Peterborough route Thameslink Disruption, Sat 29-06-2024

[Tram203]

Today seems a case of another day, another Thameslink meltdown due to a shortage of staff.

The Peterborough to Horsham route has been split, it appears to an hourly Peterborough to Stevenage shuttle and a half hourly London Bridge to Horsham shuttle.

Thameslink are also advising of other short notice cancellations across their network being likely, and are advising people against relying on late evening / night trains to get them home.

In essence it seems they are saying "do not travel" without actually saying "do not travel".

 

[MikeWM]

Not a wonderful day on Great Northern either, quite a lot of Kings Lynn services cancelled, 3.5 hour mid-afternoon gap without a service from London to Lynn.

Also someone made the rather odd decision to terminate a 'Cambridge Cruiser' at Stevenage early afternoon, no idea why (not clear looking at RTT, perhaps it was turned into a Peterborough 'shuttle'?), which caused quite a bit of confusion at Cambridge, not least because the train's PIS insisted it was still going to Kings Cross but the platform boards said Stevenage. I was on it but fortunately was only going as far as Cambridge. The next Thameslink to London was then cancelled too...

Only 2 more months until they've had these Saturday problems for *10 years* (and promised to fix them, at least originally, though now the attitude seems more like 'hard luck, you're probably stuck with this forever.')

 

[bramling]

Not a wonderful day on Great Northern either, quite a lot of Kings Lynn services cancelled, 3.5 hour mid-afternoon gap without a service from London to Lynn.

Also someone made the rather odd decision to terminate a 'Cambridge Cruiser' at Stevenage early afternoon, no idea why (not clear looking at RTT, perhaps it was turned into a Peterborough 'shuttle'?), which caused quite a bit of confusion at Cambridge, not least because the train's PIS insisted it was still going to Kings Cross but the platform boards said Stevenage. I was on it but fortunately was only going as far as Cambridge. The next Thameslink to London was then cancelled too...

Only 2 more months until they've had these Saturday problems for *10 years* (and promised to fix them, at least originally, though now the attitude seems more like 'hard luck, you're probably stuck with this forever.')

In the case of your Stevenage train, I’d imagine the most likely situation is either the driver was due to finish and didn’t have time to work to King’s Cross, or there was no driver for the train’s next working and it needed to be stabled in depot with the driver on it being either unable or unwilling to work overtime to go via King’s Cross.

I agree running to Stevenage probably wasn’t overly helpful given that Stevenage was already having Peterborough passengers dumped there, though I guess there’s an LNER as an onward journey option.

 

[700007]

The overnight service has well has seemingly taken one step forward and two steps back in recent months. Almost every night they're unable to run overnight trains reliably without 2 or 3 hour gaps or severe late running (which is poorly communicated) and I assume mostly down to staff shortages.

 

[MikeWM]

They also managed to cancel the last of the night from Kings Lynn and Ely, replacing it with a bus that arrived at Cambridge far far too late to connect onto anything going further south.

In the case of your Stevenage train, I’d imagine the most likely situation is either the driver was due to finish and didn’t have time to work to King’s Cross, or there was no driver for the train’s next working and it needed to be stabled in depot with the driver on it being either unable or unwilling to work overtime to go via King’s Cross.

Yes, just seemed rather unusual. Generally they'd just have cancelled it at Cambridge in my experience.

I agree running to Stevenage probably wasn’t overly helpful given that Stevenage was already having Peterborough passengers dumped there, though I guess there’s an LNER as an onward journey option.

Yes, there were a couple of suitable LNER services from SVG soon after the GN arrived, but that wouldn't help those of us with Gold Card-discounted tickets :-/ The quickest option would have been to wait at Cambridge and get the next 'Cruiser' (which *did* run).

 

[Steve Harris]

Thameslink mentioned again today in a travel bulletin on Radio Cambridgeshire, shortage of staff causing cancellations and delays on services between Peterborough - Horsham and Cambridge - St Pancreas.

 

[43066]

To add to the above: the TL/GN RDW agreement is due to expire on 27/7 and, as things currently stand, is not being renewed. This has the potential to cause significant issues across the TL/GN network from next week onwards if not resolved quickly.