Are the railways "in a mess" and what can we do?

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Opinion - Our railways are in a mess. Don't get me wrong - there is a tremendous amount that is right and good, and a lot of passengers getting where they want and need to go, and indeed choosing to use the train.  But there is a lot that is not right
- you cannot rely on the timetable or to complete your journey on schedule
- you often can't travel in comfort with your chattels,
- you find services like catering, loos, ticket offices  and luggage space lacking when you need them
- and information even from staff members is well intended but often wrong.

Today I am concluding an eight day out of fifteen rover ticket across Severn and Solent area, based at my home in Melksham, Wiltshire.  Experienced have been with Great Western Railway, Cross Country, South Western Railway, Southern Railway and West Midlands Trains, with Transport for Wales to come today.  And I have seen issues on almost all bar one of them (Southern - a tiny sample of one train, so I was lucky).

1. Short notice cancellations are rife

2. Delays that result in missed connections are also rife

3. Many trains are crowded and not fitted for all the things all the people want to bring with them, with loos out of order and announcements that cannot be heard.

4. Staff are almost entirely polite and helpful when seen, but far too often are not available, give the wrong advice, or don't know.

There is a pattern of failure to deliver services as per the published timetable across the train operators I have used, and a pattern of a lack of correct information, and as such I conclude that the problems are not ones within any particular train operating company.  And so Louise Haigh's strong concern at Cross Country is a bit naughty - it's sniping at the delivery vehicle when it's not been provided with the tools and authority to do the job properly.  It's not the current government's fault either the mess predates their month in power. So where is this issue - not to apportion blame, but rather to understand where changes are needed and what those changes are. That's to follow - and members are welcome to follow up with their views.

[Electric train]

Opinion - Our railways are in a mess. Don't get me wrong - there is a tremendous amount that is right and good, and a lot of passengers getting where they want and need to go, and indeed choosing to use the train.  But there is a lot that is not right
- you cannot rely on the timetable or to complete your journey on schedule
- you often can't travel in comfort with your chattels,
- you find services like catering, loos, ticket offices  and luggage space lacking when you need them
- and information even from staff members is well intended but often wrong.

Today I am concluding an eight day out of fifteen rover ticket across Severn and Solent area, based at my home in Melksham, Wiltshire.  Experienced have been with Great Western Railway, Cross Country, South Western Railway, Southern Railway and West Midlands Trains, with Transport for Wales to come today.  And I have seen issues on almost all bar one of them (Southern - a tiny sample of one train, so I was lucky).

1. Short notice cancellations are rife

2. Delays that result in missed connections are also rife

3. Many trains are crowded and not fitted for all the things all the people want to bring with them, with loos out of order and announcements that cannot be heard.

4. Staff are almost entirely polite and helpful when seen, but far too often are not available, give the wrong advice, or don't know.

There is a pattern of failure to deliver services as per the published timetable across the train operators I have used, and a pattern of a lack of correct information, and as such I conclude that the problems are not ones within any particular train operating company.  And so Louise Haigh's strong concern at Cross Country is a bit naughty - it's sniping at the delivery vehicle when it's not been provided with the tools and authority to do the job properly.  It's not the current government's fault either the mess predates their month in power. So where is this issue - not to apportion blame, but rather to understand where changes are needed and what those changes are. That's to follow - and members are welcome to follow up with their views.

Nothing radically will change in the short term, yes railway staff and management will work to improve performance and reliability; timetable alteration made to help with this.

Once the GBR^▸ (Great British Railways) alterations to the industry are made it will take time for serious changes to take effect.  Will GBR totally solve all of your points Grahame ............. no will it be better than now .... well cannot get much worse.

The questions on capacity will not be solved overnight new trains will take investment and time to build,  the number of staff I cannot see this increasing greatly as the pressure on the industry is still to cut it operational costs 

[infoman]

If your traveling long distance,suggest buying your drinks and food before you start your journey.

[Hafren]

A few semi-coherent thoughts - hopefully this sets out some improvement targets as well as ranting!

This 'not enough money' thing seems to be a constant theme in many industries, including my own. Margins are so tight that going the extra mile isn't easy; in fact, providing the bare minimum seems to be a difficult target in many industries. Has this worsened or is that recency bias? Is this something fundamentally wrong in the economy? Too much legislation getting in the way? (But I agree with regulation in principle as it provides protection in many ways when implemented correctly.) Too much profit-taking? Too many layers of profit-taking because of multiple layers of companies involved?

The move to leisure travel that we are told is happening presents opportunities and challenges; on the other hand, while travel to work probably won't return to its previous level, it may still not be as recovered as it will be, as work patterns continue to settle down.

If more leisure travel, need to move from packing people into seats to providing for leisure needs, e.g. proper luggage space! It's not unknown to travel on an IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) and not sit down, not because of seat availability but because I'm with luggage and the racks are taken up with bags. Suburban stock easier without luggage racks, but 444s are express layout, just overhead racks and no stacks, and very difficult with bags! Many express units will accommodate a reasonably full backpack by feet but 153s and to a lesser extent 158s don't have space for more than the emptiest bag. 197s and 170s with 1/3 - 2/3 doors but express intention mean having to choose a direction with both seats and racks available, whereas on traditional express layout stock there's one long saloon with large luggage stack at first. At least ideally.

Pros and cons for planning. Spreading of demand good as means less inefficient use of peak-only capacity (esp London & SE) but equally means planning needs to target larger parts of day for 'leisure peaks, rather than focus on specific times.

I've had waves of Delay Repay income over the last couple of years. It has felt like a second income. Some months it's improved, but sometimes it's day after day of (mostly small) claims - lucrative but not a good sign! In a way I don't mind the big delays - there's a reason; the issue is the little delays because of tight planning, lack of resilience etc. Before lockdown one of my usual trains home moved about 10 mins earlier, but because of congestion etc it often effectively ran in its old slot; in the final week or so before lockdown, with reduced usage, suddenly it was a good performer. Coincidence that timetable was settling down?

In general I like mobile tickets but they have their flaws. Activate the return journey on M-Ticket (I think it's M-Tickets I'm thinking of) and it expires after a day - no good for (valid) break of journey. Go for a day out on Heart of Wales line as I did last year - spend day out with charge draining, esp with photos being taken and phone trying to communicate in low reception areas etc (and some may have GPS running while walking etc) - fortunately had a 150 and could charge the 'ticket' on way back, but often 153s that have limited charging facilities. Even where provided, no guarantee that it works. And annoying at gates if there's a queue behind and app decides to spend a lifetime on its splash screen before displaying ticket.

Days when whole lines have long lists of cancellations because of staff shortages. Most years I go to Pembrokeshire at least once during summer. Last year, between GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) strikes and TfW staff shortages there were days when hardly anything ran. Just looking at RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) each weekend made me decide it wasn't worth trying. Mostly replacement buses are provided (where strike not involved of course) but do I really want that to be part of my day out? Still better than buses where cancellation won't even be reported (IMX - operators not local to me may differ but I imagine there's a pattern here) unless one has access to social media and the cancellation is during office hours. And certainly no help with getting home when the bus doesn't turn up! Had to share a £50 taxi a few years ago when a last bus didn't materialise in a rural area.

Information when things go wrong? During the strikes I often stayed late and caught the evening TfW loco-hauled working that goes to SWA^» (Swansea - next trains), as it provided more room than anything else on a strike day. On one particular day it left CDF^» (Cardiff - next trains) about 40 late, but no info during that time. Only on approach to BGN was a reason announced - a full hour since it should have left CDF, i.e. an hour with no information. Esp on a strike day when people would be wondering if it would be cancelled with over an hour's wait for next non-strike train which would be a 2 car unit. Delay was down to a mix of crew delay and train fault - fine if crew not there to announce, but at a major staffed station surely platform staff could have provided an update, and if hypothetically PA^▸ (Public Address) was down as part of train fault once crew arrived they could have walked through. WHen I complained, had a generic response confirming my Delay Repay claim had gone through - no! I'm asking why lack of info! Best I was given was staff may not always be aware. Well there had been a manual announcement of the train's arrival and someone was presumably waiting to dispatch the train, so surely someone knew they hadn't dispatched it yet! But lack of info seems to be another common theme across multiple industries.

On a more positive note, during open hours TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) Whatsapp contacts are helpful and have often eased the experience, but would be nice to be able to rely on more proactive information.

Toilets out of order. Not had so many problems recently, but there's that occasional train where none seem to work - even if several should be available as on an IET. Not to mention those vent grilles on IET toilet doors that come loose and jam the door. I'm happy to whack it into place but some will panic. Then the taps that hardly provide enough water to wash one's hands - good enough in the post-Covid world? (At least with Covid carrying some hand gel is an option; the types of viruses that spread in a toilet aren't as susceptible to alcohol...) And many trains just don't have a good supply of toilets in the first place - think back to HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) with 2 in most cars and averaging well over 1 per car. On an express train where passengers don't want to go too far from their seat or luggage they ought to be in every car at least.

"We're going to be diverted via VoG" - with announcement that it will  take an extra 20 mins. Maybe it's an extra 20 mins in point to point timings, but when unplanned and slotted around other works, at least give an "at least"!  The notice at Cardiff Queen Street proclaiming xx new trains by xx - overtaken by events. Many good reasons for this, but at least hide the out of date, now very incorrect info! Let's have some under-promise, over-deliver!

Reservations not working. In the earlier days of IETs often for its own reason, but now at least mainly justified by short forms. Still stressful - someone will try to take their booked seat still, so the whole journey feels a bit on edge as I may have to move or explain why I won't. Some crews better than others at announcing advising to  take any seat. Perhaps station staff should announce it was well (even if employed by different operator) so people are prepared. Or even better fix things so it's more of a rarity! Not that I'm a fan of reservations myself - I'd rather pick my own seat on the day, depending on availability of seats near toilets and luggage racks, and in any case rarely know my plans far enough in advance to bother. Still reservations provide confidence for many people that they'll have a seat, so it would be good to get it right!

[IndustryInsider]

If more leisure travel, need to move from packing people into seats to providing for leisure needs, e.g. proper luggage space! It's not unknown to travel on an IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) and not sit down, not because of seat availability but because I'm with luggage and the racks are taken up with bags.

The boss was suggesting that luggage space could be improved on the IETs as a general move towards a more leisure biased layout.  That might just mean mods similar to that which the LNER^» (London North Eastern Railway - about) 9-car fleet received, which was 11 additional luggage racks for the loss of 20 seats without window views.

[johnneyw]

If your traveling long distance,suggest buying your drinks and food before you start your journey.

I've been known to pick up a few choice items to eat and drink before going to the station for the return leg of a day out by train.  There's no guarantees of what will be available but that sort of unpredictability can add to the fun..... usually.

[grahame]

A few semi-coherent thoughts - hopefully this sets out some improvement targets as well as ranting!

[snip]

There is so much value in that long list - and I also points out the depth of the issues, so wide ranging that there is no simple solution.  Some short term, some longer. Some have cost with them but other are cheap.  Some are obvious and some are argued. Some will be popular with existing experienced users, and others not (but will build for the future).

[eXPassenger]

I would loveto know how many of those are recognised by the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) and the politicians.

[grahame]

I would love to know how many of those are recognised by the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) and the politicians.

There is a real opportunity here to inform our politicians ... many of whom are new to the issues of governing rail so are far more open to new information at the current time.