Greater Anglia: Stratford - Bishops Stortford

[ChristopherJ]

Stratford - Bishops Stortford services have a scheduled stop at Coppermill Junction (between Stratford and Tottenham Hale) for an average of between 5-8 minutes to allow priority for Stansted Express services.

What annoys me is not that it is a booked stop is that these trains are operated by DOO and on not one occasion has any driver announced that this is a booked stop. I've had countless occasions where passengers on board have got frustrated at being stopped without any announcement as to why the train is being held.

How hard is it to pick up the PA and announce "this is a booked stop, our departure time is at --:--, this will not compromise our arrival time at Tottenham Hale?" That way, everyone is informed and no one is none the wiser, passengers are informed it's a booked stop and they're not being delayed. Panic over.

I'm not going to be rude against any individuals - because I know there are several Greater Anglia drivers on this forum but I'm going to state the reality - the customer service of certain drivers on GA is very poor, antisocial, even.

Perhaps GA should introduce a policy like on LUL, an announcement must be made within 20 seconds of being stopped or face disciplinary action, I might have to forward this proposal to Mr. Hackett...

 

[bezzer]

Stratford - Bishops Stortford services have a scheduled stop at Coppermill Junction (between Stratford and Tottenham Hale) for an average of between 5-8 minutes to allow priority for Stansted Express services.

What annoys me is not that it is a booked stop is that these trains are operated by DOO and on not one occasion has any driver announced that this is a booked stop. I've had countless occasions where passengers on board have got frustrated at being stopped without any announcement as to why the train is being held.

How hard is it to pick up the PA and announce "this is a booked stop, our departure time is at --:--, this will not compromise our arrival time at Tottenham Hale?" That way, everyone is informed and no one is none the wiser, passengers are informed it's a booked stop and they're not being delayed. Panic over.

I'm not going to be rude against any individuals - because I know there are several Greater Anglia drivers on this forum but I'm going to state the reality - the customer service of certain drivers on GA is very poor, antisocial, even.

Suggest you take it up with someone who can do something about it rather than gripe on the forum. That achieves nothing.

 

[NSE]

Personally, I'm not a fan of the tube's ruling that a driver has to make an announcment within 20 seconds. I mean if its an emergency, need to evacuate etc, then the driver will tell the passengers. Stopping at a red signal is standard on the tube, I dislike the new automated ones on the S8 stock, as they cut into the other messages. Most passengers are so used to being held here and there on the tube, none of them blink if the stop is around 20/30 seconds.

 

[jopsuk]

Forgive me if I'm missing something obvious, but why is this the case- why doesn't it leave Stratford five minutes later?

 

[ChristopherJ]

Suggest you take it up with someone who can do something about it rather than gripe on the forum. That achieves nothing.

Already one step ahead of you.

This e-mail has been sent to both Mr Ruud Hackett MD of GA and the customer services team.

Dear Greater Anglia,

I am a frequent traveler on your services provided between Stratford to Bishops Stortford on the West Anglia Line. I understand that due to complications in pathing the Bishops Stortford services are required to stop at Coppermill Junction (between Stratford and Tottenham Hale) to allow the faster and non-stop Stansted Express services to overtake the slower and stopping trains. From experience of my travels I have gathered that the Bishops Stortford services are booked to wait at Coppermill Junction for a duration ranging between three minutes to eight minutes.

However, it has come to my attention that although the stop at Coppermill Junction is an integral part of the service timetable, your train drivers are not making announcements informing passengers that it as a booked stop. Several occasions I have experienced that passengers become frustrated in not being informed of the reason as to why the train is stationary for a prolonged period of time. I would like to request that train drivers make personal announcements at these strategic locations to ensure that passengers are aware that these booked stops are intended and not genuine delays to your services.

I understand the use of automated announcements on your services is to provide passengers with adequate information towards live train running but when involved in situations as aforementioned I gather train drivers are not making personal announcements of which the automated announcements are not programmed to air.

I would suggest to improve both passenger comfort and satisfaction that train drivers announce when stopped at either Coppermill Junction or any location where a similar situation occurs a message similar to "this is a booked stop, our departure time is at --:-- and will not compromise our onward timetable".

Thank you for your consideration.

 

[southerner2174]

Problem that you may find is that if the train doesnt depart exactly on the time that you have been told you will be complaining that you have been misfed inaccurate information and have been lied to. :roll:

 

[robby p]

You must have missed one of mine as as soon as we come to a stand at Coppermill jcn I make an announcement stating we are waiting for an express to pass in front.

We do have a policy being handed out at the moment called 'the one minute announcement'.
We are asked to announce that we have stopped at a red signal and will pass on information when it is available. I can't comment on how many drivers use it but I try my best to stick to it.

As you I'm sure you know trains terminate in platform 11 and and not due back out for roughly 20mins. Platform 12 is preferred to be kept clear for ECS moves to Orient Way CS. I believe the reason they must leave when they do is that another service from Bishops Stortford pretty much rolls into platform 11 as soon as one leaves.

I do know how frustrating it is sitting around at a stand at Coppermill jcn but we are only booked to be stopped there for 1 minute (some times slightly more in the morning/evening peak). The other thing is that the timetable states what time you will arrive at tottenham hale (on average a timetabled 13 minute journey). I suppose some peoples mentality is that If you arrive on time at tottenham hale which you expect to do, what does it matter what happens in between?

I will just say though that on many occasions the express does run slightly late which obviously means you will be at a stand waiting for longer, in this case an announcement should certainly be made.

 

[O L Leigh]

Some drivers do set off down the Temple Mills like a ferret down a rabbit hole, but there really is no need. I take a leisurely amble down there and am usually only stopped for a moment or two at most, and sometimes the protecting signal clears on approach. Consequently I feel there is no need for a PA announcement unless I'm going to be held there for an usually long time due to delays on the main route from Liv St.

The instruction to give an announcement after one minute is with regard to delays. These services are not delayed but simply have an amount of padding in the timings in order to mesh with the Liv St services. Granted they could depart Stratford a little later, but they need to clear P11 so that the arriving service can get access into the platform. So either the arriving train hangs around outside Stratford station or the departing one hangs around at Coppermill Junction.

O L Leigh

 

[jopsuk]

Thank you for the explanation O L Leigh

 

[Dr.iver]

Am I missing Something here ? If you are aware of why the wait is why does it annoy you that the driver fails to speak?

 

[SprinterMan]

Just out of interest, do people prefer this service as half hourly Stratford - Bishops Stortford as it is now or back when it was hourly Stratford - Stansted Airport?

Adam

 

[317666]

Just out of interest, do people prefer this service as half hourly Stratford - Bishops Stortford as it is now or back when it was hourly Stratford - Stansted Airport?

Adam

I prefer it being how it is now, as it means if I end up on a 379 from Cambridge, I can change at Bishops Stortford onto a 317 which leaves around 15 minutes after the 379 from Cambridge does. If they were still hourly then in some instances I would have to wait 45 minutes.

 

[12CSVT]

Just out of interest, do people prefer this service as half hourly Stratford - Bishops Stortford as it is now or back when it was hourly Stratford - Stansted Airport?

Adam

The half hourly Stratford - Tottenham Hale - Bishops Stortford is better in my opinion. There are already plenty of Stansted services (every 15 minutes).

 

[Mojo]

Am I missing Something here ? If you are aware of why the wait is why does it annoy you that the driver fails to speak?

Because other customers might not be aware, and even though this is a scheduled stop, may run for something longer than expected, something the driver may know but the customers on board do not.

Problem that you may find is that if the train doesnt depart exactly on the time that you have been told you will be complaining that you have been misfed inaccurate information and have been lied to. :roll:

In my time working for a railway company which expects its staff to provide speedy real-time updates, a policy which is monitored through regular 'mystery shopping' audits, I cannot say I have ever heard trouble reported from customers on this policy. More so the reverse where no information has been provided because the member of staff has not complied with the request for information to be passed to customers.