The 22.15 Falmer to Brighton Ghost Train

[Gilliver's Travels]

Strolled down to the platform at 22.10 last night. Train pulled in, dead on time. EIGHT empty coaches. Had one to myself. Brighton in 10 minutes.

I'd imagined more than a dozen or so intrepid souls might have popped down to see if the [advertised] trains were running. Weird night.

 

[Captain Sensible]

Sake! Really? Southern are such a joke they can't even keep to a cancelled timetable!!!

 

[Gilliver's Travels]

The half-hourly .15 and .45 services had been posted online, on Southern's Train Strike Timetable.

Would have helped if the club had published live departures on the concourse scereens. Have they stopped doing that now?

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

I trudged down to the station straight after the final whistle, just before 21:45, expecting the early leavers to be clogging the train queue and making it unuseable for everybody else and resigning myself to the long walk to the nearest non-clogged bus stop heading towards Brighton town. Was gobsmacked to find there wasn't any train queue, could get straight on to the platform and straight on to the waiting train. It even stopped at London Road. Totally unexpected RESULT!

 

[elninobonito]

sake! and I missed the game as thought coming home by train would be a nightmare!!

 

[Eeyore]

Bit like the bus queue at Falmer station. Usual large numbers who seemed to be unaware that a rail replacement service was 20 yards away waiting to fill up for a non stop journey to the Old Steine. I was back home at ten past ten. Quite astounded.

 

[Easy 10]

SASTA did their usual trick yesterday by announcing - at around 4pm - that there would actually be some additional trains running. By which time of course, everyone has already made alternative travel arrangements, and anyone not following them on Twitter would be none the wiser anyway.

They're doing it deliberately.

 

[Jim D]

Got to the station at about 9.55 to find out there were trains at 10.10, 10.15 and 10.20. with hardly any crowd. Got on the 10 past and in Brighton just in time for the train to Worthing. Back home before 11. Can we arrange for the RMT to strike around every home game if we'll be getting this level of service?

 

[ManOfSussex]

Did anyone get back to Lewes and further east by train after the game last night?

 

[Soulman]

Got to the station at about 9.55 to find out there were trains at 10.10, 10.15 and 10.20. with hardly any crowd. Got on the 10 past and in Brighton just in time for the train to Worthing. Back home before 11. Can we arrange for the RMT to strike around every home game if we'll be getting this level of service?

Ffs. As stated just my second home game missed in 5 years. I thought that no trains between Brighton and Worthing and that trains were not stopping at Falmer after 6-20.
Feck in Southern Rail, I hope they lose the franchise.

 

[Springal]

Should have risked it. Park and ride from WSU is a nightmare anyway as you end fairly far back in the queue. Got to Mithras House at 22.20. Accident on A27 (looked like it involved Albion fans) and road works at Lancing meant I got back to Worthing about 23.10 - 30mins later than normal when I get the train

 

[Easy 10]

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[tweet]788438468045180928[/tweet]

Risible.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

SASTA did their usual trick yesterday by announcing - at around 4pm - that there would actually be some additional trains running. By which time of course, everyone has already made alternative travel arrangements, and anyone not following them on Twitter would be none the wiser anyway.

They're doing it deliberately.

I did try posting the news on three different threads on Nsc, to do with the game, SASTA, and travel yesterday as soon as the tweet came out. As you say, 4pm is a ridiculous time to suddenly say, we can provide trains.

 

[Easy 10]

Should have risked it. Park and ride from WSU is a nightmare anyway as you end fairly far back in the queue. Got to Mithras House at 22.20. Accident on A27 (looked like it involved Albion fans) and road works at Lancing meant I got back to Worthing about 23.10 - 30mins later than normal when I get the train

I must've got lucky then. I left the WSU on the final whistle, jogged up and got one of the first Mithras House buses, and was back at the car by 10. I elected to avoid the usual Coldean Lane BUNFIGHT by turning south and heading home along the seafront. Home in Portslade by 10.20.

 

[Easy 10]

I did try posting the news on three different threads on Nsc, to do with the game, SASTA, and travel yesterday as soon as the tweet came out. As you say, 4pm is a ridiculous time to suddenly say, we can provide trains.

Exactly what they did last time though isn't it. Some people might actually be tempted to take a chance on them doing it like this again on their next strike date, by laying a few trains on after all at late, late notice. But then you can bet they'll probably put zero trains on, just to deliberately stuff everyone up.

The more chaos, aggravation and misery they can cause the better, it would seem. That's the motive.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Exactly what they did last time though isn't it. Some people might actually be tempted to take a chance on them doing it like this again on their next strike date, by laying a few trains on after all at late, late notice. But then you can bet they'll probably put zero trains on, just to deliberately stuff everyone up.

The more chaos, aggravation and misery they can cause the better, it would seem. That's the motive.

It does seem to be an active process of disinformation designed to cause as many people as much aggravation as possible. In what parallel universe is that acceptable from a 'transport partner'?

Plus SASTA probably need to keep providing at least a minimum service to stop them defaulting on their terms of a Service Level Agreement with the Albion. They might get away with it for now, but that'll soon stop as soon as ASLEF (train drivers) get involved in the dispute.

 

[Albion_Dave]

Did anyone get back to Lewes and further east by train after the game last night?

There were indeed 2 trains to Eastbourne after the game. Shame I didn't know earlier as drove to lewes.

 

[The Albion Roar]

The half-hourly .15 and .45 services had been posted online, on Southern's Train Strike Timetable.

Would have helped if the club had published live departures on the concourse scereens. Have they stopped doing that now?

If the train operating company can't keep to its own timetable, what hope would a third party have?

The Albion are reliant on the live updates provided by the operators. They can't even tell their staff what their doing let along someone like the Albion or passengers.

 

[Gilliver's Travels]

The Albion are reliant on the live updates provided by the operators.

Ah, okay. I fondly imagined that the Amex concourse screens were somehow plumbed in to Falmer station's platform screens. Not so?

To be fair (!) to Southern, their Train Strike Timetable, confirming the half-hourly service all day in both directions, had been published yesterday morning (I accept of course that not all of us have time to trawl through that stuff while at work!)

But on the original question: do the Amex screens usually show Falmer departures - or has that now gone by the wayside?

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Ah, okay. I fondly imagined that the Amex concourse screens were somehow plumbed in to Falmer station's platform screens. Not so?

Well, they were in the first year or two at the Amex. Used to be half the screens showed soundless SSN or soundless Albion manager interview, both of which were massively useless compared to the feed of live train times. Guess which has been done away with?