The Railways

[AngryOfTuebrook]

2 hours ago, Rico1304 said:

I’m travelling from Rose Hill to Rose Grove today.  As far as I can see the only two stations in the U.K. with ‘Rose’ in their name.  

Rose West?

[AngryOfTuebrook]

Nice to see these finally in service.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-64373081.amp 

[easytoslip]

I'm dreading my train journey to Liverpool next Monday, I haven't done it since before Covid, I'm looking for the best ear plugs so I can cover them with headphones and then blindfold myself so I can't see or hear anyone for four and a hours. She reckons I whinge to much and might have a condition ending with ism and would happily knock me out for the journey. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Rico1304]

Met with 2 people yesterday who travelled to Manchester by train, one from Southampton and one from Edinburgh.  Both journeys took 9 hours due to various cancellations as no staff to operate trains and 1 had her purse nicked on the way.  
 

I was at Victoria station for 25 mins and on the platform I was waiting 3 trains cancelled as no staff.  It’s a joke. 

[stringvest]

17 hours ago, easytoslip said:

I'm dreading my train journey to Liverpool next Monday, I haven't done it since before Covid, I'm looking for the best ear plugs so I can cover them with headphones and then blindfold myself so I can't see or hear anyone for four and a hours. She reckons I whinge to much and might have a condition ending with ism and would happily knock me out for the journey. 

 

 

jism?

[AngryOfTuebrook]

2 hours ago, Rico1304 said:

Met with 2 people yesterday who travelled to Manchester by train, one from Southampton and one from Edinburgh.  Both journeys took 9 hours due to various cancellations as no staff to operate trains and 1 had her purse nicked on the way.  
 

I was at Victoria station for 25 mins and on the platform I was waiting 3 trains cancelled as no staff.  It’s a joke. 

Yeah, but something something Mick Lynch something something.

 

#BackBoris 

[stringvest]

On 08/12/2019 at 23:17, Bjornebye said:

One of my best moments was throwing a cunt off a train with his bike at woking or guilford (can't remember which station). He wouldn't let a woman sit down because his bike was next to him and he had got on first. Loads of people standing. Friday early evening and this cunt thought he was still talking to his p.a. It takes a lot for me to go from "I wish / should do that" to "right fuck you". 

 

 

Nah it doesn't. Im a cunt. 

 

it takes about half a pint.

[Bjornebye]

10 minutes ago, stringvest said:

 

it takes about half a pint.

You know me too well P 

[Gnasher]

18 minutes ago, AngryOfTuebrook said:

Yeah, but something something Mick Lynch something something.

 

#BackBoris 

 

The 5p bags balance up the scales.

[AngryOfTuebrook]

Trans-Pennine stripped of the franchise for being shit.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65555262

 

Good to see Labour recommitting to nationalisation (as each franchise expires). The whole fucking lot needs to be taken away from the privateer rob-dogs.

[Bjornebye]

16 minutes ago, AngryOfTuebrook said:

Trans-Pennine stripped of the franchise for being shit.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65555262

 

Good to see Labour recommitting to nationalisation (as each franchise expires). The whole fucking lot needs to be taken away from the privateer rob-dogs.

 

That's funny. Every morning I have to get up at 6am to check what trains they're bothering to run. The 7:54 to Victoria rarely ever runs so every other day I get the 7:24. Takes me 35 minutes to get to Manchester and about an hour door to door to work, ideal. However if they decide not to run them I have to get a train to Piccadilly which stops at places that I don't believe even fucking exist with a longer walk to work the other side. Yesterday both TPE trains were cancelled, this morning? Both running and both bang on time. I did think that was weird. 

[redinblack]

Im going up to Newcastle this weekend, would normally have gone by train accompanied by my book and a bag of cans, but it will have to be the car this weekend. It has got worse in recent years but I do prefer the train to driving, just hope the strikes are sorted soon.

[AngryOfTuebrook]

32 minutes ago, Bjornebye said:

 

That's funny. Every morning I have to get up at 6am to check what trains they're bothering to run. The 7:54 to Victoria rarely ever runs so every other day I get the 7:24. Takes me 35 minutes to get to Manchester and about an hour door to door to work, ideal. However if they decide not to run them I have to get a train to Piccadilly which stops at places that I don't believe even fucking exist with a longer walk to work the other side. Yesterday both TPE trains were cancelled, this morning? Both running and both bang on time. I did think that was weird. 

That sounds like a problem that's always been there with the way UK privatised rail works. Their performance is measured in terms of reliability (% of trains that run) and punctuality (of those that run, % that are more-or-less on time). If they repeatedly fail on either measure, there are penalty fines.  What it means is the train operators are incentivised to cancel (or part-cancel) trains if there's a risk of missing the punctuality target. Once the services are run publicly, that perverse incentive instantly disappears.

[AngryOfTuebrook]

8 minutes ago, redinblack said:

Im going up to Newcastle this weekend, would normally have gone by train accompanied by my book and a bag of cans, but it will have to be the car this weekend. It has got worse in recent years but I do prefer the train to driving, just hope the strikes are sorted soon.

On the subject of perverse incentives...

 

Those performance regimes I've just mentioned don't apply on "void days" - such as during extreme storms - when they're not able to run any trains. Strike days are classed as "void days", so the train operators still get paid by the Government, but have no real incentive to resolve the dispute and get the trains running. (Having said that, in fairness to the operators and to Network Rail, they have been willing to negotiate but have been repeatedly blocked by Tory ministers, who picked a fight with railway workers for ideological reasons.)

[Bjornebye]

31 minutes ago, AngryOfTuebrook said:

That sounds like a problem that's always been there with the way UK privatised rail works. Their performance is measured in terms of reliability (% of trains that run) and punctuality (of those that run, % that are more-or-less on time). If they repeatedly fail on either measure, there are penalty fines.  What it means is the train operators are incentivised to cancel (or part-cancel) trains if there's a risk of missing the punctuality target. Once the services are run publicly, that perverse incentive instantly disappears.

 

I was speaking to one of their staff a few weeks ago and he said that because people don't buy TPE only tickets from the machines it's either Northern or All services that it saves them money to cancel certain services because they've already made money on the tickets so it doesn't matter to them what journey people take. 

[House of Dirk]

On 24/01/2023 at 12:30, AngryOfTuebrook said:

Rose West?

That is an underground station

[Kevin D]

2 hours ago, AngryOfTuebrook said:

Trans-Pennine stripped of the franchise for being shit.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65555262

 

Good to see Labour recommitting to nationalisation (as each franchise expires). The whole fucking lot needs to be taken away from the privateer rob-dogs.

Hardly seems fair that you can lose your job for being shit.

[Harry Squatter]

Have Avanti been fucked off yet?. Takes a hell of a lot of effort to be shitter and more expensive than Richard Bransons shitshow.

[Bjornebye]

6 minutes ago, Harry Squatter said:

Have Avanti been fucked off yet?. Takes a hell of a lot of effort to be shitter and more expensive than Richard Bransons shitshow.

 

Same trains just rebranded and more expensive. They fucking stink. I remember them pendolinos seemed like fucking spaceships when they came out 20 years ago. 

[AngryOfTuebrook]

12 minutes ago, Bjornebye said:

 

Same trains just rebranded and more expensive. They fucking stink. I remember them pendolinos seemed like fucking spaceships when they came out 20 years ago. 

Virgin made a big deal of pretending that travelling on them was like flying (ignoring the fact that when you fly there's somewhere for your luggage to go).

[VladimirIlyich]

I like watching some Railway nerds on youtube who travel around Europe on the various European rail networks and their trains and railways are space aged in comparison. You can travel through four of five countries and still be on time. Over here you wont get through four or five stations without delays or having to take a bus instead. It's a shitshow. All predictable of course

[Poor Scouser T]

1 hour ago, VladimirIlyich said:

I like watching some Railway nerds on youtube who travel around Europe on the various European rail networks and their trains and railways are space aged in comparison. You can travel through four of five countries and still be on time. Over here you wont get through four or five stations without delays or having to take a bus instead. It's a shitshow. All predictable of course

Remember some Japanese comedian explaining that when she moved here the concept of a train being late had to be explained to her. The other person said it is due at two ish. She had no concept of late trains as Japanese trains arrive on the exact second. She then understood the word Brit ish.

[Gnasher]

[AngryOfTuebrook]

[AngryOfTuebrook]