Rail Replacement On South West Trains - Who Do I Contact?

[fgwrich]

Firstly, Sorry if this is in the wrong section of the forum.

Secondly, after the Farce of a Rail Replacement service i had this evening/last night provided by OFJ - Heathrows Premier Coach Operater, apprently! ( Operated by TGM, In turn is owned by Arriva!)

Which to cut a long story short, Driver got lost somewhere around Woking, then the engine overheated and cut out, with a passing 'all shacks' bus flagged down but was of little use to anyone as we were being told two different things by both drivers! Our driver then decided to be just as helpfull by leaving the coach load of passengers in the coach, whilst he disapeared around to the back of the coach to have a Smoke, And left us in the dark with no infomation at all... 45 Minutes later another TGM Coach turned up and we finnaly was on the moove again - but this took us even more all over the place - taking us past the edge of Pirbright Barracks & through Ash to the edge of Aldershot before eventually rejoining the Blackwater Valley route the the M3 and back to Basingtoke...

Arriving 1:40 Minutes later! Nearly 10 Minutes later than the All Stations bus from Woking ( which was heading off as we arrived!)...

And all this for the 'Fast Service':roll:

So i, amongst others, was thinking of Complaining to SWT about this - Is it worth it & Do i just contact them via the normall contact details ? or is there a specific department to which id have to contact?

 

[Ivo]

I'm going to ask my father about this, given that he has been providing a "stand-by" for this very operation (at least, he did on Saturday). He should be able to give the answer you need. Indeed, were it not for his generally excellent directional ability (probably where I get mine from), and the fact that he knows the area almost as well as he knows me (exaggerating, of course ), I would even say that it may well have been him. If it was, however unlikely, I will have a go at him! ...Actually, you say that the driver wandered off for a smoke. Wasn't him then...

 

[Helvellyn]

So i, amongst others, was thinking of Complaining to SWT about this - Is it worth it & Do i just contact them via the normall contact details ? or is there a specific department to which id have to contact?

Via the web or call 0845 6000 650.

 

[PhilipW]

Good luck with your complaint to SWT though I don't think they will pay much attention to it. I would suggest that you also copy Passenger Focus with it.

I have a good rule about rail replacement buses. If I find there is one on, I just don't travel. I think that sentiment will probably be shared by many others.

 

[Ivo]

After the first one broke down, a new bus was sent out. The break-down apparently happened on the A324, which although faster was not the recognised route and was therefore not mapped out. Thus, he was lost and stranded. People were offered the stopper, but most declined for that very reason. Or something like that anyway.

As for making a complaint, I can't help. Sorry! The company my father drives for are unhappy with this event as well. In fact, so far as I can tell, he would have taken you to Basingstoke in the end.

 

[Capybara]

Firstly, what PhilipW said.

Secondly, wouldn't SWT have been better advised to be using a Stagecoach company to provide the replacement rather than one of their competitors? Or, presumably, Arriva were cheaper and they could blame them if something went wrong?

 

[Ivo]

Wouldn't SWT have been better advised to be using a Stagecoach company to provide the replacement rather than one of their competitors? Or, presumably, Arriva were cheaper and they could blame them if something went wrong?

In theory, yes. But there are no local Stagecoach operations that I am aware of. Most London suburban Rail Replacements, including among others the Feltham bridge incident, are run by TGM. But, and it is a very big but, no other Arriva operation ever sems to be aware of this. There was an incident at the start of last year around Wandsworth Town (Twickenham to Clapham Junction) which severely delayed many buses. So I asked the innocent question of why Arriva London don't send some emergency cover from Croydon, or similar. Why? "Because it's money moving internally, i.e. from Arriva A to Arriva B, which would be lost to unnecessary fuel use." Typical Arriva. As for blaming them if something went wrong... How to say this...

Just blame Arriva for everything. Even when they're not involved there's often a case

 

[SWT Driver]

I can remember in the past having to direct one bus driver, when the booked route for the RRC was blocked by an accident.

The route I took him was actually shorter, quicker & far more direct than the one he'd been given.

 

[First class]

I don't think you'll get anything.

Most TOCs advise that journeys may be extended by up to a certain number of minutes, usually at least an hour. This is additional to the usual rail journey time.

Merseyrail had engineering works between Hamilton Square and West Kirby (usually a 20/30min journey). They advertised that journeys may be extended by 90 minutes, so effectively if someone had completed their journey within 2 hours they had done well.

 

[starrymarkb]

I've noticed that if its the last train on the West of England west of yeovil that is bus replaced then one of the Plaxton Interurbans from the Stagecoach Exeter training fleet is sent out. If its a larger job then coaches are chartered from Local companies.

FGW I've noticed seem to do everything in house, or if its an odd early/late train on the Exmouth line, contract in Dartline (again a local company) to provide a minicoach..

OFJ IIRC are based out of Stansted - and yes Arriva keep them at arms length

 

[142094]

I have a good rule about rail replacement buses. If I find there is one on, I just don't travel. I think that sentiment will probably be shared by many others.

Same here, although there have been a few times where I haven't properly planned out my day and then realised I'd have to take a replacement bus service. Not good, especially when I used to not travel very well on coaches.

 

[class377man]

In theory, yes. But there are no local Stagecoach operations that I am aware of. Most London suburban Rail Replacements, including among others the Feltham bridge incident, are run by TGM.

I think this is generally the case if the RR is relatively small scale, but Stagecoach will generally bring in their own vehicles as well on larger scale works, like the ones in Portsmouth last weekend or when the SWML is shut between Clapham Junction and Surbiton.

 

[yorkie]

Arriving 1:40 Minutes later! Nearly 10 Minutes later than the All Stations bus from Woking ( which was heading off as we arrived!)...

What was the scheduled arrival of the express bus, versus actual arrival? It is this delay that any compensation would be measured against. If this delay is greater than approx 30 mins then it is worth complaining on the basis of delay. But it's worth complaining at the poor quality of the service regardless.

The lack of route knowledge is worrying, but typical of the road industry. The difference in safety and training requirements between the road and rail modes is absolutely huge, however there is little evidence of this huge gulf ever narrowing. Indeed I can only see it widening This explains why coach travel is so much cheaper than rail travel. If rail continues to become unaffordable and coach travel remains ridiculously cheap due to poor safety standards then it's going to cause rail to lose market share.

Lack of route knowledge on the roads isn't just a cause of delay but can cause bridge strikes and collisions due to the driver being distracted, confused and unfamiliar with the route.

 

[fgwrich]

What was the scheduled arrival of the express bus, versus actual arrival? It is this delay that any compensation would be measured against. If this delay is greater than approx 30 mins then it is worth complaining on the basis of delay. But it's worth complaining at the poor quality of the service regardless.

The lack of route knowledge is worrying, but typical of the road industry. The difference in safety and training requirements between the road and rail modes is absolutely huge, however there is little evidence of this huge gulf ever narrowing. Indeed I can only see it widening This explains why coach travel is so much cheaper than rail travel. If rail continues to become unaffordable and coach travel remains ridiculously cheap due to poor safety standards then it's going to cause rail to lose market share.

Lack of route knowledge on the roads isn't just a cause of delay but can cause bridge strikes and collisions due to the driver being distracted, confused and unfamiliar with the route.

I don't think you'll get anything.

Most TOCs advise that journeys may be extended by up to a certain number of minutes, usually at least an hour. This is additional to the usual rail journey time.

Merseyrail had engineering works between Hamilton Square and West Kirby (usually a 20/30min journey). They advertised that journeys may be extended by 90 minutes, so effectively if someone had completed their journey within 2 hours they had done well.

Normal rail Replacement for the Fast Woking - Baingstoke buses should be around 40 odd minutes, thanks to last nights farce it took us 1 hour, 40 odd minutes...

In fact i would even try to show you where the fail replacement bus took us, but looking at maps and google maps, it is positivily amazing!

The normal route is to head out of woking by going east towards the bridge near woking homes, the follow the signs for Chobham then Lightwater, then M3 Back to bas...

My Fail Replacement took us out that way, then round the back of woking Via Horsell, Goldsworth Park, St Johns, Knaphill, Brookwood, Pirbright Barracks! Pirbright Villiage, Henley Park, Normandy, Ash, The edge of Aldershot & Up the blackwater Valley route (A331) to the M3!!!

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=wokin...7&rlz=1I7ADBR&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wl

If anything, we were nearer to Guildford most of the time!


I normally dont mind Rail Replacement buses - really only when there provided by either First or Mortons!

But this time we couldnt avoid the rail replacements - caught a Direct Brighton to Victoria service back at brighton avoid Haywards Heath to Brighton, but the only other way of getting back would have been the coast route - and i can tell you now, i certainly dont fancy an all stations ride to Havant on a 377!

And yes i did check the times for the Gatwick to reading service, unfortunatly we'd still not have made one until the 9pm service, by which time we were at clapham...

As Passenger Focus dosent exsist anymore, ill just be writing to South West Trains tommorow...

 

[dan_atki]

Normal rail Replacement for the Fast Woking - Baingstoke buses should be around 40 odd minutes, thanks to last nights farce it took us 1 hour, 40 odd minutes...

They were advertised to take 50 minutes but as you say they did on average take 40 minutes (well the two I used did, meaning towards London I made an earlier connection at Woking...). I guess that in the height of Saturday afternoon with more traffic they would have taken 50 minutes.

As Passenger Focus dosent exsist anymore

News to me, and they really should update their website (http://www.passengerfocus.org.uk/) if that's the case!

 

[fgwrich]

News to me, and they really should update their website (http://www.passengerfocus.org.uk/) if that's the case!

Oh - Tis what i was told...

Ah, i think i know what it is, the friend of mine must have got it confused with the railway forums or whichever had closed down recently...