If you are a regular commuter travelling from Ingatestone or Shenfield on the Greater Anglia service to London, you will be aware of the double whammy of faults which have caused problems for journeys this week.
The start of the week saw services disrupted by a crack in a bespoke piece of track just outside of Liverpool Street. This is the responsibility of Network Rail, who issued this update:
"As you may be aware, a crack was identified in a piece of track on the approach to Liverpool Street during a routine inspection last weekend. Owing to its size, our engineers were unable to repair it and had to close platforms 11 and 12 while a replacement part was arranged.
As a result Greater Anglia have had to alter and cancel some Great Eastern main line services in the morning and afternoon rush-hours this week, which has made trains busier and required some passengers to take two trains to reach their destination. We understand the inconvenience this issue has caused and apologise to everyone affected. Throughout this week we’ve been working with Greater Anglia to keep customers informed and make them aware of changes to their trains in advance.
The crack affected a piece of track that is specially made to fit a curve on the approach to the station, and any replacement would always need to be manufactured to order. We identified that this piece of track would need replacing and put in an order in January, but unfortunately the existing track deteriorated quicker than expected.
As the full replacement part is not due for delivery until October, we sought to procure a temporary part, and this is now due for delivery and installation following the last train on Saturday 16 June. This will allow us to reopen all platforms and Greater Anglia will run a full service from Monday.
While this temporary part will be safe to use until the new piece arrives, it is not made of strong enough material to withstand the thousands of trains that will use it every day in the long-term. Our engineers will carry out extra inspections of this section to spot any defects before they become a problem."
Greater Anglia services have been affected, and the company had this to say:
Until the temporary solution is installed we will continue to communicate service alterations through our website, Twitter feeds and at our stations via announcements and posters. We have also been utilising back office managers as additional customer service support at our key route stations. In reality around 15 services in each peak period have been affected, with other services operating normally, although there have been longer journeys and some crowding on some services as a consequence of the temporary alterations.
We have been reminding customers that they are entitled to compensation through the Delay Repay scheme, if their journey has been delayed by over 30 minutes. We’re sorry for the inconvenience caused to those affected by the problem."
But this was not the end of Greater Anglia's woes for the week, as some trains were running short-formed. My inquiries with the company on behalf of constituents established the following:
"Unfortunately we have also seen more trains than usual out of service, which has caused the short forms. When we were hit with the Beast from the East the wintry conditions caused severe damage to several traction motors. Unfortunately supplier of the key components required to make repairs went bankrupt and it has taken time for a new supplier to be found – this has led to a backlog in trains needing repairs. Fortunately we are now making good headway with those repairs and the short form issue should soon be resolved."
I am fully aware of how deeply irritating it is to have the commute to and from work affected so badly. Please let me know if you have any problems claiming compensation through the Delay Repay scheme and I raise your complaints with Greater Anglia.