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Snow!
Dec 2, 2010 13:28:28 GMT
Post by heofgreatwisdom on Dec 2, 2010 13:28:28 GMT
I gather the snow clearing train is stuck in the snow at Orpington!! HOGW
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paolo
New Member
Posts: 48
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Snow!
Dec 2, 2010 14:27:18 GMT
Post by paolo on Dec 2, 2010 14:27:18 GMT
Celestine, you're lucky, unfortunately I can't work from home and am extremely frustrated as I have a deadline looming. As bad as they were, I don't ever remember Connex being this bad. I have checked the performance figures on the SE website and they are currently at 83.1% punctual, with the threshold for a discount being 82%. Personally, I don't see how they can be that high, I have been keeping a travel diary for the last month and out of a potential 46 journeys, 22 have either been late or cancelled.
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Snow!
Dec 2, 2010 15:39:33 GMT
Post by celestine on Dec 2, 2010 15:39:33 GMT
I agree Paolo, I am lucky. Can't do everything from home but enough to keep me going for a few days.
SET are a complete pain. I for one, do not believe their performance figures and have challenged them on them before. They certainly do not put all the late and cancelled trains on the daily performance bit of the website and I can only remember one train arriving in London on time in the past three months.
Maybe we should all start keeping our own records?
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Snow!
Dec 2, 2010 22:53:45 GMT
Post by vinnie on Dec 2, 2010 22:53:45 GMT
Trains can't run if they can't draw electricity,ie frozen conductor rails. It would be interesting to see how all the office people on here would get on if Southeastern come up to your places of work and turned the power off. By the way Southeastern are also going to need an immediate update as to why you are not doing your jobs and why doesn't the bloke in the office next door know whats going on,blah blah blah.
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Snow!
Dec 3, 2010 11:21:54 GMT
Post by celestine on Dec 3, 2010 11:21:54 GMT
Oh dear Vinnie...not sympathy for SET, surely?
Actually I would be able to work from paper files, my diary, telephone and by consultation with colleagues. And I could explain immediately what I was doing, what I would be doing in the next few hours and precisely what I was unable to do.
I GET IT about the third rail. What I don't get is the use;less and contradictory information, high prices (and enormous price hikes) and lack or perceived customer care.
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Snow!
Dec 3, 2010 13:26:06 GMT
Post by celestine on Dec 3, 2010 13:26:06 GMT
And another thing - are we able to claim compensation for the days that there were no trains on our line? And if so, anyone know how?
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paolo
New Member
Posts: 48
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Snow!
Dec 3, 2010 14:54:29 GMT
Post by paolo on Dec 3, 2010 14:54:29 GMT
"are we able to claim compensation" I certainly hope so! I have lost 2 1/2 days, (managed to get in via HS1, but it took over 3 hours in total) just bought myself a sleeping bag to do an all nighter!
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Snow!
Dec 3, 2010 16:48:06 GMT
Post by lordbarne on Dec 3, 2010 16:48:06 GMT
I buy daily tickets for those days on which I am travelling to London rather than working from home, but always at the weekend for the appropriate days of the following week. As a result of the snow I have been unable to travel for the last two days, so I shall be making representations when I go to the ticket office on Sunday to purchase tickets for next week for a refund. As I recall, there were no problems in obtaining a refund following the snow which we experienced last February.
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paolo
New Member
Posts: 48
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Snow!
Dec 3, 2010 17:55:49 GMT
Post by paolo on Dec 3, 2010 17:55:49 GMT
yeah, but it gets complicated with season tickets, (I have an annual gold card)
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Snow!
Dec 4, 2010 1:09:31 GMT
Post by vinnie on Dec 4, 2010 1:09:31 GMT
Dear Celestine, I'm sure you could function in your office,chatting with your colleagues and looking at bits of paper .The point is, now try to think what is involved in running one of the busiest railway companies in Europe,which covers the whole of southeast of England and involves thousands of staff with weather conditions changing by the minute and using an infrastructure you have no control over.
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Snow!
Dec 4, 2010 10:20:15 GMT
Post by celestine on Dec 4, 2010 10:20:15 GMT
Dear Vinnie, Please do not have a pop at me and denigrate my job. You have no idea what I do for a living and I think you are getting personal and way beyond the normally very polite boundaries of this forum. I have explained in an earlier post that all I want is accurate information, compensation where it is due and value for money.
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Snow!
Dec 4, 2010 13:22:44 GMT
Post by Richard Trevithick on Dec 4, 2010 13:22:44 GMT
Dear Cel,
I'm sure that Vinnie didn't mean for his comments to come across in the personal manner in which they were interpreted.
Regarding the other part of his message, he is spot-on. Network Rail have once again failed ensure the infrastructure is in working order for any kind of service. They have had points heaters (and subsequently points) failing everywhere, they have had very few deicing trains out and about, and when they have been they simply got trapped. NR is a laughing stock, but unfortunately the buck seems to stop, rather unfairly in this case, with the TOC who is powerless to do anything; they don't have their own deicing trains and they are not allowed to touch the infrastucture. My medium has conducted a few staff seances recently, and apparently people at SET are working very hard behind the scenes to try and get things moving.
Regarding your previous post and following on from above, the lack of and then generally incorrect information from SET is totally inexcusable. Returning to my staff seance lastnight, many frontline staff were utterly frustrated at the usual problems with communication, wrong information on platform displays and general lack of information on which few trains were running. Front line staff are feeling just as, if not more frustrated than the commuters.
What I don't understand is your comment regarding "high prices (and enormous price hikes)" and the relevance this has with the snow. Please elaborate more.
On the general subject of refunds and compensation, this does make me chuckle as it never happened in my day! My medium has jestfully suggested that perhaps she should seek a discount any time a shop keeps her waiting for more than 3 minutes at the till, or if they happen to be closed when she feels the urge to go shopping!
Am I correct in thinking that the cost of an annual gold card gives everyone the equivalent of at least 6-8 weeks of "free" travel?
The good news from my medium in deepest Kent is the snow is now rapidly melting, so it should be business as normal early next week.
Enjoy the weekend everyone.
RT
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Snow!
Dec 4, 2010 14:58:41 GMT
Post by celestine on Dec 4, 2010 14:58:41 GMT
Dear Mr Trevithick, Thank you for your reply.
In answer to your questions re my previous comments, I consider that, having paid my money over to SET for a service I have, in essence, a contract with them to provide the service we have agreed, ie travel to and from London for the period of a year. My complaint is that they are not always fulfilling their side of the bargain, and often hide behind excuses ("it's the rules of the franchise") and mis-information.
To continue your shopping analogy, if I require a Mars Bar, for example, i go into a shop and pay over my money for the said item. If the shopkeeper then made me wait for three days and then handed me two thirds of a Mars Bar, I think you'd agree I have reason to feel aggrieved.
I already seem to have paid for HS1, which is useless to me in Staplehurst and feel that SET putting my fares up by 12.8% next year is immoral.
I would like to see SET providing tickets (and technology) with certain number of journeys "programmed" on to them (or money, like Oyster) so we have more control over what journeys we make and when.
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Snow!
Dec 4, 2010 16:47:06 GMT
Post by O.V.S.Bulleid on Dec 4, 2010 16:47:06 GMT
Dear Celestine There are many ways to look at rail commuting but if you take a look at the National Rail Conditions of Carriage then you will discover that you will pay money to travel but train operators don't warrant that trains will run on time - or at all. This clearly isn't a fair position and in my view not an equitable contract between parties. It is, believe it or not, far better than in other European countries. The third rail has always been a problem in snow conditions and on occasions when rain falls and then the temperature drops. Up to the end of slam door rolling stock this was far less intrustive than today - and maybe why Connex was able to operate a bit better in bad weather, although still not as it was under British Rail (let alone my old Southern Railway). Rolling stock used to be constructed to serve specific jobs. There has never been a more reliable motor than the English Electric 507 that was built for third rail conditions and didn't mind a bit of arcing as the shoes would plough through many types of inclement weather. Todays managers may say that a lot of arcing causes problems that then cost money to deal with but when measured against the loss of working capacity across industry that cost is not high. The great problem is the privatised rail industry which simply issues a specification for suppliers to offer their products. When the 375 units were ordered nobody remembered to quote a maximum level of power that the infrastructure could deal with - and obtained rolling stock that required £400m of power supply upgrades - don't forget the argument that Kent and Medway have benefited from a lot of investment - but of course because the industry could get the specification correct. Even now they got it wrong and 12 car trains cannot operate south of Tunbridge Wells. I'm sure that today's professional railwaymen will correct me but my understanding is that arcing has the effect of the onboard computers thinking that the power is off and shut down too easily. Notwork Fail have now said that 1,600m (?) of heated third rail now exists - where? (...and why not before?) In British Rail days diesel and electro-diesel locomotives could work with any electric rolling stock - but of course these locomotives are now operated by different companies - and the privatised industry needs to generate contracts and pay for their use. Some train operators still keep one locomotive as a Thunderbird. Looking at websites that record where locomotives are suggests South West Trains have 73235 based at Wimbledon, Southern have 73202 based at Stewarts Lane – but GoVex doesn’t have even one… GB Railfreight have 73141, 73204, 73205, 73206, 73207, 73208, 73212 and 73213 based at St Leonards, 73209 in store at the same location. There are even privately owned locomotives that would be available – 73107 and 73136 are at Stewarts Lane and 73005, 73006, 73109, 73119, 73129, 73210, 73211 all have mainline registration for being hauled but available to be brought back into full use at relatively low cost. OK they need coupling mods but all of these have 160 kN of tractive effort on diesel power and could be used to get trains across areas where the third rail is a bit dicky and then go onto third rail when things get better. (More importantly perhaps why don't some units have small diesel or fuel cell engines on board to take trains at reduced speed in the same situations?) All train operators get raw data from Notwork Fail so there is more information available than they would wish you to see. Let is face it - you can see how marine traffic is operating in the English Channel - www.marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?&zoom=14¢erx=1.3283¢ery=51.12055 and so you can with air traffic - www.flightradar24.com/ but you can't see where trains are. Is it really beyond the wit of Notwork Fail or GoVex to put what is on their own staff's screens onto the internet so that everyone could at least make their own decisions. Yours sincerley O.V.S.Bulleid
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Angry Kent Commuter
Guest
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Snow!
Dec 5, 2010 15:19:13 GMT
Post by Angry Kent Commuter on Dec 5, 2010 15:19:13 GMT
I too am sick of the current situation. Attached is a link to youtube of my latest handywork. I hope the mods don't mind, its for entertainment only! :-) AKC www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jITChiKCII
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