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Post by sid on Aug 31, 2016 13:14:01 GMT
A signal problem in the Lewisham area is currently causing more delays and cancellations!
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Post by snoggle on Aug 31, 2016 17:19:41 GMT
I had a chance to look around the new London Bridge platform (9) and concourse. It is quite clear to me that two sets of 2 escalators (one up and one down) on to each pair of platforms just won't cut it in the busy hours. I'd have 3 escalators on each set, the additional escalator can be put to use during the busy hours in the flow of travel, preventing bottlenecks from forming at the top of the new very skinny platforms! I doubt the huge stairs sandwiched between escalators will see much use. I also noticed our new, airy concourse has poor seating facilities, so it comes as no surprise that the platforms are getting overcrowded in the peaks; there is no incentive for commuters to wait for their train at the concourse! The last bugbear I have with this new station that 2 of the 3 exits (one to the Underground, the other to London Bridge/Tooley Street) are only open during peaks. The St Thomas Street is the least important of the exits and the one that one we are expected to use. Access to the Underground is much more indirect than it was with the old station. But the stupid new practise of redirecting commuters along the longest route possible (à la Stratford, Green Park, Victoria and Kings Cross) seems to be the norm now... Yes the new section of the station looks much nicer but as a Southeastern user, I struggle to see genuine improvements compared to the old station. I thnk people will use the stairs in the AM peak - going down easier than slogging up. People won't want to wait to get on an escalator. I agree the platforms are narrow but at the moment the working method is restricted. In future there will be much more flexibility to path trains. I agree about the lack of seating. Given how bad the frequencies can be on South Eastern it's not on having no seating either at concourse level or on the platforms. To be fair your "bugbear" about the access routes will get resolved fairly soon. The area in the old undercroft is being worked on off peak and I suspect it'll only be a few months before ceiling and floors and wall finishes are done. Then the shopfitters can move in but the walking routes can be used regardless of that. It's a pain now but it's not permanent. |
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Post by twobellstogo on Sept 1, 2016 7:38:36 GMT
A signal problem in the Lewisham area is currently causing more delays and cancellations! Broken train at Blackheath this rush hour : lots of cancellations and long delays again. That means Southeastern have failed on all three days of the revised timetable with no trains to/from Cannon Street... |
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Post by twobellstogo on Sept 1, 2016 9:56:26 GMT
A signal problem in the Lewisham area is currently causing more delays and cancellations! Broken train at Blackheath this rush hour : lots of cancellations and long delays again. That means Southeastern have failed on all three days of the revised timetable with no trains to/from Cannon Street... ...and now Charing Cross is closed due to emergency engineering works. The broken train at Blackheath has only just been moved. I've got to go to Hampton Court tomorrow. Shall I bother?... |
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Post by Connor on Sept 1, 2016 18:43:00 GMT
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Post by sid on Sept 11, 2016 7:54:34 GMT
Well, so far, since the London Bridge changes, SE has had two appalling days in a row. Yesterday was bad, today, if anything, is worse... Despite Cannon Street services not running, the service on the Bexleyheath Line has been terrible the past 2 days. Constant cancellations and late running trains made to miss out Welling and other stations on the line. Had a 45 minute wait for a CHX service yesterday.  I had a chance to look around the new London Bridge platform (9) and concourse. It is quite clear to me that two sets of 2 escalators (one up and one down) on to each pair of platforms just won't cut it in the busy hours. I'd have 3 escalators on each set, the additional escalator can be put to use during the busy hours in the flow of travel, preventing bottlenecks from forming at the top of the new very skinny platforms! I doubt the huge stairs sandwiched between escalators will see much use. wh I also noticed our new, airy concourse has poor seating facilities, so it comes as no surprise that the platforms are getting overcrowded in the peaks; there is no incentive for commuters to wait for their train at the concourse! The last bugbear I have with this new station that 2 of the 3 exits (one to the Underground, the other to London Bridge/Tooley Street) are only open during peaks. The St Thomas Street is the least important of the exits and the one that one we are expected to use. Access to the Underground is much more indirect than it was with the old station. But the stupid new practise of redirecting commuters along the longest route possible (à la Stratford, Green Park, Victoria and Kings Cross) seems to be the norm now... Yes the new section of the station looks much nicer but as a Southeastern user, I struggle to see genuine improvements compared to the old station. I agree about the escalators but I just don't think there is room for seating on the new concourse, it was heaving yesterday evening after a signal failure brought everything to and from Charing Cross to a standstill, in the end some trains were reversed on platforms 8 and 9 and returned south. To add insult to injury the crowds on platform 7 could only watch the procession of trains to and from Cannon Street passing through and is there any reason why trains TO Cannon Street cannot call at London Bridge at least off peak? I realise it would cause capacity problems at peak times with just two tracks for trains to and from Cannon Street but it would have offered some sort of escape route for stranded passengers yesterday albeit via Cannon Street. |
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Post by danorak on Sept 13, 2016 17:50:45 GMT
The 'service' currently provided by Southeastern is intolerable. Now I know that some of it is down to Network Rail, but nearly every evening rush hour is now heralded by a complete collapse in service. It's happened again tonight. You accept the odd delay, but this level of signal failures and short formations is simply not good enough. The Greenwich line now sees fewer trains offering fewer carriages - on my journey, a combined 18 carriages is down to 6, and going to the wrong terminus for where I need to be. In fact, the service has regressed to 1990 standards (see the 'Old, Dirty and Late' documentary www.youtube.com/watch?v=sULj6UpGAyU ). |
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Post by sid on Sept 13, 2016 18:59:39 GMT
The 'service' currently provided by Southeastern is intolerable. Now I know that some of it is down to Network Rail, but nearly every evening rush hour is now heralded by a complete collapse in service. It's happened again tonight. You accept the odd delay, but this level of signal failures and short formations is simply not good enough. The Greenwich line now sees fewer trains offering fewer carriages - on my journey, a combined 18 carriages is down to 6, and going to the wrong terminus for where I need to be. In fact, the service has regressed to 1990 standards (see the 'Old, Dirty and Late' documentary www.youtube.com/watch?v=sULj6UpGAyU ). Indeed, it really is appalling although as you say some of it is down to NR, more signal problems today between London Bridge and Charing Cross, but regular cancellations due to no driver or guard being available is just unacceptable. |
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Post by YY13VKP on Sept 13, 2016 20:32:48 GMT
The 'service' currently provided by Southeastern is intolerable. Now I know that some of it is down to Network Rail, but nearly every evening rush hour is now heralded by a complete collapse in service. It's happened again tonight. You accept the odd delay, but this level of signal failures and short formations is simply not good enough. The Greenwich line now sees fewer trains offering fewer carriages - on my journey, a combined 18 carriages is down to 6, and going to the wrong terminus for where I need to be. In fact, the service has regressed to 1990 standards (see the 'Old, Dirty and Late' documentary www.youtube.com/watch?v=sULj6UpGAyU ). The signal failures are all down to Network Rail. I'm not sure about if 375's or 465's are used on the Greenwich line, but Southeastern are apparently receiving 25 Class 377/1's from Southern from next year so it could help reduce the stock shortage. |
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Post by danorak on Sept 13, 2016 21:20:12 GMT
The 'service' currently provided by Southeastern is intolerable. Now I know that some of it is down to Network Rail, but nearly every evening rush hour is now heralded by a complete collapse in service. It's happened again tonight. You accept the odd delay, but this level of signal failures and short formations is simply not good enough. The Greenwich line now sees fewer trains offering fewer carriages - on my journey, a combined 18 carriages is down to 6, and going to the wrong terminus for where I need to be. In fact, the service has regressed to 1990 standards (see the 'Old, Dirty and Late' documentary www.youtube.com/watch?v=sULj6UpGAyU ). The signal failures are all down to Network Rail. I'm not sure about if 375's or 465's are used on the Greenwich line, but Southeastern are apparently receiving 25 Class 377/1's from Southern from next year so it could help reduce the stock shortage. If these are the ones down for 'late 2017' then it'll be too late. Some urgent tweaking of stock allocation is needed as an interim measure. Greenwich line passengers have had to show a lot of patience while this work has been going on, but I think that has finally run out. |
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Post by YY13VKP on Sept 13, 2016 21:25:44 GMT
The signal failures are all down to Network Rail. I'm not sure about if 375's or 465's are used on the Greenwich line, but Southeastern are apparently receiving 25 Class 377/1's from Southern from next year so it could help reduce the stock shortage. If these are the ones down for 'late 2017' then it'll be too late. Some urgent tweaking of stock allocation is needed as an interim measure. Greenwich line passengers have had to show a lot of patience while this work has been going on, but I think that has finally run out. Maybe. I don't know what's actually going on with Govia right now. They've been managing this and the Southern franchise for 12 years now, and suddenly their services go up the spout. |
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Post by snoggle on Sept 13, 2016 22:53:34 GMT
The 'service' currently provided by Southeastern is intolerable. Now I know that some of it is down to Network Rail, but nearly every evening rush hour is now heralded by a complete collapse in service. It's happened again tonight. You accept the odd delay, but this level of signal failures and short formations is simply not good enough. The Greenwich line now sees fewer trains offering fewer carriages - on my journey, a combined 18 carriages is down to 6, and going to the wrong terminus for where I need to be. In fact, the service has regressed to 1990 standards (see the 'Old, Dirty and Late' documentary www.youtube.com/watch?v=sULj6UpGAyU ). There is a suggestion in another place that the increased volume of trains now working into Charing Cross is causing problems for the signalling and track bonding. Not confirmed yet but if it is it looks rather clumsy that again NR have not properly assessed the impact of a proposed timetable on their existing infrastructure. That timetable is the result of one of NR's largest projects so "own goal" territory (again!). That's not going to go down well with commuters and politicians. I can't imagine Sir Peter Hendy is happy either. The ironic thing here is South Eastern's passengers are actually being "too quiet". You have to almost have a riot in order to get some action. It took barely two weeks of overcrowding problems on the C2C line before a solution about hiring trains in the interim and tweaking the timetable / train formations was done. Now the C2C line has "form" over many years for "angry passengers" but the MPs on the line are highly attuned to the moans of their constituents and know how to get action. It seems none of the Tory MPs who represent Sidcup, Bexley, Bromley, Chistlehurst etc have done much at all because nowt's happening. You need some riots and sit ins and to hire Sir Bernard Braine / Teresa Gorman and David Amiss (former and current MPs on the C2C line) for "ar*e kicking" of DfT ministers.  Interestingly the Chair of the Assembly Transport Cttee has written to the SoS for Transport demanding an update on rail devolution and transfer of SE's services to TfL. She wrote to Patrick McLoughlin a few months back but got no reply and it's impossible to tell what is now going on with devolution. I have a horrible feeling it's all gone a bit wrong and the new SoS is not as keen as his predecessor to get rid of the suburban services. The delay to the Thameslink 2018 timetable consultation, which was due last Friday but now no one knows when it will start, also seems to be a factor for SE. This is because there was a suggestion a semi fast service from Gillingham would transfer to Thameslink - presumably because it didn't fit in with a restructured South Eastern "longer distance" franchise and it went too far out into Kent for TfL to legitimately operate. The consultation delay is allegedly to do with an "interactive page" on the consultation website not working but it all feels a bit off to me. I may be making mountains out of molehills but I think the Mayor seriously peeed Chris Grayling off with this repeated offer of "TfL help" on the Southern dispute. Clearly Grayling doesn't want any outside interference when he believes Southern are on the way to winning the dispute with the RMT. Far too important for government to have that objective mucked around by "outsiders" - especially "commies" from TfL working for a Labour Mayor. |
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Post by snoggle on Jan 5, 2017 0:39:22 GMT
Looks like Govia will get a further 6 months on the SE franchise. The updated Rail Franchise Schedule, published in December, shows the DfT are assuming a Dec 2018 start date for the next franchise which means a 6 month extension to the current franchise.
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Post by lonmark on Jan 5, 2017 18:20:42 GMT
oh no. not other six months hell for people who face it.
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Post by snoggle on Jan 5, 2017 18:34:14 GMT
oh no. not other six months hell for people who face it. I wouldn't be too surprised if Govia were to win the new franchise. Obviously it all boils down to what the DfT demand and how bidders respond but being the incumbent gives companies a level of advantage. It's 2 years until the new franchise starts and a lot can happen between now and then. |
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