We are really sorry if you were caught up in the disruption affecting trains from London Euston on Friday evening.
What happened?
At around 1330hrs, the electricity supply to the overhead power lines on the northbound 'fast' line 'tripped' between Harrow and Watford. The only train immediately affected was our 1313 Euston to Northampton service, which terminated at Harrow, but the problem also led to a brief suspension of services between Watford and St Albans.
The power supply would not reset, and after 3 hours of exhaustive testing, Network Rail engineers pinpointed the cause to a faulty cable at Bushey. It was decided that repairs could only be completed safely overnight, and the line was therefore closed until 0400hrs.
The 50% reduction in northbound line capacity, as well as the need for trains to cross lines between Euston and Watford, led to 15-20 minute delays on many services.
What did we do?
To keep congestion to a minimum, we implemented a special timetable from 1400hrs, which included the cancellation of Euston-Tring trains, and the introduction of extra stops at Kings Langley and Apsley on our hourly Euston-Milton Keynes service. Virgin Trains also agreed to accept our tickets on their services (and vice versa) during the disruption.
Unfortunately, due to the ongoing dispute with ASLEF, the 1813 Euston to Birmingham service was cancelled, adding to the crowding during the rush hour. The 1751 Euston to Northampton was also 4 carriages shorter than normal (due to the Tring alterations and our stranded train at Harrow) as were some late evening departures from Euston.
How did we do?
These situations are always difficult, although we tried to pass on the information you needed to make decisions about your travel plans as soon as we received it. This included using station announcements, our website and via our Twitter feed @londonmidland. The length of time it took to repair the fault obviously made this a challenge, so thank you for your patience.
Please email us if you would like to tell us how we did, or have any suggestions for the future. If you were delayed by more than 30 minutes, remember you can claim compensation under the Delay Repay scheme - for details click here.
