Who says our trains are crap and always late

[ffcphone]

At the time of posting I am over 9 hours and 6 trains into a marathon travel session which started out at 7 this morning at Bolton station and will hopefully conclude there in 25 minutes time.

I've used Northern to Wigan North Western, Virgin to Wolverhampton, CrossCountry to Winchester, South West to Waterloo, Waterloo and City tube to Bank, Northern line tube to Kings Cross St Pancras, Virgin from Euston to Wigan and now waiting for Northern back to Bolton.

Every single train was clean and comfortable. Every single train had been on time. So here's my two fingers for all the perpetual moaners.

Good old British rail services.

 

[SWT Driver]

Excuse me a minute......

THUD...

[/Dusts oneself down after passing out with shock]

Do you mean to say you're a happy punter? hock:

 

[Dai.]

Someones pleased with the rail service in the UK?

Something must be wrong.

 

[AlexS]

I'm a regular traveller (usually on a train every day) for both work and leisure and the vast majority of the time I don't have a problem.

My main bugbear is XC's 2 car units on Brum Leicester peak trains which I have to catch weekly but otherwise they aren't bad.

The other trick that winds me up as a commuter is when London Midland have a guard or driver fail to turn up for work for whatever reason on the Brum Shrewsbury run, they have a nasty tendency to cancel the entire booked job. So 33% of trains cancelled for a fair number of hours for lack of someone covering.

Also seemingly obvious solutions often fail to occur - for example, a train failed in the platform at Wellington station heading for Birmingham. Instead of running trains via the centre road (which is passed for passenger trains) and just missing the Wellington call, everything stacked up and eventually appeared down the line about 160 minutes late.

But as a general rule I don't tend to have much of a problem and I don't tend to make an issue of it when I do, unless it causes me particular difficulty in which case I normally claim my RTVs with a polite letter and leave it at that.

 

[monkey]

...I have to agree on the whole I'd say I'm happy with my train journeys. I suffer few delays, and apart from rolling stock niggles, ( like the 185s on tpx, which I avoid like the plague) or dirty trains on xc, on the whole... I'm pretty happy....

 

[SWT Driver]

I've had to come back and read this again, just to make sure it wasn't a typo!

Now I'm off to get myself a large stiff drink, to deal with the shock.

 

[ffcphone]

To round off my journey even Northern's local service was on time. 100% punctuality.

And what's up with fTPE's 185s? I use them twice a day Mon-Fri. Not a single rolling stock issue since introduction in my experience. Delightful train too. I actually choose to travel fTPE's as opposed to Northern who operate same route.

Anyways off topic there. Long day. Very tired. Staff helpful too especially Virgin conductor this morning who, unprompted told me my connecting CrossCountry service should come in on same platform. Thumbs up to him.

 

[Lampshade]

...I have to agree on the whole I'd say I'm happy with my train journeys. I suffer few delays, and apart from rolling stock niggles, ( like the 185s on tpx, which I avoid like the plague) or dirty trains on xc, on the whole... I'm pretty happy....

What's wrong with the 185s?

Although when I go to Manchester, it's between an ex-FNW 150/1 and a 185. A 185 is like the Orient Express compared with the 150 hock:

Take XC away and I'm pleased with the train services all round. Special mention for SWT as it's the only TOC I've travelled with where every single train I travelled on arrived at the destination early

 

[monkey]

^^185's would be ok as local trains. but they're currently used as long distance trains, which they are terribly uncomfortable for. anything more than a 50 min hop like leeds to manchester is a pain, especially the 3hr odd it takes to get from newcastle to man or worse still almost 4hrs to edinburgh.

also the seats are awful, the seats in the crappy pacers that northern use are better than the hard firm tat that tpx have installed on 185s...

 

[thefab444]

Special mention for SWT as it's the only TOC I've travelled with where every single train I travelled on arrived at the destination early

That'll be due to the excessive slack in the timetable then! :-x

 

[jon0844]

I'm waiting for the day when we get onboard announcements (like the low-cost airlines) proudly stating an arrival 20-30-40 minutes ahead of schedule - when a TOC can have the last station or two down as 'set down early' and have almost 30 minutes to travel a few miles!

 

[SWT Driver]

I know of a guard who got into serious bother from manglement for putting out the announcement on the approaches to Waterloo...

Ladies & Gentlemen, we are now arriving at London Waterloo, we are pleased to say there's no delays this morning on the Tube, we are by some miracle arriving approximately 5 minutes early, I would like to apologise for any inconvenience the early arrival of this service may cause you.

 

[Lampshade]

A SWT guard who's not a complete misery hock:hock:hock:

Probably why he got into trouble, not because he announced that but because it was actually a friendly announcement

 

[jopsuk]

That'll be due to the excessive slack in the timetable then! :-x

I can remember marvelling several years ago at a SWT timetable change, back when my grandparents were still alive and living in Stoneleigh. Services which had previously been scheduled to take about twenty minutes to get to Waterloo, and realistically took about twenty five often, were I think re-timetabled to take around thirty minutes, with no changes to the stopping pattern. Breathtaking audacity.

 

[thefab444]

Annoyingly, all suburban services now call at Earlsfield, and Dorking services call at all stations Wimbledon - Epsom, previously they only called at Worcester Park (and prior to that were fast to Epsom from Wimbledon).

Just FYI, OP journey times from Stoneleigh to London have been as follows:

1996: 29 minutes
2001: 28 minutes
2004: 29 minutes
2009: 30 minutes

 

[The Snap]

I have only ever experienced one or two delays on the railways. Any other, I've been on trains that we clean, comfortable and punctual. Fair enough, if travelling with Northern, some of the stock is sh*t, but it got me there on time.

And what's up with fTPE's 185s? I use them twice a day Mon-Fri. Not a single rolling stock issue since introduction in my experience. Delightful train too. I actually choose to travel fTPE's as opposed to Northern who operate same route.

I travelled on one to Sheffield a month or so ago - a very pleasant journey indeed. The 185s are superb - spacious, comfortable, steady and quiet. They look great too. If I was travelling anywhere where TPE operate, I would always use them over another operator (apart from maybe to Scotland from Manchester – in which case, I'd use Virgin).

It does annoy me that the railways are branded as rubbish by so many enthusiasts, because of a small number of problems. These people forget that at present over 90% of all services per day are on time. Not bad IMO, especially considering the age of some of the rolling stock used.

 

[SWT Driver]

It still is rubbish, it's slow & generally awful, it panders to the influential, on the Portsmouth line it's Farncombe, Godalming, Witley & Liphook.

As for the Alton line.... The amount of arse kissing that goes on there is nauseating!

 

[thefab444]

Hardly, journey time from Alton to Waterloo is now 70 minutes* off peak, in 2001 it was 59 minutes**!

*Alton, Farnham, Aldershot, Ash Vale, Brookwood, Woking, West Byfleet, Surbiton and Waterloo.

**Alton, Bentley, Farnham, Aldershot, Ash Vale, Woking and Waterloo.

Although the frequency has improved slightly, the journey times are very poor. Even the usage of 444s has fallen over recent years.

With regards to Godalming, it actually produces more passengers than Petersfield (in the 2001 timetable, one of the two fast trains per hour skipped Petersfield and called at Godalming instead). Witley gets a rather poor service and Liphook gets no more trains than Liss. Pre-recast there was a daily service fast from Waterloo to Haslemere, which has now gone. All in all, things on that line are pretty poor.

The only bum rape that really goes on, is for Woking pax, who get far too many trains.

 

[SWT Driver]

444's shouldn't be on the Alton line, they're mainline express units, not for piddling little branch lines, it's only the threats from the so called "Influential" people that got them.

As for the Non-Stop service from Haslemere to Waterloo aka "Tory Express" or 1P00, I worked it regularly, it was quite fun when they occasionally swapped the 442's for a pair of Slammers!

Oooo the hissy fits!

 

[thefab444]

Less likely to get trashed on there than on the Portsmouth.

 

[EM2]

I'm praying that your luck rubs off on me for my 24-hr charity bash on the 15th/16th!

 

[SWT Driver]

Less likely to get trashed on there than on the Portsmouth.

Now you're taking the P***!

That's precisely where the damage occurs & when they're used on the Basingstoke stoppers.

We know where the vandals are more than manglement do, the guys at Fratton cars sheds worked out where they were, before manglement did..

They did a slammer set up & arranged for it to be on a set diagram, so they knew exactly which crews & route is was on all of the time, strangely enough it came back damaged with etched glass & cab graffiti.

Where did they send it Alton/Basingstoke-Waterloo services, so they knew that it was three depots who did the cab graffiti & it was the oinks on the Alton/Basingstoke lines that were doing the damage.

We also know that since the cessation of the Liphook - Bordon bus link vandalism & trouble has dropped considerably.

 

[thefab444]

What you say could be true, but during the daytime, vandalism surely isn't a massive problem, and 444s only work daytime diagrams on the Alton line.

I would imagine the pax caused problems would be from the Aldershot or Farnborough areas?

 

[daccer]

I live abroad but go home to Kettering fairly regularly. I fly into Heathrow and always use the HEX to Paddington - a 15 interval minute service on fast new trains arriving into a nicely restored Victorian masterpiece. I then travel to St Pancras, another Victorian masterpiece, where I have a 30 minute interval service to Kettering on a new Meridian. At Kettering i arrive into a staffed station which has been nicely restored and has had a lot of investment over the last few years including lifts and new car parks. I have never been late or delayed and the service has been universally excellent. Therefore my experience of the rail system is very good and that is the point surely - it will always be subjective depending on your personal experience - if i was on an overcrowded Pacer every day I am sure my attitude would be much different!

 

[Bittern]

Most trains I get are either on time or early. Only say one or two a week are late, and that's down to those old signalling problems near Glasgow.

 

[LondonLarry]

444's shouldn't be on the Alton line, they're mainline express units, not for piddling little branch lines, it's only the threats from the so called "Influential" people that got them.

As for the Non-Stop service from Haslemere to Waterloo aka "Tory Express" or 1P00, I worked it regularly, it was quite fun when they occasionally swapped the 442's for a pair of Slammers!

Oooo the hissy fits!

The 444s are designed for the mainline and that's where the majority of them run - on the Waterloo - Weymouth route.

If passenger numbers hadn't started increasing, there'd be no need to introduce more stops at stations. I blame the passengers!

As for the 1P00, how long will it be before it converts to 450s? You know how busy that train gets... I remember someone telling me that high density 3+2 seated trains were designed to run on the Portsmouth line many, many years ago under BR. So passengers can't blame SWt for that!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

It still is rubbish, it's slow & generally awful, it panders to the influential, on the Portsmouth line it's Farncombe, Godalming, Witley & Liphook.

As for the Alton line.... The amount of arse kissing that goes on there is nauseating!

There's always been arse kissing - I've never understood why New Milton has 2 trains per hour on a Sunday. As for piddly little stations, some should've closed years ago! e.g. most of the Portsmouth - Southampton line, Rowlands Castle....

 

[Drsatan]

The majority of trains I take these days seem to be on time. A few weeks ago I started volunteering at the Eastleigh Lakeside Railway, which is a 10 1/4 inch gauge line near Eastleigh so I've usually got the xx.07 service from Romsey to Eastleigh to Southampton Central and to Salisbury via Redbridge (getting off at Southampton Airport). On most occasions it's been on time - it's only if there's a problem on the main line that the train's late.

I agree with most people here that it's XC which is letting the system down. Firstly they've put up fares and added restrictions on cheap day returns, as well as not accepting GroupSave tickets, they've abolished the buffet on most services and replaced it with a trolley, so whenever the train's crowded the trolley can't pass through. Plus I don't like the Voyagers anyway.

Another gripe is that walk-on fares are damn expensive compared to the rest of Europe. Romsey - Waterloo during the rush hour is about £44 with a YP railcard and I probably won't get a seat for the Southampton - Waterloo leg. Also, who'd want to pay lots to travel on a 150 from Manchester to Sheffield? A journey of comparable length in say Germany would be made by a 101 and a push - pull set. Finally, what's the point of Virgin West Coast introducing its Very High Frequency timetable if walk-on fares are going to be prohibitively expensive?

 

[ukrob]

I'm waiting for the day when we get onboard announcements (like the low-cost airlines) proudly stating an arrival 20-30-40 minutes ahead of schedule - when a TOC can have the last station or two down as 'set down early' and have almost 30 minutes to travel a few miles!

Didn't Intercity services on the WCML always do this under BR?

 

[thefab444]

As for the 1P00, how long will it be before it converts to 450s? You know how busy that train gets...

1P00 doesn't run anymore? 1G52 (1745 to Havant) or 1P57 (1800 to Portsmouth) are the nearest departures.

There's always been arse kissing - I've never understood why New Milton has 2 trains per hour on a Sunday.

Now that is an interesting point. That New Milton call has been in there for ages though, harks back to NSE I believe. Really, if it calls at New Milton it should also call at Christchurch, possibly Totton and Pokesdown as well - which would slow it down even more. What is worse, though, is that the stopping Poole service runs fast from Bournemouth to Poole, yet the faster Weymouth service calls at all stations!

 

[SWT Driver]

New Milton serves Barton-On-Sea, home of the upmarket wrinklies.

91 Headcode Weymouth's never used to call at Brockenhurst either, they were all NON STOP Southampton (now Central) - Bomo, they were also NON STOP from Southampton Airport (Eastleigh) now Parkway to Waterloo. They used to do the journey in about 60'-65'.

The Brockenhurst stop was added to satisfy the snobs of Lymington, as was the Winchester stop.

The one thing that I'm looking forward to is the A3 Hindhead Tunnel, because that'll mean that it'll take me less time to drive to Portsmouth & Southampton than catch the train, I can beat the train if I leave early morning/mid evening now, but with the Hindhead bottleneck gone it won't matter. As SWT will find out to its cost.

If SWT doesn't get the journey from Portsmouth to Guildford & vv down to less than 45' then they'll lose hands down, Guildford - Waterloo can be done in 30' comfortably (been there done that!), so a journey time of 75-80' end to end is required.