Deafdoggie
Established Member
- Joined
- 29 Sep 2016
- Messages
- 3,092
Just to nail my colours to the mast, I'm a country boy at heart.
But for three consecutive Mondays I've had to be in London (having not been in years) each time I've departed on the 22:00 (although the schedule varies by a minute some weeks!) Liverpool train to get home to Stafford. There's a number of questions I have.
The train itself was very quiet although Euston was reasonably busy-the Manchester trains certainly seemed much busier. But what amazed me, was how many people were arriving into Euston at that time! I'd assumed everyone would be heading out of London at that time, but trains were arriving packed-on a Monday night in February! What were all these people doing?
I knew (thanks to RTT) that the train left from platform 14 so loitered around there, instead of partaking in the scrum. Each week it said boarding was expected to start 19 minutes prior to departure, although it never did. They'd put it on the screen and announce it, then promptly start a countdown to closing the platform! I was unsurprised they've had to paint, in large letters, DO NOT RUN all over the floor, what did they think people were going to do? I suspect they are worried on legal action and that'll be their (poor) defense, but as anyone walking would find the barriers closed and their train missed I'm not sure painting all over the floor is the answer.
But my question is, who decides when to open the barrier? Clearly it's supposed to be open 19 minutes early, but someone somewhere is delaying it. Who & Why?
On the plus side-and I know this is controversial-personally, I much prefer the new departure screens. Very clear visual information. And you can see them when loitering at platform ramps just incase it goes green and the platform has changed. Although when a train changes to green they might aswell fire a starting pistol too to get everyone underway. How long before there's a serious injury is anyone's guess, but DO NOT RUN painted all over Euston floor, isn't the answer.
The 22:00 Liverpool train appears to be scheduled to be overtaken by the 22:03 Manchester train, if all goes to plan. Why not swap the departure times? Or the calling patterns? Rather than the Liverpool ambling over to the slows so the Manchester can speed past?
But for three consecutive Mondays I've had to be in London (having not been in years) each time I've departed on the 22:00 (although the schedule varies by a minute some weeks!) Liverpool train to get home to Stafford. There's a number of questions I have.
The train itself was very quiet although Euston was reasonably busy-the Manchester trains certainly seemed much busier. But what amazed me, was how many people were arriving into Euston at that time! I'd assumed everyone would be heading out of London at that time, but trains were arriving packed-on a Monday night in February! What were all these people doing?
I knew (thanks to RTT) that the train left from platform 14 so loitered around there, instead of partaking in the scrum. Each week it said boarding was expected to start 19 minutes prior to departure, although it never did. They'd put it on the screen and announce it, then promptly start a countdown to closing the platform! I was unsurprised they've had to paint, in large letters, DO NOT RUN all over the floor, what did they think people were going to do? I suspect they are worried on legal action and that'll be their (poor) defense, but as anyone walking would find the barriers closed and their train missed I'm not sure painting all over the floor is the answer.
But my question is, who decides when to open the barrier? Clearly it's supposed to be open 19 minutes early, but someone somewhere is delaying it. Who & Why?
On the plus side-and I know this is controversial-personally, I much prefer the new departure screens. Very clear visual information. And you can see them when loitering at platform ramps just incase it goes green and the platform has changed. Although when a train changes to green they might aswell fire a starting pistol too to get everyone underway. How long before there's a serious injury is anyone's guess, but DO NOT RUN painted all over Euston floor, isn't the answer.
The 22:00 Liverpool train appears to be scheduled to be overtaken by the 22:03 Manchester train, if all goes to plan. Why not swap the departure times? Or the calling patterns? Rather than the Liverpool ambling over to the slows so the Manchester can speed past?
Last edited:
Admittedly it's a bit earlier than 22:00 but I'm arriving back from Leeds at 8:30 pm in a couple of days and First had just a handful of vacant seats left to reserve.