Heathrow closure: what caused the fire and why did it bring down the whole airport?
The closure of Heathrow Airport has caused chaos, leaving thousands of passengers stranded. More than 1,300 flights have been affected, about 120 of these were already in the air.
A panel of experts offer their insights – and consider the implications of such a major incident.
BBC: Heathrow shuts: 'We don't know what's happening next - it's chaos'
"...Passengers who were on flights already in the air have told the BBC of the disruption that ensued after they were diverted to other airports, or turned back to where they had departed from. ..."
#Eurostar says it is adding more seats on its trains between #London and #Paris to help airline passengers affected by #Heathrow's closure with two extra services in each direction on Friday for 882 passengers per train.
Check for booking details > https://www.eurostar.com/rw-en?tcid=ppc.google.NL.NL_EN_Brand_Trains_Core.154685174797.20605717369.kwd-31923980..eurostar&gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwnPS-BhBxEiwAZjMF0klh9qOM
Somebody needs to start measuring how much GROWF is lost in the UK because #Heathrow is closed. If it stays closed for 3-4 more days, so much the better for the metrics.
Something tells me it won't be that much at all.
In which case, there goes the argument for building another runway because GROWF.
6/6
Which brings me to the point of this little spiel.
The UK electrical transmission and distribution networks are in a shocking (pun intended!) state.
Especially the distribution network.
The UK electrical grid is a miracle of engineering. For the last few decades it's been held together by ingenuity, tenacity and luck, while the disgusting leeches we've sold it to suck every last drop of money they can out of it.
And you know how you can make more money? cut back on maintenance. Cut back on asset replacements. Cut back on staff. Sweat the assets.
I'm not saying lack of maintenance caused this. How could we know? But as someone who works on the grid, I'm not surprised by it, put it that way.
Just like the rest of this rapidly declining country, the grid is run for the sole purpose of corporate cash extraction. And it makes me sick.
5/6
What caused it?
Who knows?
If I were placing a bet on why a transformer failed, and with no other information, I would always put my money on a tapchanger fault.
A tapchanger is a device that lets you change the output voltage of a transformer, and it's one of the few mechanical parts subject to wear and tear they have. They need regular maintenance.
I've seen people speculating about sabotage. Now as someone in the industry, I am acutely aware how easy it would be to cripple the grid by hitting a few vulnerable locations, but honestly transformers fail all the time. This one just happened to be in a high profile spot.
4/6
I would expect that they will try and restore power through switching operations well before that.
What that entails in basic terms is you connect the load that was served by this transformer to a different transformer. The UK network is built with redundant inter-connectivity for this very reason.
The issue with doing this of course is that you are then potentially overloading the transformer you switch to, so this can only be a short term solution.
Edit: And they have:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cly24zvvwxlt?post=asset%3A0c050d46-7098-4048-99e2-7a5e733137c6#post
3/6
Recovery efforts then.
Not that long ago, I was part of a team that responded to exactly this sort of catastrophe.
Our record for replacing a failed transformer was four days. That was remove the old one, install and commission the new one. And that was a 33kV, so quite a lot smaller.
When there's been a fire, you can't just start working. The site will have to be made safe, that takes time. You're going to need cranes, haulage, oil tankers, labour. It's not a trivial task.
You can't move a transformer in one piece. The cooler banks and conservator, the A-frame for the radiators, the pipe work (and there can be a lot of pipework) all has to be dismantled, and then the new one built on site.
2/6
Substations, and the transformers inside them, are basically the links in the chain the make up the UK grid.
Power is generated at power stations, and moved around the country at extremely high voltage, 400,000 volts (400kV).
This is then "stepped down" at a substation to 132kV, then stepped down again to 33kV at the next sub, then again to 11kV at the next, and finally to 410/240V that we all rely on when we stick a plug in the wall.
(Yes, I'm aware of all the other voltages. There's a character limit)
When a transformer fails, it takes out everything below it in the chain. And obviously, the further up the chain the failure, the more stuff downstream is affected.
Few thoughts on the substation fire at Heathrow. 1/6
From the limited information available it looks like fault has caused one of the transfomers serving the site to burst into flames.
Apparently National Grid (the transmission side, not the DNO) are involved, so that suggests we're talking about a bigger transformer, probably a 132 kV unit or bigger.
For the un-initiated, you have to understand that when I say "Transformer" I'm talking about something weighing north (possibly well north) of 40,000 kg , full of thousands of litres of highly flammable oil.
If you've ever seen the aftermath of a large transformer going up, you know how serious this is.
#Heathrow Airport is closed because of an electrical fire.
Heathrow is too big for other airports to accommodate the flights.
So why are they planning to make Heathrow even bigger?
Heathrow is too big.
So how safe is our critical national infrastructure in the UK?
We don’t yet know the cause of an electricity substation fire at Hayes that feeds #Heathrow. Could be:
- Poor maintenance
- Overload of local grid
- Arson
- Weather conditions
- Terrorist attack
- Attack by a hostile international state
Airport safety has changed hugely since 9/11, but have other routine aspects of maintaining our infrastructure had the same concern during that time? And where does the responsibility sit?
El cirio global que representa esto, la virgen: una subestación eléctrica cortocircuita y estalla, deja sin electricidad al #aeropuerto
de #Heathrow de #Londres
(el más transitado de Europa y uno de los más transitados del mundo) y obliga a cerrarlo durante todo el día
#ReinoUnido
#transporte #noticias https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg5dg4p2l0o
Dave Brown @DaveBrownToons @Independent #RachelReeves #Starmer #KeirStarmer #Growth #RedTape #Heathrow #HeathrowExpansion #ThirdRunway #Infrastructure – political cartoon gallery in London original-political-cartoon.com
Even if Rachel Reeves does think that a new runway at Heathrow is a pro-growth policy (to the annoyance of anyone even vaguely interested in net zero or a green transition), actually building the runway may prove practically difficult, not least of all as current plans include moving the M25 into a tunnel, but mostly due to the lack of capacity in the construction sector.
Failing to fund Further Education (which trains so many construction workers) is casting a long shadow.
#Heathrow
h/t FT
And we're off! First leg Ipswich to Heathrow at 1am done, now to catch the morning flight to Lisbon for #MautiCon next week!
Looking forward to a siesta when I arrive! 
How do you feel about the airport arrival lounge? Watch the people go by here https://mike-jory.pixels.com/featured/heathrow-terminal-3-arrivals-lounge-watercolor-sharpie-sepia-painting-mike-jory.html #buyintoart #aYearForArt #mastoArt #FillThatEmptyWall #interiorDesign #FigureDrawing #AirportArrivals #WatercolorPeople #HeathrowTerminal4 #LoosePainting #ImpressionistPainting #Airport #Heathrow #urbanSketching #sepia #peopleWatching
Lost in Thought
This was taken a few years ago in a London airport restaurant, while we were eating an early breakfast.
Have a lovely day, friends.
#SilentSunday
#airport #Heathrow #portrait #EllieKPosts #FridayFeelings #Meditation #Candid #FlashBackFriday
Brought over from my old instance.
