Train cancelled due to overloading!

[anthony263]

A similar problem happens in Cardiff on the City Line. A lot of people make their way on the City Line, which is a relatively quiet route, to Ninian Park for the Cardiff City Stadium and it so crammed on match days its untrue. And only 2-car units can be used because of short platforms on all other stations along the line such as Waun-Gron Park, Fairwater and Danescourt! Ninian Park has the longest platforms on the line, accommodating up to nine coaches, rather than two coaches as at the other three stations above. Now, trains do not run to the station within three hours of a match due to fears that platforms cannot safely accommodate large numbers of passengers attending, passengers are instead made to go to nearby Grangetown station on the Vale of Glamorgan Line, where most services are formed of 4 coaches and are more frequent, only problem is that there is no step-free acess. Hopefully the situation can be resolved!

If they do wire the valley lines then perhaps some platform extensions on the cityline would be a good idea.

 

[Blindtraveler]

thats likely as any EMU Build/Conversion would be min 3 cars

 

[ValleyLines142]

If they do wire the valley lines then perhaps some platform extensions on the cityline would be a good idea.

I very much agree with you on that point

 

[BestWestern]

...the overcrowding wasn't helped by Salisbury as usual not holding the previous Exeter train for the late running connection from Pompey. Something really needs to be done about Salisbury as the 7 min connection is often missed and for Feniton/Whimple and Pinhoe that means a 2 hour wait. Whats worse is that it is often missed because the train from Portsmouth gets held outside Salisbury to let the Exeter train through even if its on time. I know connections are rarely held now but the signallers at Salisbury need to use more common sense as letting the Exeter just means it waits longer on the Platform and also it only goes on to wait 5 mins in Tisbury loop too! Why can't the Exeter train just leave a couple of minutes later giving a longer connection and less wait at Tisbury?!

You're absolutely right about this particular connection at Salisbury, it is a regular source of delayed passengers due to the obviously poor timetabling of the two services at this particular point. In fairness to SWT I have known them to hold the Exeter on quite a number of occasions, but equally it can be just as likely that you'll miss it. What is just as irritating is when you run into Salisbury with a Pompey - Cardiff no more than a couple of minutes down to find that the panel has already given the road to the Exeter, further delaying the FGW service even though you could have done the business and been away without delaying the Exeter. Sadly, it's symptomatic of a railway ruled by accountants and the dreaded cult of "delay attribution" by which all other aspects of the business must be measured :roll:

If a delayed train misses somebody else's connecting service, the original TOC can provide a bus/taxi or foot the bill for refunds later on. If the second TOC holds their train for the connecting passengers, they can end up with the delay minutes and associated bill. Say no more. Some operators, like SWT, make great efforts to run a right time railway, but sadly this can sometimes be at the expense of passengers arriving on other TOCs' services. I once made a request for Southern to hold a an evening train for a connection to avoid my pax having an hour wait. They refused, and we arrived to see his tails just moving out of the platform :roll: