Virgin on bad taste

Am I being over-sensitive in finding the above retweet from @virgintrains appalling?  The original tweet from ohbex was fine (if he/she was pleased with the service then they are very welcome to say so) but I personally think Virgin are wrong in using it for marketing purposes.

Many people have had their travel to/from work, friends and family disrupted this week, and the problems aren't yet over.  Anyone who has been monitoring Twitter will have seen many posts highlighting Virgin Trains' monopoly of the fast line into Euston.  While the London Midland fast services have been switched to the slow line where they have crawled behind the all-stops trains, the Virgin Pendolinos have continued to roar past, apparently untouched by the weather.

When things go wrong on the West Coast Main Line and the Virgin Trains services appear to be given priority, London Midland passengers are left fuming.  OK, their trains have further to travel but we've paid our fares too (and can be paying more to travel 40-50 miles than some Virgin passengers will have paid to do 200+).

If this were the first time that @virgintrains had decided to forward a passenger compliment during a difficult period for travellers using other operators' services then it wouldn't be so bad, but they have 'previous' on this. 

Unfortunately, even if Virgin Trains read this blog post they probably still wouldn't get the point, so we should probably just be grateful that @londonmidland has a much better idea of what is and is not appropriate  ;-)




.

Snow problems 20-Dec

I figure that not everyone may have seen the emails put out by London Midland today which describe the problems experienced and the contingency measures taken by that company to get us to and back from London.  I copy the relevant extracts below without comment.

*************************

20 December 2010 08:21

Major disruption to services on Monday 20 December


Update 0810hrs

We are currently experiencing major disruption on a number of our routes due to the extremely cold weather. The following are particularly affected:

Snow Hill lines


If you travel on our trains that pass through Birmingham Snow Hill, we advise you not to travel unless absolutely necessary. Temperatures overnight were so low that the fuel in many of our diesel trains has frozen, despite our best efforts to prevent this, leading to widespread cancellations.


Euston lines


The weather is also causing severe disruption on our routes to and from London Euston. This is primarily due to ice damage to various parts of our trains and doors freezing up en route. Again, we have worked through the night to minimise the impacts and have a team of engineers repairing faults as quickly as they can.


Please accept our apologies for the disruption to your journey today.


For more information throughout the day, you can follow @londonmidland on Twitter, refer to our website londonmidland.com, or visit nationalrail.co.uk/disruption.


Best wishes,
London Midland

**********************

20 December 2010 16:27

Major disruption to services this evening.

Good afternoon,

Although we continue to work to keep our trains free of ice, we are experiencing problems with frozen fuel and ice damage. Due to a lack of available trains, we are running reduced timetables on some routes, whilst others are subject to delays and short notice cancellations...

(Details about non-Euston London Midland services)...

Euston route

We are also having a number of problems on our trains into Euston, many of which are being damaged by a build up of ice en route, which is leading to delays and cancellations.

To minimise disruption caused by points failures, trains are not permitted to cross between the fast and slow lines today, which means that further delays will be experienced due to increased congestion. As a result, Tring to Euston local services have been suspended, with other trains making additional stops at affected stations, including Kings Langley and Apsley (xx.24 / xx.54 departures from Euston).

If you are travelling today, please note that - where the option exists - tickets can be used to travel on either Virgin or London Midland services to/from London Euston...

(Details about other non-Euston London Midland services)

...We are doing everything we can to keep disruption to a minimum, but please visit our live travel information page before travelling.

Please note that live departure boards can only give updates on services once they have left their origin station. If you live near to a terminus (e.g. Kidderminster, Stourbridge Junction, Dorridge, Stratford, Whitlocks End, Longbridge, Redditch, Four Oaks, Lichfield, Birmingham, Coventry, Northampton, Milton Keynes, Tring, London), it is worth checking trains in the opposite direction to see how services are running.

On all other routes we are planning to run a normal timetable, although experience tells us that the freezing conditions will cause delays to some services.

The main causes of delay are likely to be points failures (often as a result of compacted snow and ice), poor road conditions preventing staff getting to work, frozen train doors and ice damage to couplings between trains. Both Network Rail and ourselves will be working around-the-clock to prepare as best we can.

If you use Twitter, you can also follow @londonmidland for helpful travel advice and updates.
Once again, please accept our apologies for today's disruption.


Best wishes,
London Midland

********************

I count myself as fairly lucky today.  I arrived at Bletchley station to find the 0700 was cancelled and the 0653 had alraedy gone.  I got a late-running, 4-coach 0712 which plodded along behind the all-stops train so didn't get too overcrowed.  We got into Euston at 0857, 1 hour 13 minutes later than the 0700 was scheduled to arrive.

I left the office early intending to get the 1613.  I arrived at Euston at 1645 to find that the 1524 hadn't yet left. All intermediate stops (Watford, Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted, Tring, Cheddington & Leighton Buzzard) were cancelled so it was first stop Bletchley.  The journey still took just over an hour, and I felt sorry for the Milton Keynes passengers who were turfed out at Bletchley when London Midland decided to terminate the train one station early.

A friend arrived at Euston in time to get the 1613 but found that trains were either cancelled or were running short (4-cars) and were too crowded to board.  The last thing I heard, she was still waiting for a train home after two hours of waiting.

So how did you get on?


.

7.2% not justified

London Midland made the 2011 ticket prices available last week. The average national increase imposed under an agreed formula was 5.8% (RPI + 1%). The price of my season ticket (annual, standard class, Bletchley-London terminals with no Travelcard) increases from £3,316 to £3,556. That's 7.2%.

The London Midland Twitter service (@londonmidland) has proved to be a far more effective way of communicating views and queries to the train operator, so on Tuesday I used the service to ask how an increase 1.4% above the standard had been justified.

After a few exchanges I got back the following explanation the same day (direct exchange, so not publicly available and undated):

After receiving this I still didn't get it, so London Midland offered an explanation by email. This has still to be received (the London Midland customer service people have a good excuse with Thursday's train driver strike looming), so I figured I'd try and work it out for myself. 

After an hour of looking at daily, weekly, monthly and annual fares, new and old, from various stations I'm still none the wiser.   London Midland appear to be saying that the reason for Bletchley (non-Travelcard) season tickets going up by 7.2% is to address an anomaly in the relative day/annual and Leighton Buzzard/Bletchley/Milton Keynes, yet what I found was that there have been even bigger increases in the equivalent cost of travelling from the other two stations which has made that anomaly even worse!

• Leighton Buzzard season ticket without Travelcard: £3,292 in 2010.  £3,536 in 2011.  Increase 7.41%
• Bletchley season ticket without Travelcard: £3,316 in 2010.  £3,556 in 2011.  Increase 7.22%
• Milton Keynes season ticket without Travelcard: £3,832 in 2010. £4,140 in 2011.  Increase 8.04%

If I've got my figures wrong and/or London Midland provide an explanation as to why all three stations have had such a significant increase above the standard rate then I will post up a follow up message.

In the meantime I'll say:

London Midland appear to have imposed an arbitrary, above standard increase, taking advantage of passengers who have no choice but to use their service. 

It is very difficult to see how these increases can be justified given that there has, if anything, been a degradation in the service over the last 12 months.  

As a passenger I find I am paying more to travel on trains which are less frequent and which take longer to get to my destination.


(Interestingly, while doing some research for yesterday's posting about this week's ASLEF strike I found that the General Secretary of that union appears to also have strong views about this round of fare increases.  See Rail fare increases are madness says GS).

I'd love to know what you think so whether you agree or disagree, please express your own view via the comment box below.



.

Rail strike 23-Dec

As things stand at the time of writing, London Midland will be running very few trains on their various routes on Thursday 23 December.  The strike has been called by ASLEF and appears to be over an attempt by London Midland to consolidate the contractual terms of two sets of drivers who currently have different salary and benefit packages which pre-date the merger of two franchises.

Both parties have provided information on their websites stating their position.  I wouldn't normally copy over extracts but on the basis that the text on these is likely to change over time this posting is going to be an exception:

• London Midland: "London Midland employs train drivers from two former rail franchises with differing terms and conditions that were protected at the point of transfer. Some have higher salaries but a lower holiday entitlement than others, so we are seeking to equalise conditions across the company. ASLEF is seeking a substantial increase in pay and holiday entitlement for our train drivers that is unrealistic and unaffordable".
• ASLEF: "We have been negotiating for three years to harmonise the conditions of drivers from the two companies – over 600 in all - but our efforts have been resisted by management all the way. ... Some drivers are being paid £1,200 less than other drivers for doing exactly the same job".

There's always two sides to a story and only those directly involved can know enough to express a view on which party has the best claim to being 'right'. What us passengers can do though is talk about how this affects us.

As a result of ASLEF and London Midland being in dispute, few if any trains will be running.  London Midland are advising us to avoid travelling so we can take it that a large number of people are going to be unable to work and others will have their plans to visit family and friends disrupted.   With this strike falling two days before Christmas, the latter is particularly unfortunate.

I am in the fortunate position of being able to work from home but others aren't so lucky.  They will either have to try to get into London by other means, or take the day off as holiday.  

As compensation for the failure to provide a service, London Midland will pay compensation.  For an annual season ticket holder the amount paid will be a pittance.  The calculation will be 100% of the fare but based on an average of 10.5 journeys per week.  As a Bletchley commuter I reckon that means I'll get the princely sum of £13 in rail vouchers (I seem to remember that 10 years or so ago back in the Silverlink days that a different formula was used.  We must have been paying around a £1,000 a year less to travel but we got around £16-17 in the form of cash or a cheque for a day of lost or disrupted travel...)

How will this strike affect you?   I may be sitting on the fence in terms of not supporting either ASLEF or London Midland but do you have a view on who is most responsible for the dispute?  Do you feel that London Midland is doing enough to support its customers?

I would really like to know your views.

.

Rob Peter, pay Paul

8 carriages, probably 30-35 people standing per carriage.  Maybe 250 people were on their feet as the 1751 left London Euston tonight...

London Midland reckoned that when it ran with 12 carriages the 1751 had 400 empty seats.  The capacity of their 350/2 ("green") Desiros is 267 seats per 4-car unit so that's equivalent to 50% of the train being empty.

The 1812 train to Tring has apparently been leaving Euston with 200 people standing.  Decision taken with effect from today's new timetable - The 1751 reduces from 12 to 8 carriages and the 1812 increases from 8 to 12.

So how/why did they get it so wrong?  London Midland say that their stats are based on automatic counters which monitor the number of passengers joining and leaving trains at each stop.   Anyone who travels on the 1751 regularly though could have told them that on leaving Euston the first 7-8 carriages are full (with some people standing) and the other 4-5 are at least 60-70% occupied. 

London Midland say that they will monitor the situation over the next couple of weeks and make changes if necessary, but is the fortnight before Christmas really going to give an indication of what usage of the train is going to be like when commuting returns to normal in the New Year?

Congestion on individual trains is not unusual, and it wouldn't be such a disaster here if there were alternative services available.  The problem is that for Bletchley passengers there are not.

The old timetable was hardly favourable for people trying to get home to Bletchley but there was always the all-stops 1734 or 1805 to get you home.  If you fancied risking a change at Leighton Buzzard then there was also the 1746 fast train as an option.

On the timetable that came into force on the 12th, none of the above trains are available.  There's a semi-fast train that leaves Euston earlier at 1730 and then nothing direct (apart from the overcrowded 1751) until 1829.  The 1746 is no longer an option as there's no longer a Leighton Buzzard-Bletchley connection.

For all this we have the privilege of paying £3316 a year  :-(


(Ps: I nearly forgot to mention that the guard on tonight's 1751 had the good grace to apologise for the overcrowding.  She also explained that our 2 minute late departure from Harrow and Wealdstone was down to the extra time taken for passengers to board and leave.  I walked through the train after we left Hemel Hempstead and there was still people standing.  Admittedly there were free seats in the middle of benches of three, but as mentioned elsewhere there is rarely room for a third normal-sized adult to sit with any comfort in these.  Most people would rather stand.) 









  

Silence

The silence referred to in the title here refers to two things:

1. Silence from me (few blog postings in recent weeks)
2. Silence from train crew when things go wrong

Both are indirectly linked...

On the first 'silence', we've had umpteen problems on the line into Euston over the last few weeks but for various reasons I've avoided coming on here to express frustration.  Why?  Because there seems so little point. 

Through November and into December we've had delay after delay and one or two cancellations.  The late running has normally been within the 3-15 minute range.  Not much, but enough (it's my time, and I'd prefer not to spend it unnecessarily on a London Midland train!)

The causes of these delays and cancellations have been various...  The most frequent has been 'failure of lineside equipment' but we've also had more than our fair share of broken down trains.  The recent cold weather has played it's part as well, the latest issue apparently being door problems caused by ice and grit.

Now for the second 'silence'.  Anyone who follows me on Twitter (@eustoncommuter) will know that whenever a delay occurs to a train that I'm on I post updates.  When the guard keeps us informed I say so.  When we hear nothing from the train crew I also say so (and unfortunately this is all too frequent an occurrence).  London Midland are big users of Twitter (@londonmidland) and they are very keen to know when their staff provide good customer service, and when they do not.

It looks like the London Midland train staff have become aware of what's going on which is good.  I wasn't on my regular train home on Friday but a friend who was tells me that after one announcement (subject to be covered in a separate posting) the guard finished with the words "tweet tweet".  Someone has a sense of humour  :-)





   

I don't get it...

I'm hoping that someone can explain what's going on with rail fares.

At a time when they are increasing taxes and reducing benefits, the Government has every reason to encourage (or even force) private companies to limit price increases.

Train operating companies (TOCs) receive income from two sources - the taxpayer (see How much!) and the rail traveller.   It doesn't look like there's any change on the former, but they are allowing major increases on the latter.  This year is covered by the old formula, RPI +1%, but future increases will be higher. 

Why?  There's talk of the rail fare increases being imposed now funding the future purchases of rolling stock, but the list of routes that are due to receive the new trains don't include London Midland.  Sorry, but I don't understand...

One final thought.  When it suits the Government they have been switching pricing formulae from being calculated against Retail Price Index (RPI) to being Consumer Price Index (CPI) based (e.g. with pensions).  This means lower increases.  For rail fares, despite the review of the formula, we remain RPI based.  Why?

Can anyone help make sense of this?  I know I can't.


See ATOC press release - Train companies confirm fare changes for 2011

.

Service improved? 6

London Midland have a page on their website titled Improving our services where they describe the steps they are taking to address a number of problem areas.

This is the sixth in a series of blog postings which covers an aspect of the service that London Midland say they are working on.

Shorter queues

London Midland have set themselves the target of reducing queuing.  They've focused on queuing for tickets where they are claiming to have more staff on duty during peak periods and to have made it easier to buy a ticket online.  They also claim to have made changes at Watford Junction and plans for Milton Keynes.

So what do we think?  I use an annual season ticket so probably only use the ticket office at Bletchley 4-5 times a year (usually on a Saturday when it's quiet).  I do though walk past people in the queue on my way in/out of the station and rarely see more than 2-3 people in the queue at any one time.  I accept though that if you are the third person in the queue and there's only one window open, a wait of 5-10 minutes when you have to get a train isn't great.

The queueing that I do experience on a regular basis is the wait to get off the platform at Euston.  Back in June I expressed my frustration at the arrangements on platforms 8-11 where there's 3 trains totalling 24 carriages scheduled to arrive within a few minutes of each other around 07:40 on a weekday (see Platform planning?).

This week the barriers for platforms 8-11 work has started to remodel the barriers.  As the saying goes, the 'jury is out' while we wait to see the work completed and then the results, but I have to say that I'm not hopeful.

On the plus side, it looks like the disused information kiosk is being removed in order to provide more gates across a wider length.  On the negative side, the manual gate is being replaced by two wider gates, one at each end of the barriers.   In theory these will be OK for bikes, pushchairs and people with large luggage, but what about the large number of passengers with tickets that won't work the automatic gates?

I really do hope that I'm wrong, but I reckon that the changes at Euston may make the situation worse.  I've been told that the two wide gates will be manned during the rush-hour so that staff can let people with non-working tickets through, but what priority are they going to give when they've got trains arriving and leaving around the same time?  Whichever way it is, there's going to be problems for anyone going in the other direction.

I really do hope I'm wrong on this...

Finding myself unable to come up with a definitive opinion on queuing for tickets and unsure what's going to happen at the barriers at Euston, I've got no choice to make the overall opinion on this a large question mark.

What do you reckon?
 


Following the same order as used by London Midland, the next one in this series will be Bette stations.




.

The Great Escape

At around 5pm on Friday, a problem with overhead power cables brought a First Capital Connect train from Kings Cross to Cambridge came to a grinding halt just 500 yards from Foxton station.   There would have been nothing unusual or news worthy about this except for two things:

1. Fifteen of the passengers got fed up with waiting and forced open the doors, got down to the track and walked to Foxton station where they made their own way home
2. The remaining passengers were 'locked in by a rail official and threatened with being arrested if they so much as tried to leave" (Daily Telegraph).  It was after 9pm before some of these passengers eventually made it into Cambridge

So what would you do?  Would you wait patiently on the train or would you too make a break for freedom?  

I'm unsure what my reaction would have been, but I do have a lot of sympathy for the 'Foxton Fifteen'.  Late on a Friday afternoon, it's getting dark and they wanted to get home.  The news reports don't tell us what information they had got from the train crew but if it was "not a lot" then I'm not surprised that a few people decided to take things into their own hands.



.

  

Two people, two lives

Consider two commuters:

Both live in Bletchley.  Commuter 1 works in London, Commuter 2 works in Milton Keynes.  Both like to get to their workplace before 9am

Commuter 1 gets up before 6am and drives down to Bletchley railway station in time to board the 07:00 to Euston.  He/she leaves the house before anyone else in the house is awake.

Commuter 2 gets up at 7am and shares breakfast with the family.   They leave the house at 8am for the 20 minute drive to their workplace in Milton Keynes. 

Both are at their desk by 8:30am.

Commuter 1 pays around £600 a year to park at the station and £4,200 for an annual season ticket (with London Travelcard).   Adding on the cost of the fuel for the drive to the station, the commute costs around £5,300 a year.

Commuter 2 gets free parking at his/her out of town workplace.   It's a 15 mile round trip so fuel is a bit more expensive, but the commuting cost per year comes out at about £1,500.

Commuter 1 is stuck in London at lunchtime.  There's plenty of shops nearby, but anything purchased has to be lugged home.

Commuter 2 has a lot more flexibility.  The hour at lunchtime is enough time to drive to anywhere in the city, including popping back home.  they can also usually manage to drop the car off/pick it up from a service when they need to, and things like doctor and dentist appointments are rarely a problem.

Commuter 1 usually leaves his/her workplace just after 5pm and gets the 17:51 to Bletchley.  Assuming the train is on time, they are at Bletchley and home by 7pm.

Commuter 2 also leaves his/her workplace just after 5pm but even after being held up by a bit of rush-hour traffic, they are easily home in time to watch the 6pm news on TV.

On a good day Commuter 1 spends 3 hours 30 minutes a day travelling to and from work.  On a bad day, train failures, points/signal problems, or engineering works can easily extend this by another hour or more.  For the privilege of sitting (and occasionally standing) on a train with a bunch of other people (listening to the tinny noise coming out of earphones, putting up the ones who shout at their mobile phones and trying to avoid inhaling whenever there's a cough or a sneeze), he/she pays out an average of just over £23 a day.

The journey time for Commuter 2 is pretty reliable, and they spend about an hour and a half a day travelling in their own car listening to their own radio or CDs.  Any coughing or sneezing is their own, and they NEVER have to stand.  The cost of commuting is less than £7 a day.

Commuter 1 sees London as a place to go to to pay the mortgage.  Commuter 2 sees London as a leisure destination.

Commuter 1 dreams of getting a local job.  Commuter 2 just dreams... 

.

Inflation +3%

"The cap on regulated rail fares will rise to RPI +3% for the three years from 2012, but that will help this country afford new rolling stock as well and improve passenger conditions."

George Osborne
Chancellor of the Exchequer
Comprehensive Spending Review - 20 October 2010

____________________________________________

So what do we think? 

After many years of seeing the price of commuting into London rise in real terms are we happy at the prospect of paying even more in the future? 

Are we content to hear that the rail operating companies will be levying an increase that is unlikely to be exceeded by any salary increase that we receive?

Do we think we will get value for money?

Season ticket price 2010 = £3,316
Season ticket price 2015 = £4,780?

Service improved? 5

London Midland have a page on their website titled Improving our services where they describe the steps they are taking to address a number of problem areas.


This is the fifth in a series of blog postings which covers an aspect of the service that London Midland say they are working on.

Better Information

On this area London Midland say only that they are renewing the electronic information and public address systems at their stations between Northampton and London Euston, the work commencing in May and expected to be completed before the end of 2010.

I'm surprised that London Midland are declaring improvement work on just two aspects of communication with their customers given the scope that they could cover under this heading.  I'm therefore going to try and fill in the gaps...

We get our train information on the day of travel from a whole stack of sources.  This is my personal view on how each of these rate:

TV teletext: I check page 432 on BBC Ceefax every morning before leaving the house but am not sure why I bother.  It seems now to only cover service changes due to engineering work and major incidents.   3/10.

The Web: My view on this has changed significantly over the last month.  I was a big fan of the National Rail Enquiries (NRE) arrival and departure boards (and the London Midland equivalent) but one or two recent incidents have revealed some limitations. 

In a Twitter exchange NRE admitted that they currently don't have the capability to predict delays, so if a train is expected to leave Euston on time then until it leaves London they will show it as running on schedule for each stop on the route.  If there is a general problem somewhere on the line which is expected to impact on that train then that won't show up until the train is actually delayed.  Once that happens, the arrival and departure boards come into their own.   7/10.

Smartphone apps (e.g. NRE's UK Train Times): Similar comments to Web.  7/10.

Twitter: Here we've got @LondonMidland, the National Rail Enquiries feeds, and a stack of unofficial sources.  The official ones can usually be relied on but in my experience they report only what they are given (and which presumably has come from or is validated by their own staff, Network Rail etc).  This means that they tend to be a bit slow to report problems and they seem to focus more on general updates, missing issues relating to individual trains.  7/10.

The unofficial are more immediate but like all casual stuff, you have to be careful what you do/do not believe.  Both provide information only where someone is in place to provide it, which isn't 24x7.  4/10.

Station staff - Bletchley: Generally good but why are they never on the platforms when we need them?  I can't remember the last time I saw a member of the London Midland station staff on duty on a platform at my home station.  6/10.

Station staff - Euston: These guys come in for a lot of stick, some deserved and some not.  The line of verse "when they are good they are very very good, and when they are bad they are horrid" comes to mind.  

I don't know what the problem is here, but the station staff at Euston do seem to become invisible when there's a problem.   Much has been made of the new information kiosk on the main concourse but with that serving Virgin customers as well as London Midland (plus a few others), I don't think I'll be heading their way too soon.  What we need is people on the platforms briefed with reliable information who are ready, willing and able to tell passengers what is happening.   4/10.

Station VDUs - Bletchley: the new VDU screens are an improvement at Bletchley but they aren't visible at the ends of platform 4, the main boarding point for passengers heading for London.  5/10.

Station announcements - Bletchley: The same problem applies to announcements as applies to VDUs - The nearest speaker on platform 4 for passengers at the northern end can easily be 50 metres away so any announcements are inaudible.

The problem with announcements isn't restricted to the location of the speakers.  So often when there's a problem there is no message and passengers waiting for a train are left waiting and wondering what's going on.  When we are told, the news is often late (e.g. advice on a change of platform only being broadcast within a minute of the train arriving).  2/10

Station VDUs - Euston: Here London Midland/Network Rail do better, but there is still at least one area of improvement needed...  Why oh why do we have to wait to be told the departure platforms for some trains?  The delay is understandable for the Virgin trains which have to be cleaned and stored, but with the London Midland this (unfortunately) is rarely the case.  Take the 17:51 for instance.  Everyone knows that it's formed of rolling stock which comes in on platform 8 at 17:38, so why do they wait sometimes until 17:45 to tell us where to go?

I think Network Rail also deserve an award for what has to be the daftest VDU message of all - Some evenings the screen on the approach to platforms 16-18 says that it is out of use in order to relieve congestion.  What?!!! 7/10.

Stations announcements - Euston: Similar comments to VDUs.  7/10.

Train announcements: I've deliberately left this one until last on the basis that it is the one area where I've never heard a passenger say that they are satisfied.  We all have tales to tell of journeys that were delayed where nothing whatsoever was said on board by the train crew.  I know that there are drivers and guards who do their best to tell us what is going on, but unfortunately they aren't in the majority.  5/10. 

I can think of two sources of information that I've left out - The train tracker text and phone.   I use neither so don't feel qualified to comment.

Overall rating?  Sorry, on this one it has to be a red cross.


So what do you reckon, have I been fair?  Is there anything I've missed out?  What's your view?







Following the same order as used by London Midland, the next one in this series will be Shorter Queues.



.

'Train rage' pensioner

This morning's newspapers carry the story of the 66 year old man arrested and then fined a total of £965 by a court for "Disorderly conduct" and "Failing to show a ticket".  Rather than try and summarise the facts here, I figure that you'd be better reading the press reports yourself:

• 'Don't prod me you silly little girl': Train-rage pensioner screamed at woman ticket collector who woke him up (Daily Mail)
• Rail firms urged to be ‘sensitive’ to sleepers (London Evening Standard)

What do you think?   Would this happen on our line?

Would London Midland ticket inspectors wake someone and demand to see their ticket?  I can only speak as I find, and I can say that the inspectors that I have seen on the trains over the last year or two tend not to disturb people who appear to be genuinely asleep.  Common sense prevails... 

.

Bletchley station crash

Irvin Butler
Earnest Clements
Percy Geary
Robert Montgomery

Today is the 71st anniversary of a serious incident at Bletchley station which claimed four lives. 

On Friday 13 October 1939 two express trains collided at Bletchley station.  The first, the 07:37 Euston-Inverness express (running a few minutes late) was stopped at the station and a shunter was in the process of adding an additional coach to the rear of the train. At 08:44 a second express, the 07:50 Euston to Stranraer service (which was running three minutes early) came into Bletchley on the same line.

The force of the collison was such that rolling stock was forced up and onto the platform demolishing the waiting and refreshment rooms.  The driver of the shunter, a postman a porter and an RAF serviceman were killed and a further 40 people injured.

War between Britain and Germany had been declared six weeks earlier following the Nazi invasion of Poland, and the railways had been heavily involved in the evacuation of children from the cities in early September.  Blackout conditions were presumably in force at this time but this incident occurred in daylight and there appears to be no suggestion that the state of war was a factor in the crash.

Anyone interested in reading more on what occurred on this day and the aftermath are invited to visit Where The Lines Meet.


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Overcrowding? Us?

Last week the Office of the Rail Regulator released their report for 2009 (see National Rail Trends Yearbook 2009).  The press picked up and reported on some of the highlights.  Two operators were given a special mention - First Great Western and our own dear London Midland...


In 2008 the % of London Midland services which ran in excess of capacity during the peak period was 4.8%.  In 2009 that figure had increased to 5.9%.


After reading an article on this in my own newspaper I posted up the London Midland figures on Twitter.  This generated the following response:

 

I think that's a pretty fair reply.  It's good to hear that the numbers are improving but even better to be told that they recognise that they still need to do better.

So no complaints about London Midland, but what about their trade body, the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC)?  The ATOC Media Centre carries the following press release:

Complaints drop to record low levels 08/10/2010


In repsonse to ORR figures on overcrowding and customer complaints, a spokesperson for the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) said:


“These figures show that, overall, overcrowding fell last year and that passenger complaints across the country have recently dropped to their lowest level on record.’’


“Train companies are in the business of keeping their customers happy and dislike having to put passengers onto trains which are overcrowded. The figures highlight the importance of sustained and targeted investment to ease overcrowding on the railways.”

I don't know which claim I find funnier - the one about passenger complaint numbers dropping (do they not read Twitter?) or the statement that train companies are in the business of keeping their customers happy!!

Then there's the "repsonse" spelling mistake.  Amateur communicators like me can be excused errors like this, but paid PR professionals...?


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Another timetable?

I'm hoping that this question will get me an answer to a question which has been bothering me for a while...

There's a public timetable, but is there an operational schedule as well?

The group I travel with in the morning are amused to think that I suspect that there are two timetables in operation at the same time, but I figure there must be because those involved in operating the trains must have something in the system which is based on the public timetable but which also:

1. Brings together the different passenger and freight services operated by London Midland, Virgin Trains, London Overground, ScotRail Caledonian, EW&S, etc
2. Covers empty stock movements
3. Defines whether a train will normally run on the fast or slow line (and where they will switch over if appropriate)
4. Specifies which platforms will be used at which stations

What has prompted this question is that the existence of what might be described as a parallel timetable is the only explanation I can think of for a change that we've had with the 07:00 from Bletchley to London Euston.

Prior to the last timetable change in May, the 07:00 ex-Bletchley crossed over onto the fast line at Ledburn Junction (south of Leighton Buzzard) and ran at a fairly constant speed non-stop to Euston, arriving on platform 17, usually within a minute or two of the scheduled ETA, 07:43.

After the last timetable change the train was switched to Euston platform 11 where it invariably got in 5-6 minutes early (see Timetable flab?)

Two weeks ago things changed.  The train still comes into Euston on platform 11 but it is back to arriving around 07:43.  The extra journey time seems to be down to a delay around Ledburn Junction where we seem to arrive at about the same time as a southbound Virgin service.  The impact of this is either:

• We slow then sit and wait for that train to pass before crossing over from the slow line to the fast.
• The speed drops off at Ledburn and we continue down the slow line.  We presumably have the all-stops service (Bletchley depart 07:53) and/or the Tring shuttle (Euston arrive 07:38) in front of us, and aren't able to get clear until we cross over to the fast between Berkhampsted and Hemel Hempstead

If my theory about an operational schedule running in parallel to the public timetable is correct then I reckon that the former was changed a couple of weeks ago.  The Virgin service that passes us at Ledburn is either running later or earlier than before, resulting in a delay to our own train.

If there's anyone reading this who knows how this all works then I would really appreciate it if you could let me know whether the second (operating) timetable exists (and if it does then a) how often it gets updated and b) whether it is available for public access). 

Please email eustoncommuter@gmail.com or submit a comment below.

Many thanks.


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Our rails in their hands

This post is prompted by a pair of newspaper articles about Network Rail in today's Sunday Telegraph.  Neither are complimentary.

As rail passengers and taxpayers, we have a major stake in how the organisation which is responsible for our national railway infrastructure is run, and these articles highlight a number of serious issues and concerns.


Who is at the wheel of Network Rail?

The first piece is by Andrew Gilligan and is in the main body of the paper. I read it and came away with the conclusion that the senior leadership of this body isn't "fit for purpose".  Too much money, distorted performance & safety statistics, and a cavalier disregard for the interests of the travelling public.


Network Rail emerges from the ashes of Railtrack

The second piece is in the Telegraph's Business section, and is written by Andrew Cave.  It is a more sober, detailed analysis written around the theme of the appointment of David Higgins as CEO, but it is nonetheless still highly critical of this public-funded body's operation to date (it mentions for example that Mr Higgins' predecessor had a company Aston Martin on top of his £1.2 million a year salary/bonus/pension package).

(Nb: The paper and online versions of the Andrew Cave article have different titles, introductions and dates but the main body of content is identical)
The financial services industry has come in for a lot of grief over the last 2-3 years, much of it undoubtedly justified.  My personal view though is that greed, incompetence and the mismanagement of a public service is a far worse offence.

What do you think?


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Top ten irritants

I don't know what sparked it off, but on the way home on Friday (with nothing to read) I ran through a list of things which most irritate me about some of my fellow passengers.

None of us are perfect (and I'm the last to claim that accolade), but in no particular order this is what winds me up:

1. People who insist on having a conversation with the London Midland ticket inspector at the 'manual' gate at London Euston (blocking the way for those of us who are trying to get on or off the platform)
2. People who do everything they possibly can to deter anyone from sitting next to or opposite them.  We all take up a bit more room when there is plenty of space, but when the train is busy the knees and legs should be tucked in, papers should be folded, and bags should come off the seat next door to go on the lap or up in the luggage rack
3. Users of iPods and other MP3 players who insist on maximum volume and either don't realise how much noise can leak out from their earphones or don't care.  The thought that their hearing is probably being damaged provides no satisfaction when we have to put up with the tinny, hissing noise that can be heard metres away (this wasn't such a problem on the old 321 trains but the background noise level on the Desiros is much lower) 
4. People who put their feet on the train seats.   Shoes on or off, on newspaper or not, I think this is disrespectful to others
5. Passengers leaving the train who stand in the middle of the doorway just to save a fraction of a second when they get off (if they tuck into one side then two people can get into the same space, freeing up room further back for people to get out of their seats)
6. Passengers who bring full-sized bikes onto the trains (or who have foldaway bikes which they keep assembled) when there are restrictions during the morning and afternoon peak
7. Passengers walking through Euston dragging small trolley bags behind them.  They seem to forget that they have an extra metre in tow when they cut across in front of the rest of us who also have workplaces to get to or trains to board
8. People who leave food and drink waste on seats and tables when they leave the train.  Why should the rest of us have to tidy up behind them?
9. Motorists and cyclists who disembark at Bletchley and think that normal rights of way don't apply.  We've got the people in their cars who ignore the one-way signs and come out of the car park entrance and the Cyclists who treat the ramp from the bike shed like the launch pad for a downhill race.  If there hasn't been an accident yet then it can't be long before there will be one
10. ?

I've deliberately stopped at number 9, leaving you an opportunity to nominate something else which you find irritating about your fellow commuters and occasional passengers on the London Midland line into Euston (maybe me!) 

Alternatively, if you think I'm wrong about any of the items listed above then feel free to throw a contrary viewpoint into the ring  :-)


Comments below

Missing platforms?

On the train this morning one of the regulars mentioned her frustration that London Midland and National Rail Enquiries have stopped posting up platform information for the departures of our trains from London Euston. 

This fellow traveller rarely gets the same train home two nights in a row.  She arrives at Euston via the Euston Square tube station which means there's a choice of entrances.  When there's only a minute or two to spare, picking the right one can make the difference between catching or missing a train, so it's really useful to be able to see in advance where the 17:24, 17:34, 17:51 or whatever is leaving from.

I'm a regular user of the online arrivals and departure boards but hadn't noticed this anomaly so I decided to see what platform information I could get for my own journey home.

What I found was as follows:

At 17:27 I check the National Rail Enquiries' 'Train Times' app on my iPhone.  The 17:51 departure is there, but no platform is shown.  Fair enough, the train isn't in yet.  However, as a regular I know that the 17:51 uses the same rail stock as the inbound arrival from Tring that gets in at 17:38.  

The online arrivals shows board shows platforms and it looks like everyone knows that the 17:38 is coming in on Euston platform 8.   There again, it's still 25 minutes before the 17:51 is due to leave so maybe too early to confirm? 

I get to Euston and cross the station concourse at 17:30.  Looking up I can see that the 17:51 shows as departing from platform 8.

Surely the online boards must now show the 17:51 departure platform?

I check and find the platform detail is still blank.  

The 17:34 is currently on platform 8.  Could it be that the people who run the online site don't want to send people on the wrong train? 

Once the 17:34 has pulled out, the VDU for the platform shows the 17:51. 

I check the iPhone app again.  No platform shown.

I check London Midland's own site.  No platform shown.

Could there be a reason for this?  Maybe the online people are more cautious than those who post up the information on the station VDUs and display boards.  Are they waiting for the rolling stock to arrive?

I walk to the end of platform 8.  The inbound Tring train arrives on time at 17:38.  So now we have the 17:51.

Surely the online departure board must now show the departure platform for the 17:51?

 

It's 17:41.  I check the iPhone app again.  No platform shown.

I check the London Midland site.  No platform shown there either.

What's going on?  Surely by now whatever system feeds the online boards must know that the 17:51 is leaving from platform 8? 

Maybe it's 'policy'?  What possible reason could there be for withholding this information though?

(I notice that the National Rail Enquiries site shows the departure platform for the 17:40 to Manchester)


By now I figure that the departure platform is unlikely to ever appear online, but I take one last look...

At 17:48 we are three minutes from departure, there's still no platform showing online for the 17:51.  This is exactly the time when this information would be of most use for a passenger in a hurry.

The evidence looks fairly conclusive.  No platform information for London Euston departures is being made available online.

If we can have arrival platforms then why can't we have the same information for the trains home?