Severe train delays in Colchester

7:54am Thursday 17th January 2013 in News

COMMUTERS faced delays and disruption on the trains this morning.

Signal problems at Chelmsford meant trains in and out of London were delayed and cancelled.

Several trains from the coast were terminated at Colchester adding to those commuters already stranded at the station due to a series of cancelled trains.

By 7.45am the advice from Greater Anglia was to be aware trains were being "cancelled or delayed at short notice".

Those still running were subject to at least 40 minute delays and were overcrowded due to the small number still able to run.

More to follow.

Comments(15)

irememberwhen says...
9:25am Thu 17 Jan 13

Public transport in this country is an absolute shambles. Took me 2 hours to get from Norwich to Colchester Yesterday Afternoon. Winter hits us, as it does every year, and suddenly chaos. No wonder the roads are jammed full of nice warm cars.

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hughie-s says...
10:01am Thu 17 Jan 13

It was a broken down train stuck in the platform at Chelmsford not signals according to GA.

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Libetia says...
10:09am Thu 17 Jan 13

Broken down Anglia train in platform 1 at Chelmsford combined with overhead line issues between Ingatestone & Shenfield was the reasons given on the train.

Two & a half hours to get from Colchester to London was the result. And the snow hasn't even arrived yet.

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Frating16 says...
10:10am Thu 17 Jan 13

Try saying BROKEN DOWN TRAIN rather than Signal problems which is untrue !

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Frating16 says...
10:13am Thu 17 Jan 13

Libetia, it was all down to the broken train, the overhead wire was checked to make sure there was nothing wrong with that, and it seems there wasn't so purely train trouble.

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Libetia says...
11:01am Thu 17 Jan 13

They may have just checked the wire, but it still added to the delay. We stopped for a good five-ten minutes just outside Ingatestone and "issues with the overhead line" was given as the reason for the extra delays.
Obviously, it paled into insignificance with the hour or so's delay between the normal running time to Chelmsford & how long it took this morning.

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Frating16 says...
11:33am Thu 17 Jan 13

The reason you were stopped, is that trains were running both ways on one line to get around the broken one ! they could check out the wires whilst the broken one was still awaiting rescue.

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markysimmo says...
11:46am Thu 17 Jan 13

Its funny how the trains breaking down are the 40 year old intercity units, also the trains that struggle to be connected are the 20 year old class 321's, this line has the most under-investment out of any routes for decades now, short term franchises meaning rail operators are only interested in taking as much profit from their deal rather than trying to improve, weve badly needed new rolling stock for years and this is the final straw, the sellotape that has been holding this line together for years has broken

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jim_bo says...
12:10pm Thu 17 Jan 13

Don't worry people £2.2billion has been promised by network rail to upgrade the lines and overhead cables which were replaced last year !

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newsgirl29 says...
12:57pm Thu 17 Jan 13

It was not because of signal problems. The 06.05am intercity had an engine failure just outside of Chelmsford because I was on it. After waiting for a locomotive to pull us in to Chelmsford which never appeared an engineer on board the train got it going and we pulled into platform 1 at Chelmsford at 07.20am. We were kicked off the train and sent onto platform 2 where there was no care for members of the public from Greater Anglia staff as the platform and station were overcrowded and very dangerous. We were then told another train at Ingatestone had failed and I finally got into work at 09.00am. If trains keep breaking down why don't they consider purchasing some new stock and get some staff who know how to handle situations like this.

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markysimmo says...
2:04pm Thu 17 Jan 13

newsgirl29 wrote:
It was not because of signal problems. The 06.05am intercity had an engine failure just outside of Chelmsford because I was on it. After waiting for a locomotive to pull us in to Chelmsford which never appeared an engineer on board the train got it going and we pulled into platform 1 at Chelmsford at 07.20am. We were kicked off the train and sent onto platform 2 where there was no care for members of the public from Greater Anglia staff as the platform and station were overcrowded and very dangerous. We were then told another train at Ingatestone had failed and I finally got into work at 09.00am. If trains keep breaking down why don't they consider purchasing some new stock and get some staff who know how to handle situations like this.
The train operators are not allowed to purchase new stock or change the timetable in a shirt term franchise

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Libetia says...
2:40pm Thu 17 Jan 13

Frating16 wrote:
The reason you were stopped, is that trains were running both ways on one line to get around the broken one ! they could check out the wires whilst the broken one was still awaiting rescue.
Nope. The broken down Anglia had been moved out of the station by the time the 0713 got to Chelmsford (at about 0835). The driver said that there were further delays due to overhead line issues, so unless you are saying he was lying (which would be most unlike GA staff), I assume that sitting for 5-10 minutes just outside Ingatestone was for this reason and nothing to do with the broken down train - which was parked neatly on the Southend line exit from Shenfield.

Having got on a train at Hythe at 7am this morning, and taking 35 minutes to get to Colchester North only to be turfed off that nice warm train into the cold, then having to get from platform 4 to platform 2 as the 0713 from Ipswich was deemed to be the next departure. On to the 0713 that didn't have working heating, and then to spend 2 1/2 hrs to get to London I wasn't in the best of moods.

Good job the snow hasn't come yet - I am dreading tomorrow.

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Fellulah69 says...
11:38pm Thu 17 Jan 13

Atleast the tickey cost rise was worth it :/

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TheCaptain says...
12:26pm Fri 18 Jan 13

irememberwhen wrote:
Public transport in this country is an absolute shambles. Took me 2 hours to get from Norwich to Colchester Yesterday Afternoon. Winter hits us, as it does every year, and suddenly chaos. No wonder the roads are jammed full of nice warm cars.
I guess we could spend billions on improvements just to cop with a few days each year that are affected.

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irememberwhen says...
8:28am Mon 21 Jan 13

We could, indeed.

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