Here is an account of the operation of the Marston Vale line for the six days from Monday October 28 to Saturday November 2 (no Sunday service). I've tried to keep it free from comment and stuck to when and where problems occurred although perhaps our local correspondents can contribute to "why". I don't know the area well enough to comment.
Reliability. Out of 204 scheduled journeys 6 were cancelled (about 3 %) of which 4 were due to crew issues. 2 (1%) were ascribed to traction equipmemnt on RTT.
Punctuality. Of the 198 trains operated 84 (about 42%) recorded on-time arrivals. 41 (about 21%) were 5 minutes late or more. On 12 occasions this was primarily due to a late start. So approximately 14% of all trains operated lost 5 minutes or more en route.
The time lost en route was mostly lost at stations and for the most part was 30 seconds here and 45 seconds there. So far I can't see any evidence of the same train attracting delays each day but 2S13 spent three minutes at both Woburn Sands and Ridgmont on two successive days which might be suggestive.
A late start can cause a serious knock-on effect - on Friday 2S17 left Bedford 22 minutes late ...this one event caused (or at least contributed to) 10 of the 41 serious late arrivals.
I'll try and do this for four weeks to give us a bit of solid info.
Here is an account of the operation of the Marston Vale line for the six days from Monday October 28 to Saturday November 2 (no Sunday service). I've tried to keep it free from comment and stuck to when and where problems occurred although perhaps our local correspondents can contribute to "why". I don't know the area well enough to comment.
Reliability. Out of 204 scheduled journeys 6 were cancelled (about 3 %) of which 4 were due to crew issues. 2 (1%) were ascribed to traction equipmemnt on RTT.
Punctuality. Of the 198 trains operated 84 (about 42%) recorded on-time arrivals. 41 (about 21%) were 5 minutes late or more. On 12 occasions this was primarily due to a late start. So approximately 14% of all trains operated lost 5 minutes or more en route.
The time lost en route was mostly lost at stations and for the most part was 30 seconds here and 45 seconds there. So far I can't see any evidence of the same train attracting delays each day but 2S13 spent three minutes at both Woburn Sands and Ridgmont on two successive days which might be suggestive.
A late start can cause a serious knock-on effect - on Friday 2S17 left Bedford 22 minutes late ...this one event caused (or at least contributed to) 10 of the 41 serious late arrivals.
I'll try and do this for four weeks to give us a bit of solid info.
So, on the face of it, the 230's had a good week last week.
Having recently retired I now have the time to analyse things that interest me ....rather than what my clients wantinteresting - thanks - this is something i really should have done by, frankly, couldn't be bothered to do!
Having recently retired I now have the time to analyse things that interest me ....rather than what my clients want
With regard to the previous week I think that 15 services were cancelled on the Saturday of the fire so even if there were no other cancellations due to motive power that week you get a reliability figure of no better than 90%...unfortunately I didn't make any detailed notes.
Hope your journeys are acceptable for now anyway.
Here is an account of the operation of the Marston Vale line for the six days from Monday October 28 to Saturday November 2 (no Sunday service). I've tried to keep it free from comment and stuck to when and where problems occurred although perhaps our local correspondents can contribute to "why". I don't know the area well enough to comment.
Reliability. Out of 204 scheduled journeys 6 were cancelled (about 3 %) of which 4 were due to crew issues. 2 (1%) were ascribed to traction equipmemnt on RTT.
Punctuality. Of the 198 trains operated 84 (about 42%) recorded on-time arrivals. 41 (about 21%) were 5 minutes late or more. On 12 occasions this was primarily due to a late start. So approximately 14% of all trains operated lost 5 minutes or more en route.
The time lost en route was mostly lost at stations and for the most part was 30 seconds here and 45 seconds there. So far I can't see any evidence of the same train attracting delays each day but 2S13 spent three minutes at both Woburn Sands and Ridgmont on two successive days which might be suggestive.
A late start can cause a serious knock-on effect - on Friday 2S17 left Bedford 22 minutes late ...this one event caused (or at least contributed to) 10 of the 41 serious late arrivals.
I'll try and do this for four weeks to give us a bit of solid info.
Is there a lot of PRM blaming on this website just now or am I unlucky what I'm reading today?
- Woburn is one of the busier stations and there is a wheelchair user who is a regular from there
For information ...the delays at Woburn which I highlighted were trivial in the context of the late running over the whole week. They did seem to form a pattern of sorts.Is there a lot of PRM blaming on this website just now or am I unlucky what I'm reading today?
That's a really useful addition to my bookmarks. Thankyou.https://www.recenttraintimes.co.uk lets you do searches like this https://www.recenttraintimes.co.uk/Home/Search?Op=Srch&Fr=Bletchley+(BLY)&To=Bedford+(BDM)&TimTyp=A&TimDay=A&Days=Wk&TimPer=4w&dtFr=07/10/2019&dtTo=04/11/2019&ShwTim=AvAr&MxArCl=5&ShwAdv=ShwAdv&TOC=All&ArrSta=5&SvcCtC=SvcCtC&SvcPcR=SvcPcR&SvcPcC=SvcPcC&SvcArS=SvcArS&MetAvg=Mea&MetSpr=RT&MxScDu=&MxSvAg=&MnScCt=&ArrGph=ArrGph
Is there a lot of PRM blaming on this website just now or am I unlucky what I'm reading today?
It did not seem like you had much reason to blame the wheelchair useing regular for all delays at Woburn.Eh? What are you on about?
It did not seem like you had much reason to blame the wheelchair useing regular for all delays at Woburn.
Do you think that when next summer comes, with its now expected spells of hot weather, will the problems encountered by the Class 230 units on the Marston Vale line that were caused by that will have been solved by then?
As set out above I am unconvinced that the issues are simply not just being masked by the cooler weather
Intuitively one would have to be cautious until we actually get to next summer. On the other hand I'm not sure that ambient temperature is a huge factor in the operating temperature of a diesel engine. We already know that there were serious problems in cooling the engines due to pollen clogging the air intakes which (hopefully) will have been addressed. The key issue I suspect is a clear air flow around the engine/genset/whatever.Do you think that when next summer comes, with its now expected spells of hot weather, will the problems encountered by the Class 230 units on the Marston Vale line that were caused by that will have been solved by then?
I had the impression that the (single?) comment that you were responding to was factual rather than finger-pointing.Is there a lot of PRM blaming on this website just now or am I unlucky what I'm reading today?
As others have said, there's a difference between pointing out a fact and pointing the finger of blame - AFAICT it was just presented plainly as a fact. It's a fact that deploying a ramp takes more time than not deploying a ramp. However, if doing so incurs delays, it's the TOC's fault for not building enough time / resources into their operations to accommodate it, seeing as they have a responsibility to provide access. I haven't read anything in the recent posts blaming the passenger.Is there a lot of PRM blaming on this website just now or am I unlucky what I'm reading today?
As others have said, there's a difference between pointing out a fact and pointing the finger of blame - AFAICT it was just presented plainly as a fact. It's a fact that deploying a ramp takes more time than not deploying a ramp. However, if doing so incurs delays, it's the TOC's fault for not building enough time / resources into their operations to accommodate it, seeing as they have a responsibility to provide access. I haven't read anything in the recent posts blaming the passenger.
Do MV rail user groups include PRM group delegates like GA ones at least in Cambridge area?
OK so it's within the bounds of acceptability then.90% or so within 5 mins of schedule is fairly decent.Updated account of the operation of the Marston Vale line for the six days from Monday November 4 to Saturday November 9 (previous week figures in brackets).
Reliability. Out of 204 scheduled journeys 0(6) were cancelled although one working from Bletchley was turned back at Ridgmont due to passenger illness. Thus 0(2) were cancelled due to train problems.
Punctuality. Of the 202 completed journeys 77(84) or 38%(42%) recorded on-time arrivals, 142(126) or 70%(64%) were a maximum of 2 minutes late. 25(41) or 12% (21%) were 5 minutes late or more. On 5(12) occasions this was primarily due to a late start. So approximately 10%(14%) of all trains operated lost 5 minutes or more en route.
Again the time lost en route was mostly lost at stations and for the most part was 30 seconds here and 45 seconds there. There were one or two notable delays but still not much of a pattern.
Digging into the overall figures a bit - there has been a substantial reduction in total lateness across all trains so that on average each train was about 2 minutes late (in the previous week the average lateness was around 5 minutes - skewed by some extreme individual figures).
OK so it's within the bounds of acceptability then.90% or so within 5 mins of schedule is fairly decent.
nobody will achieve 100% reliability or punctuality, but 90% should be do-able even when you throw a couple of SHTF scenario's into the mix.I'd call it "tolerable". The line is isolated from almost everything else and has very long layovers at the Bletchley end, which means as high as 99.5 or so (taking into account non-rail causes like the passenger taken ill) should be entirely achievable, and if there's a lucky day with no outside influences causing delays it should reach 100% on occasions. So some progress (or luck due to the weather), but much more to be done.
100% reliability (no cancellations) is good though, as it's cancellations that have been the real plague.
nobody will achieve 100% reliability or punctuality, but 90% should be do-able even when you throw a couple of SHTF scenario's into the mix.
like I said,idiots at level crosings or an overzealous schoolkid going under because his/her "friends" have distracted them during embarkation or disembarking throws a few odd scenarios into the mix. there is enough slack in the timetable for the majority of incidents,but you will get the odd one to throw a curve-ball.You do occasionally get 100% but it can't be expected due to non-railway causes, but a simple line like that should routinely be achieving 99%. If it isn't and there aren't unit faults causing it the timetable needs changing.
OK so it's within the bounds of acceptability then.90% or so within 5 mins of schedule is fairly decent.
I think bletchleyite/Darlo rich are probably correct when they say it's being masked by the weather.
Can we really be sure these things are reliable in either adverse heat or adverse cold?