Murphy Pipelines bores through BT deep level cable tunnel

Looks like it was Murphy (working for Thames Water) wot dun it -

"The contractors (Yhprum), working for a well known London water
authority, had bored 48m sideways at the bottom of a 30' shaft. Far
play they did own up when the BT vans turned up.

The boring machine went exactly 90 degrees through a deep level tunnel
collapsing the tunnel and damaging 19 out of 80 cables that go through
the tunnel. At present the boring machine cannot be moved for risk of
damaging the other cables (which are still working).

True resilence is a problem from time to time in certain areas, that's
why there are deep level tunnels, out the range of the usual JCB. Now
that the cabling jointers can get at the cables they are being
diverted now. trouble is, it's a big job."

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/04/06/bt_exchange_traffic_lights/comments
/

The affects appear to be

70,000 consumers
ISPs and suppliers with little or no resilience (Tiscali, Plusnet,
Namesco, Madasafish, Telstra) affecting customers countrywide
London City Airport check-in
Transport for London traffic light control

I guess it was one of the feeds to Telehouse.

I feel some sympathy for BT - you build a tunnel network so deep to
get away from the near surface mess, which is OK for a while, until
others start doing the same <g> ! What next - 1km deep tunnels ?!

BT Openreach status reports -

"Update issued at 21:00 hours, April 5th 2009

A serious incident occurred on the afternoon of Saturday, 4th April,
which has had a major impact on BT’s network in the Ilford area of
East London.

A large thrust borer being used by a third party construction
contractor on work not related to BT’s business penetrated one of our
deep level tunnels in that area. The thrust borer has completely
penetrated the tunnel and has caused material damage to both the
copper and fibre cables in the tunnel.

BT engineers are working around the clock to restore service as soon
as possible.

More than 70,000 PSTN customers were initially affected, though almost
half of these have now been restored. Several thousand broadband
lines, a large number of private circuits and Featurenet services have
been impacted. Emergency and Police services were also affected but
these services have been restored.
The tunnel is so badly damaged that it is not possible to work there
pending structural support work and it is likely to be three days or
more before that work can be completed and damage repair work
undertaken.
In the meantime we are pursuing many alternative means of restoring
service, including re-routing, establishing radio links and the
diversion of circuits to surface level ducts. However, the scale of
the damage means that only a proportion of the affected services can
be restored this way. As a result, mobile STM-1 equipment is being
moved to site to allow us to use dark fibre as a means of restoring
service.
Emergency transmission equipment has been arriving on site and this is
expected to continue through this evening. We expect this equipment
will be set up and available to support service by midnight.
We should see the first cables installed by around 02.00 hours on
April 6th. At that stage, we should be in a position to start
connecting the transmission equipment and cabling. Further services
restoration, managed by the BT war room, should begin soon after
that.
Work will continue until all services are up and running, but it is
unlikely that significant numbers of circuits will be working before
06:00hrs. There is still a lot of work to be done to fully recover the
situation but work will continue throughout tomorrow.
MBORC (measures beyond our reasonable control) has been applied for.
More briefings will be provided as the incident progresses.
Q and A
Q. What has happened?
A. A third part contactor has caused serious damage to major
telecommunications cables in one of BT’s deep level tunnels, which has
resulted in a loss of service to customers in parts of East London.
Q. Do BT’s engineers currently have access to the tunnel to start
fixing the damage?
A. Not at the moment. Our engineers cannot access the tunnel until the
site has been declared safe for them to enter. Health and safety and
structural engineers have assessed the damage and recommend structural
support in the tower before work is undertaken. This structural work
is expected to take a number of days
BT engineers are currently using alternative methods to restore
service and have already successfully restored service to thousands of
impacted customers.
Q. How many customers are affected?
A. This is still being assessed, but initial estimates are that tens
of thousands customers are affected. Thousands have had their service
restored and work is continuing around the clock to restore service to
all customers. We will provide further detail as the situation
develops.
Q. What services have been impacted?
A. A range of services are affected, including telephony, broadband,
ISDN and private circuits. A number of mobile ‘cell sites’ are also
affected.
Q. When do you expect all repairs will be complete?
A. This is still being assessed. Our engineers are working around the
clock to restore services to customers as quickly as possible.
Unfortunately, due to the nature of the damage, which happened 32
meters below street level, it is not possible at this stage to provide
an exact timeframe as to when services will to be restored but
customers should be assured that everything that can be done is being
done. We will provide further details as the situation develops.
Q. What should customers do if they have no telephone services and
they are infirm or vulnerable?
A. Affected customers needing to make calls to the emergency services
are advised to do so by using their mobile phone, or alternatively by
using a friend or neighbour’s working phone.
Q. Can you provide a guarantee to any affected major business in the
area that their services will be restored by Monday morning?
A. We recognise the critical importance of communications services to
major businesses and are therefore working around the clock to restore
service as quickly as possible. If necessary, we will prioritise the
restoration of services to businesses and public sector organizations
first.
Q. Has anyone been hurt?
A. There are currently no reports of any injuries at the site. The
safety of the site is currently being assessed by a team of safety
consultants and structural engineers. The London Fire Brigade is also
on standby if required.
Q. Does the any structural damage to the tunnel pose any significant
risk to people living in the surrounding area?
A. This is currently being assessed
Q. How many other communications providers are affected?
A. A number of other communications providers are affected. They are
being kept informed of progress by BT

Latest update based on information available at 23.30, 6 April.
• The recovery work is taking place in 2 stages. We have installed
ducting and surface level cables (3 x 276 fibre cables installed, 4
more are being installed) to divert cables away from the damaged area
of the tunnel.
• The second stage is to retrieve cables from the tunnel to connect to
the newly installed surface cables
• The first 96 x fibre cable has been successfully retrieved and
jointed, restoring service to multiple transmission systems. Services
to Poplar exchange have started to restore with full restoration
expected imminently. This will mean that 999 service has been restored
to all PSTN customers with contended access to normal voice service,
• The second 96 x fibre cable retrieval from manhole 144 is
progressing slowly due to asbestos and poor air quality. Engineers in
breathing apparatus have entered the manhole and are extracting the
cable for jointing over ground. This cable will be completed around
05.00. on 7 April.
• Other restoration work using make-good capacity is continuing.
• In total there are 1836 fibres are to be repaired. The first 96
fibres represents 5% of the total."

Media reports -
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/04/06/bt_exchange_problems/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/04/06/bt_exchange_traffic_lights/
http://www.computerworlduk.com/management/government-law/public-sector/news
/index.cfm?newsid=14183
http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/4269305.ILFORD:_Cable_damage_causes_h
avoc_across_London/
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