Bristol Rover
Member
- Joined
- 25 Oct 2009
- Messages
- 82
I was caught up in this farrago yesterday, about as badly as could be. Here's my day and a few observations, for those interested.
I was on the 09:34 from Haddenham into London. The platform was busy as it was the first off-peak train in half term. The train was only 2 carriages and people were already standing as it pulled in. About 80% of those on the platform managed to squeeze in, but many couldn't board and had to wait for the next one (perhaps lucky them, as it turned out). The train sat at the station for 5 minutes before the driver informed us of issues at Marylebone. We trundled off to Saunderton, where we stopped and the driver reopened the doors to let in fresh air and for people to stretch their legs. I knew we were in for a long delay as I looked up Real Time Trains (RTT) and saw the two trains ahead of us hadn't arrived at London and one was sat at High Wycombe. After a while, we left Saunderton and made it to High Wycombe, where the driver again opened the doors - some people got off to stretch their legs, some got off and gave up. Eventually, we were then told we'd be leaving for West Ruislip and to get the tube into Central London. I arrived at Oxford Circus at 12:40, nearly 2 and a half hours after I was due into Marylebone. Things go wrong, hey ho, but the provision of only 2 carriages for an Oxford-London train made the situation utterly more miserable than it should have been.
For the return journey (starting at 3:40ish from Oxford Circus) I looked up on my phone and saw that the advice was Marylebone was going to be disrupted until 18:00 at the earliest, and then it changed to something along the line of no trains out of Marylebone tonight. I saw from Real Time Trains that services seemed to be starting at West Ruislip, so I made my way back there. I got to West Ruislip, narrowly missing the 16:20 by a couple of minutes, but had seen there was a 17:20 scheduled and later trains, so thought I'd just pop for a pint and wait - no major drama. However, the 17:20 then disappeared from RTT and cancellation signs for other services started appearing on the displays on the platform (the next displayed train was 18:04 to High Wycombe), so I began to get concerned and didn't go for that pint. The only staff member on site was one TFL attendant in the ticket office - she had just been told 'everything is back to normal and trains will be running from London' by a horde of Chiltern Railway Staff who had all apparently just left the station. She was getting swamped with enquiries and I felt sorry for her.
There were lots of other people waiting for trains at West Ruislip (and more arriving with each underground train) - many of whom had actually been to Marylebone and been instructed by Chiltern Railways staff to make their way to West Ruislip. This was interesting, as it was clearly official advice, rather than my working it out for myself decision.
Chatting to other passengers on the platform at West Ruislip, some of whom were working in the industry, scepticism grew about whether any of the timetabled/retimetabled trains would actually materialise at West Ruislip. The National Rail website was still showing the 17:20 if you looked up a journey, but it was missing from RTT, so I was sceptical too. Several passengers decided to return to Marylebone by the tube (wisely, as it turned out). I suggested that that given Chiltern had been directing people to travel to West Ruislip, surely the trains now coming out of London would stop there to pick people up. Their experience in the industry suggested this was wishful thinking, and they were right.
With the situation looking uncertain, the weather worsening and there being absolutely no information at the station, four of us all travelling to Haddenham shared an Uber, which was £15 each. Other passengers also took matters into their own hands and arranged taxis.
Based on what I can see from RTT, it looks like not a single Birmingham bound train stopped at West Ruislip after 16:20. Is this correct? Not a single train back to Haddenham did either. I can see one that went to Oxford at 22:54!
I think it's appalling that Chiltern directed people to West Ruislip and then didn't even have any staff on site to manage the situation - they would have known lots of people would have made that journey, many of whom were specifically directed there. I can't help but think these staff knew what was coming and did a runner to avoid managing angry passengers at Ruislip! I understand things go wrong on the railways, but the protocol in place to manage the disruptions/communicate leaves a lot to be desired. It was stressful enough as a fairly experienced and able bodied passenger - for anyone elderly, vulnerable or disabled, it would put you off travelling on the railways for life.
Other observations:
There were no less than four TFL staff at the barriers at Oxford Circus, and none of them had any idea that my Chiltern ticket should allow me through to take the Central Line to West Ruislip "We've been told nothing mate", barked at me while chewing gum; a full 6 hours after the disruption had begun. Their attitude was frankly unhelpful/utterly disinterested - they refused to look at my phone showing the National Rail website which stated tickets would be accepted on the underground. Finally they 'radioed' for confirmation and let me through. This delay probably caused me to miss what turned out to be the last Northbound train out of West Ruislip (the 16:20).
I've travelled to London perhaps 20 times in the last two years. This is now the third time there have been major signalling issues at Marylebone in this time and based on other reports I've read it seems happen to far more often than it should. For two of those occasions, I've seen the disruption in time and driven to Amersham (and caught the Metropolitan line), but yesterday I got fully ensnared. I'm now seriously thinking of just doing the Amersham route by default when it's important I'm not late.
I was on the 09:34 from Haddenham into London. The platform was busy as it was the first off-peak train in half term. The train was only 2 carriages and people were already standing as it pulled in. About 80% of those on the platform managed to squeeze in, but many couldn't board and had to wait for the next one (perhaps lucky them, as it turned out). The train sat at the station for 5 minutes before the driver informed us of issues at Marylebone. We trundled off to Saunderton, where we stopped and the driver reopened the doors to let in fresh air and for people to stretch their legs. I knew we were in for a long delay as I looked up Real Time Trains (RTT) and saw the two trains ahead of us hadn't arrived at London and one was sat at High Wycombe. After a while, we left Saunderton and made it to High Wycombe, where the driver again opened the doors - some people got off to stretch their legs, some got off and gave up. Eventually, we were then told we'd be leaving for West Ruislip and to get the tube into Central London. I arrived at Oxford Circus at 12:40, nearly 2 and a half hours after I was due into Marylebone. Things go wrong, hey ho, but the provision of only 2 carriages for an Oxford-London train made the situation utterly more miserable than it should have been.
For the return journey (starting at 3:40ish from Oxford Circus) I looked up on my phone and saw that the advice was Marylebone was going to be disrupted until 18:00 at the earliest, and then it changed to something along the line of no trains out of Marylebone tonight. I saw from Real Time Trains that services seemed to be starting at West Ruislip, so I made my way back there. I got to West Ruislip, narrowly missing the 16:20 by a couple of minutes, but had seen there was a 17:20 scheduled and later trains, so thought I'd just pop for a pint and wait - no major drama. However, the 17:20 then disappeared from RTT and cancellation signs for other services started appearing on the displays on the platform (the next displayed train was 18:04 to High Wycombe), so I began to get concerned and didn't go for that pint. The only staff member on site was one TFL attendant in the ticket office - she had just been told 'everything is back to normal and trains will be running from London' by a horde of Chiltern Railway Staff who had all apparently just left the station. She was getting swamped with enquiries and I felt sorry for her.
There were lots of other people waiting for trains at West Ruislip (and more arriving with each underground train) - many of whom had actually been to Marylebone and been instructed by Chiltern Railways staff to make their way to West Ruislip. This was interesting, as it was clearly official advice, rather than my working it out for myself decision.
Chatting to other passengers on the platform at West Ruislip, some of whom were working in the industry, scepticism grew about whether any of the timetabled/retimetabled trains would actually materialise at West Ruislip. The National Rail website was still showing the 17:20 if you looked up a journey, but it was missing from RTT, so I was sceptical too. Several passengers decided to return to Marylebone by the tube (wisely, as it turned out). I suggested that that given Chiltern had been directing people to travel to West Ruislip, surely the trains now coming out of London would stop there to pick people up. Their experience in the industry suggested this was wishful thinking, and they were right.
With the situation looking uncertain, the weather worsening and there being absolutely no information at the station, four of us all travelling to Haddenham shared an Uber, which was £15 each. Other passengers also took matters into their own hands and arranged taxis.
Based on what I can see from RTT, it looks like not a single Birmingham bound train stopped at West Ruislip after 16:20. Is this correct? Not a single train back to Haddenham did either. I can see one that went to Oxford at 22:54!
I think it's appalling that Chiltern directed people to West Ruislip and then didn't even have any staff on site to manage the situation - they would have known lots of people would have made that journey, many of whom were specifically directed there. I can't help but think these staff knew what was coming and did a runner to avoid managing angry passengers at Ruislip! I understand things go wrong on the railways, but the protocol in place to manage the disruptions/communicate leaves a lot to be desired. It was stressful enough as a fairly experienced and able bodied passenger - for anyone elderly, vulnerable or disabled, it would put you off travelling on the railways for life.
Other observations:
There were no less than four TFL staff at the barriers at Oxford Circus, and none of them had any idea that my Chiltern ticket should allow me through to take the Central Line to West Ruislip "We've been told nothing mate", barked at me while chewing gum; a full 6 hours after the disruption had begun. Their attitude was frankly unhelpful/utterly disinterested - they refused to look at my phone showing the National Rail website which stated tickets would be accepted on the underground. Finally they 'radioed' for confirmation and let me through. This delay probably caused me to miss what turned out to be the last Northbound train out of West Ruislip (the 16:20).
I've travelled to London perhaps 20 times in the last two years. This is now the third time there have been major signalling issues at Marylebone in this time and based on other reports I've read it seems happen to far more often than it should. For two of those occasions, I've seen the disruption in time and driven to Amersham (and caught the Metropolitan line), but yesterday I got fully ensnared. I'm now seriously thinking of just doing the Amersham route by default when it's important I'm not late.
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