Weekend Train Disruption 1st/2nd February

Post by **admin** » 30 Jan 2014 18:07

LONDON OVERGROUND
Sunday: No service to/from Sydenham

SOUTHERN
Sunday: No service to/from Sydenham

SOUTHEASTERN
Saturday & Sunday: No service to/from Lower Sydenham

Admin

RachelF · Post by **RachelF** » 31 Jan 2014 10:39

There has been no service from Sydenham to East Croydon on Sundays for at least two months. My husband has to catch a plane at Gatwick every Sunday. I have written to Southern asking how long this is likely to go on for...

Post by **admin** » 31 Jan 2014 12:26

I'll bet a return ticket on the Bluebell Line they will blame National Rail. National Rail will blame ...

We were developing a Sunday activity in South Croydon which relied on people coming from North and East London on the Overground. It consequently died. It would be good to have a long term view rather than a seven day horizon on disruption.

Admin

Rachael · Post by **Rachael** » 31 Jan 2014 12:31

admin wrote: It would be good to have a long term view rather than a seven day horizon on disruption.

Admin

You can view up to a month in advance on the TfL website by going to the 'Planned engineering' page and clicking on 'Future Dates'. However, I agree it would be nice to see an overview of the whole programme. One probably exists...

Eagle · Post by **Eagle** » 31 Jan 2014 12:46

Rodney

You are obviously too young to remember the 60's and 70's . Twice number of passengers now than as in 70's.

Of course problems , amazing it copes as well as it does.

Stop being so negative.

biscuitman1978 · Post by **biscuitman1978** » 31 Jan 2014 15:30

rod taylor wrote:Renationalize.

Why? Is engineering work not required when the railway is in public ownership?

biscuitman1978 · Post by **biscuitman1978** » 31 Jan 2014 15:51

rod taylor wrote:
biscuitman1978 wrote: Why? Is engineering work not required when the railway is in public ownership?
No - but you wouldn't have two competing private companies blaming each other at least. But, to be honest if we could vote on it I'd have it renationalized. It was a general comment.

Fair enough. But I don't see any evidence of Network Rail and Southern (I think that's who you mean) blaming one another for anything.

The reality is that (a) we had years of underinvestment in the railways and (b) passenger numbers are increasing. A substantial amount of engineering work is required to address these challenges, so it's hardly a surprise that we see such frequent closures. Are those closures frustrating? Yes. Would it be different under public ownership? I doubt it.

It's also worth bearing in mind that Network Rail (which is largely responsible for engineering work) is a not for dividend company. All its profits go back into improving the railway. It's not seeking to line the pockets of shareholders at the expense of convenient journeys for passengers.

biscuitman1978 · Post by **biscuitman1978** » 31 Jan 2014 16:37

rod taylor wrote:We also have the highest train prices in the world.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/carol ... world-why/

It's a different point to the one on engineering work, but yes, that's true. Should fares be reduced? In an ideal world, yes, but that would mean that we pay for more of the cost of our railways through general taxation, either through greater subsidies to train operators under the current system or directly under a nationalised system. That means we cut spending on something else or increase taxes. Tough choices.

Alternatively, we cut services and/or investment in the upgrade of the railways to allow for a cut in fares. Again, that applies under the current system or a nationalised system.

Anyway, this is probably a debate for the Town Pub. I'll see you all on a replacement bus...

bensonby · Post by **bensonby** » 31 Jan 2014 17:18

What I find frustrating is that there never seems to be any end in sight when it comes to closures like this. Why don't they share more information at train stations? If it was a case of a few posters saying "we are upgrading all the signalling and track, this is a major project and will take 5 years of weekend closures" then it would at least give people a timescale? Or are we to believe that the project is endless and regular weekend closures are a permanent fixture forever more? (I'm certain they never used to be).

Do they refund with season tickets people a proportional amount? If not, why not?

Post by **admin** » 31 Jan 2014 17:25

bensonby wrote:Do they refund with season tickets people a proportional amount? If not, why not?

The problem is season ticket people are mostly Monday to Friday folk who don't care and have suffered enough to want to use a train on a Sunday.

Those of us who would use a Sunday train regularly can no longer do so and/or have found another way. Hence the regular trade reduces so Southern/National Rail see them as not as important as their weekday trade.

If they switched to doing it on a Wednesday the uproar would be sufficient for the railway people to find another way.

Admin

bensonby · Post by **bensonby** » 31 Jan 2014 17:32

Indeed. I am lucky where I am as I live somewhere where I have a choice of train routes so if one is out of action then most likely the other ones are ok. It is rare indeed that there are no trains whatsoever on a Sunday. However, there are some people out there (myself included) that work on Sundays and rely on the trains - notwithstanding the closures the other thing that annoys me is the late start of trains on a Sunday that make morning shifts by rail an impossibility.

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