The infamous 1915 from Paddington (police called to handle situation on 18th Sept)

[infobleep]

I wouldnt say they where wanting something for nothing, they where wanting a seat (or at least a reasonable chance at one) for the thousands of pounds they pay for a season ticket...

Well people want a fast service from the South West Trains mainline that stops at Clapham Junction during peak rush hour, for the money they spend on their season tickets. It's not going to happen any time soon. It will one day. The same applies to Reading. In fact the Reading problem might be resolved far sooner than the Clapham Junction one.

 

[HSTEd]

In the the only solution is probably a high speed line to South Wales - that way you can turn the current relief lines completely over to Crossrail (who would run a crazy frequency service) and the current suburban routes can go up to some enormous frequency on the fast lines.

And the long distance trains would run out towards Reading at 320km/h in a tunnel.

 

[richw]

The second is that a significant number of FC occupants are actually management of the rail company travelling on free passes that come with their job grade, hence zero revenue. It's not as much as in BR days, but still notable. Alan Williams in Modern Railways once commented on the number of Scotrail management who boarded the 1730 Edinburgh to Glasgow through the conductor's door and sat in the best forward-facing window seats in first class before the doors were even released.

I recently travelled 1st class (on a complimentary pass) and over 50% of the first class population were travelling on various free passes.
FGW frequently run competitions on Facebook where they give away 2 free first class passes every hour.
The fact they are giving away so many first class passes suggests to me that First Class is not that busy that they give away so many free tickets

 

[HarleyDavidson]

Well people want a fast service from the South West Trains mainline that stops at Clapham Junction during peak rush hour, for the money they spend on their season tickets. It's not going to happen any time soon. It will one day. The same applies to Reading. In fact the Reading problem might be resolved far sooner than the Clapham Junction one.

How many times do you lot who commute need to be told? Tim Shoveller has stated this loads of times & you just don't get it.

You can't have the Clapham call in the peaks because there's simply no capacity to have it, it won't happen in the future either because if you do and if you see what happens when 1L57 calls there at 1826, you more or less instantly get a backlog of trains, usually 3 if not 4, which aren't booked to call waiting at signals.

You can see what happens on the SN side, because they have the stupid idea that virtually every darn train calls there with the exception of GatEx & occasional Brighton. Queues of trains on both Fast & Slow lines.

Simple you want to go to Clapham you use the slow trains & get off at Woking or on a semi-fast Surbiton and go from there or Croydon in the case of SN.

 

[HSTEd]

I think they mean after Crossrail 2 nicks half the inner suburban traffic and depressurises the lines at Clapham somewhat.

 

[infobleep]

How many times do you lot who commute need to be told? Tim Shoveller has stated this loads of times & you just don't get it.

You can't have the Clapham call in the peaks because there's simply no capacity to have it, it won't happen in the future either because if you do and if you see what happens when 1L57 calls there at 1826, you more or less instantly get a backlog of trains, usually 3 if not 4, which aren't booked to call waiting at signals.

You can see what happens on the SN side, because they have the stupid idea that virtually every darn train calls there with the exception of GatEx & occasional Brighton. Queues of trains on both Fast & Slow lines.

Simple you want to go to Clapham you use the slow trains & get off at Woking or on a semi-fast Surbiton and go from there or Croydon in the case of SN.

My point was simply that both are capacity issues and right now neither can be resolved with the current infrastructure. One is being resolved via infrastructure upgrades, Reading, and the other is being talked about as a future upgrade, Clapham Junction.

I was just comparing the situations to point out Reading isn't the only problem and just because a commuter wants something doesn't mean it will happen.

As for Woking. No trains stop at Clapham Junction during the morning peaks from there. It requires a change at Surbiton, that includes the slow trains.

However there is talk of future infrastructure upgrades which would help the problems.

As for Southern. They refused to miss out Clapham Junction in a recent report, to enable higher frequency of trains because so many people change trains there.

But I didn't want to to descend into a Clapham is bad. I was just pointing out Reading isn't the only problem and commuters wanting something doesn't mean it will happen, no matter the cost of their season ticket. If it did, the infrastructure at Clapham Junction would have been upgraded years ago.

 

[Mark62]

I can never understand why passengers continue to force themselves onto what is obviously an overcrowded train and then complain it's unsafe and dangerous. Why not simply wait for the next one?

First Class is and should be for First Class passengers only. You can't start declassifying every peak train because the first carriage that everyone will head for is the First Class one. If you want to sit in First pay the appropriate fare.

Good on the train manager in this instance although I suspect there's more to this story than is being reported. I can't see the passenger politely refusing to leave can you?!

Absolutely correct

 

[3141]

How many times do you lot who commute need to be told? Tim Shoveller has stated this loads of times & you just don't get it.

I understand the point, but I'm not impressed by the "Tim Shoveller has stated this loads of times" line. Maybe he states it regularly to SWT staff. Neither he nor any of his predecessors has stated it to me. Luckily I very rarely need to get from Overton to Clapham Junction in the morning peak hour, because if I did the number of changes and the time taken would mean either I had to start at about 5.15, or I wouldn't get there till almost the time the peak hour was over anyway.

 

[Class 170101]

I think they mean after Crossrail 2 nicks half the inner suburban traffic and depressurises the lines at Clapham somewhat.

That assumes Crossrail two goes where people want it to go? What would the Crossrail two station be for the city? Ho many use Waterloo and then head towards Bank?

And to those who suggest turning the HST set round so first class is on the country end please remember that Paddington is a double ended station and doubtless would cause more problems as the Hammersmith entrance, in my limited experience, sees more use from the Tube than the District line side.

 

[yorkie]

To discuss Crossrail 2, High Speed lines to the West, or any other infrastructure-related topic, please use another thread for these issues, thanks.

I suspect we have exhausted this thread now!

Those of us who've seen how busy this service can be will never have our solutions accepted by people from Reading, and until you've witnessed this train for yourself you won't know how busy it can be - I had heard about it, but it still surprised me!

 

[sor]

I recently travelled 1st class (on a complimentary pass) and over 50% of the first class population were travelling on various free passes.
FGW frequently run competitions on Facebook where they give away 2 free first class passes every hour.
The fact they are giving away so many first class passes suggests to me that First Class is not that busy that they give away so many free tickets

It's possible that it has changed in the last year or two, but when I used to use FC on any serious basis, coach F (or whatever the one with the buffet is called now) could be best described as the FGW travelling staff club for all the staff and on-duty RPIs in there. (at least in Cornwall-Plymouth-Exeter)

Although more recently I have noticed FGW staff in standard who don't seem to be expecting automatic upgrades as the guard goes through the train.

 

[infobleep]

To discuss Crossrail 2, High Speed lines to the West, or any other infrastructure-related topic, please use another thread for these issues, thanks.

I suspect we have exhausted this thread now!

Those of us who've seen how busy this service can be will never have our solutions accepted by people from Reading, and until you've witnessed this train for yourself you won't know how busy it can be - I had heard about it, but it still surprised me!

How about an advertising campaign advising people only to travel on the 19.15 if absolutely necessary. They do it in times of severe weather and this is severe, in terms of overcrowding at least. Would people listen though?

If that wouldn't work abd if the Reading commuters won't accept solutions and it's not economical to deal with those who flout the ticket regulations, then the chaos must be left to continue for now.

 

[berneyarms]

Has the 19:12 FO service to Oxford (non-stop to Reading) not had any sort of impact on the loadings on the 19:15?

 

[455driver]

Has the 19:12 FO service to Oxford (non-stop to Reading) not had any sort of impact on the loadings on the 19:15?

Probably not because commuters are creatures of habit.

The 1915 should be oick up only at Reading Monday-Friday and hit it hard with RPIs a few times!

 

[richw]

It's possible that it has changed in the last year or two, but when I used to use FC on any serious basis, coach F (or whatever the one with the buffet is called now) could be best described as the FGW travelling staff club for all the staff and on-duty RPIs in there. (at least in Cornwall-Plymouth-Exeter)

Although more recently I have noticed FGW staff in standard who don't seem to be expecting automatic upgrades as the guard goes through the train.

Most recently they have been sat in the standard seats at the end of the standard coach nearest first class whenever I have been on a train. Gives the impression they are waiting to be invited into First class!

 

[455driver]

Most recently they have been sat in the standard seats at the end of the standard coach nearest first class whenever I have been on a train. Gives the impression they are waiting to be invited into First class!

Or possibly as close as possible to the buffet so they can be first in the queue when it opens!

Funnily enough I always sit there because that coach is always unreservable so easy to get a seat in.

 

[trainophile]

How about making it known that only one door (in the furthest Standard Class carriage so they won't be tempted to sit anywhere and walk through) will be opened at Reading, so all the Reading bods could cram into that coach, leaving the rest of the train for everyone else? A few days of that and they might decide it's more pleasant to wait for a later service.

Don't know if that's technically feasible, but I imagine it could be achieved by all the doors remaining locked, and the guard manually opening the relevant one from the platform. This would allow people wishing to board at Reading to have access (they would have to be informed of the 'one door only' situation so they could wait in the right place) to a newly emptied coach, so plenty of seating for them. Any on First Class tickets would just have to walk through, which is the main drawback I can think of. That and the added dwell time that would inevitably be needed.

Bet there's all sorts of reasons why that's a stupid idea .

 

[jopsuk]

It's a stupid idea, but the "I'll just the emergency door release" would soon be stopped by a BTP operation...

 

[bb21]

It is poorly thought because that would increase dwell time no end.

 

[berneyarms]

Frankly the only way you can stop this is controlled boarding with every ticket being checked - there is no other way you're going to stop Reading commuters from boarding it.

That would mean fencing off that half of the platform and having RPI staff check every ticket and redirect Reading pax to the 19:12.

 

[Class83]

Frankly the only way you can stop this is controlled boarding with every ticket being checked - there is no other way you're going to stop Reading commuters from boarding it.

That would mean fencing off that half of the platform and having RPI staff check every ticket and redirect Reading pax to the 19:12.

This is the only real solution, unless it's possible to block a platform at Reading and charge anyone getting off of this train for a return to Swindon so presumably they'd stop doing it in future.

 

[Flamingo]

Frankly the only way you can stop this is controlled boarding with every ticket being checked - there is no other way you're going to stop Reading commuters from boarding it.

That would mean fencing off that half of the platform and having RPI staff check every ticket and redirect Reading pax to the 19:12.

Can be done, it has happened in the past.

 

[Big Chris]

Frankly the only way you can stop this is controlled boarding with every ticket being checked - there is no other way you're going to stop Reading commuters from boarding it.

That would mean fencing off that half of the platform and having RPI staff check every ticket and redirect Reading pax to the 19:12.

Why not just make the 1915 service a puck up only at reading? Problem solved!!

 

[ainsworth74]

Why not just make the 1915 service a puck up only at reading? Problem solved!!

It already is...

The problem is that Reading commuters know that it stops at Reading so get on anyway.

 

[Class377]

Is it so overcrowded that it would be impossible for an RPI or two (if FGW employ that many) to base themselves on each coach and check the tickets? Half a carriage in the half hour it takes to get to Reading seems reasonable (IF they can get down the carriage) but I could imagine one or two awkward commuters could take up most of the time?

 

[thenorthern]

I had this problem on the train today a lad didn't have a ticket and refused to buy one so the train was slightly delayed because security were called. The lad left voluntarily in the end and the delay was minimal.

Serves him right though the railways are not free and cost money to run, if you can't afford the ticket you want or don't want to pay for it then you shouldn't expect to be able to travel for free.

 

[Urban Gateline]

I had this problem on the train today a lad didn't have a ticket and refused to buy one so the train was slightly delayed because security were called. The lad left voluntarily in the end and the delay was minimal.

Serves him right though the railways are not free and cost money to run, if you can't afford the ticket you want or don't want to pay for it then you shouldn't expect to be able to travel for free.

Whilst I agree with you, it's always made me wonder whether delaying a Train is worth it, as the delay minutes will cost the TOC far more than the Ticket price in most cases I guess!

LM seems to support Conductors when there are Revenue issues but some of the other TOC's would not support their Guards in such cases and they might end up with a "pX"!

 

[Clip]

Is it so overcrowded that it would be impossible for an RPI or two (if FGW employ that many) to base themselves on each coach and check the tickets? Half a carriage in the half hour it takes to get to Reading seems reasonable (IF they can get down the carriage) but I could imagine one or two awkward commuters could take up most of the time?

Or just get them doing a ticket check at each door and turning away the Reading tickets. Thatll embarrass them on the walk of shame back.

 

[Parallel]

Is it so overcrowded that it would be impossible for an RPI or two (if FGW employ that many)

They were all at Trowbridge station this afternoon being forced to sell tickets to people on the platforms after conflict with ticket office staff led to the ticket office staff closing the office.

I can't think of a reasonable way to stop Reading commuters boarding the train and alighting at the pick-up only Reading stop (other than possibly re-timing the trains by a few minutes so many of the commuters go elsewhere but I realise that is easier said than done.) But you can stop people on standard tickets going into first class by just running the train in reverse formation, and have a couple of members of staff checking first class tickets near the first class doors/walk through.

 

[jon0844]

Thatll embarrass them on the walk of shame back.

They'll have already Tweeted and emailed the Daily Mail before they even reach the barriers.