Main line train trouble apparently

[Guinness Boy]

There was a Southern "Meet the Managers" thing at East Croydon this morning. Bet that went well.

 

[Arthur]

And Arthur, Id get that reported if I was you, its either Southern fiddling around or a GPS fault, probably the latter.

Couple of questions....firstly reported to whom? As I said I had a dig on twitter last night. National Rail to their credit did reply, Southern didn't.

Secondly what classes as an arrival? As I mentioned we were still a long way from the station when I took the screen grab yet it was reporting we had arrived. In my eyes until the train comes to a stop and I can get off it hasn't arrived. The departure time for leaving Eridge yesterday was spot on. The arrival time as reported by National Rail wasn't it was 19:38. I've no reason to lie about this, I'm really not that desperate for £2.80 worth of National Rail vouchers!!

Thirdly are the "we are now approaching <insert station name here>" announcements controlled by GPS? They are always ****ed on my line.

 

[HawkTheSeagull]

Couple of questions....firstly reported to whom? As I said I had a dig on twitter last night. National Rail to their credit did reply, Southern didn't.

Secondly what classes as an arrival? As I mentioned we were still a long way from the station when I took the screen grab yet it was reporting we had arrived. In my eyes until the train comes to a stop and I can get off it hasn't arrived. The departure time for leaving Eridge yesterday was spot on. The arrival time as reported by National Rail wasn't it was 19:38. I've no reason to lie about this, I'm really not that desperate for £2.80 worth of National Rail vouchers!!

Thirdly are the "we are now approaching <insert station name here>" announcements controlled by GPS? They are always ****ed on my line.

Southern to be fair to them were swamped last night, probably best trying again with them. Pretty sure the arrival is classed as when the train enters the signalling section for the station, though im not sure about that - probably wrong. And yes they are, some areas the GPS is pretty shit, all depends on the area. Same as a phone signal, works better in some areas than others.

There was an issue at Victoria a few years ago with the 377 trains as they used to take upto 2 minutes to get the doors open as they run off the GPS too.

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

Tell you what with those ****ing gatwick express carriages - the red n white ones - they cant get the ****ing doors open useless uncomfortable always breaking down pieces of shit.

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

Also I remember east coast on the way back from Leeds this season de classified first class as the aircon had broken in cattle class.

No way would southern do that the ****ers.

 

[Carrot Cruncher]

Whilst we're Southern bashing, are they the only TOC where there is ZERO difference between standard and first accommodation? The seats are EXACTLY the same, bar some branded head napkin thingy. How they have the audacity to charge extra for that, I don't know!

 

[Papa Lazarou]

Whilst we're Southern bashing, are they the only TOC where there is ZERO difference between standard and first accommodation? The seats are EXACTLY the same, bar some branded head napkin thingy. How they have the audacity to charge extra for that, I don't know!

Are you not aware that the 1st class seats are heated?

 

[Tubby Mondays]

Southern to be fair to them were swamped last night, probably best trying again with them. Pretty sure the arrival is classed as when the train enters the signalling section for the station, though im not sure about that - probably wrong. And yes they are, some areas the GPS is pretty shit, all depends on the area. Same as a phone signal, works better in some areas than others.

There was an issue at Victoria a few years ago with the 377 trains as they used to take upto 2 minutes to get the doors open as they run off the GPS too.

Although the announcements may be controlled by GPS they can be altered/overridden by train staff though cant they?

For example; on the Uckfield line when the train pulls into Oxted and the announcement says we are now pulling into Eridge, I have heard that then changed straight away for something more useful (usually 'We are now approaching London Bridge where the train will terminate'). So that must be done by human intervention, someone realising that it isnt Eridge (but unfortunately not realising that it isnt London Bridge either)?

 

[Carrot Cruncher]

Are you not aware that the 1st class seats are heated?

Apparently not! I take it all back, who wouldn't want a heated seat, especially for the 9-10 months a year when it's not cold...

Oh yeah, there's also a couple of plug sockets too.

 

[Ernest]

A lot of people here write a lot of nothing and make out that Southern are the only company that suffers delay (not that I'm sticking up for them) or the GB railway are the only ones that suffer delays. Having travelled throughout Europe exactly the same things happen there, when there was the flooding in Germany back in the Summer there was carnage for weeks and some lines are still not back to normal.

Of course any industry that deems experienced managers and staff not needed and fills their shoes with people from outside the industry does tend to find itself with difficulties when problems arise.

The debate should be whether you have a publically funded railway with the fare proceeds being invested back into infrastructure and rolling stock etc or whether you want the present system with the profits despite tax payers subsidies being syphoned away into shareholders dividends ?

 

[ROSM]

A lot of people here write a lot of nothing and make out that Southern are the only company that suffers delay (not that I'm sticking up for them) or the GB railway are the only ones that suffer delays. Having travelled throughout Europe exactly the same things happen there, when there was the flooding in Germany back in the Summer there was carnage for weeks and some lines are still not back to normal.

Of course any industry that deems experienced managers and staff not needed and fills their shoes with people from outside the industry does tend to find itself with difficulties when problems arise.

The debate should be whether you have a publically funded railway with the fare proceeds being invested back into infrastructure and rolling stock etc or whether you want the present system with the profits despite tax payers subsidies being syphoned away into shareholders dividends ?

I agree entirely and this is at the heart of the points I have been making. I do believe that railway people know best how to run railways. Not accountants or bankers.

 

[Iggle Piggle]

Of course any industry that deems experienced managers and staff not needed and fills their shoes with people from outside the industry does tend to find itself with difficulties when problems arise.

Lets face it, if Southern have been cutting back thier worst staff in redundancy programmes, we are unlikely to have seen the back of Casey Jones, George Stephenson and Richard Branson. More likely, a load of witless morons are knocking one out over thier Hornby railways instead of shrugging thier shoulders about the latest delays.

As someone who used to commute on Virgin to London from Coventry 3/4 times a week, It wasn't perfect but my god it's better than Southern ten fold. I really really don't know how some of you have put up with the ''service'' for 20 years. It's shocking.

 

[Tricky Dicky]

A lot of people here write a lot of nothing and make out that Southern are the only company that suffers delay (not that I'm sticking up for them) or the GB railway are the only ones that suffer delays. Having travelled throughout Europe exactly the same things happen there, when there was the flooding in Germany back in the Summer there was carnage for weeks and some lines are still not back to normal.

Of course any industry that deems experienced managers and staff not needed and fills their shoes with people from outside the industry does tend to find itself with difficulties when problems arise.

The debate should be whether you have a publically funded railway with the fare proceeds being invested back into infrastructure and rolling stock etc or whether you want the present system with the profits despite tax payers subsidies being syphoned away into shareholders dividends ?

Give me private any day, as long at there is proper competition (which we don't currently have), and not allow the companies to syphon off profits for shareholders as a priority over providing a good service. Won't happen though.

 

[Ernest]

Lets face it, if Southern have been cutting back thier worst staff in redundancy programmes, we are unlikely to have seen the back of Casey Jones, George Stephenson and Richard Branson. More likely, a load of witless morons are knocking one out over thier Hornby railways instead of shrugging thier shoulders about the latest delays.

As someone who used to commute on Virgin to London from Coventry 3/4 times a week, It wasn't perfect but my god it's better than Southern ten fold. I really really don't know how some of you have put up with the ''service'' for 20 years. It's shocking.

Ask Stagecoach who thought it would be a wheeze to make a load of drivers redundant then realise they had nobody to drive the trains, not sure what would happen if Richard Branson got made redundant as he hasn't anything to do with running a railway

 

[The Large One]

Give me private any day, as long at there is proper competition (which we don't currently have), and not allow the companies to syphon off profits for shareholders as a priority over providing a good service. Won't happen though.

So you're suggesting a not-for-profit rail franchise based on chaos?

You'd want two companies to provide a service from Brighton to Victoria, for example? To what end?

 

[Simster]

So you're suggesting a not-for-profit rail franchise based on chaos?

You'd want two companies to provide a service from Brighton to Victoria, for example? To what end?

How is that NOT feasible? It works in the airline industry, where airlines compete for runway slots. The same principle could work here.

Although, I have to agree with you that the advantages of a well run, single nationalised railway FAR outweigh the benefits of that sort of competition. Integrated pricing structures, and sensible line management to account for delays and changes being the two main advantages off the top of my head.

 

[e77]

Problem is we have a half way house system now which is somewhere between having a monopoly and proper competition.

If the lines into London weren't subsidised so heavily, companies would have to start moving jobs out of the capital.

 

[Nigel's Mate]

There was a Southern "Meet the Managers" thing at East Croydon this morning. Bet that went well.

Haha should have attended this seeing as train was delayed!

It's a joke- and it's getting worse and worse with the excuses. The one that gets my back up is lack of "rolling stock" or the crew fancied a long weekend at Butlins and won't be coming into work today. I used to get Southern to London Bridge from East Croydon but now I get FCC to Farringdon much more reliable.

Still at least they can charge there above inflation rises to help improve the service....

As for the people who jump- just OD at home please. It's not fair on the driver, the people who see it, the people who clear it up and the 10's of thousands of people who are affected because of you.

 

[Nigel's Mate]

A lot of people here write a lot of nothing and make out that Southern are the only company that suffers delay (not that I'm sticking up for them) or the GB railway are the only ones that suffer delays. Having travelled throughout Europe exactly the same things happen there, when there was the flooding in Germany back in the Summer there was carnage for weeks and some lines are still not back to normal.

Of course any industry that deems experienced managers and staff not needed and fills their shoes with people from outside the industry does tend to find itself with difficulties when problems arise.

The debate should be whether you have a publically funded railway with the fare proceeds being invested back into infrastructure and rolling stock etc or whether you want the present system with the profits despite tax payers subsidies being syphoned away into shareholders dividends ?

In Japan there is national enquiry if a train is delayed by seconds- let alone minutes if not hours.

In fact if it is late in Japan you get a slip to give to work explaining the reason for tardiness. Can you imagine that here?? The Amazon would be gone in about a week!

 

[Deadly Danson]

http://www.borrowed-heaven.net/private/2013/09/09/4405/

For those who still fail to understand why the knock on effects from something like yesterday's incident go on for so long, the above is an excellent article written after yesterday's events.