To Finland

To Helsinki for the EPA AGM and POLIS conference.   Once again I went club class on BA because, on what is quite a long flight, it really makes a difference.   This time I went out on a Finnair flight and back on BA (last year it was vice versa) and it was interesting to compare the two flights and see if I came to the same conclusion.   It’s the same aircraft in each case, so that makes it easier.

One difference was apparent immediately in that I could not get a Finnair boarding card on my phone.   This may seem trivial, but it is so much easier without having to bother with pieces of paper.

My travel time was convenient so there was no queue at all at security, which made it very simple indeed.   Not an airline responsibility so no comparison there.   The lounge, too, was a BA lounge and of a generally good quality.   The BA lounges at Heathrow have improved and a really quite good now.   In particular the range of food has extended so that there was a choice of both hot food (largely curries or pasta) and salads.   What did surprise me was that though there were three white wines available they were all chardonnay.   I had to ask for a sauvignon blanc.   Could do better here.

While the lounge in terminal 3 is perhaps not as good as in terminal 5, it’s still fairly generous with windows in most areas and a range of different types of seats.   It wasn’t crowded either, which does help.

Boarding was straightforward and, not being BA at terminal 3, was direct via an airbridge and not via a bus.   Seats and ambience pretty similar between Finnair and BA but no little drinks trays on the arm rests which really are very convenient.

Food, once again, was a pretty similar standard but I have to say that the meal I had was very tasty with particularly nice vegetables, so Finnair edges ahead here.   On the other hand the wine was not too good.

Overall, therefore, pretty much of a muchness, but I think BA edges it.

Because of the 2 hour time change, it was late when I landed at Helsinki, but therefore, quick to get through the airport and into a taxi.   It’s a long walk from the gate to the exit, though.

I did try to use the automatic passport gates but couldn’t get it to work, which is a shame.

Coming home was gave the other side of the comparison.   I was cross that I could not use the fast track security channel because this was open only to Finnair travellers using business class and the clerk would not accept me even though my flight was a Finnair code share.   Pretty poor marks here, as the queue to go through the main security was long.   As in terminal 3 at Heathrow, the exit of security goes straight into a shop.   I dislike this intensely although I suppose you could say that it is, at least honest in demonstrating that shopping is now the main purpose of airports.

The Finnair lounge is not as nice as BA lounges at Heathrow.   While the choice of drinks is pretty similar, the choice of food is very limited and though it was a big lounge it was crowded.   Not many internet desks either.   They did have wireless phone charging, though, which I haven’t seen before.

Boarding is increasingly straightforward the more I fly (especially in business class) but I was interested to notice that the cabin service director came personally to greet the skinheads (genuinely, braces, part bleached denims, 18 hole DMs) behind me because one of them was a gold card holder.

Better wine and an OK choice of meals and the plane was on time at Heathrow.

This being BA it was a bus connection into terminal 3 but a dedicated bus for club class so it was quite quick.   Once in the terminal I realised that if I was prompt I could just make a Heathrow Express, so, after customs I ran and just got on the train before it left.   This would mean no rushing at Paddington.   And so I didn’t rush and just missed a Circle line – the doors closed in front of my face.   What shocked me was to find there was a 15 minute wait for the next train (and it was only 8pm) so I dashed down to the Bakerloo line and went to St Pancras via Oxford Circus.   I caught the South Eastern train without too much rush at that point, but I’m glad I caught the earlier Heathrow Express.

The existential question now standing at platform 2...

"The next station is...[slight pause]...why?"   Perhaps it's a good thing I'm not in Hertfordshire where the next station might be ...[slight pause]...where?

Is it only in English that we can get this?   Are there other places that could add to the range of existential quests beyond Wye and Ware?

How many seats did you pay for?

Twice in the past week I have found myself asking people to move their coats and bags from seats.   This is not the simple case of having put their coat or bag on the seat beside them, but sitting in an aisle seat with a bag and a coat on the seats opposite and an empty window sat beside them.

This might just about be acceptable on a lightly loaded off peak train, but in each case this has been a train leaving London about 5pm.   That is, just about the height of the evening rush hour.

Well, OK, some people will try anything on, but if you're going to do that you have to be prepared to retreat with good grace.   And, to be fair, on one of these occasions, the person did indeed move bags and baggage immediately on request.   But not the other one who first, argued that there was nowhere else to put anything as she wouldn't put anything on the rack in case she forgot it.   Then, when she did finally get the point that the train was full and standing, she only moved her belongings with extreme bad grace and continued muttering to herself all the way to Tonbridge, where she got off.

No news is good news

No nightmares to report notwithstanding the extraordinary effort and changes that were involved in the Olympic Games.

There has been a huge attempt to minimise normal journeys to create capacity for the Games, its organisers, participants and spectators which has affected every Londoner.   We were all warned to expect serious queues and disruption - a really 'big scare'.   And it worked.   The attempts to manage and reduce demand were, if anything, too successful and travel during the games time was, if anything, less crowded and less disrupted than normal.

Yes there were incidents, such as a major points failure outside Cannon Street which took 24 hours to fix.   But such incidents as there were didn't have the enormously detrimental impact that might have been expected.

There were a number of reasons for this.   First, all the  train operators did a thorough preparation including preventative maintenance.   This reduced the number of minor failures substantially.

Second, there were a lot of staff present.   One afternoon I counted 14 staff on the platforms at Waterloo East with another 10 elsewhere in the station.   At London Bridge I counted the number of staff between the ramp at the end of platform 3 and Borough High Street every morning.   It was never less than 23 and reached as many as 47.

Third, contingency plans had been prepared to a degree not previously known.   And, most importantly, fourth, all were committed to the most comprehensive information campaign ever conceived for transport in London.   Moreover, all the media were prepared for a disaster and were busily looking for one (until team GB started winning gold medals).   In its own way this helped the communications campaign.

The sadness is that this effort is not sustainable.   Preventative maintenance might be possible and shouldn't be too expensive, but the flooding with staff is wholly unaffordable.   Communications might be possible but both the media channels and the public would get bored pretty quickly.   We might expect some long term enhancement here but not as much as during the Games.

Well, the next test is the Paralympic Games and it will be interesting to see the difference.   There is already a different attitude.   Before the Olympics there was both excitement and nervousness - would the plans work?   This time neither is really there, certainly not as much.   Will that lead to us all being a bit too blase?   Only time will tell.

Two Eurostar trips - aren't I lucky

This week I've had two Eurostar trips, one to Paris and one to Bruxelles.  

Th Paris trip was a bit irritating because the morning train from Ashford got me in to Paris far too early, though it left at the right time, while the train from Ebbsfleet arrived at the right time but the return left a bit late.   I opted for Ebbsfleet only because the net wait was less.

Ebbsfleet is only 20 minutes on the train from Ashford but, of course, peak trains don't stop there so it would have meant me going to Stratford and back again - I could just as well have gone from St Pancras.   So I drove to Ebbsfleet instead.

The car parks were full but not that many people were getting on the Paris train so I guess its starting to fill up with commuters - at £8 a day it's par for the course as far as car park charges go.

The Paris train was quite full but on time - I had no complaints apart from the needless check in and security issues.

My lunch (and jolly nice it was, too) was close to Port Royal so a simple trip on RER B.   The RER now looks distinctly grubby, even shabby, only the older Thameslink trains look anything like as bad, and even then, they don't have the graffiti.

Gare du Nord Eurostar terminal has always been cramped and although they have eked out every bit of space it still is cramped, not made any better as the train was full.

Once again the trip was smooth and on time and no real problems driving home.

The Bruxelles trip was from Ashford.   They have recently changed the time of the Bruxelles train to make it a bit less convenient.   It now leaves at 0725 instead of 0625, which means you can't guarantee getting to a meeting in the Euro Quarter until at least 1030.   Sill, it is the first train of the day and has become an all stations train between London and Bruxelles, so I couldn't have got there any sooner.

There were, or so it appeared, a lot more people at Ashford than went to Paris from Ebbsfleet.   Always difficult to compare but I think that shows that Richard Brown was wrong to try and give up Ashford.   And the train was full.   The travel agent had, bless his little cotton socks, booked me in coach 1 - the back carriage - going out and in coach 18 - again the back carriage - coming back just so that I would have the longest walks at the end of the journey.   At Ashford I changed my seat into the front half but there were only two free seats in the front five carriages to choose from.   Yes, it was a Monday morning train, but I still think that shows that they should be putting on more trains.

We were 10 minutes late getting into Bruxelles which meant I didn't get into my meeting until nearly 11, after circumnavigating the building sites around Gare Schuman.

Coming back I also changed seats.   Even easier as there were quite a few empty seats in my carriage.

Once again, it is the boarding procedures which are appalling: the wholly superfluous security checks, they do it because they can, not because it's needed, an the long queues at the UK border force checks - they really do make it difficult and unfriendly to get in to the UK, even for UK residents.

Headcorn's loop

Headcorn is the only station between Ashford and Paddock Wood with platform loops to allow fast trains to pass stoppers.   It also has a goods loop going behind the back of the up platform.   The old fast trains from Ashford to Tonbridge always used the fast, through lines and occasionally we still do when there is a delay and the intermediate stations are cut out.

Once I have also  experienced it when a train has failed at Headcorn (conveniently) and the following train just bypasses the station.   A bit hard on anyone wanting to get on or off there but it's the sensible decision.

This happened today, but I was surprised to be routed via the goods loop and not just on the fast through line.   A strange diversion on a rarely used piece of line.   Anoraks would have been thrilled.

Brighton Rock

We went to Brighton on Saturday by train, as it was almost certainly quicker and possibly cheaper than driving.   Possibly cheaper?   Certainly if we went via Hastings, at only £9.90 return on my Gold Card, which must be a bargain.   Via London it was £42 return and the difference seems hard to justify.   So, via Hastings it was.

The only problem is that the train from Chilham does not connect - there's a 40 minute wait at Ashford - so we drove to Wye to get only a 7 minute wait.   I was surprised at just how full the Brighton train was.   There were people standing from Ashford and only between Rye and Bexhill were there any spare seats.   Admittedly it was Pride in Brighton, but that doesn't really account for the standees from Ashford.  

Coming back there was a crush load from Brighton and standing as far as Eastbourne.   Again, Pride made a difference, but not that much of a difference (we were too early for that).   It's only a 2 car train so maybe Southern should think of increasing the length or increasing the frequency to half hourly.

I still don't know why that line is not being electrified.   It would cut out an island of diesel and would allow for more interesting through journeys.   What about some peak hour trains from London having a portion from Ashford to Rye?   Or, more imaginatively, a regular service from Brighton to Lille?

A Tale of Two Halves

This afternoon South Eastern was hit by two lightning strikes which put out the signalling on each side of Sevenoaks.   These things do happen (though the signalling appears to be remarkably vulnerable to this occurrence) and, having noticed the delays starting to build up I left the office early to catch the 1549 from London Bridge.

There were clearly already problems because this service was to be started from London Bridge, the inbound service clearly having arrived too late to go up to Charing Cross and back.   This isn’t too much of an inconvenience if you know about it – though not if you turn up at Charing Cross only two or three minutes before departure.

In this case it wouldn’t really have mattered because we were 5 minutes late leaving London Bridge, in any case but I was prepared to be up to 30 minutes late and so it turned out.

The conductor on the train was excellent, keeping everybody informed about progress and making it clear where he had no information and where he was just relaying what he had been told.   After we left Tonbridge, by this time 35 minutes late, he even ensured the catering trolley offered everyone free drinks (though there wasn’t ,much left by the time they got down to me).

So far, so good, and I was prepared to write a very complimentary piece about South Eastern as a result.   However, Ashford control then stepped in.   Readers of previous entries will know that Ashford control has a tendency to make off the cuff decisions which normally involve people having to get off trains for no obvious significant benefits to anyone except themselves.

As we sat in Ashford station there came an announcement saying that the train would now run fast to Canterbury West, instead of stopping at Wye, Chilham and Chartham.   This would save about 5 minutes, I estimated.

And when was the next train to Chilham?   Another 35 minutes as that train was running even later than the one I was on, making me 70 minutes late home.   And could they stop the high speed?   No they couldn’t.   I even rang the customer service desk to see if they could be persuaded to stop the high-speed at Chilham, but, after suggesting that I wrote in a letter to ask for it, they just hung up.

There were about 15 people travelling to the local stations who were already 35 minutes late at Ashford and now had to wait an additional 35 minutes.   Admittedly more were travelling through to Canterbury and Ramsgate, but this move saved them only 5 minutes when they were already 35 minutes late.   It was an absurd decision but of a piece with Ashford control’s usual standards.

A more cynical explanation is that they thought that if they ran fast from Ashford to Canterbury they could just get down to under 30 minutes late and so would not have to pay delay-repay.   Admittedly they would end up paying twice as much to the people wanting to go to the local stations, but there are fewer of them.

Needless to say this disruption did not feature on SouthEastern’s twitter feed or on their website – which merely recorded ‘minor disruption’ on the Ashford line.

There is a huge tendency on South Eastern to try and minimise any disruption, either by not reporting it or by reporting it as smaller than it actually is.  Hence large scale delays of 30 minutes or more are ‘minor disruptions’, many delays and cancellations are not shown in the ‘live information’ and the forecast length of delay is minimised.   So, at Ashford, waiting for 35 minutes, the train was initially reported as 18 minutes late, then 25 minutes late and then 28 minutes late, when looking at its progress it was clear it was 35 minutes late all the time.   Such deceit helps no-one and only leads to regular travellers just not trusting anything that South Eastern says.⨪

Hungarian Rhapsody

An overnight trip to Budapest – a city I’ve always enjoyed visiting.   The first flight isn’t until quite late, 0945, so I could leave home at the normal time and the routine of High Speed to St Pancras, Circle Line to Paddington and Heathrow Express works as well as it usually does and got me to Heathrow by 0845.   2 hours is a reasonable time for this journey, all told.   It could have been quicker but unless the circle line comes just exactly as I hit the platform at King’s Cross, I just miss a Heathrow Express.

A shame that the plane was 30 minutes late  but it could have been worse.  And what a contrast of weathers between Kent and Hungary.   As I walked to the station at Chilham it had started to bucket down with rain, and even with an umbrella, my shoes and trousers were soaked, one sleeve of my jacket was soaked and the rain had even got inside my bag.   Budapest, on the other hand, was sunny and 36º . 

The airport was easy to pass through – no queues and it was only half an hour to the hotel in a taxi, but I was so hot that I needed a shower straight away.

The Hungarians like to make a bit of a show of everything and after meetings we went on a tour of a network of wine caves before dinner.   But wherever we went we had to wear decorated capes which they said were for ‘wine knights’ but I thought made us look more like wine bishops.

Coming home was just a bit of a pain.   Tony offered to share a taxi to the airport but his plane was an hour and a half before mine and he was intending to allow himself an hour and a quarter to get to the airport when it only took about 30 minutes.   So I went with him on the basis that I would just sit in the lounge.   This was beyond passport control and when I got there I found the inbound plane was expected an hour late.   So three hours to wait.

As it was, the plane was only 45 minutes late arriving and the crew did an excellent job turning it round.   We were about half way through boarding when the captain said we had 13 minutes to be airborne and so would everyone help to get us going quickly – and, blow me, everyone cooperated and we were duly airborne 13 minutes later.

The layout of Ferihegy airport helps as the terminal as between the ends of two runways pointing in opposite directions.   This means that the runway for landing is always the one pointing to the terminal, giving a short taxi to the pier, and the one for take off is also the one where the end is by the terminal.   This certainly helped get us going quickly.

At Heathrow we were back at terminal 3 with buses to take us to the terminal.   For the first time, club passengers got their own bus which sped off one third full.   This got me through the terminal quickly and I just caught a Heathrow Express with, then,  plenty of spare time to get to St Pancras for the 2212 train.   All on time going home.⨪

Bad choices

I went to Amsterdam for a meeting at Schipol Airport with IFSF (the big oil companies) on standard payment protocols - you may well yawn, but in the rapidly changing world of electronic payments, this really matters.   Anyway the trip out was largely event free, even though it meant an early start.   I was out of the house by 5 and drove to Ashford to pick up the second high speed train of the day at 5.43.

I actually needn't have left so early because I was on the platform before 5.25 but better early than late.   Even then, I was into the lounge at Heathrow by 7.20, showing that 2 hours is a reasonable target.   The plane left from the C satellite at T5 which meant a longer transit ride but still pretty quick.   Revealing to see that the plane at the next gate but one, going to Barcelona, was a 767 while the next door gate, with a plane for Athens, had only a 319 - so much smaller.

Our meeting at Schipol (I didn't even leave the terminal building) was over quicker than I thought and I went to check if I could get on the 1455 to Heathrow, instead of the 1620 to City, which I was booked on.   The BA agent was friendly and transferred me, even though I think he should not have done, so I thank him for that.

Bad choice, though.   The 1455 was marked as expected to be 20 minutes late, but we didn't actually leave until 1535, 40 minutes late, arriving at T5 a bit up, at 15.40, but still 30 minutes.   I breezed through the terminal but the plane did arrive at B satellite and I did stop for a pee so I missed the Heathrow Express by less than 20 seconds.   But, as they say, for the loss of a nail, the shoe was lost.... and my pee meant that I missed the train at St Pancras by a minute or two and hence didn't get home until 1815.

The annoying thing is, I checked the time of the plane to London City and it had arrived early at 1610.   I could easily have made the 1649 from Stratford International and been home 30 minutes earlier.   Bad choices!

Are we secure?

I cannot be the only person to think that airport security has got out o hand in places.   This is not to say that I do not value the need for security but simply that some parts appear to serve no useful function but do cause inconvenience for passengers and cost for operators.

A few years ago I was lucky enough to get bumped up into first class on a flight to San Francisco.   Here there were very comfy seats and a glass of champagne was thrust into your hand almost before you could sit down.   All through the flight bottles were left out for you to help yourself.  And when it was time to at there was a fine table cloth with very nice bone china plates - and plastic knives and forks.   Why plastic, I asked?   I was told it was FAA regulations because metal cutlery was considered to be a security risk.   Presumably in a way that broken bottles or broken china was not.

That bit of nonsense got changed, but other examples abound.   British airports are obsessive about ensuring that departing and arriving passengers cannot mix.   In some parts of Heathrow this actually means staffed junction with movable partitions where the inbound and outbound routes cross with one rote blocked while the other is open - a bit like a level crossing on the railway.

Yet most other airports don't have this worry.   In Amsterdam, from where I am writing this blog, incoming and outgoing passengers mix happily making a cleaner design of airport and a reduced call on staff.   If they can manage it, why can't UK airports?   And please don't say it's about security because it's all airside and everyone has been checked through security somewhere.   You can't get there without either having a valid boarding pass, having been screened, or having arrived on a different flight, having bee screened before you boarded there.  Nor can it be about customs, for the same reason.   And if it's about immigration then you have to go through passport control again if you want to leave.

It's just another example of a failure to consider security from an overview and to understand that the chain i only as strong as its weakest link.   And don't mind anyone else's cost or convenience.

Ticket Gates

Ticket check gates at stations can protect revenue, and we know that the Department of Transport is obsessive about them.   This can lead to absurd arrangements.   Take Waterloo East, for example.

The east exist leads only to Southwark Underground station and here we have two lines of gates - one for South Eastern and one for London Underground - separated by about three metres.   There is nowhere to go once you are through one ticket line but through he second.   But both are there, both independently staffed, and both usually needing different tickets to make them work.   Given so many national rail/LU interchange stations have barrier free interchange it is hard to see the justification for even one barrier line, let alone two.   It is hard to see how the costs are justified, although it makes it administratively easier for London Underground in the case of ticketless passengers arriving at the street exit from Southwark station.

It might also have been easier to understand if the Western exit from Waterloo East was fully gated, but it isn't.   The bridge to Waterloo is too narrow to have a gate line big enough for the passenger flow.   So tickets here are checked manually and are likely to remain so.   So money has been spent at the eastern exit plugging one hole, but the much bigger hole at the other end is still wide open.

But it gets worse.   There is a flight of stairs from the bridge linking Waterloo East and Waterloo, lading to to Waterloo Road.   This flight of stairs is on the street side of the manual check of tickets coming from Waterloo East and also on the street side of the ticket line for Waterloo.   However, there is a line of gates at he top of this flight which seems to serve no purpose of any sort because no ticket is needed on either side of it.   This can only be the DfT's obsession really getting hold.   And complete absence of brain power.

Down the tubes

Yesterday I had to go to Dublin for the day.   For once, the high speed link really makes a difference as it makes Heathrow as accessible as other airports.   It takes only about 10 minutes longer than to get to City Airport and it's far more convenient than trying to get to Gatwick by public transport.

This morning, though an early start was plain sailing and I was sitting in the Aer Lingus lounge less than 2 hours after leaving Chilham.   Coming back was a bit more of a problem.

We left Dublin half an hour late because of bad weather in London and touched down 25 minutes behind schedule, arriving on stand at 1735.   As I waited for the plane door to open I realised that I had either to dash for the Heathrow Express - with ten minutes to catch one - or potentially be an hour later home.   It's all to do with the fact that the 1840 from Charing Cross does not stop at Chilham.

Had my plane arrived on time, at 1710, I would have comfortably made the 1733 Heathrow Express, getting to Paddington at 1748.   I would then easily make the 1840 from St Pancras and maybe even catch the 1810.   As it was, it was touch and go whether I would catch the 1748 and, if I waited for the 1803, my chances of catching the 1840 from St Pancras would have been slim and so I would have had to wait for the 1940.

Fortunately there are no passport checks coming form Ireland and even though the gates are quite  long way from the terminal there are some travelators and I ran most of the way, in fact, catching the 1748 with time to spare.

To Paddington and a comfortable walk to the circle line and 2 minutes to wait for the rain.   I should have guessed there might be a problem because all the destinations shown on the dot matrix indicator were 'check destination on front of train'.   And so there was.   As e arrived at Edgware Road the driver informed us that there was a fire at Liverpool Street and that we would be held up for 20 minute or so.   He advised us to take an alternative route.

From Edgware Road this means the Bakerloo line up the street, so I ran there and just caught a train to Oxford Circus.   Another dash t change platforms and I squeezed on to a Victoria Line, just making it onto the platform at St Pancras by 1838.

But it was a close run thing.

Arses and Elbows

Once again we had just a four coach train back from London this afternoon, instead of an eight coach train.   It was packed, with passengers standing all the way to Headcorn.   And with his apologies the guard repeatedly told us that the train would go to Canterbury with passengers for the coast having to change at Ashford.

And, again, as we got to Ashford, the coast bound passengers all got off and then got back on again - with others waiting there - as the platform announcements were that the train was going to Folkestone and Dover.   What was not reassuring was that as these platform announcements were being made, the driver was announcing to the train that it was going to Canterbury.   Passengers didn't know what to do with some sticking to their seats - it was still full and standing - and others milling at the door.

It was not just the passengers.   Being at the front of the train it was not difficult to hear the driver and the platform staff having a row.   The driver was insisting to them that he was going to Canterbury while the platform staff were telling him he was going to Dover.   So how was the poor passenger to tell?

Just before the train actually left a truce was declared with the platform staff winning.   This resulted in all the Canterbury passengers having to hurry off and push through the standing passengers at the vestibule to get off and avoid being whisked away to places they didn't want to go to.

What a shambles, and nothing that couldn't have been avoided with a bit of communication and thought in advance.

Always Off First

It's only natural that regular commuters don't want to waste time.   They know just the right carriage to get in to and just the right door to exit by to avoid a lengthy walk down the platform.   In the morning peal it's always a compromise between getting in at the front, to minimise your walk and going further back to maximise your chance of a seat.

For me, it's easy.   The 0642 Cannon Street train is 80% empty where I get on so I can get the best of both - in the first carriage and still have a seat.   It's only really by Staplehurst that the train starts to fill up and by Sevenoaks, it's full and standing in every carriage - particularly the first.

By the time we get to London Bridge it's always a bit of a scramble to get out with Cannon Street passengers who got on after Tonbridge blocking the vestibule.

But there are a couple of women who a regular travellers who are especially annoying.   They are always the first to get up from their seats and go towards the doors as we near London Bridge - but they don't want to get off there, but to get off first at Cannon Street.   On good days this is bad enough because they just block the vestibule and make it harder for London Bridge passengers to get past.   On bad days, when the whole aisle is packed, these two can and do cause gridlock.

Why do they do it?   God alone knows.   They get little benefit for themselves, at best perhaps 5 or 10 seconds, but cause so much inconvenience to many others.   What's worse is that they know they cause that inconvenience.

A day tri to Koln

This is probably the most extreme – Koln by train for the day.   It’s a close call, I could have flown, but the flights all go from Heathrow and by the time I had got there, it wouldn’t have saved me any time.   And coming home, too, I’d have to leave about the same time.   It would have been different living in London because I could have got a later flight home, but it’s just too much to come back to Canterbury.   It’s also a bit longer than it might have been because the return train from Bruxelles to Ashford has been moved forward from 1756 to 1656, and I just can’t make that.  So I have to drive to Ebbsfleet instead.   I had looked at taking the morning train from Ashford and coming back from Ebbsfleet on the train, but the timetables are not good and would involve a 45 minute wait at Ebbsfleet and a further 45 minute wait at Ashford.

So, it was up at 5 to get to Ebbsfleet by 6.30.   Google maps says 47 minutes, so I left just after 5.35.   A dreadful day with heavy showers along the motorway, which was surprisingly busy at 5.45, when I joined it.   A lot of lorries doing leapfrog and holding everyone else up.   What was interesting was that they travelled at 60mph, when I thought they were supposed to be speed limited to 50mph.   Some of that is probably my speedometer, but it’s not going to be that far out.

I got there in good time, at about 6.15 and was through security by 6.25 – 45 minutes to wait.   There’s nothing at Ebbsfleet.   The station is tiny with few facilities and even less around.   It always was a station without much purpose.   People go there only because it’s the only place the trains stop, and even then not that many.   I notice that even Eurostar have realised the problem with Ebbsfleet as it now provides services to Europe only in the morning and gets arrivals back only in the afternoon.  More passengers joined our train at Ashford than at Ebbsfleet while the commuter service starting from Ebbsfleet was all but empty.  

Eurostar was on time and very full – at least in the front carriage, which is where I was.   Just like a commuter train, they started to stand by the door about 15 minutes before we arrived just to be first out.

An easy change at Bruxelles (I had a 17 minute window, which was plenty) and then on to the ICE to Koln.   I always thought the ICE was a classy train and so it is.   I treated myself to 1^st class (it cost me all of €10 extra) and sat in the ‘panoramic’ seats right behind the driver.   Very pleasant with a glass screen which goes milky when it gets direct sunlight on it.   Waitress service and beer in a proper glass, not a plastic cup, too.

Stylish the trains might be, but effective?   As we left Aachen, on time, there came an announcement that the train would now terminate at Düren.   Düren?   It’s a small junction between Aachen and Köln.   Don’t worry, they said, there will be a connecting train from the same platform.   We waited for 10 minutes and then the connecting train came in.   For a reason never explained, this was the train from Frankfurt to Bruxelles and passengers from each train would just swap over.   Yes, all very well, but why?   And although the coach numbers were the same, just to make matters more interesting, the trains were reversed so not only was the platform full of people trying to cross from one side to the other – and people trying to cross back the other way, there were also people going from the back to the front and the front to the back.   Eventually we got away about 25 minutes late.

What surprised me was that no explanation was given and the same cheerful announcements we received at the start of the journey, continued cheerily for the remainder, with a brief apology for any inconvenience.   What was also surprising was that no mention of this was made in advance, when clearly this had been planned for some time.   Just like South Eastern and hardly satisfactory.

Luckily, it caused few problems in Köln, but I was hoping (indeed, needing) a smooth journey back when, blow me, the same thing happened again.   That was more worrying as I had only a short time to connect – and a two hour wait if I missed the train.   The chippy cheerfulness advising me that the train was running 25 minutes late was not welcome.

Even if this morning’s change over had been a last minute job, this one would have been known about for several hours but still there was no advance notice given.   Tricky for me, perhaps, but some notice could have meant others could have made alternative plans.

We eventually pitched up at Bruxelles Midi just over half an hour late.   And give Eurostar their due, they rebooked me on the next train without a murmur, even though my ticket was non-transferable.   Still a pain having to wait for two hours though.   And a smooth enough trip back to Ebbsfleet and home by 9.30.

Delay Repay

Delay Repay is a very good scheme in principle as it does provide a degree of compensation for late running, while at the same time providing a good measure for the operators.   And, since it was introduced, South Eastern have handled the scheme well and efficiently.   Perhaps all too efficiently for some, perhaps, as I have received more than half a dozen payouts this year so far.

I was impressed, though, that they sent £40 in M&S vouchers for all he disruption caused by the gas leak instead of the normal travel vouchers.   This is going to produce happy customers.

The next step is to use the payouts to start to look at disaster recovery.   If there are problems on the lines east of Ashford, South Eastern will not stop the High Speed trains at local stations until after there has been a cancellation.   This means that they may well know that there will be no connecting train for local stations but will not stop the High Speed because the cancelled train was not yet due to run.   This means that connecting passengers must wait either for the next High Speed (which will now stop at local stations because the previous connecting train was cancelled) or the next local.   In either case South Eastern will have to pay up on delay repay.   If they had just stopped the initial high speed services at local stations then they would not have had to pay.   The same is true if a local train is delayed by 30 minutes or more.   The High Speeds will not stop (because the local train is only late. not cancelled) but the company will have to pay out on delay repay.

It cannot be too difficult to calculate just how many delay repayments they need to make before it becomes cheaper to pre-empt the problem by stopping high speed trains.

I do note that Eurostar does not use delay repay.   Why am I not surprised?

DOING THE ASHFORD DANCE

This evening’s train was only four carriages rather than eight.   Not only did this mean it left London Bridge absolutely packed – people were standing as far as Staplehurst, an hour down the line – but that it could no longer serve both the Canterbury and Dover lines.   No real problem, these things happen.   And it was a happy circumstance that the train was going to run through to Canterbury while passengers for the coast line would need to change to a connecting train at Ashford.

The indicators said Canterbury West and the conductor confirmed this on two or three occasions while also apologising for both the inconvenience and the overcrowding.

So far so good.   And, just outside Ashford the conductor repeated his announcement that passengers for the Dover line should change at Ashford and that there would be a connecting train at the adjacent platform.   Dover passengers dutifully got ready and all alighted as soon as the train reached Ashford.   Canterbury passengers stayed where they were.

But here’s where the confusion set in, because the connecting train was also showing Canterbury West as its destination.   So the Dover passengers milled around on the platform quite unsure of what to do, while all us Canterbury passengers sat on the train.   Then came the announcement that this train was going to Dover and Canterbury passengers should change for the connection.

Chaos then ensued as all the passengers on the train started to put coats on and gather bags to get off while all the passengers on the platform stated to pile in.   With all the pushing and shoving – we didn’t want to get trapped on a train going to Folkestone while irritated passengers who had been told to get off and then get on again didn’t want to be left behind – it was lucky no-one got hurt.

Eventually it got sorted out and the original train (still showing Canterbury West as its destination) left for the coast and we left for Canterbury.

What’s wrong is that the train control staff had three hours to plan a recovery from what was clearly a train failure.   There were no knock-on implications from the original failure.   But either they left it to the last second to improvise, ignoring their previous decisions and/or failed to tell the on-board staff what was going on.   There’s really no excuse for either.

More Gas

The gas leak in Canterbury has taken on larger proportions.   The line between Ashford and Canterbury has been closed all day and is likely to be closed all tomorrow, too.

The bus service between Ashford and Canterbury has been institutionalised and given a timetable.   I wish I had known that this morning as I had a 20 minute wait at the station for the bus to arrive.   Bizarrely, though the bus to Ashford makes a reasonable connection, the bus from Ashford is timetabled to depart 1 (that's one) minute before the train it's due to connect with arrives in.   That this ensures that the journeys will always qualify for delay/repay is, perhaps, the good side of an otherwise quite strange decision.

During the day, the 'live' travel information from South eastern and National Rail continues to give spurious outputs.   At 0810 I had a message from SouthEastern to say that the 0808 departure from Chilham would be 5 minutes late, followed, shortly after, by a correction to say that the 0808 would now run to time.   Needless to say, it wasn't running at all.   This evening, too, the National Rail live departures site showed two or three trains running to time from Ashford to Canterbury, and even showed their progress on the little graphic.   They, too, weren't running.  It all undermines any confidence one has in the 'live' information.

Gas

Gas leaks by the railway are a serious problem because they can be so unpredictable.   I was not surprised, therefore, that a gas leak at Canterbury West this afternoon closed the Ashford to Ramsgate line.   Perhaps a little bit more surprised that the closure will last into Tuesday.

On this occasion SouthEastern were reasonably efficient about organising a replacement bus service and I was only 45 minutes late getting home.   It would have been more helpful if they had announced that the buses were going from the international side as a number of people were waiting on the domestic side with no staff there to give information.   Nevertheless, the system worked.

I am glad I am not going in tomorrow, though, because there's no knowing how long I would have to wait at Chilham station because the bus service is not timetabled.

Short formations and tall stories

The 1610 from Charing Cross is normally an 8 car train.   It splits at Ashford, with four going round the coast and four going to Canterbury.   Today it was only one unit - a technical failure on the way up at Ashford.   It happens.

Indeed, London Bridge announcers said it would only be four cars so that helped bring people back from the far end of the platform and reduce delays.   That's sensible.

In fact it was only 3 cars, packed so full that people were left behind at London Bridge.   I'm glad it didn't include me.   It was a bitterly cold evening and I would rather be on a short train, standing all the way to Ashford (which I was), than not have a train at all.   And I would rather have the connection at Ashford right at the farthest end of the platform (which it was) than not there at all.

The conductor was duly apologetic, on frequent occasions.   But why did she have to say the train was normally 7 cars, when it's normally 8?   And why did the SouthEastern website say the train was reduced to 4 cars when it was reduced to 3?   I suppose 7 cars reduced to 4 sounds better than 8 cars reduced to 3.   But these silly attempts to try and minimise problems just damage the credibility of every pronouncement.

Snow (2)

What a turnround.   Full marks to SouthEastern for getting Monday morning's services going without a hitch.   After gloomy forecasts on Sunday evening and threats of more cancellations on Monday morning there were no problems at all.   So, gold stars all round.

Snow

As usual the first hint of snow brings South Eastern to a standstill.   The official line is that signal failures at Tonbridge and Ashford mean that trains will be delayed by up to 45 minutes.   The reality, as usual, is that most trains are not running and those that are are running well over an hour late.

At Chilham we have had virtually no trains today, despite the 'live travel information' recording most trains as expected 'on time'.   Occasionally we have had a 'delayed*', and sometimes just a 'delayed'.   By the time these are over 90 minutes late - that is, by the time they are due at Ashford they are still marked 'delayed' and not left Charing Cross - you would think they  might at least admit to the fact that these trains are not going to run.

Similarly, they mark the trains that start at Canterbury West as 'on time' until their departure time has come and gone, then they just disappear from the system.   The fact that the train could never have run, because the inward train from Charing Cross never got through, doesn't seem to suggest that the departure from Canterbury West should have been marked as cancelled from the outset.

By this evening, South Eastern has decided to show the Ashford Line as running a 'good service'.   This seems to be despite about 50% of trains being cancelled and the rest continuing to run over an hour late.   I have to say, even trying to dig down into the website leaves it hard to know what is truth and what is fantasy.   My last check, thinking about trains in the morning, shows the 1940 from Minster leaving Chilham 72 minutes late (booked for 2012, actually 2124).   It then shows it leaving Wye, 66 minutes late (booked for 2018, actually 2124). Maybe SouthEastern have found a way of travelling at the speed of light, but I doubt it.   If this is 'good service' I wonder what poor service might be.

Snow is a problem, but a continued glossing over the facts and minimising the disruption helps no-one.

A bad week for South Eastern

Not a good week for SouthEastern, at least for me, with disruption almost every day.

Monday was fine, but on Tuesday we got as far as Paddock Wood only to be told that we were being diverted to Victoria.   Inconvenient as I had a 9am meeting and instead of arriving at London Bridge at 8.15, we got to Victoria at 8.40 and then it was a slow and crowded trip on the tube back to London Bridge.   What surprised me was that the 'live running information' continued to say we were expected at Cannon Street 'on time', even after we gt to Victoria

Wednesday was more problematic as I had an 8.30 meeting so I was annoyed when I checked just before leaving home to find that the 6.42 had been cancelled.   I hurriedly got the car out and drove to Ashford.   Getting there's not too bad, but coming home through Ashford at peak hour is very slow.   So another claim on 'delay repay'.

Thursday was even more tight as I was flying from Heathrow to Dublin and really needed the trains to run to time.   After two disrupted days I thought the chances were good but was shocked to check and find the 0642 was cancelled again!  This caused me some concern and I decided to go down to the station in any case and get the Canterbury train to see if I could pick up the High Speed there.   Chris, another regular was also at the station.   He hadn't bothered to check times and was dismayed when I told him the train was cancelled and double checked his phone - which said the same thing.   The platform indicator said 'on time', but we place little reliance on that as we know it is accurate as much by chance as anything else.

But the signal was green and while we were standing there waiting for the Canterbury train, we saw lights coming down the track from Canterbury.   And there came the 6.42, which turned up, amazingly enough, 'on time'.

Which was all well and good for me, but how many other people checked their Internet to find a message that it was cancelled.   And, as far as the internet was concerned, it remained 'cancelled' until at least 7.40, which was when I last checked.

If Thursday was a virtual disruption, Friday was not and was the climax to the week.

I had thought I was doing quite well.   My plane from Dublin had landed at Heathrow at 5.45, with a gate right where it left the runway.   So, given I had no passport check, it was just a brisk stroll to catch the 6.03 Heathrow Express.   Some fairly quick interchange work at Paddington meant that when I arrived at King's Cross I had 5 minutes to get from the Circle Line to platform 12 at St Pancras.   This is tight but not impossible and I just caught the 6.40 to Ashford.

When I saw the crowds on the platform at Ashford I knew something was wrong, but I thought luck might be with me as there came an announcement that the train would call at all stations to Ramsgate.   That should mean that I got to Chilham about an hour and three-quarters after my plane touched down - which is not bad.

But it was not to be.   We sat at Ashford for 15 minutes and then they said the train was cancelled.   Apparently there had been a lineside fire in the old car body works at Chilham and it was now believed that this involved gas cylinders, so the line was closed for the foreseeable.   Indeed, Tom subsequently told me he had heard a large explosion at about 7 and this clearly accounted for it.

I shared a taxi with three other guys going to Canterbury and we found the A28 was closed too, with all the traffic diverted up our lane.   This lasted until Saturday morning and there were no trains either - though this didn't prevent the website from saying that the trains were expected 'on time'.   To be fair they also showed bus times an I'm glad I didn't wait for one.

Belgian - no, London - waffle

A postscript to my sad trip to Bruxelles with Eurostar.   Eurostar have now told me that becasue my two and a haf hour delay was casued by a fatality on the line they are not liable and therefore no compensation.   Not even South Eastern would try that on.

Early Doors

Since the timetable change in December, my normal train in the morning leaves one minute later – at 0642 instead of 0641 – and arrives at Ashford two minutes later at 0656 instead of 0654.   Beyond Ashford there has been no change.   It also leaves Ramsgate 2 minutes earlier, at 0608 instead of 0610.

The 0641 was never a brilliant timekeeper, always two or three minutes late for no greatly apparent reason.   Not that the platform indicators would admit as much – always showing the train as running ‘on time’ whenever it actually left.

So the group of half a dozen us regulars would always be seen huddled around the various apps we have on our smartphones, comparing predictions as to how late the train would be today.   Somewhat surprisingly, they didn’t all match.   It didn’t really matter because the 3 minutes wait the train was scheduled for at Ashford, combined with an on-going schedule that is hardly challenging meant that the degree of lateness (if any) arriving at London Bridge bore little relationship to the degree of lateness arriving at Ashford.

Nevertheless, the new timetable promised the chance that the train would be more on time than in the past and this must, on principle, be a good thing.

And so it has turned out in practice.   We still all hudle around our apps because we don’t trust the platform indicator, but (more by chance than anything else) the indicator’s usual display of ‘on time’ has been shown to be more foten accurate.

The huddling around apps has, however, shown something else.   While our departure is now more usually actually on time, the usual departure time from Minster is shown as 2 or 3 minutes early, while the departure from Sturry is usually shown as 5 minutes early.   Now that might be true.   The times are, after all ‘automatically’ generated by the train’s progress.   If so, were I a passenger from Sturry I would be truly irritated about a train that regularly left 5 minutes early.   Early running is, after all, a cardinal sin.

Or it might not be true.   In which case what does this say about the ‘automatically generated’ times showing the train’s progress?  South Eastern has already admitted that the indicator on Chilham station platform is a work of fiction that crudely approximates to reality, so maybe the truth about reporting times is similar?   And, if so, where does this leave the last year performance figures that showed that South Eastern beat the threshold for season ticket discounts by 0.04%?⨪

Belgian Waffles

My recent experience on Eurostar suggests that I might be quite unfair in criticising South Eastern when other operators seem to have even greater problems.

The 7.28 from Ashford is due to get to Bruxelles at 1008 and it duly left on time and pulled up in Lille on schedule.   There we sat for a bit until the announcement came that there was a fatality in Belgium and we would be delayed until 1015 and then take a slower route.   That’s understandable and I expected to take the old route through Tournai and be, perhaps, 30-40 minutes late in Bruxelles.   I had plenty of time today going out so that didn’t really matter.

But we left at 10, on the LGV at speed and crossed the Belgian border at about 1010 before grinding to a halt alongside the conventional line near Silly (what an appropriate spot).   And there we sat for about 2 hours (moving two short distances) as we had conflicting announcements that we would arrive at 11.30, then 12.15, then 13.00.   Some of the announcements said we would transfer to the conventional line and some that we would stay on the LGV which would re-open.

And during this time we watched trains go past on the conventional line.   Not that many – the service from Ath to Bruxelles is only two an hour.   During the whole of the two hour delay SNCB managed to route only two trains in each direction between the old line and the LGV.

To be fair to Eurostar they continued to let us know what they knew – which wasn’t much and kept changing – and we got an extra cup of coffee!

Our final arrival in Bruxelles Midi – Two and a half hours late.   Compensation?   You will have to ask back in London, sir!

Robbing the Sick

I had to drive to William Harvey Hospital at Ashford (just visiting) on several days recently.   As with most hospitals these days, you ave to pay for the car park.   And almost without exeption, when I went to the machine to pay there was another driver muttering outrages about having to pay to park.

It beats me who they think should pay the costs of operating and maintauining the car park.   Should it come from patient care?   If not, from where?   Nothing is for nothing, but drivers, in particulalr, feel that they shouldn’t have to pay their full costs – or, indeed – in some cases, any costs.

Knickers in a Twist

Our normal train home had reached Sevenoaks where it seemed to stay for quite a time.   Then came the announcement that everyone feared – a problem on the line ahead so a delay – indefinite.

Actually it wasn’t too bad because we had another announcement about five minutes later telling us what had happened – though the content wasn’t to everyone’s liking.   Trespassers on the line at Pluckley meant that the line was closed.   We would be diverted via Swanley and Maidstone East (fine for those for Ashford and beyond) passengers for Tonbridge could take the adjacent Hastings train (OK for them) and passengers for stations between Tonbridge and Ashford should go to Tonbridge and wait for a bus (at least 30 minutes – not great).

So, good marks for some quick thinking and organisation.   As promised, the Hastings train lkeft a little later and, not much after that, we headed out backwards to Swanley via Otford.   I wasn’t quite sure why we couldn’t reverse there, but never mind that.   At least we were on the move.

And so, we got to Swanley and the driver got out to walk back along the train.   A little frisson as a stopping train to Sevenoaks pulled in at the adjacent platform.   Would they let that train out first meaning we would have to follow behind as it stopped everywhere?   But no, common sense prevailed and we left first.

But here, perhaps, common sense left us because the conductor then announced that the main line had re-opened so we would go back to Sevenoaks and on the normal route with normal stops.   So, a return to Sevenoaks, leaving there an hour late then a stop at Tonbridge.   I didn’t know why, as all the passengers for Tonbridge had been told to get off at Sevenoaks first time round.   Any passengers from Tonbridge would have got on the later train – now running in front of us.   It would have made more sense to run non-stop from Swanley to Ashford (by whichever route) as previously advised.

Common sense did return a bit at Tonbridge as we then ran non-stop to Ashford.  Well, I say non-stop, but of course we were now behind a stopping train so we stopped regulalrly only between stations rather than at stations.

Nobody had said anything about after Ashford but I had my suspicions as the website was saying that the Canterbury West portion had been cancelled.   So, I fully expected to get to Ashford to be told to get off and wait for another connection.   Clearly some change had been agreed because as we approached Ashford the conductor announced that the front half of the train would only go as far as Dover and not continue to Ramsgate as originally scheduled.   He repeated this as we came to a stand.

But this was not the view of the Ashford station announcer who said that the rear four coaches would, indeed, be terminated at Ashford and passengers for Canterbury should wait for the next train (which we had, in fact, overtaken at Headcorn).

So, as expected, we traipsed over from platform to platform 6 and waited the admittedly short time for the next train to appear.

Overall, the train I left London on had five changes of route in 90 minutes – and three in 30 minutes.   Probably every decision taken on its own was sensible but it gives no-one any confidence that anyone really knows what they are doing.   There are times when you should just get a plan and stick to it.