Dealing with a major fault

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Dealing with a major fault 30/10/2016 at 14:50 #87082
rowan
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I have become very fond of the Cowlairs sim, and I rather like the perverse faults which it throws my way such as track circuit failures which conspire with how critical points may have been set at the time to deny access to or from half the station or more.

In these situations one of the rewarding challenges is working out ways to keep some sort of service running under the degraded situation, and in particular attempt to avoid a long line of Class 1 trains backing up down the line and the days service falling into complete chaos.

One way I work around is to run the Anniesland shuttle services too and from Springburn, as the Blue trains from platform 3 and 4 give punters an alternative route to the City centre via the low level station, and do the same with the Cumbernauld and Falkirk Grahamstown services if inbound train forms a service out on the same route. This then allows me to use the remaining platforms for the 1Rxx and occasional 1Yxx, 1Axx / 1Txx services using the bidirectional working wherever possible to keep as many of the moves as Signaled moves as possible, an fitting in the 2Nxx services where I can.

I worked on the principles that :
The 1Yxx services are running on long single line sections, so any delay can quickly escallate and delay services in teh other direction, so getting a 1Y away as close to time as possible is a very good idea.

1Rxx are a key part of the timetable and the service, and with 4 per hour will quickly start backing up, and as they tend to be heavily patronised that would lead to huge numbers of disgruntled punters.

1Txx/ 1Axx have a degree of turnround time which I would use as a buffer, there is a bit moer margin befoer a late arriving 1Txx becomes a late departing 1Axx.

My curiosity is now engaged. How do such failures get handled in real life ?

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Dealing with a major fault 30/10/2016 at 16:45 #87084
Peter Bennet
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5355 posts
rowan in post 87082 said:
I have become very fond of the Cowlairs sim, and I rather like the perverse faults which it throws my way such as track circuit failures which conspire with how critical points may have been set at the time to deny access to or from half the station or more.

In these situations one of the rewarding challenges is working out ways to keep some sort of service running under the degraded situation, and in particular attempt to avoid a long line of Class 1 trains backing up down the line and the days service falling into complete chaos.

One way I work around is to run the Anniesland shuttle services too and from Springburn, as the Blue trains from platform 3 and 4 give punters an alternative route to the City centre via the low level station, and do the same with the Cumbernauld and Falkirk Grahamstown services if inbound train forms a service out on the same route. This then allows me to use the remaining platforms for the 1Rxx and occasional 1Yxx, 1Axx / 1Txx services using the bidirectional working wherever possible to keep as many of the moves as Signaled moves as possible, an fitting in the 2Nxx services where I can.

I worked on the principles that :
The 1Yxx services are running on long single line sections, so any delay can quickly escallate and delay services in teh other direction, so getting a 1Y away as close to time as possible is a very good idea.

1Rxx are a key part of the timetable and the service, and with 4 per hour will quickly start backing up, and as they tend to be heavily patronised that would lead to huge numbers of disgruntled punters.

1Txx/ 1Axx have a degree of turnround time which I would use as a buffer, there is a bit moer margin befoer a late arriving 1Txx becomes a late departing 1Axx.

My curiosity is now engaged. How do such failures get handled in real life ?
They throw their hands in the air and say it's all too much, cancel all the trains, tell there will be a bus service but not when and go off the bothy for a cup of tea.

Peter

I identify as half man half biscuit - crumbs!
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Dealing with a major fault 30/10/2016 at 16:48 #87085
KymriskaDraken
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963 posts
If it all goes pear-shaped the best thing to do is put the kettle on - it gives you a minute or two to collect your thoughts. Then you see what you can run where - do you have any reversible or bi-directional sections that you can use? Can you divert trains around the problem, and if you can do the Driver, Guard and trolley-lady sign the road that way? Can you get someone out on the ground to wind the points, or flag trains. Every situation is different. Sometimes nothing moves at all.

Kev

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Dealing with a major fault 30/10/2016 at 17:09 #87086
Humorist
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102 posts
Peter Bennet in post 87084 said:
rowan in post 87082 said:
I have become very fond of the Cowlairs sim, and I rather like the perverse faults which it throws my way such as track circuit failures which conspire with how critical points may have been set at the time to deny access to or from half the station or more.

In these situations one of the rewarding challenges is working out ways to keep some sort of service running under the degraded situation, and in particular attempt to avoid a long line of Class 1 trains backing up down the line and the days service falling into complete chaos.

One way I work around is to run the Anniesland shuttle services too and from Springburn, as the Blue trains from platform 3 and 4 give punters an alternative route to the City centre via the low level station, and do the same with the Cumbernauld and Falkirk Grahamstown services if inbound train forms a service out on the same route. This then allows me to use the remaining platforms for the 1Rxx and occasional 1Yxx, 1Axx / 1Txx services using the bidirectional working wherever possible to keep as many of the moves as Signaled moves as possible, an fitting in the 2Nxx services where I can.

I worked on the principles that :
The 1Yxx services are running on long single line sections, so any delay can quickly escallate and delay services in teh other direction, so getting a 1Y away as close to time as possible is a very good idea.

1Rxx are a key part of the timetable and the service, and with 4 per hour will quickly start backing up, and as they tend to be heavily patronised that would lead to huge numbers of disgruntled punters.

1Txx/ 1Axx have a degree of turnround time which I would use as a buffer, there is a bit moer margin befoer a late arriving 1Txx becomes a late departing 1Axx.

My curiosity is now engaged. How do such failures get handled in real life ?
They throw their hands in the air and say it's all too much, cancel all the trains, tell there will be a bus service but not when and go off the bothy for a cup of tea.

Peter
Peter - you're being quite unfair to ScotRail, both FirstSR and now AbellioSR.

I feel they do a better job of disrution planning than some other TOCs. They seem to have a thinned-out contingency timetable that gets things back to normal quite quickly.

The first thing that goes, very quickly, in the case of disruption, is the Anniesland service, as Glasgow WorstBus can cope with that. Yes, the Springburn turnback platforms can cope with the Cumbernauld and Falkirk Grahamston service. Next is the E to G service (1Rxx series), down to half-hourly. It goes to 00/30 from Waverley and 15/45 from Queen Street (or the other way round), and makes all the stops, Linlithgow, Polmont, Falkirk High and Croy, and - we hope, never less than six cars. ScotRail seems to find that it can recover quite well from disruption on the really busy stretch of the main line from Glasgow Queen Street to Greenhill Upper. If it's really bad, and prolonged, they can thin out the Dunblane service, and, perhaps, make the Perth trains make more stops.

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