Transpennine woes and a moan...

[RHolmes]

Nothing on NRE or TP sites.

But I was amused to see on NRE that there had been overhead wire problems between Manchester Victoria and Stalybridge.

There was

Wires came down on the UP line near Ashburys, resulting in 2E63 hitting a dropper

 

[800001]

Nothing on NRE or TP sites.

But I was amused to see on NRE that there had been overhead wire problems between Manchester Victoria and Stalybridge.

There was!! OHL came through the cab window of a TPE service. Nothing to be amused at.

Bent registration arm, a spliced contact wire, cracked widescreen of a 185 and a shook up driver.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

There was!! OHL came through the cab window of a TPE service. Nothing to be amused at.

Was that from the short stretch of live OHL near Victoria, or from the unfinished wiring further east?
If the latter then the contractors will have some questions to answer.
Sorry to trivialise a serious incident (not obvious from the NRE item) - something similar happened around Eccles before the Chat Moss wiring went live.

 

[Finfanero]

Was this today? If so, where is it on the network?

I believe so, Manchester Area I'm told.

 

[800001]

Was that from the short stretch of live OHL near Victoria, or from the unfinished wiring further east?
If the latter then the contractors will have some questions to answer.
Sorry to trivialise a serious incident (not obvious from the NRE item) - something similar happened around Eccles before the Chat Moss wiring went live.

Ashbury I believe so old school OHL.

 

[Killingworth]

Then there was found to be dangerous ice build up in Standedge Tunnel that caused speed restrictions and a partial closure

And dangerous icicles in Totley and Cowburn Tunnels blocked the South Pennine route to passenger services for much of the day.

 

[55018ballymoss]

Is it just me, Ashburys is on the line from Piccadilly to Stalybridge, not Victoria….

 

[RHolmes]

Is it just me, Ashburys is on the line from Piccadilly to Stalybridge, not Victoria….

Hence the diversion

 

[55018ballymoss]

Not clear from any of the previous messages…

 

[D6130]

Ashbury I believe so old school OHL.

VERY old school OHLE....ex-Woodhead 1,500 volts DC catenary with much heavier components than the modern 25Kv equivalent. Is the original 1,500 volt heavy copper wiring still in use, or has it been replaced by lighter modern gear? I realise that larger insulators had to be installed when the line was converted to 25Kv AC in the early 1980s.

 

[Greybeard33]

VERY old school OHLE....ex-Woodhead 1,500 volts DC catenary with much heavier components than the modern 25Kv equivalent. Is the original 1,500 volt heavy copper wiring still in use, or has it been replaced by lighter modern gear? I realise that larger insulators had to be installed when the line was converted to 25Kv AC in the early 1980s.

The contact wire has been replaced with a smaller gauge, but otherwise the installation is still pretty much unchanged. Fixed termination with a third messenger wire between the contact and catenary.

In the hot summer weather the line had to be closed because of wire sagging. Maybe in this cold spell the wires are too taut.

 

[CE142]

Katherine O'Brian.... Now there's a name from the past......

 

[8J]

Nothing on NRE or TP sites.

But I was amused to see on NRE that there had been overhead wire problems between Manchester Victoria and Stalybridge.

The problem was between Manchester PICCADILLY and Stalybridge, not Victoria. Pretty poor of NRE/TPE control to post the wrong location.

 

[Killingworth]

Katherine O'Brian.... Now there's a name from the past......

Kathryn O'Brien, see; https://www.instituteofcustomerservice.com/people/kathryn-obrien/

Not her fault that TPE operations are doing so badly and has a very hard job to recover the levels of customer experience she previously espoused.

 

[DoubleO]

Today's cancellation list is pretty hefty....

 

[py_megapixel]

Today's cancellation list is pretty hefty....

It is. And they are (of course) still publishing this "due to a short notice change to the timetable" rubbish on Journeycheck.

It's utterly laughable to say that a service has been cancelled "due to a short notice change to the timetable". It conveys zero information. You might as well just say "This service has been cancelled because we have decided to cancel it."

 

[DoubleO]

It is. And they are (of course) still publishing this "due to a short notice change to the timetable" rubbish on Journeycheck.

It's utterly laughable to say that a service has been cancelled "due to a short notice change to the timetable". It conveys zero information. You might as well just say "This service has been cancelled because we have decided to cancel it."

The whole situation is a joke. They're doing it because they can get away with it and it's the best decision for them financially. Their hands are tied by DfT with regards to getting goodwill and RDW back, and they've made things worse by pushing through with an undeliverable timetable change. It's embarrassing.

 

[KevL]

This morning at seamer the service is aweful.. forgive the screen shot

i was thinking of popping to york today, but not with that service.

 

[Andyh82]

Liverpool to Hull is awful

05:30 Man Vic - Hull CANCELLED
06:54 Liverpool – Hull CANCELLED
07:54 Liverpool - Hull Starts Man Vic
09:54 Liverpool – Hull CANCELLED
10:54 Liverpool – Hull CANCELLED
13:54 Liverpool - Hull Terminates Man Vic
14:54 Liverpool – Hull CANCELLED
15:54 Liverpool – Hull CANCELLED
16:54 Liverpool – Hull CANCELLED
17:54 Liverpool - Hull Terminates Leeds

06:53 Hull – Liverpool CANCELLED
07:55 Hull – Liverpool CANCELLED
12:03 Hull – Liverpool CANCELLED
13:03 Hull – Liverpool CANCELLED
14:03 Hull – Liverpool CANCELLED
18:04 Hull – Liverpool CANCELLED
19:03 Hull - Man Vic CANCELLED
21:03 Hull - Leeds CANCELLED

 

[Moonshot]

Liverpool to Hull is awful

05:30 Man Vic - Hull CANCELLED
06:54 Liverpool – Hull CANCELLED
07:54 Liverpool - Hull Starts Man Vic
09:54 Liverpool – Hull CANCELLED
10:54 Liverpool – Hull CANCELLED
13:54 Liverpool - Hull Terminates Man Vic
14:54 Liverpool – Hull CANCELLED
15:54 Liverpool – Hull CANCELLED
16:54 Liverpool – Hull CANCELLED
17:54 Liverpool - Hull Terminates Leeds

06:53 Hull – Liverpool CANCELLED
07:55 Hull – Liverpool CANCELLED
12:03 Hull – Liverpool CANCELLED
13:03 Hull – Liverpool CANCELLED
14:03 Hull – Liverpool CANCELLED
18:04 Hull – Liverpool CANCELLED
19:03 Hull - Man Vic CANCELLED
21:03 Hull - Leeds CANCELLED

Wonder what the total number of services planned but didn't run is for the entire year? I would guess in the many thousands

 

[nr758123]

Wonder what the total number of services planned but didn't run is for the entire year? I would guess in the many thousands

Not quite answering your question, but there's a report published last week from the ORR containing a graph showing passenger train kilometres by operator, July to September 2022, and as a percentage of July to September 2019. It's a graph in a pdf document, so I don't know how to copy and paste it here. In this context, what it shows is that over the relevant period TPE ran 3.18m passenger train km, which was just 58.1% of the 2019 figure. This percentage is easily the lowest of any of the train operating companies.

Of the franchised operators, East Midlands Railway (102.0%) and London Overground (101.4%) ran more train kilometres this quarter than in the same quarter three years ago. TransPennine Express (58.1%), Avanti West Coast (63.8%) and CrossCountry (64.0%) had the lowest rates of train kilometres operated compared with three years ago.

Link is https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/media/2167/passenger-rail-usage-jul-sep-2022.pdf

 

[mike57]

This morning at seamer the service is aweful.. forgive the screen shot

i was thinking of popping to york today, but not with that service.

I knew the Scarborough York service would fail as soon as they went back to through working across the Pennines, at least with the shuttle it was more reliable.

What I dont get with Transpennine is that they must be aware that they will not have the resources to run the full timetable over a considerable period, this is not just the odd cancellation, its around half the service on some routes. In this situation an emergency timetable would be better, at least then you could plan a journey, the current 'will it run lottery' (because I dont count cancellation up to 10pm the night before as reasonable, given that most people are making plans a few days or weeks in advance) means that the train is currently unuseable on the TPE routes.

 

[swaldman]

over the relevant period TPE ran 3.18m passenger train km, which was just 58.1% of the 2019 figure.

....and most of those were short-formed with people left behind on the platform :-/

 

[Howardh]

Liverpool to Hull is awful

05:30 Man Vic - Hull CANCELLED
06:54 Liverpool – Hull CANCELLED
07:54 Liverpool - Hull Starts Man Vic
09:54 Liverpool – Hull CANCELLED
10:54 Liverpool – Hull CANCELLED
13:54 Liverpool - Hull Terminates Man Vic
14:54 Liverpool – Hull CANCELLED
15:54 Liverpool – Hull CANCELLED
16:54 Liverpool – Hull CANCELLED
17:54 Liverpool - Hull Terminates Leeds

06:53 Hull – Liverpool CANCELLED
07:55 Hull – Liverpool CANCELLED
12:03 Hull – Liverpool CANCELLED
13:03 Hull – Liverpool CANCELLED
14:03 Hull – Liverpool CANCELLED
18:04 Hull – Liverpool CANCELLED
19:03 Hull - Man Vic CANCELLED
21:03 Hull - Leeds CANCELLED

Am I right in that if someone travelling from, say, Manchester to Hull could get to Leeds (TPE) and change onto a Northern service to Hull; and if so would a TPE-only ticket be accepted?

It's an oddity that only TPE cross the Pennines Stalybridge > Huddersfield which leaves an annoying gap on the Northern network map. Time that was adressed and Northern allowed to (if they are currently "forbidden", no idea why there's that gap) run trains between Manchester and Leeds via that route, if only to make up for TPE's uselessness.

 

[Jamesrob637]

A Cleethorpes to Liverpool was terminated at Manchester "due to the planned train being replaced with a slower train"

Utter expletive

 

[Metroman62]

I knew the Scarborough York service would fail as soon as they went back to through working across the Pennines, at least with the shuttle it was more reliable.

What I dont get with Transpennine is that they must be aware that they will not have the resources to run the full timetable over a considerable period, this is not just the odd cancellation, its around half the service on some routes. In this situation an emergency timetable would be better, at least then you could plan a journey, the current 'will it run lottery' (because I dont count cancellation up to 10pm the night before as reasonable, given that most people are making plans a few days or weeks in advance) means that the train is currently unuseable on the TPE routes.

Rather annoyed that a through train to Scarborough has been cancelled.I was going to pick it up at Leeds. I had planned my day around the time of the train. Faced with a long wait at York I was surprised to hear a replacement bus has been laid on from York to Scarborough to make up for the cancelled 13:03 departure. So I am "happy" to be sat on a bus with 6 other people. It's a long bus ride and I may not arrive before the following 14:03 departure, but at least I am on my way.

Bring back the much more reliable York / Scarborough shuttle. When they tried through trains this time last year they stopped them fairly quickly, hopefully they will again until they get everything sorted. But when that will be ....

 

[Kite159]

Am I right in that if someone travelling from, say, Manchester to Hull could get to Leeds (TPE) and change onto a Northern service to Hull; and if so would a TPE-only ticket be accepted?

It's an oddity that only TPE cross the Pennines Stalybridge > Huddersfield which leaves an annoying gap on the Northern network map. Time that was adressed and Northern allowed to (if they are currently "forbidden", no idea why there's that gap) run trains between Manchester and Leeds via that route, if only to make up for TPE's uselessness.

Back to how it was before 2018(?) when Northern ran the stoppers from Victoria towards Huddersfield (and Huddersfield to Leeds)

 

[87015]

A Cleethorpes to Liverpool was terminated at Manchester "due to the planned train being replaced with a slower train"

Utter expletive

Thats just RTT nonsense politics on the delay code. The cancellation code is rolling stock issue, not a slower train. It certainly wasn't anything to do with the type of train on this occasion.

 

[mike57]

When they tried through trains this time last year they stopped them fairly quickly, hopefully they will again until they get everything sorted. But when that will be ....

The problems with the Scarborough branch are on going, the service disintegrated after the May 2018 timetable change, and was abysmal throughout 2018 - 19 right up until Covid decimated travel. TPE are now blaming the issues on lack of a RDW agreement and staff shortages, but what was their excuse during 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021... To me they have lost all credibility.

Scarborough also has only TPE to take you towards York, you could go via HUll with Northern, but Hull TPE services are also cancelled, and I doubt ticket validity applies via Hull its a long way round.

 

[Howardh]

Back to how it was before 2018(?) when Northern ran the stoppers from Victoria towards Huddersfield (and Huddersfield to Leeds)

Does seem daft why TPE have to use their basically inter-city trains to stop at Marsden/Greenfield etc when Northern could do the job perfectly well? In fact, if Northern had the stock and staff available, that could free up a unit/staff to allow TPE to plug their gaps a bit.