[Travel] Trains to London from Brighton totally screwed this morning

[Ken Newbury]

The 06:50 to Victoria and 07:00 to Bedford were the last trains leaving towards London this morning until at least 8:30 due to signalling problems south of Haywards Heath.

All London bound trains between 07:00 and 8:30 are cancelled.

 

[dazzer6666]

Just got on at Wivelsfield, Victoria train.....2 mins late. Most others look 10-20 mins delayed.

 

[Deleted User X18H]

Mine went UP the DOWN line between Preston Park and Burgess Hill.

 

[Hotchilidog]

Got the 7.00 thameslink which has made it's way up on the wrong side of the tracks. Surprisingly innovative solution, credit where credit is due there.

Still yet another hole in the signal fabric crops up to cause massive disruption. So frustrating. What are network rail playing at with these things?

 

[dazzer6666]

Not sure where the problem is....possibly signals just south of Wivelsfield ?

 

[dazzer6666]

Train is crawling along....

 

[Hotchilidog]

Problems at Redhill too now. Been stationary for over 10minutes outside the station. It's clusterf*ck day on the rails today.

 

[TWOCHOICEStom]

How can there be so many "signalling problems"? Is the system really that difficult to implement?

 

[Rookie]

Problems at Redhill too now. Been stationary for over 10minutes outside the station. It's clusterf*ck day on the rails today.

Snap, sitting outside the station for 10 minutes now while we wait for another to train to come from somewhere to form the front part of the connecting service. Already 1 hour late

 

[BBassic]

"Southern in atrocious value for money shocker. More, at 11."

 

[Mattywerewolf]

Nightmare this morning....Had to bite my tongue when i sat down and the women next to me, who was taking up 2 chairs, started tutting. I guess that was why it was the only free seat on the train....

 

[Terry Butcher Tribute Act]

Can just about handle things going wrong, but not the piss poor communication that goes with it. If the train is going to be cancelled, tell us, don't just take it off the screen and hope nobody notices. Absolute twats

 

[BBassic]

Threads like this remind me that, no matter how nice the pay bump, I could never commute to London for work.

 

[Barry Izbak]

Thank God I don't rely on this shambles to get to work (but don't get me started on M25 Dartford this morning)

But I would like to know whether there is another stretch of track closed more often for engineering works than Three Bridges to Brighton ?

And yet still problems at Haywards Heath today

 

[dazzer6666]

Thank God I don't rely on this shambles to get to work (but don't get me started on M25 Dartford this morning)

But I would like to know whether there is another stretch of track closed more often for engineering works than Three Bridges to Brighton ?

And yet still problems at Haywards Heath today

Based on what my pals say, driving is even worse than the trains, especially if you use the M25......I couldn't face 1-2 hours each way on the road before/after work.

 

[theboybilly]

Got the 7.00 thameslink which has made it's way up on the wrong side of the tracks. Surprisingly innovative solution, credit where credit is due there.

Bi-directional lines have been in place on the BML for many years but oddly is rarely used. I drove Thameslinks for 4 years and went up the 'Down' line only once. The system has recently been enhanced so I suspect more use will be made of it.
Incidently this system is split into three sections (unless it has recently changed) and that is Preston Park to Keymer Junction (Wivelsfield), Keymer Jct to H Heath, then Haywards Heath to Balcombe Tunnel Junction (where 2 lines become 4). They can use as many sections as necessary.

 

[Hotchilidog]

Bi-directional lines have been in place on the BML for many years but oddly is rarely used. I drove Thameslinks for 4 years and went up the 'Down' line only once. The system has recently been enhanced so I suspect more use will be made of it.
Incidently this system is split into three sections (unless it has recently changed) and that is Preston Park to Keymer Junction (Wivelsfield), Keymer Jct to H Heath, then Haywards Heath to Balcombe Tunnel Junction (where 2 lines become 4). They can use as many sections as necessary.

Thanks for that. very interesting. Given the recent number of PP related signal meltdowns in the last year, I was impressed that this morning they did at least get something going. Maybe they will do this more in the future. For the record my journey was still a complete turd, getting to Dorking just before 10. Still at least I made it.

 

[mikeyjh]

Threads like this remind me that, no matter how nice the pay bump, I could never commute to London for work.

Yep, I love being able to 'do okay' and only visit London every couple of weeks or so, long may it continue....

 

[theboybilly]

Thanks for that. very interesting. Given the recent number of PP related signal meltdowns in the last year, I was impressed that this morning they did at least get something going. Maybe they will do this more in the future. For the record my journey was still a complete turd, getting to Dorking just before 10. Still at least I made it.

For what it's worth I reckon in-cab signalling will come in in due course depending on finances. It's what they use on the continent (Eurostar etc) and doesn't involve lineside signals or the passage of trains to show up on a signalling centre monitor via the present system (an electric current through the rails). It's more like the use of mobile phone cells to control train movements. I'm not really au fait with it as I've never seen it in action personally but I think that's pretty close to how it works. The present system has served well but it is at the mercy of too many factors including the weather.
Much of the present engineering works is to do with the major infrastructure upgrades at the new Three Bridges depot which includes a the signalling centre there eventually controlling an area up as far as Peterborough (it only goes as far north now as a few miles north of Croydon.

 

[pasty]

Phew. Good day to be WFH then