Railway Days and Mondays always get me down...
Early train to London this morning wasn't. It was half an hour late 'due to an earlier breakdown'.
And the homeward bound train is now also running late 'due to earlier congestion in the St Neots area'...
Congerstion?
That's a new one on me after 30 years of travelling this route.
I suppose it's better than the alltime classic excuse of a few years ago - the wrong kind of leaves...!
Showing posts with label East Coast Main Line. Show all posts
Showing posts with label East Coast Main Line. Show all posts
Monday, March 08, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
Hornby railways strikes again...
Chaos to start the week at Peterborough Rail Station. I've been here nearly an hour and no sign of any mainline service south to London "due to over-running engineering works in the Hitchin area".
Doubly annoyed to see professionally printed giant notices at the barrier warning of severe delays znd cancellations this morning.
If they can get notices printed, surely they could get an announcement on BBC Cambridgeshire's news bulletins earlier to warn the thousands who commute from Peterborough to London to make other arrangements and avoid a long cold frustrating wait.
Eventually, a First Capital Connect train arrives which seems to be stoping at every lamp-post between here and Kings Cross. Staff tell me there's a fast East Coast train five minutes later, so stupidly believe them.
Another half an hour has gone by and still no sign of a mainline train.
Hornby was better organised than this!
Doubly annoyed to see professionally printed giant notices at the barrier warning of severe delays znd cancellations this morning.
If they can get notices printed, surely they could get an announcement on BBC Cambridgeshire's news bulletins earlier to warn the thousands who commute from Peterborough to London to make other arrangements and avoid a long cold frustrating wait.
Eventually, a First Capital Connect train arrives which seems to be stoping at every lamp-post between here and Kings Cross. Staff tell me there's a fast East Coast train five minutes later, so stupidly believe them.
Another half an hour has gone by and still no sign of a mainline train.
Hornby was better organised than this!
Friday, January 15, 2010
Nightmare trek ends bad week for East Coast Main Line...
The week started snow bad for East Coast Main Line (and its ‘customers’), with trains that never were. But as the freeze appeared to thaw, my experience was that Peterborough-Kings Cross train ‘service’ became worse rather than better.
My week has just been rounded off with a truly nightmare trek home on one of the most overcrowded trains I’ve had the misfortune to be packed onto in over 30 years of full and part-time commuting.
I expected this evening’s rush-hour tube hops on the Circle, then Victoria lines to be the usual squeeze. And they were.
I was daft enough to look forward to a little more space for the 90-odd mile - and rather more expensive - journey to Peterborough.
But no. As the train crawled out of Kings Cross, every carriage had people standing in the aisles. I was forced to squeeze into the tiny vestibule between two carriages which I shared for the duration with enough bodies to make two full football teams, complete with a compliment of subs (...if only there were a subs bench!)
To add insult to injury, the guard was soon picking his way through us sardines, demanding to see all tickets, no doubt to make sure no-one was daring to travel on a ‘cheap’ ticket.
I was so tightly wedged between a door and three fellow travellers, I would have had real difficulty getting my hand in my jacket to extract my ticket and told the guard so. I added that given the state of Third World overcrowding on the train he was responsible for, I thought he had a bloody cheek worrying about tickets.
He clearly realised that even if I could retrieve my ticket, he would struggle to get near enough to check or clip it. So he sensibly suggested that I keep my ticket in my pocket and he moved on!
With the guard in full retreat, I shared my frustration with the rest of the Coach B Vestibule first team, explaining that my £87 ticket had bought me a cancelled train on my outward journey this morning and now, no seat on my return journey, not even space to stand in relative comfort.
He too had been delayed by a train that never was this morning and were we clearly in the same er, boat? heading north. Then he produced his Leeds-London ticket which had cost him a staggering £224...
Our conversation was interrupted by the worst moment of the ordeal was when the East Coast’s ‘at seat’ (er, what seat?) drinks and snacks trolley (aka a surefire cash cow within a cash cow) was forced through the vestibule on its relentless drive, sending us sardines falling over each other to avoid a broken leg.
Talking of legs, I’m just starting to get the circulation back in mine. My back will take a little longer to recover.
What an absolute disgrace.
My week has just been rounded off with a truly nightmare trek home on one of the most overcrowded trains I’ve had the misfortune to be packed onto in over 30 years of full and part-time commuting.
I expected this evening’s rush-hour tube hops on the Circle, then Victoria lines to be the usual squeeze. And they were.
I was daft enough to look forward to a little more space for the 90-odd mile - and rather more expensive - journey to Peterborough.
But no. As the train crawled out of Kings Cross, every carriage had people standing in the aisles. I was forced to squeeze into the tiny vestibule between two carriages which I shared for the duration with enough bodies to make two full football teams, complete with a compliment of subs (...if only there were a subs bench!)
To add insult to injury, the guard was soon picking his way through us sardines, demanding to see all tickets, no doubt to make sure no-one was daring to travel on a ‘cheap’ ticket.
I was so tightly wedged between a door and three fellow travellers, I would have had real difficulty getting my hand in my jacket to extract my ticket and told the guard so. I added that given the state of Third World overcrowding on the train he was responsible for, I thought he had a bloody cheek worrying about tickets.
He clearly realised that even if I could retrieve my ticket, he would struggle to get near enough to check or clip it. So he sensibly suggested that I keep my ticket in my pocket and he moved on!
With the guard in full retreat, I shared my frustration with the rest of the Coach B Vestibule first team, explaining that my £87 ticket had bought me a cancelled train on my outward journey this morning and now, no seat on my return journey, not even space to stand in relative comfort.
He too had been delayed by a train that never was this morning and were we clearly in the same er, boat? heading north. Then he produced his Leeds-London ticket which had cost him a staggering £224...
Our conversation was interrupted by the worst moment of the ordeal was when the East Coast’s ‘at seat’ (er, what seat?) drinks and snacks trolley (aka a surefire cash cow within a cash cow) was forced through the vestibule on its relentless drive, sending us sardines falling over each other to avoid a broken leg.
Talking of legs, I’m just starting to get the circulation back in mine. My back will take a little longer to recover.
What an absolute disgrace.
Back to Normal: Trains cancelled!
A broken line at Newark caused long delays Chaos on the East Coast Main Line yesterday, but this morning's Peterborough Evening Telegraph quotes an official reassuring us that it was quickly fixed and the service was 'back to normal'*
What he failed to say was the service was already on a 'revised time-table' due to the 'adverse weather conditions'.
And that means cancelled trains and long delays.
The official went on to hint that the broken line was no big deal as East Coast has lots of experience in dealing with long delays!
When I heard about yesterday's problems, I checked East Coast's website where there is notice of the 'revised timetable due to adverse weather' with a referral to another page for train times.
But up to midnight last night, that page was a blank!
This morning a list of affected services appears...and if you know where your train originates, you might get a clue whether it's running to time, running at all, or cancelled.
All too late to help me, as I was already at the station waiting for the 8.33 which never came!
* Sorry no link, the PET story is not on line yet - wonder if the adverse weather conditions are to blame?
What he failed to say was the service was already on a 'revised time-table' due to the 'adverse weather conditions'.
And that means cancelled trains and long delays.
The official went on to hint that the broken line was no big deal as East Coast has lots of experience in dealing with long delays!
When I heard about yesterday's problems, I checked East Coast's website where there is notice of the 'revised timetable due to adverse weather' with a referral to another page for train times.
But up to midnight last night, that page was a blank!
This morning a list of affected services appears...and if you know where your train originates, you might get a clue whether it's running to time, running at all, or cancelled.
All too late to help me, as I was already at the station waiting for the 8.33 which never came!
* Sorry no link, the PET story is not on line yet - wonder if the adverse weather conditions are to blame?
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