Last night - pregame trains from Lewes

[mikes smalls]

The trains were a mess last night.
Cancelled the 22.33 from Brighton to London meaning I got the delayed 23.05 which finally crawled into Clapham at 0.33 just as the last Richmond train left. Got the 0.51 all around south west london to Strawberry hill where I caught a mini cab to my house. In bed at 1.50am. If anyone had a worse journey home than this I take my hat off to you.

 

[Lewesian Seagull]

agree with the op.i was on that train and witnessed a young girl getting upset because of the crush generated by the amount of fans trying to squeeze into the train.all because of the lack of flexibility by the train company.it was also frustrating after the match ,when waiting on the bridge for a train ,only to witness one pulling out of falmer towards lewes with empty seats.the station staff could have managed this much better but give the impression they do not give a toss
i acknowledge that transport issues have improved as we have settled in to life at falmer but there is still need of improvement.
we keep being told that b.h.a. are paying a hefty part of the transport levy to the rail company.it feels like we fans and the football club are being mugged by the railway company especially on the evening games where problems still exist

If you were in the last carriage, that was my daughter, and yes she was upset and frightened. Last night at Lewes station was a joke, the worst it's ever been, Surely you would think they would be getting the hang of it by now. It's absoloutely ridiculous that the Ashford train does not stop at Falmer on match nights. How can anybody think it's a good idea, or safe to empty out a whole train of fans on to an already packed platform when the bloody train is going past where they want to get off. Madness!!

 

[clapham_gull]

I was surprised last night (at Lewes) at the general inability to "move down" down the carriage to let others on.

That sort of behaviour would start a riot in London during rush hour.

 

[Lewesian Seagull]

I was surprised last night (at Lewes) at the general inability to "move down" down the carriage to let others on.

That sort of behaviour would start a riot in London during rush hour.

I did have a bit of a rant at a few in the aisle near us who could easily have bunched up a bit , I even explained to them that my daughter was in a bit of a state but they just looked at me as if to say 'what's your problem!'

 

[Winchester1]

I drive over from Winchester to Lewes for mid-week games and jump on the train. I agree that last nights crush was the pits and must have been bordering on dangerous. There's a The simple solution to the problem is more frequent, longer trains and some better planning, management and organisation from our railway friends. Thank god there's no more midweek home games!

 

[HawkTheSeagull]

Right, on the phone so ill try and reply to multiple comments.

The 1801 off of Eastbourne is always a 4 car during the week and always has been. There is no extra coaches to use unlike weekends, simple as that unless you want to spend tens of millions on new trains to be used once every 2 weeks or so for football. Coaches are being used on London commuter services and aren't available until at least 8PM.

It's more dangerous to stop the 2 car Ashford services than to not stop them. The overcrowding on the train would be unsafe, there shouldn't have been a large gap between services though. Connections were all over the place yesterday due to multiple signalling problems.

Overcrowding is expected at a busy place which would be dealing with thousands descending on a small station at 1 time, if your going to moan about crowds or if you don't like them, then wait behind or don't use the train - simple.

And then there's people who don't move down the train, it's not hard to !!!

Anyway, cheer up there is no more evening games now so trains will be a bit longer. Last night was no different than usual operation wise, just slight disruption.

 

[Mellor 3 Ward 4]

Does anybody else find it a bit strange, or perhaps worrying, that the public transport plan is EXACTLY the same now as when the stadium opened. So with around 8,000 extra people going to a game, the club have made no additional travel provisions other than the new Bridge carpark?

Have to agree with that.

Additional P&R and more busses needed.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

What about the cocks 'running the platform' on the way home. A ****ing great train with 8 carriages pulls in for eastbourne and they stop people getting on it so it leaves with the rear 2 carriages having empty seats and loads of standing capacity. ****ing cocks those 2 stewards - the old witch on the gate with her click counter(FFS must be the only station in the country with that happening) and the old bald twot must be on such a power trip to let this happen. Whats the point in a long train coming in and leaving half empty while we're all stood there behind a gate like idiots.

I think you should direct a lot of your critisim to the selfish FANS who will not get on the first train that arrives. 100's of fans who are going to Seaford will not get on the Eastbourne train and change at Lewes because they are lazy and selfish. Hence the railway staff cannot let more people onto the platform because these idiots will not board the train. There are empty carriages because of this.

Educate the fans will ease this problem 10 fold.

The problem is that the Eastbourne train is 8 carriages but you've got to be in the first 5 carriages to be able to get out at Lewes because the doors won't open for the rear 3. Fans have been caught out and taken to Polegate before being able to return.

 

[beorhthelm]

The problem is that the Eastbourne train is 8 carriages but you've got to be in the first 5 carriages to be able to get out at Lewes because the doors won't open for the rear 3. Fans have been caught out and taken to Polegate before being able to return.

so dont go on the platform, or get to the front of the train. if there is a problem with that and the stewarding, then as fans we should highlght this problem to the club to pass on to the stewards and police. but i always find they try to send people down the far end (front) of the platform anyway.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

so dont go on the platform, or get to the front of the train. if there is a problem with that and the stewarding, then as fans we should highlght this problem to the club to pass on to the stewards and police. but i always find they try to send people down the far end (front) of the platform anyway.

It explains why the rear 3 carriages are almost empty as a large proportion of the fans on the platform want to go to Lewes or onto Seaford.

 

[Lord Bracknell]

I think you should direct a lot of your critisim to the selfish FANS who will not get on the first train that arrives. 100's of fans who are going to Seaford will not get on the Eastbourne train and change at Lewes because they are lazy and selfish. Hence the railway staff cannot let more people onto the platform because these idiots will not board the train. There are empty carriages because of this.

Educate the fans will ease this problem 10 fold.

Absolutely this. And then there are the fans who want to go to Eastbourne who won't get on a Seaford train. This lot seem to be unaware of the fact that they can often change at Lewes on to a London - Eastbourne service and get home earlier than they would by waiting at Falmer for a direct train to Eastbourne.

The simple message is ... If you are going east from Falmer, get on the FIRST train, wherever it's going, and, if necessary, change at Lewes.

 

[clapham_gull]

Absolutely this. And then there are the fans who want to go to Eastbourne who won't get on a Seaford train. This lot seem to be unaware of the fact that they can often change at Lewes on to a London - Eastbourne service and get home earlier than they would by waiting at Falmer for a direct train to Eastbourne.

The simple message is ... If you are going east from Falmer, get on the FIRST train, wherever it's going, and, if necessary, change at Lewes.

We have an equally frustrating problem at Balham. But in this case it's don't get the first train you b######.

Most trains go to Victoria but the odd ones go to Shepherds Bush, sometimes terminating but a few through to Milton Keynes.

All stop at Clapham Junction on route.

Now I need to go Shepherds Bush, but the trains are jammed with people taking the shorter route to CJ. If those people waited literally minutes (for a far less packed train to Victoria) everyone would be happy.

The staff at Balham are great and I've got to know a few of them but the recent decision by Southern is bonkers.They have a perceived problem of people bunching in the middle of the platform. I've never felt it was a problem but that's another matter.

Anyway - as any trainspotters will have noticed there has been a huge exercise of extending platforms on that line. So Southern have decided to tease us into moving along and moved the indicator board down to the end of the platform.

So far down you need binoculars to view it. Great, I'd be quite happy to do that except my bloody train doesn't have that many carriages. In fact it pulls in with the end carriage in the middle of the platform.

As I've pointed out above trains from Balham go in different destinations within a very slightly packed schedule. The result ? More bunching in the middle of the platform to ask the staff where the hell the train is going.

Who employs these idiots ! Not referring to the staff there, their job has just been made tens times harder.

 

[HawkTheSeagull]

We have an equally frustrating problem at Balham. Most trains go to Victoria but the odd ones go to Shepherds Bush, sometimes terminating but a few through to Milton Keynes.

All stop at Clapham Junction on route.

Now I need to go Shepherds Bush, but the trains are jammed with people taking the shorter route to CJ. If those people waited literally minutes (for a far less packed train to Victoria) everyone would be happy.

Well changing at Clapham is more frequent anyway but I get your point !!

If announcements were made like " Change at Lewes for stations to Eastbourne" then that may improve things.