Taking a break

Followers of the @eustoncommuter feed will already be aware that this particular London Midland traveller is taking a break from the daily Bletchley-Euston-Bletchley train trip.


I reckon I'll be back on the 0700 south and 1751 north before too long.  In the meantime, I am an interested observer of all things related to the daily commute but any personal rail journeys to and from London will be for interviews or leisure.

For anyone interested, my travel to work on Monday will be 15mins by car...

  


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Smartphone app

There's absolutely no doubt that London Midland have to be applauded for the smartphone app which they've just launched.  I've had "Train Times", the Network rail equivalent loaded onto my iPhone for over a year and wouldn't be without it, but that one cost £4.99.  The London Midland version is free!

This app isn't perfect, but the shortfalls are minor, few in number, and hopefully fixable by update.

Looking at the main features:

The "Live departures & arrivals" function is a copy of the full Network Rail version and is very, very useful.  So too is the "Journey planner", another feature copied from "Train Times".  The only issue I had with both features was that the default for station selection when I first installed the app was "Nearest" which made it rather difficult to find London Euston. A minor irritant only...

Now for a few things that London Midland have which Network Rail don't provide, all under the major heading of "Info"...

The "Disruption information" feature should be very useful, though I did notice yesterday that it didn't appear to provide any info on the major problems arising from the overhead line damage that shut-down all WCML services into Euston for a few hours yesterday.  This might be because the info is individual train-based and is being auto-generated from another system, but if true then it seems surprising that London Midland didn't think to provide a field for general updates.

"London Underground status" is a link to a mobile version of the TfL website so on an iPhone it opens up Safari.  That's fine, but as iPhone users know if you already have 9 tabs open then it will take one tab down without asking.  In this respect it is no different to email and other apps with web links, but it might have been nice if they'd highlight that this is a link rather than an internal feature of the app.

What is really, really useful is the next one on the list,"@londonmidland on Twitter".  Anyone who follows David and his comms/marketing team know that @londonmidland has deservedly won industry awards for their excellent Twitter feed, so this feature gives direct access to the live information regardless of whether you are a Twitter user or not (and although I am, I will use this feature as I think it will give quicker access to @londonmidland info as it avoids the need to scroll through other tweets).

Next up is "Timetables" which appears to give access to a PDF-type version of the main and pocket London Midland timetables that can be picked up at the station.  Useful.

Selecting "Car parking" allows second-level selection of your station and then the method of payment (web, SMS or phone).  Again, useful.

Last but by no means least under "Info" we get "Delay Repay".  London Midland have to be applauded for any steps which make it easier to make a claim, but this could have been better if they'd allow users to set up their details by default (name, address, and phone).  Also, like their web-based form they don't provide a comment field so it isn't possible to add details about train changes etc.

The final features are "Email us" and "Phone us".  The latter deserves a special mention. It would have been so easy for London Midland to use their 0844 811 0133 number, trapping users with a call-inclusive package into ringing an extra, high-cost number.  They haven't.  The number that the app wants to dial is 0121 634 2040.  I am impressed!

So what's missing?  To be honest, the only thing I can think of is ticket prices and perhaps some info on things like station facilities and maybe an FAQ area covering stuff like peak/off-peak periods, the rules on bicycles, etc.   


So to sum up, London Midland have done a really good job.  With a bit of tweaking and the addition of the missing fare info this could be one of those few apps which rate 5* (iTunes currently shows 4+ which is pretty good for a version 1.0 !!)


If you've got the app too then I'd really like to know your opinion of it.  What do you think?



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Half a job :-(

In the opinion of this writer, Bletchley station car park has "issues".  London Midland are aware, and they have recently done work to resolve one of them.  It's a shame that they didn't take advantage of the opportunity to do a couple of others...

When sections of the upper deck of the car park were removed earlier in the year (see Slimmed down) the exit ramp was relocated.  Unfortunately, in the new location the angle of the slope was steepened and drivers found they were grounding their cars.  The work done a couple of weeks ago involved levelling out the bottom of the slope, reducing (if not removing altogether) the risk of a car striking the ground when it reaches the bottom. 

Unfortunately London Midland didn't address another issue introduced with the relocation of the ramp - the road markings...



The view from the top of the ramp.  This probably exaggerates
the gradient, but note that from this point there is very limited
visibility of traffic coming out from the ground level

Usually cars on a car park ramp have priority as they reach the next level down.  This makes sense as it reduces the chances of accident caused by having to brake on the way down (either slipping or through another car following too close behind).  In its original position the road markings did give priority to cars on the ramp.  In the new position there are no road marking indicating which line of traffic has to give way. 

Two photos showing (a) how little room has been allowed for
vehicles to stop and wait at the bottom of the ramp and (b) the
absence of any give way markings (the solid line is part of the
"do not park here" hatching)

To make matters on the down ramp worse, a car descending is faced with a very short run-off - Only three bays have been hatched off to provide space for vehicles to come down and turn so a driver coming down to ground level has only a few feet to brake and stop  if another car is going past at ground level.

The view coming out from under the car park.  Again, note the
absence of any give-way signs or road markings and the
limited view of vehicles coming down the ramp

It would surely have been possible while London Midland had workmen on site to put up signs and paint road markings making the give way/priorities clear...

The other problem that London Midland could have dealt with was putting measures in place to enforce the one-way system (see one way?).  The problem of drivers coming out of the entrance against the one-way system has been acknowledged, but it was first raised with London Midland in May last year and there's no sign of any action being taken.

Both of these issues increase the risk of accidents.  As car park customers we are paying a significant amount of money into London Midland's coffers, and it would be nice to think that some of this could be used to fix the problem before something serious happens.

Action is needed now please! 

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Crazy Train!

We've been having some real fun and games on the 1751 from Euston recently.  That train is made up of a 4-car and an 8-car unit.  The 4-car comes onto platform 13 empty around 1730 and the 8-car is the 1738 arrival from Tring.  The two units couple up to make a 12-car semi-fast train to Northampton.

We've been boarding the 1751 on platform 13 for what must be 5-6 weeks without any problems.  Passengers accept that the doors have to be locked for a minute or two while the two sets of carriages are coupled up, but anyone boarding before that operation was just expected to stay safely sat down.

Three weeks ago everything changed.  Passengers boarding the 8-car unit after it had pulled in and before the coupling operation had taken place heard an onboard announcement asking them to get off.  Anyone spotted by the driver or guard remaining on the train was escorted off.  I didn't see it, but I'm told that at the end of the platform nearest the ramp there was actually a police officer (or a PCSO) instructing them not to board.  The reason given is 'health & safety'.

According to @londonmidland (Twitter) there is nothing in the rule book that says that passengers cannot be on a train while it couples.  This is a normal operation that takes place several times a day across the network, and as long as people are sensible and sit down there shouldn't be a problem.  Someone at Euston seems to think differently, and to date the message doesn't appear to have got through...

This week has been particularly interesting.  On Wednesday and Thursday the doors were locked before we had the onboard announcement asking us to get off.  On Friday we had the same followed by an announcement asking us to sit down! 

London Midland have promised to get this sorted, but in the meantime I'm associating the 1751 with Ozzy Osbourne's "Crazy Train"  ;-)



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Temperature's rising...

There can be no dispute that the UK weather has been unseasonably warm this week, but has it really been hot enough to justify the speed restrictions that we've seen on the line into Euston Thursday, Friday and today? 


The daily temperatures in London over the last three days have peaked around 28-29 degrees.  Hot for end September/early October, but hardly extreme for this country.  Despite this, train services on the West Coast Mainline (WCML) have been disrupted.


I can't pretend to be a rail expert, let alone a specialist in track maintenance and rail standards, but I can read.  There's a mass of documentation available on the Rail Group Standards website (rgsonline.co.uk).  One of those documents is titled "Track Standards Manual - Section 7: track System".  (This one's dated December 1998 and it's annotated as "Withdrawn".  I can't find the current equivalent but it seems safe to assume that in the health & safety world that we now live in the minimum standards it describes are not going to be drastically different in 2011).

The following references are interesting and relevant:

• Page 5 section 3.1: "The track system shall be designed, inspected and maintained to ensure the safe passage of vehicles taking account of normal temperature variations".
• Page 6 section 6.1: "The track system shall be capable of resisting rail temperatures in the range of -14°C to +53°C without distortion".
• Page 6 section 6.2: "CWR (continuously welded rail) track shall be installed and maintained at a notional stress free temperature (SFT) of 27°C and records shall be kept of the SFT."
• Page 13 section 9.2.9: "Additional Precautions during Exceptionally Hot Weather - When the forecast air temperature is 36°C or above arrangements shall be made to impose emergency speed restrictions in accordance with GO/RT3411"

There's more, but the content of this document all reads to me to indicate that Network rail should be laying and maintaining the track (which is normally artificially stressed) to a standard that would allow the normal operation of rail services at temperatures significantly higher than we have experienced this week.

So what the heck is going on?  I can think of only two possible conclusions:

1. Network Rail is failing to maintain the WCML to the required standard
2. Health & safety concerns are being exaggerated

I suspect it's the latter, but fear the former (we know from the frequent problems caused by general track, point and signal failures, particularly around Harrow-Watford Junction-Bushey and Bletchley) that there are issues.  


What do you think?  Is the performance over the last three days acceptable?  Am I being unfair to Network Rail?  Are the passengers being adequately served? 




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Passenger Focus survey

This week Passenger Focus were handing out survey forms at Bletchley.  According to the script that introduced the survey:

"If the Government proceeds with high-speed rail proposals between London and Birmingham, then some services would transfer to the high-speed line.  this would provide an opportunity at some point in the future for considerable service improvements to be introduced on the existing route.  We would like to hear your views on the these potential future improvements."


I'm sorry, but I find this a bit strange...  As the intro also says "Passenger Focus is the official independent consumer organisation representing rail users nationally".  Now if the date were somewhere close to 2026 (the date that HS2 is scheduled to complete assuming it gets the go-ahead and all goes to plan) then I could understand why they'd want to ask questions about priorities on train frequency, journey times and seat availability, but that's 15 years away.

The questions asked here are extremely detailed.  See example below:

Passenger Focus survey - Question 14a asks
for a preference between a train every 15mins with
100 seats for 80 passengers and a journey time of
43 minutes with the other option also being 15 minute
frequency but only 100 seats for 170 passengers
with a journey time of 30mins.

Question 14b has a journey time of 50 minutes for
both options but one has a frequency of 10 minutes
and 100 seats for 170 passengers while the other
has a frequency of 15 minutes and 120 passengers for
100 seats

Am I being paranoid when I say that I suspect that this is another marketing exercise designed to dig up statistics which the pro-HS2 lobby can use to justify the £30bn plus expenditure, disturbance to people who live on the proposed route for the line and ecological damage?  Commuters can't say anything else other than that they'd welcome more trains, quicker journeys and more seats.  Have we been tricked into giving them ammunition to help them railroad this one through? (pun intended!)



What do you think?  Is it odd that Passenger Focus (the body which produces the customer satisfaction stats used by the Department of Transport and the Train Operating Companies to measure performance which regularly show favourable opinions for our line) is asking the public this kind of questions at a time when a large number of local councils, heritage and environmental groups, and a significant percentage of the general public have voiced their opposition against HS2?

See also:

• Passenger Focus - About Us
• Passenger Focus - Customer satisfaction survey results for London Midland

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Common sense

Congratulations to the Sunday Telegraph for today's article - A Blueprint for a new British Railway.

What Christian Wolmar, the writer, proposes is the return to a railway with an overall vision - a national, strategic plan.  

I won't attempt to summarise the main points made by Mr Wolmar here as I think the article needs to be read in full.  Please do take a few minutes to click on the link above and read his text article.  Then, if you fancy sharing your views use the comment box below.  

I would really like to know what you think :-)



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Not a bad month

June was a bit of a disaster for all concerned - Network Rail, London Midland (and Virgin) and of course the passengers.  You name it we had it - Lightning strikes on lineside equipment, overheating rails, multiple track/signal failures, train breakdowns and lots, lots more.

With no idea about whether or not July would be as bad (or even worse...), I figured that I'd keep a log of travel delays through the month.

There were 20 working days (Mon-Fri) in July, and I travleld into London for 17 of them.  Of the 34 individual journeys, 11 of them were delayed.

5 of the journeys were delayed by 5 minutes or more. 

The worst delay was 48 minutes, but the fault can't be laid at anyone's door for that one.  On Wednesday 13th the late afternoon/evening service was disrupted by someone being hit by a train.  A sad event, and one that we shouldn't dwell on.

The next big delay occurred a week later on Wednesday 20th.  I was on an early afternoon train home that was held up by overhead line damage and a failed train at Leighton Buzzard.  Network Rail and the TOC (think it was Virgin Trains)?

The third longest delay occurred the following Monday, the 25th.  I was in a rush to get home so jumped on the 1713 planning to get off at Leighton Buzzard, changing onto the Southern service for Bletchley.  Unfortunately the London Midland train was late leaving Euston and lost more time getting to Leighton so I missed the connection.  This was another awful "person being hit by a train" incident, so let's not go there in terms of finger pointing...

The fourth (and final) incident worth mentioning occurred on Wednesday 6th.  There was a fault at Harrow and the 0700 from Bletchley was kept on the slow line.  As we headed south it became apparent that there was a signal/points problem at Hemel so we couldn't switch to the fast line there either.  I reckon Network Rail were responsible for the 14 minute delay that morning :-(

Throughout the month I also kept a note of the significant incidents recorded by London Midland on email and on Twitter.  Overall, by my reckoning we had:

• 6 x signalling equipment problems (general) 
• 2 x points failure
• 2 x problems linked to vandalism
• 2 x person hit by a train
• 1 x train failure
• 1 x overhead line damage
• 1 x train crew issue
• 1 x 'Speed restrictions' (no other info given)

I also recorded that for 16 of the journeys made, we arrived early at either Euston or Bletchley by up to 3 minutes.  More proof that 'timetable flab' exists me thinks...


How was your travel in July?  Did you think it was better than June?  



   

Meet the Manager

Last Thursday I took up the invitation to "Meet the Manager" at London Euston.  There were actually quite a few managers there (I reckon at least a dozen including three Network Rail representatives), including Mike Hodson, the LM Managing Director.

I wanted to talk to David Whitley, the Head of Marketing who runs the @londonmidland Twitter service but I also spoke to Alex Hynes, the Commercial Director.

So what did I learn?  The answer has to be "a lot".  On the infrastructure problems between Northampton and Euston things are clearly not as simple as they may first appear.  We all know that the West Coast Main Line upgrade only completed in 2008 and cost £9bn+, but there's still track and equipment that's 20+ years old.  There is a programme of work in place to sort out the remaining problems (e.g. simplifying the track layout at Bletchley), but it is going to be a while before that's all finished.

Did I make any complaints?  Of course I did!  I raised the point about the loss of the fast Bletchley services in the AM and PM peak.  I asked why we don't have speakers or visible VDUs at the north end of Bletchley station, platforms 4-5.  We also talked about congestion at the barriers and on the concourse at Euston.

Was it worth the effort to "Meet the Manager"?  Yes it definitely was.  I was genuinely impressed with the effort that the London Midland senior management are putting into talking to their customers.  Like the @londonmidland Twitter service, this didn't come across as a cosmetic exercise designed to look good in the next edition of their annual report.

If you travel with London Midland and have also talked to their management at one of these events then I'd be really interested to know what you thought of the experience.  I'm particularly keen to hear if you found that something that you'd raised was acted upon.



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Twitter rail...

There were two interesting discussions on Twitter on Friday.   The first involved First Capital Connect which was accused of blocking one of the established commentators on the railway scene.  This was denied, but it did highlight the different approaches of the Train Operating Companies (TOCs).

@LondonMidland is generally considered to be a shining example of how a TOC can use social media to keep its customers informed and to listen to feedback from passengers.  Somehow they (and the "they" is understand to be one person) manages to post messages as early as 06:00 and as late as 07:00.  The day of the week also seems to be irrelevent. Some of the messages they receive aren't pleasant, but @LondonMidland always seems to find a response which is considered (and often humorous).

First Capital Connect's equivalent, @FirstCC appears to operate only from 0900-1700 which seems strange given that the majority of their customers will be using its services outside of those hours.  On the blocking question, it seems that they have had to take measures to protect their staff from having to deal with abusive messages.  They've used the Twitter feature which only gives access to their messages to Followers.  Two people who were sending inappropriate stuff have been barred...

The second interesting question was about railway staff with personal Twitter accounts posting up messages both to and about their customers.  This is an emotive issue, and on Friday it was suggested that it's an area which can impact on a railway company's brand and reputation.

My personal view on all this is that messaging on Twitter should be treated in the same way as any other conversation.  We should all be open to other people's views but that it shouldn't be allowed to get personal.  The TOCs, their staff and their customers have a lot to gain from sharing information and opinions.  We just need to be open, honest and polite  :-)    

What do you think?

Slimmed down



The original car park layout
(looking north)

 While the rest of us were enjoying Easter, London Midland staff were out remodelling the car park at Bletchley station.  I don't know how many spaces have been lost, but the removal of a large section of the top deck has probably reduced capacity by around 150-200.

The new car park layout (with
most of the decking shown in
the picture above removed
- looking south)

So why have these spaces been 'taken away'?  Is it a further sign of a degradation in service for Bletchley passengers?  Have LM reforecast demand following the cancellation of a couple of major housing projects in the area?  The answer to both questions is apparently 'no'.

It seems that when London Midland secured the franchise for the Euston-Northampton route they took on a commitment to provide an extra 1,000 parking spaces.  The result was the introduction of the rather clever, freestanding upper decks put in at several stations including Bletchley.  After hitting the demand-based targets for the stations involved, LM found themselves a couple of hundred slots short of the overall 1,000 figure.  There was room at Bletchley, so an extra section or two of deck went in there.

London Midland have now 'robbed Peter to pay Paul'.  Demand for car parking at Northampton has far exceeded supply while we have spare capacity at Bletchley.  The deck sections removed over the Easter weekend have therefore been transferred north.

Painted markings showing the
intended position at the front
of the car park for the up
ramp (adjacent to the
entrance to the lower floor)

Passengers at Bletchley can be thankful that London Midland changed their minds about the design for the new layout.  The evidence for what it would have looked like is still around - Look at the paint markings on the road at the front of the car park.  Their first plan was to relocate the ramps from the rear of the car park to the front!



Again, painted markings showing
the intended location of the
down ramp - over the entrance
and straight onto the roundabout!



Fortunately, following a short campaign on Twitter London Midland saw sense.   We already have chaos in the evenings with cars approaching the roundabout from umpteen different directions (including vehicles coming the wrong way out of the one-way car park entrance).  Cars coming down the ramp from the upper deck would have had to have priority which would have gone against the normal principles of access onto a roundabout.



As the saying goes, 'an accident waiting to happen...'



Multiple access points onto the station forecourt roundabout...



Exasperated

One post on here in March...  There's been plenty to write about, so why no words?  The answer is simple - Hardly a day has gone past without a problem, and the daily exchanges on Twitter have been draining...

The cancellations caused by the lack of an overtime agreement between London Midland and the train drivers has been the biggest problem, but we've also had one problem after another on the West Coast Main Line. 

Back in January we were told that ASLEF and London Midland couldn't reach agreement on a number of issues, the main one being on driver training for some new rolling stock up in the Midlands.  In the absence of a deal, the Overtime Agreement between the two parties wasn't renewed in January and drivers wouldn't be working on their rest days.  It looks like no one is now calling this train crew problem an 'industrial dispute'.  It hasn't been coordinated by ASLEF apparently, individual drivers have taken the decision not to work on their rest days.  Hmmm...

Through March the impact of the driver shortage on a day to day basis has increased.  There has been more planned cancellations of the morning and evening peak trains, and where there was sickness or unexpected operational problems further trains haven't run.  Sunday travel has to all intents and purposes been a 'no go'.  

The London Midland/ASLEF problems don't end with the overtime issue.  The strike over harmonisation of two sets of driver contracts that was originally planned for 23 December but which was cancelled due to legal action by the employers looks to be back on again.  ASLEF had the injunction overturned and the union is now reballoting its members.  On top of this, Twitter messages were flashing between @londonmidland and train crew last Friday.  Details remain unclear, but it looks to be something to do with Northampton and Bletchley depots, and a writ prepared by London Midland before, and issued immediately after a meeting on 1 April.

Overall, the relationship between London Midland and ASLEF appears to be at an all time low.

Now for the other problem...  It seems that we've had infrastructure problems on the WCML practically every working day in March.  We've had signalling problems, points failures, overhead line issues and more.  Some days we've had one problem in the morning and another in the afternoon.  Network Rail have a vast amount to answer for.

So what is being done about all this?  Well, if you use Twitter then the comms have been pretty good.  @londonmidland has kept us well informed and apologies every time there's a problem have been forthcoming.  The rail operator has also avoided the temptation to stick to the Ts&Cs of the Delay Repay arrangement and pay compensation only for unplanned cancellations.  That's the good bit.  The bad bit has been that there are few, if any signs, of any action to resolve the problems.  The drivers are still in short supply and we are still getting problems on the line  :-(


Oops, I nearly forgot - One good thing did happen in March.  On Monday 14th the 1751 finally got the extra 4 carriages back so it is now a 12-car train again.  The carriages should never have been taken away in the first place, but London Midland did show that they listen and have the flexibility to make up for an error by correcting the mistake.       

Mixed bag

This has been a week of interesting developments for Bletchley rail passengers...

Train length

Starting on a positive note, London Midland have confirmed that the 1751 will be returning to a 12-car service from Monday 14 March.  When the winter timetable was introduced back in December, London Midland reduced the capacity to 8 carriages.  This caused a storm of protest with complaints being submitted by post, by email and via Twitter (see Rob Peter, Pay Paul).

London Midland accepted in January that they needed to restore the train to its previous length, but warned that this might have to wait until the next timetable change in May.  Fortunately, they've found a way of making the change earlier.


Now for the not so positive bits... 

Bletchley station car park

This week we learned that London Midland intend to remove part of the car park upper deck.  We have excess capacity and Northampton has too few spaces, so the section will be dismantled for re-erection up there.  There's no argument about us having more spaces than we need, but it does seem strange that:

1. London Midland got it so wrong when the car park was first built (or was the provision of so many spaces at Bletchley a ploy to help meet a target set as part of the franchise agreement?), and
2. That it is cost effective to move a section from one location to another rather than buying new for Northampton

In addition to dismantling a section, London Midland are planning to move the up and down ramps from the rear of the car park to the front.  Is this madness?  We already have chaos at the roundabout which has five official feeds plus bikes coming out of the shed and pedestrians with no footpath.  Add on people ignoring the one-way system who exit the car park from the entrance, and it's 'an accident waiting to happen'.

If the ramps are moved to the front then the down ramp will presumably have to have priority over all other traffic.  How that will happen in reality is a mystery...


Station manning

On Tuesday London Midland have announced plans to change the manning hours at the majority of stations across the network (see London Midland proposes changes to ticket office opening hours).

For Bletchley, the proposal is to change the manning hours as follows:

• Mon-Fri: 0600-1900 instead of 0545-2130
• Sat: 0700-1800 instead of 0545-2130
• Sun: 0800-1700 instead of 0715-2100

What does this mean in practice?  For the ticket office itself, the reduced hours will mean that anyone needing to buy or replace a ticket on their way home won't be able to do so if they get a midweek train after the 1751.  Not good when London Midland have an expectation that we'll call into the ticket office to get a replacement when our ticket won't work their automatic gates...

The toilets at Bletchley are only open when the station is manned, so this means discomfort and inconvenience for many (their website says that we can use the toilets on the trains, but this is no good when you are waiting for your train to arrive!)

The other issue is safety.  Bletchley is a big station.  It may have CCTV but it seems unlikely that that will help at the time of an incident.

The changes are only proposals so if you'd like to comment on them then please write to:

Passenger Focus

Freepost (RRRE-ETTC-LEET)

PO Box 4257

Manchester

M60 3AR

Or email: advice@passengerfocus.org.uk

ASLEF strike

Before Christmas ASLEF, the train drivers' union was due to strike (see Rail strike 23-Dec).  The industrial action was called off following legal action by London Midland.   On Friday it was announced that the Appeals Court had made a judgement in favour of ASLEF, so it looks very likely that we can expect a strike in the coming weeks.  What joy  :-(


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Extended journeys

Two things have been winding me up about the operation at Euston - queueing to get off platforms 8-11 in the morning (Platform planning) and trains dropping off the VDU displays a couple of minutes before departure (Euston announcements).

Some 'light digging' has revealed some interesting info about the above two subjects.  Working in reverse order, so starting with the journey home...  Network Rail/Virgin Trains/London Midland have apparently decided that to deter people from running across the concourse and down the ramps, they will deliberately drop the VDU information for a train two minutes before it's scheduled departure time. 

Now to the morning...  Before the remodelling work on the automatic barriers and the surrounding structures on platforms 8-11, there were set time slots when the gates were open.  What this meant was that at busy times, the flow of passengers coming into Euston was significantly eased.

The remodelling work did improve things in terms of more gates across a wider front and a slightly wider approach from platforms 10-11 thanks to the moving back of some railings, BUT London Midland have negated those benefits by deciding to keep the gates working on automatic throughout.  That wouldn't be so bad, but the loss of the manual gate means that we are all slowed down when people have to seek assistance when their tickets fail to work the automatic barriers.

The 'Magic E'.  The mark on
the 3rd pillar which platform
staff are using as the measure
for when to open the
automatic barriers

I've queried the above and been told that the automatic gates will normally now only be opened if the queue will take 5 minutes or more to clear.  'Health & Safety' have been down and given the platform staff marks on the platforms for when that point is reached.  These marks are the signs on the third pillars from the gates (see picture right).

London Midland reckon that they can clear the passengers from two 12 coach trains off the platforms in 3 minutes.  Sorry, but I don't believe it.  The 8-car 0700 ex-Bletchley can arrive at Euston platform 11 within a minute or two of an 8-car train on platform 8 and a 4-car on platform 10.  From the end carriage in those circumstances it will easily take 5 minutes plus to reach the ramp.  Maybe London Midland haven't taken into account people coming the other way to board trains, passengers with bicycles/luggage, and non-working tickets...

Even if 5 minutes is correct, what London Midland is effectively saying is that they are happy to extend our journey times by that amount.  On the way home they expect us to be on the platforms at least 2 minutes before departure too.  I'm sorry, but I think this is ridiculous.

What do you reckon?  Are you happy to be held up on your way into London by the queue for the gates?  Are you willing to miss a train because when you arrive at the station at the last minute you don't know what platform it is leaving from?  I'd love to know your view...


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Mission possible

Anyone following this blog or the accompanying Twitter feeds will know that I've got a been in my bonnet about the lack of Bletchley calls on the fast services during the PM peak.  During the day and from mid evening we have trains that do Euston-Leighton Buzzard-Bletchley but not between 4-7pm.  The reason for this isn't clear, but it is specifically sanctioned in the West Midlands Franchise Agreement between the Department for Transport and London Midland ("Peak departures from London Euston may omit to call at Bletchley" page 79 section 5.5).

Well it took a dispute between London Midland and ASLEF (train drivers' union) to make it happen, but on two days in the past week Bletchley was back on the timetable for a couple of fast peak services home!

The dispute appears to have started over driver training in the Birmingham area, but the result is that the drivers are working only their basic contractual hours.  This has been rumbling on for weeks, but only recently has its impact extended to commuter services in/out of Euston.



17:46 timetable Monday 21/02/2011


On Monday, with no overtime being worked, from Euston London Midland had to cancel the semi-fast 17:24 and stop the fast 17:46 at Leighton Buzzard.  A conversation started on Twitter with @londonmidland about where the 17:46 was actually going to terminate.  It turned out that the train was going to have to run through to the platforms at Bletchley to drop off the guard so London Midland agreed to make that an official stop.  

On Friday London Midland had to cancel the 17:51.  Further conversations took place on Twitter and that morning @londonmidland confirmed that the 17:46 and 18:13 would have additional stops at Bletchley).

There are many positives that have come out of this.  Bletchley passengers have been helped enormously by the additional stops (Friday's 17:46 must have had 50+ who got off on platform 1).  Passengers bound for other destinations on other services have benefited by the correspondening reduction in passengers on their trains.

Twitter has proved its worth and @londonmidland has rightly earned a lot of praise for the willingness to take this things up.  After years of showing inflexibility when there are problems, London Midland and Network Rail have done well to take action and adapt their normal timetables.



17:46 timetable Friday 25/02/2011


Some people on Twitter on Friday night made the very valid point that we shouldn't have to ask for these timetable changes.  Hopefully though, London Midland have got the message and now they realise that thiese kind of changes can be made without the entire line grinding to a halt, we'll see them doing this pro-actively.

And who knows, is there maybe someone in London Midland's planning team who is now starting to think that Bletchley can reappear on the timetables for the fast services in the PM peak?  It would be nice to think so, because I for one greatly miss the old 17:40 that went non-stop to Bletchley...



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Service improved? 7

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

Better Stations

London Midland say they are "investing over £11 million in making our stations better, safer and easier to use. We are working with our partners to deliver a further £9.5 million worth of improvements at over 40 smaller stations across our network" (I'm unsure what the difference is between "stations" and "smaller stations"!)

Under this heading London Midland claim to have a programme to improve the signage at 147 stations and have 51 stations accredited under the national secure stations scheme. 

Some of the items that might be considered to fall under "better stations" have been covered under different headings (e.g. information and ticket offices), but there's a lot missing here.  What about toilets, shelters, or steps/lifts?  Where's the commitment to improve car parking or disabled access across their network?  How about putting staff back onto the platforms?

Putting aside what's said on the London Midland website, what has London Midland achieved in practice over the last year or so?  I can only write about Bletchley and Euston, but here goes...

At Bletchley the parking is significantly better than it was 3-4 years ago (it's also cheaper following last year's price reductions!)   VDU information screens (covered under Service improvements? 4) are miles better than they were.  Unfortunately, nothing else has changed.

The toilets at Bletchley (or at least the gents!) haven't been refurbished for as long as I can remember.  That said, they are OK but they are open only when the station is manned.  There are platform shelters only for southbound, 4 & 5.  They have heaters but frequently stink of cigarette smoke.  The shelter at the north end has no VDU information boards within line of sight.

Compared with other stations (e.g. Leighton Buzzard), Bletchley seems to be well kitted out with lifts and generally OK for disabled access.  On the latter though, London Midland let themselves down a bit with the doors into and out of the main station building.  For as long as I can remember, the staff have been bolting one half of the double doors (presumably to stop draughts).  This is a pain when there's a queue of people going through, and must be very difficult for anyone using a wheelchair or walking with crutches.

The biggest complaint about Bletchley has to be the absence of station staff on the platforms.  At 7am on a wet/dark morning when there's a problem with the southbound services from platforms 4 & 5, the nearest member of staff is far away, over a bridge and in the main station building. 

Is Bletchley a secure station?  I wouldn't like to find myself waiting for a train around midnight, alone on the platform (with the station unmanned by mid-evening) apart from a bunch of youths who have had a few alcopops too many...

So what about Euston?  Well it has facilities and staff by abundance.  The automatic gates for platforms 8-11 are a pain (see Platform planning) and are still a problem after the recent remodelling, but there can be no complaints about signage, access, or shelter.  Access to the toilets has to be paid for, but the facilities are good.

Until a couple of weeks ago I'd have complained here about the year on year increase in shops on the concourse (crowding people going to, from and waiting for trains into a smaller area), but having recently travelled through Kings Cross I know there's at least one other London terminus which is a lot worse.

So what's the overall rating?  Do I think that there's real evidence of London Midland improving their stations?  I started this by saying that I could only talk about Bletchley and Euston and for those two stations I think I have to say that yes, things have got better.  There's a lot of work still to do, but things have improved.

What do you think?  Has your station been changed for the better since London Midland took over the franchise?

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Celebrity etiquette?

What would you do if you found yourself sat on a train next to someone you are 99.9% certain is him (or her) off the telly?  Would you try to engage them in conversation, or would you treat them the same as any other passenger (which usually means avoiding eye contact and only speaking if there is absolutely no alternative)?

I found myself in this position on a packed 18:05 from Euston last Thursday.  A man I recognised as a TV comedian and panel game participant got on the train at Euston. 

The celebrity didn't look very happy, but then no one does when they are stuck between two other adult men on a bench of three seats.  No room to move, no room to sit back.  He stayed, rigidly sat upright until we got to Watford where he got off.

This has happened to me twice before.  On an overground train out of Liverpool Street I found myself sat opposite the recent winner of one of the BBC Apprentice series (presumably off to Lord Sugar's HQ in north east London) and then there was an occasion when I found myself walking along an almost empty London Underground platform past the (then) England cricket captain.

I reckon that the first two were probably grateful that no one acknowledged who they were (on the Thursday's 18:05 there was no room for autographs) but the cricketer did look like he was hoping someone would speak (if he was then he was disappointed!)

Has this happened to you to, and if so what did you do?  If you spoke to them then how did they react?  Did they seem pleased to get the attention, or were they annoyed?



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Overtime action

The London Midland website is carrying an announcement about possible service disruption due to the overtime agreement between ASLEF and the train company not being renewed.  No train crew = no train so it is very likely that we will find situations where services are cancelled on us.

London Midland appear to be trying to give warning about where services may/may not be disrupted (see Potential disruption to services from 31 January 2011) but it seems likely that there will be some unexpected cancellations.

There's nothing on the London Midland site which refers to the reason behind this action and the ASLEF website makes no direct reference to it.  I suspected that it might have been linked to the same issues which nearly resulted in a strike before Christmas (see Rail strike 23-Dec) but then found the following in the London Midland area of the union website:

"END TO REST DAY WORKING - 12 Jan 2011

ASLEF Executive Committee reject LM’s request to extend Rest Day Working Agreement.

After giving consideration to reports submitted by the District Organiser and Company Council, the ASLEF Executive Committee rejected London Midland’s request to extend the Rest Day Working Agreement.

The Company Council reported that the existing training agreement, relating to additional Trent Valley services has come to conclusion and they have yet to reach agreement with London Midland regarding the introduction of Class 172 DMUs. (A meeting had been arranged for the 22nd of December to discuss Class 172 training, but was then postponed by LM at short notice).

If LM are serious about wanting an extension to rest day working, further discussions will need to take place on the following issues: Class 172 introduction, depot establishments, establishment calculators and the utilisation of rest day working.

THE LONDON MIDLAND REST DAY WORKING AGREEMENT COMES TO AN END ON SATURDAY THE 29th JANUARY 2011"

(See ASLEF: End to rest day working)

It looks like the Class 172 DMUs are for Birmingham services in the northern section of the London Midland network which probably explains why the company is predicted that most of the planned cancellations will be in that area rather than at the London end.

We'll have to see how the next few weeks pan out, but this may not be as serious for London commuters as perhaps it first appears.  There is though a dark cloud gathering on the horizon.  It looks like ASLEF have been granted leave to appeal on the injunction that stopped the drivers' strike on 23 December, so one way or another we could have some difficult travel days ahead...  (See High Court injunction: ASLEF granted leave to appeal). 

 

Statistics

Back in December London Midland removed twelve carriages from the 17:51 from Euston.  The result was immediate and painful for the people who rely on that train to get them home - Overcrowding, probably 30+ people standing per carriage and some not getting a seat until Hemel Hempstead.  I put up a post at the time - Rob Peter, pay Paul.

London Midland have finally admitted that they need to put the four carriages back onto the 17:51, but it looks like we have to wait until the next timetable change which will be in May.  We could go on here about why it will take so long to organise this, but there's probably a whole stack of bureaucracy and complication around finding a spare unit and getting it into the right place at the right time.

What I'd prefer to do here is to ponder on how London Midland could have got it so wrong.  Anyone who was a regular on the 17:51 before the change could have told them that that train wasn't under-utilised.  The middle seat in a bench of three was often empty (rarely do you get three adult commuters sat together who can squeeze in there with comfort) and the front 2-3 carriages usually had spare seats, but the five or six carriages at the rear of the train (the London end) were always packed.  I often boarded at the last minute and the numbers of people standing in the doorways and corridors sometimes made it impossible to work my way forward until after the Watford call.

This week the @londonmidland Twitter feed (first class source of information - strongly recommend to anyone with a smartphone) came up with the following stats for the 17:51 pre-change:

I asked if the counts were for departure Euston and whether they included days during school holiday periods.  The response given was as follows:

The reference to manual count here relates to the automatic system that London Midland are using on the trains.  Each door is equipped with a sensor which counts people on and off (see DILAX Passenger Counting).

Whether the DILAX system was in place for the full duration of the count I don't know, but if it was then I'm sorry, the system is either inaccurate or someone has misinterpreted the data. 

There is absolutely no way that the 17:51 from London Euston to Northampton started it's journey on an average weekday with only 39% of the seats taken.



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