Coming Home from Liverpool

View across the Canning Dock to the Strand

This morning there was an email in my inbox from Northern Rail. It warned me of possible disruptions on trains through Manchester today. The Transpennine Express website also warned of disruptions. It looked really bad for my train ride home.

Manchester Signalbox Power Outage

Yesterday there was a power outage at a serious railway signal box in Manchester. One that controls the railway signals in Manchester and a large part of the North West. It lasted ninety seconds and took out all the railway signals in the area. The problem is that you cannot simply restart the system and off you go. The restart has to be fully controlled. The signals for each section of track need to be brought online and checked before any trains could start moving again.

It happened at two in the afternoon. People were advised not to travel. People were stuck on trains. Manchester was a complete mess. Thank god I wasn’t travelling then.

By the end of the day, the signalling system was back to normal. But the trains were not in their correct locations, ready for the next day’s services, which is why there were delays today.

Apparently, there is supposed to be a backup generator there. If the main power fails, it’s supposed to start supplying the necessary power immediately. The backup generator failed. Surely, for such an important installation, there should be two separate independent power supplies. Questions need to be asked.

The Train Home

I wanted to be back home by one, but the train companies were saying there could be delays before midday. In the end I decided to risk the 10:24 from Broad Green, arriving in Huddersfield at midday, with a change at Lime Street. If things were bad, I could always while away some time in the Ship and Mitre. We were ten minutes late arriving in Huddersfield! I still managed to make the 12:20 bus to Marsden, with minutes to spare. Guess I was lucky.

The train was delayed at Manchester; apparently there was a lineside fire between Huddersfield and Leeds. They decided to divert the train via Wakefield, not a problem for me.

Travellers Rest

After unpacking and sorting myself out, Polly and I went to the Travellers Rest for a drink. Then back home for some proper TV (The Sopranos and University Challenge).