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! 

.

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...



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  :-(


.

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?

 .

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.



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Irony

A few days ago I posted up my views in support of comments made by Labour MEP Brian Simpson who has written an open letter to Network Rail about the state of our rail infrastructure (MEP talks rubbish).  I hadn't expected to be returning the same subject so soon...

Scattered across the tarmac at the exit to the Bletchley station car park this morning was a pile of papers:

Waste papers scattered across the tarmac at the
front of Bletchley railway station
Thursday 09 September 2010

Someone last night or early this morning had obviously been having a clear out and some of the material didn't make it to the skip which is out of picture on the right (above photo).

The papers

As you can see, we aren't talking one or two sheets.  This was a fair amount of papepr and whoever dropped it must have been aware.  It also looked damp, so it seems unlikely that the incident had just happened.

The papers looked official, so I couldn't stop myself having a closer look.

How ironic...  They include onboard train cleaner logs!!

On board cleaners attendance record...  Non-technicians
attendance record...  Etc, etc etc

Accidents happen (I should know!), but whover littered the station front with official railway papers really should have cleaned up after themselves...

MEP talks rubbish

Rubbish at Bletchley
railway station

In an open letter to Network Rail, a European Union transport politician has accused that organisation of treating Britain's railways 'like a rubbish tip' (see briansimpsonmep.co.uk).

Labour North West MEP Brian Simpson has specifically highlighted:

1. The amount of rubbish left on tracks
2. The lack of weed control
3. The problem of graffiti
4. The contractors' culture of leaving things 'hanging around'

So how do things look at Bletchley railway station?  A five minute wander before boarding the train to London last Thursday morning was all that was needed to find the following which would seem to support Mr Simpson's accusations...

Lamp post left in the car park from the building of the multi-storey in 2008:

'Redundant' lamp post in Bletchley
station car park.  In this position
for 2 years plus

Rubbish at front of station building next to skips between the car park and the bike shed (what was the post office loading bay):

Some of the rubbish lying next to
these skips at the front of Bletchley
station has been there for months.

Rubbish lying around skips at
the front of Bletchley station

Weeds regrowing on platforms (see also Best station garden):

Weeds growing at the northern end
of Bletchley's platform 3

Weeds regrowing in gutter
between platforms 4 & 5
at Bletchley

Waste and redundant equipment left adjacent to track:

Builders bags filled with rubble
and other rubbish lying close to the
sidings to the Bletchley stone depot

Don't know what it is but it's
large and black, has a green cross
on it and looks like it doesn't
belong where it's lying which is
at the northern end of Bletchley's
platform 6

Not a pretty sight or site...

Travel back to 1967

I've been loaned a copy of the ABC Rail Guide dated June 1967.  Probably not everyone's idea of a good read, but interesting nonetheless.

Before we get into the train services of the time, let's 'set the scene'...  In 1967 Britain had a Labour Government with Harold Wilson as Prime Minister.  The average salary that year was around £1,380 and inflation was 2.5%.  The average UK house price was £4,000 and a basic Auston Mini (the Mk2 version was launched in 1967) cost £509.

On 1 June the Beatles released Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and that month the no.1 slot in the charts alternated between Aretha Franklin's Respect and Groovin' by the Young Rascals.

The New Town designation order that resulted in the purchase of 22,000 acres of farmland for what was to become Milton Keynes was passed in January 1967, but that name was then still only associated with a village to the north of Bletchley.  

In June 1967 Bletchley railway station offered passenger services to Cambridge and Oxford as well as London and the north.  The 0714 from Bletchley would get a traveller to Cambridge for 0841. 

The station had been rebuilt in by 1964 with the steam shed that stood on what is now the site of the car park closing the following year, 1965.

So what was the service like to and from Euston in June 1967?   In some respects, not much different to today.   Looking at southbound trains for a fairly typical (now) 0700-0730 and 1740-1810 commute:

Northampton	-	-	0701
Wolverton	-	-	0715
Bletchley arr	-	-	0723
Bletchley dep	0704	0715	0724
Leighton Buzzard	0712	0723	0732
Cheddington	0717	-	-
Tring	0723	0733	-
Berkhamsted	0728	0738	-
Hemel Hempstead	0733	-	0749
Apsley	0736	0745
King's Langley	0740	0749	-
Watford Junction arr	0745	-	-
Watford Junction dep	0746	-	0758
Harrow & Wealdstone	0753	-	0805
Euston	0808	0815	0822
Euston	1742	1755	1805
Harrow & Wealdstone	-	1809	-
Watford Junction arr	1805	-	1825
Watford Junction dep	1806	-	1826
King's Langley	-	1820	-
Apsley	1813	-	-
Henel Hempstead	1816	1825	1834
Berkhamsted	1822	1830	-
Tring	1827	1836	-
Cheddington	-	1841	-
Leighton Buzzard	1838	-	1852
Bletchley arr	1846	1854	1900
Bletchley dep	1847	-	1901
Wolverton	1854	-	1908
Northampton	1908	-	1922

The services are slower (each journey looks to be around ten minutes longer than the equivalent today), but every train calls at Bletchley so there was far more choice than there is today (there are seven trains each way between Bletchley and Euston 0700-0800 and 1700-1800).

In addition to the local services, Bletchley was also a stopping point for express trains coming down from and going up to the north.  There were no such southbound calls during the morning 'rush hour' but someone able to travel during the day could enjoy:

• From Blackpool - Bletchley 1119 Euston 1200
• From Barrow - Bletchley 1304 Euston 1343
• From Carlisle - Bletchley 1319 Euston 1400
• From Blackpool - Bletchley 1519 Euston 1600

There were similar trains southbound in the evening and the equivalent services northbound throughout the day.

The standard one-way fares for the journey were First Class 19/3 (£0.97) or Second Class 12/9 (£0.64).   The return fare would have been double the single.  

The biggest surprise of all in the timetable is the listing of an overnight sleeper services calling at Bletchley:

• From Euston (2125) and Bletchley (2215) to Larbert (0540), Stirling (0550), Gleneagles (0622) and Perth (0640)
• From Stranaer Harbour (2210) and Dumfries (0110) to Bletchley (0649) and Euston (0742)
• From Liverpool Lime Street (0030) to Bletchley (0400) and Euston (0457)

For these services the supplement (on top of the normal fare) was First Class with single berth 45/- (£2.25) or Second Class with double berth 30/- (£1.50).

Finally, the ABC Rail Guide rather quaintly lists the following information for Bletchley:

- 46 3/4 miles from London
- Population 22,110
- Early closing Wednesdays
- Refreshment Room

(The refreshment room stood on what is now platforms 2-3 and was still in operation, serving alcoholic drinks as well as tea, sandwiches and cakes in the late 1980s).

For anyone like me who is interested in the local history of this area and/or the railway I can recommend one website and one book:

• Where the lines meet (the Railway History of Bletchley)
• Bletchley to Rugby: including Newport Pagnell & Northampton by Vic Mitchell and Keith Smith (available from Amazon)

The shop returns?

Is it about to reopen?
The shop at Bletchley
railway station

Is Bletchley about to get its station shop back?  Pucciono's closed the shutters for the last time over the Whitsun bank holiday weekend (see Bletchley Station Shop), so passengers have had to go elsewhere for their newspaper and early morning refreshments... 

BUT

...passing through the station on my way home this evening there was a wonderful sight:

• The shutters were partially open
• There were lights on in the shop behind
• Voices could clearly be heard, and
• By the looks of the furniture and the equipment that was in view, refurbishment is well underway (and dare I say it, maybe even complete?)

People like me who get an early train have had to wait until they reach their destination before they can get a paper (few local shops being open before 7am).  It will be a great day when I can return to reading the sport and news (in that order!) on the 07:00 to London.

  

VDUs: 8/10 for effort

Main displays on platforms 4-5

First off, the new train information VDU screens which have arrived at Bletchley over the last week or two are a huge improvement on the old versions so "well done and thank you to London Midland".   The only place it was previously possible to get visual information for all platforms and following trains was in the station building.  Now we can get that on the platforms themselves.

Platform 1 with VDU.  The
fencing on the left is for the now
unused bay platforms

Another point worth a mention is that we now have station information board coverage for platforms 1 and 2.  These may not be used frequently, but there are occasions when our trains to/from arrive on the fast line so these are a bonus.  

So why did I title this only 8/10 for effort and result?  It's a personal opinion, but I think they could have done even better.

The overbridge

The Bletchley station overbridge

In bad weather or when there is uncertainty about which train is coming onto which platform, people often wait on the overbridge.  So why didn't London Midland put a VDU up there?  Cabling problems can't have been an issue because the new trunking for these displays has been routed over the bridge and down each stairway.


Visibility

Displays looking south along
platforms 4-5 with the shelter
in the background

On the platforms the displays have been placed within 10-20 metres of the overbridge.  On platforms 2-3 this isn't so bad as they are still in line of site wherever you are standing (though you would need very good eyesight to read them).  On platforms 4-5 though, the waiting room/shelter get in the way so the displays are only visible in the middle section of the platform.  This also happens to be the only part of the platform where tannoy announcements can be clearly heard, so if you wait to board a train there then you are pretty well off :-)

The VDUs looking north on
platforms4-5 with the waiting
room in the background

Like a lot of people, I board the train to London from the north end of platform 4.  The nearest VDU has to be 50 metres plus away and is obscured by the waiting room.   The location chosen for these displays was presumably chosen because of the convenience for cabling, but surely it would have been possible to get them closer to the ends of the platform? 

Station building VDU

...and last but by no means least - the VDU in the station building

Didn't someone realise that if they stuck a larger screen up than the one that was there before then it would be lower?  The post-fitting hazard warning sticky tape stuck across the lower edge looks really classy!

Best station garden?

The plants growing at Bletchley leave me wondering if perhaps London Midland is trying to win some kind of award.  Once upon a time the vegetation was restricted to hanging baskets and perhaps the odd-well placed pot or two, but at our home station this year we seem to be going for the seriously natural look:

< The north end of platform 3 (arrival platform for trains from London).  To be fair, the ramp down to the trackbed has been covered in weeds for some time, but this is a walkway used by staff and there is surface cabling in this area.





The north end of platforms 4-5 (main platforms for London bound trains).  Here the vegetation is concentrated mostly up the central drainage culvert but there's also weeds growing in the gaps between the stone slabs and the tarmac surface close to the platform edge >

< Platform 6 (Bletchley-Bedford trains).  This is the worst platform for the weeds which now appear to be approaching knee height in places.

What must the staff who man the station think of this?  It must be difficult to take pride in your job and your station when your management is happy to have it in this kind of state. 

Even if London Midland and Network Rail don't care about the views of their staff and passengers, it's surprising to see these weeds allowed to grow on the platform given the railway industry's obsession with health & safety.  Regardless of whether anyone could trip on them or not, they are growing into structures which in places must be riddled with electrical cables and pipework.  

Is it stretching the imagination too far to wonder if one day that the 'signalling problem in the Bletchley area' that delays the trains might be caused by the slow-growing roots of a weed?

No one seems able to remember the platforms being in this state any other year, so there's an assumption that whatever weedkiller used to be used has been banned.  I don't know if that's the case or not, but one person armed with a hoe, shovel and a wheelbarrow could clear the main platform areas of the stuff that's above ground in a morning.  The roots would be left so the weeds would be back, but at least the growth would be stemmed.

See also:

• Network Rail on managing vegetation