Negative Views of the Railway Caused by a Delay

[Metroman62]

I appreciate there is no easy fix for when delays happen, but one can understand why members of the public get annoyed at the railway companies. Unfortunately, tonight a train broke down at Seamer and this meant the line between Scarborough and York and Scarborough and Bridlington was blocked for most of the evening. I was on a service that terminated at Malton because it could not go any further and the guard advised road transport would be available in about 50 minutes. So everybody got off the train to wait for the road replacement service and the train went back to York. Unfortunately, Malton station was all locked up, so it was a very cold wait with no toilets outside. Just by Malton station is a bus station full of Coastliner buses, and lots of the passengers could not understand why the buses could not be called upon to get them to Scarborough. (The last bus to Scarborough had gone). With the station closed and no Trans-Pennine staff to give any information, many passengers were frustrated at the service and the conditions they had been left in. Of course, it's not easy to just instigate road transport for stranded passengers, but the general public would not appreciate that and will just have negative views of the railway service provided to them. I was lucky and after an hour's wait was able to pay for a taxi to Scarborough. I don't know when the replacement bus arrived.

I don't think matters were helped by the train times display outside the station still showing trains were running!

So, not a good experience for passengers with no easy fix. It's a shame the station building was closed at 8 in the evening and no staff were there for reassurance or information, but I expect there are many people there tonight with negative views on the railway service.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

When exactly did the problem affecting the line(s) into Scarborough start this evening, and when does Malton station normally stop being staffed on a weekday evening (1945?)

 

[Bertie the bus]

There might not be an easy fix to all of the issues but giving accurate information and providing a contact number (to control?) so people can get updates would be a start, rather than just abandoning them with a promise of a bus in 50 minutes which wasn't 50 minutes.

 

[muz379]

There might not be an easy fix to all of the issues but giving accurate information and providing a contact number (to control?) so people can get updates would be a start, rather than just abandoning them with a promise of a bus in 50 minutes which wasn't 50 minutes.

Control numbers aren't for the public domain they are for operational staff to get or convey important information related to operations .
In this case a better option might have been to not leave passengers at an unstaffed station with little facilities or if that has to be the case as a last resort there should be on call staff/managers to go and provide a presence

 

[Bertie the bus]

Control numbers aren't for the public domain they are for operational staff to get or convey important information related to operations .

Well perhaps they should be. Just saying this is how it is doesn't improve customer service does it?

 

[muz379]

Well perhaps they should be. Just saying this is how it is doesn't improve customer service does it?

Not sure that it would improve customer service though tbh . I know at some Tocs traincrew often complain of excessively long waits during major disruption to speak to control . Adding passengers into the mix would only increase those delays and prevent control from getting important information from or to traincrew .

I think control are best left to deal with their internal customers only .

 

[AngusH]

The original idea was to have some method of customers enquiring about the situation.

Who exactly answers the phone is irrelevant as long as the information is accurate.



Given this situation is both obviously foreseeable and will occur at regular intervals,
it's puzzling that a better plan isn't in place?

Edit: National Rail Enquires ideally ought be able to handle all of these queries, but I don't think the information would be available to them

 

[muz379]

The original idea was to have some method of customers enquiring about the satiation.

Who exactly answers the phone is irrelevant as long as the information is accurate.



Given this situation is both obviously foreseeable and will occur at regular intervals,
it's puzzling that a better plan isn't in place?

Edit: National Rail Enquires ideally ought be able to handle all of these queries, but I don't think the information would be available to them

Quite

Working help points at all stations that connect to an additional desk in control who can answer them using the latest information in the control log would be good . But who is going to pay for this .

Then again I'd expect social media teams to be able to do that although I know not all are incorporated into tocs control functions .

 

[Fokx]

Well perhaps they should be.

Absolutely not.

If you start giving out internal numbers to control you’ll start getting passengers calling over the slightest inconvenience such as complaining about having the wrong ticket or wanting to know why their train is two minutes late. You only have to watch the tv series ‘the complainers’ to see the sort of people I mean.

Meanwhile a member of traincrew could be trying to report an incident, trying to arrange onward connections for a stranded passenger or trying to book an accessible taxi for a less mobile passenger trying to leave the train at a non-step free station etc

I’m not familiar with the station myself but surely it’s fitted with a help point (which I do appreciate most passengers wrongly assume is for emergencies only)

 

[AngusH]

A better national rail enquiries service and better transfer of information by controllers to NRE is needed here.

Does the station have a public address system that is remotely controlled? That should be used too.


I wonder if emergency rail replacement buses could be inserted into the live data for trains and then they could be tracked and updated on the display screens.

 

[Fokx]

Given this situation is both obviously foreseeable and will occur at regular intervals, it's puzzling that a better plan isn't in place?

There was several plans in place but sadly the train involved absolutely refused to move.

Several attempts were made to move the train, but all of which were unsuccessful. A passenger evacuation then delayed things on the Scarborough lines further (as the line had to be blocked) and eventually the train was moved several hours later at a speed of 4mph.

Tonight’s delays and lack of information were sadly caused by a bad situation snowballing

 

[AngusH]

Ah, sorry, I didn't mean the train issue, trains break down, it happens.

What I'm critical of is the lack of a good plan to handle the passengers when such things do happen.

 

[Fokx]

Sorry, I didn't mean the train issue, trains break down, it happens.

What I'm critical of is the lack of a good plan to handle the passengers when such things do happen.

No I understand and completely agree with you.

In this particular instance it was hoped and assumed that the train would be moved under its own power within 30-60 minutes after reporting the issue which is why alternate transport wasn’t arranged earlier or more detailed advice given to passengers, but in reality this turned into a problem that lasted over three hours.

It would certainly make the lives of passengers and staff much easier if rail replacement options would display on PA systems and departure information screens/apps though.

 

[greyman42]

Just by Malton station is a bus station full of Coastliner buses, and lots of the passengers could not understand why the buses could not be called upon to get them to Scarborough.

Did they not think there might not be any drivers?

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Sometimes passengers caught up in disruption events are of the (invariably erroneous) opinion that rail replacement coaches will be available 24/7 at the drop of the proverbial hat.

However, I do wonder whether announcements are sometimes made by the railway, i.e. that replacement transport is being procured, in order to mollify passengers.

 

[High Dyke]

Did they not think there might not be any drivers?

Too easy!

 

[muz379]

Sometimes passengers caught up in disruption events are of the (invariably erroneous) opinion that rail replacement coaches will be available 24/7 at the drop of the proverbial hat.

However, I do wonder whether announcements are sometimes made by the railway, i.e. that replacement transport is being procured, in order to mollify passengers.

I also think that passengers rightly want to be given a timeframe for key milestones like the job being reopened or replacement transport. But that's not always possible.