Southern Trains: Major Issues - how to protest?

[Deleted User]

I know that I have a reputation on here for being a bit of a whinging old git, but there's an issue close to my heart that I want to let off some steam about and get your thoughts.

Two months ago, I moved to a nice new house near Oxted, in Surrey. I work up in London, so commute in by train each day and back again in the evening. There's a direct service to either London Bridge or London Victoria, so I thought everything would be great.

Since moving though, I've found that Southern Trains are absolutely appalling when it comes to delays on this route. I know you'll probably say 'every train company has delays', but this is so regular...so frequent...and so predictable...that what should be a 45 minute journey typically takes 1:30hrs each way.

I've attached some photos I regularly take of the delayed signs, just from the past fortnight alone, just to show you the frequency of delays.

Please do not think I am whinging for the sake of it - this is an absolutely appalling situation for many thousands of others on this line and most of the responsibility lies at the hands of Southern Trains.

The problem is basically three-fold:

Firstly - I've spoken to some of the Southern train drivers and guards on this route and they've said that Southern allocate the oldest rolling stock onto this route (London - East Grinstead), and the trains are always breaking down or suffering technical faults.

Secondly - related to the first problem - the London - East Grinstead line is a branch line with only one up track and one down track, so if there's a problem, fault or broken down train it causes huge knock-on effects down the line, as you can't get any other trains up/down to sort the problem out.

Thirdly - as a consequence of the above - the later in the day you travel, the worst the delays are due to knock-on effect of any problems. So, my travel is almost always on-time in the morning, but getting home it's delayed. If I have an evening work commitment then I can basically wave goodbye to any sort of punctuality.

This problem really is a nightmare and I'm beginning to regret moving. Here's my previous fortnight's worth of travel so you can see how bad it is:

28th IN (delayed 2 mins) / OUT (delayed 13 mins)
29th IN (not delayed) / OUT (delayed 2 mins)
30th IN (not delayed) / OUT (delayed 53 mins)
1st IN (delayed 6 minutes) / OUT (not delayed)
2nd IN (not delayed / OUT (delayed 37 mins)
3rd WEEKEND
4th WEEKEND
5th IN (not delayed) / OUT (delayed 9 mins)
6th IN (not delayed) / OUT (delayed 11 mins)
7th IN (not delayed) / OUT (delayed 7 mins)
8th IN (delayed 2 mins) / OUT (delayed 27 mins)
9th IN (delayed 19 mins) / OUT (haven't travelled yet)

Total delays in 2 weeks = 2:57 hours (might exceed 3 hours depending on how I get on this evening!)

You can see some of the evidence I've taken on my camera phone here, but apologies that some of them haven't come out well. In the meantime, what can I do?

I was thinking about writing to my MP and creating a petition to hand out on the train each morning, encouraging others to join a facebook group and also text me any photos they have of delays on the route. I can't seem to find the official route punctuality statistics as they are hidden on Southern's website amongst general 'south London' stats (which are above punctionality target), so clearly something's amiss.

I'm just totally exasperated, as is my fiancee - 3 hours a week of my life is lost to delays just on the train.

What's the best course of action to take? Southern Trains should be held to account for not providing a satisfactory service.

misskool

A train isn't officially delayed unless it's ten minutes late according to the rail companies.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/news/article3614001.ece

Also, if it's something that is out of their control like someone disrupting the train line, it doesn't count as a delay.

Sandoval

I don't really have a solution for you but don't waste your time with creating a Facebook group that no one will take any notice of.

Big businesses or governments really don't take any notice of how many members a Facebook group has.

[Deleted User]

Sandoval wrote: »

I don't really have a solution for you but don't waste your time with creating a Facebook group that no one will take any notice of.

Big businesses or governments really don't take any notice of how many members a Facebook group has.

So, what would you do if you were in my situation - or the situation of any of the 5k+ passengers on this route who get stuck daily?

Can you offer any suggestions or advice on how we can put pressure on Southern to improve the quality of rolling stock on their lines?

[Deleted User]

misskool wrote: »

A train isn't officially delayed unless it's ten minutes late according to the rail companies.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/news/article3614001.ece

Also, if it's something that is out of their control like someone disrupting the train line, it doesn't count as a delay.

Thanks for sending the link through - very useful.

Unfortunately, it is 99% of the time a problem with Southern. Of all the delays I've experienced in the past couple of months, there has only been one 'points failure' type problem - the rest have been:

Broken down train
Staff shortages
Not enough carriages to make up a service

As I pointed out before, Southern allocate their oldest trains to that route and they are regularly breaking down - even the guards and drivers I spoke to suggested it's a really rubbish route to be on.

About a month ago I sat for 1hr just outside Upper Warlingham station as the train in front had broken down and there was no means for us to pass it. Shambolic!

moonrakerz

Take a good book to read during the delays - this is a good one:

sammylou100

Unfortunately there is very little you can do. It is the most frustrating thing really.
I travel with First Capital Connect, from Herts to London Kings Cross, earlier in the year there were a number of days when I simply could not get to work as all the trains were cancelled. Last Friday there were lines down and I was 3 hours late for work...these things tend to happen fairly regularly, which I don't think is good enough when I spend £3200 on a train ticket! If you complain to them they will send you a £3 voucher, renewable against train journeys (which isn't helpful when you already have a season ticket!) I complained to my MP who tried to set up meetings with First Capital Connect, they ignored these requests. There is no-one to vent the anger too. I even contacted various commuter groups, they weren't helpful at all.
It really is a case of them having you trapped as they know you have to get to work and in order to get there you have to take a train. Sorry, not the news you were hoping for I'm sure!

Caroline73_2

Deleted_User wrote: »

Total delays in 2 weeks = 2:57 hours (might exceed 3 hours depending on how I get on this evening!)

I'm just totally exasperated, as is my fiancee - 3 hours a week of my life is lost to delays just on the train.

What's the best course of action to take? Southern Trains should be held to account for not providing a satisfactory service.

How does 2 hours and 57 minutes a fortnight equal 3 hours a week?

2 hours and 57 minutes over 19 journeys doesn't seem majorly excessive, annoying though.

isplumm

Deleted_User wrote: »

Thanks for sending the link through - very useful.

Unfortunately, it is 99% of the time a problem with Southern. Of all the delays I've experienced in the past couple of months, there has only been one 'points failure' type problem - the rest have been:

Broken down train
Staff shortages
Not enough carriages to make up a service

As I pointed out before, Southern allocate their oldest trains to that route and they are regularly breaking down - even the guards and drivers I spoke to suggested it's a really rubbish route to be on.

About a month ago I sat for 1hr just outside Upper Warlingham station as the train in front had broken down and there was no means for us to pass it. Shambolic!

With the way things are, I suspect that nothing is going to change for a long time .... there is little money to improve things & I suspect that any new trains will be cancelled.

Another issue might be that there is one main line into London from Brighton, so there can be a bottle neck.



Mark

isplumm

Limit wrote: »

Northern do this in Manchester, They put the oldest crappiest stock on the busy commuter routes in retaliation to the scrapping of the congestion charge.

Best thing to do is write in and see what they say.

Virgin years ago come up with the novel idea to remove a carriage from their stock to make new trains (Before the new 220s/221s/390s) and all their seat reservations were booked in the old removed carriages

Hmmm .... not sure I quite agree with you here .... wasn't the congestion charge going to pay for a number of new tram systems -some of which are being funded by other methods ....

I got the impression that Northern have lots of old carriages & are waiting for carriages from other companies - which now may never happen - I know the passenger groups up there complain a lot about the lack of investment by the Government.

Mark

PasturesNew

Where I live it's 40+ year old rolling stock. You have to open the window and reach out to open the door. Trains are often cancelled and replaced by a bus the last 80 miles. There's no such thing as a buffet bar. Trains travel at about 30mph, at the fastest bits, a lot of it's single line so you have the waiting problem when trains are travelling in different directions. You can't get to London before 10am even if the train's on time (unless you drive the first 100 miles first).

All trains are ....******.... it's not good to swear.