How bad was your journey today?

[185143]

One of the best days I've had for a while!

Caught a TPE train from Newton le Willows to Liverpool, which was near enough on time and I had a table seat. All was well until the train randomly announced 'this is Newton le Willows, where this train terminates!'

Spent the day riding about Merseyrail-all of which went well, though they've not changed any times.

Came home on a Northern service to Birchwood, which was a double 156. Not very busy and only 12 minutes late. Quite impressed actually given both TOCs truly disgraceful PPMs!

 

[TimG]

As a Brighton London Bridge commuter it was fantastic

 

[xc170]

Travelled from Tamworth to Knaresborough and back today to see relatives, lovely quiet journey up.

Journey home didn't go completely to plan, planned to get the 18:15 York service off Knaresborough was about 40 minutes late due to someone being taken ill on the train, normally this would be rather annoying, but sitting in the warm evening sun, on a lovely little station in a peaceful little town made 40 minutes seem like nothing.

This photo, taken before heading to the station, summed the evening up, sometimes delays aren't all that bad.

 

[AM9]

Had I been travelling in to work today, looking at RTT my journey would have been delayed by 36 minutes, being affected by two cancellations. I suspect it would have been crowded too. In total today the journey would have been 74 minutes compared to 32 minutes under the old timetable.

It's not about "poor commuters" moaning about their train time changing, but about the industry's failure to deliver. It's bad enough that this shambles has happened, but what makes it far worse is the way the management seem completely disconnected from reality - only hours ago was Charles Horton saying there would be "minimal" impact today. That level of incompetence is simply breathtaking.

It's worth noting that little went wrong today, so all an industry planning shambles of the highest order. Even the usual suspects can't seriously defend that.

So sticking to the thread subject, how bad was your journey today? - oh, there wasn't one. The rest of your post was not about the thread and just a rant about GTR management.

 

[MikeWM]

My regular train (was the 0949 Ely - Cambridge, now 0948) now starts back at Kings Lynn and has a very delicate, precise path through Ely North junction, sandwiched between lots of other trains.

In the last 12 weeks (according to RecentTrainTimes) it arrived within 5 minutes of booked 95% of the time.

Today it was 7 late at Cambridge, which would normally mean missing my connecting bus and being late for work. Fortunately, and unusually, the bus was running late too.

So, my regular train has become much busier and less reliable, even though in theory it is pretty much the same time as before. I'm probably going to have to change to an earlier train in future - not least because the walk out from platform 7 at Cambridge is rather longer than that from platform 1.


For the return, I don't have a 'regular' train. Tonight I would have got the 1925 Cambridge to Ely, but that's been abolished in the new timetable. Instead I got the rather heavily delayed 1909, which was about 30 late by Ely.

So, could have been worse, but not a very promising start either.

 

[fowler9]

Caught 4 Northern services after eight pm today. They were all pretty much on time. The guard on the first one was a chap I chat to a lot and he said it worst day in 15 years of being a guard. Felt bad for him. It hasn't been great on the Cheshire Lines route to Liverpool for a while anyway and I didn't notice it being any worse on the services I caught. It seems I was lucky.

 

[Bromley boy]

Things were pretty bad in SE metro land. A lightning strike on a signal in Hither Green around 6pm snarled things up pretty badly and service was severely disrupted for the rest of the evening.

The timetable caused a few issues this throughout the day which the lightning strike (unlucky it happened today) made a lot worse...

 

[methethpropbut]

Went from Cambridge to London today. Absolutely no problems at all!

... Granted, I bought the cheaper Greater Anglia only ticket, which did not suffer from a meltdown unlike the other line...

 

[modernrail]

Okay, not quite my journey today but planning a future one. I had not realised that Huddersfield had lost its connection to Wakefield Westgate. This feels like a downgrade for Huddersfield to London, particularly as the Huddersfield to London directs must now be in doubt. I can't remember the timings via Westgate v Leeds. Is there a time penalty via Leeds and if so how many minutes (presuming the best connection). My recollection is that it was always better to go via Westgate but that was only for one of the 2 services per hour to London.

Also, why does this service now terminate at Kirkgate? Is there a problem with pathing it onto the Leeds branch of the ECML due to new services over that route? I wasn't aware of any particular increase in intensity of services on that route with the timetable change. If this is the reason, it makes you think they should have altered the layout at Westgate when they refurbished the station, to lengthen the southbound towards Leeds and allow southbound ECML to come out onto the middle track leaving enough platform space for a local train to use the end of the southbound platform. If increased intensity of service is not the reason - what is??

 

[306024]

Wait until 2019...

As a TL commuter my trains changed comprehensively. Let’s see what happens tomorrow, and in a couple of weeks when it all settles down.

Can't wait!

I was always told give a new timetable four weeks before even touching it with any tweaks. Let all the staff experience all the shifts, give the passengers time to figure out what is best for them, and then review where you are. Amazing how many issues on day one disappear over time as everyone adapts.

 

[xotGD]

Splendidly: Northern are now using Pacer+153 combos on a couple of the Ponte Carlo line diagrams. Table seat with armrests - luxury. I also sampled one of the new Knottingley - Wakey - Leeds services (haven't done that curve for at least 10 years), thereby getting home earlier than normal, despite a delay on the Airedale service.

 

[yorksrob]

Okay, not quite my journey today but planning a future one. I had not realised that Huddersfield had lost its connection to Wakefield Westgate. This feels like a downgrade for Huddersfield to London, particularly as the Huddersfield to London directs must now be in doubt. I can't remember the timings via Westgate v Leeds. Is there a time penalty via Leeds and if so how many minutes (presuming the best connection). My recollection is that it was always better to go via Westgate but that was only for one of the 2 services per hour to London.

Also, why does this service now terminate at Kirkgate? Is there a problem with pathing it onto the Leeds branch of the ECML due to new services over that route? I wasn't aware of any particular increase in intensity of services on that route with the timetable change. If this is the reason, it makes you think they should have altered the layout at Westgate when they refurbished the station, to lengthen the southbound towards Leeds and allow southbound ECML to come out onto the middle track leaving enough platform space for a local train to use the end of the southbound platform. If increased intensity of service is not the reason - what is??

There were plans to extend the Huddersfield - Kirkgate stub to Castleford, although this is awaiting available stock at present.

 

[bramling]

So sticking to the thread subject, how bad was your journey today? - oh, there wasn't one. The rest of your post was not about the thread and just a rant about GTR management.

It *would* have been, had I been working - which had I not been on summer leave I would have been. So just as well I wasn’t travelling to experience GTR/DFT’s shambles.

I take it you’re fully happy about the ongoing shambles? I suspect you’re enjoying seeing all the commuters inconvenienced...

 

[talldave]

My journey Gravesend to St Pancras was OK because I chose to stick with HS1. Had I been foolish enough to buy a cheaper ticket in order to try out Thameslink then I would have been screwed as they were all "Cancelled".

I've had enough experience of GTR incompetence in the past to make me wary, but even I wouldn't have predicted such a wholesale f*** up. Astounding incompetence on an unbelievable scale made all the more embarrssing by the Twitter teams hiding behind pathetic "operating incident" excuses. Insulting to passengers.

 

[theironroad]

Travelled from Tamworth to Knaresborough and back today to see relatives, lovely quiet journey up.

Journey home didn't go completely to plan, planned to get the 18:15 York service off Knaresborough was about 40 minutes late due to someone being taken ill on the train, normally this would be rather annoying, but sitting in the warm evening sun, on a lovely little station in a peaceful little town made 40 minutes seem like nothing.



This photo, taken before heading to the station, summed the evening up, sometimes delays aren't all that bad.

View attachment 47142

Post of the day. Just sometimes a train delay can cause a new opportunity, I'd probably have missed the next train as well. That's a beautiful picture.

 

[robbeech]

So sticking to the thread subject, how bad was your journey today? - oh, there wasn't one. The rest of your post was not about the thread and just a rant about GTR management.

This is not a delay repay claim. It’s ok if they didn’t make the journey. It gives an indication what would have happened on their regular commute and I think that’s ok.
I intended (even after getting to my hotel at around 0300) to get up and get a service from edge hill to connect to the first VTWC service into Blackpool. Unfortunately it looked like there were several Cancelled trains that would have been useful so I decided to have some more sleep. There were even cancellations hindering connections to the next one so I got in the car to go home instead. I did a diversion on the way home via Edale. The people in the cafe by the station were very positive about the increased services there.

 

[gimmea50anyday]

Too many trains, not enough track. On Huddersfield Panel today in York ROC, Transpennine Express has been shocking, nearly every train late. Sheffield Panel alongside me, just does not work put simply. The infrastructure just cannot cope.... Again, nearly every train is late. Ironically the only train I have had on time so far was 4M90 Bio-mass from Drax to Liverpool.

And with 10 minute turnarounds at Liverpool, Manchester Airport and Newcastle we have no slack if anything goes wrong, not enough time to clean or prep the trains or get the punters off and on the train. We get there late, we are leaving late and presentation standards and PPM is gonna divebomb.

It's "Operation Princess" all over again. The graduates running the railway didn't heed the lessons from last time....

 

[Trainfan344]

Did Ely-Norwich. Made an earlier train due to it being 5 minutes late following a delayed GTR service. The return ran 11 minutes late.

 

[_toommm_]

Day Two and more delays: Booked onto the 09:44 from Rotherham to Sheffield, then a 1st Class Advance to Manchester. Said train from Rotherham was 16 minutes late meaning I was delayed by an hour total.

Let's see Northern try not account for their delay and say there was no delay at all as I was travelling on a TravelMaster and an advance.

 

[Bantamzen]

Travelled from Tamworth to Knaresborough and back today to see relatives, lovely quiet journey up.

Journey home didn't go completely to plan, planned to get the 18:15 York service off Knaresborough was about 40 minutes late due to someone being taken ill on the train, normally this would be rather annoying, but sitting in the warm evening sun, on a lovely little station in a peaceful little town made 40 minutes seem like nothing.

This photo, taken before heading to the station, summed the evening up, sometimes delays aren't all that bad.

View attachment 47142

Nice, great photo, great view! Like you say, delays aren't always that bad.

Personally yesterday was straight forward, having eventually remembered my train was at 05:56 from home rather than 06:25. And save the TPE delays, which by the sounds of it might have been partly due to drivers getting used to the new stopping regimes which is totally understandable, Leeds was pretty much business as usual when I passed through both ways. The North West however did seem to be hit somewhat harder, although with so much going on there this is not entirely surprising either.

 

[G0ORC]

Great day, Yarmouth IOW - Lymington, Lymington - Brockenhurst - Southampton Central - Derby - Belper.

Every journey within 2 mins of RT.

Can't fault it really.

Vince

 

[al78]

Haven't traveled by train today, but yesterdays journey was pretty poor.

I was heading from Horsham to Scaynes Hill for a guided walk. Looked at train times from Horsham to Haywards Heath (intending to cycle the rest of the way), found a conveniently timed train, that was cancelled. No other suitable train, so cycled the full 17 miles, took about 1hr 20m.

Time to head home, felt too tired to cycle 17 miles back, so headed for Haywards Heath station and got a train to Three Bridges. Unfortunately had to wait nearly half an hour for a connecting train to Horsham (often happens with a Sunday service), unfortunately that train had also been cancelled. Had to wait for the following train which was due about 10 minutes later. Unfortunately this train was delayed by 11 minutes, so ended up sat idle at Three Bridges for over 45 minutes. Finally managed to get home over two hours after setting off. This is the third cancellation I've had to deal with in the space of a week, unusually bad, even for Southern Rail. Sadly, taking longer than a bicycle to get from my house to Haywards Heath and its local area using a train is par for the course, which means that for local services that are not direct, it is only worth taking the train if I'm feeling tired and want to limit exertion. I have applied for delay repay so hopefully will get a partial refund.

 

[SSp]

Tomorrow I'm doing Preston to Leeds and beyond. Haven't a clue if it is best to go via Burnley or Manchester at all...

 

[Chris999999]

No changes to my timetable on the Southeastern Mainline, but picked up a 17 minute delay this morning due to a train fault at Orpington, and a 21 minute delay this evening due to lightning knocking out track circuits and/or signals at Hither Green.

To be fair, neither of those delays is the fault of the timetable change but with the evening incident triggering an unusual diversion down the Hayes line and via Bromley South, these aren't quite the new journey opportunities I was expecting!

The line from from New Beckenham to Beckenham Junction is a great opportunity. Well I would be pleased anyway.

 

[SPADTrap]

Went from Cambridge to London today. Absolutely no problems at all!

... Granted, I bought the cheaper Greater Anglia only ticket, which did not suffer from a meltdown unlike the other line...

Good job you got there before the line was closed all afternoon!

 

[Mitch in Notts]

Hospital appointment again in Sheffield today so I was carefully monitoring Northerns trains heading through Langley Mill this morning for cancellations/delays again. Fine journey north - 5 late into Sheffield.
Return arrive at Sheffield at 1720 for 1803 train. Connection of 7 minutes for bus at Langley Mill. Train gradually gets later til departs 10 late, caused by congestion according to station announcements, 11 late at 'Mill. Bus showing 5 late on web. Bus passes me as I get to bottom of station steps - sprint for stop - miss bus by 2 car lengths - twist back of knee in process. Arrive home 30 minutes later than intended. Went to hospital for dental surgery not to come home with a twisted knee!!

 

[Dentonian]

Monday was one of the best journeys I've ever had with both am and pm arriving just 2 mins late - albeit that does equate to over 20% of running time. Today, not so good; inbound 7 late, which meant I was 4 mins late clocking in. Return 3 late. Not much compared to many, and indeed, still much better than average. Unfortunately for me, the new timetable means the lack of "spare" minutes is likely to cause problems. Might have to revert to competing bus service. Plus side is observations suggest the equivalent journey is surprisingly punctual. Minus side, it is run with an old E400 instead of an MMC. Point being the 08/58 reg E400s don't sem to have been re-upholstered since new, so are somewhat uncomfortable for us sub-20 BMI-ers with bone disease.

 

[306024]

Island line from Shanklin to Ryde bang on time today (smiley face not working).

After the novelty of a hovercraft ride off the island, decided to sample Thameslink this evening. Nice evening for a ride up the Arun Valley then changed at Gatwick Airport. Seeing destinations to Cambridge brings home the sorts of journey opportunities now (or soon) available. 12 car TL train from Gatwick about 3 mins late which didn’t bother me but will need sharpening up. Staff at London Bridge very pro-active in minimising the dwell time there but then held outside Blackfriars for a couple of minutes waiting for an empty train to the sidings.

Not a real test as it was an off peak journey but the potential is now there to see for real.

 

[Bald Rick]

Train turned up on time, departed on time, arrived on time. Both up in the morning and down this evening.

What he said...

 

[northernchris]

Splendidly: Northern are now using Pacer+153 combos on a couple of the Ponte Carlo line diagrams. Table seat with armrests - luxury. I also sampled one of the new Knottingley - Wakey - Leeds services (haven't done that curve for at least 10 years), thereby getting home earlier than normal, despite a delay on the Airedale service.

Whilst the 153 is a welcome addition, it does seem to end up on a service where it's not really needed in the evening peak. The irony is it detaches at Leeds on arrival from the 1139 from Knottingley to attach to the 1258 departure, whereas keeping it on original diagram would mean it's a strengthening unit for the 1658 ex Leeds - which was a crush loaded 142 yesterday. Suspect it's hard for the planners to predict which services passengers will use when times change considerably

And with 10 minute turnarounds at Liverpool, Manchester Airport and Newcastle we have no slack if anything goes wrong, not enough time to clean or prep the trains or get the punters off and on the train. We get there late, we are leaving late and presentation standards and PPM is gonna divebomb.

It's "Operation Princess" all over again. The graduates running the railway didn't heed the lessons from last time....

Unfortunately this seems to sum up TPE. Overcrowded, late and unclean. They have a long way to go to match Intercity standards

Anyway, my journeys today were mostly on time, although the final one was held just outside Leeds for around 5 minutes along with what seemed to be every other service trying to enter despite this being 9pm. Upon alighting it seemed as though all departing services were delayed too - a bit of a stalemate situation as it looked like those waiting to arrive had no platform available caused by nothing leaving. Hopefully the booked platforms can be reallocated over the coming days to improve efficiency