bramling
Veteran Member
The Northern Line problem in the end was put down to a power issue, interference from a substation via the traction supply. Only after LU replaced virtually all the signalling equipment in the area!
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Experiences of service recovery (or lack of) on GTR Great Northern
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The Northern Line problem in the end was put down to a power issue, interference from a substation via the traction supply. Only after LU replaced virtually all the signalling equipment in the area!
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R
RailUK Forums
In my experience on the MML, skip stopping works 90% of the time.
Magdalen Road
Member
Yesterday‘s afternoon and evening service affected by a broken freight train at Stevenage. 14 mins 20 secs late at Ely.
Disruption continued this morning. We stopped at Baldock for awhile (unscheduled) and the driver intercom was so badly crackling we had no idea what he was saying. 18 mins late, late for work again.
Disruption continued this morning. We stopped at Baldock for awhile (unscheduled) and the driver intercom was so badly crackling we had no idea what he was saying. 18 mins late, late for work again.
The broken-down train wasn't moved until around 6am this morning and the up lines were shut until then.
My final post for this timetable of the 4-week performance figures.
(table showing very poor performance of evening peak Kings Cross to Ely services)
They didn't exactly improve over the year, even though they eventually seemed to mostly sort out the impact of the Letchworth terminators. For comparison, here were the figures from back in February
(table showing the same services in February, with little difference to current)
All change next week, to a timetable that most of us expect to deliver even worse performance! I guess we'll see.
(table showing very poor performance of evening peak Kings Cross to Ely services)
They didn't exactly improve over the year, even though they eventually seemed to mostly sort out the impact of the Letchworth terminators. For comparison, here were the figures from back in February
(table showing the same services in February, with little difference to current)
All change next week, to a timetable that most of us expect to deliver even worse performance! I guess we'll see.
Magdalen Road
Member
Five trains so far. Four late. One mysteriously self opening inter carriage door.
Toilet not working in the carriage for 2 journeys. Mentioned to ticket inspector on journey 4, who had also noted it's non functional status on an earlier trip the same day. Pleased to say on journey 5 that it's fixed.
Toilet not working in the carriage for 2 journeys. Mentioned to ticket inspector on journey 4, who had also noted it's non functional status on an earlier trip the same day. Pleased to say on journey 5 that it's fixed.
For the evening peak Kings Cross to Ely trains, punctuality at Ely for the first three days:
- 1T48 (1718 off KGX) : 6 late, 10 late, 8 late
- 1T50 (1748 off KGX) : 21 late, 13 late, 2 late
- 1T52 (1818 off KGX) : Cancelled, 21 late, 9 late
- 1T54 (1848 off KGX) : 10 late, 8 late, 12 late
So zero on time. 1 out of 12 arrived within 5 minutes of when it was supposed to do so.
Overall, not a great start!
- 1T48 (1718 off KGX) : 6 late, 10 late, 8 late
- 1T50 (1748 off KGX) : 21 late, 13 late, 2 late
- 1T52 (1818 off KGX) : Cancelled, 21 late, 9 late
- 1T54 (1848 off KGX) : 10 late, 8 late, 12 late
So zero on time. 1 out of 12 arrived within 5 minutes of when it was supposed to do so.
Overall, not a great start!
bramling
Veteran Member
Definitely not a great start when on all three days there hasn’t been a massive amount go wrong.
The Cambridge stopping services seem better, as predicted. What this timetable has done is concentrate all the vulnerability on to the Fen Line services. As ever, the root cause of the problem is the Hitchin-Cambridge section, and in particular the random imported delays which the Brighton-Cambridge service delivers.
I see the Fen Line suffered a points failure this morning which caused significant disruption. With the previous service pattern we’d have seen the stopping service badly affected as a knock-on. Today it has been largely unscathed so far.
With the new timetable and the poor punctuality, I can actually make the (invalid) connection off the 0941 arrival from Harwich International onto the 0945 to Kings Lynn at Cambridge. The poor punctuality is a bonus as I wont have to rush so much 
I have checked the data on RTT, the number of these delays caused by imported delays from Thameslink was zero. 11 of the 12 relevant Thameslink trains were within 5 minutes of time at Hitchin, the exception was 9S42 on Monday which was held to allow 1T48 to overtake.
The 2 worst delays, 1T50 on Monday and 1T52 on Tuesday, were both late starts from Kings Cross.
One factor that nobody is considering is that the new timetable is currently being run with the old signalling on the approach to Cambridge. The new signalling should be operational in January.
Nicholas Lewis
Established Member
Hows the new signalling going to help? In an unchanged layout like Cambridge they apply latest standards and likley find things will become more restrictive. Or is this improving the speed at Shepreth Branch Jcn in Down direction?
There is a small but critical tweak to the layout at Cambridge. The biggest gain will be at the south end of Cambridge station where a short section of new track will mean that up departures from platform 8 will no longer be conflicting movements with down arrivals into platform 7 or down arrivals into platform 4 via the through road. At the moment down arrivals going into platform 7 or into platform 4 via the through road are having to queue up outside if there is an up departure from platform 8.
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Indeed - the plan has been varied for the first few days to allow for this but the situation will be improved when it’s commissioned.
The thinning out was a particular dietary requirement for the Kings Lynn service with the following departures cancelled from Kings Cross - 1648, 1718, 1748 and 1818.
jammmmmsssssss
Member
I was on 1T48 yesterday and it was on time until Cambridge, where the detachment took ages, so we ended up leaving 6 mins late. Having looked at RTT for the other trains that have a detachment at Cambridge, it seems very common for it to take way longer than scheduled. This could be because of the 379s
I got on that at Cambridge North, after waiting a long time in the cold wind wondering why it was taking so long to leave Cambridge
I know we haven't had a lot of splitting 379s until this week, but (he asked naively!) isn't it basically the same as splitting 387s?
Most of the new track is already visible on Google satellite view.
At Horsham, splitting 377s seems to be very quick, with doors released again almost immediately. Attaching is much more of a faff with typically 90 seconds between attachment and the doors on the new longer formation being released.I got on that at Cambridge North, after waiting a long time in the cold wind wondering why it was taking so long to leave Cambridge
I know we haven't had a lot of splitting 379s until this week, but (he asked naively!) isn't it basically the same as splitting 387s?
The track is all done, apart from little bits of point switches deliberately left out, but it needs the changes to the signalling that will hopefully get completed over Christmas and New Year.
jammmmmsssssss
Member
I was right by the cab, and it took until after the scheduled departure time for someone to call on the phone thing and say that they had locked out that unit and were disconnecting it. About two minutes later, the same person called again to say that the detachment was complete. So it seems that the detachment itself didn't take that long, but the locking out of the carriages took ages. Also, the train listed the stops about five times during our stay at Cambridge, leading to the man opposite me getting very annoyedI got on that at Cambridge North, after waiting a long time in the cold wind wondering why it was taking so long to leave Cambridge
I know we haven't had a lot of splitting 379s until this week, but (he asked naively!) isn't it basically the same as splitting 387s?
At least you knew where the train was going,
When the 365s used to split with front 4 coaches going on to Kings Lynn the rear unit often formed another service going back to Kings Cross. So just saying this service is for Kings Lynn or Kings Cross could be confusing for visitors who may end up in the wrong portion.
It's not exactly service *recovery*, but this year GN have kindly extended their usual 'between Christmas and New Year' trick - running a reduced weekday service but still charging peak prices - to today onwards as well. These are normal working days for a good number of people, so reducing the service (without explicitly mentioning it anywhere I've noticed, unless you happened to look at GN's website or Twitter feed) seems rather off. There's nothing on NRE about this and indeed little on GN's website other than the usual fob-off of 'consult a journey planner'.
I think passengers are entitled to expect a full service to be running on a normal working Monday when there is no engineering work and a whole three days left until Christmas. But then its GN, and we all know they don't care less.
I think passengers are entitled to expect a full service to be running on a normal working Monday when there is no engineering work and a whole three days left until Christmas. But then its GN, and we all know they don't care less.
Intercity_225
Member
I was wondering why I saw a Peterborough fast through Welwyn at 10am!
Magdalen Road
Member
I noticed those tweets as well, whilst looking for an explanation of why the 1524 KGX - KLN was terminating short at Ely today. “Amended timetable” it says on RTT. Really poor. Place your bets for how successful tomorrow’s commute will be.
To be fair, if my trains at peak time today were anything to go by, the reduced service was more than adequate for the number of passengers travelling.
Interestingly, GA have lost their London terminus between Christmas and the start of next year, yet their service is still intended to be the full service (bar Hertford East and Liverpool Street for obvious reasons). Maybe GN is facing a staffing issue over this period? Better to cut the services than have on-the-day cancellations day-after-day.