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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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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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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The hammer mystery

A couple of weeks ago a fellow traveller raised a concern with the guard/ticket inspector on a homeward bound train.  He asked why the safety hammers were missing in our carriage.  What he was told I thought was interesting...


Apparently the safety hammers have been removed from all carriages on all trains because of lessons learned from the Virgin train derailment in February 2007 (BBC - One dead in Cumbria rail crash).  The lessons, according to the guard were:

1. The hammers will only shatter the windows if they are used to strike fairly small areas of glass in the corners of the windows.  Failed attempts to break the glass increase the panic levels.
2. Where people do smash the windows, they can put themselves in more danger when they get out onto the track.

All very logical, and I have to say that I was impressed by the professional way that the London Midland staff member dealt with the question.

Since over-hearing this conversation I've kept an eye out and can confirm that every hammer box I've seen has been empty except one.  That box with hammer enclosed was immediately next to the First Class area on one of the Desiros. 

I'm sure that leaving this hammer behind was an oversight since it would be far too ridiculous to suggest that perhaps London Midland have a touch of the White Star Line view on the importance of looking after the better paying customers (Titanic and First Class passengers supposedly given places in the lifeboats in front of women and children from steerage...)