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GTR Catford loop woes

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Islineclear3_1

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Can anyone shed any light as to what happened to the 17.00 and 17.30 SEV - BFR as they did not run.

GTR's "excuse" being broken down train. I can understand one, but TWO ( in succession)...!?

Therefore no Up TL trains on the Catford Loop for an hour and a half. Very poor show (or lack thereof) in my opinion
 
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Southern

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All down to a failed train at Otford, currently stuck at Ashford awaiting my train. Plus side, I'll be due a full refund ;)
 

gimmea50anyday

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Well if a train has broken down and is blocking the line, until it can be resurrected or rescued, then the next one isn't going to be able to get past it and carry on is it. Poor show? It's not like a train has a steering wheel where it can swerve round an obstruction, despite what the beardy man might believe.....
 

westcoaster

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Can anyone shed any light as to what happened to the 17.00 and 17.30 SEV - BFR as they did not run.

GTR's "excuse" being broken down train. I can understand one, but TWO ( in succession)...!?

Therefore no Up TL trains on the Catford Loop for an hour and a half. Very poor show (or lack thereof) in my opinion

Might just be the only train available to rescue the failure is the service which should be 30 minutes behind.
 

Islineclear3_1

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Well if a train has broken down and is blocking the line, until it can be resurrected or rescued, then the next one isn't going to be able to get past it and carry on is it. Poor show? It's not like a train has a steering wheel where it can swerve round an obstruction, despite what the beardy man might believe.....

Guess this was a dig at me...<D

When you are stuck at a country station and the only announcement is a "broken down train" - how am I supposed to know "what" train has broken down and "where"...?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Might just be the only train available to rescue the failure is the service which should be 30 minutes behind.

So yes, had the failure been the 17.00 from Sevenoaks, I would have expected the 17.30 to assist it.
 

Southern

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To be fair, communication has been up to the usual Southeastern standard tonight - Appalling. The driver of the train I eventually managed to get on very honestly told everyone that he had no idea what was going on because he'd been given no information.
 

Llanigraham

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Guess this was a dig at me...<D

When you are stuck at a country station and the only announcement is a "broken down train" - how am I supposed to know "what" train has broken down and "where"...?

But you did immediately jumped to a conclusion, which has been proved incorrect, without finding out the whole story. Perhaps just asking a "gentle" question instead of apparently blaming the railway of something out of their control would have been better.
 

causton

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Might just be the only train available to rescue the failure is the service which should be 30 minutes behind.

For the uninitiated, this is exactly what happened by the way! (I don't know if westcoaster knew what happened or just made a very informed guess and was lucky ;) ) - The inward working of the 1700 failed and the inward working of the 1730 came to assist it.
 

Islineclear3_1

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But you did immediately jumped to a conclusion, which has been proved incorrect, without finding out the whole story. Perhaps just asking a "gentle" question instead of apparently blaming the railway of something out of their control would have been better.

Which was precisely my question at the start.

I'm sorry this wasn't "gentle" enough for you. And blaming the railway? Who shall I blame then...the local bus company...the local sweet shop...?

Of course this was something out of the railway's control. But in 2016, it would have been nice to have been told something along the lines of: "GTR/Thameslink" railway are sorry that the xxxx service has been cancelled...this is due to a broken down train at Otford...we do not know at this time when service will be resumed..."

Just a "broken down train" is utterly useless information.

At least after posting the question on here, I now know the reason why. But I would have liked to have known the reason why earlier today when instead I had to go and get a bus instead.
 

gimmea50anyday

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You haven't exactly endeared yourself with the manner in which you posted, but to be fair an automated announcement doesn't exactly give much away but with DOO trains and unstaffed stations how are you expected to find out?... This is the future that people want apparently.

It might be worth keeping an eye on the operators twitter page in future, often info gets posted out there (tho not always!)
 

Antman

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Can anyone shed any light as to what happened to the 17.00 and 17.30 SEV - BFR as they did not run.

GTR's "excuse" being broken down train. I can understand one, but TWO ( in succession)...!?

Therefore no Up TL trains on the Catford Loop for an hour and a half. Very poor show (or lack thereof) in my opinion

Assuming the first one was stuck behind the broken down train couldn't the next one have been diverted via Orpington?
 

jon0844

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Just a "broken down train" is utterly useless information.

At least after posting the question on here, I now know the reason why. But I would have liked to have known the reason why earlier today when instead I had to go and get a bus instead.

I assume there are a nice load of drop down menus for staff to select reasons for delays, and I notice quite a bit that the reasons for delays aren't very helpful when it just says 'broken down train' or 'signal problems' without saying where, allowing even someone without an app or access to this forum a reasonable chance of a guess at least.

The broken down train 'reason' will often be attached to other trains delayed, but if you don't know where/when the broken down train was/happened, it doesn't give much of a clue as to whether the delay is as it is (i.e. it started late) and the estimated time will be correct now, or that the broken down train is potentially going to cause further delays - like it's still there somewhere and the time on the board may change.

To be fair, sometimes GTR will give manual announcements that give more detail, and they can remove all services and just show the ones running during extreme disruption, but there are definitely flaws.

Unless someone has direct access to control (or someone that does) it can be frustrating as if I suspect there's likely to be an ongoing problem, I want to switch to my plan B travel arrangements, not hang around.
 

hounddog

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But you did immediately jumped to a conclusion, which has been proved incorrect, without finding out the whole story. Perhaps just asking a "gentle" question instead of apparently blaming the railway of something out of their control would have been better.

In what way is a broken down train outside the railway's control?
 

MrB

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You haven't exactly endeared yourself with the manner in which you posted, but to be fair an automated announcement doesn't exactly give much away but with DOO trains and unstaffed stations how are you expected to find out?... This is the future that people want apparently.

It might be worth keeping an eye on the operators twitter page in future, often info gets posted out there (tho not always!)

DOO trains do still have drivers who can make announcements to get information to passengers.

In what way is a broken down train outside the railway's control?

The breakdown is out of control as it could happen at any time, like with a car. However the recovery process is in the railway's control and could have perhaps been sped up.

Which was precisely my question at the start.

I'm sorry this wasn't "gentle" enough for you. And blaming the railway? Who shall I blame then...the local bus company...the local sweet shop...?

Of course this was something out of the railway's control. But in 2016, it would have been nice to have been told something along the lines of: "GTR/Thameslink" railway are sorry that the xxxx service has been cancelled...this is due to a broken down train at Otford...we do not know at this time when service will be resumed..."

Just a "broken down train" is utterly useless information.

At least after posting the question on here, I now know the reason why. But I would have liked to have known the reason why earlier today when instead I had to go and get a bus instead.

Southern/TSGN are pretty useless at giving out information during times of disruption and not every passenger is going to come on here to find out the causes of their delays so they should provide better info!
 

hulabaloo

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I was playing cricket very close to Otford station yesterday and there were three massive bangs at around 5.30 (it stopped me running in to bowl).

Were they the detonators?
 

gimmea50anyday

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Those drivers Can only make PA announcements on the train they are operating. Think the OP's biggest gripe was the lack of info at the station.
 
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contrad!ction

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I was playing cricket very close to Otford station yesterday and there were three massive bangs at around 5.30 (it stopped me running in to bowl).

Were they the detonators?

Almost certainly - unless it was a freak coincedence.
 

Surreytraveller

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The breakdown is out of control as it could happen at any time, like with a car. However the recovery process is in the railway's control and could have perhaps been sped up.

A broken down train is not classed as outside the railway's control. You cannot speed up the recovery too much, as rules and processes have to be followed.
 
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