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[Technology] Victorian train companies



Gwylan

Well-known member
Jul 5, 2003
31,320
Uffern
We hear a lot about our railway infrastructure and how it's basically Victorian but I hadn't realised that the train companies are basically Victorian ... until yesterday.

For reasons too complicated to get into, my daughter was stranded in Nottinghamshire with no bank card and no money. If she'd wanted to get a flight back from Europe, I could have bought a ticket and sent it to her phone - no problem but that's not possible with Ye Olde Railway Companye, nor could I buy one over the phone for her to pick up.

I had to go to Brighton station, queue at the ticket office, buy a ticket and then get the booking clerk to send a fax to the station. But to do that, he has to ring the station and ask for a fax number (a directory or a website with every station's fax number and internal phone is clearly beyond the imagination of the rail companies). There was no answer so he had to ring LNER's customer services, get an internal number off them, call it, get the fax number and then ring through to confirm it had been received). This whole process took exactly an hour.

If my daughter had been stranded in London, it could literally have been quicker (and a lot cheaper) for me to hop on a train and buy a ticket myself. I'm only amazed that they didn't use carrier pigeons.

After commuting for so long, I'm not shocked by the incompetence of the rail companies but this sort of administration is a sign that there's very, very wrong in the way they're run.
 

Baker lite

Banned
Mar 16, 2017
6,309
in my house
We hear a lot about our railway infrastructure and how it's basically Victorian but I hadn't realised that the train companies are basically Victorian ... until yesterday.

For reasons too complicated to get into, my daughter was stranded in Nottinghamshire with no bank card and no money. If she'd wanted to get a flight back from Europe, I could have bought a ticket and sent it to her phone - no problem but that's not possible with Ye Olde Railway Companye, nor could I buy one over the phone for her to pick up.

I had to go to Brighton station, queue at the ticket office, buy a ticket and then get the booking clerk to send a fax to the station. But to do that, he has to ring the station and ask for a fax number (a directory or a website with every station's fax number and internal phone is clearly beyond the imagination of the rail companies). There was no answer so he had to ring LNER's customer services, get an internal number off them, call it, get the fax number and then ring through to confirm it had been received). This whole process took exactly an hour.

If my daughter had been stranded in London, it could literally have been quicker (and a lot cheaper) for me to hop on a train and buy a ticket myself. I'm only amazed that they didn't use carrier pigeons.

After commuting for so long, I'm not shocked by the incompetence of the rail companies but this sort of administration is a sign that there's very, very wrong in the way they're run.

It will be ok once the guards have gone,fares will be a lot cheaper to..


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 

Nathan

Well-known member
Jan 8, 2010
3,749
Buy ticket via trainline.com and text her the code to print the ticket out. She could go to one of the ticket machines and collect her ticket. Would have taken 2 minutes.

EDIT
Although she might have needed bank card that it was paid on.
 

Notters

Well-known member
Oct 20, 2003
24,865
Guiseley
Buy ticket via trainline.com and text her the code to print the ticket out. She could go to one of the ticket machines and collect her ticket. Would have taken 2 minutes.

EDIT
Although she might have needed bank card that it was paid on.
You NEVER need the bank card that it was paid on, even though it says you do. You do need a bank card though.

My company often buys my train tickets (as I assume most do) but they certainly haven't given me a credit card.

But yes, you should be able to do this then go to a ticket office and get them to print the tickets.
 

Guinness Boy

Tofu eating wokerati
Helpful Moderator
NSC Licker Extraordinaire
Jul 23, 2003
33,696
Up and Coming Sunny Portslade
You NEVER need the bank card that it was paid on, even though it says you do. You do need a bank card though.

My company often buys my train tickets (as I assume most do) but they certainly haven't given me a credit card.

But yes, you should be able to do this then go to a ticket office and get them to print the tickets.

This. I buy advance tickets using our company's corporate trainline.com account but have to enter my personal debit card when I pick them up. It's never made sense other than as an ID check. But you do need A card.
 


Springal

Well-known member
Feb 12, 2005
23,683
GOSBTS
You NEVER need the bank card that it was paid on, even though it says you do. You do need a bank card though.

My company often buys my train tickets (as I assume most do) but they certainly haven't given me a credit card.

But yes, you should be able to do this then go to a ticket office and get them to print the tickets.

FFS never knew that. And that has cost me money in the past !!
 

Hampster Gull

New member
Dec 22, 2010
13,462
This. I buy advance tickets using our company's corporate trainline.com account but have to enter my personal debit card when I pick them up. It's never made sense other than as an ID check. But you do need A card.

Used to do this but now we print the tickets at work
 


Ernest

Stupid IDIOT
Nov 8, 2003
42,739
LOONEY BIN
We hear a lot about our railway infrastructure and how it's basically Victorian but I hadn't realised that the train companies are basically Victorian ... until yesterday.

For reasons too complicated to get into, my daughter was stranded in Nottinghamshire with no bank card and no money. If she'd wanted to get a flight back from Europe, I could have bought a ticket and sent it to her phone - no problem but that's not possible with Ye Olde Railway Companye, nor could I buy one over the phone for her to pick up.

I had to go to Brighton station, queue at the ticket office, buy a ticket and then get the booking clerk to send a fax to the station. But to do that, he has to ring the station and ask for a fax number (a directory or a website with every station's fax number and internal phone is clearly beyond the imagination of the rail companies). There was no answer so he had to ring LNER's customer services, get an internal number off them, call it, get the fax number and then ring through to confirm it had been received). This whole process took exactly an hour.

If my daughter had been stranded in London, it could literally have been quicker (and a lot cheaper) for me to hop on a train and buy a ticket myself. I'm only amazed that they didn't use carrier pigeons.

After commuting for so long, I'm not shocked by the incompetence of the rail companies but this sort of administration is a sign that there's very, very wrong in the way they're run.

How else would you have done it then ???

It's a system that has worked well for years and still does work well for stranded and penniless people and apart from the time it seemed to have worked well again for you .
 

Icy Gull

Back on the rollercoaster
Jul 5, 2003
72,015
How else would you have done it then ???

It's a system that has worked well for years and still does work well for stranded and penniless people and apart from the time it seemed to have worked well again for you .

Defending the indefensible. Maybe they could come in to the 21st century, that would be a start.

Maybe, just maybe take a leaf out of the way airlines operate?

Gwylan’s tale sounds like he was met with a massive amount of incompetence and lack of customer service in trying to resolve his daughter’s problem. He should have been able to sort this without actually standing up.
 

LlcoolJ

Mama said knock you out.
Oct 14, 2009
12,982
Sheffield
How else would you have done it then ???

It's a system that has worked well for years and still does work well for stranded and penniless people and apart from the time it seemed to have worked well again for you .
But having to use a FAX?! [emoji23]
 


Tom Hark Preston Park

Will Post For Cash
Jul 6, 2003
69,789
The basic infrastructure is Victorian. All those tunnels and viaducts won't last forever. Just needs one to fail and the whole line fails. Which WILL happen at some point. Nothing's surer, sadly.
 

The Large One

Who's Next?
Jul 7, 2003
52,343
97.2FM
How else would you have done it then ???

It's a system that has worked well for years and still does work well for stranded and penniless people and apart from the time it seemed to have worked well again for you .

'Apart from the time' is the key point. It's a bit like saying 'we won the match last night - apart from the other team scoring more goals...'.

It took an hour to get a remote ticket to someone because the system (which you say has worked well for years) doesn't actually exist. They had to cobble that 'system' together on the hoof. There are no circumstances under which anyone could say 'that worked well'. It worked - but far from 'well'.
 


Notters

Well-known member
Oct 20, 2003
24,865
Guiseley
'Apart from the time' is the key point. It's a bit like saying 'we won the match last night - apart from the other team scoring more goals...'.

It took an hour to get a remote ticket to someone because the system (which you say has worked well for years) doesn't actually exist. They had to cobble that 'system' together on the hoof. There are no circumstances under which anyone could say 'that worked well'. It worked - but far from 'well'.

It is being rolled out now to be fair. They certainly have them here, with the ticket gates at stations being much like those at the Amex, with a scanner. http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/ticket_types/100261.aspx
 

Gwylan

Well-known member
Jul 5, 2003
31,320
Uffern
Buy ticket via trainline.com and text her the code to print the ticket out. She could go to one of the ticket machines and collect her ticket. Would have taken 2 minutes.

EDIT
Although she might have needed bank card that it was paid on.

You NEVER need the bank card that it was paid on, even though it says you do. You do need a bank card though.

But yes, you should be able to do this then go to a ticket office and get them to print the tickets.

The person I spoke to over the phone said it had to be card they were bought with. As she didn't have a card, it was irrelevant but I'll certainly try that in the future if she gets stuck again

I'm not sure that getting rid of the guards would help the process. I tied up that booking clerk for an hour, that's money that costing the company. If I could buy a ticket and send it to a mobile that would have saved them his hourly rate.

It was noticeable that the clerk next to him dealt with more than a dozen people while I was waiting and all but a couple wanted tickets for that day - something that could have been dealt with by machines. The rail companies could save a lot more money by automating the sales processes: there's a huge waste of resources there.
 

Gwylan

Well-known member
Jul 5, 2003
31,320
Uffern
How else would you have done it then ???

It's a system that has worked well for years and still does work well for stranded and penniless people and apart from the time it seemed to have worked well again for you .

Tickets by mobile, tickets that you can print yourself, tickets accessible through passwords ... that's for starters.

But my real gripe is that if you have a system where there's station to station transfers why does it require two phone calls to get a fax number. Why can't there be a system where every station's phone,fax and email address is made available to railway staff? It basically took an hour to send a fax, that's bonkers.
 

Brok

😐
Dec 26, 2011
4,234
The basic infrastructure is Victorian. All those tunnels and viaducts won't last forever. Just needs one to fail and the whole line fails. Which WILL happen at some point. Nothing's surer, sadly.

Oh, please don't say that.
Try doing a two mile tunnel in a boat when you can't see the other end. Getting soaking wet by water leaking on you, thinking the bloody thing is going to collapse if you bash the side, hoping another boat isn't coming the other way, etc.
I hate tunnels.
 
Last edited:


GT49er

Well-known member
Feb 1, 2009
46,382
Gloucester
We hear a lot about our railway infrastructure and how it's basically Victorian but I hadn't realised that the train companies are basically Victorian ... until yesterday.

For reasons too complicated to get into, my daughter was stranded in Nottinghamshire with no bank card and no money. If she'd wanted to get a flight back from Europe, I could have bought a ticket and sent it to her phone - no problem but that's not possible with Ye Olde Railway Companye, nor could I buy one over the phone for her to pick up.

I had to go to Brighton station, queue at the ticket office, buy a ticket and then get the booking clerk to send a fax to the station. But to do that, he has to ring the station and ask for a fax number (a directory or a website with every station's fax number and internal phone is clearly beyond the imagination of the rail companies). There was no answer so he had to ring LNER's customer services, get an internal number off them, call it, get the fax number and then ring through to confirm it had been received). This whole process took exactly an hour.

If my daughter had been stranded in London, it could literally have been quicker (and a lot cheaper) for me to hop on a train and buy a ticket myself. I'm only amazed that they didn't use carrier pigeons.

After commuting for so long, I'm not shocked by the incompetence of the rail companies but this sort of administration is a sign that there's very, very wrong in the way they're run.

......and not a word of praise for the booking clerk who spent a long time trying to sort out the problem for you, and eventually succeeding through his/her persistence. Victorian levels of customer service thankfully still with us it seems.
 

Badger

NOT the Honey Badger
NSC Licker Extraordinaire
May 8, 2007
12,734
Toronto
......and not a word of praise for the booking clerk who spent a long time trying to sort out the problem for you, and eventually succeeding through his/her persistence. Victorian levels of customer service thankfully still with us it seems.

I'm not sure he reads NSC, so I assume [MENTION=25]Gwylan[/MENTION] would have been better off thanking him in person.
 

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