Southern Punctuality

[Coolzac]

On the Sussex Coast where I live, the punctuality in the past year is 72.5%. That is appalling! Does anyone know why it is so low? From where I used to live up north it would hover around 90%!

Here is a link:

http://www.southernrailway.com/your-journey/performance-results/

 

[Squaddie]

And, presumably, "punctual" means "no more than 5 minutes late". I wonder what the figure would be for actual on-time arrival.

Southern has a history of appalling punctuality, and also of mealy-mouthed excuses for its poor performance.

26 November 2010

"We know you care passionately about punctuality, as do we.

We have been working with our infrastructure provider, Network Rail, to ensure we get back to our previous good performance."

18 December 2012

"Lately it is fair to say that our performance has not been as good as we, or our passengers, expect.

I will be working with Southern’s own performance team and with Network Rail colleagues to ensure there is even more focus on bringing our performance up to the levels we aim to deliver and our passengers rightly expect."

10 January 2014

"Together with Network Rail, we are working hard on the reliability of our trains and infrastructure to prevent delays occurring, and that when they do, we work together to minimise the effect on our busy network."

 

[physics34]

a) Because of the London Bridge work

b) Because of weather issues last year

c) Because Southern operate an impossible overcomplicated timetable.

 

[Fincra5]

a) Because of the London Bridge work

b) Because of weather issues last year

c) Because Southern operate an impossible overcomplicated timetable.

Not to mention shooting themselves in the foot with Minimum breaks for crew/ changing train time.

 

[tony6499]

Not to mention shooting themselves in the foot with Minimum breaks for crew/ changing train time.

Which they were warned about and told that whilst it looked good on paper it was going to prove impossible to work to.

They were told when they altered the West Coast/Arun Valley timetable that it would prove impossible to keep to and again they ignored the advice.

Is it any wonder Southern suffer such poor punctuality ?

 

[physics34]

Which they were warned about and told that whilst it looked good on paper it was going to prove impossible to work to.

They were told when they altered the West Coast/Arun Valley timetable that it would prove impossible to keep to and again they ignored the advice.

Is it any wonder Southern suffer such poor punctuality ?

.....which sort of proves they are making enough money as it is.

Ive seen the minimum service levels required by the DfT and Southern run quite a few more services than they need to (off-peak).

Turnarounds etc are stupidly tight, but also the timetable was not be altered for the longer trains which are running now. Longer trains take longer to clear sections and speed restrictions etc and overall they are very hard to run to time.

 

[HarleyDavidson]

SN aren't the only ones who run extras & normal services with stupidly tight turnarounds, their neighbours do it too & I'm not on about SE!

I was told that I wasn't allowed to go for a "comfort break" by one stroppy newbie manager, who was given suitable advice ending in off, as I'd been on the go for 3½ hours without a break as it was & I needed a drink as well as a "comfort break".

 

[physics34]

SN aren't the only ones who run extras & normal services with stupidly tight turnarounds, their neighbours do it too & I'm not on about SE!

I was told that I wasn't allowed to go for a "comfort break" by one stroppy newbie manager, who was given suitable advice ending in off, as I'd been on the go for 3½ hours without a break as it was & I needed a drink as well as a "comfort break".

I wouldve refused to do the rest of my shift due to stress

 

[HarleyDavidson]

I wouldve refused to do the rest of my shift due to stress

Or that you've shat yourself.

 

[Fincra5]

.....which sort of proves they are making enough money as it is.

Ive seen the minimum service levels required by the DfT and Southern run quite a few more services than they need to (off-peak).

Turnarounds etc are stupidly tight, but also the timetable was not be altered for the longer trains which are running now. Longer trains take longer to clear sections and speed restrictions etc and overall they are very hard to run to time.

Indeed most of the LIT-VIC services are timetabled for a 4 car 377... so a 12 or 8 car loses time.

 

[DarloRich]

my daily (almost!) 17:13 MKC - Bletchely southern is pretty timely

 

[bigdelboy]

my daily (almost!) 17:13 MKC - Bletchely southern is pretty timely

• It doesn't go through redhill
• It isn't waiting for for the other half of the train to come from somewhere miles away
• It isn't likely to be caught behind a stopping train

Sometimes when waiting for Southern to get me home in the evening I feel the timetable is somewhat unstable .... one issue cascades into the whole lot of pack of cards. And it feels like from once they have one train failure anywhere they blame the whole network on that ....

Indeed I joke a train failure at seaford will bring their whole network into disruption!

I am being unfair ...... sometimes shivering at Horsham or three bridges or barnham waiting for a train to turn up I do not always feel fair.

SOMETIMES DELAYS ON SOUTHERN MAKES ME WANT TO SHOUT! =

Otherwise there okay though.

 

[tsr]

To be fair, bigdelboy, passengers at Redhill get equally fed up with the fact that Southern are near-enough obsessed with cramming everything onto the Horsham/Arun Valley route, which inevitably results in trains skipping all stops between Gatwick Airport and East Croydon (and not making up all that much time, on some occasions) with alarming regularity!

It is, in my personal opinion only, sometimes entirely justified that there is significant annoyance that any incident between Chichester and Swanwick can cause major disruption to trains between Redhill and London - particularly Victoria! To the passenger, the irrelevance of these locations to local services in Surrey can mean that they feel Southern are not taking the very well-used and necessary "turn-up-and-go" services nearer to London seriously, resulting in cutbacks and a spartan service.

 

[DarloRich]

• It doesn't go through redhill
• It isn't waiting for for the other half of the train to come from somewhere miles away
• It isn't likely to be caught behind a stopping train

I can only speak as i find!

 

[Minstral25]

To be fair, bigdelboy, passengers at Redhill get equally fed up with the fact that Southern are near-enough obsessed with cramming everything onto the Horsham/Arun Valley route, which inevitably results in trains skipping all stops between Gatwick Airport and East Croydon (and not making up all that much time, on some occasions) with alarming regularity!

It is, in my personal opinion only, sometimes entirely justified that there is significant annoyance that any incident between Chichester and Swanwick can cause major disruption to trains between Redhill and London - particularly Victoria! To the passenger, the irrelevance of these locations to local services in Surrey can mean that they feel Southern are not taking the very well-used and necessary "turn-up-and-go" services nearer to London seriously, resulting in cutbacks and a spartan service.

I can only agree wholeheartedly with your comments. AFAIK Redhill route is the most unreliable route, the trains to/from Victoria in the peak come from Eastbourne, Littlehampton, Brighton, Horsham - all over and are completely overcrowded. God knows what its going to be like in January when 45% of the London Bridge peak service is cut as well.

 

[JonathanH]

I can only agree wholeheartedly with your comments. AFAIK Redhill route is the most unreliable route, the trains to/from Victoria in the peak come from Eastbourne, Littlehampton, Brighton, Horsham - all over and are completely overcrowded. God knows what its going to be like in January when 45% of the London Bridge peak service is cut as well.

From December 2015, nothing at Redhill in the off-peak comes from beyond Three Bridges / Horsham / Reigate / Tonbridge.

Mind you, I have some concerns about at least two aspects of the timetable in the consultation - http://thameslink-cms.govia.net/uploads/publications/256.pdf

1) The Victoria to Reigate train has a five minute turnaround at Reigate so if delayed by more than five minutes, it won't be coming to Reigate. They also reduce the cycle to 1½ hours interworking with Victoria to Tonbridge rather than 2 at present. Other connections at Reigate, if the FGW trains are unchanged, are quite poor / tight.

2) There is a gap of 12 minutes (xx54 to xx06 / xx24 to xx36) in off-peak trains from Victoria to East Croydon because of the loss of the current xx02/xx32 train. In the up direction, this gap also applies (xx52 to xx04) and it is the Reigate / Tonbridge train (presumably 4 coaches) which will bear the brunt of the resulting overcrowding.

 

[MotorcycleAlan]

Many of the times a Victoria or Brighton train is late at Swanwick, it is either because it is held at Southampton to allow a late running FGW train take priority, or as was the case yesterday, held to allow a late diverted Weymouth to Waterloo go through. So some delays are not Southern's fault, and it is easy to see how something minor at the start of a long journey can affect services further along the line.

 

[GodAtum]

I found that last week the 0739 and 0742 East Croydon - Victoria were always a few mins late.

 

[bengley]

My daily train into Victoria is normally on time when I get on but 5-15 minutes late on arrival

 

[Minstral25]

From December 2015, nothing at Redhill in the off-peak comes from beyond Three Bridges / Horsham / Reigate / Tonbridge.

Mind you, I have some concerns about at least two aspects of the timetable in the consultation - http://thameslink-cms.govia.net/uploads/publications/256.pdf

1) The Victoria to Reigate train has a five minute turnaround at Reigate so if delayed by more than five minutes, it won't be coming to Reigate. They also reduce the cycle to 1½ hours interworking with Victoria to Tonbridge rather than 2 at present. Other connections at Reigate, if the FGW trains are unchanged, are quite poor / tight.

2) There is a gap of 12 minutes (xx54 to xx06 / xx24 to xx36) in off-peak trains from Victoria to East Croydon because of the loss of the current xx02/xx32 train. In the up direction, this gap also applies (xx52 to xx04) and it is the Reigate / Tonbridge train (presumably 4 coaches) which will bear the brunt of the resulting overcrowding.

I meant the peak trains come from everywhere else in the network. I appreciate that the Off peak trains are much more local, especially now the Arun Valley trains are off to the Quarry Line.

Very interesting point on the Reigate trains. Reigate is a busy and growing station so needs a proper service - consideration to splitting the Tonbridge train at Redhill for Reigate should also be made.

 

[James Wake]

My Southern trains are regularly 5 minutes late, what I call a "niggle delay", just annoying that it happens often. One annoying thing is when 1C05 (0801 departure from East Croydon p1) gets stuck behind often late running 1P55 from Caterham and Tattenham Cnr, which is due to leave at 0756 from P4, cross to the fast lines just before Selhurst and runs just ahead of 1C05 up to VIC, between East Croydon and Clapham Junction today, we were held outside Selhurst for it to cross in-front, then just outside Clapham Junction. RT from East Croydon, 4 mins late at Clapham Junction. Whilst it might not sound like a lot, I can make the 0816 SWT to Reading if its on time. I am tending to try and get 1C55 (from Brighton and Portsmouth Harbour) now to try and get to work earlier and leave leeway for delays.

 

[hassaanhc]

This week has been horrible again, mix of issues:
Signal failures at London Bridge, New Cross Gate, Three Bridges, Preston Park, Watford Junction, Seaford and Victoria.
Emergency engineering works between East Croydon and London Bridge.
Power supply issues at Sydenham and Waddon.
Operating incident and person ill at East Croydon.
Level crossing incident at Havant.

 

[455driver]

This week has been horrible again, mix of issues:
Signal failures at London Bridge, New Cross Gate, Three Bridges, Preston Park, Watford Junction, Seaford and Victoria.
Emergency engineering works between East Croydon and London Bridge.
Power supply issues at Sydenham and Waddon.
Operating incident and person ill at East Croydon.
Level crossing incident at Havant.

So none of them Southern's fault!

 

[AmeralGunson]

If you think that Southern trains have poor timekeeping - and often they have - you should try First Great Western's. I have a son in Penzance and a friend in Taunton. When visiting I've never known a train to run on time either travelling to or from.