Nice Letter from Southern

[Chrisgr31]

Yesterday the class 171 fleet (or certainly the one I caught) had a letter on every seat from Southerns Performance director apologising for the recent issues on the line and that they fell below the standards Southern expect. It went on to explain this was caused by the units undergoing a major overhaul and refit which means they no longer have a spare unit, and then the fact one unit was badly damaged hitting a tree didn't help.

Only problem with the letter was that passengers getting on at Eridge, Edenbridge, Hurst Green and Oxted wouldnt see it as they won't get seats, and the train after main was cancelled due to a train fault!

 

[TEW]

There were also some issues because for a couple of weeks Network Rail banned the use of single 2-car 171s on the line because of poor adhesion. That meant the diagrams had to be changed around, and to provide extra carriages to strengthen the services normally formed of 2-carriages some other services had to have a reduced number of coaches.

 

[Chrisgr31]

Ah yes sorry forgot to mention that, although they weren't blaming adhesion, they were blaming the train not being identified by the track circuits.

 

[TEW]

Ah that would make sense too, it's also connected to leaves on the line though I believe.

 

[Crossover]

Ah that would make sense too, it's also connected to leaves on the line though I believe.

Yep, the leaves may form an insulating layer between the track and wheels, so trains would likely disappear off signalling systems. Understandably, signalling systems don't take kindly to losing trains without trace :P

 

[Southern Dvr]

The other problem was the fact the letter implied the ban on 2 cars still stood. Therefore quite a few passengers gave me a funny look & one or two even remarked to me when they stepped off a 2 car!!