50/50 chance the trains will bugger up

[greyseagull]

Excuse any typos - I'm writing this on my phone from a very packed train full of irritable passengers.

This is the fourth time in as many weeks the trains have buggered up and I've had to reschedule/be late for meetings. I left West Worthing at 9.32 this morning to arrive in London Vic at 10.58. It gets to 10.55 and we still haven't arrived at East Croydon. Once we arrive there we sit at the platform for 5mins before being told train is cancelled and we must get off.

Signalling fault and someone taken ill at Clapham Junction this morning (please note that I am not moaning about the latter). But how many signalling faults and broken down trains have we already had this year...?

Now heading to London Bridge as a diversion as there are no trains going through Clapham for the foreseeable. Luckily the Underground is taking Southern tickets. Just a word of warning for you all. But what else did you expect, eh?

 

[zeetha]

I'm so glad I don't commute but my other half does and has already got over £81 back in the past 6 weeks due to claiming every time her train is delayed. It is ridiculous how bad the service is but nothing ever seems to get done to fix it...

 

[HawkTheSeagull]

More signalling problems at Balham, happened at least once a week since they did the work there at Christmas - something is clearly wrong with it.

 

[red star portslade]

I'm so glad I don't commute but my other half does and has already got over £81 back in the past 6 weeks due to claiming every time her train is delayed. It is ridiculous how bad the service is but nothing ever seems to get done to fix it...

The whole of the Sussex route is going to be re - signalled. Work due to begin in October. I'm sure it will get much worse before it gets any better.

 

[father_and_son]

Similar delays hit me this morning.... What I find annoying is Clapham has 18/19 platforms and yet they cannot cope with one being out of action while medical staff arrive? How f**ked up is the organisation of our rail services that they have absolutely zero contingency for the disruptive events that actually happen quite regularly in one way or another.


Already logged my DELAY REPAY claim for this morning. Since October when I decided I would claim for everything, I've logged enough claims to pay for about 2 weeks of travel.

 

[HawkTheSeagull]

Similar delays hit me this morning.... What I find annoying is Clapham has 18/19 platforms and yet they cannot cope with one being out of action while medical staff arrive? How f**ked up is the organisation of our rail services that they have absolutely zero contingency for the disruptive events that actually happen quite regularly in one way or another.


Already logged my DELAY REPAY claim for this morning. Since October when I decided I would claim for everything, I've logged enough claims to pay for about 2 weeks of travel.

Only 4 of those are for the line to/from Victoria - 2 into London and 2 out. Rest to to Shepherds Bush, Waterloo, Wimbledon, Wandsworth and Windsor.

When 1 line is blocked, you have all the traffic needing to cross to the other line at a junction which also will block another line whilst that happens.

An already congested line is now only using 1 track so that's also why trains were being stopped at Croydon. It's not like using a car, you can't overtake when you like.

It wouldn't have been that bad this morning if the signals weren't broken again either.

 

[albionite]

Similar delays hit me this morning.... What I find annoying is Clapham has 18/19 platforms and yet they cannot cope with one being out of action while medical staff arrive? How f**ked up is the organisation of our rail services that they have absolutely zero contingency for the disruptive events that actually happen quite regularly in one way or another.


Already logged my DELAY REPAY claim for this morning. Since October when I decided I would claim for everything, I've logged enough claims to pay for about 2 weeks of travel.

It only has 4 platforms if you are coming from Brighton 2 up 2 down, the other platforms are on different lines.

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

Im going down the same route of CLAIMING FOR EVERYTHING. The f***ing ROBBING bastards.

Only ONCE in the last two weeks has my train arrived on time at London Bridge.

 

[kevo]

The case for BML2 is getting stronger by the day.

 

[Tricky Dicky]

I sent a mail of complaint last week to Southern about the general poor service lately, in particular the number of trains breakdowns. I received a mail reply this morning, which I've not had time to digest. Seemed to be a little more than a standard response.

I also brought up the fact that trains quite regularly are terminated a East Croydon instead of running through to London Bridge, but at first glance they seemed to say that they had no real choice but to do this.

 

[father_and_son]

Only 4 of those are for the line to/from Victoria - 2 into London and 2 out. Rest to to Shepherds Bush, Waterloo, Wimbledon, Wandsworth and Windsor.

When 1 line is blocked, you have all the traffic needing to cross to the other line at a junction which also will block another line whilst that happens.

An already congested line is now only using 1 track so that's also why trains were being stopped at Croydon. It's not like using a car, you can't overtake when you like.

It wouldn't have been that bad this morning if the signals weren't broken again either.

But isn't this exactly my point... we have no redundancy built into the system so the slightest fault snowballs into a major problem.


For example... my train arrived in 3bridges ~5 minutes late today because of "congestion". I change trains there to come out to Horsham. As we pull in, Horsham train is already pulling out. Next Horsham train is cancelled (and this was already displaying on the boards), so all the people changing had to wait 30mins for next one. Cue Delay Repay claim, all for the sake of not holding back the early Horsham train for 1-2 mins to allow people to cross platforms (only 10 feet).

This really shouldn't be so difficult to manage!

 

[Tricky Dicky]

If anyone is interested, here is the reply I received from Southern today ....

"Thank you for contacting us on 01 February 2013 regarding our service. Please accept my apologies for the delay in our response.

When a train breaks down on the line this is not necessarily a Southern service. Any operating company running trains thjat break down on the line are liable for a fine. This fine then gets paid to all of the other customers as Delay Repay compensation.

When the decision is made to run a train fast (or miss out booked stops), this is counted as a part cancellation.

This automatically counts as a failure against our agreed performance measurement with the Department for Transport and the decision to do this is taken purely to minimise the impact of delays across the network and therefore to passengers.

When disruption occurs on our network, we must make it a priority to restore services to the correct timetable as soon as possible. Many services have a very limited turnaround time at their destination before they start their next journey, so allowing trains to continue running late around the network has a knock on effect to other services throughout the day.

Added to this, train crews must be given sufficient time for their breaks, and if crews become displaced (in the wrong location due to disruption), this can have a further impact on our ability to get trains back to normal running.

In order to minimise the disruption, our Control sometimes take the decision to run a service fast (or to miss out some booked stops), in order to get a train running to the correct time. We do not underestimate the impact and inconvenience this can have, and we always consider factors such as the next available connecting service.

We do recognise that service information when such decisions are made is absolutely critical, therefore we do advise train crew and station staff via Control messages whenever we alter the service pattern."

 

[User removed 4]

Similar delays hit me this morning.... What I find annoying is Clapham has 18/19 platforms and yet they cannot cope with one being out of action while medical staff arrive? How f**ked up is the organisation of our rail services that they have absolutely zero contingency for the disruptive events that actually happen quite regularly in one way or another.


Already logged my DELAY REPAY claim for this morning. Since October when I decided I would claim for everything, I've logged enough claims to pay for about 2 weeks of travel.

Can people stop calling it Clapham and call it by its correct name which is Clapham Junction, "Clapham" is 2 miles up the road.

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

Can people stop calling it Clapham and call it by its correct name which is Clapham Junction, "Clapham" is 2 miles up the road.

Its like calling it THE North LANES

 

[User removed 4]

Its like calling it THE North LANES

Grrrr!

 

[HawkTheSeagull]

But isn't this exactly my point... we have no redundancy built into the system so the slightest fault snowballs into a major problem.


For example... my train arrived in 3bridges ~5 minutes late today because of "congestion". I change trains there to come out to Horsham. As we pull in, Horsham train is already pulling out. Next Horsham train is cancelled (and this was already displaying on the boards), so all the people changing had to wait 30mins for next one. Cue Delay Repay claim, all for the sake of not holding back the early Horsham train for 1-2 mins to allow people to cross platforms (only 10 feet).

This really shouldn't be so difficult to manage!

What do you expect on one of the most congested commuter networks in the country with barely any space to increase capacity, though if the line was upgraded you could probably add a bit more capacity/space between trains. This doesnt mean BML2, which is a monumental waste of money and is just a fancy plan of tunnels and bridges which is dressed up simply to reopen Uckfield/Lewes. Should also be pointed out that the blockage today was at Clapham - so if BML2 did exist, it would have made no difference.

A train wont be held for 1 person (unless it was late at night and the last train - thats exceptional though). You cant expect all trains to be held in times of disruption to meet connections, as then you further delay other trains, delaying more people.

Trains are turned at East Croydon (instead of going to Victoria and London Bridge) either to they dont have to pass through the problem area and/or so the next service can start on time so passengers at other stations arent delayed. Yes it means everyone gets turfed off but there are worse places to have this than at East Croydon where there is a frequent service.

 

[User removed 4]

What do you expect on one of the most congested commuter networks in the country with barely any space to increase capacity, though if the line was upgraded you could probably add a bit more capacity/space between trains. This doesnt mean BML2, which is a monumental waste of money and is just a fancy plan of tunnels and bridges which is dressed up simply to reopen Uckfield/Lewes. Should also be pointed out that the blockage today was at Clapham - so if BML2 did exist, it would have made no difference.

A train wont be held for 1 person (unless it was late at night and the last train - thats exceptional though). You cant expect all trains to be held in times of disruption to meet connections, as then you further delay other trains, delaying more people.

Trains are turned at East Croydon (instead of going to Victoria and London Bridge) either to they dont have to pass through the problem area and/or so the next service can start on time so passengers at other stations arent delayed. Yes it means everyone gets turfed off but there are worse places to have this than at East Croydon where there is a frequent service.

No,no,no it was at CLAPHAM JUNCTION
.

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

Ahh the apologist. Wondered when you would turn up.

 

[HawkTheSeagull]

No,no,no it was at CLAPHAM JUNCTION
.

I knew you would be best pleased when i said that

Ahh the apologist. Wondered when you would turn up.

Apologist, Realist, White Flag Waver - same thing !!

 

[User removed 4]

I knew you would be best pleased when i said that