[Football] Train chaos

Vicar! said:

They cut the services during Covid and not bought full services back. So (from Worthing) two trains an hour of three carriages. You can go to Hove on the London, but connecting service no longer runs.

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jackalbion said:

Genuine question here though, where do Southern get the carriages from? And how do they fit them on a platform that only has room for 8?

I don't think Southern can get anymore trains on tbh, Network Rail need to upgrade the infrastructure.

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Easy 10 said:

I arrived at Brighton station this evening at around 17.45, and joined a not very large queue ("excellent", I thought). I was adjacent to those toilets at the coffee shop, so quite near those doors before you get onto the platform. And then we waited, and waited...

It took until 18.20 till I was on a train. And then, the train didn't leave the station till 18.40. So I spent nearly an hour from entering the station, to departing it. Christ knows what the queues were like behind me. I'm sure there's a very good reason for this clusterf*ck of a "service", but whats the point.

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Wozza said:

I arrived at Brighton at 18.05, just missed getting on the train you're referring to (was due to leave at 18.38), and got on next one - on platform 5 - which left at 18.30.

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beorhthelm said:

seems with the reduced service post covid, club need to front up some cost for either train specials or buses.

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Beach Hut said:

The club that lost a fortune last season…….

And may lose another fortune in the shortly to be released accounts (caveat, selling a player for £50m might have helped plug the gap)

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Beach Hut said:

The club that lost a fortune last season…….

And may lose another fortune in the shortly to be released accounts (caveat, selling a player for £50m might have helped plug the gap)

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dazzer6666 said:

I commuted to London for 25 years....doubt there's an excuse I haven't heard [emoji23]

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Beach Hut said:

There have never been extra trains mid-week since the Amex opened

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East London Exile said:

I arrived at Lewes at 18:25 on the Victoria service and was lucky enough to make it over to the Falmer platform before they closed it off and started the queue. Whist waiting for the delayed totally inadequate 3 car train to Falmer I overheard the platform supervisors talking. They tried to get the Eastbourne to Victoria service diverted via Brighton to help clear the queue. That didn’t happen as the driver was not familiar with the line via Falmer - something they couldn’t really believe!

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Uter said:

Pre-pandemic there were 6 trains per hour between Brighton and Lewes all day Monday to Saturday and the infrastructure could cope fine with that. They have cut 50% of services, so we are down to 3 trains an hour, which is effectively a Sunday service even though passenger numbers are up to approx 70% of immediate pre-Covid levels.

It's a similarly dismal story on the West Coastway.

I saw a 6 car train in the siding at Hove yesterday on my way to the ground, and lots of unused Gatwick Express stock in the sidings at Brighton (which are cleared to operate on the Coastway routes). They have the stock to lengthen all services on the East Coastway, but are not doing so. Presumably this to avoid incurring higher track access charges and/or they don't have the staff available to get them into position. The policy seems to be do the absolute minimum they can get away with in order to keep costs down, even if it means extreme overcrowding and long waits.

I got the 17:16 from Hove to Brighton last night. Much earlier than I wanted to go. But the next train was not until 17:47 and I knew this would be so packed I might not be able to board. As it was the 17:16 was rammed too (4 car), but I manage to squeeze on. On arrival at Brighton it took ages to clear the platform due to so many leaving the train mixed with perhaps 200 already waiting to board the train we arrived in. Southern really need to consider reinstating more services.

I could be wrong, but I think all service increases now have to be cleared by the treasury who are desperate to keep a lid on the huge costs of supporting the industry through the pandemic. So don't expect any services to be reinstated soon. We could be looking at a feeble Coastway timetable for some time even if passenger numbers recover more.

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East London Exile said:

I arrived at Lewes at 18:25 on the Victoria service and was lucky enough to make it over to the Falmer platform before they closed it off and started the queue. Whist waiting for the delayed totally inadequate 3 car train to Falmer I overheard the platform supervisors talking. They tried to get the Eastbourne to Victoria service diverted via Brighton to help clear the queue. That didn’t happen as the driver was not familiar with the line via Falmer - something they couldn’t really believe!

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Uter said:

Pre-pandemic there were 6 trains per hour between Brighton and Lewes all day Monday to Saturday and the infrastructure could cope fine with that. They have cut 50% of services, so we are down to 3 trains an hour, which is effectively a Sunday service even though passenger numbers are up to approx 70% of immediate pre-Covid levels.

It's a similarly dismal story on the West Coastway.

I saw a 6 car train in the siding at Hove yesterday on my way to the ground, and lots of unused Gatwick Express stock in the sidings at Brighton (which are cleared to operate on the Coastway routes). They have the stock to lengthen all services on the East Coastway, but are not doing so. Presumably this to avoid incurring higher track access charges and/or they don't have the staff available to get them into position. The policy seems to be do the absolute minimum they can get away with in order to keep costs down, even if it means extreme overcrowding and long waits.

I got the 17:16 from Hove to Brighton last night. Much earlier than I wanted to go. But the next train was not until 17:47 and I knew this would be so packed I might not be able to board. As it was the 17:16 was rammed too (4 car), but I manage to squeeze on. On arrival at Brighton it took ages to clear the platform due to so many leaving the train mixed with perhaps 200 already waiting to board the train we arrived in. Southern really need to consider reinstating more services.

I could be wrong, but I think all service increases now have to be cleared by the treasury who are desperate to keep a lid on the huge costs of supporting the industry through the pandemic. So don't expect any services to be reinstated soon. We could be looking at a feeble Coastway timetable for some time even if passenger numbers recover more.

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jackalbion said:

That 12 Car Class 455 that is in Hove Yard, I believe is for scrap and can't work on the coastway anyway. The Coastway services aren't very good in my mind (especially from Portslade where I live). I believe you are right about the treasury, presumably they don't always use the Gat Ex trains as only some drivers can use them .

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East London Exile said:

I arrived at Lewes at 18:25 on the Victoria service and was lucky enough to make it over to the Falmer platform before they closed it off and started the queue. Whist waiting for the delayed totally inadequate 3 car train to Falmer I overheard the platform supervisors talking. They tried to get the Eastbourne to Victoria service diverted via Brighton to help clear the queue. That didn’t happen as the driver was not familiar with the line via Falmer - something they couldn’t really believe!

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Uter said:

The train I saw in Hove sidings was two 3 car 313 units coupled together which clearly can work the Coastway lines. So when I heard that single 3 car units were working the East Coastway it was puzzling and frustrating given they seemingly had idle stock at Hove that could have been used to strengthen these services.

I read today that Southern are behind with driver training due to Covid, so that could be an explanation for the general problems we see today.

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amexer said:

Agree but trouble is questions never include asking for opinions on Transport, Sharing scheme,Ticket prices etc. Just want to know if we liked the pie and if stewards were nice etc

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