On Thursday, 16 June 2016 19:59:33 UTC+1, Peter Able wrote:
https://twitter.com/networkrailPR/st...14804606894082

Ouch!

A tad more than 'ouch!!' And the reason why the trains went through a red light was .... ?? Shades of Thames Trains maybe.

So instead of brakes being applied the damn thing was derailed bringing down all of the power lines and closing all services for the rest of the day likely tomorrow morning.

Apparently even the Circle Line and H&C were stopped from running between Paddington and Hammersmith.

GWR staff on the Concourse did a fine job at Paddington dealing with thousands of pi$$ed off commuters etc. Many were told to go to Ealing Broadway where - they were informed - trains would be running to / from the West. BUT .... at Ealing Broadway there were NO trains and pax were told to go to Waterloo instead. Er - right hand and left hand etc.?

No alternative buses or taxis appear to have been arranged - even for those needing to catch flights at Heathrow. The HConn and Hex of course couldn't run since the power lines were down.

And as we all know the Bakerloo Line wasn't stopping at Paddington; and the road works in Praed Street ensured that buses were not stopping at Paddington either. Indeed the bus drivers (23, 27, 205, etc.) appear to be all refusing to stop anywhere near Paddington Station and are running non-stop between the Edgware Road end of Sussex Gardens and the far end of Eastbourne Terrace.

So all in all one huge chaos from right hands and left hands not knowing what the h*ll was going on - Network Rail, GWR, Heathrow - Hex, T4L - buses, all clearly demonstrating utter incompetence at dealing with the situation. All par for the course.

And all due to a SPAD and a weird arrangement to derail a train rather than apply the brakes.

CJB