[Travel] Railway flustercuck

AK74 · Jul 5, 2018

Uh-oh:

So a new wiring arrangement was brought in (at the expense of a lot of other stuff) to try to work around the power failure and allow most routes to run via Selhurst/Streatham Common by 1400. It was actually closer to 1500 when trains started to run.

And now it would appear it has just gone bang again... not sure if this makes things worse, but it may turn out that it does. Looks like 1L38 is stranded en-route around Norbury ish.

Source: https://railforums.co.uk/threads/signalling-power-issues-in-the-streatham-area-4-7-5-7.166683/

Boys 9d · Jul 5, 2018

Were there all these signalling problems when signals were operated by wire cables attached to levers in signal boxes?

Beach Hut · Jul 5, 2018

I really do feel for anyone trying to get home from London tonight by train

Driver8 · Jul 5, 2018

Beach Hut said:
I really do feel for anyone trying to get home from London tonight by train

Took me five hours to get back from London to Prestatyn yesterday thanks to a jumper. Should be 2 1/2 hours. Nightmare.

Weststander · Jul 5, 2018

beorhthelm said:
i always advocated a second runway at Gatwick on the basis/condition that the rail network would have to be improved, and there certainly would be the funding to do so (from Gatwick, not public)

The true funding required would've been in the £10B's for the compulsory purchase of land/homes in London. The early Victorian route is boxed in by urban development, with birds nest of routes crossing each other, stemming from those pioneering days of rival companies setting up their own lines and central London terminals. It would take a lifeltime, and the real money required would never have been a available. All smoke and mirrors by Gatwick CEO Wingate and a slick PR company.

beorhthelm · Jul 5, 2018

Weststander said:
The true funding required would've been in the £10B's for the compulsory purchase of land/homes in London. The early Victorian route is boxed in by urban development, with birds nest of routes crossing each other, stemming from those pioneering days of rival companies setting up their own lines and central London terminals. It would take a lifeltime, and the real money required would never have been a available. All smoke and mirrors by Gatwick CEO Wingate and a slick PR company.

you're suggesting addtional lines? as i understand, there's plenty of capacity if you renew the signalling to handle more trains and make it more reliable. current system is hodge-podge of part replacment and patches knited together. maybe part wishful thinking, though if the government had green light Gatwick it would have been up to them to do the work, spend the money and find out.

robbobhafc · Jul 5, 2018

I was at LB just after 4 managed to get 430 to three bridges and a fast train to barnham before heading west to angmering all in under 2 hours pretty much half what this morning took

The Large One · Jul 5, 2018

beorhthelm said:
c. the billions needed to renew large parts of the infrastructure.

Already covered in point B.

But thanks anyway.

Yoda · Jul 5, 2018

beorhthelm said:
seems the case this time, though do normally run trains between bits working, i.e. Victoria to Gatwick/ThreeBridgesHHeath then you pick up the train south from there (its usually during the evening). also run trains via Lewes to bypass problems south of HHeath. who know why they cant run some services up as far as Gatwick even East Croydon and return. perhaps advise from outside not to do so as it would create problems with people expecting to complete journeys?

Not just this time, they're like it all the time. There can be an issue, say between HH & TB, and Southern will cancel the services that use the West Coastway up to London too. Leaving, on the old timetable, sometimes 1 train per hour for some stations that would've had 3 originally.

dazzer6666 · Jul 5, 2018

Got the 18.06 from London Bridge. I arrived at 17.55 and could’ve got on the delayed 17.15 that hadn’t arrived but of course there were about half a million people trying to get on it. This one then stayed on the platform for 15 mins as staff tried to get everyone waiting behind the yellow line, and then when they did one of the doors wouldn’t shut.

The only upside of this was that by the time the 17.15 left (about 18.20) there were 3 trains behind it waiting to go through so hopefully everyone got on, even it was sardines all the way.

Slow trip south, with a further ruckus at Haywards Heath as two Brighton trains were about to depart but with different calling patterns. The boards were right, the electronic boards inside the trains were right, the drivers knew where they were stopping but for some reason the high viz clad bungle***** on the platform stopped the trains leaving ‘because they didn’t seem to know’ where the trains were going.

Garry Nelson's teacher · Jul 5, 2018

I did the West Worthing to London Bridge daily commute about 10 years ago. I lasted a year and looking back there were hardly any delays but I'd still had enough of it. So how you poor buggers manage it in these circumstances simply amazes me. Respect!

Thunder Bolt · Jul 5, 2018

I had great fun on the West Coast line today. Off peak ticket so waiting at Brighton station at 9am. I looked at my Live train app which said the 09.05 was cancelled. The Western train to Malvern was in, with one of the stops being Havant.
I asked the dispatcher if the Pompey train was cancelled, he checked & said no.

Fair enough as the Malvern train was 08.59 so not strictly off peak. I got on the Pompey train, to be told to get off at 09.04, as it was cancelled.
The dispatcher saw me & apologised, asking me if I'd like a bottle of water. Get the Southampton train at 09.32, he said & change at Havant. The 09.32 left Brighton at 09.51 & ran fast from Hove to Worthing.

At Ford a lady got on saying the platform info said that train was going to Bognor. The OBS made a call & then announced 'A passenger has told me this train is only going to Bognor'.

We all trooped off at Barnham & I ended up on a SW train finally arriving over an hour late.

Both trains, the passengers knew what was happening before the staff.

Harry Wilson's tackle · Jul 5, 2018

Thunder Bolt said:
I had great fun on the West Coast line today. Off peak ticket so waiting at Brighton station at 9am. I looked at my Live train app which said the 09.05 was cancelled. The Western train to Malvern was in, with one of the stops being Havant.
I asked the dispatcher if the Pompey train was cancelled, he checked & said no.

Fair enough as the Malvern train was 08.59 so not strictly off peak. I got on the Pompey train, to be told to get off at 09.04, as it was cancelled.
The dispatcher saw me & apologised, asking me if I'd like a bottle of water. Get the Southampton train at 09.32, he said & change at Havant. The 09.32 left Brighton at 09.51 & ran fast from Hove to Worthing.

At Ford a lady got on saying the platform info said that train was going to Bognor. The OBS made a call & then announced 'A passenger has told me this train is only going to Bognor'.

We all trooped off at Barnham & I ended up on a SW train finally arriving over an hour late.

Both trains, the passengers knew what was happening before the staff.

Well, Jezza says he'll nationalize it all. Absurd as it sounds, it is at least a plan. The present incumbents seem quite content to let is all rot, with people losing their job, and the rest of us half considering driving, according to market forces (just like Maggie wanted....). Grim.

Harry Wilson's tackle · Jul 5, 2018

Garry Nelson's teacher said:
I did the West Worthing to London Bridge daily commute about 10 years ago. I lasted a year and looking back there were hardly any delays but I'd still had enough of it. So how you poor buggers manage it in these circumstances simply amazes me. Respect!

As long as we get a seat.....we have iPods now. And deodorant. And non smoking.

Still.....

PILTDOWN MAN · Jul 5, 2018

Just a thought get a job closer to home

Weststander · Jul 5, 2018

The Large One said:
Already covered in point B.

But thanks anyway.

Heathrow, backed by most business, almost all MP’s, other regions and Scotland, won the day anyway.

So the awful Brighton Mainline won’t be getting a further 45,000 daily passengers.

spongy · Jul 5, 2018

beorhthelm said:
see your Apple iPhone? very well constructed and made in China. along with an awful lot of good quality kit. they make tat too of course, but then so do the UK, European, US factories. the difference is in QA process applied and thats down to the company selling a product, not where it comes from. a blanket "chinese stuff is cheap rubbish" is prejudiced nonsense.

i dont rule out the parts, but there's the installation and maintenance to consider. or something of the wrong specification. or that it just broke and there's no one to blame but entropy.

From my own personal view then Chinese is sub standard.

I'm a sheet metal worker. My company lost a large contract to China. Nearly sent us under. 4 months later the clients gave it back to us. At an increased cost to what they were originally paying. China couldn't match the quality. Despite it being to "spec" it just wasn't.

I can also say the same about some sheet metal suppliers. It's cheaper granted. But it is crap for folding. They can't maintain a uniform thickness over a sheet yet alone a batch. And it makes my life bloody difficult. European sourced sheet steel is generally <10% under quoted. So we adjust our developments to suit. China can be anything up to 12% under.

That 2% makes a lot of difference when trying to maintain 0.1mm tolerance during folding.

In saying this there was a lot of kerfuffle when the steel plant shut down in Wales. Not strictly Chinese but Tata made crap sheet. That's why the place folded.

pasty · Jul 5, 2018

Hmm, now do I bother getting up at 5 as usual tomorrow to check trains or not. National Rail website now stating "We anticipate disruption will continue until 10:00 tomorrow morning (Friday 6 July)"

dazzer6666 · Jul 5, 2018

pasty said:
Hmm, now do I bother getting up at 5 as usual tomorrow to check trains or not. National Rail website now stating "We anticipate disruption will continue until 10:00 tomorrow morning (Friday 6 July)"

Nope, that’s a nailed on, Grade A work from home instruction.

Thunder Bolt · Jul 5, 2018

spongy said:
From my own personal view then Chinese is sub standard.

I'm a sheet metal worker. My company lost a large contract to China. Nearly sent us under. 4 months later the clients gave it back to us. At an increased cost to what they were originally paying. China couldn't match the quality. Despite it being to "spec" it just wasn't.

I can also say the same about some sheet metal suppliers. It's cheaper granted. But it is crap for folding. They can't maintain a uniform thickness over a sheet yet alone a batch. And it makes my life bloody difficult. European sourced sheet steel is generally <10% under quoted. So we adjust our developments to suit. China can be anything up to 12% under.

That 2% makes a lot of difference when trying to maintain 0.1mm tolerance during folding.

In saying this there was a lot of kerfuffle when the steel plant shut down in Wales. Not strictly Chinese but Tata made crap sheet. That's why the place folded.

My other half says exactly the same thing. He's an electronic design engineer, and the firm he works for won't order from China if they can help it, as its money wasted.

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