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Train cleaning during turn around

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Dave1987

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Something observed recently when travelling home after visiting family. I know that passengers like to see a clean train when they board. At Liv St there are a team of cleaners waiting to clean incoming trains. One thing I did notice though is that some passengers don't give the cleaners time to actually clean the train before trying to board. This problem is of course not isolated to Liverpool St. I notice at Euston that staff do not allow passengers acces to the platform before the trains is ready but the layout of Eustom seems to make that easier.

It really annoys me when I see people complain how dirty a train is and that there is rubbish all over the place but some people don't actually give the cleaners chance to clean the train.
 
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313103

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It annoys me that passengers are always moaning the trains are dirty, yet leave all their crap behind when they get off.

If it wasn't for passengers on a train, they would be spotless.

I see this (well until December anyway) most mornings the cleaners going through the train at either Richmond and Stratford taking out at least two sacks of metros whilst passengers bring two sacks of metros back on :roll:

The railway was a much cleaner place without the free crappy newspapers strangely from the same stable as the Mail.
 

rmt4ever

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The Metro is a great free paper. I love it. I don't see why it is so bad. What's wrong with leaving it behind too for other passengers to read? Recycling
 

313103

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The Metro is a great free paper. I love it. I don't see why it is so bad. What's wrong with leaving it behind too for other passengers to read? Recycling

Oh how I would think you would change your mind if trains weren't tidied up at terminal points. The problem with your analogy is that people don't leave it for other people to read, they just chuck it on the floor and leave it there. Not only that people bring there own metro anyway so you often have say 500 people on a train each of them has brought a metro on, now if the train weren't cleaned there would be about 1,000 metros swimming around the train.

You have raised one thing though RECYCLING! Now I love the idea of recycling, but with the metro if it wasn't printed in the first place there would be no need for it to be recycled! This also raises another thing, why should a free newspaper be brought on the train and left their for the train company to pay for it to be removed?
 

shedman

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As part of my announcements I used to point out that "for your comfort 4 bins are located within the carriage and 1 in either vestibule"
 
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Carlisle

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Shame the 378s dont have any...

And all pendolinos and voyagers were originally fitted with flimsy metal bins which soon fell to bits, were removed and have never been replaced
 

158747

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I too find it annoying the amount of rubbish people leave behind on the train, when I travel I either put my rubbish in the bin or put it back in my bag and bin it later. Sadly this happens everywhere these days, go to most large open air events in the summer months and the amount of crap people leave behind is disgusting.
 

87015

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Something observed recently when travelling home after visiting family. I know that passengers like to see a clean train when they board. At Liv St there are a team of cleaners waiting to clean incoming trains. One thing I did notice though is that some passengers don't give the cleaners time to actually clean the train before trying to board. This problem is of course not isolated to Liverpool St. I notice at Euston that staff do not allow passengers acces to the platform before the trains is ready but the layout of Eustom seems to make that easier.

It really annoys me when I see people complain how dirty a train is and that there is rubbish all over the place but some people don't actually give the cleaners chance to clean the train.

What is the difference if the cleaners go through with people on board to without. I very much doubt people will complain as long as they do a sweep before departure, even speeds up cleaning as people can throw rubbish into cleaners bags rather than it all having to be picked up - and some people like to get a 2nd hand newspaper for a quick look...including many of your colleagues!

Don't think the station layout has much to do with it, more turnaround times and the TOC policy on when to advertise platforms?
 

Dave1987

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What is the difference if the cleaners go through with people on board to without. I very much doubt people will complain as long as they do a sweep before departure, even speeds up cleaning as people can throw rubbish into cleaners bags rather than it all having to be picked up - and some people like to get a 2nd hand newspaper for a quick look...including many of your colleagues!

Don't think the station layout has much to do with it, more turnaround times and the TOC policy on when to advertise platforms?

Sorry but it is much much easier for the cleaners to get through the train while it is empty. If passengers are boarding before the train is clean they get in the way as they not all sat down in there seats. They are stood up putting their luggage away and walking down the isles to their seats. I know I've watched it happening. It takes the cleaner a lot longer as they have to keep asking people to move so they can get through. It certainly does not speed the process up.

And even if the TOC does not advertise the platform until the train is clean most passengers have smartphones with rail apps which tell you what platform the train is booked from.
 

Class172

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On the LM 172s, you can sometimes get a message saying "please could you place any unwanted items in the bins provided, and newspapers on the luggage racks." This seems a quite effective system as passengers then get used to getting their metros on the train, so they are reused — the trains I have always found clean, even in the evening.
 

bunnahabhain

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What is the difference if the cleaners go through with people on board to without. I very much doubt people will complain as long as they do a sweep before departure, even speeds up cleaning as people can throw rubbish into cleaners bags rather than it all having to be picked up - and some people like to get a 2nd hand newspaper for a quick look...including many of your colleagues!
No, it really doesn't, cleaners can whip through a 4 car 158 in about seven or eight minutes of nobody is onboard including the toilets. Once people start to board with suitcases and other objects that have been fed miracle-gro then it takes them about three times longer. Not forgetting the seat reservations as well and the associated triple seat moves that sometimes involves.
 

Domh245

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Whenever I board my tube at Wimbledon in the morning, I will go on whether or not the cleaner is done, but then again, the tube has more space to work in, so people don't get in the way. I will also help them out and hand them any metros that I find immediately to hand. Every little helps!
 

talltim

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EMT staff go though the train collecting rubbish before arrival at Sheffield. XC seem to have toilet cleaners that board at Sheffield, do their stuff and get off at Chesterfield (and presumably do the same on the next train back)
 

gordonthemoron

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London Midland trains on the Euston line Sundays often seem full of rubbish from the night before. Plus, most mornings between one and all the toilets will be out of order, presumably due to not emptying the tanks. Virgin on the other hand usually have rubbish collections during the journey
 

Latecomer

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Metro's are one thing but least it's 'dry' rubbish and it can and is recycled. What gets me is people leaving takeaway cartons with uneaten food, coffees half full and all sorts of other things that leak and smell. Also you get people who have clearly been out doing a days clothes shopping and they use the train to remove all of the hangers, labels and packaging and just leave it for the cleaners to clear up. I bet they were asked in the shop whether they wanted to keep the hangers. Parents discard rubbish on trains in front of their children too.

I do agree that the free newspapers tend to create an environment whereby people think there's already rubbish lying around so what does it matter if I leave mine? It's another reason why the papers tend to get cleared before a new journey so as to discourage other rubbish being left. The shear volume is staggering sometimes. Every one of those people acting selfishly and ignorantly.
 

Tibbs

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Something observed recently when travelling home after visiting family. I know that passengers like to see a clean train when they board. At Liv St there are a team of cleaners waiting to clean incoming trains. One thing I did notice though is that some passengers don't give the cleaners time to actually clean the train before trying to board. This problem is of course not isolated to Liverpool St. I notice at Euston that staff do not allow passengers acces to the platform before the trains is ready but the layout of Eustom seems to make that easier.

It really annoys me when I see people complain how dirty a train is and that there is rubbish all over the place but some people don't actually give the cleaners chance to clean the train.

Are the people complaining about the dirtyness of the train the same people boarding the train early?

(can you see where I'm going with this?)
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
This also raises another thing, why should a free newspaper be brought on the train and left their for the train company to pay for it to be removed?

Probably because the Metro pays the railways to allow it to be distributed at their stations?

I'm guessing the money they pay covers the extra cost of the cleaning. If it doesn't then the people who run the stations are idiots.
 

Prairie_5542

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At Norwich they 'tape' off the train unitl it has been cleaned/ reservation labels are on and the stocks replenished.

Byelaw 6 sectiopn 7- No person shall drop litter or leave waste on the railway This should apply, they should inforce it more!!
 

142094

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I'm guessing the money they pay covers the extra cost of the cleaning. If it doesn't then the people who run the stations are idiots.

Pretty sure it doesn't, just gets lumped in with the rest of the cost of cleaning.
 

Carlisle

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At Norwich they 'tape' off the train unitl it has been cleaned/ reservation labels are on and the stocks replenished.

This used to be a lot more common a procedure in the BR era ,i can remember waiting at glasgow for a intercity cross country train south, that was seriously late arriving from its previous journey yet they still kept us off it for a further 10-15 mins while the train was cleaned ,i guess that was before late departures cost any company money
 

Dave1987

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Are the people complaining about the dirtyness of the train the same people boarding the train early?

(can you see where I'm going with this?)

My point is is how can anyone expect a train to be cleaned to a decent standard when the cleaner hasn't got a clear run through the train and constantly having to dodge around passengers boarding. I really feel sorry for them as there are a lot of comments (mostly on twitter :roll:) about how dirty the trains are and how much rubbish is all over the train. Firstly it is passengers who leave the rubbish in the first place but some people don't give the cleaners chance to clear up the rubbish that has been left.
 

BestWestern

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The Metro is nothing more than a cynical advertising revenue vehicle. There is absolutely no need or justification for it when you can go into any newsagent now and buy a 'proper' daily paper of better quality for as little as 20 pence. It really is high time somebody looked at the enormous waste created by these spurious free publications.
 

dk1

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Cleaners do a good job with Intercity services at Liverpool St. Most annoying bit is that the punters don't wait for the train to be displayed on the boards & try to get on before the poor guys have cleaned the incoming service then keep asking the crew chilling & trying to have a break in the buffet car <D
 

1e10

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Something observed recently when travelling home after visiting family. I know that passengers like to see a clean train when they board. At Liv St there are a team of cleaners waiting to clean incoming trains. One thing I did notice though is that some passengers don't give the cleaners time to actually clean the train before trying to board. This problem is of course not isolated to Liverpool St. I notice at Euston that staff do not allow passengers acces to the platform before the trains is ready but the layout of Eustom seems to make that easier.

It really annoys me when I see people complain how dirty a train is and that there is rubbish all over the place but some people don't actually give the cleaners chance to clean the train.

I have in the past boarded a train before it's been cleaned, I'll always make sure that I am not obstructing the cleaners in their duties though. If the cleaner hasn't already passed my area of the train I'll be sure to move any rubbish to the edge of the tabe so that the cleaner doesn't have to lean in when they do get there and can instead easily remove the rubbish from the edge of the table.

Same applies for the catering assistant when they make their way through the train with their food trolley. If I see them making their way through the coach I will wait in vestibule area until they've passed. They're often grateful too and kind enough to thank me for it. The amount of time I've witnessed someone asking the catering assistant if they can pass the trolley is stupid, they're genuinely shocked when they're told they'll have to wait until the trolley reachrs the end of the coach befor they'll be able to pass.

It annoys me that passengers are always moaning the trains are dirty, yet leave all their crap behind when they get off.

If it wasn't for passengers on a train, they would be spotless.

I see this (well until December anyway) most mornings the cleaners going through the train at either Richmond and Stratford taking out at least two sacks of metros whilst passengers bring two sacks of metros back on :roll:

The railway was a much cleaner place without the free crappy newspapers strangely from the same stable as the Mail.

I'm forever finding my reserved table seats with a mountain of coffee cups and food packaging. Most recently I've found this on the 0913 FGW service from Temple Meads to Penzance, this is 0730 service from Paddington. I know it's of no fault of FGW but by the time the train does reach Bristol the bind are already full. No excuse for passangers to just leave rubbish anywhere but if passangers were provided with the facilities to keep the train tidy perhaps they'd be more inclined too.

EMT staff go though the train collecting rubbish before arrival at Sheffield. XC seem to have toilet cleaners that board at Sheffield, do their stuff and get off at Chesterfield (and presumably do the same on the next train back)

XC have cleaners board somewhere a fee stops before Paignton and whip through the train clearing rubbish and swapping out old reservation cards for new cards. They then alight at Paignton and seem to board the next service back to wherever they came from and do the same again.

XC also have staff that come through the train collecting rubbish midjourney but this isn't a regular thing. I think it would be a good idea if the catering assistant was to tag a bag onto the trolley and collect rubbish as they made their way through the train.

The Metro is nothing more than a cynical advertising revenue vehicle. There is absolutely no need or justification for it when you can go into any newsagent now and buy a 'proper' daily paper of better quality for as little as 20 pence. It really is high time somebody looked at the enormous waste created by these spurious free publications.

Here in Bristol we have a free paper through our doors that has the same principle of the metro: 3 pages of news and 20-25 pages of advertisements. I don't actually know of anyone who reads them, everyone I know keeps them only to line their brown food recycling bins.
 

FGW_DID

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The amount of times I saw people pick up a Metro, walk up to the platform, then leave a perfectly uncreased copy on the seat where they were sat! Why, if you go to the effort to pick it up, take it with you and read it!!!
 

BestWestern

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The amount of times I saw people pick up a Metro, walk up to the platform, then leave a perfectly uncreased copy on the seat where they were sat! Why, if you go to the effort to pick it up, take it with you and read it!!!

The publishers of Metro have done a very good job of conditioning commuters into thinking that it is some sort of ritual, habitually picking it up as they pass through the stations and then swiftly dumping it shortly afterwards. I'm sure that many of them have zero interest in reading the damn things, but it's just 'what you do'. It's the devil's work if you ask me <D
 

Tibbs

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My point is is how can anyone expect a train to be cleaned to a decent standard when the cleaner hasn't got a clear run through the train and constantly having to dodge around passengers boarding. I really feel sorry for them as there are a lot of comments (mostly on twitter :roll:) about how dirty the trains are and how much rubbish is all over the train. Firstly it is passengers who leave the rubbish in the first place but some people don't give the cleaners chance to clear up the rubbish that has been left.

I also don't see how passengers being on the train impedes the cleaners. If anything, in my experience, they help as they (including me) gather up all the rubbish making it quicker for the cleaner to put it in their bag.

But then again I've only boarded a train early once a fortnight or so for the past 18 months so my sample base may be smaller than yours.
 

Smethwickian

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XC also have staff that come through the train collecting rubbish midjourney but this isn't a regular thing. I think it would be a good idea if the catering assistant was to tag a bag onto the trolley and collect rubbish as they made their way through the train.

I hear what you're saying, but could we be confident that the person picking up all sorts of filthy rubbish would wear gloves/wash their hands before then serving drinks or food items?

Last night's 1927 XC service from Manchester Piccadilly to Southampton was filthy on departure from Manchester. I think it had arrived, if on time, at 1859 and clearly no cleaning had taken place in that time whatsoever.

There was lots of food debris, crushed crisps, drink cartons and cups with dregs in them, and in one coach something in a plastic bag left on an overhead rack which had clearly leaked and was dripping on several seats along the coach. Looks like somebody had been having a right party on the incoming journey. There was no mid-journey cleaning in evidence before Birmingham, at any rate.
 
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