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Post by snoggle on May 27, 2015 12:11:19 GMT
In case anyone wants to ask TfL some questions about Overground services they are holding one of their Twitter chats on 28/5/15. They're normally pretty decent in terms of replying to the questions asked including follow ups afterwards - certainly better than other TfL twitter sessions.
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Post by snoggle on May 28, 2015 13:41:38 GMT
And here are some of the answers that were received during the twitter session. TfL have just finished a twitter session about the Overground. Quite a lot was said. I asked a fair number of questions which Mr Stubbs replied to. - newly refreshed West Anglia Overground train enters service on Monday. I assume this will be after Boris has grinned widely for the cameras at the "reveal" station.  - announcement due on new trains for Overground next month - Hackney Central / Downs link should open in June so slightly ahead of the July target date. - announcement due in a few months about improved off peak services on West Anglia - looks like the Walthamstow Central gating scheme is being reassessed to remove interchange gating and a move to a perimeter scheme in conjunction with LU. This suggests there will be gates in the subway to the bus station and some of the recent work will have to be undone. Please note that I am speculating about what will be done. TfL just referred to an "integrated scheme" which I later questioned. - next concession specification is looking at increased train frequencies, a partial weekend 24 hour service and more frequent late night trains. No more detail than that. - Some confusion about quite when electrification will happpen when they replied to me. Other tweets referred to 2018 completion date. - TfL will look again at a signing scheme for the Walthamstow Central - Queens Road link. Quite why it needs looking at again I don't know. It's a no brainer to me. - Contingency plans being developed by LOROL for the Vic Line closure in August but no further details given. - No real update on the Blackhorse Road "Access for All" scheme to improve access to the Overground platforms. Odd that this scheme is struggling to achieve any great momentum. - No scope to improve capacity on the GOBLIN prior to electrification. - No plans to make Chingford services stop at London Fields or Cambridge Heath. - Still considering whether to change the "naming convention" for LOROL routes. (e.g. North London Line vs Stratford to Richmond / Clapham Junction or some other name). |
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Post by snoggle on May 31, 2015 9:59:47 GMT
The station name signs at Walthamstow Central were being overstickered with new Overground style names earlier this morning. Also people handing out TfL leaflets. Unfortunately the train service looks a bit useless with big gaps between trains according to Real Time Trains and the platform displays. Not a brilliant start.
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Post by mondraker275 on May 31, 2015 19:03:34 GMT
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Post by northken on May 31, 2015 19:13:16 GMT
Looks like TfL were having a bad day. On the status board the Overground was described as having a "Special Service". I've never seen that before.
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Post by snoggle on May 31, 2015 19:41:48 GMT
Looks like TfL were having a bad day. On the status board the Overground was described as having a "Special Service". I've never seen that before. It wasn't terribly good. I was lucky and managed to get a train to / from Liv St without any delays. However there were up to 60 min gaps between trains. "Special Service" usually pops up on strike days when a depleted service is in operation. |
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Post by snoggle on Jun 1, 2015 13:40:28 GMT
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Post by l1group on Jun 1, 2015 17:11:05 GMT
Looks like TfL were having a bad day. On the status board the Overground was described as having a "Special Service". I've never seen that before. It wasn't terribly good. I was lucky and managed to get a train to / from Liv St without any delays. However there were up to 60 min gaps between trains. "Special Service" usually pops up on strike days when a depleted service is in operation. It rather looked like it was hiding some cancelled trains there. There was about a 30min wait for a train at Chingford (which I had walked into). Oh, and Theobolds Grove LO Station looks odd, considering that the station is called Theobalds Grove! - www.flickr.com/photos/wltmauc/18294904266 - spoke to the train driver that got me to Cheshunt, and he was rather surprised. |
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Post by routew15 on Jun 1, 2015 17:25:37 GMT
The 315 has been rejuvenated will be glad to see them leave London in a decent state, than in the borrowed interior they had before. I must say already the New London Overground service is excellent! Here's hoping its stays the same. The station ticket hall/box at Stoke Newington was open past 3!!! This was a pleasant surprise plus Staff at Stoke Newington were visible and very friendly, same for Hackney Downs. One thing I wasn't expecting is the intermixing of 315 and 317s, clearly not as strict as TfL Rail yet. Stock updating is noticeable to passengers and should be done on takeover of operators unless new stock is expected within 20 months . I think TfL have definitely got both takeovers right so far. The staffing issues was not to bad because normally the lines are closed for engineering works but it is bad because of the unexpected nature of the situation. |
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Post by snoggle on Jun 1, 2015 17:40:17 GMT
It wasn't terribly good. I was lucky and managed to get a train to / from Liv St without any delays. However there were up to 60 min gaps between trains. "Special Service" usually pops up on strike days when a depleted service is in operation. It rather looked like it was hiding some cancelled trains there. There was about a 30min wait for a train at Chingford (which I had walked into). Oh, and Theobolds Grove LO Station looks odd, considering that the station is called Theobalds Grove! - www.flickr.com/photos/wltmauc/18294904266 - spoke to the train driver that got me to Cheshunt, and he was rather surprised. The train service was not in a good state yesterday. I asked a member of staff at W'stow Central yesterday what was going on - she had no idea. I thought that was poor. Later on there was a station announcement at Liverpool St saying a shortage of trains was the cause. Later on TfL eventually admitted it was a driver shortage. I've had that confirmed today - overtime working issue. It's also just been mentioned on BBC London News. That could be awkward if it means cancellations every Sunday until there is a settlement with the unions. I'm a bit astonished that this wasn't dealt with, even at a principle level, before drivers transferred. I see tonight that there are more problems for LOROL. Delays on inward trains to L St and the 1733 to Chingford's been cancelled. The next train was late meaning a 48 minute gap in the evening peak service towards Chingford. That's pretty dreadful and I imagine travelling conditions were appalling. I've also seen a tweet from earlier today suggesting a 4 car rather than 8 car train ran in the peak from Chingford to L St - again that would have been a nightmare. I've experienced short formations on the Chingford Line and they're horrible. |
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Post by vjaska on Jun 1, 2015 17:43:43 GMT
The 315 has been rejuvenated will be glad to see them leave London in a decent state, than in the borrowed interior they had before. I must say already the New London Overground service is excellent! Here's hoping its stays the same. The station ticket hall/box at Stoke Newington was open past 3!!! This was a pleasant surprise plus Staff at Stoke Newington were visible and very friendly, same for Hackney Downs. One thing I wasn't expecting is the intermixing of 315 and 317s, clearly not as strict as TfL Rail yet. Stock updating is noticeable to passengers and should be done on takeover of operators unless new stock is expected within 20 months . I think TfL have definitely got both takeovers right so far. The staffing issues was not to bad because normally the lines are closed for engineering works but it is bad because of the unexpected nature of the situation. I got on a 315 for the first time a few months ago under Abellio and I have to say it was easily the worst train I've ever used. The interior was horrid due to the ridiculous gaps between each window and the massive columns next to some seats meaning very little light could come in from outside. The Overground interior looks better but it's still the same awful train. |
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Post by routew15 on Jun 1, 2015 17:56:53 GMT
I got on a 315 for the first time a few months ago under Abellio and I have to say it was easily the worst train I've ever used. The interior was horrid due to the ridiculous gaps between each window and the massive columns next to some seats meaning very little light could come in from outside. The Overground interior looks better but it's still the same awful train. Awful!  Ohhh Nooo the poor 315s  Those trains are little troopers. Don't get me wrong they're decent trains but I'm not afraid to see the back of them they've had their time and the next generation needs to come along. I much prefer the 315 to the 317. I especially detest the ex-Stanstead Express 317s  |
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Post by snoggle on Jun 1, 2015 18:11:46 GMT
The 315 has been rejuvenated will be glad to see them leave London in a decent state, than in the borrowed interior they had before. I must say already the New London Overground service is excellent! Here's hoping its stays the same. The station ticket hall/box at Stoke Newington was open past 3!!! This was a pleasant surprise plus Staff at Stoke Newington were visible and very friendly, same for Hackney Downs. One thing I wasn't expecting is the intermixing of 315 and 317s, clearly not as strict as TfL Rail yet. Stock updating is noticeable to passengers and should be done on takeover of operators unless new stock is expected within 20 months . I think TfL have definitely got both takeovers right so far. The staffing issues was not to bad because normally the lines are closed for engineering works but it is bad because of the unexpected nature of the situation. It's very early days and the train service has been wobbly. www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/13216761.Disruption_on_TfL_s_first_day_in_charge_of_railway_line/I also don't think TfL are yet on top of how to monitor commuter train services for Twitter purposes. Things like delays, cancellations and short formations on specific departures should be covered explicitly rather than be cloaked under "good service" banners. When trains are every few mins, as they will be on Crossrail, then you handle things like the tube network. However we'll never ever get that on West Anglia. Lots of twitter moans about the Chingford Line having just done a search. Obviously there won't be miracles on the stations for many months because refurb work takes time. However the train service has to run properly - you have to be doing badly to be worse than either Abellio and National Express and that's how it is for LOROL after 2 days. I assume there will be some management activity going on to work out what's gone wrong and how to avoid a repeat. |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 1, 2015 20:09:05 GMT
Must say the refresh does look good. Are there similar plans for the TFL rail take over on the Shenfield line ? |
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Post by ServerKing on Jun 1, 2015 20:23:15 GMT
The 315 has been rejuvenated will be glad to see them leave London in a decent state, than in the borrowed interior they had before. I must say already the New London Overground service is excellent! Here's hoping its stays the same. The station ticket hall/box at Stoke Newington was open past 3!!! This was a pleasant surprise plus Staff at Stoke Newington were visible and very friendly, same for Hackney Downs. One thing I wasn't expecting is the intermixing of 315 and 317s, clearly not as strict as TfL Rail yet. Stock updating is noticeable to passengers and should be done on takeover of operators unless new stock is expected within 20 months . I think TfL have definitely got both takeovers right so far. The staffing issues was not to bad because normally the lines are closed for engineering works but it is bad because of the unexpected nature of the situation. It's very early days and the train service has been wobbly. www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/13216761.Disruption_on_TfL_s_first_day_in_charge_of_railway_line/I also don't think TfL are yet on top of how to monitor commuter train services for Twitter purposes. Things like delays, cancellations and short formations on specific departures should be covered explicitly rather than be cloaked under "good service" banners. When trains are every few mins, as they will be on Crossrail, then you handle things like the tube network. However we'll never ever get that on West Anglia. Lots of twitter moans about the Chingford Line having just done a search. Obviously there won't be miracles on the stations for many months because refurb work takes time. However the train service has to run properly - you have to be doing badly to be worse than either Abellio and National Express and that's how it is for LOROL after 2 days. I assume there will be some management activity going on to work out what's gone wrong and how to avoid a repeat. The media was quite understanding  ...which was nice   |
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Ohhh Nooo the poor 315s 
