Train rants
- Thread starter shifty_uk
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What would you suggest they do to solve this problem?
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Please, it'd be like an Arnold Schwarzenegger film, "get to ze 8:11 to london paddington"
I remember once being told someone had nicked the cable for the signal boxes, rig up some land mines around the perimeter, problem solved.
Be thankful that none of you have to take the Shosholoza Meyl.
Johannesburg to Cape Town, 36 hours. Delayed by 6-8 hours, upright hard seats all the way. Conductor comes in and quite proudly announces the delays and has no idea why it's delayed or how much longer it's going to take. Good fun
Relatively speaking, that's quite a minor delay - the equivalent of 10 mins/hour...
As a contract cabby I tend to do a lot of work for various railway companies ime well certainly up here in scotland the biggest cause of delays is down to vandalism/theft of railway property
Cable theft is a ridiculous problem ATM add to that foreign objects left on the line and general vandalism I'm amazed to here that 95 + % of trains run on time without issue
Cable theft is a ridiculous problem ATM add to that foreign objects left on the line and general vandalism I'm amazed to here that 95 + % of trains run on time without issue
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Agreed. Don't suppose you were affected by this mornings delays? Ended up an hour late to work going from Albany Park to London Bridge, apparently there were only 2 platforms open at London Bridge, as well as the repairs at St Johns/New Cross making them in-operational. **** take.
Scotrail are very, very poor. What gets to me is not so much delay as it's inevitable but the complete lack of information. Nothing infuriates people more than information telling them the train after the cancelled one is on time, then ten mins late, then 20, so on so on cancelled. The website is also completely useless, I can check their site having been told by she who must be obeyed that all the trains from our are cancelled (as she is there) and it claims everything is running on time, probably sending yet more poor souls there.
Whilst this is going on it's pretty much the norm to be ignored by staff who either really just don't care or are given so much hassle (due to the frequency of these occurences) that they become numb to any sort of human contact and just don't want to tell anyone...well anything.
Even when the services are running there will regularly be trains turning up with 3 carriages to very busy stations at peak times, which then can't accomodate all the passengers.
On the opposite end of the spectrum i've always been quite happy with services from Bristol to London, but it's not like I'm a regular user so may just have been lucky!
Whilst this is going on it's pretty much the norm to be ignored by staff who either really just don't care or are given so much hassle (due to the frequency of these occurences) that they become numb to any sort of human contact and just don't want to tell anyone...well anything.
Even when the services are running there will regularly be trains turning up with 3 carriages to very busy stations at peak times, which then can't accomodate all the passengers.
On the opposite end of the spectrum i've always been quite happy with services from Bristol to London, but it's not like I'm a regular user so may just have been lucky!
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Put tinfoil hats with earthing cables on top of all the signal boxes?
I have always made sure that I work in places which don't require me to commute via train as Ifind them truly horrendous to travel on in Britain. I'm lucky that I have access to the metrolink up here in Manchester and quite frankly, you would have to pay me well over 10k more per year for me to consider moving somewhere that requires a commute by train.
Commuting by train is one of the main factors as to why I can never see myself living and working in the south east. 25k per year in Manchester where I can commute into work in 15 minutes sounds far more appealing than earning double that but having to get a train into central London every weekday. As someone mentioned before, the only good train services that I have ever been on have been Virgin trains from Manchester to London or Manchester to Stafford. Most commuter trains are just massively overcrowded and with a severe lack of facilities.
Commuting by train is one of the main factors as to why I can never see myself living and working in the south east. 25k per year in Manchester where I can commute into work in 15 minutes sounds far more appealing than earning double that but having to get a train into central London every weekday. As someone mentioned before, the only good train services that I have ever been on have been Virgin trains from Manchester to London or Manchester to Stafford. Most commuter trains are just massively overcrowded and with a severe lack of facilities.
Trains are generally good for me (Greater Anglia). Every 10 mins and it takes 35 mins to get to Liverpool St.
It's relatively expensive (over £3k a year), but I don't mind paying as the options (moving in closer, or taking a massive pay cut to work somewhere else) aren't really valid.
It's relatively expensive (over £3k a year), but I don't mind paying as the options (moving in closer, or taking a massive pay cut to work somewhere else) aren't really valid.
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edit ^^^ another Liv st commuter 
Expense aside, i love traveling by train.
I commute every day to London Liverpool St and whilst we get the odd delay here and there's it's better than being stuck on he M25 or going by road. It takes me 55 minutes door to door with a 15 minute bike ride to the station. I have an annual ticket so no idea how much a monthly ticket costs.. i wouldn't have thought you'd get much change from £300. I can read a book or magazine, browse the net, chat with friends or ignore them by pretending to be asleep.
Conversely, A friend of mine drives daily from Chelmsford to Bishops Stortford which it about 25 odd miles I think. This can take anything up to an hour plus costs him around £350 a month in fuel. Shorter journey, takes the same time, costs more.. that's before wear and tear plus other running costs. When people ask me "how on earth could i commute everyday?" this is what i tell them.
As for general travelling, i'd love to travel more but the networking companies make it so expensive and complicated. If there's more than one of you, it's always going to be cheaper to drive which is a shame. There's just some romantic and special arriving by train that isn't the same by car.
Advance booking helps but where the logic and sense in that?
Expense aside, i love traveling by train.
I commute every day to London Liverpool St and whilst we get the odd delay here and there's it's better than being stuck on he M25 or going by road. It takes me 55 minutes door to door with a 15 minute bike ride to the station. I have an annual ticket so no idea how much a monthly ticket costs.. i wouldn't have thought you'd get much change from £300. I can read a book or magazine, browse the net, chat with friends or ignore them by pretending to be asleep.
Conversely, A friend of mine drives daily from Chelmsford to Bishops Stortford which it about 25 odd miles I think. This can take anything up to an hour plus costs him around £350 a month in fuel. Shorter journey, takes the same time, costs more.. that's before wear and tear plus other running costs. When people ask me "how on earth could i commute everyday?" this is what i tell them.
As for general travelling, i'd love to travel more but the networking companies make it so expensive and complicated. If there's more than one of you, it's always going to be cheaper to drive which is a shame. There's just some romantic and special arriving by train that isn't the same by car.
Advance booking helps but where the logic and sense in that?
Anyone who commutes on the train regularly will have had the same dire experience.
^^I am so, so thankful I don't have to set foot in the hell hole that is Liverpool Street at rush hour any more.
Soldato
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I've been taking the train from Reading Uni to my parents in Slough on most weekends during term time. sometimes Friday afternoon and sometimes Saturday afternoon. Before the major change to reading station it was tolerable. I rarely got a seat, but it was at least close enough to being on time. Since the new stations were up and running (about 6 months ago) the trains have never been on time, with the average being about 15 mins late. They have also been full to the point that you can barely get room to stand in them. They had the cheek to raise the price of this 15 minute journey to £8.
I think even Clarkson complained about constant delays at reading station when he was on the one show, and he only has to go past it
I think even Clarkson complained about constant delays at reading station when he was on the one show, and he only has to go past it
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I'm never in that much long to notice.. I don't find driving a very pleasant experience anymore, leisure or otherwise.
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I can tolerate going from one large metropolitan center to another on a Virgin Pendolino with no stops, a prebooked seat and a short journey on reliable public transport (LOL) either end. I probably prefer this to driving actually, it's rare I ever have to do it though.
Any other journey is just awful.
Standing on a dark freezing platform in November waiting to be sardined in on a noisy jolting commuter train for 30mins is my idea of hell.
Any other journey is just awful.
Standing on a dark freezing platform in November waiting to be sardined in on a noisy jolting commuter train for 30mins is my idea of hell.
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The thing is though you still do it - this must be because dire as though it may be, it is less dire than all the other alternatives. So, really, travelling to and from work at the same time as millions of other people into a city of millions of people sucks rather than using the train specifically.
Otherwise why not just drive? I'm sure you'll breeze straight to the office without a single delay or holdup and you'll always arrive home within 10 minutes of your optimal journey time
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Nothing gets me more angry than public transport. My trains are run by greater anglia. They refuse to run any fast trains during peak times and at reasonable intervals, for no good explanation. Instead this is their time table.
They run a fast train during the mornings that starts at 8:50 and 9:50 then every 30mins until rush hour when they stop the fast service.
On the way home, they have no fast service that runs as it stops at peak time.
So I know they could run a train from liverpool street to stratford and then romford in 15mins, instead i have to stop at every stop and it takes 1 hour to get home.
Too make it worse, during the mornings during peak, we see trains coming past romford that are close to empty that could very easily stop more frequently at romford but they don't stop for no good reason. They have another lines and enough space between trains to make the fast trains stop at romford more often. But they don't do it because they have no incentive to offer a fast train. This means that they would have to change the time table of the trains to suit the customers best interest and not what is most convenient for them.
Ive been on a (slow) train going home from liverpool street when they have kicked everyone off at ilford for no good reason, we are forced to wait another 10 mins for the next train. The reason once they are trying to regulate the service. IE they didn't see the need to run two trains as it was not full enough, so they will just force everyone on to one train and fleece the customers as much as possible. What can you do, no other train to catch.
The worst is when they are pulling in to the station and stop every day at a red signal, i find out from the workers at the platform that there was still a train at the station and they were waiting for it too leave. Just shows the people running the signals are lazy, they don't make it run seamlessly, making customers wait has no effect on their job or anything they do. Making customers wait is built in to their time table.
They run a fast train during the mornings that starts at 8:50 and 9:50 then every 30mins until rush hour when they stop the fast service.
On the way home, they have no fast service that runs as it stops at peak time.
So I know they could run a train from liverpool street to stratford and then romford in 15mins, instead i have to stop at every stop and it takes 1 hour to get home.
Too make it worse, during the mornings during peak, we see trains coming past romford that are close to empty that could very easily stop more frequently at romford but they don't stop for no good reason. They have another lines and enough space between trains to make the fast trains stop at romford more often. But they don't do it because they have no incentive to offer a fast train. This means that they would have to change the time table of the trains to suit the customers best interest and not what is most convenient for them.
Ive been on a (slow) train going home from liverpool street when they have kicked everyone off at ilford for no good reason, we are forced to wait another 10 mins for the next train. The reason once they are trying to regulate the service. IE they didn't see the need to run two trains as it was not full enough, so they will just force everyone on to one train and fleece the customers as much as possible. What can you do, no other train to catch.
The worst is when they are pulling in to the station and stop every day at a red signal, i find out from the workers at the platform that there was still a train at the station and they were waiting for it too leave. Just shows the people running the signals are lazy, they don't make it run seamlessly, making customers wait has no effect on their job or anything they do. Making customers wait is built in to their time table.
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Mine has been consistently 10 min late every morning the past month and for the past week, 20 min late on the way home.
They don't do it because there are insufficient paths in the evening peak. If they did do it, they'd need to take a slow train off, and there would then be a rant just like yours somewhere else on the internet from the affected people.
lol, seriously? The signals are not 'run' by somebody who presses buttons, they operate automatically when a path is available.