Station Faults

[HowardGWR]

I can think of over 100 stations to complain about regarding faults and problems. Unfortunately many TOCs (in particular those owned by Govia) dont seem to care much about looking after their stations.

You mean 'managed' don't you? That makes a difference.

 

[Deepgreen]

Some more good news to report for Deepgreen. The stairs at Dorking have finally been sorted out. The previously crumbling steps now have new slip free coverings, different ones to the ones fitted on other stairs but they do the job.

Great - thanks for the information. My concern is that these things take an inordinate amount of time to fix. Responses from Southern always imply that this is the first time they have heard of the issue and that it will be passed to the station management for action. The station management/staff should identify these faults on the day that they occur (during their regular walk-rounds) and report them, but, given the many months that pass before anything is done (and after they have been reported by passengers), it seems that they are either not noticed or are ignored.

 

[Deepgreen]

Some more good news to report for Deepgreen. The stairs at Dorking have finally been sorted out. The previously crumbling steps now have new slip free coverings, different ones to the ones fitted on other stairs but they do the job.

Indeed - used them this morning and they are fine. Why it took months to to this simple safety-critical job is beyond me, though.

 

[Deepgreen]

Sorry, not directed at you, but the number of faults and the time it has taken to fix them at Redhill has been shameful over the five years I have been using the station. The farce of the train indicator screen on platform 2, which took over six months to repair, with numerous and varied excuses offered (including downright lies to me and other complainants from Southern), but not a word of apology or explanation actually displayed at the station, was covered here at the time.

The same applied to the failed screen in the waiting room to which you allude. I very rarely use this room anyway, as it amplifies the frequent and annoying recorded messages (and the attempts at live messages!), but I recall the repeated and frequent door failures.

Then there was the nonsense of the many months a couple of years ago when the additional floodlights at the north end of platform 3 were in a permanent off/on pulsating cycle owing to the fact that their light sensors were being affected by the white p.a. speakers directly under them! That took months of haranguing to be fixed - were they not tested when installed? Does any competent engineering input take place in these things?

Now, a few days ago I wrote to ASLEF about the failed lighting on platform 1. I did so only after having received the usual useless responses from Southern about reporting it to the local manager, whereas in fact the local manager should already have reported it many months ago! I pointed out to ASLEF the very substandard lighting on platform 1 (more or less at the boundary of 1a and 1b). These lights were subsequently miraculously repaired after several months of inattention - possibly a coincidence, but they should never have been left for this long anyway - on, for example, LU, such a lighting failure would not be tolerated.

However, the single unit there which should brighten when movement is detected still dims instead! However, now, the light unit at the very top of the stairs from the subway on the same platform has also failed, creating another dim patch at a safety-critical point. It has been like that for all this week, and it will be interesting to see for how long this persists.

The failed multiple lighting units on platform 1 must be considered unsafe from the point of view of providing a very dark area in the middle of what is an otherwise brightly-lit environment with many conflicting passenger movements (across and along the island platform with numerous blind corners), and, even if train operation per se is ostensibly unaffected, then passenger movements certainly are. The comparison with other sites where all the lights may be off does not stand because the contrast in lighting is what makes it unsafe. Either way, it was certainly below the lux levels required for train operation for many months. If dim/patchy lighting is not unsafe and is permissible for train operation, then why not permanently remove many light fittings to save operating costs? It can't work both ways.

As of yesterday evening, this lighting failure at a safety-critical spot was still there.

 

[The_Rail_WAy]

You have to remember that to some contributors here the civilised world ends north of where the Tube finishes!

I have a friend who GENUINLY classes Barnet as northern England, its just crazy!

 

[jamesst]

Platform 1 at Hooton has a pis screen that hasn't worked in about 6 Years despite being reported many many times. Not normally a problem as the platform is not normally in use. However causing some confusion during the current Merseyrail loop blockade as all the Ellesmere Port trains now use that platform.

 

[snowball]

The roof on the stairs at Heaton Chapel station collapsed back in May - http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/in-your-area/pictures-rotten-roof-caves-heaton-11294146. The stairs on both sides of the line are still closed, with no progress.

There's a video about the repairs at Heaton Chapel station on Network Rail's Northern Programme Twitter feed. I'm not sure how to link to the video without linking to the overall feed:

https://twitter.com/NetworkRailNP