17 April 2024 •
We are very sorry for the disruption our customers experienced on the evening of Monday 15 April and throughout yesterday on the c2c route.
What happened?
At approximately 17:00 on Monday 15 April, a large tree fell on the tracks at Upminster. As it fell, it pulled down the overhead lines, which supply power to our trains.
As a result, we were unable to run any trains on the Shoeburyness-bound track between Barking and Pitsea. This also severely restricted the number of trains we could operate across the entire route, and all services then had to be diverted via Rainham.
We are really sorry that passengers on the 16:44 from Fenchurch Street on Monday night were stranded for a considerable length of time between Barking and Upminster due to a power failure. We know this must have been an extremely stressful situation for people on board and we want to reassure these passengers that we worked extremely hard to get the train moving as soon as was possible.
Upon confirmation of the overhead line damage, arrangements were made for c2c tickets to be accepted on Greater Anglia and London Underground services. We also provided a bus replacement service to help provide alternative options for travel.
Network Rail immediately dispatched a team of engineers to the area who worked overnight on Monday to repair the power lines but due to the severity of the damage the disruption continued into yesterday’s train service. The damage to the overhead lines was repaired by Network Rail last night in time for this morning’s service.
Rob Mullen, Managing Director of c2c said, “I am really sorry to all of our customers who were caught up in the recent disruption on our route.
“I know this will have caused extensive delays to your journeys on both days and especially as the disruption hit our peak services on Monday evening. We worked closely with our Network Rail colleagues to try and get our services up and running as quickly as possible but due to the severity of the damage to the overhead lines, the disruption ran into yesterday’s service, which we know will have caused issues for many of our customers.
“I would urge anyone caught up in the incident to share their feedback on the disruption via the survey below. This will allow us to review our current emergency plans and help us respond better to future disruption. The survey results and updates to plans will be shared with and delivered in collaboration with our partners at Network Rail.”
Lawrence Bowman, route director for Network Rail Anglia said: “Monday’s storm and the damage caused by trees falling onto overhead lines meant journeys on Monday and Tuesday were massively disruptive to passengers.
“We worked together to restore normal services as soon as possible, but in some instances, lengthy, complex repairs or further safety checks were needed, so there were also some additional delays and cancellations on Tuesday 16 April with repairs ongoing between Upminster and Dagenham East.
“While our response teams worked as quickly as possible to remove tangled trees and fix and re-energise the electric power lines, I know that many people had a horrible and disrupted journey home last night, and I’m sorry for that.”
The survey can be accessed here: https://forms.office.com/e/7qFS2rPYBk
Compensation for delays
If you have been delayed you will be eligible for compensation for your journey. Find out more about the compensation we offer, and how to claim, here.
- c2c smartcard users: You will receive automatic compensation provided you tapped your Smartcard at both the start and end of your journey. If you have not been able to do so, you will have to make a manual claim for your delay. This is because our system will not have full information about your journey, so cannot calculate your automatic compensation. We recommend you check your online account to ensure our automatic payments do reflect your actual delay. If you feel they do not, you can use your online account to correct the automatic system or alternatively submit a manual claim.
Paper ticket holders, Oyster and contactless card users: Please fill out your details on this online delay repay form.
