The work is going ahead in the way Network Rail desires despite protests from the Train Operating Companies that use the Main Line for its passenger and freight services. There will be disruption to routes at all bank holidays and most weekends until the end of the year meaning the challenge to passengers and the desirability of traveling via rail will be much reduced.

Network Rail details a number of benefits which are much welcome if the project succeeds by the end of the year:

• Increase in two to three trains per hour between London and Manchester Piccadilly,
• Increase in two to three trains per hour between London and Birmingham,
• A new hourly service between London and Chester and London and Preston.

Compared with 2003, there will be journey time improvements of up to approximately an hour for the route from Glasgow Central from 5h06 to 4h10 as well as 46 minutes being shaved off the Liverpool Lime Street-London Euston route, 43 minutes less from Manchester Piccadilly-London Euston and 23 minutes less from Birmingham New Street-London Euston.

The West Coast Main Line is Europe’s busiest mixed-use railway line so the challenges in upgrading the railway cannot be greater, whilst maintaining at least some of it operationally. It is hoped that Network Rail can deliver its ambitious plan to achieve project success by the end of the year and that they avoid too many slips along the way.

This weekend brought quite a nightmare for passengers as the route into London Euston was closed and there were also replacement bus services on the Chiltern services along the way affecting the only other real alternative route from Birmingham to London for passengers from the midlands and the north west. Added to these woes was a virtual meltdown of the West Coast Main Line again yesterday, 6 May when there was a signal failure at Milton Keynes (again).

The situation that this caused was not pretty with many services cancelled and passengers stranded. A BBC News report reported that up to 30,000 people were affected including 600 people stranded on trains for hours. Rail replacement buses replaced trains for the entire 50 mile stretch between Bletchley and London Euston. In yesterday’s sweltering heat, this cannot have been very pleasant.

The problem struck the network at 9:30am and affected the network until the close of business Tuesday night. Virgin Trains was only able to run three trains per hour after 17:30 compounding the issue. Value Advance ticket holders are being allowed today, 7 May, but are being urged to travel as close to their original ticket time as possible to avoid chronic overcrowding which would delay trains today.

London Midland was also operating a reduced service whilst London Overground was unaffected as it only goes as far as Watford Junction anyway. Other problems on the network included London Liverpool Street being affected by the failure of lineside equipment causing cancellations of trains to Cheshunt, Chingford, Cambridge and Enfield Town and a points failure at Wimbledon during the peak rush hour period affecting South West Trains.

The 6 May was not a day to remember for the British Railways.

London Midland is in the process of refurbishing its older trains at the moment with the first trains being rolled out on their West Midlands services (picture from londonmidland.com) over the next six months at the rate of one a week:

These are fairly standard three-car trains and will receive new seat covers, interiors and facilities for people with sight problems. These have also been ‘deep cleaned’ so they should be looking nice inside very soon too. Some of the carriages are receiving “intelligent sensors” to assist with the counting of passengers and identify overcrowding so something can be done about it. This sounds quite interesting and it will be good to know how well this works.

In addition to this there are a large number of other improvements London Midland are making to their franchise. There will be many new trains including thirty seven new four-car Siemens Desiros, twelve two-car Bombardier Turbostars and fifteen three-car Bombardier Turbostars. These are going to be replacing existing trains. These trains will also be fitted with the loading sensors and London Midland say they will alter train formations to allieviate overcrowding where possible.

London Midland are also going to be operating the rather strange looking Parry People Mover train on the Stourbridge Line which has received quite a bit of press. This is a welcome innovation that will perhaps see the end of single car diesel trains which are horribly noisy, usually dirty (on many train operator’s routes) and inefficient in terms of energy use. An overview of the technology can be found on the official website for those who are interested. These are environmentally friendly and for less well used lines, they are an obvious choice.

London Midland are investing into other things as well to benefit the travelling public and it is good to see a train operating company being so proactive instead of the usual stagnation – especially that which has blighted this particular franchise area in the past. There will be station improvements where London Midland is responsible. The most notable feature is their plan to introduce a smart-card technology allowing season ticket automatic renewal and easier ticketing by 2010. National Rail Oyster card anyone? We hope it works better and more transparently than the London one!

The cause of the incidents at Shap between Preston and Carlisle and Hemel Hempstead between Rugby and London were both down to freight containers being blown off freight trains. Network Rail expect the line between Preston and Carlisle to be shut until Monday morning. The screenshot below is just a short snapshot of the train situation today with trains late up to two hours and more and cancelled.

Virgin Trains are advising people not to travel unless necessary today and tomorrow there will be continued disruption possible as buses are being run between Preston and Glasgow. However, Virgin Trains say that other operators are accepting tickets for those people booked on their trains.

There are further details and a video available on the BBC News website which also details a shocking destruction of a container crane at the Port of Felixstowe when a ship became loose from its moorings. Other problems on the network today are:

• Signalling problems between Poole and Weymouth (TOC: South West Trains)
• Landslip between Helensburgh Upper and Garelochhead (TOC: First ScotRail)
• Obstruction on the line between St. Albans Abbey and Watford Junction (TOC: London Midland)
• Broken down train between Porth and Treherbert (TOC: Arriva Trains Wales)
• Overhead wire problems between Audley End and Cambridge (TOC: National Express East Anglia)
• Overhead wire problems at Peterborough (TOC: CrossCountry, East Midlands Trains, First Capital Connect, Grand Central, Hull Trains, National Express East Coast)
• Tree on the line situated at North Walsham which is situated between Norwich and Sheringham (TOC: National Express East Anglia)
• Problem with a river bridge between Oulton Broad South and Lowestoft (TOC: National Express East Anglia)
• Tree on the line at Chandlers Ford which is situated between Romsey and Eastleigh (TOC: South West Trains)

This has not been a good day for the railway network in Britain but we have to say that when National Rail Enquiries detail issues as big as the effective closure of the West Coast Mainline as simply an “obstruction on the line” it is just so woefully inadequate.

One of the major complaints from passengers today was the usual: complete lack of information. Information is the key to restoring public trust but it is sadly not paramount to the operators of the railway network in times of crisis it seems.

National Rail reports of proposed industrial action by ASLEF on London Midland services on 28 and 29 February 2008.

Industrial action has not been confirmed yet, but, if it does go ahead, the following services are expected to be affected:

• London Euston – Northampton
• Bletchley – Bedford
• Watford Junction – St. Alban’s Abbey

London Midland services around Birmingham and the West Midlands are currently not expected to be affected.

The industrial action was proposed by ASLEF and shall involve the 178 members working at the Bletchley Depot after, according to ASLEF, talks have broken down with London Midland over pension issues, with some of the train drivers set to loose up to £2,700 annually off the pension they ought to be receiving.

London Midland announced it is disappointed about the strike intentions and continuously tries to resolve the pension issue which it took over from the previous TOC(s) when it was awarded the franchise in Novemeber 2007.

In the meantime, London Midland is looking at contingency plans for 28 and 29 February to reduce the impact of industrial action on its customers as much as possible.

ASLEF said that while London Midland confirms the figures in reduction of pension payments it is only willing to share the cost of correcting the pension fund. General Secretary Keith Norman said this could “only be the beginning” of the dispute.