Station Faults

[Deepgreen]

A thread to cover the topic of faults at stations and the seemingly huge time it takes to have them fixed.

I am aware of many serious faults at various stations I use or pass through regularly and am amazed at the length of time it takes to have even simple remedial action undertaken. Some examples (all Southern-'managed'):

Redhill - several adjacent lighting tubes out on platform 1 for at least five months, resulting in a large and very dark area under the canopy where there is much passenger movement in all directions. After several reports by me of the failures over the months with no action, it was miraculously fixed last week immediately after I wrote to ASLEF about it and suggested that they might want to review their members operating trains through the platform at night, given the hugely sub-standard lighting levels!

Dorking - the subway from platforms 2/3 to 1 has at least three stair treads missing, leaving the crumbling sub-strate exposed and acting as the stair treads, presenting a significant hazard. Again, I've reported it several times over the many months it has been like that - nothing done. Very simple remedy - provide three stair nosings to match the rest - cheap, quick and easy to do, but apparently beyond Southern's abilities. If/when someone falls on the stairs it will be interesting to see the outcome.

Purley - the recently-installed Thameslink (class 700) 'PLU' sign and post on platform 4 came loose in strong winds at least two months ago. I reported it then. It still stands there with the fixing bolts loose at the base and the whole post assembly is tied back to the fence behind it with yellow hazard tape! Simple and quick solution - re-fix the bolts properly in the platform. Nothing done again.

One also from my local station - Betchworth (GWR). The platform train indicator on platform 1 has been broken for at least eight months, and repeated reports of its unreliability over the last five years have yielded no action. I wrote to my MP about it as GWR were of no use (most recently claiming that their local manager had visited and found nothing wrong!!), and he replied that he had had other complaints about the failure. GWR subsequently informed me, well before Christmas, that they were having a part specially made to repair it and it should be working again soon. It still is not.

 

[Blindtraveler]

Oo I like this thread. As TOCs and Nr often lerk here it should be interesting.

Heres mine for now, not so much as a fault more a long running moan, why are the Gents loos at Crewe always so grim? Some fantastic toilets are now available at WCML stations sich as Preston and Carlisle, why not here?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
And could the truly unreliable escalaters from Princes Street at EDB somehow be made to work reliably? Never a week when at least 1 doesnt conk out on multiple occasions!

 

[stut]

The lack of level access to Biggleswade station - for a rapidly growing town, with usage likely to have exceeded 1 million in the last year, it seems quite an omission.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

How much of a concern is the actual Wigan Wallgate station building that is situated on a problematic bridge support system?

 

[tsr]

Redhill - several adjacent lighting tubes out on platform 1 for at least five months, resulting in a large and very dark area under the canopy where there is much passenger movement in all directions. After several reports by me of the failures over the months with no action, it was miraculously fixed last week immediately after I wrote to ASLEF about it and suggested that they might want to review their members operating trains through the platform at night, given the hugely sub-standard lighting levels!

As I posted before, that situation was not especially unsafe (especially in comparison with other locations where you might even find the lights turned off at certain times!), certainly not "very dark" and well able to be worked around by the train dispatch staff who are mandatory for all departures from Platform 1. Having been at Redhill at various times with my colleagues recently, quite literally around the clock, I'm sure one of us might have stopped trains working through there if it was that unsafe, after all it's not like we're trained to report problems like that...

Contractors have been undertaking a lot of different jobs around Redhill lately to rectify a list of faults. I'm afraid a few difficulties for the bigger jobs will come from the works on Platform 0, which will interfere with making it look as tidy as it should be, but that work does at least seem to be going well.

I'm surprised you haven't complained about the heating being out of order for a few days in the waiting room at the top end of Platforms 1 and 2, but rest assured it was noticed very quickly and station staff are being diligent in following it up, having tested the system within the limits of their training. So much for being badly managed and unmotivated, as you've said before...

 

[theageofthetra]

Been busy reporting defective lighting to signallers over the last few days in remote hardly used locations like Brixton. Seems to get looked at quicker if a driver reports it.

 

[Busaholic]

In the case of East Croydon, wouldn't it be simpler to produce a short list of what's safe?!

 

[sk688]

Isnt there that new station in the North , near Birmingham , that is leaking water

EDIT : It is Bromsgrove Station

 

[PHILIPE]

Isnt there that new station in the North , near Birmingham , that is leaking water

EDIT : It is Bromsgrove Station

Thread here:-

http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=13969

 

[DarloRich]

is it worth pointing out that it would be a good idea to complain directly rather than here?
I find a chat with the station manager and a tweet tends to get most minor things fixed asap

 

[Bletchleyite]

The PIS display at Ulverston on platform 2 has been corrupted for about 5 years.

There's a departure summary display at Bletchley on platform 4 by the lift that while it gets a "quick fix" when it gets reported, breaks repeatedly and needs root cause analysis (e.g. is a water leak onto it making it break, etc).

 

[Deepgreen]

As I posted before, that situation was not especially unsafe (especially in comparison with other locations where you might even find the lights turned off at certain times!), certainly not "very dark" and well able to be worked around by the train dispatch staff who are mandatory for all departures from Platform 1. Having been at Redhill at various times with my colleagues recently, quite literally around the clock, I'm sure one of us might have stopped trains working through there if it was that unsafe, after all it's not like we're trained to report problems like that...

Contractors have been undertaking a lot of different jobs around Redhill lately to rectify a list of faults. I'm afraid a few difficulties for the bigger jobs will come from the works on Platform 0, which will interfere with making it look as tidy as it should be, but that work does at least seem to be going well.

I'm surprised you haven't complained about the heating being out of order for a few days in the waiting room at the top end of Platforms 1 and 2, but rest assured it was noticed very quickly and station staff are being diligent in following it up, having tested the system within the limits of their training. So much for being badly managed and unmotivated, as you've said before...

Sorry, not directed at you, but the number of faults and the time it has taken to fix them at Redhill has been shameful over the five years I have been using the station. The farce of the train indicator screen on platform 2, which took over six months to repair, with numerous and varied excuses offered (including downright lies to me and other complainants from Southern), but not a word of apology or explanation actually displayed at the station, was covered here at the time.

The same applied to the failed screen in the waiting room to which you allude. I very rarely use this room anyway, as it amplifies the frequent and annoying recorded messages (and the attempts at live messages!), but I recall the repeated and frequent door failures.

Then there was the nonsense of the many months a couple of years ago when the additional floodlights at the north end of platform 3 were in a permanent off/on pulsating cycle owing to the fact that their light sensors were being affected by the white p.a. speakers directly under them! That took months of haranguing to be fixed - were they not tested when installed? Does any competent engineering input take place in these things?

Now, a few days ago I wrote to ASLEF about the failed lighting on platform 1. I did so only after having received the usual useless responses from Southern about reporting it to the local manager, whereas in fact the local manager should already have reported it many months ago! I pointed out to ASLEF the very substandard lighting on platform 1 (more or less at the boundary of 1a and 1b). These lights were subsequently miraculously repaired after several months of inattention - possibly a coincidence, but they should never have been left for this long anyway - on, for example, LU, such a lighting failure would not be tolerated.

However, the single unit there which should brighten when movement is detected still dims instead! However, now, the light unit at the very top of the stairs from the subway on the same platform has also failed, creating another dim patch at a safety-critical point. It has been like that for all this week, and it will be interesting to see for how long this persists.

The failed multiple lighting units on platform 1 must be considered unsafe from the point of view of providing a very dark area in the middle of what is an otherwise brightly-lit environment with many conflicting passenger movements (across and along the island platform with numerous blind corners), and, even if train operation per se is ostensibly unaffected, then passenger movements certainly are. The comparison with other sites where all the lights may be off does not stand because the contrast in lighting is what makes it unsafe. Either way, it was certainly below the lux levels required for train operation for many months. If dim/patchy lighting is not unsafe and is permissible for train operation, then why not permanently remove many light fittings to save operating costs? It can't work both ways.

 

[rebmcr]

They should probably route all the trains through the Quarry line until it is fixed to your satisfaction.

 

[Deepgreen]

They should probably route all the trains through the Quarry line until it is fixed to your satisfaction.

Just a tad over the top, perhaps? Do you consider it wrong to expect the timely fixing of faults to be part of 'business as usual', or should we all just accept the status quo of decline and poor performance and live with the lack of effective management? Incidentally, it is far from just my satisfaction - there are many who feel that Redhill (and many other Southern stations) are very badly run/maintained.

 

[Scotty]

the North , near Birmingham

The what??

 

[Llanigraham]

The what??

You have to remember that to some contributors here the civilised world ends north of where the Tube finishes!

 

[Deepgreen]

You have to remember that to some contributors here the civilised world ends north of where the Tube finishes!

Indeed - Morden!

 

[rebmcr]

Just a tad over the top, perhaps?

Well, it seemed to fit the tone of the whole thread!

 

[Deepgreen]

Well, it seemed to fit the tone of the whole thread!

Really? You consider that complaining about very long-standing and significant faults that are seemingly being very badly managed by TOCs is OTT? Oh well...

 

[DarloRich]

Just a tad over the top, perhaps? Do you consider it wrong to expect the timely fixing of faults to be part of 'business as usual', or should we all just accept the status quo of decline and poor performance and live with the lack of effective management? Incidentally, it is far from just my satisfaction - there are many who feel that Redhill (and many other Southern stations) are very badly run/maintained.

The problem is ( and i know you have me on block so wont respond) is that the reactive maintenance contracts are squeezed so tight to extract "best value" that there isnt much resource to go around. Add in the difficulty in arranging access and producing and delivering the required safe system of work and associated paperwork and you have a recipe for delay.

Now I am sure Southern ( or whoever) could speed things up by having a different contracting arrangement. That costs money................

 

[swt class 450]

I can think of over 100 stations to complain about regarding faults and problems. Unfortunately many TOCs (in particular those owned by Govia) dont seem to care much about looking after their stations.

 

[DarloRich]

I can think of over 100 stations to complain about regarding faults and problems. Unfortunately many TOCs (in particular those owned by Govia) dont seem to care much about looking after their stations.

whereas faults with my unmanned Govia managed station are dealt with quickly.......................

 

[MrCub]

Luton station is one big massive fault

 

[sk688]

I can think of over 100 stations to complain about regarding faults and problems. Unfortunately many TOCs (in particular those owned by Govia) dont seem to care much about looking after their stations.

Maybe in your experience, but for Me most LM stations seem well looked after, in fact LM in general, appear well presented (despite the appalling 350/1s) but this is getting off topic now, so I'll leave it at that

 

[6Gman]

The what??

Well it's outside the M25!

 

[Deepgreen]

Sing Hosanna! The platform screen at Betchworth (blank for nearly nine months) was this morning working again after yet another query from me about the promised repair!!

During this latest failure, which has been by far its longest over the five years I have been commuting from Betchworth, it has taken about five letters to FGW/GWR's 'Customer Services', five to the local manager (responded to with what I shall describe as 'severely erroneous information', to be kind) two to GWR's MD (Mark Hopwood) and two to my MP (Sir Paul Beresford) to get this single piece of equipment working again after so long. Prior to this failure it had been failing at the rate of about once a month for between one and five days at a time.

Shocking complacency in the face of claims on signs at the station that the facilities are inspected for faults 'on a regular basis' (which could mean anything!).

 

[swt class 450]

Sing Hosanna! The platform screen at Betchworth (blank for nearly nine months) was this morning working again after yet another query from me about the promised repair!!

During this latest failure, which has been by far its longest over the five years I have been commuting from Betchworth, it has taken about five letters to FGW/GWR's 'Customer Services', five to the local manager (responded to with what I shall describe as 'severely erroneous information', to be kind) two to GWR's MD (Mark Hopwood) and two to my MP (Sir Paul Beresford) to get this single piece of equipment working again after so long. Prior to this failure it had been failing at the rate of about once a month for between one and five days at a time.

Shocking complacency in the face of claims on signs at the station that the facilities are inspected for faults 'on a regular basis' (which could mean anything!).

I personally think that Betchworth (and all the other North Downs Line stations as well) just need to get their screens replaced with a more reliable type. Although i doubt that will ever happen.

 

[xfield]

The roof on the stairs at Heaton Chapel station collapsed back in May - http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/in-your-area/pictures-rotten-roof-caves-heaton-11294146. The stairs on both sides of the line are still closed, with no progress.

 

[TEW]

Some more good news to report for Deepgreen. The stairs at Dorking have finally been sorted out. The previously crumbling steps now have new slip free coverings, different ones to the ones fitted on other stairs but they do the job.

 

[Dr Hoo]

Perhaps not 'faults' in some people's definition but at my local unstaffed Northern station in the Hope Valley there were two trees down after recent gales and a gate was broken. These were sorted out within a couple of days despite not causing a major problem.
The maintenance contract, with Carillion, I hear, seems to have worked very well.