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Rail passengers stranded on tracks near Penkridge
Wednesday 7th December 2011, 1:00PM GMT.
Train passengers were stranded for up to three hours and forced to clamber down onto the tracks amid chaos on the West Midlands rail network.
A serious fault on the line at Penkridge, which took 36 hours to fix after it was discovered, caused disruption for thousands of passengers.
By 9am today, when the problem was fixed, 700 trains across the West Midlands had been affected.
More than 50 were cancelled and 130 terminated before their original destination. Total delays reached 9,000 minutes – more than six days.
Trains between Birmingham New Street and Wolverhampton were among those delayed by up to an hour or cancelled today. Knock on delays affected services until around 11.30am today.
Replacement buses ran between Stafford and Wolverhampton this morning. Passengers at Albrighton, Codsall and Bilbrook were affected.
The line originally failed at 8.30pm on Monday then the overhead line snapped yesterday morning. Tim Rowlands, a DJ from Penkridge, described seeing a flash of light as a cable fell.
The fault led to dozens of passengers having to use ladders in a “controlled evacuation” at Penkridge.
Network Rail spokesman John Crampton said test trains were sent out just after 9am.
He said: “How quickly services were back to normal depended on where the trains were as a result of the disruption and when the train companies could get them to the right stations.”
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I was on the train behind this train and we were not evacuted but had to be towed back to Stafford. We didn’t arrive back in Stafford until 1.40pm. Bearing in mind that my train was the 7.16am train from Crewe. Well over 5 hours on the train with no drinks etc.
Also lost one days’ pay and all we are going to get is our train fare refunded.
It doesn’t seem right to me.
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train fares refund is all they have to do according to the National Rail Conditions Of Carraige/Operators Delay Repay scheme.
Why should you expect more?
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I don’t think a free hot drink would have been too much to ask do you?
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Because loss of earnings and the fact she paid for a train which she got stranded on for hours with no drink etc! If someone doesn’t have time to get a ticket they get fined on the spot in some cases etc, yet if you get stuck on a train for hours and lose a days work, you just get your ticket money back – fair?!
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I was on the same train as Dianne, the rescue locomotive had to come from Manchester, it took over 45 mins to couple up once it eventually arrived and then we were towed back to Stafford at a stately 10 mph. The train crew seemed as in the dark as the passengers, why London Midland couldn’t sent a diesel train down the adjacent line and transfer passengers I don’t know, probably too logical. As for warm drinks, London Midland decided to stop onboard catering on 27th August about the same time they set their 3rd fare increase in a year. How wonderful that they beat Central trains for the franchise.
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Like Diane I was unfortunately on board this train (6:40am from Liverpool Sth P’kway) and can confirm the delay was near enough 6hrs by the time the rescue loco had pulled us back to Stafford. The majority of this time was spent on an unheated train with no refreshments.
It wouldn’t have been beyond London Midland’s ability to have arranged for hot drinks to have been brought on the rescue loco, but it appears L&M don’t do anything over refunding tickets – which I notice from the letter given to us at Stafford is primarily geared to a maximum delay of 2hrs not 6hr with no welfare or refreshments!
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How can a fault 12 miles NORTH of Wolverhampton affect services between it and Brum. How can such a fault affect services on an entirely unconnected route (to Shrewsbury). How can services on a parallel route be affected?
These delays could have no connection whatsoever with a trivial overhead fault. Something else was the cause… most likely the wilful ineptitude of a service provider near you.
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They were affected because trains heading north from B’ham New St to Stafford, Liverpool and Manchester were all cancelled and stranded passengers told to head to Wolverhampton to get coaches to Stafford where I presume they could continue their journey.
But by cancelling the journeys highlighted above there were less trains heading to Wolverhampton from New Street and so the remaining trains were dangerously over crowded with local commuters and the stranded passengers all squeezing onto the remaining trains the trains then took longer loading and unloading at each station because of the sheer numbers of people moving around.
I should know I was one of the unlucky people trying to get back to Wolves last night!!
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This demonstrates where the shortage of capacity on the rail network is i.e. between Brum and Wolverhampton. The shortfall between Brum and Coventry is nothing to compare… In other words this is where the money needs to be spent and not on HS2.
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BSD. I hear the cries of my fellow passenger – most are very upset and angry. I am too as I know what it feels like from my past experience.
The Rail companies just put their hands in their pockets – ” not my problem” and just wait for their profits to rise.
Public transport is to support the public and I have never experienced this in my 30 years of poor quality of travel in the UK.
Therefore, I use my bike and car when I can as I have no faith in the shoes string transport network – remember one knot breaks and the whole system ceases to function.
We need to change our ways of travelling and try not to use public transport where possible and walk/cycle/car and this will hit their profits then they will listen.
Remember, We live a money world and only money works. If you have loads it okay, but if your short on money then that waht they call democracy – more like a demon in disguise. Anyway with 7 billion in the world man’s final days are numbered.
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The government then wonders why more people do not use the rail network.
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Not only London Midland. Trains terminated at Wellington instead of Shrewsbury. Missed connections. Cardiff in chaos at 6p.m. as cows on line & drivers for Arriva missing. Train to Shrewsbury over 1 hour late. Missed connections by 3 mins and had hour to wait. No thought for passengers at all
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I don’t know the cows really have no respect do they :P
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Surely the failure to provide refreshments if you are stuck ona train for so long is a gross breach of human rights!!!
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