South Hampshire Rail Users (SHRUG)

[whole diary]

[neilweb]

Hi all

You may find this page regarding the tunnel under Southampton city centre of interest:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/hampshire/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_8383000/8383071.stm

best wishes

[Ollie]

Never spotted this before, but will put my observations forward:

One of the girls, assisted by her mother, booked the return tickets for all 3 girls over the telephone,

The tickets were sold to them (via cross country trains.co.uk) by someone qualified to do so and were bought in good faith

I have had a Family Railcard for years and know that others can travel with me at the same discount. I assumed that the Young Persons Railcard would be the same.

they would need to disembark from the train at Taunton and pay an extra ^38 each

they paid the extra fare of ^18 each

Basically to me none of it adds up.

[Phil]

That's exactly what I said when this was discussed a while back, Ollie.

[Ollie]

That's exactly what I said when this was discussed a while back, Ollie.

Just re-read your post, yeah I'd be interested to see the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) response. If this happened back in August then I'd assume the customer would have got a response by now. Maybe just doesn't want to show it?

[inspector_blakey]

Perhaps it'll be in the next unfettered rant thrilling installment. I'm awaiting it with bated breath!

[JayMac]

Perhaps it'll be in the next unfettered rant thrilling installment. I'm awaiting it with bated breath!

I'm also waiting with bated breath for the next thrilling installment unfettered rant!

[The Grecian]

Good news - the next edition is up and running at http://www.shrug.info/

A brief mention for FGW^▸ (First Great Western) - apparently the Pompey - Cardiff services are overcrowded from Pompey - Soton. No prizes for guessing who's partially to blame for running a poor alternative (despite the fact there's little difference in journey time - 45 to 55 minutes - as the linespeed is generally low). Also a moan about the Pompey - Penzance service being removed.

I like the fact that now there's an hourly Waterloo - Exeter with a good connection to from Southampton at Salisbury in either direction this gets as brief and as grudging a mention as possible.

[John R]

Do you get the feeling they are not fans of SWT^▸ (South West Trains)?

I'm sure they have a point, but reading that sort of vitriol gets tiring after the first couple of pages. 

[eightf48544]

Agree with John R too much Vitriol.

A lot of good stuff gets lost in the rant.

As I posted previously a few tables/list posted without the comments in CAPS would be much more effective. There is a whole list of trains with DUFF STOCK given as a problem. It seems to be a lot but howmany? Many seemed to be short formed rather than cancelled so what's the breakdown. I can't be bothered to count them all up. But given the number of trains SWT^▸ (South West Trains) run it could be a fairly small percentage that are subject to DUFF Stock. I've no way of knowing.

[JayMac]

Are pax really 'THROWN OFF' due to 'DUFF STOCK'? Who does the throwing (conjures up some interestring images) and what constitutes duff? At lease with this forum's 'Current Running' we get an idea of the reasons behind 'OPERATIONAL CONVENIENCE' 

[inspector_blakey]

Don't forget the services that are not cancelled but AXED... Conjures up some rather strange images in my head, anyway. 

And on further reflection, as we've learned from the many "insiders" who post on this forum, isn't OPERATIONAL CONVENIENCE (sic) generally the railway trying to benefit as many people as possible when circumstances get difficult?

[IndustryInsider]

Hogrider 128 is now out covering June to September.  Well worth a read as it amuses me greatly - though as ever the layout of the 'newsletter' is atrocious, so I'd recommend having some Nurofen handy.

I was slightly shocked to see a section headed 'Miscellaneous Good News', but when I got to it, it was actually praising Cross Country and Southern and soon got back to the more regular territory of SWT^▸ (South West Trains) bashing!

[Timmer]

Poor SWT^▸ (South West Trains). What have they done to deserve such roth!

[grahame]

For anyone who wants a taster ...



It's been said before, but I think there would be a far greater positive effect from this newsletter if it was rather more constructive in its approach. 

Example:

I notice a 42 minute delay on a half hourly service and that stops were AXED DUE TO OPERATIONAL CONVENIENCE; I expect the passengers had all gone on the train 30 minutes after their planned one, and running the other service fast probably helped change a 35 MINUTES LATE on the next service for that piece of stock into just a 10 MINUTES LATE ...

I'm sure there are valid criticisms in there, but it's hard to know which ones, or what the alternatives were ...

[inspector_blakey]

Nice work Graham! Reckon you should email them that graphic and suggest they use it to spiff up the visuals on their website a bit