Fatalities at Iver - merged topic

[whole diary]

[BBM]

I got to PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) at around my usual time of 16:50 to catch the 17:06 to Westbury (for Twyford) when I discovered the disruption which it appeared had only just started as the first train still on the departure screens was the 16:42 stopper to Reading. By 17:00 it was clear that this was going to be yet another long delay, on my past experiences of this sort of thing I was guessing it could be 2 hours before anything was running - and then the first trains would be utterly overcrowded.

Not fancying a long wait either at or near PAD, and not fancying also a schlep via Waterloo and Reading on SWT^▸ (South West Trains) (which was the advice from the public address), I decided 'what the hell' and forked out 18 quid for the HEX. (There were many announcements on the train to advise FGW^▸ (First Great Western) ticket holders that their tickets wouldn't be valid.) At Airport Jct we passed a stationary HST^▸ (High Speed Train) which from the window labels appeared to be the 16:30 to Taunton via Bristol TM^‡(resolve).

On arrival at Terminal 5 I rushed to the bus station where with sheer good luck a First Bus route 77 to Slough was just about to leave. Although there was heavy traffic in Langley I made it to Slough station at about 18:05 in the hope that trains from Reading were being turned back there. So far so good.

However the new CIS^▸ (Customer Information System) screens at Slough were in 'chocolate teapot' mode. They simply showed a list of scheduled departures from about 16:30 onwards as either 'cancelled' or 'on time'. At about 18:15 an HST arrived on Platform 2 which appeared to be the 16:22 PAD-Oxford. At the same time it was announced that a Turbo arriving in Platform 5 would continue to London which it did although it departed slowly with a yellow signal.

Finally at about 18:30 a Turbo for Reading arrived in Platform 4. It was busy but not overcrowded so I guess it had been stuck somewhere. After leaving Slough we were overtaken by that Taunton HST and then by another HST after Maidenhead. Arrival at Twyford was at 18:53.

So I'm over 20 quid out of pocket but I think I probably had an easier journey than a lot of people (and it was quite interesting and different!).

[johoare]

Yes I forgot to say that when I got back to Maidenhead the "old" information screens (I don't think we're ever going to get the new ones) were stuck mid afternoon.. Mind you the last two mornings at 9am they've been stuck round about 6am which creates a fair amount of confusion each time a train arrives..

[BBM]

Mind you the last two mornings at 9am they've been stuck round about 6am which creates a fair amount of confusion each time a train arrives..

It's the same at Twyford although this morning they'd made it another 30 minutes to 6.30am before getting stuck! (My 18:53 arrival last night was shown on the platform indicator as the 15:42 'on time' departure to Reading...)

[eightf48544]

Disruption is when the stupid way we've decided to run the railway by separating the wheel from the track makes itself know.

Instead of Western Region in total control, you have Paddington FGW^▸ (First Great Western) speaking to Swindon FGW who then tell Notworkrail control who then tell Paddington Notworkrail and Slough IECC^▸ (Integrated Electronic Control Centre)   which trains it wants to run where and when but probably doesn't give Paddington FGW the information. Notworkrail then decides which buttons it's going to press.

BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) WR could muck up quite well on these occasions but at least the General Manager after staggering out of BRB^‡(resolve) mornign conference at Marylebone with arrows in his back could shoot a couple of people to encourage the others.

Having been shot one morning for not running a fast Brighton on the Main Line from Gloucester Road you don't do it again.

[super tm]

These incidents are difficult to deal with neither NR^» (Network Rail - home page) or the TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company)'s know when the Police will release the scene cack to NR, I have looked at the performance stats for yesterday unusually the fatality (suicide) is down as a TOC incident and not NR

AIUI^▸ (as I understand it) The driver thought he hit someone but after an extensive search nothing was found.

[adc82140]

Arrived at pad at 17:15- saw the chaos and bailed to Waterloo. Luckily I know my way round there and boarded a Reading train before it got announced and got a seat. Was completely rammed full on departure, pax at Clapham J didn't stand a chance. Arrived Maidenhead at 20:15

[eightf48544]

In the cicumstances isn't there something in the rules about cautioning trains through the section to report any obstructions etc.

It went something like "Proceed with caution being prepared to stop short of any obstruction". Which meant something like 10 mph but you got the section surveyed and if nothing found the service starts running again.

[Boppy]

Hi,

I got caught up I this yesterday.  I arrived just before 7pm to see that no fast trains were leaving so waited around before rushing to catch a train on platform 5 only for everyone to be told that due to their being no driver it wouldn't be leaving until he'd had his compulsory break so it was suggested everyone going as far as Didcot crossed over to the next platform (4) to board the 19.45 train.  Unfortunately so did lots of people who'd been sat on the train on platform 1 for 45mins so as well as people who intended catching the 19.45 there was also at least two other trains worth of people who tried to get on it.  Unfortunately during the 20 mins wait to leave two other HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) left - so bad choice/guess by me who wanted to get to Reading!

I can't recall ever being so crushed in my life on a train!  I was squeezed at the front in carriage H against the door.  At some point on the journey the TM^‡(resolve)'s office door in the vestibule gave way to give us some bonus space!!!    People joked and got through it though and the TM on the journey helped explain the situation well I thought.  Some people got out at Maidenhead (first stop) and then a whole load at Reading.

I felt sorry for the staff having to deal with such confusion.  One thing I will say is that under such circumstances (i.e. crushed conditions on delayed trains) seat reservations should just be binned as applying them simply doesn't work as people can't get to their seats anyway.  I'm sure staff have better things to do with their time than place all the reservation slips at such confused times anyway!

Boppy.

[hornbeam]

I agree that there is no need for passengers to be abusive. However, the point is we all pay good money to travel and it amazes me how un customer focused the train industry is. I quite agree that the way the railways are set up doesn^t help. But the point is that information break downs happen far too often, no one seems to be willing to help passengers home by other means  costs too much) and as far as most passengers are concerned they don^t care which company is to blame they want to get home.
   At the risk of upsetting people, as far as I^m concerned The ticket machine/ web site says FGW^▸ (First Great Western), all the signage on the station says FGW, the staff uniform says FGW and the train says FGW so frankly the buck stops with FGW.  I^ve said before that I^ve found some staff to be of little use and rude in these situations- no matter how polite I am and If I was to come out with some of the things I^ve heard said where I work I^d have been sacked. I^ve reached the point that I wonder if being polite is of any use as in most cases the politeness is not returned.

[Gordon the Blue Engine]

Hornbeam, I agree with you.  Customer Service issues are the responsibility of FGW^▸ (First Great Western), not NR^» (Network Rail - home page).  When my wife passed through Mark Hopwood's own station - Pangbourne - yesterday morning there was no staff, no clock (still), nothing on the screens and no announcements.  When she came back in the evening the new "reliable" Oxford screens were showing disinformation.  All down to FGW I think.

[IndustryInsider]

nothing on the screens and no announcements.

It appears that they've pretty much given up on the old system at most stations now.  Most seem to spend their days blank.

[johoare]

It would be nice to get our new system in then. I think I remember it was supposed to be before Christmas.. The old clocks have been gone a long time now..with no obvious work done where the clocks were to suggest why they have been removed so far in advance..

[slanted]

I managed to squeeze into the 7.15 to Swansea. I'm usually all for being given as much detail as possible about the cause of delays, but in this case I think the train manager may have overdone it a bit. He explained the suspected fatality at Iver and then went on to add that due to health and safety regulations we were also delayed due to the train crew needing a break before starting the journey. On a massively overcrowded train full of mildly frustrated passengers, I think probably the first part of the explanation would've sufficed (At least judging by the reactions of the people I was surrounded by )

[Chris from Nailsea]

Thanks for posting that, slanted - I agree, sometimes there is a balance to be struck when offering information!

Welcome to the Coffee Shop forum, too!

CfN. 

[slanted]

Thanks for the welcome Been lurking round these parts for far too long without posting