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.