Brighton/London Trains Buggered This Morning

[Frutos]

Southern are certainly not to blame for the problems this morning, as has been said that is down to some brainache at Network Rail deciding to proceed with the engineering works over the weekend.

BUT

Southern are responsible for the misinformation and lack of information provided to their customers this morning. The left hand had no clue what the right hand was doing and there were conflicting and contradictory announcements all over the place. If I treated my customers as they treated theirs this morning, I'd be out of a job.

 

[The Large One]

thats utterly bonkers. i recall getting stuck due to no power near Berwick last year and they were out and had us moving within a hour. i think after two hours i'd be off the train and walking knowing where i am (buses only 10-15 minutes in either direction i reckon). couldnt they have sent somthing to shunt, or do they not have such capabilities any more (@Ernest)??

I've just written to Southern and ATOC. Perhaps someone can get the right email address for Network Rail, because I'll be buggered if I can find it, aside from using the online form, which is too short for my complaint.

I do understand the point of it being dark and there being treacherous conditions which add to the risk. So...

The fact is, from about 8.30 onwards, by the time the engineers had repaired the train (sorry, re-created the conditions by which the train had broken down in the first place - and lo and behold, it breaks down again thanks to ice on the live rail), we were informed of a number of options...

Get a train alongside us on the de-iced side, and go on that via a ramp (anyone seen 'Speed?'); or get a diesel carriage from Brighton or Lewes, to attach to the front or back of the train to push us / pull us to Brighton or Lewes (take your pick); or we could have climbed down and exited the line towards the Newmarket Inn. The women on board wanted firemen to rescue them.

They eventually went for a carriage to pull us back to Lewes (it had been waiting at Lewes for clearance to move since 7.30), and we felt them couple the train at around 10.15pm. We were then informed that we were waiting for clearance from London to move. This we eventually did at 11.15.

 

[Tricky Dicky]

Southern are responsible for the misinformation and lack of information provided to their customers this morning. The left hand had no clue what the right hand was doing and there were conflicting and contradictory announcements all over the place. If I treated my customers as they treated theirs this morning, I'd be out of a job.

Sadly, that is Southern every time anything goes wrong. It is the most annoying thing, in this day and age of umpteen ways of distributing information, they fail every time. You would think the location and times of their trains were state secrets.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Half-heard some kind of muffled announcement about the line being shut between Brighton and Three Bridges for two hours tomorrow while they de-ice it. Anybody able to confirm? Any idea what time that would be? Not in the middle of the rush-hour shirley - though I wouldn't put it past them.

 

[Ernest]

Half-heard some kind of muffled announcement about the line being shut between Brighton and Three Bridges for two hours tomorrow while they de-ice it. Anybody able to confirm? Any idea what time that would be? Not in the middle of the rush-hour shirley - though I wouldn't put it past them.

Nothing so far, if they did it would be before start of service

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Nothing so far, if they did it would be before start of service

Cheers Ernest

 

[BensGrandad]

Can they not run a train during the night that is not in general service just to keep the line ice free or is this either too expensive or not able to be done..

 

[pasty]

Can anyone in the know enlighten me? Now the live rail must carry about a billion trillion volts of electricity through it, which in turn, must generate some kind of heat, so how on earth does it freeze? Genuine question - I don't get how it freezes with that amount of leccy running through it.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Can they not run a train during the night that is not in general service just to keep the line ice free or is this either too expensive or not able to be done..

I think you will find this is the obvious common sense answer; hence it will be the last thing they think of/do.

 

[Ernest]

I think you will find this is the obvious common sense answer; hence it will be the last thing they think of/do.

Which is what they do every night and have done for years, the problem last night was there was no actual rail for them to run on hence the f*** up

 

[BensGrandad]

When I was a lad there used to be a goods train that went through Worthing going west at about 3.00- 3.30 each morning and we didnt have lines freeze up even during the bad long freeze during the 60s about 1962 I think.

 

[Ernest]

When I was a lad there used to be a goods train that went through Worthing going west at about 3.00- 3.30 each morning and we didnt have lines freeze up even during the bad long freeze during the 60s about 1962 I think.

Do you think there was live rails in those days ? And where there was a goods train would have been either steam or diesel hauled so wouldn't have kept the live rail from freezing

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Which is what they do every night and have done for years

Strange how the scheduled service never runs afterwards then.