Made up excuses for lateness

[saismee]

They’ve started using swans on the line this year. Never heard it before because it’s obviously ridiculous, but over the last couple of months they’ve used it repeatedly in different parts of the country.

I've seen plenty of pictures of swans on the line recently. Yes, it's a real thing, both in stations and in the middle of nowhere.

 

[Darandio]

All of these excuses, even when they’re true, are lies. The real reason is always shareholders and profits.

It seems your post was aimed at Northern Rail. Given it's government owned and relies heavily on massive subsidies then you are quite wide of the mark.

 

[GordonT]

Swans on the line? Not heard that one before. Perhaps it was due to a cygnet failure?

Bringing the trains to a screeching halt.

 

[Falcon1200]

They’ve started using swans on the line this year. Never heard it before because it’s obviously ridiculous

Why is it ridiculous? Swans are large birds and can cause damage if struck by a train.

Today it was initially a dog on the line

Dogs are also a genuine cause of delay, partly because if there is a dog on the line there is quite likely to be a human looking for them, and because train drivers are unwilling to run them over.

All of these excuses, even when they’re true, are lies. The real reason is always shareholders and profits.

Nonsense - Who are the shareholders in Network Rail?

Perhaps you could advise which infallible industry you work for please?

 

[Horizon22]

The fact that it’s true doesn’t make it a valid excuse. It is the train companies’ job to provide trains and crews. It is their job to run a level of overhead so that genuinely unexpected or unpredictable events can be coped with. If they can’t provide the basic things they’re being paid for they aren’t doing their job.

You do realise this is a contradiction in terms right?

Why would something that’s true not be valid? Would you rather they lie? By all means have a gripe with what got to that point but once you are there is absolutely correct to then say “shortage of train crew”, or whichever adjacent suitable reason.

The initial discussion was about lateness and delay reasons and you’ve just in a couple of months later to have a rant about train service generally.

 

[Horizon22]

They’ve started using swans on the line this year. Never heard it before because it’s obviously ridiculous, but over the last couple of months they’ve used it repeatedly in different parts of the country.

I’ve heard it for years - there are particular hotspots often near tunnels or rivers & bridges which swans like to sit on. So perhaps you were not listening or weren’t impacted.

Today it was initially a dog on the line, then a swan, and now they’re cancelling half the trains between Liverpool and Manchester. Seriously? Just do your job. And the dead giveaway is when they change the excuse.

They are doing their job; by ensuring the safety of the line is not compromised and potentially running at caution which may cause delays, and thus alterations to service or cancellations.

When you say “changing the excuse” you mean reason has been adapted because there is new information. And by saying “excuse” over and over you are coming at this discussion in bad faith and probably annoyed.

Really, we all know that trains from Liverpool to Manchester get cancelled frequently because the companies don’t leave enough time for it to turn around, don’t have a spare train, and don’t pay overtime to the staff, so if anything goes wrong at all, all the trains get cancelled.

I go to work, I do my job, I wouldn’t get paid if I didn’t. I have to show up at work an hour early now because the trains are so unreliable, and my journey home (eg today) may well be padded by an hour because northern rail can’t be bothered to do their job, and I’m furious about it. Why do I keep handing over my money? Scumbags.

All of these excuses, even when they’re true, are lies. The real reason is always shareholders and profits.

Drivers, controllers, signallers, platform staff and gateline staff are all “doing their job”. You clearly have some pent up anger here and want to vent which is fine, but please be mindful of how you are coming across by coming up with factual errors (“shareholders and profits”) (“padded by an hour”) and other remarks (“Scumbags”).

They are not all lies - it’s public transport and things can happen (just like a RTC or a breakdown can on a motorway). That’s not to say you can’t have a dig at Network Rail or Northern or whoever about performance issues you have, but calling everything lies and excuses when you have people with vast experience as either staff, passengers or stakeholders on these forums is unlikely to land well.

 

[Farang]

It's now two weeks since the wife paid for her Oystercard with no sign of it arriving. Today TFL gave themselves another 2 weeks to get it to her - their third target date. The explanation? A "technical issue".

 

[speedy1]

It's now two weeks since the wife paid for her Oystercard with no sign of it arriving. Today TFL gave themselves another 2 weeks to get it to her - their third target date. The explanation? A "technical issue".

I do wonder at times if the USSR was more functional and honest with its citizens than modern day Britain. I've been on the receiving end of "technical issues" quite a bit too from different organisations recently

(I do genuinely believe hacks etc are on the rise though)

 

[passenger 99]

But you'll get further if you aim your complaints towards the right places. Shareholders and profits have nothing to do with any of this, as virtually all train operators (including Northern) are publicly owned. So is the infrastructure (Network Rail).

And as I tell anyone who tells me the trains are all nationalised now: every time northern trains delays or cancels my train I hate Keir Starmer a little bit more (or Andy Burnham, whatever they’re calling it now, same robot with upgraded eyelashes).

The trains are not in any real sense nationalised. This is a temporary fake nationalisation, still preserving the entire privatised structure, which is designed to prove that nationalisation doesn’t help, so that the incoming right cheek government the left cheek government is laying the groundwork for can re-privatise it all immediately. So yes. Currently the shareholders are imaginary, temporarily, but they are still the driving force behind the problem.

As you say: the problem basically is that the railways are seen by government as a business which ought to make a profit, rather than national infrastructure which enables all the other businesses to make profits.

 

[passenger 99]

I've seen plenty of pictures of swans on the line recently. Yes, it's a real thing, both in stations and in the middle of nowhere.

Again though, just because it’s true, that doesn’t make it a valid excuse. Any swan (or dog, which these swans were before they magically turned into swans) which chooses to stare down an oncoming train rather than getting out of the way deserves to be removed from the gene pool. Trains have been going on for 200 years now, it’s not like it’s a new phenomenon, and I really don’t imagine they would have been stopping every train in the north of England every time a swan sat on the tracks for all that time.

Strongly suspect they changed it to a swan after, when they tried “dog”, everyone said “just run it over ffs”.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

The very bland and all encompassing “ operating difficulties “

 

[tehmarks]

Again though, just because it’s true, that doesn’t make it a valid excuse. Any swan (or dog, which these swans were before they magically turned into swans) which chooses to stare down an oncoming train rather than getting out of the way deserves to be removed from the gene pool.

I don't drive trains, but if I did I'm quite confident that I wouldn't want a swan impacting the cab windscreen at speed.

 

[The exile]

Again though, just because it’s true, that doesn’t make it a valid excuse. Any swan (or dog, which these swans were before they magically turned into swans) which chooses to stare down an oncoming train rather than getting out of the way deserves to be removed from the gene pool. Trains have been going on for 200 years now, it’s not like it’s a new phenomenon, and I really don’t imagine they would have been stopping every train in the north of England every time a swan sat on the tracks for all that time.

Strongly suspect they changed it to a swan after, when they tried “dog”, everyone said “just run it over ffs”.

The problem, when swans mistake land for water, usually after rain, is that they can’t take off again. They can only take off from water. A swan is large and heavy enough to do quite a lot of damage to a train.

 

[Falcon1200]

All of these excuses, even when they’re true, are lies

Something which is true cannot be a lie!

Strongly suspect they changed it to a swan after, when they tried “dog”, everyone said “just run it over ffs”.

Most passengers, and indeed railway staff, would not wish a train to run over a dog, and would understand why trains are delayed in such circumstances.

The problem, when swans mistake land for water, usually after rain, is that they can’t take off again.

On electrified lines there are often shapes attached to the overheads to dissuade swans from landing on the railway by mistake (even though this must eat into the 'scumbags' profit margin....)

 

[ChiefPlanner]

From my experience as an operations manager , we slowed right down to about 3 miles per hour to avoid a dog - which then continued to move in front of the 313 , horns did nothing , so in the end I nipped out - caught the mut and held him till the train had passed and re-boarded via the Guards door. (Abbey Line)

On the Central Wales line - south of Ammanford as a passenger we had about a dozen sheep on the line - very stubborn but eventually grabbed the leader and put him onto the cutting side , the rest followed and we carried on (reporting same to the signalman)

My very worst was a collar less horse on the 4 track in the Polesworth area - quite frisky and not amenable - so we laid a train of Golden Delicious apples (lent by the catering crew - horse gratefully ate them but stayed on the tracks) - track circuit clips slammed down to stop everything and hopelessly tried to collar it with the rope from the tool box. I was mindfull of the Polemont accident - eventually the farmer arrived and took the horse off and we carried on to the next SPT and gave line clear of the by now anxious signalman. Clips had been lifted by now and the delays to the Friday PM West Coast services was serious. Spoke to the Regional Operations Managere when I could and he forgave me (us) saying it was the right thing on safety grounds.......if only we had mobile phones in those days .

 

[Krokodil]

Again though, just because it’s true, that doesn’t make it a valid excuse. Any swan (or dog, which these swans were before they magically turned into swans) which chooses to stare down an oncoming train rather than getting out of the way deserves to be removed from the gene pool. Trains have been going on for 200 years now, it’s not like it’s a new phenomenon, and I really don’t imagine they would have been stopping every train in the north of England every time a swan sat on the tracks for all that time.

Strongly suspect they changed it to a swan after, when they tried “dog”, everyone said “just run it over ffs”.

Pheasants can knacker a train if they hit it in the right place. A swan will do some serious damage.

 

[saismee]

Most passengers, and indeed railway staff, would not wish a train to run over a dog, and would understand why trains are delayed in such circumstances.

Dog = owner running after it, most of the time, as mentioned in post #64.

 

[The exile]

On electrified lines there are often shapes attached to the overheads to dissuade swans from landing on the railway by mistake (even though this must eat into the 'scumbags' profit margin....)

They are surely there to make the wires themselves more visible and thus prevent birds flying into them - swans being among the few bird species big enough cause damage by doing so. The fact that they make it less likely that they mistake the trackbed underneath for a nice bit of uninterrupted water is a fortuitous side effect.

 

[Falcon1200]

Dog = owner running after it, most of the time, as mentioned in post #64.

Yes, my Post #64!

They are surely there to make the wires themselves more visible and thus prevent birds flying into them

Indeed, I should have said ending up on rather than landing on the railway. Either way, this reinforces the fact that trains striking swans is not a good thing and is a possible, genuine, cause of delay.

 

[swt_passenger]

They’ve started using swans on the line this year. Never heard it before because it’s obviously ridiculous, but over the last couple of months they’ve used it repeatedly in different parts of the country.

A 2010 discussion in this forum included ‘swans on the line’. This is not a new thing by any measure.

Weird and Wonderful Delays

Travelling back from London on Saturday I was annoyed (but not suprised) that the train ground to a halt 10 or so minutes after leaving Euston station. The reason? A swan was on the train line and wouldn't move.. An hour late we eventually got on the way. Much to the amusement of the train...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[CastlebarKeith]

At Waterloo East once
"Bovine Trespassers" were responsible for the incoming train's delay.

 

[speedy1]

At Waterloo East once
"Bovine Trespassers" were responsible for the incoming train's delay.

Haha. But it needs updating to modern dumbed down railway English if used again:

"thing that goes moo not where it should be"

 

[saismee]

Yes, my Post #64!

Oh haha, at least I was agreeing with you!

 

[Falcon1200]

A 2010 discussion in this forum included ‘swans on the line’.

Before I retired in 2016 we had a swan on the line at the river bridge north of Ayr station. We were about to start turning Glasgow services short of Ayr as nothing was moving there, fortunately the swan was able to remove itself.

Oh haha, at least I was agreeing with you!

Thanks!

 

[The exile]

I do wonder at times if the USSR was more functional and honest with its citizens than modern day Britain.

There would have been no explanation to an individual. Notices on (eg) lifts would just say “Remont” (repairs). More generic issues would be blamed on “reactionary enemies of the state / proletariat” (particularly if it gave the opportunity for a story about the heroic way the sabotage was overcome).
Thing is - no-one expected better and everyone knew how to read between the lines.