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.
Monday, 17 September 2012
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.
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.
Thursday, 6 September 2012
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.
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?
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?
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