Why I gave up the railways and bought a bike

South West Trains [1] says its current timetable is nearly 40 years old, and
since it was introduced populations and travel patterns have changed. It has
re-scheduled all of its 1,635 trains. "The result is a timetable as closely
in tune with the travel needs of passengers as possible," said Peter Brooks,
Timetable Development Manager

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4089169.stm

Well isn't that comforting, every 40 years SW trains tries to get its
timetable right. And since they never check, by any method, who wants to
travel at what times and from which stations. I think their chances of
having got it right now are Nil.

They aren't even capable of making sure that the floor height on the trains
matches the platfom heights.

SW trains used to (probably still do) run trains which as they pulled out of
Waterloo you would get a some massive impact from underneath the floor that
was enough to jar your feet and would have had any car owner stopping
immediately and phoning the AA recovery team to get their car round to
garage for immediate remedial work, but if you attempted to report it any
visible jobsworths would give it sloping shoulders.



[1] I could never understand why it was always Connex that got the flack, I
used both twice a day for 10 years and Connex provide a far better service
than SW Trains ever did.

 

Bollocks. The last *massive* timetable change on the Southern Region
affecting all divisions - Central, Eastern and Western (now SWT) - was in
1976. BR lead it in for months under the slogan of "All Change". You
can imagine the letters from "I've been using the same train for 30 years
and *they* change it" of Sutton.

Since the mid eighties we've had two timetables one for Summer (starting
in May) and one for Winter (starting in September) and recently the
private companies (ever wondered why you could never make that
connection?) have busily fucked about with the WTT and in the punitive
contract running orders this has caused chaos.

For example: Rather than signal an express (class 1) in front of a late
running all stations (class 2) they'll allow the stopper to plod on in
front otherwise Railtrack/Network rail have to compensate the stopping
service owners. The now delayed express is compensated by the stopping
service owners.

Woo Hoo everyone's late. The punters hate the railway even more. Graet
Gag.

Apparently we're going back to proper class based train regulation....
we wait with baited breath.

As to the timetable change: the EU change, once a year, in December as
BR used to. It just brings our timetables in line which makes
international services a bit more lucid.

It's not news.

 

Which is 38 years ago - near enough 40

Why? It's the same bunch of commuters Winter and Summer that's what I meant
about not making any attempt to find out what timetable is required instead
they just whack on any old service. I understand that when Smith Klein
opened their new head office at the Brentford stop it cost them a 6 figure
sum to get SW Trains to stop a "fast" train there to pick up and deliver
passengers, any other business would be trying to win customers but not the
Shite old railway system. Public or privately owned.

You're right everyone's late, and does it matter if they are on a fast train
or a stopper to passengers - of course not, As a user of the slow service on
SW trains I can guarantee that it just that s..l....o......w.

Being picky - it's bated, otherwise I see no merit for travellers, one way
or the other.

And meanwhile I'm still on my bike.

 

On Sun, 12 Dec 2004 15:16:06 +0000, Mo Childs wrote:

[snip]

8<

2004 - 1976= ?
You're going to be kicking yourself in a minute.

 

erm 28 years not 38





--
Steve Parry

http://www.gwynfryn.co.uk

http://www.arrivedeprived.org.uk/

K100RS SE
F650
(not forgetting the SK90PY)

 

You have completely discredited anything else you might say on the
matter.

 

Well sweller has corrected you on the dates. The timetable hasn't even
run for one full day yet and already it is condemned by you as being
useless. I'm sure the newspapers will full of "fury" and "angry
commuters demanding answers" and the inevitable "the 17.17 to
Basingstoke broke down on the first day of the new revolutionary
timetable" headlines. All of which are the usual media bollocks. You
won't get a headline in 3 months saying "the trains now run on time and
95% of passengers are happy" headlines if the timetable turns out to be
a success.

Just for once someone has tried to do something sensible with the
timetable and all we get is negativity. It'll never be perfect but the
objectives of the changes seem perfectly sensible to me.

The ATOC spokesman said on the telly this morning that consultation had
gone on for two years - can you prove him a liar? And I think the train
companies do know where more or fewer people are travelling from.
Whether they are able to do much about such changes in the short term is
the key question and the answer is no because so much of the timetable
and associated resource is fixed. It takes time to train new drivers,
buy new trains, resignal lines or do other works in order to put the
right capacity in the right places.

Network Rail issue to reconstruct the platforms - SWT's original long
term bid included platform alterations and extensions and was turned
down by the SRA (and therefore the government). There was an about turn
over franchise lengths which meant the original 20 year proposal was cut
back to 7 - madness in my view as how the hell does anyone get a return
on substantive investment over 7 years?

The train companies build trains to Group Standards - it is hardly their
fault if the infrastructure is not built or modified to those standards
now is it?

 

Oh dear, oh dear.

 

Mo Childs wrote

I'm not complaining - we've now got four an hour in each direction, although
I think the mystery Windsor and Eton bonus train has now been withdrawn. In
fact, I'm so excited, I'm going to get the train to work tomorrow. And since
you live north of the river, you've always got the option of the underground
....

I don't mind the train in the morning, cos I can read the Telegraph on the
way in. It's always much, much shitter in the evenings, though.

 

I knew I should have use my Toes as well as my Fingers. It's punishment for
correcting other peoples English that's what it is.

 

Corrected the BBC actually, and my bumbling attempt at subtraction.

As Sweller seems to imply the timetable has barely changed - at least on the
route I would use for a daily commute.

I used the railway system for over 15 years on a daily travel card. No
railway company can tell from that where I wanted to go and when.

They always want more time - improvements are always just about to happen.

In other words they can't get the floor heights and platform heights the
same - but that's what I said.

I think I mentioned sloping shoulders?

 

So in other words you're right and I'm wrong despite offering an attempt
at a lucid and appropriate explanation. Jolly good.

 

I'm sure you _are_ right, you provide an explanation for the current state
of the railways. And I can't disagree, however having commuted by rail in
London for far too many years, and having suffered at their hands during
that time (along with many millions of other London commuters) I don't want
an explanation I want it fixed. Or rather I would if I ever intended to use
them again.

 

Mo Childs was seen penning the following ode to ... whatever:

Here - a couple of spare scissors:

8< 8< 8< 8< 8< 8< 8< 8<

 

I thought the pair of them were locked in an anti-snip battle to the
death.

 

sweller secured a place in history by writing:

WTF has Sutton done to deserve this nomination for 'Don't **** with our
Daily mail reading status quo' supremacist status?

 

It's because of TOG and his inordinate number of letters to the Times.