Program on the overcrowded railways tonight

[northwichcat]

ITV's Tonight program at 7.30 tonight is on our overcrowded railway system.

 

[SS4]

Tonight is a sensationalist show with no real substance designed to give ITV a pat on the back. Can't see this being any closer to the reality than despatches was a few months ago

 

[DiscoStu]

Wonder if any arguments will be put forward for/against HS2.

 

[Nevasleep]

Seems like a much more accurate program for once. Could this be an almost well done itv moment?

 

[dk1]

Oh those poor passengers having to stand all the way from ...Clapham Jc to Waterloo :roll:. What a load of the usual media rubbish!!

 

[trainophile]

London to Manchester didn't look much fun though.

 

[dk1]

Euston to Manchester didn't look much fun though.

At least they mentioned that Virgin introduce a relief 18.57 from tonight on Tonight.

 

[east_coast]

is it just me or is itv player rubbish compared to 4od and bbc iplayer. It keeps buffering after playing about 2mins of it then goes back to the start of the program and does it all over again !!!

I have checked my computer speed etc, just watched a couple of things on 4od and it worked fine.

 

[Lampshade]

is it just me or is itv player rubbish compared to 4od and bbc iplayer. It keeps buffering after playing about 2mins of it then goes back to the start of the program and does it all over again !!!

I have checked my computer speed etc, just watched a couple of things on 4od and it worked fine.

And if you try to skip the adverts, they loop

 

[Flying Snail]

is it just me or is itv player rubbish compared to 4od and bbc iplayer. It keeps buffering after playing about 2mins of it then goes back to the start of the program and does it all over again !!!

I have checked my computer speed etc, just watched a couple of things on 4od and it worked fine.

If you have sky or FTA satellite TV it is showing at 11.05 on UTV (ITV Ulster region) They usually show embarassingly bad local programs in the evening and bump the network programmes to late night.

 

[trainophile]

At least they mentioned that Virgin introduce a relief 18.57 from tonight on Tonight.

Ha you caught me out before I edited "Euston" to "London". Couldn't remember which station he started from.

Wonder why the extra service is just going to be on Thursday nights. Makes me think it wouldn't be happening at all if the TV prog hadn't drawn attention to the situation. What about the rest of the week then?

 

[YorkshireBear]

Ha you caught me out before I edited "Euston" to "London". Couldn't remember which station he started from.

Wonder why the extra service is just going to be on Thursday nights. Makes me think it wouldn't be happening at all if the TV prog hadn't drawn attention to the situation. What about the rest of the week then?

already been introduced on a friday, now they need it on thursaday too, there is thread on it too
http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=48379

 

[trainophile]

already been introduced on a friday, now they need it on thursaday too, there is thread on it too
http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=48379

Ah, thanks. Didn't realise about the other thread, as that one also says "Thursday night" in the heading.

 

[tom1649]

The Tonight Program is the poor man's World In Action.

 

[lm321412]

I reached for the off button on my Television within the first minute or so when this rubbish came on...

 

[323235]

is it just me or is itv player rubbish compared to 4od and bbc iplayer. It keeps buffering after playing about 2mins of it then goes back to the start of the program and does it all over again !!!

I have checked my computer speed etc, just watched a couple of things on 4od and it worked fine.

I watched it on STV Player.

 

[Fincra5]

So basically its talking about every peak train, which from memory have always been crowded. In my experience only a few services off-peak are too busy, mainly those when the cheap tickets are valid

ITV player is dire. Got 3mins in and it went back to the beginning... Thats where ITVplayer on PS3 comes in

All the people are saying is "put more carriages on" - And where are these gonna come from?!?! During peak there are almost no spare trains on Southern, they are all out and about.

 

[tom1649]

All the people are saying is "put more carriages on" - And where are these gonna come from?!?! During peak there are almost no spare trains on Southern, they are all out and about.

Time to get the stored 508s out perhaps. They are just about the only spare trains anywhere on the network aren't they?

 

[Fincra5]

In all honesty I'm surprised they aren't.

Whats annoying if when people said "we've paid for a seat", with some Advance yes you have but its basically to give you permission to travel, is it not...

I do agree that the fare structure is stupid.

 

[tom1649]

In all honesty I'm surprised they aren't.

Whats annoying if when people said "we've paid for a seat", with some Advance yes you have but its basically to give you permission to travel, is it not...

I do agree that the fare structure is stupid.

To be quite honest I wouldn't care if a scruffy old 508 turned up, as long as it got me from A to B, even if it meant only using them in the peaks. They might as well be run into the ground than stored for years until they become completely unusable. It seems to be quite clear that Merseyrail don't want them.

 

[Fincra5]

Well if they came to Southern, I'd imagine they'd be given the same treatment as the 313s.

 

[tom1649]

Maybe they would, but if cost was an issue, even without refurbishment they'd be OK with some new seat covers. Those three 313s that transferred from London Overground to FCC seem to be running around fine with their original low backed seats.

 

[WatcherZero]

So basically its talking about every peak train, which from memory have always been crowded. In my experience only a few services off-peak are too busy, mainly those when the cheap tickets are valid

ITV player is dire. Got 3mins in and it went back to the beginning... Thats where ITVplayer on PS3 comes in

All the people are saying is "put more carriages on" - And where are these gonna come from?!?! During peak there are almost no spare trains on Southern, they are all out and about.

TBH it has got worse, in the old days they would build enough carriages to satisfy peak demand and just leave them sitting around for the rest of the day, nowadays they have tried to reduce this gaping over supply by using less in peak and more in offpeak. Gone are the days of thousands of carriages lying idle in London depots for most of the daylight hours.

 

[NIMBUS]

TBH it has got worse, in the old days they would build enough carriages to satisfy peak demand and just leave them sitting around for the rest of the day, nowadays they have tried to reduce this gaping over supply by using less in peak and more in offpeak. Gone are the days of thousands of carriages lying idle in London depots for most of the daylight hours.

And that's not the fault of the current TOCs. It was a policy mainly instigated back in BR days.

 

[Boppawombat]

[message deleted by author because it's been mis-placed for some strange reason in the incorrect thread = it's originally in the announcements thread]

 

[Via Bank]

I'm guessing it was another riff on the perennial "trains cost money, and are sometimes busy and/or late" story.

Meh.

 

[ivanhoe]

For a 25 minute programme, I thought it hit the spot. It actually highlighted the current problems of overcrowding in Peaks as well as the ludicrous fare system. Usual reactions from some posters on here who see any criticism of the railways, however constructive, as heresy!

 

[AlterEgo]

In all honesty I'm surprised they aren't.

Whats annoying if when people said "we've paid for a seat", with some Advance yes you have but its basically to give you permission to travel, is it not...

I do agree that the fare structure is stupid.

A customer in no circumstance pays for a seat. They pay for a journey between two points. A customer can only pay for their seat if a charge for a seat reservation is made.

 

[Minstral25]

So basically its talking about every peak train, which from memory have always been crowded. In my experience only a few services off-peak are too busy, mainly those when the cheap tickets are valid

ITV player is dire. Got 3mins in and it went back to the beginning... Thats where ITVplayer on PS3 comes in

All the people are saying is "put more carriages on" - And where are these gonna come from?!?! During peak there are almost no spare trains on Southern, they are all out and about.

It's not just peak times on Southern. Recent experience on the 15:33 London Bridge to Horsham - I had to stand to East Croydon and managed to get a seat at East Croydon to Redhill but others were standing to Purley and the train was still relatively full to Redhill - as far as I was aware there was no other problems but these services are starting to be very full for 4 car units off peak.

Worse though is the off peak services to Victoria from Redhill - these 8 coach trains now often arrive at Redhill with standing passengers in many carriages and you have to walk up and down the train to find seats. Making these worse is that they are full of passengers from Gatwick with suitcases.

Southern urgently needs an injection of units which I guess will happen once the Thameslink order is fulfilled in 2018 - but that is a long way off.

My suggestion is that they extend a lot of 377's to 6 car units now by buying new coaches and thus filling up Bombardier derby works for a couple of years.

When the Thameslink order eventually arrives that will mean Southern will have spare units to send elsewhere (they have pantograph space already) to booster services on other lines.

 

[amcluesent]

But most of the ToCs lease their rolling stock. When BR was broken up, some shysters saw the chance to acquire trains for pennies, then made £££ M selling it on for leasing to investment funds.

The companies that lease rolling stock want to keep it scarce to keep the prices high - supply and demand right! An carriage in siding isn't earning.

All the perverse incentives around DfT, Railtrack, ToCs, leasing companies conspire to give UK pax the worst, most expensive service in the world. Then add bolshy unions on top...