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Elizabeth Line stuffed and Heathrow out of action 21/3/2025
aliwibble
Posts: 26,474
There's a big fire at an electricity substation in Hayes (no, not the Bromley one, the other one) that's taken out the power to Heathrow and the surrounding area. This is also affecting the Elizabeth Line, with severe delays west of Paddington, and no service between Hayes & Harlington and Heathrow. It doesn't appear to be affecting the eastern end of the line as yet, but there may be knock-on effects as the day progresses, so it's probably worth allowing more time for your journey than usual if you use it. Weirdly TFL aren't reporting any issues with the Piccadilly Line, which also goes to Heathrow, but who knows how long that'll last?
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Thoughts and prayers for anyone flying in an out of Heathrow today and for the next few days.. this is about as nightmarish as it can possibly be for the Aviation world (which I work in, yay!)1
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It is ludicrous that a piece of infrastructure as important as LHR seemingly does not have back-up capability for its power supply.9
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Agreed, it's ridiculous that such a minor incident can knock out our main airport for at least a daycafcfan said:It is ludicrous that a piece of infrastructure as important as LHR seemingly does not have back-up capability for its power supply.0 -
FYI The Piccadilly Line will be fine as the LU runs on it's own power network2
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Watched that documentary on Thames water the other night. Much the same.cafcfan said:It is ludicrous that a piece of infrastructure as important as LHR seemingly does not have back-up capability for its power supply.
Infrastructure on its arse but the shareholders get a nice big dividend year after year!13 -
Just saying that to a fellow passenger. Flying back from Dublin. Thankfully to City Airport. As you would imagine BA check in desks are utter chaos at Dublin airport. Not only people trying to get to London but loads of Americans with connecting flights all stranded.cafcfan said:It is ludicrous that a piece of infrastructure as important as LHR seemingly does not have back-up capability for its power supply.
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Mate flying out to South Africa on Sunday, going to be fun at the airport for him & his wife.0
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Let me tell you, having worked in functions directly related to DR and Business Continuity for two decades - the first thing to get cut - the FIRST thing - by bean counters is redundancy. Largely because all they care about is the daily bottom line, rather than planning for eventualities.cafcfan said:It is ludicrous that a piece of infrastructure as important as LHR seemingly does not have back-up capability for its power supply.
That said, the national grid isn't really in a position to be able to supply everything completely redundantly, and since this substation would appear to have taken out multiple redundant points further down the line, it's often not as straightforward as people think to provide a secondary supply.
Put it another way - pay more taxes and get a better service. Or, alternatively, pay more money for your privatised electricity.10 -
Or make your own electric drive a car and tell them to do one ?Leroy Ambrose said:
Let me tell you, having worked in functions directly related to DR and Business Continuity for two decades - the first thing to get cut - the FIRST thing - by bean counters is redundancy. Largely because all they care about is the daily bottom line, rather than planning for eventualities.cafcfan said:It is ludicrous that a piece of infrastructure as important as LHR seemingly does not have back-up capability for its power supply.
That said, the national grid isn't really in a position to be able to supply everything completely redundantly, and since this substation would appear to have taken out multiple redundant points further down the line, it's often not as straightforward as people think to provide a secondary supply.
Put it another way - pay more taxes and get a better service. Or, alternatively, pay more money for your privatised electricity.
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Shout, that. I'll remember it next time I'm driving to SE Asia for work...fenlandaddick said:
Or make your own electric drive a car and tell them to do one ?Leroy Ambrose said:
Let me tell you, having worked in functions directly related to DR and Business Continuity for two decades - the first thing to get cut - the FIRST thing - by bean counters is redundancy. Largely because all they care about is the daily bottom line, rather than planning for eventualities.cafcfan said:It is ludicrous that a piece of infrastructure as important as LHR seemingly does not have back-up capability for its power supply.
That said, the national grid isn't really in a position to be able to supply everything completely redundantly, and since this substation would appear to have taken out multiple redundant points further down the line, it's often not as straightforward as people think to provide a secondary supply.
Put it another way - pay more taxes and get a better service. Or, alternatively, pay more money for your privatised electricity.10 -
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Remember when the high speed railway network in France was sabotaged on the eve of the Olympics? Kudos that they got it back up and running within a day or two.Obviously at the moment we’ve no idea about the cause of the substation fire but it will be interesting to see how quickly a fix can be put in place. Makes our infrastructure look very suspect / vulnerable.4
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I think this is a comment about capitalism.carly burn said:
Watched that documentary on Thames water the other night. Much the same.cafcfan said:It is ludicrous that a piece of infrastructure as important as LHR seemingly does not have back-up capability for its power supply.
Infrastructure on its arse but the shareholders get a nice big dividend year after year!
Is it a political or non political comment?1 -
Agreed but the backup generator at the power station also went down as well, which is pretty unprecedented.cafcfan said:It is ludicrous that a piece of infrastructure as important as LHR seemingly does not have back-up capability for its power supply.3 -
Wow…..closed for the day!!!!0
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That sounds like the time my old bank had our Indian back office functions hit by massive floods in Chennai. Building and all systems down for days. It was then we found out that some bright spark had located the contingency site right next door…which funnily enough was also hit by the same flooding and power outages!! 🤦🏻♂️Chris_from_Sidcup said:
Agreed but the backup generator at the power station also went down as well, which is pretty unprecedented.cafcfan said:It is ludicrous that a piece of infrastructure as important as LHR seemingly does not have back-up capability for its power supply.14 -
For years, the Police National Computer (based in Hendon) had their DR site next to... Buncefield oil refinery. That was a fun few months for anyone working in IT for the gavvers 😁TelMc32 said:
That sounds like the time my old bank had our Indian back office functions hit by massive floods in Chennai. Building and all systems down for days. It was then we found out that some bright spark had located the contingency site right next door…which funnily enough was also hit by the same flooding and power outages!! 🤦🏻♂️Chris_from_Sidcup said:
Agreed but the backup generator at the power station also went down as well, which is pretty unprecedented.cafcfan said:It is ludicrous that a piece of infrastructure as important as LHR seemingly does not have back-up capability for its power supply.2 -
Agreed, but then I would nationalise the energy companies, as it is a cartel in essence, like the water companies!, but as we are on our arse in the UK, will not live to see that happening to either!.Weegie Addick said:Remember when the high speed railway network in France was sabotaged on the eve of the Olympics? Kudos that they got it back up and running within a day or two.Obviously at the moment we’ve no idea about the cause of the substation fire but it will be interesting to see how quickly a fix can be put in place. Makes our infrastructure look very suspect / vulnerable.2 -
True, so every shareholder, should sell up and shun Thames water completely. Basically, making the company bankrupt and insolvent. Whilst also screwing those pension funds who will sell the shares into a crashing market. So that impacts all sorts of people, who didn’t even know they owned the shares. Then the Government can step in, and rescue Thames Water (Nationalise) and save the day. Spending £billions of taxpayers money to keep it afloat. Sounds like a plan…..carly burn said:
Watched that documentary on Thames water the other night. Much the same.cafcfan said:It is ludicrous that a piece of infrastructure as important as LHR seemingly does not have back-up capability for its power supply.
Infrastructure on its arse but the shareholders get a nice big dividend year after year!
An no I don’t own shares in Thames…..
A those that do have seen them go from £125 to £75 over the last 5 years, which I doubt very much is made up for in their Dividend payments.0 -
Counter-terror officers from the Metropolitan Police are leading the investigation into a major fire that has closed Heathrow Airport.
The force said there was "currently no indication of foul play" but officers were retaining an "open mind at this time" into the cause of the blaze.
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Has anyone seen some Russians looking for historic cathedrals?
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I understand a number are in the area to see the world famous Beck Theatre, known throughout the world for their excellent seasonal pantomime productions.Rothko said:Has anyone seen some Russians looking for historic cathedrals?2 -
This happened near us last night. I'm not suggesting a link.
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At least it's nice and quiet in Staines today! Feels weird not seeing a plane go past my windows at just under 2000ft.3
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The conspiracy theory nutters are out in force on Facebook today. I saw one who said that aluminium is being sprayed from aircraft and it's being absorbed by plants making them burn easily and this is the cause of fires that are happening now.
It was explained to them that controlled burning of vegetation for conservation purposes has been taking place.
Another said that the lockdowns were to keep people indoors whilst wires were put across the sky to control us.
What the fire at this sub station shows, is that our infrastructure is very vulnerable to those who might want to disrupt us.
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It might very well have a back up to at least a certain extent but possibly not enough to keep everything running all at once - plus if you keep flights going and then there's an issue with the back ups, suddenly you have no power and flights in the air and the possible consequence of that could be horrendous.cafcfan said:It is ludicrous that a piece of infrastructure as important as LHR seemingly does not have back-up capability for its power supply.4 -
They did have backup.cafcfan said:It is ludicrous that a piece of infrastructure as important as LHR seemingly does not have back-up capability for its power supply.“Critical infrastructure like that obviously requires a back-up. Having spoken to an industry expert, it appears that Heathrow had changed its back-up systems in order for it to be net zero compliant. And therefore they had got rid of their diesel generators and have moved towards a biomass generator that was designed not to completely replace the grid but work alongside the grid.
“Basically, their net zero compliant back-up system had completely failed in its core function at the first time of asking. It beggars belief.”
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As said Richard Tice. No wonder Major didn't want to cite his source.Major said:
Reform MP Richard Tice said in today's Telegraph newspapercafcfan said:It is ludicrous that a piece of infrastructure as important as LHR seemingly does not have back-up capability for its power supply.“Critical infrastructure like that obviously requires a back-up. Having spoken to an industry expert, it appears that Heathrow had changed its back-up systems in order for it to be net zero compliant. And therefore they had got rid of their diesel generators and have moved towards a biomass generator that was designed not to completely replace the grid but work alongside the grid.
“Basically, their net zero compliant back-up system had completely failed in its core function at the first time of asking. It beggars belief.”
Think I'll wait for further detail of the official kind.
(Edit- Form of Biomass known as HVO runs in diesel engines without any upgrade/replacement needed. Other types of biomass also available)9 -
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A certain source on one of the least reliable 'news' channels, has been blaming 'net zero' for the failure of back up systems at Heathrow.
According to the BBC (far more reliable) a source at Heathrow said that they have "multiple sources" of energy at the airport - with diesel generators and "uninterruptable power supplies" in place.The source says that when the power outage happened the back up systems "all operated as expected".
The systems, however, are not enough to run the whole airport, hence the decision to close it down.
The source says the airport is in the process of redirecting power to the affected parts of the operation – but that it "takes time".
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Who will be picking up the tab, the airlines will want some sort of reconpence, Virgin and BA shares have been shaes have been hit. The total cost will runs into millions. In this day and age proper back up systems should be in place to at least keep one terminal fully operational.0
