No Trains on Boxing Day

[1D54]

Are Chiltern not running to Bicester Village today?

Indeed they are.

 

[Vespa]

I do wonder how many people turn up at train stations on Boxing Day and Christmas Day expecting to catch a train?

A few years ago I read an article of a passenger who brought a return ticket for travel on 25th December and actually waited for it then complained to the media complete with a compo face.

It does raise a question was the ticket clerk clueless ?


*Since the source material is the 90s, not everything is on the internet.

 

[Magdalia]

No it definitely is a bank holiday in Scotland.

Thanks, I should have checked my diary. I had remembered Scotland exceptionally having 2 January as a Bank Holiday. So does Scotland get more Bank Holidays than England?

One of the biggest sporting days of the year so you'd think that there would be demand on the major routes.

With football fixtures being compiled by computer algorithms, there are not many long journeys on Boxing Day, with the exception of the clubs a long way from all the other teams in the same league.

Horse racing used to be very big on Boxing Day but the BBC only lists 8 meetings today.

 

[camflyer]

Oddly enough I'm in Spain at the moment and all the trains are running but all the shops (a big source of customer demand) are all closed.

I'm also in Spain now where buses and trains are running (as they were in the 25th) and plenty of shops are open though Christmas isn't the big shutdown that it is in the UK and is treated as another public holiday.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Are Chiltern not running to Bicester Village today?

2tph Marylebone-Oxford Parkway.

 

[NewarkRed]

A few years ago I read an article of a passenger who brought a return ticket for travel on 25th December and actually waited for it then complained to the media complete with a compo face.

It does raise a question was the ticket clerk clueless ?

Probably bought it on Trainline.

 

[Class 317]

On the few years I have had Boxing Day off and used the roads they seem to be very busy. Demand is there to travel driven by people visiting friends and family, going out for socials, sporting events, shopping, working etc.

Having used Southern to Brighton for visiting purposes after finishing work later on Boxing Day last year the train was reasonably busy and speaking to the staff they have plenty of volunteers.

The railway is a public service funded by a large amount of public subsidy and should therefore aim to provide a public service including on boxing day. Those unable to drive or who have no access to car are currently confined to one place from Christmas Eve to the 27th.

I'm not suggesting all lines should have a service but key routes to allow people to travel to most areas. In essence a reduced Sunday service with a lower frequency, a later start around 9am and earlier finish around 8pm or so to keep staffing requirements low.

 

[68000]

Thanks, I should have checked my diary. I had remembered Scotland exceptionally having 2 January as a Bank Holiday. So does Scotland get more Bank Holidays than England?

No, same number just different days

 

[camflyer]

On the few years I have had Boxing Day off and used the roads they seem to be very busy. Demand is there to travel driven by people visiting friends and family, going out for socials, sporting events, shopping, working etc.

Having used Southern to Brighton for visiting purposes after finishing work later on Boxing Day last year the train was reasonably busy and speaking to the staff they have plenty of volunteers.

The railway is a public service funded by a large amount of public subsidy and should therefore aim to provide a public service including on boxing day. Those unable to drive or who have no access to car are currently confined to one place from Christmas Eve to the 27th.

I'm not suggesting all lines should have a service but key routes to allow people to travel to most areas. In essence a reduced Sunday service with a lower frequency, a later start around 9am and earlier finish around 8pm or so to keep staffing requirements low.

Agreed. If we are to see a return to the railways being run as a public service then that should include a minimum service provision on public holidays.

 

[Vespa]

Probably bought it on Trainline.

This was in the late 90s I should have clarified, apps and tickets are wasn't available till much further in the future..

Mind you when you say Trainline I wonder if their system have a pop up "no train available on date you have selected" or would it continue to take your money and issue you a ticket anyway.

 

[Jan Mayen]

On a 12 carriage train to London Victoria. Rear 8 full and standing.

Edit: Departure from Gatwick was delayed, as it took so long to load everyone. Now everything is full and standing. I hope First Class is declassified, otherwise the dispute and prosecution threads are going to be busy....

Further edit: For the record, this is the 0940 Brighton to London Victoria, the second train of the day. Departure from Gatwick should have been 1008, we left 7 minutes late.

 

[ExRes]

Trains should be sychronised with TV over the Christmas period, so whatever ran last year will run again this year

 

[Carntyne]

The old strathclyde area has run on Boxing day for years.

Much enhanced on that this year. Fantastic to see.

 

[cjw714]

With football fixtures being compiled by computer algorithms, there are not many long journeys on Boxing Day, with the exception of the clubs a long way from all the other teams in the same league.

There may not be many long distances but there are a few shorter journeys where large numbers of fans will be travelling and could benefit from being able to go by train. Just in League One, which I happen to know best, you have 1 000 fans travelling from Bristol to Exeter and over 2 000 fans travelling from Stockport to Huddersfield - two journeys that would usually be very easy to do by train.

 

[Gloster]

The problem with Boxing Day is that the travel patterns do not fit the normal ones. A few people are going to work and some are going shopping, although not necessarily to their normal shopping destinations, while the entertainments and diversions available are different to normal. You are really going to have open most lines with a fairly good service to cover all eventualities, but at the same time you will know that the total amount of traffic on offer will be small. Much as I have the old-fashioned belief in providing a service, I accept that it is quite reasonable to limit Boxing Day services to those lines where there will be a clear and substantial demand.

 

[OscarH]

This was in the late 90s I should have clarified, apps and tickets are wasn't available till much further in the future..

Mind you when you say Trainline I wonder if their system have a pop up "no train available on date you have selected" or would it continue to take your money and issue you a ticket anyway.

Despite the views of some on this forum, Trainline and other 3rd party retailers don't actually routinely missell tickets :P

If there's no trains in the timetable, no one is going to find an itinerary to sell against

 

[Efini92]

Agreed. If we are to see a return to the railways being run as a public service then that should include a minimum service provision on public holidays.

Apart from Christmas Day and Boxing Day, a normal service is run on public holidays

 

[dk1]

The old strathclyde area has run on Boxing day for years.

Yes I know.

 

[Frontera2]

This was in the late 90s I should have clarified, apps and tickets are wasn't available till much further in the future..

Mind you when you say Trainline I wonder if their system have a pop up "no train available on date you have selected" or would it continue to take your money and issue you a ticket anyway.

Trainline does indeed have a clear indicator if you plan a journey for today on routes where there are no trains.

One of the issues in previous years was on NRE and other TOC websites which use their feed for journey planning, it wasn't always that clear that the results being returned were for the next day. A change was made earlier in the year to resolve that problem at least. Now on NRE and derivatives, if there are no trains available on the date you've selected then you simply won't see any results - rather than the old way of showing the first train on the next day.

 

[dk1]

Agreed. If we are to see a return to the railways being run as a public service then that should include a minimum service provision on public holidays.

Returning the railway to a public service won’t mean any changes to staff T&Cs therefore for most of the network December 25th & 26th will be a guaranteed day off. It will only be run on a volunteer basis and that will have to have a very good financial incentive.

 

[Class 317]

The problem with Boxing Day is that the travel patterns do not fit the normal ones. A few people are going to work and some are going shopping, although not necessarily to their normal shopping destinations, while the entertainments and diversions available are different to normal. You are really going to have open most lines with a fairly good service to cover all eventualities, but at the same time you will know that the total amount of traffic on offer will be small. Much as I have the old-fashioned belief in providing a service, I accept that it is quite reasonable to limit Boxing Day services to those lines where there will be a clear and substantial demand.

This is why a special boxing day service should be provided.

Returning the railway to a public service won’t mean any changes to staff T&Cs therefore for most of the network December 25th & 26th will be a guaranteed day off. It will only be run on a volunteer basis and that will have to have a very good financial incentive.

I believe Chiltern run on this basis and have no problem finding volunteers.

 

[12LDA28C]

Lumo would be running frequent services if this government would let them. “Fume”

Would they? Says who?

 

[185143]

Just seen the 10:21 Waterloo-Liverpool South Parkway leave standing room only. The nearby 'Spoons had a few in but not busy by any stretch. Always have breakfast there on boxing day and it was no different to normal.

Liverpool are playing but an evening kick off so unlikely to just be football traffic. Given a not insignificant amount of retailers these days choose not to open on Boxing Day, that, as well as possessions no doubt makes it more difficult for TOCs to plan what if anything they can run. I believe when Northern tried running a couple of services a few years ago they were very poorly utilised.

That being said, on the flip side, they trialled running services to Whitby last New Year's Day and by all accounts were extremely well used-and are happening again this year.

 

[NewarkRed]

Would they? Says who?

Of course they would.

As we approach Rail 200, the greatest invention on the Rail Network has to be Lumo.

 

[Struner]

Since 1974., over a century after England and Wales.

& it’s the other way round for New Years Day.

 

[12LDA28C]

On the few years I have had Boxing Day off and used the roads they seem to be very busy. Demand is there to travel driven by people visiting friends and family, going out for socials, sporting events, shopping, working etc.

Having used Southern to Brighton for visiting purposes after finishing work later on Boxing Day last year the train was reasonably busy and speaking to the staff they have plenty of volunteers.

The railway is a public service funded by a large amount of public subsidy and should therefore aim to provide a public service including on boxing day. Those unable to drive or who have no access to car are currently confined to one place from Christmas Eve to the 27th.

I'm not suggesting all lines should have a service but key routes to allow people to travel to most areas. In essence a reduced Sunday service with a lower frequency, a later start around 9am and earlier finish around 8pm or so to keep staffing requirements low.

You’re aware that much engineering work takes place over Christmas precisely because in most places there is no service for two days?

Of course they would.

As we approach Rail 200, the greatest invention on the Rail Network has to be Lumo.

Again, have Lumo stated that publicly or are you just assuming? And since Lumo are a commercial OA operator, how do the Government prevent them from running trains exactly?

 

[Class 317]

You’re aware that much engineering work takes place over Christmas precisely because in most places there is no service for two days?

off course, hence I said not all routes would be available every year.

 

[azOOOOOma]

Why should we come to work on Boxing Day and get abused, spoken to like trash and then have to deal with the inevitable disruption etc? Then there will be football matches which we have to deal with fallout from that with limited support.

Then there’s the shoppers off to the sales and not to mention the coffin size bags that people have been travelling with this Christmas - any attempt to manage bags is met with abuse.

Absolute hell on earth.

Where I’m from there’s no meaningful NHS, GP or chemist service so don’t see why the trains should be singled out for lack of service.

I’ll never work one.

 

[156444]

No, same number just different days

That's incorrect. England and Wales have 8, Scotland 9 and Northern Ireland 10 - see here: https://www.gov.uk/bank-holidays

 

[12LDA28C]

I believe Chiltern run on this basis and have no problem finding volunteers.

Indeed. Volunteers are sought months in advance and there is a reserve list in case anyone drops out once the roster has been posted.