Tuning service patterns and train lengths to suit new norm - or not?

[whole diary]

[grahame]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page)

East Midlands Railway passengers upset by lack of social distancing

[snip]

[Current government guidance] states: "When travelling you should, where possible, stay two metres apart or one metre apart with mitigations, from people who are not part of your household or support bubble."

But passengers have said this has not been possible.

Will Loxley caught an EMR^» (East Midlands Railway, also known as EMT^» (East Midlands Trains - about) (East Midlands Trains - about) service from Sheffield to Ely on Saturday, with two carriages.

He said when the train stopped in Nottingham at about 10:50 BST "there were maybe 100 people waiting on the platform". The 26-year-old, from Sheffield, said: "They got on. People were asking others to sit next to them and also people were standing up.

"We were sat there for half an hour with the windows closed on the track. Then they told us the train was cancelled.

"Why send two carriages? It seems a bit farcical. It's a bank holiday - they knew it was going to be busy."

We don't know the full story - but another indicator from outside our own area that right across the UK^▸ (United Kingdom), travel patterns are changing / have changed. 

Even with the best will in the world and every attempt to have the capacity fit the demand, there are going to be issues from time to time.  Sadly, I'm not convinced that every such attempt has been made - I think I have seen attempts to make the demand fit the capacity. And doing it that way round is not providing a service for the customers - customers who are going to be vital for the future of the railway.

[ChrisB]

We don't know the full story - but another indicator from outside our own area that right across the UK^▸ (United Kingdom), travel patterns are changing / have changed. 

Even with the best will in the world and every attempt to have the capacity fit the demand, there are going to be issues from time to time.  Sadly, I'm not convinced that every such attempt has been made - I think I have seen attempts to make the demand fit the capacity. And doing it that way round is not providing a service for the customers - customers who are going to be vital for the future of the railway.

It's a bank holiday - nothing has changed - except back to 'normal' for bank holidays! He was part of the 'problem' in that he wanted to travel with all the others. The East Coast was under engineering works - again, nothing unusual, which may have increased numbers even further.

The TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) are now under ERMAs - so there isn't much they can do on their own either.