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Chase Line... Shambles..??

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dangie

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According to our Rugeley Facebook page, service on the Chase Line is still terrible. Now assuming that only half the Facebook comments are true and the rest made up, it still points to many problems with cancelled trains and/or trains terminated at Hednesford.
The local Member of Parliament is asking questions but she can only do so much. What is wrong with this service..??
 
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sufian123

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According to our Rugeley Facebook page, service on the Chase Line is still terrible. Now assuming that only half the Facebook comments are true and the rest made up, it still points to many problems with cancelled trains and/or trains terminated at Hednesford.
The local Member of Parliament is asking questions but she can only do so much. What is wrong with this service..??

Now services coming from Euston is causing it the most problems. Coupling and uncoupling also a issue at new st.
 

LowLevel

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If it's any consolation Liverpool/Brum passengers are constantly being shafted too. I'm getting fed up of them being shoved on my train to Liverpool South Parkway because they're turning round there due to late running - this basically never happened before the timetable change. I spend my entire turnaround (read break) time at Lime Street trying to explain and confirm to endless quantities of people banging on my window going to all sorts of strange places that they need to change at the next stop and no I'm not really sure which platform they need to go to there because WMR have not bothered to ask for ticket acceptance let alone tell me what's happening. 3 days on the bounce last week. The passengers are even more fed up than I am anecdotally.
 

dangie

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Two trains today in each direction at evening peak time terminated at Hednesford. Not good at any time but worse when you're on the way home from work and it'll maybe be the same tomorrow......
 

Silverlinky

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And already this morning two consecutive trains terminated at Hednesford. This really is abysmal.

Does anyone know how figures are measured and how this sort of thing can be "hidden" from performance figures?

Turning a train early is to run it back on time in the other direction is what is going on here.....I suppose they have to do something so they don't lose the path through New Street on the way back, not much good to the Rugeley people who are always seeing their trains turned early at Hednesford.
 

dangie

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And another one just been terminated at Hednesford.
As Silverlinky says the terminations are to run back on time in the reverse direction, but why are so many trains running late?
 

Ianno87

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Does anyone know how figures are measured and how this sort of thing can be "hidden" from performance figures?

Termination of a train short, or skipping stations, counts as a PPM failure.

But then consider how much of LNWR/WMT's PPM is contributed by the Stourbridge shuttle...
 

Bletchleyite

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Termination of a train short, or skipping stations, counts as a PPM failure.

But then consider how much of LNWR/WMT's PPM is contributed by the Stourbridge shuttle...

What's that, 6tph each way? I think the rest of it probably pales that into insignficance, to be honest. For a start the basic pattern out of Euston pre-the-current-mess was 3 Birmingham, 1 Crewe, 2 Tring and one MKC - that's 7tph to start with. That hasn't changed, has it? It's just that the 3 Birminghams extend to different places.
 

Mag_seven

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but why are so many trains running late?

Because when you try to run what is essentially a local Birmingham to Rugeley service with trains that start back at Euston you increase the chance of it picking up delay somewhere on the journey up from Euston. If it was, as it should be, a self contained service between Rugeley and New St the chances of picking up delays should be less.
 

Jamesrob637

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So why not have a small train just running Hednesford to Rugeley? Main line train comes into Hednesford, goes back to wherever it's going, small train comes into the platform, takes passengers the 10min or less to Rugeley, and so on and so forth.
 

The Planner

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So why not have a small train just running Hednesford to Rugeley? Main line train comes into Hednesford, goes back to wherever it's going, small train comes into the platform, takes passengers the 10min or less to Rugeley, and so on and so forth.
Infrastructure doesn't allow it.
 

47421

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Infrastructure doesn't allow it.

Do you know what options LM are thinking about? Too late to make timetable changes in December now? Any possibility of a hot spare in the New Street area to restart late running services on time from New Street? Doing nothing does not seem credible: the turnarounds, only 5 mins in some cases, are just not enough. Surprising in fact that 5 mins is a permitted turnaround at end of 3 hour journey. Its different I know but I thought I read anglo scottish trains are required to have a minimum 40 min turnaround at Euston?
 

The Planner

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Do you know what options LM are thinking about? Too late to make timetable changes in December now? Any possibility of a hot spare in the New Street area to restart late running services on time from New Street? Doing nothing does not seem credible: the turnarounds, only 5 mins in some cases, are just not enough. Surprising in fact that 5 mins is a permitted turnaround at end of 3 hour journey. Its different I know but I thought I read anglo scottish trains are required to have a minimum 40 min turnaround at Euston?
If they want to make wholesale changes then December is unlikely. The issues have reached the higher echelons so it isn't being ignored and Ive no doubt some sort of solution/instruction will make its way down the tree. The turnaround issue is taking advantage of the planning rules really, as only Virgin tend to have specific rules. Standard turnaround for an EMU is 4, Rugeley TV has a specific value of 5, so its compliant. Attach and detach is 5 at New St as it has no specific value. We also can't reject paths on the basis we think it will be a performance risk, common sense doesn't count as evidence or a reason.
 

HLE

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It's only what some on here and most on the railway predicted. Connecting services up to London might be a points scorer politically , but with a congested WCML and Birmingham New Street being a bottleneck delays were inevitable.

Delays are also fairly common now on the Nuneaton - Leamington route. The old Nuneaton - Coventry shuttle was the most reliable service in the region (fact). Now look at it.

Bring back the shuttle services on both the rugeleys and Nuneaton/Leamington service.
 

WL113

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The service on the Chase line is still a disgrace. From seeing perhaps one or two services a week terminated at Hednesford before the timetable change there are now multiple trains a day turned back, even when only 8 mins late at Cannock. Before the change trains had to be 20 or more late before termination at Hednesford was even considered.

Combining a previously reliable self contained shuttle service with longer distance runs was never going to work and unless the line is returned to the Rugeley Trent Valley to New Street service the whole electrification project was an absolute waste of money.

Passengers in Rugeley are feeling angry...


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-48887425
 

sufian123

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The service on the Chase line is still a disgrace. From seeing perhaps one or two services a week terminated at Hednesford before the timetable change there are now multiple trains a day turned back, even when only 8 mins late at Cannock. Before the change trains had to be 20 or more late before termination at Hednesford was even considered.

Combining a previously reliable self contained shuttle service with longer distance runs was never going to work and unless the line is returned to the Rugeley Trent Valley to New Street service the whole electrification project was an absolute waste of money.

Passengers in Rugeley are feeling angry...


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-48887425

It’s LNR/WMT fault they wanted to extend to Euston. They sticked with dft plan this wouldn’t happen. Original plan was morning evening service between Walsall and Euston not rugeley. Shuttle emu between Birmingham.
 

sufian123

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I have heard of people being robbed at bescot. Wmt incompetent of staff shortage and or earlier termination. Are they waiting for someone to be murdered or raped to take action? Enough is enough. This timetable is not working. Unless someone be murdered or raped, bescot not a safe place those know it.
 

bramling

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I have heard of people being robbed at bescot. Wmt incompetent of staff shortage and or earlier termination. Are they waiting for someone to be murdered or raped to take action? Enough is enough. This timetable is not working. Unless someone be murdered or raped, bescot not a safe place those know it.

One wonders how many people from the Chase Line have actually derived advantage from the direct
trains. I bet very very few, unlike the large numbers who simply want to do a local journey and are being inconvenienced on a regular basis.
 

mackeral1234

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One wonders how many people from the Chase Line have actually derived advantage from the direct
trains. I bet very very few, unlike the large numbers who simply want to do a local journey and are being inconvenienced on a regular basis.

Rugeley has a direct service to London - it the Crewe - London via Trent Valley Line, the one that goes first Crewe-Stafford before all Trent Valley stations to Nuneaton. (Remember the one that used to go via Stoke before it was ripped off Stoke and them being left with a 3hr30min service to London that used to be 2hr30min)
 

Bletchleyite

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One wonders how many people from the Chase Line have actually derived advantage from the direct
trains. I bet very very few, unlike the large numbers who simply want to do a local journey and are being inconvenienced on a regular basis.

Fundamentally:
- Most people on the south WCML want to make a day return journey to London or Birmingham
- Most people on the Chase line want to make a day return journey to Birmingham
- Most people on the Liverpool line want to make a day return to Birmingham on LNR, as they've got VT for going to London
That leaves the "wobble", passengers from which are much quicker off changing at Stafford, and have gained a service to Birmingham that might be useful.

So while I don't overly care if they join services up with neutral effect, this is causing serious reliability problems (with no respite in sight) plus overcrowding on the 4-cars ex Liverpool to allow for a small number of journeys and a bit of extra profit. It makes no sense.
 

sufian123

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One wonders how many people from the Chase Line have actually derived advantage from the direct
trains. I bet very very few, unlike the large numbers who simply want to do a local journey and are being inconvenienced on a regular basis.

I don’t really care about useful anymore. WMR will learn after a someone mugged or raped or assaulted at nights then it’ll be too late. I quote “we don’t want to take drastic action” a spokeswomen from WMR said. So they want us to get hurt!
 

Bletchleyite

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the sniper

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I have heard of people being robbed at bescot. Wmt incompetent of staff shortage and or earlier termination. Are they waiting for someone to be murdered or raped to take action? Enough is enough. This timetable is not working. Unless someone be murdered or raped, bescot not a safe place those know it.

Lucky it's exceptionally rare for anything to get terminated short at Bescot then... And for anything that is, you'd have plenty of company.
 
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