First Group Vandals!

[Bald Rick]

I understand that units need time out for maintenance. But given that FCC boast of 12-car peak services do they really need to reduce them to 4-car off peak giving them 2/3rds of the fleet to maintain in the off peak. Bit simplistic arithmetic I know. I suspect that many of the off-peak units will be sat in sidings doing nothing rather than being in a depot being maintained. So the only argument is that the units doing nothing are not clocking up wear and tear requiring more maintenance.

But in the case of FCC they do seem to drastically reduce their capacity for the off peak. A solution to peak time overcrowding is for passengers to travel off peak as I do but FCC do not seem to agree with this. If I look at the Southern services they are nowhere near as overcrowded off peak. Regarding FCC I struggle to get in the coach off-peak but on Southern I am merely looking for a seat.

I do agree that FCC have been somewhat strangled by the DFT but surely this does not need to so drastically reduce capacity off peak.

FCC don't drastically reduce capacity off peak. There are only 4 x 12 coach trains on the TL side each peak; 3 southbound and one northbound am, vice versa pm. Indeed there are more 4 coach services than 12s in the peak.

The diagrams are such that if the 12 car stayed as such all day it would be in the wrong place for the pm peak. So some of them have to be split and stabled so that they are in the right place later in the day.

I also think you are unlucky if you keep catching 4 cars off peak. I will be corrected, but roughly only 1 in 4 Bedford Brightons are 4 car off peak on average, with the rest 8s. Same applies Saturdays.

 

[samuelmorris]

If I'm honest I got the same impression when I've used City Thameslink, it does seem like a lot more than 1 in 4 Brighton services are 4-cars. Perhaps I too was unlucky. That said, it's not that often I even have to stand off-peak, let alone struggle to fit on the train, so I wouldn't say I've ever had a 4-car desperately wishing it was an 8. What I would like really is a higher tph off peak, which presumably the Thameslink programme will deliver. For convenience I sake I find myself using City Thameslink to London Bridge like a tube line. It's great for not having to negotiate Bank near the buildup to peak times, even if the journey is slower, but not when you have to wait 14 minutes having just missed a train. Of course, you can't do this during the actual peak, and I won't be able to do it at all for a couple of years during the LBG refit, but there you go.

I appreciate the complexity of Thameslink, but it will surely get a lot worse once all the other route permutations get added in a few years and, if I'm honest, I find the punctuality of Thameslink at the moment very poor, by far the worst of any lines I use. I would place trains running within 3 minutes of schedule at around 40% (with a sample size of about 30), and trains running within 15 minutes of schedule at only around 80%. Even when I'm not delayed, there are numerous trains that are. On more than 1 occasion I decided to abort the journey at Blackfriars.

I do worry how higher tph and more complex pathing is going to impact the already mediocre punctuality of the service, because for the line to work in the way it's going to be intended, that's got to improve.

</tangent>

I miss the NSE murals, somewhat. That said, they hark back to a time that's long gone, so perhaps they don't belong there in the 2010s? Who knows.

 

[Class377/5]

Of course there are those that view the First group livery as graffiti. But that does not justify scribbling over the livery. The murals may not be to everyones taste - I would prefer something better. BUT I think it says something that some one/corporation just slaps a frame over part of the murals. Replacing/removing the murals is one thing but just slapping ones own stuff over part of them is poor.

I understand that units need time out for maintenance. But given that FCC boast of 12-car peak services do they really need to reduce them to 4-car off peak giving them 2/3rds of the fleet to maintain in the off peak. Bit simplistic arithmetic I know. I suspect that many of the off-peak units will be sat in sidings doing nothing rather than being in a depot being maintained. So the only argument is that the units doing nothing are not clocking up wear and tear requiring more maintenance.

If the demand is there for trains/carriages then it should be met. After all passengers are paying for the service. This is a problem over most of the UK in the peak so lots of the same old complaints/arguments/justifications apply. But in the case of FCC they do seem to drastically reduce their capacity for the off peak. A solution to peak time overcrowding is for passengers to travel off peak as I do but FCC do not seem to agree with this. If I look at the Southern services they are nowhere near as overcrowded off peak. Regarding FCC I struggle to get in the coach off-peak but on Southern I am merely looking for a seat.

I do agree that FCC have been somewhat strangled by the DFT but surely this does not need to so drastically reduce capacity off peak.

The murals are not that important. I just don't see why you have to keep going on about them especially as your accuse First when you don't actually know who put them there. Seems a easy way to bash for your other perceived issues.

I think you need to realise that in peak the Bedford - Brighton services are 2tph and on the off peak its 4tph. More trains mean they have to be shorter.

I also find it funny you complain that you always get 4 cars yet you've never used the off peak 12 car that is provided.

Your comments over 2/3rd of the fleet isn't used off peak is rather off the mark by some way. Way off. Also that some units are given to Southeastern who stable them (the same happens at the weekend further reducing the maintenance window) so your only accusing one TOC not all the users of the 319s.

The basic fact is that the whole link to Sevenoaks was done in a way that's not completely efficient but there is simply not enough units to run what you expect. As for your comments over the DfT you do realise that the DfT set the agenda not the TOC?

As someone who goes up and down the Brighton line every day at off peak times I just don't see your comments are fair especially as I regular see spares seats on departing East Croydon. Of course ignoring the fact that the stations between Brighton and Three bridges are only served by FCC off peak where as the Southern Brighton - Victoria trains are first top East Croydon might go some way to explaining why you see Southern trains emptier compared the actual local service provided only by FCC.

 

[Lockwood]

I was at City Thameslink for the first time a few weeks back.
When I was up near the ticket halls, I was amazed at how NSE-y it still seemed in parts. I can't remember what it was that made me get a nostalgic feeling, but there was something there about it.