No Boxing Day Southeastern HS1 service this year (2017)

[bramling]

What, really? That's a terrible piece of design if so.

Most trains are like that. Even if left stabled on current over two days it's not uncommon to get all sorts of faults crop up if conditions have been very cold.

 

[bramling]

I don't begrudge a break for rail employees, but some sort of skeleton service would go a long way to allowing people to spend more time with their families at Christmas.

Unfortunately it's the same thing every year...

"I want everything open, working and available for me to use, but personally I don't want to work".

For those moaning about having to cut things short to be back to work on the 27th, remember there will be plenty of people at work on the 26th, and some at work on the 25th too.

 

[FOH]

Yep, nothing showing now. I can assure you when I posted that on 19 October services were showing as running.

Sorry, I didn’t write that to make you think I was doubting what you said, merely to point out that things must’ve changed in between.

 

[Joe Paxton]

Sorry, I didn’t write that to make you think I was doubting what you said, merely to point out that things must’ve changed in between.

And I'm sorry, it reads quite defensively which wasn't my intention!

Indeed things must have changed. Though I suspect that if they had to choose, the majority of ELL passengers would choose the forthcoming weekend night-time service over the once a year Boxing Day service... but having both would be good too!

 

[Ianno87]

Unfortunately it's the same thing every year...

"I want everything open, working and available for me to use, but personally I don't want to work".

For those moaning about having to cut things short to be back to work on the 27th, remember there will be plenty of people at work on the 26th, and some at work on the 25th too.

I'm genuinely on two minds on the issue.

On the one hand, Christmas Day and Boxing Day I believe should be days off for as many people as possible - a 2 day 'break' for the country is a good thing. I'm not keen on the fact that Boxing Day is basically just another shopping day now (can people *really* not go a day without spending money on needless tat?) - having worked in retail before it became common, the extra day was welcome, especially after the manic run up to Christmas.

On the other hand, my wife's family live in Cambridge and my family live in Bolton and we see both sets over Christmas. But waiting until 27th when trains are running to travl from one to the other is less than ideal, and it's a long drive (albeit easy in Christmas afternoon traffic!)

 

[Bletchleyite]

I'm personally expecting an RMT strike, and have done for some time...

If they do it'll be about the lowest impact strike they have ever done. The service was well used last year (including by me), but there are just about no essential users.