On 18 Feb 2016 at 12:53pm southerner wrote:
With the results coming out for the Which survey claiming Southern/GTR being the worst in the country, how do you feel about them. Results will be worse than others as they do hold the largest franchise in the UK with more travelling passengers than any other. Plus Network Rail need to be held responsible for many if not most of their delays.
On 18 Feb 2016 at 1:12pm Richard wrote:
Personally I feel very aggrieved. I have travelled to London for the past 40 years and the current service offered by Southern is the worst I have known. Yes, I have lived through 'Slam door stock', Icicles in Balcombe Tunnel, Derailments, Flooding etc but nothing compares to now. Southern and Network Rail are a huge distance from what the customer actually wants i.e. trains that simply run on time and the provision of timely and credible information. Southern and Network Rail seem think they run the service for their benefit, not the passengers paying the money.
On 18 Feb 2016 at 2:13pm bastian wrote:
Richard-want and need are two different things-if you have paid for a service, you need it to run.
On 18 Feb 2016 at 2:49pm Celine wrote:
They are appalling. My favourite farce so far was last Saturday when it was announced that the London train we were catching would terminate at Hayward's Heath and we would have to pick up another train there. An elderly woman in the waiting room decided to wait for the following train because she didn't want to have to change. We caught the train and past Plumpton suddenly they started making announcements that it was the London train to Victoria and that additional carriages would be added at Hayward's Heath. And it proved to be the case. No formal announcement though. It's like Alice in Wonderland!
On 18 Feb 2016 at 4:33pm Richard wrote:
Celine, that is not an uncommon occurrence. Hence my earlier comments about timely and credible information. Southern and Network Rail have a fixation about attending to things that the average passenger doesn't really care about and as a result, miss the basics.
On 18 Feb 2016 at 6:09pm Hayward wrote:
It's not my heath and I have no sympathy for commuters. I have spent 63 years in Sussex and never commuted.
On 18 Feb 2016 at 8:07pm JOHNNY VINYL wrote:
I must admit this is not my own quote, but wanted to share it.
A local commuter described the train service thus.
'We are not regarded as passengers, or customers,
but as self-loading freight'
On 18 Feb 2016 at 8:35pm Sid Shellac wrote:
Well said Johnny
On 19 Feb 2016 at 11:12am Jane S wrote:
Isn't it South-Eastern, not Southern, who are in the news as being the worst?
On 19 Feb 2016 at 1:20pm LBSCR wrote:
It was better back in the day . I thought the Tories advocated Victorian Values. Are your British Railways like British Gas?
On 19 Feb 2016 at 6:57pm Jude wrote:
I can't remember the last time I travelled on a train that was on time. The delays to service are so regular it's now the norm. The best trains to catch are the very early morning trains as they haven't been caught in the usual commuter mess. anything that gets into London past 0830am is always late. And travelling off peak is now like travelling in a cattle truck with so many people NOT using the Gatwick Express but going for the cheaper southern coast line trains.
On 19 Feb 2016 at 7:20pm Clifford wrote:
I haven't got any complaints about travelling in a 'cattle truck': that's what public transport means. What I do object to is taxpayers' money being used through subsidies to pay private owners' profits. Capitalism seems to have become a system to make us pay double for everything.
On 19 Feb 2016 at 11:30pm Jude wrote:
Sorry Clifford but public transport does not mean cattle truck - older people having to stand on crowded trains for over an hour is not a decent humane way of travelling - and certainly not at the prices being charged. They need to put on more trains to deal with the increased amount of travellers, not just ram them in . It's a disgrace. I'm not asking for luxury just a decent standard where you're not fighting for a seat or having your nose shoved in someone's armpit. Apart from that - I agree with you !
On 20 Feb 2016 at 6:09am Older and wiser ? wrote:
Where is the wisdom in spending 2 hours a day getting to and from London so that you can afford to live in Susex. Baaaa ggered if I know.
On 20 Feb 2016 at 8:22am Aemon Wildes wrote:
There is no room on the crowded Brighton to London line for any more trains. The line cannot be doubled because of Balcombe viaduct and Balcombe tunnel. We need the Lewes to a uckfield link restored to take London Bridge passengers from Lewes off the Brighton Line. We probably need a whole new link from South Coast to London but don't that will happen in my life time. Commuting is tough and the trains crowded and often not on time. But if you travel off peak, it's not too bad. Does anyone, other than commuters, really suffer so much by being delayed by 10 mins occasionally? We have an incredibly complicated rail system here in the south east and it's a miracle that it does work as well as it does. I marvel at the complexity when at Clapham Junction or East Croydon - so many trains all the time on so many tracks. Glad I don't have to work it out .... It is too expensive and probably shouldn't have been nationalised. But we are where we are now. The cost doesn't seem to put passengers off as more people than ever use the trains.
On 26 Feb 2016 at 11:40pm Meldrew wrote:
Bring back the LBSCR. Get rid of the 'orrible third rail. Get some proper rolling stock. Get some Deltics. But maybe not, might frighten the sheep.
At least the locomotives - Terriers - were prettier to look at while you wait.