Reply to: The Rail Network in this Country

[Churchill]

Which is why I now cycle to work.

HTH

Well that and the note from the Doctor, eh BP?

[BrilloPad]

primary school children could run it better

Which is why I now cycle to work.

HTH

[Sysman]

I recently noticed some weird extra traffic lights on the entry to roundabouts.

WTF? thought I, they don't seem to control the traffic on the roundabout at all.

Turns out they're for the bendybusabortion, so it gets priority.

Back in the 1970s a local council tried to force motorists onto the buses.

Bus lanes with motorbike coppers waiting to pounce on anyone who tried to use them for a swift exit.

Traffic lights on roundabouts which were timed to hold everyone up. When folks complained about the cost of the lights the council claimed they were recycled. Get knotted the public said, these are brand shiny new.

One bus driver used to deliberately ram cars in the bus lane, and since it was legal to do he got away with it. He was eventually told to desist, for PR reasons.

[Sysman]

I use trains when possible because even with delays, it's so much nicer to be able to use the time reading/working. Durham --> London 3 hours, Durham --> Edinburgh 2 hours are both quicker than driving too.

I started using trains years ago because I could either get some work done or simply enjoy a good book rather than getting frustrated with roadworks.

Big mistake trying to travel by rail on Sundays though, as Sunday was engineering day. All too often they'd cancel the train I wanted to take and dump us at Doncaster station to wait for the train from Aberdeen.

Which was usually packed.

[Spacecadet]

For the commute I;m doing now the train is cheaper and quicker than driving. Although there have been some long delays in the last couple of weeks, mostly due to chavs nicking cables. It can be beyond the wit of man to make on the of the copper lines live with nice high ampage in it, can it?

Mind you East Coast had a classic yesterday.

"If there is an Engineer on the train could he please make himself known to the Guard."

Followed by:

"We apologise for the delay, this is due to a door not closing properly. We have called for an engineer and Peter is on his way."

Took 5 mins to get it fixed and an hour for the engineer to get there.

There probably was an engineer on the train but he called his union first who advised him to arrange the overtime payment with his managers before making himself known to the guard.

[DaveB]

For the commute I;m doing now the train is cheaper and quicker than driving. Although there have been some long delays in the last couple of weeks, mostly due to chavs nicking cables. It can be beyond the wit of man to make on the of the copper lines live with nice high ampage in it, can it?

Mind you East Coast had a classic yesterday.

"If there is an Engineer on the train could he please make himself known to the Guard."

Followed by:

"We apologise for the delay, this is due to a door not closing properly. We have called for an engineer and Peter is on his way."

Took 5 mins to get it fixed and an hour for the engineer to get there.

[amcdonald]

Another classic 37 minute delay this morning.

No idea why.

I'm suprised usually they're 29 minutes so you can't claim compensation

[craig1]

I realised last month how many delays I get as I have a pile of the compensation forms at home and they go in without thoughts whenever the delay is >30 mins, it's part of my routine now and the forms are filled in in autopilot mode. I can't remember the last time I got a monthly ticket renewal without having at least one voucher to put against it.

[Spacecadet]

Yeah it was fine before.

it was fine in the morning, infact it had been fine since last Friday which was their last major cock up on my route

[d000hg]

Haven't used a train for a long time and no plans to unless there's no other choice.

I use trains when possible because even with delays, it's so much nicer to be able to use the time reading/working. Durham --> London 3 hours, Durham --> Edinburgh 2 hours are both quicker than driving too.

[Freamon]

Network rail ****ed up the network which led to me starting the thread

Yeah it was fine before.

[Spacecadet]

The ToCs run the ticket offices though, not NR.

Network rail ****ed up the network which led to me starting the thread

[Freamon]

Pre-recorded apologies here!

Seriously though, how network rail and the train operators can consistently **** up the trains to the extent they do is just beyond belief.

This morning I almost lost it, every ticket window manned by a trainee and a trainer, massive queues and its rush hour. Simple common sense would be to either train them off peak time or to train one at a time so at least the customers aren't impacted by the that days extra level of incompetence.

The ToCs run the ticket offices though, not NR.

[Spacecadet]

I'm saying nothing. But the bus driver apologised at the weekend for being one minute late.

Pre-recorded apologies here!

Seriously though, how network rail and the train operators can consistently **** up the trains to the extent they do is just beyond belief.

This morning I almost lost it, every ticket window manned by a trainee and a trainer, massive queues and its rush hour. Simple common sense would be to either train them off peak time or to train one at a time so at least the customers aren't impacted by the that days extra level of incompetence.

[Paddy]

I'm saying nothing. But the bus driver apologised at the weekend for being one minute late.