Trains For Derby Match - 2nd May

[thedonkeycentrehalf]

Well the conclusion to my story was a train eventually did turn up. Although having left Brighton at 6.00 pm (ish) I finally got to Southampton at around 11pm. Five hours later!! I claimed a delay repay-ment.

My beef was the complete late of advice and information from train and station staff. They're experts in apologising but useless at addressing and solving any issue that arises. Almost a case of "Nothing to do with me, guv."

We were 'delayed' in the Evening Star after that game so had to walk to Churchill Square to get the 700 bus back along the coast. The difference in service was that there was a Stagecoach Inspector on the bus so when people heading for Southampton asked him for options, he was checking apps for updates and said that at worst, if they got the 700 to Chichester they could pick up connecting train services to Portsmouth and Southampton.

 

[Cosmic Joker]

I have emailed the following to comments@southernrailway.com

"Hi

Your journey planner / ticket website is showing no trains at all along the coastway – east and west - on Monday 2nd May. Nothing about engineering works or replacement buses either. It’s well within the normal booking window, so has somebody forgotten to upload the Bank Holiday timetable to the system? Other journey planners appear to be the same.

Apart from general travel, a lot of Brighton & Hove Albion fans are trying to plan journeys to Falmer for the match vs Derby which has now been moved to that day, so this isn’t helping much. I would be travelling from Chichester.

Please can you let me know when the timetable for E & W Coastway stations on 2nd May will be available? I hope it is as soon as possible, but if there is any further delay can the system at least be given a general message to check back later, to avoid people panicking about having no trains."

Will post again, if and when I receive a response (not really holding my breath for anything helpful, but..)

 

[El Presidente]

FOR CRYING OUT LOUD . Will you listen to yourselves . The reason trains aren't showing on the online timetable is because the advance tickets aren't available yet FFS. It's mid March trains for May won't be advertised yet. There will very likely be a Saturday service. Moan moan moan

That's strange, for when I type in trains from Brighton to Falmer on the BH Monday the following comes up.



To find out that information took me approximately 15 seconds. I'm sure that you, as a journalist whose training, qualifications, experience and ethical code means that you research any posts that you state that are based on factual evidence, must have done the same.

Perhaps it was just an oversight or you have insider information, as the alternative would be to conclude that you are a lazy, complacent and frankly useless two bit hack, which we all know cannot be true given the esteem with which you are held on NSC.

 

[Gazwag]

Via twitter southern are currently trying to sort the problem out with network rail - don't know if this means sorting the trains out or the software

 

[beorhthelm]

Via twitter southern are currently trying to sort the problem out with network rail - don't know if this means sorting the trains out or the software

i'm inclined to think its the software. as i recall it shows the timetabled departures with note to expect delays and bus replacement when there's a line closure. if there's no engineering works, why else would there be no trains? a secret strike?

 

[8ace]

i'm inclined to think its the software. as i recall it shows the timetabled departures with note to expect delays and bus replacement when there's a line closure. if there's no engineering works, why else would there be no trains? a secret strike?

Not always, it shows similar to El Pres's screenshot if you look up trains from Preston Park to Bletchley this saturday.

 

[Big_Unit]

Via twitter southern are currently trying to sort the problem out with network rail - don't know if this means sorting the trains out or the software

I spent half an hour yesterday trying to book various (non-Albion related) train journeys online. The Network Rail and Southern Rail sites were both an absolute mess - they basically didn't work. I had to go to the station and get the tickets in the end.

My money is on a cr*p website upgrade rather than the actual services themselves...

 

[brianwade]

I have spoken to a human being at National Rail Enquiries and apparently there are currently NO trains on May the second between Brighton and Lewes . So no trains stopping at Falmer that day . Due to planned engineering works .

Do the club know something we don't ? Are arrangements being made to change the engineering works or has a horrendous cock up been made .

Surely not ....

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

I can't be bothered to go back through the thread, but the only days there are usually no trains are Dec 25 and 26. Even if there were engineering works wiping out trains on May 2, there would surely be replacement bus services advertised.

 

[sparkie]

I have spoken to a human being at National Rail Enquiries and apparently there are currently NO trains on May the second between Brighton and Lewes . So no trains stopping at Falmer that day . Due to planned engineering works .

Do the club know something we don't ? Are arrangements being made to change the engineering works or has a horrendous cock up been made .

Surely not ....

I was hoping this was all just a computer software error.

Let's hope the NR employee was just clueless.

If there really are no trains then the scale of this cock up defies belief.

 

[nwgull]

I was hoping this was all just a computer software error.

Let's hope the NR employee was just clueless.

If there really are no trains then the scale of this cock up defies belief.

I would imagine that the human on the end of the NR Enquiries line has access to the same info - correct or incorrect - that you get from checking their website.

 

[Bold Seagull]

We'll all get there, one way or another...

 

[Bozza]

I have spoken to a human being at National Rail Enquiries and apparently there are currently NO trains on May the second between Brighton and Lewes . So no trains stopping at Falmer that day . Due to planned engineering works .

Do the club know something we don't ? Are arrangements being made to change the engineering works or has a horrendous cock up been made .

Surely not ....

There are no engineering works in the area listed for that day on the National Rail website.

 

[el punal]

I have spoken to a human being at National Rail Enquiries and apparently there are currently NO trains on May the second between Brighton and Lewes . So no trains stopping at Falmer that day . Due to planned engineering works .

Do the club know something we don't ? Are arrangements being made to change the engineering works or has a horrendous cock up been made .

Surely not ....

I hope not. Would the club honestly accept a fixture change in the knowledge that NO trains will be operating between Brighton and Lewes on a match day? That it will the final home match of a possible promotion season? That the attendance could be close to 30,000?

More to the point do the club actually have a say in any decision making? This has the making of being the biggest, gigantic cock up of all time if all these issues are not resolved.

 

[Mr deez]

There will be trains.

 

[Guy Fawkes]

Far be it from me to kick a man when he's down or in this case the magnificent organisation known as Southern Railway, but a little story that sums up SASTA :

Following the Wolves game on the 1st January I caught a (yep, delayed) train from Brighton to Southampton. It got as far as Worthing when the driver announced that " this train terminates here, everybody please leave the train." The station staff had no information other than an incident had occurred at Arundel. When was the next train due? Don't know. Will there be a service throughout the evening? Don't know. If there are no trains at all will there be alternative transport to take us to our final destination? Don't know.

So with this wealth of information I went for a walk around the block to calm my fast rising temper, to return in time for a train to be present going westbound. On I hopped on only to find that it was only going to Littlehampton!! I exited at West Worthing. Same palaver again. Same questions, same non-answers.

It was my final question that prompted the best response ever - "How can I get back to Southampton if there are no trains? Can I hire a taxi and charge Southern for the fare?" No, was the reply - try catching a bus. "What, I said, at 8 o'clock at night on New Year's Day to go to Southampton, over fifty miles away?"

The reply : "Can't help you mate. I'm shutting the station up and I'm going home."

Now that's what I call customer service!

So what if the incident at Arundel was caused by someone jumping in front of a train to commit suicide? - It's reasonable then to assume that the staff at your station would therefore have no idea when the line would reopen as the aftermath of the incident would have to be cleared first, how would a member of staff working on a station platform know how long this would take, or what service the buses, etc were running on New Years day?

 

[Craven Wine]

Just contacted a GWR planner (family friend)says there's no service planned for our neck of the woods other than bus replacement!

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

So what if the incident at Arundel was caused by someone jumping in front of a train to commit suicide? - It's reasonable then to assume that the staff at your station would therefore have no idea when the line would reopen as the aftermath of the incident would have to be cleared first, how would a member of staff working on a station platform know how long this would take, or what service the buses, etc were running on New Years day?

It is reasonable to expect contingency plans for paying travellers and that some form of communication would be going on within the organisation that could be transmitted to help stranded passengers. Even in a tragic case such as you cite.

 

[Craven Wine]

Just contacted a GWR planner (family friend)says there's no service planned for our neck of the woods other than bus replacement!

'Text nearer time, possible bank holiday service is not yet in system but ours is on Western route'.

Could be interesting in a Chinese way..

 

[8ace]

Maybe Barber should have had a swatch at the train table before touching his toes