Thought I might contribute since I haven't seen any chatter on this messy cut. Kevin Blackham Mozy/VMware Begin forwarded message:
From: Hibernia Atlantic NOC <HiberniaAtlanticNOC@hiberniaatlantic.com> Date: April 27, 2011 16:23:40 PDT
Update 1: A fibre cut has been confirmed on the Hibernia UK East span between Southport and Bracewell. A team of engineers is en route to Bracewell to conduct OTDR testing to isolate the exact location of the break. Fibre crews are in the process of being activated.
Update 2: No update is available at this time.
Update 3: Fibre break has been isolated to 48km outside of the Hibernia Southport cable landing station (in the vicinity of Preston). No ETA is available as yet for fibre crews to reach site.
Update 4: Repair representative due on site to carry out visual inspection at 15:50. This engineer will be joined by a civils and fibre repair team who are currently en route.
Update 5: Civil and repair teams are expected onsite at 17:00 GMT.
Update 6: Repair teams on site have found no obvious sources of damage to the ducting. They are now entering splice chambers to test in conjunction with the technician in Bracewell in order to isolate the exact location of the damage.
Update 7: No obvious damage found in the area of the suspected break location (11.2Km from Bracewell), Emergency Response team are now going to enter a splice pit and test back towards Bracewell to pinpoint the exact location of the damage. A spare 4Km cable drum is on it's way from Liverpool, no ETA as yet.
Update 8: Fibre break has been located to the junction of the A59 and Sawley Lane, near Sawley Village. Damage is extensive and appears to have been caused by the installation of new crash barriers. We are now formulating a repair plan with our Engineering team – please stand by for an update.
Update 9: Due to the extent of the damage Hibernia are unable to execute a temporary repair. A new 4Km cable will be pulled in between the two nearest joints, prepped and then spliced to the existing cable. The new cable, spare ducting and the remainder of the emergency response team are due on site imminently. There is no ETTR as yet. The repair will be permanent.
Update 10: Engineering team are now at the break location along with spare cable and ducting, engineers have accessed the pits at either end of the 4Km stretch and are now locating intermediate pits to enable the new cable to be pulled through.
Update 11: After further analysis of the fibre route by the ground crew, it has become evident that a permanent repair / cable installation will be impossible tonight. There are major health and safety concerns such as working in very close proximity to a dual carriage way and poor light. Civils are now digging down at the break location with a view to pulling in slack from both ends and creating a temporary joint to get services back up. No ETTR as yet.
Please be advised that Hibernia Atlantic is currently observing alarms on our UK network.
We are currently investigating this outage and will provide an update shortly.