastrophic.

Another scenario I thought of was this:
The junction indicator on the signal does not work. Would this affect train runnings at all? The system is running as normal, but the feather lights do not show for branch lines.

How is this approached?

On a more niche note, I was wondering about a particular case:
Say the lock to some points were faulty: the system has detected a fault with the lock, and subsequently no routes that require movement facing the points may be set/made. But say these points were to a single line branch: this means they would act as both facing and trailing points. In Absolute Block, facing point locks are not required when setting routes though trailing points. What would a TCB panel say? Would routes that cause the points to be trailing be allowed, and routes that cause the points to be facing not allowed? Would whole line simply be unusable?

Note that in the failure above, the point motor still functions, but rather the lock does not.

Perhaps the signalling system may not be sophisticated enough to realise that the fault is with the lock instead of the motor, and instead treats it as a total points failure?

I am curious!!!

I just constantly had 2 or even 3 simultaneous failures which'd last about 20 minutes each and then as soon as one was fixed immediately something else would fail a minute or two later, almost as if it was deliberate.

I can't give precise answers on failure rates, but I have seen delays and cancellations attributed to signal failures quite often. Bear in mind that the Underground, by its nature, is very sensitive to perturbations, so a failure will almost certainly cause delays if not a partial line suspension. By contrast, a failure on many parts of the network is more likely to cause small delays (which get lost as background noise); even if it leads to a line being effectively closed as the frequencies and volumes of passengers are less it simply isn't going to make the news. Plus the much higher bar generally for events outside the M25 to make headlines. That said, major failures do hit the headlines from time to time.

Euston T66 *is* simulated in the sim.

...the rules say is that you may not allow a train carrying passengers to pass over points in the facing direction unless the points are locked by an FPL and locking bars or track circuits, or they have been clipped and scotched for the move. An ECS train or a freight train or a light loco or an engineering train or whatever can and will pass over facing points without FPLs all the time.

TUT in post 153713 said:

...the rules say is that you may not allow a train carrying passengers to pass over points in the facing direction unless the points are locked by an FPL and locking bars or track circuits, or they have been clipped and scotched for the move. An ECS train or a freight train or a light loco or an engineering train or whatever can and will pass over facing points without FPLs all the time.

For the purposes of this rule were TPOs, Officer's Specials, loco plus inspection saloon etc. defined as 'passenger' trains?

The rule implies a different level of safety for railway employees vs the travelling public.

I have a feeling TPOs were considered to be carrying passengers.

In SimSig, various failures may happen if the option is selected.

... but I am curious to know if signal equipment failures are really that common place, and how long it may take to fix a given problem?

On a more niche note, I was wondering about a particular case:
Say the lock to some points were faulty: the system has detected a fault with the lock, and subsequently no routes that require movement facing the points may be set/made. But say these points were to a single line branch: this means they would act as both facing and trailing points. In Absolute Block, facing point locks are not required when setting routes though trailing points. What would a TCB panel say? Would routes that cause the points to be trailing be allowed, and routes that cause the points to be facing not allowed? Would whole line simply be unusable?

Note that in the failure above, the point motor still functions, but rather the lock does not.

Perhaps the signalling system may not be sophisticated enough to realise that the fault is with the lock instead of the motor, and instead treats it as a total points failure?

I am curious!!!