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Post by sid on May 21, 2018 14:50:28 GMT
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Post by 700101 on May 21, 2018 14:59:45 GMT
Last week MF from my local station we had London bound trains at 0438,0508,0523,0538,0553. Today, and apparently for almost a month, we have 0438 then 0555. Spot the difference and the impact this will have on anyone needing to be at work between 0630 & 0700, which is the most common shift start time. They've been telling us passengers about these changes for 3 months but can't organise themselves. During the next few weeks some trains are not running due to moving stock around the network to get them in the right places, Southeastern are covering some Orpington services between Blackfriars - Orpington only buses are replacing the overnight services.
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Post by snoggle on May 21, 2018 17:25:02 GMT
Well it appears that we haven't had a complete disaster with Thameslink. Certainly not perfect given the level of cancellations on some services (Horsham - P'Boro, Brighton - Cambridge, Rainham - Luton) but many trains have run and aren't too late. Looking at Blackfriars departures most are on time, some a few mins late, a number cancelled. GTR may be breathing a small sigh of relief that it hasn't all collapsed but I doubt many commuters are content because most hate change. Even earlier problems like signal failures and people ill on trains didn't dislocate the service too much. It looks like the North West has done far worse with meltdowm on a lot of services in and around Manchester and into Lancashire. Mass cancellations of services towards Blackpool from Preston is one thing I've seen and Andy Burnham (GM Mayor) has demanded Chris Grayling intervenes today. Naturally enough not a squeak from Mr G but Mr Burnham appears to be playing an interesting game by hollering every time things go wrong. Clearly about building momentum for his plan to directly control all rail services in Greater Manchester. You can check the PPM performance of any TOC or their route groupings on this website ----> trains.im/ppm/ Just found this but it's very good.
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Post by Deleted on May 22, 2018 22:25:54 GMT
Well it appears that we haven't had a complete disaster with Thameslink. Certainly not perfect given the level of cancellations on some services (Horsham - P'Boro, Brighton - Cambridge, Rainham - Luton) but many trains have run and aren't too late. Looking at Blackfriars departures most are on time, some a few mins late, a number cancelled. GTR may be breathing a small sigh of relief that it hasn't all collapsed but I doubt many commuters are content because most hate change. Even earlier problems like signal failures and people ill on trains didn't dislocate the service too much. It looks like the North West has done far worse with meltdowm on a lot of services in and around Manchester and into Lancashire. Mass cancellations of services towards Blackpool from Preston is one thing I've seen and Andy Burnham (GM Mayor) has demanded Chris Grayling intervenes today. Naturally enough not a squeak from Mr G but Mr Burnham appears to be playing an interesting game by hollering every time things go wrong. Clearly about building momentum for his plan to directly control all rail services in Greater Manchester. You can check the PPM performance of any TOC or their route groupings on this website ----> trains.im/ppm/ Just found this but it's very good. Not very many late night GTR trains running through London Bridge tonight. Lots of angry commuters.
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Post by sid on May 22, 2018 22:32:54 GMT
Well it appears that we haven't had a complete disaster with Thameslink. Certainly not perfect given the level of cancellations on some services (Horsham - P'Boro, Brighton - Cambridge, Rainham - Luton) but many trains have run and aren't too late. Looking at Blackfriars departures most are on time, some a few mins late, a number cancelled. GTR may be breathing a small sigh of relief that it hasn't all collapsed but I doubt many commuters are content because most hate change. Even earlier problems like signal failures and people ill on trains didn't dislocate the service too much. It looks like the North West has done far worse with meltdowm on a lot of services in and around Manchester and into Lancashire. Mass cancellations of services towards Blackpool from Preston is one thing I've seen and Andy Burnham (GM Mayor) has demanded Chris Grayling intervenes today. Naturally enough not a squeak from Mr G but Mr Burnham appears to be playing an interesting game by hollering every time things go wrong. Clearly about building momentum for his plan to directly control all rail services in Greater Manchester. You can check the PPM performance of any TOC or their route groupings on this website ----> trains.im/ppm/ Just found this but it's very good. Not very many late night GTR trains running through London Bridge tonight. Lots of angry commuters. Looking at this there only appear to be two cancellations on the Horsham to Peterborough service. m.nationalrail.co.uk/pj/ldbboard/dep/LBG
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Post by snoggle on May 22, 2018 23:27:24 GMT
Not very many late night GTR trains running through London Bridge tonight. Lots of angry commuters. Really? I've just looked at Real Time Trains for London Bridge and there are no major incidents or mass cancellations. There are the regular, for the moment, non runners on Peterborough - Horsham and Brighton - Cambridge. These are the routes, along with Rainham - Luton, where drivers are not yet "signed" in sufficient numbers throughout the entire route. I saw a comment elsewhere that a cl700 ran through London Bridge in the precise time slot for a service that was cancelled. I can only assume the driver was doing route learning in a real train path. Obviously test trains can't carry passengers. The odd train is a few minutes late but that's all I can see.
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Post by Deleted on May 23, 2018 6:52:13 GMT
Not very many late night GTR trains running through London Bridge tonight. Lots of angry commuters. Really? I've just looked at Real Time Trains for London Bridge and there are no major incidents or mass cancellations. There are the regular, for the moment, non runners on Peterborough - Horsham and Brighton - Cambridge. These are the routes, along with Rainham - Luton, where drivers are not yet "signed" in sufficient numbers throughout the entire route. I saw a comment elsewhere that a cl700 ran through London Bridge in the precise time slot for a service that was cancelled. I can only assume the driver was doing route learning in a real train path. Obviously test trains can't carry passengers. The odd train is a few minutes late but that's all I can see. The last through train to Rainham was cancelled, Cambridge, Peterborough, Bedford, Brighton trains cancelled, all between 2230 and 2345. Not a good time for trains to be cancelled. I have noticed massive discrepancies in what on line displays are showing. I was there I can assure you there were platforms full of people rather peeed off.
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Post by snoggle on May 23, 2018 11:35:49 GMT
Really? I've just looked at Real Time Trains for London Bridge and there are no major incidents or mass cancellations. There are the regular, for the moment, non runners on Peterborough - Horsham and Brighton - Cambridge. These are the routes, along with Rainham - Luton, where drivers are not yet "signed" in sufficient numbers throughout the entire route. I saw a comment elsewhere that a cl700 ran through London Bridge in the precise time slot for a service that was cancelled. I can only assume the driver was doing route learning in a real train path. Obviously test trains can't carry passengers. The odd train is a few minutes late but that's all I can see. The last through train to Rainham was cancelled, Cambridge, Peterborough, Bedford, Brighton trains cancelled, all between 2230 and 2345. Not a good time for trains to be cancelled. I have noticed massive discrepancies in what on line displays are showing. I was there I can assure you there were platforms full of people rather p*ssed off. Interesting as I was looking at Realtimetrains that I would expect to be right. However I've seen something else today that aligns perfectly with what you say so I'll stop disagreeing.
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Post by Deleted on May 24, 2018 23:29:56 GMT
Anyone lucky to get the chance to fly in the Rail Replacement Chopper service?
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Post by Deleted on May 24, 2018 23:46:23 GMT
Holy. Moly. Guacamole.
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Post by Deleted on May 25, 2018 19:06:22 GMT
GTR is an absolute shambles. The Rainham service is practically non existent and has left parts of the N Kent line in a right state. I’m so angry that for months we’ve been told to not get caught out and be aware of the changes, and when they come, they are all cancelled. It’s a really serious cock up.
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Post by sid on May 25, 2018 19:26:08 GMT
GTR is an absolute shambles. The Rainham service is practically non existent and has left parts of the N Kent line in a right state. I’m so angry that for months we’ve been told to not get caught out and be aware of the changes, and when they come, they are all cancelled. It’s a really serious cock up. Shame they didn't heed their own advice, it was inevitable that there would be some teething problems but this is beyond ridiculous and heads really do need to roll. A bit of a howler during this mornings rush hour when a Southeastern service was signalled in platform 2 at Blackfriars and everything had to be stopped whilst it reversed back to Elephant & Castle and seems things never recovered after that. I really don't see the logic of the Rainham section at all, replacing a long established semi fast service between Charing Cross and Gillingham with a stopping service. Surely Dartford or Gravesend would have been far enough for Thameslink? Hopefully things will improve, the Brighton to Cambridge and Horsham to Peterborough services have a lot of potential.
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Post by snoggle on May 25, 2018 22:23:04 GMT
GTR is an absolute shambles. The Rainham service is practically non existent and has left parts of the N Kent line in a right state. I’m so angry that for months we’ve been told to not get caught out and be aware of the changes, and when they come, they are all cancelled. It’s a really serious cock up. Shame they didn't heed their own advice, it was inevitable that there would be some teething problems but this is beyond ridiculous and heads really do need to roll. A bit of a howler during this mornings rush hour when a Southeastern service was signalled in platform 2 at Blackfriars and everything had to be stopped whilst it reversed back to Elephant & Castle and seems things never recovered after that. I really don't see the logic of the Rainham section at all, replacing a long established semi fast service between Charing Cross and Gillingham with a stopping service. Surely Dartford or Gravesend would have been far enough for Thameslink? Hopefully things will improve, the Brighton to Cambridge and Horsham to Peterborough services have a lot of potential. Couple of comments. Heads won't roll because really this mess starts at the DfT and Grayling can't be got rid of by May and he won't resign. He has also already blamed Network Rail which frankly is monstrous but he has no shame. Secondly I can't see Govia getting rid of Charles Horton nor can I see him leaving. He's been with them a fair while - South Eastern previously and then GTR. He was deemed a bit of a "high flyer" when he was at LU many years back. Without inviting the libel lawyers to knock on my door let's just say other people at LU had a somewhat different view. People can, of course, change and develop over time but I do wonder given what's happened. Leadership and direction come from the top. The Rainham service only exists because there is no spare capacity to route more trains through Windmill Junction just north of East Croydon. That is a massive constraint on GTR and Southern services. There is a plan to remodel the whole area and East Croydon station but it will take many years to do and there's no guarantee it will be funded in Control Period 6. There was therefore a reasonably late decision to route Thameslink services away from the Caterham and one other branch to the south of Croydon. This is why the Rainham and the later Maidstone East / Ashford services were added to the TL network. You can tell the Rainham service was "last minute" because the entire junction design by the new flyover east of London Bridge is barely long enough to hold an 8 car class 700 without fouling the points. You need pin point adherence to the timetable to get trains off the Thameslink tracks and on the Greenwich line. If a service to North Kent had always been planned then this part of the revised track layout would look very different. Furthermore there are not enough drivers and there are no TL sign off / depot locations for the Rainham route. They're planned but haven't been built! The layout to the south of Blackfriars and the bay platforms are also suboptimal because the original scheme design assumed the Wimbledon loop trains would terminate at Blackfriars allowing a doubled frequency. Instead we got a daft (IMO) campaign to preserve Sutton trains running through the core to the detriment of the overall design of the Thameslink service and also to the detriment of passengers on the loop who would otherwise be enjoying a 4 tph service. The reason for the phased build up over 18 months was because Chris Gibbs (former senior railwayman) reviewed preparations and declared they were inadequate. The poor planning stems right back to the award of the GTR franchise and the fact no one bidder had a workable timetable. It has taken years of planning to get a timetable that should work if only the trains had been delivered on time and commissioned, if only there were enough drivers and they had all been trained well in advance of the service start, if only all of the supporting staff accommodation / crew depots and sign on points where ready!!! These are all the responsibility of the DfT (procured the trains, client for the franchise, pocket all the fare revenue) and GTR. In every real respect Network Rail have delivered the upgraded railway through Central London, all the extended platforms / longer sidings and the workable timetable that supports the later stages of the phased build up of service. If the signals, wires and tracks were all failing then by all means criticise Network Rail but I really don't see them as being much at fault over the last week. Even the Hither Green signal problem that caused delays at London Bridge was caused by a lightning strike.
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Post by Nathan on May 26, 2018 17:02:51 GMT
So...
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Post by snoggle on May 26, 2018 18:20:48 GMT
And who can blame them? It's a tough job at the best of times but I'd imagine they've been to hell and back over the last week (as have station staff). There's not enough money in the world to pay people to sit at a computer screen (or on a platform) and deal with a 8-10 hour never ending torrent of sh*t / abuse. Being a "punch bag" for other people's failings is not in anyone's job description.
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