On 15 Apr 2015 at 5:59pm Country Boy wrote:
Absolute carnage on the railways today. Have been stuck at East Croydon for 2 hrs - derailment at Brighton yet Lewes and Eastbourne services worst affected. Why?
Have a word Norman.
On 15 Apr 2015 at 6:13pm Vote Tory wrote:
You must be delusional the railways have been an outstanding success under the Conservatives and our poodle Norman Baker.
On 15 Apr 2015 at 6:16pm Carnage? wrote:
The bloody train was empty.....a bit of disruption for some DFL commuters so what?
On 15 Apr 2015 at 6:39pm Country Boy wrote:
Some train companies provide an exceptional service, regretably Southern isn't one them. Serious questions should be asked regards their recent franchise award and the Network Rail Route Director.
On 15 Apr 2015 at 9:49pm Ed Can Do wrote:
Or get a train to Brighton and then across to Lewes from there like a normal person.
On 16 Apr 2015 at 5:15am Annette Curtin-Twitcher wrote:
I think delays are inevitable when there's an incident like yesterday's derailment.
It's the routine delays, cancellations etc, often for no apparent reason, that are unacceptable imo.
On 16 Apr 2015 at 6:27am Carnage Knowlege wrote:
Well said Annette - when reading the post I thought people had been injured until I heard the TV news .
On 16 Apr 2015 at 6:28am Country Boy wrote:
Annette, Southern should have had a contingincy plan in place for that eventuality. The incident should not have happened. It is likely either to be driver error or defective infrastructure. There will be a cause that should have been under control. What really annoys me about yesterday and other days where delays have occurred, is the contempt shown to passengers and their own staff by some of Southern's senior managers. Yesterday at East Croydon, some station staff were nearly in tears when trying to explain why no trains appeared to be running through to Lewes yet were clearly going to Brighton. They had no information and therefore neither did the passengers.
On 16 Apr 2015 at 6:37am Dr. Beeching wrote:
I think you'll find I buggered many opportunities for contingency routes. Apart from that it would have taken the 2 hours getting from London via one or more of my axed lines
On 16 Apr 2015 at 8:39am Sussex Jim wrote:
A small derailment at Brighton- and no trains running from London to Lewes? Something is seriously wrong with the flexibility of our rail network.
On 16 Apr 2015 at 9:16am GhostBike wrote:
Hello Jim - that'd be decades of underinvestment by successive governments, then. It's a Victorian network on which we try to run a modern service, using a half-baked privatisation plan scribbled down on the back of a fag packet during the dying days of a Tory administration.
On 16 Apr 2015 at 10:11am Skeletal Scooter wrote:
Well said GhostBike
On 16 Apr 2015 at 10:56am Belladonna wrote:
Skeletal scooter - you get a thumbs up just for your name!
On 16 Apr 2015 at 11:01am Country Boy wrote:
I don't think it is anything to do with underinvestment. When I talk about contingency plan I mean't Southern should have practiced for the loss of the mainline at the location of the derailment. Apparently a derailment occurred at the same location in similar circumstances in recent times. I repeat, my main gripe about yesterday was the lack of information, the couldn't care less attitude and the apparent priority given to maintaining some kind of service to Brighton at the expense of those passengers wishing to travel to Lewes and beyond. Southern would not survive if they were in the real private sector because no-one would buy their product.
On 16 Apr 2015 at 1:28pm Annette Curtin-Twitcher wrote:
The reason they prioritise the Brighton service is because that carries the most people. It would be daft to have thousands of people jammed into a crowded London station while they waited for a Brighton train and have trains running to Lewes for the far smaller number of commuters.
The real problem is the lack of investment that means the London-Brighton line operates at capacity but the number of commuters keeps on growing, although I concede that the lack of information was frustrating.
They were accepting season tickets on the buses, though, and a search on your smartphone would have shown you that you could have got a Brighton train and then a bus to Lewes at no extra charge.
On 16 Apr 2015 at 2:43pm Country Boy wrote:
ACT, you may have been lucky. Trains to Brighton were running fast through East Croydon. Only 2 stopped between 4:15 and 6 o'clock and none at all to Lewes, Eastbourne and Hastings.
On 16 Apr 2015 at 2:44pm GhostBike wrote:
"Southern would not survive if they were in the real private sector because no-one would buy their product."
They are in the private sector. I think you mean if they had competition, which doesn't require them to be in the private sector.
For there to be competition, you'd have to have several train operators running the same route, which as we know is at full capacity, so I can't see how that would help.
Also, if they were in the private sector, I'm sure they would devote even more energy to the Brighton line as I imagine it's far more lucrative for them.
On 16 Apr 2015 at 3:35pm Signalman wrote:
To those people compaining about lack of information. Due to the privatization of the railways theere is no one body in charge of incidents like this. In the days of BR decisions and actions would be decided from one place and information could be given to their staff on site - station staff, signalmen, drivers etc. Now it is all fragmented and to make any sort of decision takes a multitude of people and companies a very long time. There are so many contractors and sub-contractors on the railway now that to make a quick plan possible takes many times as long as it used to. At the very least there would be three companies involved in the present situation, Southern, Network Rail and a company that would would re-rail the derailed train.
The present situation is costing the country many billions of pounds more than BR and upsetting a lot more people.
On 16 Apr 2015 at 9:56pm Country Boy wrote:
Signalman, privatisation is just a poor excuse for lack of information. If the will is there, it can be done. Don't confuse provision of information with decision making. If a signaller knows where a train is, that information should at least be conveyed to the passengers. I am sure the technology is available.
On 17 Apr 2015 at 9:26am Annette Curtin-Twitcher wrote:
The fragmentation of the service overall means that no one company has the incentive to invest in effective communications though, so privatisation IS part of the problem.
And yes, re your earlier post, I was lucky. I had a nice drive home from work in my car and my journey was a little quicker than usual.
On 17 Apr 2015 at 12:51pm Signalaman wrote:
CB - You make it sound so very simple. A more realistic understanding of how the current railway system works would benefit your 'knowledge' enormously. Sadly I do not have the time or inclination to educate you.
On 18 Apr 2015 at 9:12pm Fiona Higham wrote:
It's so bleedin' obvious that privatisation has wrecked the railways .. Who would ever believe that carving up a national network of rail and trains would work in any shape or form .. The only people to benefit are the bosses ... And shareholders . Re Nationalise the railways !!!