ECML disruption: Darlington - Edinburgh due to various issues(10/08)

[800001]

Er, no.

I asked them on Twitter/X and they’ve said that if the train tomorrow runs on time, there is no entitlement to delay repay

I’ve expressed my surprise at this and asked them how being delayed a whole day through no fault of my own means I’m not delayed if tomorrow’s train runs on time. Let’s see what they say to that

EDIT

They’ve replied saying that if I claimed DR for a train tomorrow that ran on time it would automatically be rejected, so what I actually need to do is claim a full refund for the delays today.

I despair

Even that advice is wrong, as we all
Know you do not claim for a refund on a ticket when you have travelled.

Best thing to do is once you have travelled tomorrow, email customers@lner.co.uk, with your original travel plans, a copy of there advice for today and what you actually travelled on.

 

[SuspectUsual]

Even that advice is wrong, as we all
Know you do not claim for a refund on a ticket when you have travelled

Yeah, I know. I pointed this out to whoever works their Twitter, and got a reply that failed to acknowledge their previous poor advice, and gave me a customer services phone number and told me they take up to 10 days to reply!!

 

[Twingo37175]

To complete the day, now looks like an issue at Grantham with 2 southbound and 5 northbound services at a stand. Never rains etc etc

 

[800001]

To complete the day, now looks like an issue at Grantham with 2 southbound and 5 northbound services at a stand. Never rains etc etc

Trespass incident between Newark and Grantham.

I think it has now been nearly the whole route that has had an issue today.

 

[GordonT]

I think it has now been nearly the whole route that has had an issue today.

Hoping for boring normality on the ECML tomorrow as I seek to travel between Kirkcaldy and Chesterfield via York.

 

[duffield]

Hoping for boring normality on the ECML tomorrow as I seek to travel between Kirkcaldy and Chesterfield via York.

My impression is that 95%+ of the serious problems occurring at the weekend are usually either sorted or worked round by Monday rush hour.

 

[sigma421]

How did you get on? Was going to suggest travelling via the Settle / Carlisle line, but think you'd already left Leeds by then.

Eventually made it 3 hours late. There was a not very heavily advertised CrossCountry train out of Newcastle that left with half the seats empty (again, the oh the ground comms game wasn’t the best) at around 1440. Eventually got to Dundee about 4 hours later than billed.

Delay repay has gone in and LNER has immediately bounced it to CrossCountry, which I don’t understand as there were no XC services on my original itinerary. Will see what happens.

 

[RGM654]

Eventually made it 3 hours late. There was a not very heavily advertised CrossCountry train out of Newcastle that left with half the seats empty (again, the oh the ground comms game wasn’t the best) at around 1440. Eventually got to Dundee about 4 hours later than billed.

Delay repay has gone in and LNER has immediately bounced it to CrossCountry, which I don’t understand as there were no XC services on my original itinerary. Will see what happens.

I had a claim once where the TOC where the delay occurred (although the actual cause was a lineside fire, not caused by a steam loco) bounced it to the TOC whose connection I missed. We did get it sorted out eventually.

 

[sigma421]

I had a claim once where the TOC where the delay occurred (although the actual cause was a lineside fire, not caused by a steam loco) bounced it to the TOC whose connection I missed. We did get it sorted out eventually.

The best explanation I can come up with is that the XC services eventually got on was 10 mins late, causing me to miss a ScotRail connection I could’ve maybe picked up under other circumstances. Still feels all since the thing was kicked off by LNER cancelling the train (obviously the whole thing is at heart, a line issue) but we shall see!

 

[NorthOxonian]

To complete the day, now looks like an issue at Grantham with 2 southbound and 5 northbound services at a stand. Never rains etc etc

Yes... it was quite chaotic getting home as I had to change at York (my TPE didn't run) and waited over an hour there, getting home at near enough 1am. I don't know whether I'm claiming delay repay from LNER or TPE but certainly it'll have been over the hour's threshold for 100% of a single.

 

[mike57]

Delay repay has gone in and LNER has immediately bounced it to CrossCountry, which I don’t understand as there were no XC services on my original itinerary. Will see what happens.

Off topic, but delay repay is another area where you should not be having to 'do the rounds' of various ToCs. GBR should take responsibility, pay if you were delayed and then backcharge if appropriate thats up to them, as all farebox revenue now goes to the exchequer anyway.

 

[Intercity_225]

Another day of disruption due to a points failure at Stevenage. Southbound services delayed by 60-75 minutes. Can the ECML ever catch a break?!

 

[Signal Head]

All of this are we or aren't we accepting this ticket or that ticket really does stink of bureaucratic crap on the part of the railway.

Just. Get. People. Moving.

I was on an AWC Edinburgh - London yesterday. I knew nothing of the disruption and thought it strange that just prior to departure there appeared a steady stream of passengers boarding, or attempting to do so.

All was revealed when the TM made an announcement regarding the overcrowding and stated that whilst he didn't know if acceptance was in place, he wasn't going to ask anyone with LNER or TPE tickets to leave the train, or to require to purchase a new ticket, and in fact he couldn't get through the train to do revenue checks anyway (only a 9 car set, so pretty much rammed).

Looking on NRE a short time showed that acceptance was apparently in place, but a later announcement approaching Carstairs explained that it had been withdrawn once LNER had arranged replacement transport. Despite this, NRE disruption page continued to state that acceptance was in place

So was it AWC who withdrew it of their own accord, or LNER telling them it was no longer required (and/or they wouldn't be accepting any costs for it)?

I have no idea how this works in the privatised world, but seeing as the problems were all infrastructure-based, wouldn't any costs have ended up with NR anyway?

Fair play to the AWC TM, in acting like he's part of a unified railway and prioritising helping people get where they were going with the minimum disruption possible.

 

[eastcoast77]

Obviously a very difficult day on the ECML but it was nice to see LNER trying their hardest despite this. Saw some onboard catering hosts and staff from parts of the company redeployed to Newcastle to get help reassure passengers.

 

[sigma421]

Fair play to the AWC TM, in acting like he's part of a unified railway and prioritising helping people get where they were going with the minimum disruption possible.

In those situations, nobody is on the AWC train on an LNER or TPE ticket because they're trying to beat the system or underpay their fare. They're trying to get where they want to be and will probably be hours late. Fair play to the TM for seeing it that way.

 

[800Travel]

Yeah, I know. I pointed this out to whoever works their Twitter, and got a reply that failed to acknowledge their previous poor advice, and gave me a customer services phone number and told me they take up to 10 days to reply!!

Did you call customer services to query please? Interested to know what they said - I agree you should receive delay repay.

 

[Class 170101]

LNER have now posted a do not travel message for the entire network

https://x.com/LNER/status/1954480135005941946?t=eWAhY26D86_MicSSXgBw8Q&s=19

Which seems bizzare as most of the big disruption was north of York

 

[ainsworth74]

Which seems bizzare as most of the big disruption was north of York

Just the nature of the operation though really. If they can't run north of York (or at least not reliably) then you'll end up with crews and units all over the place which means that services south of York, including Leeds (which does have interworking with main ECML), will inevitably get disrupted.

I was at Kings Cross around 1730ish and there were several Leeds services that were disrupted awaiting units to make it south to go back north again for example.

 

[800001]

Which seems bizzare as most of the big disruption was north of York

Because half the services which operate south of York require Newcastle crews, half the units stuck north of York which massively affects the service.

Deal with people who are travelling; and the do not travel message is to try and limit demand.

 

[SuspectUsual]

Did you call customer services to query please? Interested to know what they said - I agree you should receive delay repay.

I didn’t have the energy to wait in a queue and then spend ages explaining something really simple multiple times. I had visions of them just saying “but the train you were on was on time”

So I’ve emailed customer services with all the details including “I arrived more than one day late” in bold red capital letters

No reply yet, obviously

 

[800Travel]

I didn’t have the energy to wait in a queue and then spend ages explaining something really simple multiple times. I had visions of them just saying “but the train you were on was on time”

So I’ve emailed customer services with all the details including “I arrived more than one day late” in bold red capital letters

No reply yet, obviously

Probably the best approach. Do please let us know how you get on

 

[TUC]

There are some lengthy diversions here according to LNER. Liverpool St to Peterborough via Cambridge?
View attachment 186037
Image shows LNER map with alternative routes including Liverpool St to Peterborough via Cambridge taking 2½hours

It would be good if the map had a statement below it confirming ticket acceptance on all the routes shown.

 

[merry]

It would be good if the map had a statement below it confirming ticket acceptance on all the routes shown.

For ECML, routing guide has (IIRC) Cambridge/Ely as generally a valid route from the London routing group to Peterborough. Obviously only applies to semi- or fully- flexible tickets that don't explicitly prohibit the route.