09.02.15
Farringdon flooding damaged 25 Thameslink trains
The flooding caused by a burst water main between Farringdon and St Pancras has damaged at least 25 trains in the Thameslink fleet.
As of Friday, 6 February, the operator was still seven trains short of the number needed to operate regular services because of water damage, with a further two out of action because of a person being hit by a train earlier in the day, at Hackbridge. This meant that on Friday, many services ran with fewer carriages than normal, causing overcrowding, especially at peak times.
Water from the burst main penetrated gear boxes, axle ends, wheel bearings and in some cases electrical components; one of the trains most seriously affected is one of the new Class 387s.
Govia Thameslink Railway’s (GTR’s) Roger Perkins told RTM: “Our engineers have been working around the clock and were able to repair some trains relatively quickly but others have taken longer due to the severity and amount of damage caused as well as the availability of spare parts.
“We have checked about a quarter of the Thameslink fleet, those deemed to have been most at risk from the floodwater, and we are now continuing to carry out checks to the rest of the fleet. Inevitably, the work carried out to date has delayed some of our regular maintenance work, which has kept other trains out of service.
“Our engineers will continue working as hard as possible to continue the repairs and redress the maintenance backlog as soon as possible.”
RTM previously reported on the flooding that brought services between Farringdon and St Pancras to a halt. The disruption started when a burst water main near Farringdon flooded the railway tunnels between Farringdon and St Pancras on Friday 30 January. Thames Water attempted to fix the main, but the leak continued to flood the tunnels that weekend.
Over 1,000 trains were cancelled with a further 133 hours of combined delays to those trains that managed to run.
(Image source: Hrachik m)
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