Freight train carrying diesel on fire near Llanelli

[editor]

Update - and a pic showing how the HoW line was also hit hard

Heart of Wales line to partially reopen in November as repairs following storm damage and freight derailment continue

Passengers will again be able to travel on a section of the Heart of Wales line, which runs from Shrewsbury to Swansea, from November as Network Rail has set out the timescales for repairs to the line after two major incidents within a month.

www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk

 

[existentialist]

Update - and a pic showing how the HoW line was also hit hard

Heart of Wales line to partially reopen in November as repairs following storm damage and freight derailment continue

Passengers will again be able to travel on a section of the Heart of Wales line, which runs from Shrewsbury to Swansea, from November as Network Rail has set out the timescales for repairs to the line after two major incidents within a month.

www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk

That looks like one of kebabking's efforts

There's a lot of washout there - at least nobody's talking about closing the HoW line permanently, what with the Llangennech thing and this...

I was planning a HoW trip this summer, which obviously hasn't happened, so I hope it's all up and running when the opportunity next arises.

 

[StoneRoad]

That's a lot of cleaning up ...

And they don't start work until it stops moving (cf the A83 "The Rest & Be Thankful" - which has had another slip five weeks after the previous one, and at the same place !).

Another Welsh line with drainage problems is the Conwy Valley, but they're also investing in further "resilience" measures there. That used to be a required line as it was an essential route for the power station(s) especially Trawswynedd.

 

[davesgcr]

That's a lot of cleaning up ...

And they don't start work until it stops moving (cf the A83 "The Rest & Be Thankful" - which has had another slip five weeks after the previous one, and at the same place !).

Another Welsh line with drainage problems is the Conwy Valley, but they're also investing in further "resilience" measures there. That used to be a required line as it was an essential route for the power station(s) especially Trawswynedd.

Wales has taken a bit of a hit in route miles shut - the Swansea District line (reaction tanker train incident - but they are cracking on with repairing it now the wagons have been cleared) , the entire HoW at both end ,and the Conwy Valley. The latter shold be back in service this week , allowing a brief window of operation before it gets washed out again.

There is no doubt that the latter was retained for the once nuclear traffic , - there is some slender hope of a reactivation , but in terms of passenger use it is a proverbial dead dog. The money saved could be spent usefully in Wales on doing some other line works - Llangefni , Aberdare - Hirwaun , for example - where there would be a considerable benefit to the travelling population. (and the formation still exists)

 

[StoneRoad]

davesgcr - I know all about the flask traffic (tell you a few tales one day) on the Conwy Valley, from the vantage point of the other platform.
I tend to disagree about the passenger traffic, before the major washouts (ie starting from around winter c2015/6), there had been a concerted attempt to encourage use including recent support for Sunday trains. Aimed, of course, at tourists and did seem to be having an affect. Unfortunately, I don't think the recent weather related reliability issues will help reverse the losses in the shorter term.
To my mind, the Valley line should be a public service route and needs both better rolling stock (which was happening) and more crossing places than it has now (a more complicated problem).

In some respects, similar points could be made about the Cambrian and Cumbrian Coast routes (although the latter still does flasks). Both are highly vulnerable to severe weather events - with added sea water - and despite wonderful scenery are limited in their appeal to tourist money, nor do they have vast commuter belts to fund profitable passenger services. So, I go back to the public service argument.

 

[teuchter]

The west highland line in scotland seems to be in a similar position, recently it seems like it's closed every few weeks for a washout of the line somewhere or other.

 

[teuchter]

[Withdrawn] Derailment and fire involving a tanker train at Llangennech - updated 21/09/2020

Investigation into the derailment and fire involving a tanker train at Llangennech, Carmarthenshire, 26 August 2020.

www.gov.uk

RAIB’s preliminary examination found that, although all the wheels of the train were probably rotating freely when the train left Robeston, at some point during the journey the brakes on all wheels of the third wagon of the train had become applied, and remained so until the derailment. While three of the four axles of this wagon continued to turn, although their brakes were dragging, the leading axle ceased to rotate altogether, and consequently a flat spot around 230 mm long developed on each of the wheels on this axle. There was a substantial ‘false flange’ (a raised lip on the outer side of the wheel tread) associated with these flat spots.

When the train reached the crossover at Morlais Junction, travelling at about 30 mph (48 km/h), the false flange on the right-hand wheel caught on the converging stock rail and distorted the track, leading to derailment of both wheels. Around one hundred metres further on, the partly derailed wagon encountered facing points set to route the train to the right. The locomotive and the two leading wagons went to the right and the derailed third wagon went straight ahead. The third wagon turned over onto its right-hand side and became detached from the wagon in front of it. This caused the points and the track beyond them to be destroyed, and derailment of another nine wagons followed.

 

[existentialist]

[Withdrawn] Derailment and fire involving a tanker train at Llangennech - updated 21/09/2020

Investigation into the derailment and fire involving a tanker train at Llangennech, Carmarthenshire, 26 August 2020.

www.gov.uk

Bit of a smoking gun there, then. Presumably, they now have the more tricky task of working out why the brakes came to be stuck on.

 

[Crispy]

Amazing how they can reconstruct industrial accidents like that. I went down a youtube rabbit hole of accident/safety board reconstructions and it's amazing the facts they can tease out of a pile of rubble, bent steel and chemical stains.

 

[mauvais]

Amazing how they can reconstruct industrial accidents like that. I went down a youtube rabbit hole of accident/safety board reconstructions and it's amazing the facts they can tease out of a pile of rubble, bent steel and chemical stains.

I've been putting together a work talk about this. BA5390 (PDF) is a good one of these, and has the bonus that noone died.

Spoiler

and later, after the Birmingham-originating flight landed in Southampton...



It goes into loads of detail about human factors, well worth a read.

Also they usually list the radio comms which is always fun:

 

[Crispy]

Wow O_O
Surely you'd notice the smaller bolts not threading properly when you screwed them in.

Although given the madness that caused this Proton crash, anything is possible.


The sensor that detects how fast the rocket is rotating was installed upside down. It can only be mounted the right way up so the worker(s) (three were eventually criminally charged) at the rocket factory had bashed and bent it to fit upside down. Three times.

The commission of inquiry, headed by Aleksandr LOPATINE, showed that the origin of the accident was a poor fitting of three of the six DUS angular speed sensors . These are PV-301 type sensors, mass-produced by PO Korpouss in Saratov . They are installed on the lower compartment of the second stage. Three of them measure the speed along the yaw axis, the other three along the pitch axis.


The readings show that the three DUS which measure the speed along the yaw axis retransmitted data inconsistent with that of the inertial unit, which caused the steering of the RD-276 engines .

Fig. 1: Readings of the DUS and the inertial unit.
Credit: Vesti.

Investigations carried out on the debris from the launcher showed that the three DUSs had been mounted upside down on their supports. As a result, the angular speed information along the yaw axis was inverted and the control system wanted to compensate by stepping the motors.


In theory, polarizers prevent any error in the direction of assembly of the DUS. However, marks on the brackets show that the assembly was forced.



Fig. 2: The marks left on the supports by the DUS mounted upside down.
Credit: Vesti.

source: Google Translate

 

[mauvais]

I remember that video as it's a very good demonstration of the speed of sound, but I hadn't heard why it happened.

 

[WouldBe]

Wow O_O
Surely you'd notice the smaller bolts not threading properly when you screwed them in.

The shorter bolts have the same thread as the longer bolts so you wouldn't notice.

 

[Crispy]

The shorter bolts have the same thread as the longer bolts so you wouldn't notice.

Yeah but it's the other ones that are a whole 1/10 of an inch narrower

 

[WouldBe]

Yeah but it's the other ones that are a whole 1/10 of an inch narrower

Not narrower, they were shorter by 1/10 of an inch.

 

[Crispy]

Some were narrower, but I had my decimal place mixed up. Still the wrong thread though - coarse instead of fine.

 

[WouldBe]

Some were narrower, but I had my decimal place mixed up. Still the wrong thread though - coarse instead of fine.

View attachment 231266

Sorry I mixed that up as well. Seems all the bolts were the wrong. I can't remember what the difference is between UNC and UNF to know wether you would notice when putting them in.

 

[mauvais]

Read the whole thing, it explains how the engineer used his own torque wrench and had to lean too far because the lift wasn't in the right place, so on and so on. At some point it says how he was eating sandwiches. I'm so glad I don't work in a safety critical industry.

 

[teuchter]

Sorry I mixed that up as well. Seems all the bolts were the wrong. I can't remember what the difference is between UNC and UNF to know wether you would notice when putting them in.

You would. They simply wouldn't mesh with each other. You'd be making some kind of horrible version of a self-tapping thread.

 

[WouldBe]

You would. They simply wouldn't mesh with each other. You'd be making some kind of horrible version of a self-tapping thread.

Even with the difference in diameter?

 

[existentialist]

Even with the difference in diameter?

The dodgy ones were narrower. But the thread clash would have made it possible for them to be driven (insecurely) into place.

I am sure that someone who knew what they were doing, in reasonable circumstances, would have spotted that something was wrong.

 

[teuchter]

Even with the difference in diameter?

I suppose that if you are trying to put a too-small bolt into a too-large hole with mismatched threads, then the increase in resistance caused by the mismatched threads might be balanced out by the lower resistance due to the loose fit. But I've had thought it would be something you'd notice if part of your job was to screw in bolts.

 

[WouldBe]

Well you'd hope someone would notice.

 

[teuchter]

From what I read elsewhere... it sounds like the Llanelli train derailment might also come down to some bolts not having been done up properly.

 

[existentialist]

From what I read elsewhere... it sounds like the Llanelli train derailment might also come down to some bolts not having been done up properly.

AIUI, they have a slightly-strange setup at Robeston, where the people who set up the train aren't railway people, but refinery people trained to do the railway stuff. It will be interesting to see whether that emerges as a factor. There's effectively 3 organisations involved at the railhead - the LNG terminal people, DB (the haulier), and (presumably) NR.

 

[teuchter]

AIUI, they have a slightly-strange setup at Robeston, where the people who set up the train aren't railway people, but refinery people trained to do the railway stuff. It will be interesting to see whether that emerges as a factor. There's effectively 3 organisations involved at the railhead - the LNG terminal people, DB (the haulier), and (presumably) NR.

If it's loose bolts on a brake component, that'll be the responsibility of those maintaining the wagons, which will be DB, or the wagon leasing company (VTG?), or whoever they contract out to. When you say that people at the refinery set up the train, I assume you mean they do the checks that the train is safe to leave, rather than doing the maintenance as well.

 

[existentialist]

If it's loose bolts on a brake component, that'll be the responsibility of those maintaining the wagons, which will be DB, or the wagon leasing company (VTG?), or whoever they contract out to. When you say that people at the refinery set up the train, I assume you mean they do the checks that the train is safe to leave, rather than doing the maintenance as well.

I don't know what happens re maintenance, but yes - it's probably more about marshalling and pre-flight checking than actually maintaining the vehicles. I don't think they have any facilities there.

 

[existentialist]

Some good news...

Llangennech oil spill: Cockle beds reopen after train crash

Three rounds of testing found no evidence of shellfish contamination, Food Standards Agency says.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[equationgirl]

That's the crude oil one, and there have been renewals in some areas.
The LNG route is relatively new.

very pleased that the orimulsion (sp?) didn't happen, the vapours from that are disgusting.

I once had a conversation with a colleague about a research project he did on orimulsion. Sounds like a blessing in disguise when the project didn't progress further.

 

[existentialist]

I once had a conversation with a colleague about a research project he did on orimulsion. Sounds like a blessing in disguise when the project didn't progress further.

The old Pembroke power station used to run on the grottiest, filthiest old gunk that was left over from the refining process. I don't know if it was on the level of orimulsion, but it was nasty enough to make bunker oil look like vintage champagne, from what I've heard.

The new one uses the evaporate from the LNG plant across the fjord, piped under the water to the other side, and burned in enormous gas turbines. All that makes is clouds. And electricity.