[Travel] Train disruption Tonight (Cup versus Liverpool)

The red pepper kid said:

There are no extra trains because the club hasn't paid for it .................they should build it into future cup games mid week --if we play big clubs

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Arkwright said:

We did our normal postmatch and stayed for a couple of pints (no food left). The queue to Lewes was longer than I had ever seen in the Falmer years.
We weren't ever going to get on the next four scheduled trains so the five of us made an executive decision and walked to Lewes.
Pleasant evening for a nice walk.

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Green Cross Code Man said:

Once or twice (a long time ago) the police manually controlled the traffic flow. It was MUCH quicker. Another problem which is pretty much impossible to counteract, is that the sheer volume of pedestrians walking down from the ground overwhelms the exit through the bridge further delaying egress. This means frequently the queue for the cars going either way down the A27 is reduced and fewer cars leave the area as they are stuck in the jam before going through the Bridge itself. It's annoying but without a footbridge (not going to happen) that bottleneck will always occur.

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Man of Harveys said:

That is, quite simply, not the stadium that so many of us marched and campaigned for.

Those appalling travelling conditions reflect terribly badly on the priorities of the club’s current custodians. Sort it out.

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el punal said:

That got me thinking on what would have happened if the Shoreham Cement Works had been made as the recommended stadium site.

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el punal said:

This problem of not having the appropriate number of trains available has been going on for years and frankly is unacceptable.

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el punal said:

That got me thinking on what would have happened if the Shoreham Cement Works had been made as the recommended stadium site.

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el punal said:

I would question that point. The club presumably pay Southern or whoever for providing extra trains to cope with the demand that comes with having a 30,000 crowd every match day on an annual basis. For Saturday 3.00 fixtures the process is generally okay. As soon as a fixture date is changed to a Sunday or midweek evening game than carnage ensues. Unless someone corrects me the train company will already be aware in advance of any fixture changes. Surely, as transport providers, they have a duty to provide the service required. This problem of not having the appropriate number of trains available has been going on for years and frankly is unacceptable.

So, in my view, the club really need to protest to Southern on behalf of us fans about the appalling service that we have to continually put up with whenever we attend a match. SORT IT OUT!!

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AK74 said:

The pre-game email (which landed in my inbox at lunchtime) made clear that travel to/from was going to be an issue last night:

Make sure you give yourself plenty of additional time to get to and from the Amex.

Please expect queue waiting times to be longer than usual. Where possible, please seek alternative travel arrangements. Additional parking has been arranged but it must be pre-booked.

Plus there were engineering works at Ore, as mentioned in the article which the email contained a link to.

I know this doesn't justify the scenes, but it shouldn't have come as a surprise.

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beorhthelm said:

there's the problem, there are no extra trains for midweek games. there's no spare trains so we get the regular service. saturday there are spare trains and they put on extra and longer services. unless the club pay several tens of millions for extra trains for 20 odd games a year this wont change - it's not on the railways to provide additional services.

more pragmatically, the club should be either hiring or buying bus and coaches to run shuttles Brighton and Lewes. that's the solution, not relying on rail that doesn't have the flexibility.

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jackalbion said:

I tried to stay away from this thread as, people don't want to hear crap excuses, because last night was a complete shambles, but post lockdown the lack of available rolling stock in the entire country is the problem. Nobody within this entire country seems interested in trying to solve it, its not just a matchday issue, but like I said no one is interested in improving infrastructure and rolling stock provision.

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Terry Butcher Tribute Act said:

And there is part of the issue. An email went out at lunch time telling people to allow more time that same day.

Where do people get this 'more time' from if they finish work at 5 or 530, and have an onward connection afterwards that they can't risk for fear of missing a last train.

It just isn't an option for the majority of people at a midweek fixture to leave home at 3pm, or accept not getting home at 1 in the morning.

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Easy 10 said:

What happened to the rolling stock during lockdown then. Did they roll it over a cliff ?

(not being snarky towards your goodself of course, but I don't really understand why post-lockdown we now have a shortage)

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beorhthelm said:

more pragmatically, the club should be either hiring or buying bus and coaches to run shuttles Brighton and Lewes. that's the solution, not relying on rail that doesn't have the flexibility.

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Bozza said:

Not only where do people get more time from - as you suggest 7:30 kick-offs are a push for many, but what the hell does "please seek alternative travel arrangements" mean?

Just what are the alternatives if the trains are known to be f***ed and car parks are sold out?

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Terry Butcher Tribute Act said:

And there is part of the issue. An email went out at lunch time telling people to allow more time that same day.

Where do people get this 'more time' from if they finish work at 5 or 530, and have an onward connection afterwards that they can't risk for fear of missing a last train.

It just isn't an option for the majority of people at a midweek fixture to leave home at 3pm, or accept not getting home at 1 in the morning.

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jackalbion said:

Service was reduced, and taken under government control basically, which wasn't a massive change in GTRs contract, but companies had more of emphasis to pay back money loaned during lockdown to keep service running when there were minimal passengers. Cost savings were looked at and while there are agreements to run certain services, there aren't always on carriage lengths. The decision was to retire the units and reduce lengths, as well as reduce frequency on some routes (The West Worthing Stopper for example). The 313s were then retired as a cost saving measure as they are on lease, and the government was funding them. therefore meaning there weren't the usual spare units on weekdays to strengthen, Eastbourne and Seaford services to 8s, as well as run the Lewes shuttles as 6 car 313s. The problem is of course there hasn't been investment in new rolling stock, which while is needed down in the south, is needed even more up north, its a problem every government kicks down the road. I think changes to commuter/leisure numbers has affected it slightly, and is probably where a solution can be found.

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