Southern Rail STRIKE details

[Jimmy Come Lately]

The guard on the train I got tonight disputed the official reason for the near-total cancellation of the rush hour Brighton services. He said that there wasn't a shortage of drivers as such, but a shortage of drivers who've been trained to operate the new rolling stock.

If there's any truth to that -- if even one of the cancellations had that as its cause -- then that's shocking incompetence from SASTA.

Anyway, I was just glad to get home. And I only had to stand as far as Haywards Heath.received training on the new trains

 

[Easy 10]

I genuinely pity you poor sods who have to rely on this monumental cluster**** of a rail company every working day. Getting up in the morning wondering if you'll get to work on time, and then leaving in the evening wondering if you'll actually get back for any time to spend with your family. And insultingly paying through the nose for this so-called "service".

Its gone so far beyond a disgrace now. This needs emergency government intervention to sort this mess out. SASTA are clearly not fit for purpose and should be stripped of the franchise immediately.

 

[8ace]

Had a few offers for jobs up in London recently - they were for a bit more dough but nowhere near enough for me to have to endure this shower on a daily basis.
The target driven/scrape ever last scrap of profit off the bone is just wrong for a service like the railway. Re-nationalise innit.

 

[pasty]

I genuinely pity you poor sods who have to rely on this monumental cluster**** of a rail company every working day. Getting up in the morning wondering if you'll get to work on time, and then leaving in the evening wondering if you'll actually get back for any time to spend with your family.

The most annoying aspect of the whole debacle for me is that there is usually little pain in getting to London, just the getting back bit. Deliberate ploy to piss me off just that little bit more? I'm rarely late into the office, but rarely home on time.

 

[GypsyKing]

What a joke...

 

[Paul Reids Sock]

Really feel for you guys as that is a joke. Makes me feel bad when I complain about the m4

 

[Simster]

710 Thameslink from Redhill to Bedford - four coaches instead of 12
Next train to London is the 716 Southern to London Bridge. CANCELLED.

Truly feeble.

 

[Springal]

Cancellations all over the place already. On a train for now.

 

[MARKO]

I assume that when there are points or signalling problems Southern claim from Network Rail .
With all these "staffing problems" does the delay repay come out of Southern's pocket ?
The reason why I ask is I hear they are getting snotty about some claims , train wasn't cancelled !! and only 29mins late etc etc
The trick that drives me up the wall is half way through the journey , the train becomes a fast , all the punters for stations in between thrown off to wait for the next stopper service.

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

Saturday and Thursday when England are playing will have pretty much zero trains running I predict.

 

[The Albion Roar]

I assume that when there are points or signalling problems Southern claim from Network Rail .
With all these "staffing problems" does the delay repay come out of Southern's pocket ?
The reason why I ask is I hear they are getting snotty about some claims , train wasn't cancelled !! and only 29mins late etc etc
The trick that drives me up the wall is half way through the journey , the train becomes a fast , all the punters for stations in between thrown off to wait for the next stopper service.

One of their many ongoing stunts - and I don't know how many others apart from SASTA do this - is to put on their live feed that X train has arrived at the station about three minutes before doing so.

Just as an exercise in combating ennui one day, I looked at the live feed, and the it stated that the train has arrived at Lancing, just as it was passing the Albion's training ground.

That's not massaging the figures, that's giving them a full-blown rub down with scented oil and a tea-bagging session thrown in.

 

[Mental Lental]

Had a few offers for jobs up in London recently - they were for a bit more dough but nowhere near enough for me to have to endure this shower on a daily basis.
The target driven/scrape ever last scrap of profit off the bone is just wrong for a service like the railway. Re-nationalise innit.

It's not privatisation that's the problem. Privatised railways work fine in many countries. The problem with the UK is that they thought they could do it on the cheap. Before nationalisation just after WW2, the train companies were in full control of their own infrastructure and operations. Which is also how most of the successful privatised railways of the world run too. In the UK, the problem is one of "Vertical Separation". Namely the separation of trains from track, but also of the rolling stock as well. So now you have the tracks owned by one company, the locomotives and carriages owned by another and then the crowning turd in the water pipe..... the "train operating companies" who in fact neither actually own the trains or the tracks they are providing their "service" on.

This separation of infrastructure, rolling stock and operations allows for destructive passing-of-the-buck between almost everyone now involved in Britain's railways.

Basically it's the slapdash way that the Tories sold it all off that caused it.

 

[Springal]

So despite shite service, Victoria is flooded with revenue protection officers today snaring loads

 

[The Albion Roar]

So despite shite service, Victoria is flooded with revenue protection officers today snaring loads

Ah, the low-grade, wannabe Two Rons.

Actually, that is pretty insulting. Unless, of course, passengers are taking the time to hammer the RPOs for 'delay repay' - that would be rather nice, wouldn't it?

 

[Surf's Up]

It's not privatisation that's the problem. Privatised railways work fine in many countries. The problem with the UK is that they thought they could do it on the cheap. Before nationalisation just after WW2, the train companies were in full control of their own infrastructure and operations. Which is also how most of the successful privatised railways of the world run too. In the UK, the problem is one of "Vertical Separation". Namely the separation of trains from track, but also of the rolling stock as well. So now you have the tracks owned by one company, the locomotives and carriages owned by another and then the crowning turd in the water pipe..... the "train operating companies" who in fact neither actually own the trains or the tracks they are providing their "service" on.

This separation of infrastructure, rolling stock and operations allows for destructive passing-of-the-buck between almost everyone now involved in Britain's railways.

Basically it's the slapdash way that the Tories sold it all off that caused it.

Ive been trying to understand the underlying causes of these problems for some time and this is the clearest explanation yet. That said, and as I understand it, some train operating companies around the country still manage to provide a service that their customers are reasonably happy with, despite vertical separation. So the final piece of the jigsaw must be that Southern, on top of everything else, are managerially inept.

 

[Surf's Up]

As a postscript to my previous comment above, I can also see why re- nationalising the railways would be an attractive alternative as it would re-integrate the disparate elements and remove vertical separation. But this assumes the re-nationalised railways would be well managed and would receive the necessary level of political and financial support from the government - I can see these requirements being a problem.

 

[Pinkie Brown]

It's not privatisation that's the problem. Privatised railways work fine in many countries. The problem with the UK is that they thought they could do it on the cheap. Before nationalisation just after WW2, the train companies were in full control of their own infrastructure and operations. Which is also how most of the successful privatised railways of the world run too. In the UK, the problem is one of "Vertical Separation". Namely the separation of trains from track, but also of the rolling stock as well. So now you have the tracks owned by one company, the locomotives and carriages owned by another and then the crowning turd in the water pipe..... the "train operating companies" who in fact neither actually own the trains or the tracks they are providing their "service" on.

This separation of infrastructure, rolling stock and operations allows for destructive passing-of-the-buck between almost everyone now involved in Britain's railways.

Basically it's the slapdash way that the Tories sold it all off that caused it.

Unlike this pile of crap now running (sic) rail services, the original Southern Railway of pre 1948 was known for being a model of efficincy even during difficult times.

The railway privatisation by the Major government was a typical ill thought out ideological mess. Add in all the different franchise contractors providing side services and its a logistical nightmare. So much for the tory fallacy that privatisation reduces inefficiency and bureaucracy. The railway infrastructure is a bigger mess than it ever was under BR.

 

[Arthur]

One of their many ongoing stunts - and I don't know how many others apart from SASTA do this - is to put on their live feed that X train has arrived at the station about three minutes before doing so.

Just as an exercise in combating ennui one day, I looked at the live feed, and the it stated that the train has arrived at Lancing, just as it was passing the Albion's training ground.

That's not massaging the figures, that's giving them a full-blown rub down with scented oil and a tea-bagging session thrown in.

That is also an almost daily occurrence on the Uckfield line. I've seen it on numerous occasions we've departed Cowden and in reality we've not even left Edenbridge Town.



Two minutes to get from Eridge to Crowborough is just laughable!

 

[beorhthelm]

One of their many ongoing stunts - and I don't know how many others apart from SASTA do this - is to put on their live feed that X train has arrived at the station about three minutes before doing so.

Just as an exercise in combating ennui one day, I looked at the live feed, and the it stated that the train has arrived at Lancing, just as it was passing the Albion's training ground.

That's not massaging the figures, that's giving them a full-blown rub down with scented oil and a tea-bagging session thrown in.

stand to be corrected, but im pretty sure that the online services are all provided by a central third party, controlling the timetable database and feed sources. your story suggests that the "live" feed is simply playback of the expected timetable, and not an attempt to pretend a service is doing better than it really did.

 

[AK74]

Ken Loach's The Navigators (released in 2001) is a damning indictment of rail privatisation. It was inspired by the failure of the Connex franchises. He should do a remake about SASTA.

Trailer: