Trains cancellations - latest

[BeadyBoo]

Apparently there will be media coverage tomorrow at East Dulwich Station, don't know what time, but any media attention has to help raise the profile of this ridiculous situation !!!

[doogsey]

So is anyone planning to get a peak hour service in the morning, or is the general consensus that any trains will be rammed by the time they arrive at East Dulwich and not worth the risk?

If I usually caught the 8:30 I'd consider risking it, but I try to catch the 8:10 so don't want to hang around another 20 mins and then not be able to get on anyway. I think I'll just be going straight to Denmark Hill and into Blackfriars instead.

Thankfully I'm working from home tomorrow, I didn't really want to be caught up in this mess on the first day!

[Jeremy]

That guardian article mentioned that some passengers are apparently planning a fare strike. I mentioned it half in jest earlier... but I would have no problem jumping the barrier if there was strength in numbers. It's not right that customers should pay the full fare for such a radically reduced service.

[danielson00]

Aiming to get the 0655, will let you know! 1 train an hour in Zone 2! No wonder North Londoners take the pi** out of South Londoners 😆

[KidKruger]

I've noticed that tomorrow's timetable doesn't have the 6.09 or 6.39 services any more.

Not sure if they were stopped some time ago or their removal forms part of the latest timetable overhaul.

Either way, it seems incredibly provincial to have a first service at 5 to seven when you're in zone 2 and 15 mins by train from London Bridge.

[KidKruger]

Fare strike - not a bad idea but many passengers probably need onwards travel from LB (like myself).

If the entire passengers of each service could just silently occupy the LB platform silently for 10mins without speaking to any staff perhaps that would attract some attention at least (knowing my luck the platform probably isn't planned to be used for an hour and no-one would notice !).

[MarkE]

Leapt on to a 40 outside the cinema. Was already full by the time we picked up at Goose Green.

We didn't strand too many at the station though, perhaps only 20 people waiting, so perhaps the message got through to most.

[danielson00]

0655 was not really much different to normal, and was the traditional 2 minutes late.

[Earl Aelfheah]

1 train an hour this morning. 7:30, 8:30 and 9:30.

[Earl Aelfheah]

I rarely use the train as I'm aware how poor the service is, but I was still surprised to find that there is only 1 train an hour now. Surely they must be in breach of contract? Why do they still have the franchise?

[James Barber]

Hi Monkey,

Yes I am. Ghastly situation.

I've asked GLA Assembly Member Caroline Pidgeon - who also relies on East Dulwich Southern train services - whether TfL could provide express buses a la X40 while Southern in such chaos.

She has already asked if the Government could accelerate bringing this train franchise under TfL control. It seems Southern execs are out of their depth handling this dispute. The Government/Dept for Transport wish to break the RMT union on this. However it does seem very strange to have such a chronic dispute over changing the role of conductors. This is the 21C and the train network have working practices from the steam age.

[Lowlander]

I got a number 40 from Townley Road around 0755, got to London Bridge around 0845 so not too bad.

I normally get the 0810 train which arrives London Bridge 0826.

Anyone get the 0730 or 0830 train? How was it?

[JohnL]

9:04 Thameslink from Peckham Rye cancelled

9:10 Thameslink 10 minutes odd late.

[Zebedee Tring]

The "Today" programme on Radio 4 had an interview with a woman who sounded as if she was a spokeswoman for Southern Rail. But no, it was Claire Perry, the Rail Minister, who vigorously defended the incompetent rail company and showed little concern for people who are actually losing their jobs because they are persistently late for work as a result of very numerous train cancellations.

The sooner that the railways are nationalised the better. But there's little chance of that under a Tory Government that will probably run the country for years

[Jeremy]

Nationalisation is not going to be some sort of silver bullet. Yes idealistically I'd prefer the service wasn't ran for profit, but if it can be ran competently, I don't really care if it's public or private.

[lpool]

Not sure what difference coming under TfL is supposed to make unless they are happy to roll over to the unions, which they have rarely done in the past. I do agree though that there should be additional buses running to help move commuters around. Not running services creates quite a large cost saving that at the very least could be used to lease buses.

[d.b]

Reading / listening to some of the coverage today it struck me that the rationale for cutting all the trains was "to provide a more reliable service". They are actually suggesting that removing all the scheduled services will help us passengers somehow!?

How does this get approved by government? In no way do passengers benefit from moving from a regular service with unfortunate delays/cancellations to virtually no service at all. Looks very much like Southern have taken advantage of the chaos to avoid having to run a troublesome unprofitable part of their network, their passengers be damned.

[Lynne]

Train from Beckenham on Saturday terminated at Tulse Hill. No-one there seemed to know anything about replacement buses. The man selling the Big Issue outside was more helpful than any of them. Finally tracked down the bus (with heavy bags)way up the road to be told it had broken down and the driver had no idea when the next one would be "There's only been two buses in three hours"

And we pay for this?

[Zebedee Tring]

Yes, the top priority is for the service to be run competently. Like the East Coast mainline when for a few years it reverted to the public sector and provided revenue for the Government rather than dividends for shareholders. Though there are examples of competent private sector running such as Chiltern Railways.

What gets me is the utter complacency of the Minister supposedly in charge of the railways. I hope that she will now get more pressure from higher up in the government to sort things out.

[wroed]

Lowlander Wrote:

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> Anyone get the 0730 or 0830 train? How was it?

Keen to hear this too.

[lj57]

Does anyone know how long the 'emergency' timetable is in place? The London Overground is planned to be closed for a week at the start of August due to Crossrail works at Whitechapel (https://tfl.gov.uk/status-updates/major-works-and-events/east-london-line-closure), so unless Southern have reinstated some trains by then it's going to be even more chaotic.

[Siduhe]

It is supposed to only be for a month when the proposal was first made (and this has been reported widely), but I've noticed that the wording of the Southern webpage has been changed to:

When are services going to be affected?

The revised service will operate on many routes from Monday 11 July until further notice.

We plan to operate the revised timetable until train crew availability returns to normal, and are continuing to do everything possible to restore a full service as soon as we are able.

The revised timetable is expected to be uploaded to journey planners and online ticket engines as shown below. If you are planning to travel on dates not yet updated, please check back nearer to your date of travel.

That sounds pretty ominous to me - with no actual plan to restore services unless the unions back down.

[BeadyBoo]

I caught the 8.30am from ED - unsurprisingly it was uncomfortably packed, and today was probably less busy than usual with people finding/trialling alternative routes.

Caroline Pidgeon was on this service, taking comments and filming.

Apparently the revised timetable is for 4 weeks but there is no confirmed end date.

My biggest frustration was arriving at London Bridge to see delays and cancellations (and that is with the reduced service).

I heard that there is a protest tonight at Victoria station, I think it starts at 5.30pm.

[doogsey]

Zebedee Tring Wrote:

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> What gets me is the utter complacency of the

> Minister supposedly in charge of the railways. I

> hope that she will now get more pressure from

> higher up in the government to sort things out.

There seems to be a concerted effort from the top to break the union on this issue. Two weeks ago on PMs question time David Cameron addressed the current state of the poor service, and said the transport minister will 'make an announcement shortly' about the situation. Well, I'm guessing this 'emergency' timetable was that announcement. As such I think this new timetable was already agreed with, and possibly even demanded by, David Cameron.

lj57 Wrote:

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> Does anyone know how long the 'emergency'

> timetable is in place?

Unfortunately it's indefinite. The cynic in me thinks it will never get reverted back!

[bonaome]

For what it's worth there is a 38 degrees petition proposing that The Government strip Southern of their franchise.

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/strip-southern-rail-and-govia-thameslink-rail-of-the-franchise

Apologies if already posted - I had a quick look and couldn't see it.