Still problems this week 12:23 ex Welwyn garden City fall to standing at potters bar makes 3 extra stops to make up for cancelled train. Takes for ever as people struggle to get on packed train.
Yes, another shambolic day today, with large numbers of cancellations and delays -- along with consequential overcrowding.
I don't really care if GTR is wholly to blame, but the way they have handled things across the franchise is poor, and it's high time someone else was brought in who knows that they're doing. The DFT's involvement also needs looking at IMO.
But I thought ALL of GTR's problems are entirely down to the Guard's all pulling sickies and not coming in to work, and absolutely nothing to do with p*ss poor management?
I have heard it said that the current problems are First's legacy. One way or the other, I can't ever remember anything like this level of unreliability under First - nothing close.
To be honest, I'd like to see GTR removed from this franchise. Perhaps the threat of being barred from obtaining future franchises might just kick them into sorting things out.
Where does that end? Throw all the players out and then there is no one left to play. Then what does the DfT do?
Where does that end? Throw all the players out and then there is no one left to play. Then what does the DfT do?
The slow trains are all 4 car as they a diagramewith the Cambridge stoppers. some stations on the Cambridge branch can only take 4 cars.
The slow trains are all 4 car as they a diagramed with the Cambridge stoppers. some stations on the Cambridge branch can only take 4 cars.
I know why there are 4 car trains on weekends, but that doesn't mean people have to like it.
Govia, First and even likely National Express would know loadings can be very high on a Sunday, for example, so there should have been plans made to sort the issue out long ago.
It's perhaps especially bad now that on a weekend, you can't just decide to get a 6-car slow train to WGC from King's Cross instead of a crowded 4 car train - unless you go to Finsbury Park instead of King's Cross.
Oh and when a train is cancelled, or even two, in succession then it really does become good fun.. but it's not as if things were ideal even without that added burden.
I do think there should be weekend and evening services to Moorgate, but obviously sufficient capacity still needed to be maintained at King's Cross.
And not everyone would think to go to Finsbury Park, although staff could advise. You can take many other trains that will stop there or use the tube.
As I've said elsewhere, once trains are running all over the place in 2018, I expect I'll go to Finsbury Park in the first place.
There are three downsides with FP though -
1 - in bad weather you get cold or wet waiting on the platform
2- relatively there are fewer facilities than KX
3- from the underground the stairs aren't ideal if you have mobility issues.
I think GTR need to get a bit creative on this - the limitation of 4 car platforms north of Royston has been in place a long time.
Perhaps 'dropping' 4 cars at Letchworth would be the way forward so they would run:
KX - Peterboro (8 car)
Peterboro - KX (8 car)
KX - Letchworth (8 car)
Letchworth - Cambridge (4 car)
Cambridge - Letchworth (4 car)
Letchworth - KX (8 car)
There are sidings at Letchworth where 4 cars could be parked out of the way - it's no different to what LM does with some of the 12 car sets that arrive in Northampton from London where only 4 or 8 cars head onto Birmingham or Crewe.
They do that on some peak services. The 1632 KGX to CBG did the last time I used it.
Tonight's cancellations look as bad as ever
They had the franchise just under 2 years
When will it get better?
Govia have shown themselves to be an unbelievably incompetent player, in many respects, through the GTR franchise.
Don't just listen to me, I am only quoting what a lot of other industry insiders were saying.
A quite unbelievable pile of shambles, whether they were merely fronting DfT's wishes or not.
What about LM I didn't think they were precieved as too bad there?
Saturday saw our train cancelled but the earlier train that we were going to miss was delayed, which meant catching it and getting home earlier than expected. It would have been a right PITA to have had to wait for almost an hour, so we were very lucky.
The driver who took our train apologised and said he'd been due to go home and had been told to take it (to Cambridge). From sitting inside the carriage I can say that some people were clearly grateful, but one group were less happy and said it was bloody job, and then joking with each other about how easy it was to drive a train etc.
Perhaps the driver, who should be thanked, might want to avoid speaking in the future as many passengers are beyond showing any sympathy.