Stranded Passenger at remote stations (theoretical)

[Andy1066]

Just had a thought, What is the procedure on getting a cancelled train on a remote station.
Courrour for example and no public road for miles and no phone signal.
Yes ok it is a location for the Adventurer and prepared !
Is there any responsibilities that company have so not to strand passengers.
It's just pure curiosity .

 

[jamesthegill]

I think these stations would (/should) have a help point to connect to the TOC in an emergency or NRE for timetable enquiries? I know the lesser served ones down on the south coast do.

 

[Essexman]

I think these stations would (/should) have a help point to connect to the TOC in an emergency or NRE for timetable enquiries? I know the lesser served ones down on the south coast do.

They do.
I imagine they'd send a four wheel drive taxi to Corrour or Altnabreac as there are drivable tracks to these. Berney Arms the passenger would have to walk some distance to the nearest road.

 

[gord]

Well we're off to Corrour by train tomorrow from Wolverhampton to stay in the old signal box overnight before pressing on to Mallaig on Tuesday. I'll let you know what happens if it all goes wrong!

 

[MedwayValiant]

I imagine they'd send a four wheel drive taxi to Corrour or Altnabreac as there are drivable tracks to these. Berney Arms the passenger would have to walk some distance to the nearest road.

It happened a year or two back. The last train from Berney Arms was cancelled or diverted, and the inshore lifeboat went out to collect a family who were at Berney Arms waiting for the train.

 

[WelshBluebird]

I think these stations would (/should) have a help point to connect to the TOC in an emergency or NRE for timetable enquiries? I know the lesser served ones down on the south coast do.

Presumably such a scenario would be an emergency then? As NRE link is as good as useless.

 

[pt_mad]

Also these instances can occur when connections are missed and the station is unstaffed. Whether the passenger would know whether to press the help point I don't know?

I'm sometimes amazed that there are no customers at some stations for cancelled trains late at night, particularly unstaffed stations. It suggests most don't realise the railway has an obligation to provide alternative transport where the last train of the night is cancelled on the day.
It seems most must look beforehand, see it's cancelled and assume there's no way of traveling and don't turn up. Which probably saves the tocs some money if no taxis etc are needed.

 

[IanXC]

Presumably such a scenario would be an emergency then? As NRE link is as good as useless.

No. An emergency would be a safety issue such as someone on the tracks or a person taken ill. NRE are perfectly capable of taking this kind of call and liaising with the relevant TOC.

 

[causton]

No. An emergency would be a safety issue such as someone on the tracks or a person taken ill. NRE are perfectly capable of taking this kind of call and liaising with the relevant TOC.

However I have seen at least one TOC suggest during disruption for passengers with mobility impairments to press the Emergency button on the help point as it goes through to the TOC control room!

Edit: https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/missing-booked-train-with-advance-ticket.126000/#post-2442018 London Overground suggest people who can't get through ticket barriers to press the Emergency button!!!

I guess it depends where each button goes to, because it isn't clear at all sometimes and things like that blur the line even further!

 

[tsr]

NRE are perfectly capable of taking this kind of call and liaising with the relevant TOC.

Sometimes. It seems somewhat patchy. There are plenty of times people have pushed Help Point buttons and NRE can't find anything outside the top 100 most used stations...

On my patch, it's very much understood that a stranded passenger (not just someone wanting train times, that's different altogether) is a valid user of the Emergency button and the person will be assisted directly by a controller with CCTV and local information, links to approved taxi companies, duty managers to escalate requests to, and so on.

 

[sheff1]

NRE are perfectly capable of taking this kind of call and liaising with the relevant TOC.

The last time I contacted NRE via a help point the person answering was adamant that the station at which I was standing did not exist.

 

[WelshBluebird]

NRE are perfectly capable of taking this kind of call and liaising with the relevant TOC.

Ha! Have you ever had to use one of those help points?
In some areas they go through to the ToC's own staff, in which case they are usually fine. But the ones that go through to NRE's offshore call centre are just useless.

 

[Esker-pades]

Just had a thought, What is the procedure on getting a cancelled train on a remote station.
Courrour for example and no public road for miles and no phone signal.
Yes ok it is a location for the Adventurer and prepared !
Is there any responsibilities that company have so not to strand passengers.
It's just pure curiosity .

My friend was visiting Kildonan of all places, only for the last southbound train to be cancelled. Taxi all the way back to Inverness.
(Not without road access but still remote.)

 

[Andy1066]

Well we're off to Corrour by train tomorrow from Wolverhampton to stay in the old signal box overnight before pressing on to Mallaig on Tuesday. I'll let you know what happens if it all goes wrong!

Thanks and wow what an Adventure

 

[gord]

Thanks and wow what an Adventure

Everything went well so I can't report back what happens if we had got stranded. However, there are worse places to be stuck. My goodness, what a place Corrour is. Everyone should go at least once.

Our morning train to Mallaig was 10 minutes late and with the Passenger Information Display on Corrour platform being somewhat unreliable, I did start to wonder!

There was a help point on the platform, but it was wrapped in a plastic bag and out of use. There was also an overly large interactive Caledonian Sleeper information point inside the shelter. Really unnecessary I thought. Had a play with it, it reliably informed me that there are no buses or taxi ranks at Corrour!

 

[Andy1066]

Thanks for interesting info.
Have used this route but never alighted anywhere but mallaig and fortwilliam , most beautiful scenery in the uk.
I'm jealous on my bucket list to stay there.

 

[Andy1066]

It happened a year or two back. The last train from Berney Arms was cancelled or diverted, and the inshore lifeboat went out to collect a family who were at Berney Arms waiting for the train.

Wow , really that's an amazing Experience .
Never been to this station before another for my hit list