Train delays and excuses

N9eav

In a nutshell. My GWR train was delayed last night by over an hour and half. The blame was poor rail adhesion. Slippery track!
Now we have had weather for centuries and trains for a couple hundred years. Why is it we still can't get a modern fast express train up a 4 mile hill?
Can some rail enthusiast or Rail worker tell me WHY we still can't get a train to work properly?
I mean it was NOT snowing, or icy, just a little wet.

jockettuk

N9eav wrote:

In a nutshell. My GWR train was delayed last night by over an hour and half. The blame was poor rail adhesion. Slippery track!
Now we have had weather for centuries and trains for a couple hundred years. Why is it we still can't get a modern fast express train up a 4 mile hill?
Can some rail enthusiast or Rail worker tell me WHY we still can't get a train to work properly?
I mean it was NOT snowing, or icy, just a little wet.

i can understand your frustration.. a few yrs ago i asked a friend who worked for the railways all abt the stupid things they say when a train late ..leaves etc and he explained when loads of trains use these tracks and the leaves keep falling it becomes like a mush and if not cleaned properly they can be very slippery and trains can come of the tracks and at high speed this can mean carnage.. although we dont see its icy or whatever they say is the problem it doenst mean its not there.. train companys are being fined thousands of pounds if late regularly so they try there hardest to not be late but better late than never.. fast trains also mean they come of the tracks at fast speeds just remember that next time ... train companys have trains that go out to de ice/ de grease the tracks and they have to fit all that in between the normal trains as well..

innovate

As utterly annoying as a train delay due to the "wrong type of" snow/rain/leaves is when you are trying to get home after a long day's work - I would rather arrive home alive than end up in one of those horrible train crashes we have seen over the last few years.

I have no idea what it takes to drive a train, but I can imagine that trains are affected by weather in a similar way as road or air traffic is.

N9eav

The safety aspect is fine, and I totally agree. But I still find it hard to believe will still have not solved the problem in some way. It's a bit like watching Thomas the tank engine and the steep hill. I mean my train was late because the train ahead, (a virgin super duper new train) could not get up a hill and had to roll back down to the station and try again!!!!!!!! That's incredible. Just like Thomas the tank.

greenwich

innovate wrote:

I would rather arrive home alive than end up in one of those horrible train crashes we have seen over the last few years.

Those are not the only two choices. Other countries manage to run trains on time in weather no less challenging than ours.

At my local station they have a computerised apology system, so no human being actually has to apologise. It goes like this:

If the train is up to 10 minutes late, a recorded voice says: "I am sorry for the delay to this service."

If the train is between 10 and 20 minutes late, the recorded voice says: "I am very sorry for the delay to this service."

If the train is between 20 and 30 minutes late, the recorded voice says: "I am extremely sorry for the delay to this service."

If the train is more than 30 minutes late, the recorded voice says: "I am extremely sorry for the severe delay to this service."

Wig

If there was a technical solution, which is what you are asking...I'm sure they would have done it by now. The things I can think of

ribbed tracks and wheels...would maybe make the train very noisey uncomfortable, and the ribs would wear down fast, unfeasible

Rubber (or other coating) coated tracks and or wheels....would probably not be safe and would wear out quickly. unfeasible.

on hills they could put a mechanism in the middle of the tracks which would lock onto the train and pull it up the hill, like you see on some "cable cars" which are not cable cars, I can't remember their name, they are called something special. This would be HUGELY expensive but it would work.

As for other countries coping, Yes no doubt they do but also we don't get to hear about their failures so we can't really comment. I can say that there was a film I watched, about a boy who went to the city to meet his g/f when he returned there was ice on the tracks and his train (two carriage commuter) had to stop on the tracks over night. Not sure if this was USA or Canada. So it does happen over there too.

cougar_3

Well yesterday my train was cancelled, another was late and I missed another connection and then missed a bus beacuse of it. They didn't give me any reason, I was delayed for an hour and a half and they refused to pay for a bus that would have saved me about an hour!

Fran

N9eav wrote:

................my train was late because the train ahead, (a virgin super duper new train) could not get up a hill and had to roll back down to the station and try again!!!!!!!! That's incredible. Just like Thomas the tank.

That is hilarious (if you're not there). They could ask everyone to push! What do they do in Thomas the Tank, perhaps there would be some good ideas, ask Ringo he should know. :rotfl:

Trains being late is not a joke, whenever I've done regular train journeys there has been problems, not just in winter but all year. Where I live the timetabling means that if the trains are late here you miss connections. I once spent 7 hours on a Sunday going from Sheffield to S. Wales with small children and it was a nightmare as we kept having to change trains, there was little choice about food and they didn't tell us what was happening. I ended up getting a taxi for the last bit of the journey. I was so fed up about the whole experience that I didn't bother complaining, I just didn't want to think about it again. I expect this happens with a lot of people.

cougar_3

I should add that I was with Central trains so statistically I probably didn't do too badly compared to an average journey with them! I'm glad that they're being broken up!
I'll stick the the mainlines when I get my car!

elisebutt65

I go with Virgin into Brum 3 days a week for college and if I'm lucky then the train'll be on time about once out of the six journeys I make.

Yesterday was so frustrating. Train was only 2 minutes late, got a seat and coat off etc, 10 minuytels latr - this train is cancelled please catch the Bournemouth train instead - AAAAGHH!

So another 30 minute wait - sigh!!!