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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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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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?  



   

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.       

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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Information and lack of

"A sea of red"
Nation Rail UK Train Times
16 September 2010

We've had three incidents on the London Midland commuter line over the last ten days which I believe have shown how well London Midland can communicate, and how they can't...


Thursday 16 September - Services delayed by a freight train "axle-box fire"

07:00 from Bletchley delayed by about 15 minutes.  We were kept very well informed by the train crew of what was going on and London Midland's Twitter feed (@LondonMidland) was also spot on.  The National Rail Enquiries online arrivals/departure board was also a useful source of information. 

It did take London Midland's email update service a while to catch up with what was going on, but overall for that day it's a very well done and thank you to all concerned.

Wednesday 22 September - Signal problem at Kings Langley

Same train in the morning but six days later.  The 0700 was kept on the slow line instead of crossing onto the fast at Ledburn Junction.  A bit further down the line we slowed and by 0730 were stopped.  No announcements on the train at this point, and nothing from London Midland either via Twitter or email.  

Around 0735 we were told on the train that there was a signal problem at Kings Langley.  By this time we were moving but it was slow-stop-slow (Virgin Trains roaring past at full speed on the fast line where we should have been).

With nothing on Twitter I sent @LondonMidland a prompt at 0739.  A few minutes later they put out a message advising of a 'slight delay' to services.  I queried this (if the 0700 was running 20 minutes adrift of the timetable then that wasn't 'slight').  Their next general update did acknowledge that the delay was more significant and later in the day I got a message of apology.

For this incident we got too little too late.  It must have been perfectly clear by 0715/0720 that we were not going to make an 0743 arrival at London Euston yet we got no news until 0735.  LondonMidland (or the agency that they use for their Twitter feed) should also have been putting out accurate info much earlier.  

Thursday 23 September - Signal/points problem at Wembley and then Watford Junction station closure (bomb hoax)

This one was the 'biggie' with some trains delayed by an hour or more.

Around 5pm London Midland were using email and Twitter to warn of delays inbound to Euston which in turn would affect the outbound services.  If we allow for the fact that I don't think anyone realised the scope and scale of the problems that evening, the updates from both sources at this point were actually fairly accurate and timely (if anyone failed me this evening it was National Rail Enquiries - As I boarded the fast, first stop Leighton Buzzard, 1849 they had that train running on time.  When it eventually arrived at Bletchley it was 56 minutes late...)

Looking at the many messages posted up on Twitter about this incident, people's experience varied.  Some of those who got stuck at Euston during the period later in the evening when all services were suspended reckoned that they got nothing from the London Midland staff at the station.  Similarly, some who were on trains reckon that they didn't know what was going on. 

The mis-information from the National Rail website aside, my personal experience for this evening was more positive.  The train crew did their job well.  We got plenty of stuff on Twitter from @LondonMidland but some of it was inaccurate (there was a stage around 8pm when they told us that the 'congestion was clearing'.  This was before they realised that there was a second problem at Wembley...)

Getting to the point...

I think the mechanisms are there to keep us informed.  We've got VDUs and speakers at stations, station staff and train crews connected by radio, the online websites and Smartphone apps, Twitter and email feeds so why do we still have reason to complain?

My personal opinion is that the London Midland people on the trains and manning the Twitter/email alert services are probably trying to do their best.  I suspect the problem actually lies with the feed of information to them (the "rubbish in, rubbish out" principle).  In other words, if there's a problem on the line to/from Euston and the Network Rail guys don't tell London Midland about it then how can they tell us?  

As passengers paying a significant amount of money to travel to and from money we have a right to be kept informed when problems occur to our services.  We should be getting consistent, accurate and up to date information when things go wrong. 
   

What do you think?

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...

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