look at the BBC weather page for somewhere in the Midlands... we have lots of sun commencing 6th July and temps up to 27 degrees again, though luckily nothing approaching the 30s in the forecast - yet.
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Heatwave 22-27 June - effect on the UK Railway
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Taplowgreen
Member
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- 9 Mar 2019
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That must be very self affirming for you. Having to fly around thunderstorms
dk1
Veteran Member
Just made a change from the constant rail bashing that’s all. Nothing more, nothing less.
kitchenoven
Member
On an AWC pendolino with over half of the coaches overheating. Entire train has been declassified which is the first time I've seen this happen before on Avanti. Luckily it looks like delay repay will be in my favour so I can at least get some compensation for it despite not being SP or 1st 
tumbledown
Member
To what? Third?
kitchenoven
Member
Yeah I think it's standard throughout. The TM said a spiel about contacting customer support for partial refunds for 1st/SP customers. Honestly some of the carriages are miserable - so warm and humid. The shop has been shut throughout because of the AC failure, but they had lined up bottles of water on the counter for people to take.
dk1
Veteran Member
That just made me chuckle
Thank you.
ronshirt
Member
Used IS45 Exeter to Durham yesterday.
The train was a couple of minutes late at St Davids. The Manchester train had been cancelled so they all piled on ours. 17 mins late at Temple Meads because of 'overcrowding'. The Train Manager told the Manchester contingent that their train would now be starting from this station and would be considerably less crowded. Nobody moved.
The TM stopped at Bristol Parkway for 20 mins and implored people travelling to Gloucester or Cheltenham to transfer to a train in a nearby bay platform. Nobody moved. We are now 31 mins late.
Approaching Cheltenham we are stopped again. There is a points failure ahead and we are routed via Gloucester. We are now 48 mins behind.
On the Cross City line we are stopped again because the train ahead has passed a signal at red. We are told that we might have to reverse and use the Camp Hill line. The line clears but we are now 112 mins behind schedule.
There is a change of crew at New Street and the new TM tells us that he has sent for an engineer to fix the air-conditioning. 20 mins later he tells us that the service in cancelled.
The next train (9 carriages) is already rammed when it arrives 71 mins late but the platform staff manage to cram in most of the passengers from our train. The next train (5 carriages) 54 mins late is also rammed. So we wait for the 17.03.
It left Exeter 3 hours after our original train but it has 9 carriages, quite a few spare seats and the air-conditioning is a thing of beauty. We are finally on our way but we manage to lose 27 mins by the time we get to Durham.
No criticism of XC staff. Considering the conditions they did a good job. And we were warned not to travel. It was 12 hours door to door.
Hey ho.
The train was a couple of minutes late at St Davids. The Manchester train had been cancelled so they all piled on ours. 17 mins late at Temple Meads because of 'overcrowding'. The Train Manager told the Manchester contingent that their train would now be starting from this station and would be considerably less crowded. Nobody moved.
The TM stopped at Bristol Parkway for 20 mins and implored people travelling to Gloucester or Cheltenham to transfer to a train in a nearby bay platform. Nobody moved. We are now 31 mins late.
Approaching Cheltenham we are stopped again. There is a points failure ahead and we are routed via Gloucester. We are now 48 mins behind.
On the Cross City line we are stopped again because the train ahead has passed a signal at red. We are told that we might have to reverse and use the Camp Hill line. The line clears but we are now 112 mins behind schedule.
There is a change of crew at New Street and the new TM tells us that he has sent for an engineer to fix the air-conditioning. 20 mins later he tells us that the service in cancelled.
The next train (9 carriages) is already rammed when it arrives 71 mins late but the platform staff manage to cram in most of the passengers from our train. The next train (5 carriages) 54 mins late is also rammed. So we wait for the 17.03.
It left Exeter 3 hours after our original train but it has 9 carriages, quite a few spare seats and the air-conditioning is a thing of beauty. We are finally on our way but we manage to lose 27 mins by the time we get to Durham.
No criticism of XC staff. Considering the conditions they did a good job. And we were warned not to travel. It was 12 hours door to door.
Hey ho.
I will say that in all my travels on Tuesday with SWR to Southampton, XC back to Bournemouth then SWR again to Weymouth, there were cancellations and delays but the AC was excellent on all three. Even had to put a thin fleece on going up to Southampton!
bad luck!
You have TOCs setting gates to reject entire ticket types under normal conditions.
It's irritating, there again I'm a bit wary of gateline staff not experiencing rejected tickets. This is how you get the all too common situation on TfL where gatelines are left unattended, because "everyone" uses contactless so no one ever needs assistance coupled with management that watches how long gates are in operation like a hawk.
mq90
Member
Scarborough to Hatfield today absolutely seamless. Needed to go back to St Albans but decided on getting LNER 1st class to Stevenage to amount for potential overcrowding and delays and avoid London with engineering works on Thameslink route. Not one train delayed, absolutely spot on. Was really anxious about the whole thing this week (back from a holiday that started well before any talk of heatwave).
1D54
Established Member
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Damned if you do and damned if you don't.. Northern take a decision to cancel 300 services a day in advance and get a right hammering for it by all and sundry. XC seem to have attempted to run services, some have gone well, the ones you never hear about and others have ended in a bad way leaving punters in a right mess... Just an observation by a daily rail traveller who thank goodness doesn't work in the industry.. Could things have been done better this week? Absolutely, but i take comfort in the fact that if the network in this country is so bad (according to some) then western mainland europe is no better
Snow1964
Established Member
This is current info on GWR website (under the banner headline)
Is it reasonable to plan changes, but not allow ticket easements
Changes Thames Valley, to Oxford and Bristol-Salisbury today, but no ticket easements apply today.
Is it reasonable to plan changes, but not allow ticket easements
WelshBluebird
Established Member
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- 14 Jan 2010
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Somewhat of a confusing message go say people who were supposed to travel yesterday can instead travel on Tuesday, but those who were supposed to be travelling today have no flexibility.
Either its fine to travel today, in which case those who were supposed to travel in the week could surely travel today, or it isnt in which case those people due to travel today should have the same flexibility given to them.
Either its fine to travel today, in which case those who were supposed to travel in the week could surely travel today, or it isnt in which case those people due to travel today should have the same flexibility given to them.
Agree, but you seem to miss the fact that the same company Northern, whilst cancelling 300 services on the WEST side today have cancelled very few on the EAST side whilst 1) weather/temperatures on Northern WEST side same as Northern EAST side,also temperatures much lower than last few days (max 27 degrees today) and 2) other operators on the WEST side (in particular Avanti & TPE) who are running on the same metals on the WEST side have also very few cancellations. No consistency but it appears that Northern on the WEST side appear to act very differently and just give up with the slightest excuse as opposed to what happens on the Northern EAST side. This is not the first, second or even third time that Northern WEST side have done this and serious questions need to be asked.
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londonmidland
Established Member
A lot of the weather models are firming up on something exceptional and potentially record breaking. The reason being high pressure being trapped over the UK, with increasingly dry soil conditions, exacerbating temperatures.
Should it get anywhere near what is being predicted, then widespread disruption and even some sort of suspension is possible, given what we’ve seen with this heatwave, which had lower max temperatures.
Lots of posts on social media are now surfacing - take this one for example.
Attachments
Tale of two journeys for my nearest and dearest this week.
Day return journey from West Yorkshire to London on Grand Central went off without a hitch.
Out and back next day journey from West Yorkshire to Norwich has been a clusterfudge in both directions thanks to EMR. Suspect not entirely weather related. They are currently stuck on a local service bus that has been hired to take them between Ely and Grantham.
Day return journey from West Yorkshire to London on Grand Central went off without a hitch.
Out and back next day journey from West Yorkshire to Norwich has been a clusterfudge in both directions thanks to EMR. Suspect not entirely weather related. They are currently stuck on a local service bus that has been hired to take them between Ely and Grantham.
I think I'll take a post about the weather two weeks away on X of all places with a pinch of salt at this point.
More reputable sources that are reaching the 11th now, such as the BBC are saying low 30s, similar temperatures to today. Nowhere near 40s. The Met Office’s long range forecast also supports this, but mentions that it’s uncertain where the high pressure will settle, and therefore how much of an effect there will be.
I’d suggest fuelling internet hysteria based on 12 day-out weather models isn’t a good use of anyone’s time.
Failed Unit
Established Member
Considering Grand Central are using the 180s that is a good story. Have they finally tamed them.
EMR were doing badly yesterday. Not sure which class is worse behaved (170 or 158) but significant cancellations with some routes with very little service.
That's what gives the actions by some TOCs over the last few days so little credibility. Too much seems to be linked either by a more cautious approach by some TOCs than others or oddly linked to TOCs with a history of more challenging agreements with staff. Neither serves the public well.
Magdalen Road
Member
Any idea what GTR will run on the Fen Line from Monday? Ely - KGX - Ely has been no direct trains, change at Cambridge. From KGX* they’ve only been running the 90 min stopper to CBG, so basically it’s an additional hour for travel between KGX - Ely. Luckily I wasn’t working Weds-Fri (phew!) but I have to go in next week.
*the STP - CBG were still running so actually a better bet and connects with the Norwich train. Not sure whether you’d be able to get on, as it’s busy during usual service.
*the STP - CBG were still running so actually a better bet and connects with the Norwich train. Not sure whether you’d be able to get on, as it’s busy during usual service.
Failed Unit
Established Member
They are supposed to be back to normal this week, last week they were really working as normal, running trains from A-B with no consideration for thier passengers.
Well after all the angst, the London-Eurostar-Toulouse trip was binned, on the basis of high likelihood of being marooned in 40C Paris at 10pm. Got refunds for Toulouse sleeper (because cancelled ticket in time rather than because it was cancelled - very hard to determine if it was), and outbound LNER.
I’ve a query about the LNER return journey, because as per LNER policy, it’s a single, and on Monday which will probably be fine, but obviously is no use to me. Do they understand that outbound and inbound tickets, though independent, are actually related?
Also, Eurostar are only offering exchange to a new time, which again is of no use to me. And trying to argue for a refund but expect little. And now just heard the return Eurostar portion has been cancelled, so I *can* get a refund for that ticket. Process though is incoherent. Can’t get from Eurostar as booked by Traineline, who want both booking ref. and transaction id, latter which was unduly difficult to locate. And when entered, Trainline only offers exchange. Presume Eurostar and Trainline not talking to one another? The whole thing is another example of a dislocated system with passengers (well this one) wanting something joined up.
Harrumph.
I’ve a query about the LNER return journey, because as per LNER policy, it’s a single, and on Monday which will probably be fine, but obviously is no use to me. Do they understand that outbound and inbound tickets, though independent, are actually related?
Also, Eurostar are only offering exchange to a new time, which again is of no use to me. And trying to argue for a refund but expect little. And now just heard the return Eurostar portion has been cancelled, so I *can* get a refund for that ticket. Process though is incoherent. Can’t get from Eurostar as booked by Traineline, who want both booking ref. and transaction id, latter which was unduly difficult to locate. And when entered, Trainline only offers exchange. Presume Eurostar and Trainline not talking to one another? The whole thing is another example of a dislocated system with passengers (well this one) wanting something joined up.
Harrumph.
This happened to us on S95 on Wednesday night. It was combined with S98, had about 4 vehicles out of use due to AC failure, entirely declassified, left Euston 30L (plus the 60L for those of us who were booked on S95), lost 43 more by the time we finally got to Carlisle.On an AWC pendolino with over half of the coaches overheating. Entire train has been declassified which is the first time I've seen this happen before on Avanti. Luckily it looks like delay repay will be in my favour so I can at least get some compensation for it despite not being SP or 1st
Standard Premium passengers were moved into First. Obviously people were following the travel advice and staying at home, as there would be no chance of doing this on a normal Wednesday evening.
Full refund for both Avanti journeys this week.
Failed Unit
Established Member
LNER will refund both legs from my experience, I have just pointed out the train I was supposed to travel in the other direction on so as I never got there, the return is no use. They won’t argue.
Sadly Eurostar are really really poor a customer service. Prepare for a long fight, sitting on the phone multiple times for long periods of time. With them quoting things that are not entirely true to fob you off. Virgin can’t come soon enough, not that I care much for Virgin, but Eurostar treat passengers really badly so competition could be a good thing for them to respect who ultimately keeps them in business.
Haywain
Veteran Member
- Joined
- 3 Feb 2013
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- 24,480
Yes.
Well as of by magic I’ve just had two emails confirming refunds of both tickets. Well done LNER. Will gird myself for the Eurostar fight.
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