Just Emailed The Argus Letters Page About Brighton's Death Trap Trains

[Lammy]

When the doors fail to open automatically you are not trapped in! In an emergancy you can still open the doors manually! (read the instructions by the door just incase if it bothers you).

They can't win. Most trains were late due to the very passengers that complained about them being late. Customers holding doors open whilst their mate got the coffee was a prime example. Sliding doors get rid of this. Now people are moaning because of some teething trouble!

You a still FAR more likely to be injured or killed on the roads, do you threaten the government with corporate manslaughter? We complain about this being a nanny state and yet if a door fails we start calling for peoples heads! Is it any wonder! In the south of France I've been on moving trains with the doors open as it is too hot!

FFS an improvement in our transport industry is not a quick fix. It takes time and there will be mistakes made. Give them time and support and they WILL get there. If you keep writing to the Argus because a door has failed then you are no better than a NIMBY IMHO for you stand in the way of progress!

 

[Publius Ovidius]

As a regular commuter, I find the slam door trains to fall into two categories.

One...the carriages with three seaters and a double seat accross, which are not too bad, but are showing their age and are also a problem with lardies trying to squeeze into the three seaters which are designed for midgits.

Two, the two seaters on each side of the isle, with side head rests and comfy arm rests. These are by far the comfiest and I will miss.

My concen with the new trains are that they have that FECKING womans voice telling you every three seconds about the station coming up and when you are at the station, they are too cold ( althouigh it can be a bonus if there are young ladies with tee shirts on ) as the aircon is a tad efficient, the seats are too small, with precious little leg room ( the three across ones are just plain rediculous), the loos automatically seal shut when full up! and finally, they are not that comfortable.

I pay £3,175 per annum to travel to London and for that money expect reliability, efficiency and comfort.....very much in short supply (and we don't get the new trains until next year on the Littlehampton line)

 

[Publius Ovidius]

Dont get me started on those Thameslink trains. Whoever designed them should be sectioned under the mental health act

 

[Lammy]

Dont get me started on those Thameslink trains. Whoever designed them should be sectioned under the mental health act

I'd agree with that!

I also think they need more leg room, more padding in the seats, bigger tanks for the toilets, an area to store bikes. They should also have a sleeping coach where it is hot and stuffy like the old ones where you can pass out nicely

 

[Lammy]

The place to vent these suggests is to the operators rather than a cheap rag like the Argus.

 

[Hatterlovesbrighton]

The new trains are lovely! Comfortable, air conditioned, clean. My heart sinks whenever I have to get on a slam door

 

[aftershavedave]

Dont get me started on those Thameslink trains. Whoever designed them should be sectioned under the mental health act

i heard that they were designed by sir douglas bader!

 

[aftershavedave]

One...the carriages with three seaters and a double seat accross, which are not too bad, but are showing their age and are also a problem with lardies trying to squeeze into the three seaters which are designed for midgits.

Two, the two seaters on each side of the isle, with side head rests and comfy arm rests. These are by far the comfiest and I will miss.

exactly right, those 3 and 2 seaters area freaking nightmare. it is physically impossible to fit two tubbies into a two seater or to "insert" yourself into the middle of a three seater already 2/3 taken.

 

[Virgo's Haircut]

These new trains cost £1 million a carriage.

They are very unreliable, none of the guards or drivers like them. It's a rare treat these days when we actually get to operate a slam door.

The toilets on these plastic things are a joke. 2 people have a dump, then the toilet tank is full up, and it's closes itself down for the rest of the day. Unlike the slam doors where the loo empties on to the track.

Take yesterday for insatance, I was on a late shift, and every train I worked was at least 25 minutes late, because of 1 broken down plastic train at Barnham in the afternoon. There is so much that can go wrong with the new trains it's ridiculous. Everything is computerised. Where as on the slam doors, there really isn't too much that can go wrong.

Incidentally, it was Connex that decided to buy these Electrostar trains, and when South Central/Southern took over it was too late to cancel the order. Southern would have apparently chosen the trains that are currently on the Gatwick Express if they had the choice.

 

[Virgo's Haircut]

I pay £3,175 per annum to travel to London and for that money expect reliability, efficiency and comfort.....very much in short supply (and we don't get the new trains until next year on the Littlehampton line) [/B]

New trains will begin to be introduced on the Littlehampton/Eastbourne, Haywards Heath attachers from June 24th this year.

 

[Curious Orange]

Of course the answer to all your problems is that they should start building trains in Brighton again!!

 

[Publius Ovidius]

FAO Virgo's Haircut

Really?

Papa Lazarou was told by the SouthCentral boss bloke that the Littlehampton London Bridge commuter trains were one of the last ones to be given new rolling stock and this would not be available till at least the back end of next year because of power issues and also the fact that they still have slam door ones available which they will use.

 

[Virgo's Haircut]

Re: FAO Virgo's Haircut

Really?

Papa Lazarou was told by the SouthCentral boss bloke that the Littlehampton London Bridge commuter trains were one of the last ones to be given new rolling stock and this would not be available till at least the back end of next year because of power issues and also the fact that they still have slam door ones available which they will use.

Well I was told they were going to start bringing the new trains in from next months, starting with 4 trains, then another 2 each month until they are all reaplaced.

These are the trains that join up at Haywards Heath.

 

[Publius Ovidius]

Sorry mate

What do you mean " join up at Haywards Heath"?

I catch the Littlehampton -LB from portslade ( 7:16) and it is a 12 coacher all the way.

Are they saying that the trains will be 4 or 8 carriages to HH and then join to form a 12 carriager?

 

[Virgo's Haircut]

Well. after 9am or so, two 4 coachers join up at Haywards Heath and go on to London. They come from Littlehampton/Pompey & Eastbourne/Hastings.

 

[Row Z Creased Shirt]

The new trains are just so unreliable. The 7.17 from brighton is so bad I regularly missed a 14 minute connection at clapham in the morning, utterly ridiculous. I'm now back on the 6.41 london bridge train, it may be a dusty dungheap, but at least the damn thing is punctual and I don't have to worry about whether the doors are going to work.

 

[Publius Ovidius]

Ok so basically, they are for non commuter people then if they are after 9 ? Therefore the people who pay shed loads of cash into South Central's coffers are again the last to see any "benefit" from this investment

Great