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one interesting point to note from your comment, is that a suicide will have indirect knock-on effects on other trains "if they wait for the passengers of the d

one interesting point to note from your comment, is that a suicide will have indirect knock-on effects on other trains "if they wait for the passengers of the delayed trains". that NEVER happens on UK trains anymore. if your train is late, and there is only one connecting train to your destination... well that's just too bad, because in all likelihood your connecting train is run by a completely different operator and they have no obligation to wait for the delayed one.

twblalock 11y ago
At least you have other trains to take.
chrisseaton 11y ago
But I believe they do have an obligation to get you to your destination. A couple of times I've missed a last train due to an earlier delayed one and they just put you in a taxi no questions asked.
dagw 11y ago
if your train is late, and there is only one connecting train to your destination... well that's just too bad Maybe there's a difference between local and long distance lines, but the last time I was in England and that happened, they just rounded up everybody who missed their connection and put them a couple of min cabs.
- creshal 11y ago
  We Germans are, for some reason, kinda nervous when someone mentions "trains" and "round up everybody" in the same sentence. So we just divert and delay trains.
- claudius 11y ago
  That could also happen in Germany. It’s not that the connecting train has any obligation to wait, rather, the operator of the late train has an incentive to bring its customers to their destination despite the delay. If both trains are run by the same company, having the second one wait may be the cheapest way to achieve that. However, if that is – for some reason, e.g. last train late at night or somesuch – not possible, you can well get a voucher for a taxi ride to your destination a few hundred kilometres away.
creshal 11y ago
Well, not that it helps too much. The worst case I had – last-minute overnight ride to attend a funeral – my first train was late, the connecting train left before it finally arrived, the alternate train was also late, so I couldn't catch the third anyway, the second alternate was also late… The original plan was to switch trains once and sleep during the rest of the ride. In the end I was re-routed four times, awake the whole night coordinating said re-routes with the train operators (and getting all the paperwork necessary to get free tickets for the alternate trains). Could've just used the bloody car instead.

twblalock 11y ago

At least you have other trains to take.

chrisseaton 11y ago

But I believe they do have an obligation to get you to your destination. A couple of times I've missed a last train due to an earlier delayed one and they just put you in a taxi no questions asked.

dagw 11y ago

if your train is late, and there is only one connecting train to your destination... well that's just too bad Maybe there's a difference between local and long distance lines, but the last time I was in England and that happened, they just rounded up everybody who missed their connection and put them a couple of min cabs.

creshal 11y ago
We Germans are, for some reason, kinda nervous when someone mentions "trains" and "round up everybody" in the same sentence. So we just divert and delay trains.
claudius 11y ago
That could also happen in Germany. It’s not that the connecting train has any obligation to wait, rather, the operator of the late train has an incentive to bring its customers to their destination despite the delay. If both trains are run by the same company, having the second one wait may be the cheapest way to achieve that. However, if that is – for some reason, e.g. last train late at night or somesuch – not possible, you can well get a voucher for a taxi ride to your destination a few hundred kilometres away.

creshal 11y ago

Well, not that it helps too much. The worst case I had – last-minute overnight ride to attend a funeral – my first train was late, the connecting train left before it finally arrived, the alternate train was also late, so I couldn't catch the third anyway, the second alternate was also late… The original plan was to switch trains once and sleep during the rest of the ride. In the end I was re-routed four times, awake the whole night coordinating said re-routes with the train operators (and getting all the paperwork necessary to get free tickets for the alternate trains). Could've just used the bloody car instead.