Train Cab Ride NL / Faulty Train / Eindhoven - Dordrecht - Watergraafsmeer / Nov 2020

Hi everyone! Welcome on board a very special ride. Today we drive a train without passengers. All unplanned. Our train failed to do service and now needs to be taken to the workshop to be repaired. What happened? Earlier that morning had taken this train from Rotterdam to Eindhoven with passengers. Just after departure in Breda there was some trouble with the power on the overhead wires. The train lost power. After contact with the train dispatcher we continued our journey to Tilburg and Eindhoven. But the locomotive in the back of the train didn't want to work anymore. No problem! We have two locomotives and thats why I just decided to pull the whole train to Eindhoven. Due to slippery tracks we arrived with a two minute delay at Eindhoven. In Eindhoven at the shunting track it took some time to find the problem. After some time we got all systems to work again. Unfortunately the delay was already too big and our train (1132) was cancelled. Train passengers had to travel by sprinter and then change to another intercity due to this problem. The fix was a pre-fix and the train was not ready to travel with passengers anymore. For me the first time in two years on the HSL trains something like this happened. Most of the time the problems can be easily fixed. But not in this case. Therefor a reserve train in The Hague was made ready for departure on the time we should've departed from there to Eindhoven again. This way only the intercity Eindhoven - The Hague would be cancelled and the next train could run again. Long ride: As you can see we have a very long ride ahead of us. After the pre-fix at Eindhoven I contacted the train dispatcher that we are ready to take the train to the workshop in Amsterdam. Because of our big delay there was no space for us at that time and we had to wait for space between all the other trains running. Freight trains were also diverted due to construction works elsewhere this day so it was very busy. With over 60 minutes delay from our original departure time (train 1132) we depart with train 71132 from Eindhoven to The Hague HS. We get the detour because the route direct from Eindhoven to Amsterdam is too busy. Also we would need to change the trains direction in Amsterdam to arrive on the designated track at the Watergraafsmeer. We will encounter lots and lots of red signals on our way to the Watergraafsmeer. This is because we have 65 minute delay at departure in Eindhoven. The ideal path it at 60 or 90 minutes from our original path. The 60 minute path was already taken by another intercity Eindhoven - The Hague. So you can guess our path for the ride. We will be hitting the 90 minute delay and from there have some more space in our train schedule. Just before we arrive at The Hague HS the train has some difficulties with the electro dynamic braking system. This causes an emergency braking action. After this we're on our way when all braking systems have kind of reseted. Also we need permission from the train dispatcher to continue (muted). Especially because we're in a 40km/h area I'd like to have conformation the train dispatcher didn't change anything about our path or something. If so, I would've seen it on the drivers desk. But better safe than sorry. After The Hague HS we change the train number and continue via Leiden and Haarlem to the workshop Watergraafsmeer. On the route you will see the train dispatchers use our train for some rust driving as well. This means cleansing some junctions that are not often used during the day. You can see this happen at Boxtel, Dordrecht and Haarlem Goederen. I hope you will enjoy this long and unique ride. Yes, trains can sometimes break down too. For me it was the first like this where. But hey, there's a first from everything! :) If you have any questions you know where to find me! Cheers! More about my work:   / machiniststefan     / machiniststefan