Innovative bullet train Hitachi investment tears through overhead cables on first official test run bringing one of London’s busiest train stations to a standstill. The new £500 million eco-oriented investment tore through around 500 meters of overhead wires near ealing last Tuesday.
London Paddington transports at least 100,000 passengers every day yet on Wednesday 17th earlier this month it was completely empty. All inward and outward bound trains were forced to be cancelled leaving many people without transport.
Great Western Railway (GWR) set up temporary bus services to try and help those in need of transport around central London and shared free food and drink to any stranded passengers at stations across the capital. Due to the complex repair work all trains running around or on the lines were pulled off the rails to allow the engineers to remove debris, replace the wires and repairing surrounding damage as efficiently as possible.
It is understood that the damage was caused by an apparatus commonly known as a pantograph, used for collecting electricity to power the train as it comes into contact with the overhead wires.
The Hitachi class 802 high-speed train is under investigation by the manufacture for a “full and thorough” review of exactly what caused the miscalculation.
” We have been working all day on our plan to replace the electric lines and associated equipment quickly and safely. We have been doing as much as possible away from the track, but we can only carry our repairs in earnest when trains are not running.” -Networkrail on Tuesdays incident.
All services as of today are up and running, expecting to carry on as normal with no further delays.
