Missus got the train from Falconwood back to Dartford, on a train back towards London that conked out outside Welling, so she gave up and got off at Falconwood.
2 hours for nowt. So shes working from home now. . . .
So am I but watching the Cricket . . . . .
The kids are available to be picked up from school at 2pm . . . . . but that's the evening session!
Got to Falconeood at about 6.50/7 first three trains went past 'Japanease style' packed! Anyone around Welling/Falconwood now? What's the service like?
[cite]Posted By: rhinosvalley[/cite]Got to Bexleyheath at 07.20am - all screens advertising both Charing Cross and Cannon Street, so thought to wait for Cannon Street, let 7.31am Charing X go - then announcer announced next train at 08.01am - No Cannon Street trains at all - why f..ing advertise them in the first place.....Squeezed on at Bexleyheath - no chance from Welling onwards......Fight at Blackheath staion, clearly patience gone with those people....Police at Lewisham station...arrived at London Bride eventually - Trains suspended between London Bridge and Cannon Street due to broken down train....woman going beserk on Platform 2 telling what she thought of SET Trains.......what a start to the morning !!!
Blimey. ugly scenes. My friend told me how a man on her train had to remove a woman who was trying to squeeze on at lewisham yesterday. He literally had to push her off in the end so the train could move.
Just got back from Sidcup 10.15 currently there are no trains to London, due to lack of drivers, who obviously have all taken a snow day. Luckily I can work from home...
[cite]Posted By: pickwick[/cite]Just got back from Sidcup 10.15 currently there are no trains to London, due to lack of drivers, who obviously have all taken a snow day. Luckily I can work from home...
Just got home from Sidcup as well. Me and a collegue covered the station in two shifts in the hope that one of us got in, and between us we missed the TWO trains that have run this morning.
Can work from home so not a huge issue, the main problem seems to be that no one else around the outskirts of London has had the travel issues we've had round our bit, particularly the Sidcup line which seems to by far been the worst him, so others get the impression you haven't made the effort to get in.
Luckily I live next to A DLR station so avoided all of this bollocks.
What are we going to do about this? If we wrote to our MPs is there anything the government could do with SouthEastern Trains? Surely they are in charge of who gets the right to operate on those lines.
Got to Sidcup at 8.25, no trains London bound but........trains were going the other way. So got on one to Dartford, got straight on a Charing Cross via Bexleyheath service and was in work by 10am. Standing room only after Barnehurst and no hope for anyone at all after Welling. But can someone please explain how trains can run down the Sidcup line into Kent, but can't run into London?
Managed to drive in gingerly this morning, however, we arent getting deliveries in from suppliers so Ive got loads of part orders sitting here.....its really quite pathetic...Sevenoaks Council have done there usual and havent bothered to salt the roads....cost cutting in one of the richest boroughs in the Country.
Just about to go out and deliver what I can to those companies that have bothered to open up.....
[cite]Posted By: Telnotinoz[/cite]Managed to drive in gingerly this morning, however, we arent getting deliveries in from suppliers so Ive got loads of part orders sitting here.....its really quite pathetic...Sevenoaks Council have done there usual and havent bothered to salt the roads....cost cutting in one of the richest boroughs in the Country.
Just about to go out and deliver what I can to those companies that have bothered to open up.....
For those of you in / near sidcup / new eltham / eltham / lee - you can get a 321 to lewisham - roads are clear, buses are frequent.
From Lee, I got the 273 to lewisham, the dlr to stratford and the north london overground with rothko to camden road. took a while but i'm here.
yesterday I got the 261 to lewisham, the dlr to tower gateway, then walked to tower hill, then tube to monument, walked to bank then northern line to camden.
Seth> where in london does your wife work? The DLR is running like a dream - people can change at Canary wharf for Jubilee line into the west end.
oh and its really really sunny in camden!! the canal is frozen though.
Got a bus in and may try and do the same going back out. Less people on the roads and bus drivers are showing up for work.
I recall a few years ago working with a guy who'd been involved in negotiating the rail privatisation. I was moaning about the crappy service and he (rather arrogantly, he was a prick), told me about some of the cost models that they'd put in place that go a long way to driving this behaviour from the train companies. They essentially pay a tariff for their trains using the lines. Very similar to a phone call. The longer the train, the more you pay. If you're on at peak times, you also pay more as do you if you stop at major stations. He was very proud of this construct.
So, I asked him what was to stop them running hardly any trains - he said that there'd be no passengers and they'd lose money, which I pointed out was generally not true, because people have to get into work so if there's no alternative methods then they'll just cram onto the smaller less frequent services. He countered by saying that they had to run a certain number of carraiges per week.
At this point the penny dropped: so I ran it past him. Does that mean that they can run a bunch of big long empty trains off-peak and weekends (which they seemed to be doing on my line at the time), pay a lower rental tariff and still meet their number of carraiges in service targets and still carry get money off more or less the same number of passengers, because commuters will just lump in? I also asked if that was why there were a bunch of half empty "express" trains that ran into town, but didn't stop at London Bridge (despite going through it - e.g the Thameslink and Hayes lines in the mornings), which made them no use to most people, who then had to cram onto the ones that did. He was a bit sheepish, clearly never having considered this pretty obvious consequence of his dumb model.
He also told me that they get some let days if the conditions are so bad that they can't run a proper service. Again, they're largely better off cancelling the trains which gets them out of the "line rental" and largely out of ticket compensation. It's also why you'll often find better services operating in the evenings than the mornings.
This is all anecdotal, but everything I've seen or read since point to it being a plaudible explanation for some very odd behaviour from the commuter rail operatiors.
So summary: if you're ever wondering why there seems to be fewer/shorter trains at peak times or why rail services get affected by weather that doesn't seem to bother tubes or buses, it's because the retards that cut the privatisation deal appear to have done it in such a way that positively financially incentivises the train companies to run a poorer service at the times and to the places that most people want them for, and to cancel trains at every opportunity.
What I would say is take the time out to claim compensation and complain at every opportunity, even if it's not really worth it, because in wasting their time you're doing something to disincentivise them.
Went to Dartford this morning to get the train into London. No trains on Platform 2 into Cannon Street as there was a broken down train at Gillingham, so everyone goes to platform 3 to wait for the 8:22 to Charing Cross. It got to 8:21 and the fat controller comes over the tannoy that this train is now on Platform 1....going to Cannon Street. So there was about 800 people trying to get over the bridge before the train left!....couple of donuts ran across the track!!!...who has to get to work that badly?!
So broken rails, lack off staff, no trains running on the Sidcup line because of 'health and safety issue's'....... etc etc what a sad state of affairs that a small amount of snow has caused such misery.....
i personally feel a lot more sorry for those elderly and homeless with no friends or family to help them keep fed and watered.
we really don't have it that bad at all. yes, the trains are frustrating, but thats all, frustrating but its not the end of the world. some people take 3 hours to get anywhere, some people stay at home, whatever, this time in 2 weeks it'll all be over and we'll be going about our business as usual and moaning about the next "disaster".
So are you saying suzi that we shouldnt complain about the shit service?
We also all have other worries. My big concern is dad is housebound after his hip replacement and has run out of food. hopefully ian will get the car off the drive today but it is sheeer ice outside. otherwise im going to have to call a friend to walk round.
doesnt stop me moaning and being complacement about the utterly shite useless service and the contempt that southeastern have treated us.
[cite]Posted By: Curb_It[/cite]So are you saying suzi that we shouldnt complain about the shit service?
We also all have other worries. My big concern is dad is housebound after his hip replacement and has run out of food. hopefully ian will get the car off the drive today but it is sheeer ice outside. otherwise im going to have to call a friend to walk round.
doesnt stop me moaning and being complacement about the utterly shite useless service and the contempt that southeastern have treated us.
Where does your Dad live B? Maybe a fellow Lifer would help out?
[cite]Posted By: Friend Or Defoe[/cite]What are we going to do about this? If we wrote to our MPs is there anything the government could do with SouthEastern Trains? Surely they are in charge of who gets the right to operate on those lines.
This is probably a fairly good idea, someone on here must know a local MP.
Or News Shopper if you're reading this, can you get someone to run their front page story with how fed up people are, so it becomes known to a wider audience.
I'd say we're in our right to moan that an operator, whom we each pay thousands of pounds a year to, cant provide a service because of a few inches of snow. Its not like the levels of snow theyve seen in Hampshire or Scotland for example, when the excuse would be valid.
Im OK because Im salaried, but if I was self emlpoyed and paid per hour I would have lost 16 hours in the past 2 days alone. Its utterly unexceptable IMO. If I had a different viable option of how to get to work I'd be taking it. I dont so just have to put up with it......
No wonder SET lost their francise a few years back.
haha chris - thats already been done! Local MP has a moan. Hopefully some momentum will be gained and people actually do something about it.
where was that governtment link?
thanks Medders, he's in bexheath but ian will get there he said.
I still cannot understand why SE Trains thought delaying the first train of the day by 2 hours and offering only 2 trains an hour on each line would help?
Goodness knows we've had snow before. Everybody would accept a little disruption but this is a joke.
According to the website the Bexleyheath line returns to a full weekday service tomorrow. We'll see!
[cite]Posted By: suzisausage[/cite]For those of you in / near sidcup / new eltham / eltham / lee - you can get a 321 to lewisham - roads are clear, buses are frequent.
From Lee, I got the 273 to lewisham, the dlr to stratford and the north london overground with rothko to camden road. took a while but i'm here.
yesterday I got the 261 to lewisham, the dlr to tower gateway, then walked to tower hill, then tube to monument, walked to bank then northern line to camden.
Seth> where in london does your wife work? The DLR is running like a dream - people can change at Canary wharf for Jubilee line into the west end.
At the moment she is working near the IMAX at Waterloo East, I offered to take her to lewisham and then the DLR but her perception is that it's too roundabout and long...i have always been impressed how quickly you get in on the DLR (except getting home after Orient away)
[cite]Posted By: Chirpy Red[/cite]I still cannot understand why SE Trains thought delaying the first train of the day by 2 hours and offering only 2 trains an hour on each line would help?
Goodness knows we've had snow before. Everybody would accept a little disruption but this is a joke.
According to the website the Bexleyheath line returns to a full weekday service tomorrow. We'll see!
No chirpy. They have just posted this:
Southeastern will be running the same amended train plan as today on Friday 8 January (no trains Sittingbourne-Sheerness & Grove Pk-Bromley)
Comments
2 hours for nowt. So shes working from home now. . . .
So am I but watching the Cricket . . . . .
The kids are available to be picked up from school at 2pm . . . . . but that's the evening session!
unfortunate dismissal, mate!
Big feet mate...
Blimey. ugly scenes. My friend told me how a man on her train had to remove a woman who was trying to squeeze on at lewisham yesterday. He literally had to push her off in the end so the train could move.
Southeastern have a lot to answer for.
Got the 321 to Lewisham. DLR to Canary Wharf and tube to Victoria. Took and an and a half but at least I knew I'd get in.
Just got home from Sidcup as well. Me and a collegue covered the station in two shifts in the hope that one of us got in, and between us we missed the TWO trains that have run this morning.
Can work from home so not a huge issue, the main problem seems to be that no one else around the outskirts of London has had the travel issues we've had round our bit, particularly the Sidcup line which seems to by far been the worst him, so others get the impression you haven't made the effort to get in.
What are we going to do about this? If we wrote to our MPs is there anything the government could do with SouthEastern Trains? Surely they are in charge of who gets the right to operate on those lines.
But can someone please explain how trains can run down the Sidcup line into Kent, but can't run into London?
Just about to go out and deliver what I can to those companies that have bothered to open up.....
Should have stayed in Oz Tel
From Lee, I got the 273 to lewisham, the dlr to stratford and the north london overground with rothko to camden road. took a while but i'm here.
yesterday I got the 261 to lewisham, the dlr to tower gateway, then walked to tower hill, then tube to monument, walked to bank then northern line to camden.
Seth> where in london does your wife work? The DLR is running like a dream - people can change at Canary wharf for Jubilee line into the west end.
oh and its really really sunny in camden!! the canal is frozen though.
I recall a few years ago working with a guy who'd been involved in negotiating the rail privatisation. I was moaning about the crappy service and he (rather arrogantly, he was a prick), told me about some of the cost models that they'd put in place that go a long way to driving this behaviour from the train companies. They essentially pay a tariff for their trains using the lines. Very similar to a phone call. The longer the train, the more you pay. If you're on at peak times, you also pay more as do you if you stop at major stations. He was very proud of this construct.
So, I asked him what was to stop them running hardly any trains - he said that there'd be no passengers and they'd lose money, which I pointed out was generally not true, because people have to get into work so if there's no alternative methods then they'll just cram onto the smaller less frequent services. He countered by saying that they had to run a certain number of carraiges per week.
At this point the penny dropped: so I ran it past him. Does that mean that they can run a bunch of big long empty trains off-peak and weekends (which they seemed to be doing on my line at the time), pay a lower rental tariff and still meet their number of carraiges in service targets and still carry get money off more or less the same number of passengers, because commuters will just lump in? I also asked if that was why there were a bunch of half empty "express" trains that ran into town, but didn't stop at London Bridge (despite going through it - e.g the Thameslink and Hayes lines in the mornings), which made them no use to most people, who then had to cram onto the ones that did. He was a bit sheepish, clearly never having considered this pretty obvious consequence of his dumb model.
He also told me that they get some let days if the conditions are so bad that they can't run a proper service. Again, they're largely better off cancelling the trains which gets them out of the "line rental" and largely out of ticket compensation. It's also why you'll often find better services operating in the evenings than the mornings.
This is all anecdotal, but everything I've seen or read since point to it being a plaudible explanation for some very odd behaviour from the commuter rail operatiors.
So summary: if you're ever wondering why there seems to be fewer/shorter trains at peak times or why rail services get affected by weather that doesn't seem to bother tubes or buses, it's because the retards that cut the privatisation deal appear to have done it in such a way that positively financially incentivises the train companies to run a poorer service at the times and to the places that most people want them for, and to cancel trains at every opportunity.
What I would say is take the time out to claim compensation and complain at every opportunity, even if it's not really worth it, because in wasting their time you're doing something to disincentivise them.
Do you have to pay? ;-)
i personally feel a lot more sorry for those elderly and homeless with no friends or family to help them keep fed and watered.
we really don't have it that bad at all. yes, the trains are frustrating, but thats all, frustrating but its not the end of the world. some people take 3 hours to get anywhere, some people stay at home, whatever, this time in 2 weeks it'll all be over and we'll be going about our business as usual and moaning about the next "disaster".
We also all have other worries. My big concern is dad is housebound after his hip replacement and has run out of food. hopefully ian will get the car off the drive today but it is sheeer ice outside. otherwise im going to have to call a friend to walk round.
doesnt stop me moaning and being complacement about the utterly shite useless service and the contempt that southeastern have treated us.
Where does your Dad live B? Maybe a fellow Lifer would help out?
This is probably a fairly good idea, someone on here must know a local MP.
Or News Shopper if you're reading this, can you get someone to run their front page story with how fed up people are, so it becomes known to a wider audience.
Im OK because Im salaried, but if I was self emlpoyed and paid per hour I would have lost 16 hours in the past 2 days alone. Its utterly unexceptable IMO. If I had a different viable option of how to get to work I'd be taking it. I dont so just have to put up with it......
No wonder SET lost their francise a few years back.
haha chris - thats already been done! Local MP has a moan. Hopefully some momentum will be gained and people actually do something about it.
where was that governtment link?
thanks Medders, he's in bexheath but ian will get there he said.
Goodness knows we've had snow before. Everybody would accept a little disruption but this is a joke.
According to the website the Bexleyheath line returns to a full weekday service tomorrow. We'll see!
At the moment she is working near the IMAX at Waterloo East, I offered to take her to lewisham and then the DLR but her perception is that it's too roundabout and long...i have always been impressed how quickly you get in on the DLR (except getting home after Orient away)
No chirpy. They have just posted this:
Southeastern will be running the same amended train plan as today on Friday 8 January (no trains Sittingbourne-Sheerness & Grove Pk-Bromley)