Vent about trains up here.

knightstyle

well all my family live south of London so we are always referred to as "up here"
Another vent is that when we take someone to Retford to catch a train we never know where the carriages will stop, some have A at the front and some have A at the back, no staff to ask which it will be of course.
There are signs on the station with carriage A,B..... but I think these are put there by staff just to confuse us.
Yes i have complained several times to LNER but nothing gets done.

Andy_L

hollie.weimeraner wrote: »

Seriously though Southerners (below Watford) seem to get a hell of a lot more per head spent on all public services than anyone up North or North of Watford.

Seem to but, outside of London, they don't

https://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/SN04033

mattyprice4004

I'd still happily take having old knackered trains as an ample trade for not having to live near or in London, having just done a weekend in Luton!

Most are rude, in too much of a hurry and just out for themselves within the M25, I've found.

SuperPikachu

My service was recently "upgraded to new trains" (Class 230 D ex London district line trains that were 'fully refurbished')

We had single carriage diesel/petrol run things that were god knows how old before, and they did do wrong every now and then but the Engineers at the local train depot could usually sort them out if they did.

Since the change the service has been absolutely appalling. The amount of cancellations has been atleast 1 per week, sometimes 3+. The Train situation in our Country is an absolute joke.

It is all very well offering a reimbursement situation too ("delay repay") but I feel that it is high time now they had to refund us 100% of a ticket for a service not being provided, not their 50% of a 1 way ticket or however much they get away with.

rollingmoon

Pennywise wrote: »

Stupid thing is that the worst of Northern's issues are over. The late new trains are finally arriving now from the manufacturers. The late engineering work and electrification has finally happened.

On the line I use, operated entirely by Northern, it's not the crappy old trains that are the problem. Most trains that are cancelled here are because they haven't got enough staff to operate them. No explanation is ever given for the persistent, daily lateness.

Stripping these clowns of the franchise couldn't come soon enough for me, although I'll believe it's actually going to happen when I see it.

[Deleted User]

Sadly all the problems vented about here seem to be a direct result of deregulation of the railways and the subsequent fragmentary franchises awarded to various operators across the country.

Of course, bringing back British Rail is not even an option given the recent General Election result!

Pennywise

rollingmoon wrote: »

On the line I use, operated entirely by Northern, it's not the crappy old trains that are the problem. Most trains that are cancelled here are because they haven't got enough staff to operate them. No explanation is ever given for the persistent, daily lateness.

Lack of staff is often because they're learning on the new trains which are just being delivered or testing the new trains. If they're learning/testing, they're not available to cover for drivers who call in sick or on holiday etc.

Pennywise

Moneyineptitude wrote: »

Sadly all the problems vented about here seem to be a direct result of deregulation of the railways and the subsequent fragmentary franchises awarded to various operators across the country.

There were problems on the railways long before privatisation. A rail travellers life in BR days wasn't a bed of roses. We suffered regular wildcat strikes at the drop of a hat with no notice. Ancient scruffy trains. Semi derelict stations. BR simply didn't have the resources to bring the railway system back into a "fit for purpose" position after a few decades of it being run down due to the explosion in road transport. The entire network has had to be brought back to life because of the increase in passengers/freight which had never been expected - that's costed billions and private finance has been needed, just like the PFI schemes for hospitals/schools, etc. It's not just deregulation, at the same time, disability access on stations and trains has also become mandatory and has likewise cost billions requiring old trains to be replaced or upgraded. Not to mention emissions legislation which is basically outlawing diesel trains in the future thus requiring hundreds of miles of electrification, which in turn requires new trains etc. It's all been a "perfect storm" where decades of under-investment has clashed with new regulations. There's no way a nationalised BR would have coped any better with the pace of change forced into just a few years.

[Deleted User]

Pennywise wrote: »

There were problems on the railways long before privatisation.

My point was that the deregulatory "solution" to those problems hasn't been the success that was touted it would be.

As to strikes, those have also happened with the private firms which now operate the railways.

In addition, British Rail was deliberately severely underfunded for decades prior to privatisation and this was not due to the explosion in road traffic, but an actual contributory factor to that explosion!

es5595

Pennywise wrote: »

Nothing will change - same staff, same trains, etc. ... The late engineering work and electrification has finally happened. If Northern had another couple of years, it would probably be a lot better than it has been in 2018 and 2019.

rollingmoon wrote: »

On the line I use, operated entirely by Northern, it's not the crappy old trains that are the problem. Most trains that are cancelled here are because they haven't got enough staff to operate them. No explanation is ever given for the persistent, daily lateness.

Pennywise wrote: »

Lack of staff is often because they're learning on the new trains which are just being delivered or testing the new trains. If they're learning/testing, they're not available to cover for drivers who call in sick or on holiday etc.

Having sufficient staff makes a real difference, and also having spare drivers at depots around the network, so that when things go wrong, you can actually get trains moving again. A lot of the newer franchises have got significant penalties for cancelled/delayed trains, so it makes it financially sound to have more spare drivers available, than to pay the fines. It also massively improves the service to the customers as it means trains are less likely to get randomly terminated, cancelled etc as the driver runs out of hours.

Saying that, Northern (and others) appear to have made little attempts in recent years to recruit trainee drivers (and conductors) to sufficient levels to fill the current roster, let alone leave any available for spares, training, route learning etc.