Transport -
Trains 5
Railtrack
has spent £500,000 installing Britain's first
trackside wheel shower to stop trains making a
squeal as they enter a village. The firm has
invested in the water jets to cure so-called
"wheel squeal", which has shattered the
peace of life for residents in Barnt Green in
Worcestershire. The device douses the wheels of
trains with water to eliminate the squeal which
has been blamed on an unusually tight bend in the
track at the station. A Railtrack spokeswoman
says the company had spent several years trying
to find out what the problem was before realising
it was a combination of the track layout and
train wheels.
Altering the line wasn't viable, so engineers
turned to Europe, where similar sprinklers have
been a success. It took two months to install and
test the equipment before it went into operation
towards the end of last month. The spokeswoman
says, "It has been very unpleasant for the
people of Barnt Green because it was such an
unbearable noise, particularly with around four
trains passing through the station every hour. We
are pleased that this problem has been solved.
These are the first trackside sprinklers in the
country. It's unlikely that we'll see them
cropping up elsewhere because the situation at
Barnt Green was very unusual."
Train
commuters were held hostage by a guard who
refused to let them off until a fare dodger paid
up. The guard refused to open carriage doors when
the train pulled into Solihull Station during the
evening rush hour telling passengers,
"No-one's getting off this train." He
told them the doors would be staying closed until
a ticketless woman paid her £2 fare. It's
claimed the driver then switched off the engine.
Some passengers even offered to pay 'the ransom'
by buying the woman's ticket in return for
freedom but the guard refused. A spokesman for
Central Trains, which is part of the National
Express Group, said, "We're investigating
the incident. Until we have spoken fully to the
conductor involved we cannot comment further but
in a situation like this the conductor could have
issued an unpaid fare notice requiring her to pay
at a later date or face court action."
A
train bound for Manchester ended up in Coventry
after a signalman sent it down the wrong track.
Virgin Trains said a signalman had made a mistake
in routing the 9.40am service via Coventry, 110
miles from its intended destination. The train
was eventually sent back on the right line and
arrived in Manchester 35 minutes late.
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