I swear I didn't jinx it! But I bet it sure seems that way when I have a good run on Monday and the line goes down not only the next day, but the one after thatGood job you got there before the line was closed all afternoon!
Same rubbish again. We had a decent service last week and have done for the last 15 years - now it's been utterly ruined. My personal opinion is that the Manchester Airport line is particularly badly affected and screwing the whole system up - simply put there are too many trains which are running and there are too many trains which are running late. No punctuality and no slack to absorb the hits. Add to that the Manchester Airport trains are getting delayed through Oxford Road, Piccadilly causing delays to every other train trying to get through Manchester. It just doesn't work.
Of the 16 services this morning from my local station, not a single one was 'on time' (within 1 min) and 10 were officially late (PPM = >5 mins). 0% on time and 37% PPM - that is absolutely atrocious. Any competent franchise cannot hide behind "we are training drivers" to explain that - that's a flawed timetable.
My mother has decided to bike it into Manchester. Another colleague is arranging a car share. Northern need to wake up because this is going to bankrupt them if this continues. Any franchise that is willing to risk its bread and butter commuter passengers really needs to question its purpose because the odd passenger or two to Manchester Airport is not going to make up for that. And why would anyone flying from Manchester trust Northern Rail to get them to the Airport on time to catch the flight at the moment? The whole thing is a complete mess.
Train turned up on time, departed on time, arrived on time. Both up in the morning and down this evening.
What he said...
Train turned up on time, departed on time, arrived on time. Both up in the morning and down this evening.
What he said...
Groundhog Day...
And again. I’m getting bored of this right time punctuality now, so not going to use the train tomorrow in protest.
If it's that bad, why not move to somewhere like Hitchin, Letchworth or Arlesey? Certainly not right-time punctuality at any of these at the moment!
Don't think there were any in to Liverpool so at least none were late or cancelled. Ha ha. I am lucky living near South Parkway so I had options.Judging by today's performance, Northern somehow run a better service when there's a strike. More irregular services but at least they are more punctual.
The Liverpool to Manchester Airport service is currently massively delayed or cancelled.I’m a commuter on the Manchester Airport line, basically I am now switching to the tram until they sort this mess out!
Same again today again along with a large number of the CLC stoppers cancelled. Many periods the last few days when the only service running on the CLC route was the East Midlands hourly service and that was late.
It has been for a while, a good few weeks before the timetable change as well. The few services that have run of an evening have been single Pacers as well when I've seen them. A few longer trains once everyone is home.The service on this line today was vile! I think records were broken for the number of people on an East Midlands train. I think it’s payback for me slagging TPE off. Now I’m wishing they were back.
Can anyone advise on the situation on Platforms 13 and 14 at Manchester Piccadilly?
My wife is disabled and used to travel in to MAN from MIA using services which used platforms 1 to 12 at Piccadilly. This was not because of the long walk and poor lift access from platforms 13 and 14 but because of the perpetual overcrowding on those platforms and the pressure of people desperate to board the train she takes a long time to disembark from. She then had to fight her way along the platform to the lift. (For those from the South I found the crowding situation at any time of day was as bad as the Piccadilly Line platforms at Holborn at 5:30pm except there is no crowd control and at least 50% of passengers have cases, prams or children). This was before the timetable change and all the additional cancellation problems.
After the new timetable it appears the only train from MIA which uses any platform other than 13/14 is the TPE Cleethorpes service. With all the additional long distance services using those platforms I can only imagine what was previously a hellish situation on 13/14 has now become totally unsurvivable.
Incidentally she dislikes using Wilmslow because of the steps onto VT services on a time pressured stop and finds Metrolink very uncomfortable and unbelievably tedious from MIA (>40 mins with a change vs 11 mins direct from MIA)