Not just GWR...

[whole diary]

[old original]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-44023087

Victoria to Brighton having problems

[bobm]

From that link

Passengers say there is "absolute chaos" at Gatwick Airport because of overcrowding on rail replacement services on the Brighton mainline.

Southern is advising people not to travel to the coast as there are no direct trains from London due to engineering work.

People are waiting about two hours to board replacement buses, National Rail said.

Disruption is expected to last until the end of the day and into Monday.

[rogerw]

In the old days through trains would have been run via Dorking and Horsham, reversing at Littlehampton.  On the other hand, if Uckfield to Lewes was open

[stuving]

In the old days through trains would have been run via Dorking and Horsham, reversing at Littlehampton.  On the other hand, if Uckfield to Lewes was open

As it happens, there are trains running Victoria-Horsham-Littlehampton-Brighton today. Just a few, though, and only this evening (and mostly the other way). I can find words on Southern's "Planned Engineering for Train Lines" page about no Horsham trains today via Gatwick, but it's not very prominent. I can see no mention of these extra trains there nor on the disruptions page.

Since Horsham's Sunday service is only via Gatwick, I would expect a replacement via Dorking to be run instead. Then even if the link to Three bridges is made via normal services, that offers a quicker alternative than along the coast.

But could these be extra trains inserted into the timetable only today following the problems earlier? They are all listed as STP in RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website). But surely no TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) could react that fast on a Sunday these days...

[TaplowGreen]

https://abcommuters.wordpress.com/2018/05/06/todays-gatwick-rail-meltdown/

[broadgage]

From time to time, on these forums and elsewhere, schemes to encourage leisure travel by rail are discussed, this all seems a bit pointless under present circumstances.

Brighton is a popular destination for day trips and longer breaks "avoid travel to Brighton" is the present promotional message.

The West country is also a popular leisure destination, with advice "not to travel unless your journey is absolutely essential" last Friday or on bank holiday Monday, though a "normal service" was offered today with only about 60 cancellations and part cancellations.

[grahame]

From time to time, on these forums and elsewhere, schemes to encourage leisure travel by rail are discussed, this all seems a bit pointless under present circumstances.

Totally agree.

[Timmer]

From time to time, on these forums and elsewhere, schemes to encourage leisure travel by rail are discussed, this all seems a bit pointless under present circumstances.

GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)’s ‘Five go on a Spring Adventure’ comes to mind.

I would suggest the railway gets its house in order first before encouraging leisure travel.

How many people saw this total fantasy in more ways than one advertising campaign, took the train (if it ran) and had an awful experience putting them off ever using the train again.

[trainer]

From time to time, on these forums and elsewhere, schemes to encourage leisure travel by rail are discussed, this all seems a bit pointless under present circumstances.

After waiting til the last minute, once again I've decided not to travel by (GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)) train for my leisure trip today.  It's far too uncertain and at least if I'm stuck in my car, I have air con, a guaranteed seat and refreshments to hand and the the possibility of changing the planned route as all are permissable (if not passable  ).

[chuffed]

It takes a great leap of imagination to call a half opened bag of sugar free Werthers Originals, 'refreshments' !

[Timmer]

I think what Taplow Green said a few months back that you cannot rely on the railways at weekends and I’d include bank holidays as well.

[eightf48544]

In the old days through trains would have been run via Dorking and Horsham, reversing at Littlehampton.  On the other hand, if Uckfield to Lewes was open

Also Christ's Hospital Shoreham via Stenying another line that never should have closed.

[broadgage]

I think what Taplow Green said a few months back that you cannot rely on the railways at weekends and I’d include bank holidays as well.

Indeed, I have learnt to avoid travel at weekends or public holidays, but not everyone has the choice.
Years ago I travelled from Paddington on Maundy Thursday, and soon learned not to do that ever again. Local services may be acceptable as fewer commuters will be travelling, but long distance, no way.

And whilst I appreciate that roads and railways are not directly comparable, it is interesting to note that motorway engineering works are often postponed to avoid excessive delays to holiday traffic, whereas railway engineering works are specifically planned for bank holidays.

In the case of busy suburban commuter routes, bank holidays are in fact the best time for engineering work since traffic is much reduced.
Not so certain about longer distance routes with a largely holiday or leisure traffic though.

And in any case this weekends failures are largely down to basic incompetence.
In the case of the Brighton failure, a competently run railway would accept that if the main line has to be shut, that the diversionary route must not be shut at the same time, and moreover that FULL LENGTH trains must be run on the alternative route. NO more Southern/GTR nonsense of  "it is a weekend so we run 4 car trains, be grateful for that"

And of course on GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) we had the long running lack of basic competence in failing to recruit, train, and keep enough staff to run the advertised service. The allied incompetence of network rail did not help, but had they published train plans in good time, I am not convinced that it would have gone much better. GWR would still not have had the staff even given more notice.

[TaplowGreen]

I think your final point is particularly pertinent Broadgage, for a number of weekends now the long distance service in particular has been decimated by staff shortages, no reason to assume that this would have been any different, particularly with it being a long weekend when more people would want time off.

Even allowing for no scheduled staff BBQs this weekend, there's nothing to suggest that it would have been any better.

It's hard to escape the conclusion that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) are in meltdown, and there is no evidence, nor reason to believe that senior management is robust or competent enough to address it judging by recent performance......if you don't communicate effectively, people will have to draw their own conclusions. I'm sure most of us are.

I'd be delighted to be corrected and to have my faith restored, but I won't be holding my breath.

[Surrey 455]

I considered taking a trip to Brighton last weekend but read about the impending engineering works and was almost put off. Fortunately I realised that there were no works on the Saturday so booked tickets for that day. Had no problems with either outward or return journeys including change of train at Gatwick (GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) to Southern).

On Monday I think engineering works somewhere worked in my favour as I was able to change to a Southeastern train at Redhill^* for my journey from Bookham to Hastings for only £10.60 return with Annual Gold card. (Normally about £25 I think). Avoiding London seems to be quicker and less expensive for me even though on this journey it involved 4 trains and 4 TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) each way. Considering it was bank holiday Monday, a very warm day, with the Jack in the Green festival and Motorcycle Rally taking place in Hastings plus engineering work on the Brighton line I was worried that I may have had to stand on at least one service but seats were available on every train.

  ^*I don't think southeastern trains normally travel through or call at Redhill.