8 ms·

I commute on British trains every day and have done for years. They’re not perfect but I am rarely delayed by more than a minute or two. Agree that a massive i

I commute on British trains every day and have done for years. They’re not perfect but I am rarely delayed by more than a minute or two. Agree that a massive issue is the price, my train is close to £30 a day for a 50 minute ride into the city and it goes up by 3-5% every year. The only proper delays I see are caused by unusual weather, as it’s the UK - flooding or snow.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
NeedMoreTea 7y ago
Can I hazard a guess you are doing so in the South East? Try the trains the rest (most) of us experience. Northern Rail, Transpennine, West Coast, ScotRail, East Coast (there already) etc that have or are about to be given to "operator of last resort", i.e. renationalised -- under a Tory government --for having failed badly.
- zimpenfish 7y ago
  I commuted in the South East (particularly South East London which means SouthEastern trains) and it was a miracle if I was only delayed by 1 minute on a 12-20 minute journey. Coming to down the Charlton line into London Bridge almost always involved a 5-10 minute delay at (the crossover junction just outside the station that I forget the name of).
  - alias_neo 7y ago
    I commute there now, the past weeks have been a nightmare of cancelled trains 2 minutes before they're due while I stand at an open air station freezing my nuts off or getting rained on. If we had a little more notice id stay home where it's warm for an extra 15 minutes. The delay you speak of is still there, and it's now worsened by the fact that the new Thameslink trains are given priority to pass as we sit and wait.
  - vidarh 7y ago
    Don't know that line, but the approach to London Bridge is overall far less congested after the improvement work over the last few years, despite far more frequent Thameslink trains. It has follow on effects far down some lines as well, as problems at London Bridge would often cause delays far south of Croydon and up again towards Victoria (because Croydon becomes a chokepoint) for example.
- GordonS 7y ago
  ScotRail train carriages are mostly vastly improved over what they used to be (they don't smell nearly as much of stale piss as they used to...), but still a million miles to the comparative luxury you'd find in Japan. But as elsewhere in the UK, expensive .
phatfish 7y ago
I want to commute on the line you do then. Thameslink trains during rush hour are constantly delayed or cancelled, so often you have to just get an earlier train to avoid being late. Over the summer there were at least 4 occasions where the whole line was suspended. They did get unlucky with some power failures if I remember. But twice the line was suspended through London due to heat effecting overhead wires. Once could be just about forgiven (it gets hot in summer who knew that), but to have it happen again a few weeks later cannot. Sort the issue that suspends your whole network after the first occurrence! If it can't be fixed with a reasonable amount of time to schedule emergency works the system is not fit for purpose.
- goodcanadian 7y ago
  Once could be just about forgiven (it gets hot in summer who knew that), but to have it happen again a few weeks later cannot. Well, the thing is: we weren't able to change the laws of physics in those few weeks. Metal still expands, so the wires still droop in the heat. The system is designed for normal conditions; sometimes it doesn't work in abnormal conditions. They could probably do better, but it takes time, effort, and money which are all in limited supply.
  - ben_w 7y ago
    I think the point is: if it happens multiple times per year, it’s something that should’ve been designed for, and “abnormal conditions” isn’t an OK excuse.
    - goodcanadian 7y ago
      Yes, but last summer's heat waves definitely count as abnormal conditions (though I fear that they will become more and more normal in the future).
Digit-Al 7y ago
You're lucky. I mainly drive to work, but every time I have to take public transport I am reminded why I drive. Earlier this year I had to take public transport for a few weeks whilst getting my power steering repaired and on one occasion my first train was delayed for reasons that were never explained. When I got to my interchange the next train was delayed due to signal failure. And when I finally got my train the driver announced that due to the delay they were passing straight through two stations, one of which was mine, so I had to get off earlier and wait for yet another train. In the end it took me about 3hrs to complete a journey I can do in 30 mins by car.
twic 7y ago
There's huge variation, though. London to Oxford? A delight. London to Norwich? Survival horror. And I hear that up North it's positively Lovecraftian.
- rwnspace 7y ago
  Yes, Northern R'Lyeh closed many of their routes recently, which caused unknowable horror to descend over Innsmouth (among others on local stopping lines).
  - bloopernova 7y ago
    I know that HN generally frowns on "me too" or other Reddit-like comments or replies, but I feel a deep (ones) need to reply to this. Your comment made me very happy, I laughed and snorted, and I'm glad I wasn't drinking my coffee at the time I read it. Thank you for writing it, you are awesome. Now I'm thinking of a Cult of Cthulhu who design railway depots as an homage to their unknowably evil master, with junctions and lines as a representation of its tentacles and body.
    - vidarh 7y ago
      If you like that, Good Omens (the series at least; not read the book) has a bit where it is suggested the M25 is effectively the shape of a demonic curse, designed to cause misery to everyone traveling on it.
    - twic 7y ago
      Supernatural has a giant pentagram made out of railway lines: http://www.supernaturalwiki.com/Devil%27s_Gate_in_Wyoming http://www.supernaturalwiki.com/Devil%27s_Gate_in_Wyoming

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

NeedMoreTea 7y ago

Can I hazard a guess you are doing so in the South East? Try the trains the rest (most) of us experience. Northern Rail, Transpennine, West Coast, ScotRail, East Coast (there already) etc that have or are about to be given to "operator of last resort", i.e. renationalised -- under a Tory government --for having failed badly.

zimpenfish 7y ago
I commuted in the South East (particularly South East London which means SouthEastern trains) and it was a miracle if I was only delayed by 1 minute on a 12-20 minute journey. Coming to down the Charlton line into London Bridge almost always involved a 5-10 minute delay at (the crossover junction just outside the station that I forget the name of).
- alias_neo 7y ago
  I commute there now, the past weeks have been a nightmare of cancelled trains 2 minutes before they're due while I stand at an open air station freezing my nuts off or getting rained on. If we had a little more notice id stay home where it's warm for an extra 15 minutes. The delay you speak of is still there, and it's now worsened by the fact that the new Thameslink trains are given priority to pass as we sit and wait.
- vidarh 7y ago
  Don't know that line, but the approach to London Bridge is overall far less congested after the improvement work over the last few years, despite far more frequent Thameslink trains. It has follow on effects far down some lines as well, as problems at London Bridge would often cause delays far south of Croydon and up again towards Victoria (because Croydon becomes a chokepoint) for example.
GordonS 7y ago
ScotRail train carriages are mostly vastly improved over what they used to be (they don't smell nearly as much of stale piss as they used to...), but still a million miles to the comparative luxury you'd find in Japan. But as elsewhere in the UK, expensive .

phatfish 7y ago

I want to commute on the line you do then. Thameslink trains during rush hour are constantly delayed or cancelled, so often you have to just get an earlier train to avoid being late. Over the summer there were at least 4 occasions where the whole line was suspended. They did get unlucky with some power failures if I remember. But twice the line was suspended through London due to heat effecting overhead wires. Once could be just about forgiven (it gets hot in summer who knew that), but to have it happen again a few weeks later cannot. Sort the issue that suspends your whole network after the first occurrence! If it can't be fixed with a reasonable amount of time to schedule emergency works the system is not fit for purpose.

goodcanadian 7y ago
Once could be just about forgiven (it gets hot in summer who knew that), but to have it happen again a few weeks later cannot. Well, the thing is: we weren't able to change the laws of physics in those few weeks. Metal still expands, so the wires still droop in the heat. The system is designed for normal conditions; sometimes it doesn't work in abnormal conditions. They could probably do better, but it takes time, effort, and money which are all in limited supply.
- ben_w 7y ago
  I think the point is: if it happens multiple times per year, it’s something that should’ve been designed for, and “abnormal conditions” isn’t an OK excuse.
  - goodcanadian 7y ago
    Yes, but last summer's heat waves definitely count as abnormal conditions (though I fear that they will become more and more normal in the future).

Digit-Al 7y ago

You're lucky. I mainly drive to work, but every time I have to take public transport I am reminded why I drive. Earlier this year I had to take public transport for a few weeks whilst getting my power steering repaired and on one occasion my first train was delayed for reasons that were never explained. When I got to my interchange the next train was delayed due to signal failure. And when I finally got my train the driver announced that due to the delay they were passing straight through two stations, one of which was mine, so I had to get off earlier and wait for yet another train. In the end it took me about 3hrs to complete a journey I can do in 30 mins by car.

twic 7y ago

There's huge variation, though. London to Oxford? A delight. London to Norwich? Survival horror. And I hear that up North it's positively Lovecraftian.

rwnspace 7y ago
Yes, Northern R'Lyeh closed many of their routes recently, which caused unknowable horror to descend over Innsmouth (among others on local stopping lines).
- bloopernova 7y ago
  I know that HN generally frowns on "me too" or other Reddit-like comments or replies, but I feel a deep (ones) need to reply to this. Your comment made me very happy, I laughed and snorted, and I'm glad I wasn't drinking my coffee at the time I read it. Thank you for writing it, you are awesome. Now I'm thinking of a Cult of Cthulhu who design railway depots as an homage to their unknowably evil master, with junctions and lines as a representation of its tentacles and body.
  - vidarh 7y ago
    If you like that, Good Omens (the series at least; not read the book) has a bit where it is suggested the M25 is effectively the shape of a demonic curse, designed to cause misery to everyone traveling on it.
  - twic 7y ago
    Supernatural has a giant pentagram made out of railway lines: http://www.supernaturalwiki.com/Devil%27s_Gate_in_Wyoming http://www.supernaturalwiki.com/Devil%27s_Gate_in_Wyoming