Southern trains

[Deleted User X18H]

That was really winding me up too. And the constant announcments blaming "adverse weather conditions". What is adverse about snow in winter pray tell? All this 2 weeks after Network Rail said they were all geared up for the winter weather to avoid a repat of the chaos earlier in the year.

Ah well, gonna WFH tomorrow.

Its not winter until tomorrow actually

 

[Thimble Keegan]

You sleeping at work, I made it home on the 16:17 Vic to Littlehampton that left Victoria at 18:35

Yep...I have been working elsewhere this week which means leaving from London Bridge which really screwed me up this evening...So, I am about to bed down in my office and I am just glad I had a few beers after leaving the station!!!

Albion & England forever.

Thimble Keegan
Rustington BHA

 

[Thimble Keegan]

Its not winter until tomorrow actually

It is not winter until the 21st December actually

Albion & England forever.

Thimble Keegan
Rustington BHA

 

[Deleted User X18H]

Can only assume this peurile display by the trains has merited a mere 5 posts cos most people are still in transit behind multiple broken down trains. Having finally escaped the mildly snowy hell of East Croydon after 2 hours, I changed at Gatwick. Got on a FCC train at around 19:15. The departure board said it was due at Gatwick at 15:42. What a bunch of c unts. And surprise surprise nothing more than what can only be described as a bit of frost between Gatwick and Brighton. Truly pathetic, even by their shamefully low standards

I think I was on that train Woss left Croydon at about 16:10 eventually got to Purley and stayed there for about and hour and a half until it was announced it was cancelled then everyone (about 500) had to change on to another already full FCC train. Got to Brighton at 19.45 home at 20:05. The second train was announced at Hay wards Heath as the 17:10 to Brighton this was about 19:20 . Was speaking with a really nice Italian family who were trying to get a flight to Rome from Gatwick at about 16:55 poor sods looked totally bemused. Write to Neal Lawson at FCC to complain

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

I got the 4.27 out of London Bridge. Got home at 7.27. Incl an hr and a half wait at East Croydon.

Now personally its f***ing ridiculous. The ONLY and I mean ONLY time the trains should be up the swanee is when we get a jumper because you cant account for that.

Signal failures, broken down trains, doors not working, lack of drivers...NOT GOOD ENOUGH. They should be fined within an inch of their lives, outrageous and disgusting. Punitive measures would ensure that carriages were not breaking down or signals are working. No argument. No Question.

As for the weather. We are a northern hemisphere country, they also knew it was going to snow so should have been prepared. Again no argument, no question. Punitive measures mean the trains WOULD run on time.

If they are a limited company then they should have a regulatory body to fine the fuckers and have the powers to do so rather than just rhetoric.

I dont mind paying an extra 300 quid on top of my 3500 next year but I f***ing expect the trains to run on time and you can bet your bottom dollar not a f***ing chance in hell. *****.

 

[mikes smalls]

I caught a train out of London bridge at 2.27 and was back in Brighton by 3.30.
However my partner got in a cab at clapham at 7pm and 3 and a half hours later has only got as far as Wallington near Croydon!

 

[Lankyseagull]

Got home just before 11:00pm after leaving my office at 4:40! London Bridge was a complete shambles. I squeezed myself on the 17:08 Uckfield train, which was eventually terminated (without going anywhere) at 8:30pm with a glib announcement of "all change". Cue a few hundred angry voices! Managed to get on a Hastings bound train at around 9:00pm which got me to Tunbridge Wells. Had a quick pint to allow the taxi queue to die down and eventually made it back to Crowborough.

I hate to think what will happen when the really bad weather hits!

The rail companies need to look at themselves and the way they communicate (well, some sort of communication would be a start!) with their customers to enable people to make informed decisions about the situation they find themselves in.

I count myself as lucky as I got home tonight, some probably haven't been as fortunate.

 

[Arthur]

Just got in! Left the office at 17:45 and headed to London Bridge. 17:09 train was still on the board as delayed. At 19:15 all the delayed trains went off the board to show more respectably late trains (for me 19:08). Then comes the announcement for any Southern drivers to make them self known to staff (I kid you not), I look round to see every platform has a train on it so can only assume they have no driver. So I give up and go to the pub for a couple of pints to try and warm up a bit.

Get back to LB shortly after 9, a train is (still) sat on the platform with commuters I recognise crowding round a member of southern staff who has a bit of paper, sure enough we're told that this train would be going back to Uckfield when they can find a train crew. 21:25 we're let on the train. 21:45 (when we've finally got enough air (again I kid you not! I'm guessing the breaks)) we set off. To add insult to injury the train is freezing (well it had been sat there for 4 hours!) had not heating and was pumping out cold air. 23:35 I finally walk through my front door!

The worst thing is the snow isn't even that bad!!! AND the Uckfiield line has diesel trains still so getting places isn't an issue like it is for the electric trains.

I'm f***ed if I'm doing all that again tomorrow!

 

[Brian Potter]

Just looking at Southeastern's website. This is what they have to say for themselves..


Important announcement

Due to the ongoing ice and snowy weather conditions, services continue to be disrupted on the Southeastern network.

We are planning to run a normal service on Wednesday morning, but trains could be subject to last minute changes and delays.

Bad weather is forecast for the next few days, so please continue to check our website or National Rail Enquiries before you travel"


Which basically means " we haven't got a f***ing clue what we are doing and will be making it up as we go along tomorrow"!!

 

[Brian Potter]

And for anyone contemplating coming up to the smoke tomorrow, it is still snowing here near St Pauls, so I would imagine the outskirts will be getting more as well, making the chances of actually getting to London before it is time to turn around and go home again pretty remote.

 

[e77]

Getting to Arcade Fire at the O2 might be fun tomorrow.

 

[Jimmy Grimble]

I remember once travelling across Germany in a total blizzard. I was in snow up to my knees just walking to the station. Eventually we arrived the other side of the country although the train announcer did apologise - several times - for being so late. The guard then walked through the train apologising once more for being so late and my friends, meeting me at the other end, were shocked that the train was so late.

We came in a massive four minutes behind the scheduled arrival time. To the Germans, that was appalling; to us, it's not even classed as late. If the government wants to make itself popular it should have a zero tolerance of tardiness and start imposing harsh penalties on train companies that run a dreadful service. Other countries cope with snow OK, there's no reason at all why we shouldn't.

Germany in better than Enlgand again shocker!

Trains in this country are a joke.

 

[Easy 10]

I'm just shaking my head at these horror stories. Its not even THAT BAD down here, I just cannot believe the carnage on the trains between London and the south. I drive from Portslade to HH to get to my office and was *considering* getting the train tomorrow if the roads were a bit iffy (nearly had a head-on earlier this year thanks to some black ice).

f*** that though. I'm not going near a train station.

 

[Razi]

Worth a note that Gatwick Airport closed at 2200, and isn't currently due to reopen until 0700. There's also severe congestion (approx 1.5 hours) near Junction 7 on the M25/M23 due to an accident.

 

[Brian Potter]

Just had a look at some of the traffic cameras around the M25. Darford tunnel looks like a fun place to spend an hour or 3!! All around the southern half of the M25 looks dicey, you just know some twat with a 4x4 will think that he can drive as he normally would and end up causing a shunt.

 

[See-Goals]

Four and a half hours for me last night from e croydon to seaford. southern are already reporting 60 minute delays this morning between gatwick and purley due to a broken down train at coulsdon. I'm not even going to try today.

 

[See-Goals]

Four and a half hours for me pay night from e croydon to seaford. southern are already reporting 60 minute delays this morning between gatwick and purley due to a broken down train at coulsdon. I'm not even going to try today.

 

[Gwylan]

Signal failures, broken down trains, doors not working, lack of drivers...NOT GOOD ENOUGH. They should be fined within an inch of their lives, outrageous and disgusting. Punitive measures would ensure that carriages were not breaking down or signals are working. No argument. No Question.

As for the weather. We are a northern hemisphere country, they also knew it was going to snow so should have been prepared. Again no argument, no question. Punitive measures mean the trains WOULD run on time.

If they are a limited company then they should have a regulatory body to fine the fuckers and have the powers to do so rather than just rhetoric.

The trouble with fining them is that it just gives the company more excuse to run a shoddy service."We can't invest in better trains because we've had to pay fines". What should happen is that the government should pass legislation saying that train companies had a statutory duty to run trains and if they failed to do so (barring terrorist attacks/jumpers etc), the directors of that company would be personally liable. That might have some effect. I'm getting sick of hearing these sorts of stories every winter and train companies doing cock-all to ensure a better service.

Germany in better than Enlgand again shocker!

Trains in this country are a joke.

It's not just Germany though. In the past couple of days I have heard or read quotes from people from Canada, USA, Scandinavia and Poland talking about how their trains or planes keep going in far worse weather. There's no reason why we couldn't have the same - it's just poor planning on behalf of the transport companies.

 

[7:18]

any ideas on if getting into East Sussex (Hastings) is possible by train this morning? please say no

 

[highway61]

Living slap bang next to Littlehampton station I can say fairly certainly that since around 0530 the coming and going of trains although appearing to be less than usual in numbers, has far from come to a standstill. one arrival and two departures in past 10-15 mins. I know this hardly constitutes a train announcement lol! but just thought i would share it.....another arrival in now