What is the railway doing well currently?

[185]

TPE have been mastering this - with regular replanning just before 10pm, leading to far fewer cancellations. (https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news...train-line-vastly-under-reports-cancellations)

A potential winner of the Golden Whistle Award?

Took the words right out of my mouth. Childish 10pm cancellations - It's not normal, it's not what passengers expect, it wasn't allowed before 2019 - it truly stinks.

In the case of Northern, removing the last four hours of service for no reason - abandoning the job four hours early with no bus, should see their MD Donovan sacked.

There's not many successes worth shouting about, whilst we have such serious failures not being addressed or brushed under the carpet.

 

[Matt_pool]

The only thing the railway is doing well at currently is putting people off travelling!

The last time I was able to catch a train from my local station in south Liverpool was Monday 12th December. Strikes and cancellations have basically made my local Northern operated station, which is only served by Northern services, redundant!

I can walk 20 minutes to a Merseyrail station which I have done a couple of times; but with this wet, cold and icy weather we've had recently it's easier to just walk around the corner to the bus stop, which is served by a regular service into the city centre and other places that the train can't get me to in my local area.

So I would say that the current state of the railways hasn't put me off travelling, it's just made me use the much more reliable and regular buses!

 

[George109]

I'd have to say Open NR Data - without this sites like realtimetrains, opentraintimes maps or traksy wouldn't exist

 

[Oxfordblues]

Another thing the railway is doing well currently is aggregates traffic, with new flows starting, new terminals opening and new fleets of wagons being brought into service. Previously moribund locations such as Penmaenmawr, Ashton-in-Makerfield, Ravenstruther and West Drayton are busy again and further growth in the sector seems assured.

 

[778]

The main thing to be positive about the railways at the moment, is that have have been very few serious accidents in last 20 years.

 

[Bletchleyite]

The new Standard interior on Pendolinos, turning them from cramped and budget airline like to quite comfortable and spacious, without doing anything to the actual layout.

 

[YorksLad12]

Passengers not giving up on rail, despite everything.

Yes, there are some who will say "never again", yes there are some for whom the railways is the best or only option to travel. But every good experience we give them means they are likely to talk about it, and be the railway's advocates and encourage more people to travel by train. And the regulars will fight for the railway as well, whether that by insisting LNER's First Class breakfast is decent or raising how the railway is vital for some communities/constitencies, such as Huddersfield-Mirfield-Wakefield(-Castleford).

Creating those "good experiences" is something that's in the hands of many people on this forum. Not me, I'm just a passenger

 

[Andrew*Debbie]

Are any TOC’s doing a great job but under the radar? What else is going well currently?

Transport for Wales are doing a very good job on my short commute to work. Trains are nearly always on time. Staff are friendly. Trains are clean. Fare is reasonable.

I've been using the service since the Menai Bridge closed in October. Not counting strike days, there was one train cancled due to a points fault and one train about 30 minutes late. With automated journey check, I knew about the cancled service well in advance. I stayed at work until the next scheduled train.

The train has been far more reliable then local buses and a more pleasant ride too.

 

[william.martin]

Very much so A cancellation on our patch due to lack of traincrew is very much a rarity & would probably make the evening news haha. Brand new trains on all routes many with level boarding & a FULL advertised service operates each & every Sunday too. Others can only dream.

If only it was like that in the Midlands, you always drive to the station just in case the train is cancelled and you have to drive to work!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 26 Dec 2022 ==

Transport for Wales are doing a very good job on my short commute to work. Trains are nearly always on time. Staff are friendly. Trains are clean. Fare is reasonable.

I've been using the service since the Menai Bridge closed in October. Not counting strike days, there was one train cancled due to a points fault and one train about 30 minutes late. With automated journey check, I knew about the cancled service well in advance. I stayed at work until the next scheduled train.

The train has been far more reliable then local buses and a more pleasant ride too.

The valley lines are very reliable however when you head north particularly to services that run on the stour valley line you are sometimes getting short forms 5-6 times a day!
The once I was at new Street having had a day on the (excellently reliable) cross city lines and was expecting the usual 6 car daily evening Aberystwyth and Pwhelli ( loses a 158 at shrewsbury then splits at Machynlleth) train, nope, 158829 comes rolling in to the station on its own, we were lucky to fit on the train as many passengers were being told to wait 2 hours for the next Holyhead service!
On a positive note I think that TFW has significantly improved services in the North of Wales with the introduction of the 197's this month!

 

[yorksrob]

The reintroduction of the Mk 4's to the Leeds - Kings Cross route has been a great success to my mind, providing various very comfortable and relaxing journeys. The excellent repaint has been the icing on the cake.

It remains to be seen how long it will be until the DfT/Treasury/government screws that up.

 

[CentralTrainer]

First thing sprung to mind:

Paying Shareholders big dividends and management massive bonuses.

That’s all that matters nowadays

 

[Trainlog]

Many rail companies are finally listening to demands to put plug sockets and USB charging points onboard their trains.

 

[ar10642]

At the moment nothing IMO. It's pointless having lovely new stock and station upgrades if you can't rely on the service running due to strikes or overtime bans or whatever. As soon as you can't rely on it, you have to drive it or cancel your trip and it might as well not be there.

 

[fishwomp]

Time for a little positivity;
[..]
- Fairly constant stream of large quantities of new rolling stock entering service.
[..]

Unfortunately this may be the biggest problem facing us today, not a positive. Too many new rolling stock fleets - with contracts guaranteed for years. The only thing that can be cut is staff or maintenance, or maintenance staff...

This table (Modern Railways, Jan '23) shows real-terms increases in costs (after adjusting inflation!!).. Is now almost as much cost as TOC staff..

 

[nr758123]

TPE have been mastering this - with regular replanning just before 10pm, leading to far fewer cancellations. (https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news...train-line-vastly-under-reports-cancellations)

A potential winner of the Golden Whistle Award?

As a passenger on one of TPEs routes, I’m astonished that anyone could think that hiding the true level of cancellations so that the government can carry on pretending there isn’t a problem counts as something the railway does well. A cancellation is still a cancellation, even if it's done the night before and renamed as " a short notice change to the timetable"
Possibly there was some irony intended which didn’t come across in the comment?

 

[Thirteen]

Passengers not giving up on rail, despite everything.

Yes, there are some who will say "never again", yes there are some for whom the railways is the best or only option to travel. But every good experience we give them means they are likely to talk about it, and be the railway's advocates and encourage more people to travel by train. And the regulars will fight for the railway as well, whether that by insisting LNER's First Class breakfast is decent or raising how the railway is vital for some communities/constitencies, such as Huddersfield-Mirfield-Wakefield(-Castleford).

Creating those "good experiences" is something that's in the hands of many people on this forum. Not me, I'm just a passenger

Honestly the way people go on, you'd think the railway was heading for extinction. The fact the Elizabeth Line has been resounding success and HS2 and EWR are being built shows a lot of the doom and gloom is hyperbole.

 

[Efini92]

Possibly an unpopular opinion but I think we can class Lumo as a success story?

They passed through at set of points at 3 times the speed without derailing, that’s a success story

 

[fishwomp]

As a passenger on one of TPEs routes, I’m astonished that anyone could think that hiding the true level of cancellations so that the government can carry on pretending there isn’t a problem counts as something the railway does well. A cancellation is still a cancellation, even if it's done the night before and renamed as " a short notice change to the timetable"
Possibly there was some irony intended which didn’t come across in the comment?

Umm, well, you are the second one to not notice the sarcasm!

I would love it if TPE were top of the Whistles or the Government best-performance data, it would highlight the problem!!

 

[Gloster]

Finger pointing. Everyone is busy blaming everyone else for the mess that the railway is now in. Whether there is any time or energy left to address the problems I know not and it will leave a legacy of bitterness that won’t help the recovery. Meanwhile the passengers are just saying, “Will you b******s stop messing about and b****y well get our trains running on time.”

 

[Wallsendmag]

I’m part of the Digital and Innovation team at LNER , you wouldn’t believe how many projects we are working on. The digital display screens at Doncaster are the latest one to go live.

 

[yorksrob]

I’m part of the Digital and Innovation team at LNER , you wouldn’t believe how many projects we are working on. The digital display screens at Doncaster are the latest one to go live.

I like the countdownesque clockface displays.

 

[Bertie the bus]

The only thing the railway is doing well at currently is putting people off travelling!

And sowing the seeds of its own (partial) destruction. It is doing a good job at that as well.

 

[BJames]

I’m part of the Digital and Innovation team at LNER , you wouldn’t believe how many projects we are working on. The digital display screens at Doncaster are the latest one to go live.

This is excellent. Good level of information, very clear and easy to see. Look forward to seeing the results of some more projects then in the near future!


Elsewhere - I agree with the point about Greater Anglia above - this is certainly a success story (misgivings about the 720s seats aside, they have successfully pulled off the fleet renewal and cancellations are rare - especially when compared with everywhere else!)

I understand LNER have had some crew issues recently but I generally have found them very reliable - indeed, friends who show little interest in the railway have remarked on their positive journey experiences from LNER, completely unprompted.

 

[Kite159]

Those LNER digital signs are very good, especially at those stations with multiple platforms where passengers don't know where to stand for a particular coach.

Withdrawal of older rolling stock (pacers, older BR era EMUs, HSTs, Mk4 coaches) getting replaced by more modern rolling stock. End of single 153s within EMR.

 

[trainophile]

Can I use this thread for a shout out to the wonderful staff at Trainsplit, particularly with regard to dealing with claims for cancellations and ticket refunds. They are totally professional, very quick to reply, and happy to communicate one-to-one for complicated situations, of which I seem to generate many! Not to mention of course the savings they give in many situations by split ticketing.

Keep it up guys, you give the rail user confidence that things don't have to be convoluted and impossible to resolve.

 

[william.martin]

They passed through at set of points at 3 times the speed without derailing, that’s a success story

Was the driver Tom cruise???

 

[bicbasher]

Already mentioned is the Elizabeth line. I never thought I'd see the day I could travel to Oxford Street using the National Rail network. It's so good that I no longer use the tube to get to Tottenham Court Road or Oxford Circus. (Bond Steet's Hanover Square station building is so close to Oxford Circus).

The stations are also a masterpiece and has so much capacity that even when you get off a packed train, the corridors still aren't cramped. Compare that to most Zone 1 LU stations where it's an issue.

We also have an excellent devolved NR brand in the London Overground.

 

[Techniquest]

The only thing the railway is doing well at currently is putting people off travelling!

Quite! I mean, when a long-time rail enthusiast has decided enough is enough, and goes to renew a previously non-required driving licence, it has clearly gone wrong. When a week of First Class travel is enough to melt an enthusiast's brain and put them off rail travel for weeks afterwards, something is not right.

Anyway, things the railway is doing well. I must also big-up CrossRail, an amazing achievement and the first port of call for west-east or vice-versa journeys across London whenever possible.

I'd also nominate the ever-decreasing emissions from the railway. Compared to how things were, it's a much cleaner place than it was It's also quieter than it used to be, which I don't think is a bad thing at all. Obviously from a pure enthusiast POV, having got into the scene thanks to noisy HSTs, it's not as much fun now but from an environmental POV, things are so much better with far less clag filling the air and less noise in general

On a similar theme, the railway is far more accessible than it used to be, and it is only going to get better in the coming years. When I look back to things like the 442s with narrow doors, for just one good example, I don't know how we ever managed. The big step-ups on HSTs is another one, and as much as I miss closing a manual door on an HST I don't miss three things about them. The drafts being one, the accessibility issues being another and trying to open the door with hands full of bags etc. Putting my head out of a droplight, as stupid as that feels these days, is definitely something else that I don't miss!

What else is the railway doing well? There are of course the big projects like HS2, East-West Rail and others. Controversial as it is, I think moving with the times could be added here. I'm talking about things like e-tickets being more widely available in the last few years, ticket offices proposed to be made more efficiently used etc. For me, I'm so used to e-tickets that it feels ridiculous now to use a paper ticket, although it is even more ludicrous that somewhere like Merseyside has not yet adopted e-tickets. So while the railway is doing well at moving forward in places, it's doing horrendously at keeping up in others. I mean, come on, there might as well still be CRT monitors for train running information in use up there

Which brings me to my last point. What else is the railway doing well? Bringing in new fleets. Yes some terrible examples are out there, such as the 230s with TfW and the 701s with SWR, but there are also good examples such as Greater Anglia. It may not have been a perfect introduction, with 321s still hanging on for dear life, but the transformation of the network in that part of the world is amazing. TfW's new fleet will, eventually, make a similar impact as I am sure will the new trains on EMR when they arrive.

Even so, the long-lasting issues with strikes causing uncertainty is a very key reason for moving forward once my new provisional licence arrives. I'm already looking forward to the drive up the M6 through Cumbria, on a mission to Scotland A sentence I never thought I'd say or see myself ever having to type! I'll still be around for the trains at times, without a doubt, but the railway is absolutely doing one thing well. Encouraging pro-environment rail enthusiasts to learn to drive!

 

[142blue]

Struggling to find a single thing they are doing well in my experience as I see it declining month on month and it's sad to see

I think Book With Confidence was a good idea but even that's been binned off.

 

[RobShipway]

Quite! I mean, when a long-time rail enthusiast has decided enough is enough, and goes to renew a previously non-required driving licence, it has clearly gone wrong. When a week of First Class travel is enough to melt an enthusiast's brain and put them off rail travel for weeks afterwards, something is not right.

Anyway, things the railway is doing well. I must also big-up CrossRail, an amazing achievement and the first port of call for west-east or vice-versa journeys across London whenever possible.

I'd also nominate the ever-decreasing emissions from the railway. Compared to how things were, it's a much cleaner place than it was It's also quieter than it used to be, which I don't think is a bad thing at all. Obviously from a pure enthusiast POV, having got into the scene thanks to noisy HSTs, it's not as much fun now but from an environmental POV, things are so much better with far less clag filling the air and less noise in general

On a similar theme, the railway is far more accessible than it used to be, and it is only going to get better in the coming years. When I look back to things like the 442s with narrow doors, for just one good example, I don't know how we ever managed. The big step-ups on HSTs is another one, and as much as I miss closing a manual door on an HST I don't miss three things about them. The drafts being one, the accessibility issues being another and trying to open the door with hands full of bags etc. Putting my head out of a droplight, as stupid as that feels these days, is definitely something else that I don't miss!

What else is the railway doing well? There are of course the big projects like HS2, East-West Rail and others. Controversial as it is, I think moving with the times could be added here. I'm talking about things like e-tickets being more widely available in the last few years, ticket offices proposed to be made more efficiently used etc. For me, I'm so used to e-tickets that it feels ridiculous now to use a paper ticket, although it is even more ludicrous that somewhere like Merseyside has not yet adopted e-tickets. So while the railway is doing well at moving forward in places, it's doing horrendously at keeping up in others. I mean, come on, there might as well still be CRT monitors for train running information in use up there

Which brings me to my last point. What else is the railway doing well? Bringing in new fleets. Yes some terrible examples are out there, such as the 230s with TfW and the 701s with SWR, but there are also good examples such as Greater Anglia. It may not have been a perfect introduction, with 321s still hanging on for dear life, but the transformation of the network in that part of the world is amazing. TfW's new fleet will, eventually, make a similar impact as I am sure will the new trains on EMR when they arrive.

Even so, the long-lasting issues with strikes causing uncertainty is a very key reason for moving forward once my new provisional licence arrives. I'm already looking forward to the drive up the M6 through Cumbria, on a mission to Scotland A sentence I never thought I'd say or see myself ever having to type! I'll still be around for the trains at times, without a doubt, but the railway is absolutely doing one thing well. Encouraging pro-environment rail enthusiasts to learn to drive!

I have to agree with the above 100%. I really do think that Crossrail (Elizabeth Line) has been done well. Such that hopefully this Thursday, I will be travelling Westbound to Southall from Farringdon without the need to be travelling into Victoria or London Bridge from Brighton, then get a tube train to London Paddington to travel out to Southall. I can get Thameslink to Farringdon, then change to Elizabeth Line, which reduces the journey time by about 30 minutes.

The re - opening of branch lines, mentioned previously in this thread is also good with the publicly Okehampton especially good.

On a sad note, it is turning people to be using either their cars or using other forms of public transport such as buses as many times it is cheaper and with the strikes going on, buses are more reliable and less prone to be cancelled at short notice as was the case with a Worthing to Brighton train service last Friday that was due to leave at 10:56am.

But let's keep with the good, as has also been mentioned London Overground is also doing well now that the class 710 units seem to be bedding into doing the routes quite well.