Greater Anglia Good and Bad Discussion

[TheNewNo2]

The station names thing is stupid but I visited Theobald's Grove station last week, didn't use the train but the network rail poster outside also spells it wrong (Theobolds) - if I had to hazard a guess I'd say the sign is wrong for the same reason. Might be LO's fault but I'm not certain.

As for 'messing up and cancelling loads of trains' - not exactly true. I went over the stats for tfl rail yesterday in fine detail and the only two cancellations (both only part cancellations) seemed to tie in with even bigger delays on Abellio services sharing the same line. For performance figures it was a disappointing day, but far from the disaster you suggest.
If I'm totally honest it sounds like you're just trying to make a counter viewpoint to Ian rather than sticking with factual info. Demonising the TOC it is hoped will right Abellio's wrongs does not make you any better than demonising Abellio.

That no one checked the sign before they put it up is pretty shoddy, whoever did it.

As for TfL Rail, no one said TfL Rail had a bad day, they said the new Overground lines did. As I lost £2.70 to a cancelled train from staff shortages, it clearly was not a good day for LO.

 

[scott118]

AGA are also guilty of, not proof reading...anybody read the red signs on their 153/156 units?


--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/train_d...into_railway_bridge_outside_norwich_1_4094979

Delays of up to 40 minutes are expected after the accident between Whitlingham and Trowse.

It will affect the Norwich to Lowestoft, Great Yarmouth and Sheringham line and Abellio Greater Anglia have said there could be some cancellations.

Bus companies are accepting train tickets.

Greater Anglia said six rail replacement buses were being sent to Norwich.

 

[90sWereBetter]

Obviously that boat was being driven by the Abellio management. They're worse than ISIS and climate change! Strip 'em of their franchise forthwith, and send all the top brass to the gulags!

 

[dk1]

It wasn't even a big flipping boat!!! Must have been either due to emergency services on railway property or a complete overreaction as is too often the case these days.

 

[Dave1987]

The station names thing is stupid but I visited Theobald's Grove station last week, didn't use the train but the network rail poster outside also spells it wrong (Theobolds) - if I had to hazard a guess I'd say the sign is wrong for the same reason. Might be LO's fault but I'm not certain.

As for 'messing up and cancelling loads of trains' - not exactly true. I went over the stats for tfl rail yesterday in fine detail and the only two cancellations (both only part cancellations) seemed to tie in with even bigger delays on Abellio services sharing the same line. For performance figures it was a disappointing day, but far from the disaster you suggest.
If I'm totally honest it sounds like you're just trying to make a counter viewpoint to Ian rather than sticking with factual info. Demonising the TOC it is hoped will right Abellio's wrongs does not make you any better than demonising Abellio.

Today is where things really matter, when the service is unimpeded by AGA track sharing and when passenger volume is high. Of course, you should know as well as we do you can't turn around any issue with an incumbent in just one day, that goes for almost any industry, not just the railways.

As much as I respect your point of view as it does seem to be quite balanced, has today not shown you that Ian Edwards/Delayed_again merely has a vendetta against AGA rather than wanting to improve the service? Seems to be defending TFL but attacking AGA yet they were both affected by the same issues today.

 

[jon0844]

Their problems (TfL) are simply down to all the years of neglect...

But even if that was/is true, surely you wouldn't then turn a blind eye to all the issues you moaned about before?

 

[samuelmorris]

I don't know about a vendetta per se, anti-Abellio certainly but look at the two posts above yours. The ridicule originating from this thread is pretty extreme at times. Abellio were given a watchful eye in their first months and allowed to take time to sort out problems left over from NXEA - apart from the shameful livery didn't seem to be doing a bad job but latterly things have been pretty mediocre to say the least.
TfL are likewise being given a similar grace period to show whether they can put things right or whether they'll fall into the same rut. Obviously it takes time to rectify things as complex as a railway franchise so we'll just have to wait and see. Network rail or passenger related issues are no more a stick to beat the new TOC with than any other. It's down to communication (which I'm not hopeful about) and customer service and rolling stock maintenance (which I am hopeful about l). Lower fares of course they've already delivered on.

The TOC don't have a licence to get away with anything in the coming months but people need to bear in mind what they inherited. Abellio have had ample time to up their game and have not done so. TfL can hardly be expected to fix it all in 2 days. If by the autumn things are no better, then it's fair to give them hell for it. Hopefully that won't come to pass.

 

[Dave1987]

I don't know about a vendetta per se, anti-Abellio certainly but look at the two posts above yours. The ridicule originating from this thread is pretty extreme at times. Abellio were given a watchful eye in their first months and allowed to take time to sort out problems left over from NXEA - apart from the shameful livery didn't seem to be doing a bad job but latterly things have been pretty mediocre to say the least.
TfL are likewise being given a similar grace period to show whether they can put things right or whether they'll fall into the same rut. Obviously it takes time to rectify things as complex as a railway franchise so we'll just have to wait and see. Network rail or passenger related issues are no more a stick to beat the new TOC with than any other. It's down to communication (which I'm not hopeful about) and customer service and rolling stock maintenance (which I am hopeful about l). Lower fares of course they've already delivered on.

The TOC don't have a licence to get away with anything in the coming months but people need to bear in mind what they inherited. Abellio have had ample time to up their game and have not done so. TfL can hardly be expected to fix it all in 2 days. If by the autumn things are no better, then it's fair to give them hell for it. Hopefully that won't come to pass.

Again I totally respect you view point and see where you are coming from but would point you to the fact that IE/DA does seem to be on the war path against AGA and only them.

For example AGA tweeted that there were delays due to issues with disruptive passengers on a TFL train at Goodmayes. 2 min earlier TFL had tweeted that 'there were no current issues', so the AGA haters started tweeting that AGA were lying and using TFL to cover up their hapless service. 30 mins later TFL tweeted that there were delays through Goodmayes due to disruptive passengers. There was no attacking TFL for the fact they were 30 mins behind in the information stream and that it was a TFL train that was causing the delay, and that the AGA stream was correct and incorrectly attacked by the AGA haters.

What would you say to this? Surely this shows they are merely on the warpath against AGA?

 

[SPADTrap]

Again I totally respect you view point and see where you are coming from but would point you to the fact that IE/DA does seem to be on the war path against AGA and only them.

For example AGA tweeted that there were delays due to issues with disruptive passengers on a TFL train at Goodmayes. 2 min earlier TFL had tweeted that 'there were no current issues', so the AGA haters started tweeting that AGA were lying and using TFL to cover up their hapless service. 30 mins later TFL tweeted that there were delays through Goodmayes due to disruptive passengers. There was no attacking TFL for the fact they were 30 mins behind in the information stream and that it was a TFL train that was causing the delay, and that the AGA stream was correct and incorrectly attacked by the AGA haters.

What would you say to this? Surely this shows they are merely on the warpath against AGA?

Good luck to them I say, we carry on with our lives while they drive themselves to what looks like a mental breakdown with a twitter feed that looks to be ruling at least one persons life, talk about breaking their backs the hard way!

 

[Dave1987]

Good luck to them I say, we carry on with our lives while they drive themselves to what looks like a mental breakdown with a twitter feed that looks to be ruling at least one persons life, talk about breaking their backs the hard way!

Indeed, in fact I would go as far as to say that the more they defend TFL on the metro's the less people will take them seriously as they will be defending exactly what they claimed was inexcusable when AGA were running them. Certainly would seem to be the only thing they do, they are on Twitter constantly.

 

[bicbasher]

I seem to remember that LOROL had similar problems with the NLL/WLL/DC in the early days of the Silverlink takeover.

It was to be expected, although they need to work on providing the one service AGA was good at, social media communication.

 

[36270k]

Travelled on 4 AGA trains today.
2 - Class 170
2 - Class 153

All were right time.

 

[TheEdge]

Travelled on 4 AGA trains today.
2 - Class 170
2 - Class 153

All were right time.

You were no where near Norwich then. Midday service thrown into disarray when someone managed to get a boat wedged under a bridge!! Probably the best reason I've seen for cancellations for a long time!

 

[jon0844]

DOR would have had the boat sorted in no time.

Edit: I'm now getting slated by some random guy. Woo-hoo!!

"how long have you been an abellio mafia employee? Is it #workfare by chance? @boycottworkfare"

"you certainly sound like you have a crush on ga abellio mafia rats"

"train fetishists scare me"

"I take it the #bedbugs didn't bite?"

All re-tweeted by delayed_again of course!

 

[oliMw]

I'm sure the bridge strike was all the fault of AGA

 

[hassaanhc]

I'm sure the bridge strike was all the fault of AGA

Don't you know it was an AGA sponsored move in order to deliberately cause disruption to passengers?

But yes, I generally agree with the comments about him being on a witchhunt against AGA.

I've always been impressed by the amount of info AGA put out during disruption. TfL on the other hand? Forget it. It is pretty well known (on forums anyway) that they mislead with "Good Service" messages when the service is anything but. And also with the actual reasons, like one last month or so on the Circle Line where "operational restrictions" turned out to be a shortage of drivers. Now people will experience it on this line too. But hey, it is TfL so everything is now ok right? I wonder how this change of the amount of info will compare to the FCC > GTR move last year?

 

[samuelmorris]

TfL did what they had to do this morning - there were minor delays and they advertised them as minor delays. I didn't see delays go much above 10-15, which qualifies as 'minor'. Meanwhile AGA services at the same time were 30+ late on regular occasions. I know why, that's not just a stick to beat them with but even though TfL's customer communication is minimal, they did the necessary today, just nothing above and beyond.

Bear in mind if the service is reliable, there's no need for information on service disruption to be broadcast
TfL policy is not to specify individual cancelled trains and TfL Rail is no different - they even specifically state that on the twitter feed. They've responded to around 100 general query tweets so it's not like they're doing nothing.

I agree that when dealing with sub-10tph services not mentioning individual cancelled services is unfortunate and unnecessary, but I fully expected this really, based on how their other services are run. Once you get into that mentality it's largely fine, it's really down to how many delays actually occur from this point.

 

[jon0844]

Perhaps AGA needs to say it will stop giving detailed information too!

 

[43074]

Shortlist for next franchise announced

Shortlist includes:

• Abellio East Anglia Trains Limited (an Abellio/Stagecoach 60/40 consortium)
• National Express East Anglia Trains Limited
• First East Anglia Limited

 

[LAX54]

It wasn't even a big flipping boat!!! Must have been either due to emergency services on railway property or a complete overreaction as is too often the case these days.

Network Rail have their rules about bridge bashes, does not make a difference if its wet or dry ! anyway this one was wedged tight so must have given a fir thump! and part of the decking I think is wooden,

 

[jopsuk]

Shortlist for next franchise announced

Shortlist includes:

• Abellio East Anglia Trains Limited (an Abellio/Stagecoach 60/40 consortium)
• National Express East Anglia Trains Limited
• First East Anglia Limited

An interesting list. NX back for another go. The Abellio/Stagecoach joint venture is a new development

 

[dk1]

Network Rail have their rules about bridge bashes, does not make a difference if its wet or dry ! anyway this one was wedged tight so must have given a fir thump! and part of the decking I think is wooden,

Well above the ironwork the boat was very attatched to. Wood as far as i am aware is only for walking. The similar bridge at the other end of the island nearer Crown Point caught fire a few years back again as a result of a boating incident. It's just following all the disruption & hype, to see it was pathetic.

 

[george.h]

Here are a few (mostly negative I'm afraid) comments from my experiences with Abellio Greater Anglia.

My typical journey is Chelmsford to East India DLR. Most days but not enough to justify a season ticket. I also generally am able to travel in the Off-Peak period due to work flexibility. This makes my usual ticket an Off-Peak Day Return to Zones 2/3.

My gripes are these:

1. For a very long time if I wanted to be sure of getting the first off-peak train (the 9:26) I had to buy my ticket from the ticket office. The ticket machines don't sell them before about 9:22.

2. Due to queues (staffing issues for a LONG time) in the morning this is easier if I buy the day before. However I still couldn't buy them from a machine. I STILL had queue up at the (understaffed) ticket office.

After a LONG exchange of views with Jamie Burles via both the GA complaints procedures and also via Simon Burns MP they have FINALLY added the ability to buy tickets from the machines for travel on the following day -YIPEE, for all of a few seconds.

First - tickets for travel the following day are ONLY available AFTER 4pm. Why? This makes no sense to me at all. It is actually a damned inconvenience. I checked on Sunday and on the card only machines you could be forgiven for thinking they DON'T sell tickets for the following day, EVER. The option just vanishes.

Second - the card only machines would sell me range of tickets to travel to Zones 2-3. In fact up until the cash/card machines had the "next day" facility added, I could buy almost any EXCEPT an Off Peak Day Return? Bizarre.

Third - the cash/card machines only offer to sell Anytime tickets for the next day... Hmmmm.. Meanwhile the range of tickets offered by the card only machines has actually been reduced! They used to have at least seven, definitely an odd number (the two columns of ticket types of different lengths), and now there only six. Added to that the interface on the two types of machines are not even consistent with each other!

All I want to be able to do is buy the ticket I need the day before without having to queue at the ticket office. But NO. GA management it seems do not want that.

So what have GA said? I should add that I've also made numerous detailed comments to GA about the terrible user interface on the machines and how it actually discourages people from using them. I've watched people try, then give up after a few minutes before adding to the ticket office queue. Many queuing at the ticket office actually want to buy tickets the machines DO sell (I've been in the queue behind them so I know)..... Hmmmm...

Well so far they have trotted out excuses about "it will confused customers and they may buy the wrong ticket" - rubbish. If they do that it will be because of the useless user interface and over complex ticketing structure.

They have also said the machines would be slowed down.... Well then you've bought rubbish machines! Like the new ticket barriers installed when GA took over which STILL will not accept Off Peak Day Return tickers during the old evening peak despite that restriction being removed over 18 months ago.

Well I suppose I could buy on-line and collect from the machines? Except I can't do that either unless I include Zone 1 (hard enough to any of the london zones as a destination) which I neither want nor need to travel through. Didn't stop them recommending that in one of their replies.... Why should I pay for zone 1 because the ticket sales on their website is also rubbish?

The whole situation would of course be helped to a degree if the ticket office wasn't usually under staffed - the staff by the way are great (I have to say that, one is an ex-neighbor and knows where i live LOL!!!, but they are generally very helpful and pleasant under difficulty circumstances).

So I wonder what other peoples views on the ticket machines are? Also, if anyone with inside knowledge on the machines (or barriers) can confirm or deny any of GA's claims about them?

George

 

[samuelmorris]

Having to buy off-peak or restricted tickets from the ticket office is nothing new and is a continual bugbear with all TOCs - in particular, you can't buy Grand Central-only tickets at York more than 10 minutes prior to when a Great Central service departs, at any time of day. That's a national problem. The issues with travelcards needing to be zone 1, however, and understaffing of ticket offices, is I believe an Abellio issue. Very glad that I no longer have to queue up for the single window of three to dispense me a season ticket every week. That said, I've had an argument with an Abellio RPI before when they didn't understand the oyster ToCs and I had to correct them.

 

[george.h]

The really annoying bit is having to buy an Off Peak Day Return from the ticket office because:

a. It is too early for the ticket machines to sell them, despite the barriers not letting them through anyway. At least not until 9:17 (2 mins after the 9:15 train). It used to be 9:22/9:23, just after the 9:21 train but they changed it for some reason.

b. GA simply refuse to let them sell them either outside of the validity hours or on the day before.

Both of these I see as purely marketing ploys to get passengers to buy more expensive tickets or suffer the queues.

Even more bizarrely they claimed that adding the "next day" facility to the machines was to reduce the morning PEAK TIME queues at the ticket office. Very strange considering the vast majority travelling at that time are using season tickets and the queues are mostly people renewing or exchanging their season ticket (stopped working the barriers etc.). So again I think either a red herring or invented by a complete "numpty" and will have almost no effect on reducing peak time ticket office queues.

This is even more puzzling considering the "surge" of people buying non-season tickets during the morning peak is towards the end of the morning peak time - and mostly people buying off-peak tickets because they can't buy them from the machines and want to travel on the first off peak train (the 9:26).

Regarding zone 1, yeah that has always been an issue with travel cards, and the fact they will only sell an All Zone travel card. You can't seem to buy a Zone 1-2 Day travelcard from GA. Again effectively you have to pay for to travel in zones you may not need or want - effectively a surcharge. The Dutch railways must either be in dire financial straights or rolling it cash with all the dodgy ticketing practices Abellio Greater Anglia pull..

Good luck with the Oyster card from Brentwood now that the "Metro" service has become TFL Rail. According the TFL Rail website there is only one station on the Metro line outside of London - Shenfield. Sorry but Brentwood doesn't exist anymore, at least according to TFL!

Someone clearly doesn't know that Brentwood is not a London borough nor part of a London borough and thus technically IS outside of London. I would have thought that it being outside of the roundabout at the bottom of the M1 (aka the M25) would have been enough of a clue! LOL

 

[jon0844]

I got these Tweets this afternoon from Wayne, who I assume is the same Wayne no longer on this forum...

"Would be interesting to debate with other trainspotters here away from "Free Palenstine" Yorkie's bias. Rsvpm"

and

"Incidentally I am part owner of 4 Peak locos
Makes spotting easy when you own them."

I have absolutely no sodding idea what he's on about in the second one, or why he mentions Yorkie in the first.

Obviously hitting some raw nerves!

 

[devon_metro]

Regarding zone 1, yeah that has always been an issue with travel cards, and the fact they will only sell an All Zone travel card. You can't seem to buy a Zone 1-2 Day travelcard from GA. Again effectively you have to pay for to travel in zones you may not need or want - effectively a surcharge. The Dutch railways must either be in dire financial straights or rolling it cash with all the dodgy ticketing practices Abellio Greater Anglia pull..

Regarding Z1-2 day travelcards, these don't exist. A paper ticket Z1-6 is the cheapest travelcard available. This has absolutely nothing to go with AGA. Save yourself money and use Oyster or contactless as this has zonal capping.

 

[jopsuk]

ticket queues and congestion at the barriers continue to be a problem at Cambridge (run by AGA even if majority of passengers are GN) - but until the new buildings are finished and the space freed up there's little more can be done

 

[samuelmorris]

Everywhere I've looked on the TfL website Brentwood has been showing there correctly - not sure where you were looking George? Either way that's a bit off topic for here.

I can't comment on Wayne's first remark though I think his intentions should be obvious. The second one should also be fairly self-explanatory I'd have thought?

 

[rs101]

Just thought I'd add my AGA moans:-

1. Their online ticket sales cannot sell a Manningtree to LU Zone 3 ticket. (Nor can many of the other operators, to be fair.) It's apparently actually run by The Train Line.

2. Manningtree ticket office closed 4 hours early on a Sunday. No explanation, just a preprinted notice saying it's shut for the day.

3. Marks Tey ticket office closed 6 hours early on a Monday - staff shortages, apparently.