How incidents spread
A disruption can affect one route, every route serving a station, or the entire network. Examples include signalling failures, points failures, obstructions, power problems, station incidents and severe weather.
Active incidents appear prominently on the dashboard and on affected route pages with severity, expected resolution and affected routes.
Your three responses
- Keep running: retain the timetable but absorb the full delay and reliability impact.
- Reduce frequency: cancel alternate workings so the remaining service can recover more effectively.
- Suspend services: cancel departures until the incident clears and stop trying to operate through it.
Choosing a response
- 1Check the expected incident duration and severity.
- 2Identify every affected route and any shared station exposure.
- 3Review accepted contract delivery and punctuality thresholds.
- 4Compare likely cancellations with the cost of prolonged delay.
- 5Protect scarce or unreliable trainsets when recovery would be difficult.
Operator tip
A short minor incident often favours continued operation. A severe long incident may make a planned reduced service more credible than widespread uncontrolled delay.
Timetable and revenue effects
Cancelled workings show immediately in the timetable. Unused travel earns no fare, although a late cancellation may retain fare allocated to passenger travel already completed. Delayed services carry their delay into live and completed statuses. These outcomes also feed passenger satisfaction and contract compliance.