Shit happens: broken-down freight at Bury St Edmunds Thurs 13 July 2023

I got caught in the mayhem following the brakes/wheels issue with an
eastbound freight train, stuck at Bury station on Thurs morning 13 July
2023.

This spiel is about how things can get worked out when things go wrong.

I must have arrived (booked on the 10:30 from Bury to to Peterborough)
at Bury station just after the incident occured as the train was on the
eastbound platform and they were just beginning to investigate, and the
item hadn’t appeared on NRE quite yet, but did shortly after.

The 10:30 Peterbrough train arrived into Bury station on time, but got
held there, presumably because of all the trains backed up behind the
broken down freight, and potentially blocking our path going forward
(there is some single-line working in the area, AIUI)

The two-person train crew were amazing. Lots of announcements and lots
of helpful suggestions for alternatives, and as much in the way of
updates as they were able to give us.
I was on the train, I had a laptop, a phone, onboard wifi (and
fortuitously) a coffee from the van on Station Hill. Very happy.
Happily, I did not have an appointment to reach, nor onward connections
that would be problematic if I missed them, others were maybe not so
fortunate.
We left Bury after being held for 45 minutes, and picked up passengers
at Kennett (who were effectively on a stranded train, and allegedly
reversed back into Kennett). We continued to Ely (about 60 minutes
after we should have done) where the train terminated, but there are
plenty of other onward connections from Ely. There was plenty of
assistance and information at Ely.
I got an onward connection from Ely to Peterborough to my further
destination. I arrived into Leeds an hour late. I arrived home about
when I expected due to various other factors.

Further, I put in an online claim to Greater Anglia for Delay Repay when
I got home yesterday/Thurs evening. This morning (Fri) I got an e-mail
confirming the claim in full, and the money was in my bank account at
lunchtime today, i.e. within 24 hours of the delay happening: it would
be hard to beat that.

So shit happens, and I’m sure there were many people who had more
problems than I did, but the on-board crew were amazing and helpful, and
Delay Repay refunded in full within 24 hours....

On Fri, 14 Jul 2023 16:05:35 +0100
Allan <invalid@invalid.invalid> wrote:
>Shit happens: broken-down freight at Bury St Edmunds Thurs 13 July 2023
>
>I got caught in the mayhem following the brakes/wheels issue with an
>eastbound freight train, stuck at Bury station on Thurs morning 13 July
>2023.
>

And if its not some technical problem the rich bolsheviks are on strike.
Its why I use the car for any long trip these days even if its as far as
scotland, bollocks to the railways.