Network Rail fails commuters...again

Commuters at Shenfield, Essex wait for replacement buses

Commuters faced serious travel delays on Tuesday after a points failure disrupted rail routes into London. The BBC reported that the chaos was as a result of overrunning engineering works. However, Network Rail denied that the work had overrun, saying that the problems were caused by an unrelated points failure. But Operator National Express East Anglia said work due to finish on Monday had overrun, contradicting earlier statements made on BBC Essex radio throughout the morning by a spokesman from Network Rail. It is not the first time the company has been in trouble. Network Rail was fined a record £14m after engineering work at Rugby in late December and January 2008 overran by four days causing massive disruption.. “Passengers are losing faith” the BBC reporter said on BBC Look East. But many were also losing money as they stood outside several stations in Essex waiting for the few buses that were transporting passengers between Ingatestone and Romford stations. Some commuters gave up and went home, while others made it to their destination several hours late.

Outside Shenfield station, where the points had apparently failed, hundreds of passengers waited in the bitter cold. Many were resigned to the long wait to get on crowded buses, but some took to taxis or called friends or relatives to organise lifts.

There was disruption too, on the West Coast main line as engineering work continued. And travellers were further delayed after a derailment disrupted trains into Birmingham [BBC]. Welsh commuters were also left standing as overrunning engineering works caused delays for Arriva trains travelling to London [BBC]. But while around 200 commuters were delayed on Arriva trains, more than 10,000 are believed to have been affected by the problems which hit the south-east.

When they finally arrived in London, some met further delays after an underground train broke down and disrupted the Circle line and District Line services.

Europe also saw severe disruption to several major routes. In Austria one person was killed as more than 100 vehicles became entangled in a multi-vehicle crash [BBC]. And in the Netherlands 500 motorists became stuck in one of the worst traffic jams on record after heavy snow fell across the region [smh.com]