Incident Review – Friday 14 February

Dear customer,

We are very sorry for the delays that you faced to your commute this morning.

This was the result of an obstruction on the tracks placed overnight by a member of the public. This blocked the line and also caused damage to one of our trains. c2c trains were unable to run between Barking and Fenchurch Street until the obstruction was removed and the damaged train returned to East Ham depot.

This article is intended to provide you with more information about what happened, what the impact was on our service, and how we managed the situation.

If you were delayed you may be eligible for compensation. Please see below for more details about how to claim for the money you are owed.

What happened?

At around 05.10 the driver of the first service of the day from Fenchurch Street reported a large metal ladder next to the tracks, propped up against a bridge near Upton Park station. The train attempted to continue past the ladder, but there was insufficient space. Because the metal ladder was very close to the overhead power lines, it could not be safely removed without the power being switched off.

Network Rail’s engineers arrived on scene at 06.30, with power restored and the ladder removed by 06.45. There was a further delay before the damaged train could be moved, but the line reopened at 07.15 once all staff were clear of the tracks.

Delays from this incident continued until around 10.30.

What was the impact, and what did we do about it?

While the line was obstructed, no trains could run between Barking and Fenchurch Street in either direction. This also affected trains which were unable to depart East Ham depot.

We operated as many services as possible were operated as far as Barking, to allow customers to use tube services to complete their journeys. However a number of services were cancelled altogether because of insufficient platform capacity at Barking.

Once the line reopened, we ran as many services as possible. However a number of services had to be cancelled, because the trains and drivers operating them were out of place given their earlier journeys had already been cancelled.

Overall 95 trains were cancelled, terminated early or delayed as a result of this incident.

Compensation for delays

If you were delayed you will be eligible for compensation for each journey. Find out more about the different tiers of compensation we offer based on the length of your delay here.

• c2c smartcard users: If you tapped your Smartcard at both ends of your journey, you will receive automatic compensation. However we recommend you check your online account to ensure our automatic payments reflect the actual delay to your journey, especially if you delayed tapping your card in at the start of the journey. If you feel your delay is not fully reflected, you can use your online account to correct the automatic system. Alternatively you can submit a manual claim on this occasion.
• Paper ticket holders, Oyster and contactless card users: Please fill out your details on this online delay repay form to claim your compensation.