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.