Station Manager Corner

[the-e-dealer]

Denmark Hills arent ready yet!.

Blackheath has slopes. East Dulwich Has Slopes. anyone any other ideas?

[catma]

Hi - this was raised a little while ago but I would just like some clarification as it's been causing me a problem - the oyster readers at Peckham rye never work for my card.On them is a sign telling us to hover the card rather than lay it on the machine, which was the advice from the previous related query - so the question is why do we have to use these readers differently and is this why i can never get out of Peckham Rye without causing a mass pileup but can get through every other barrier in London!

[Ladygooner]

What happened to the replacement bus service to Peckam Rye today? Waiting 30 mins for a bus today from 12.05 to 12.35 today and nothing turned up. The girl at the station said it would arrive outside Kwik Fit but the times were not guaranteed! Missed my train from Peckham Rye and connection from London Bridge!

[Moos]

Morning Barry!

A couple of weeks ago the maintenance team cut down the wildflowers (well, weeds) growing next to the fences on either side of the ramps going up to the tracks at ED. I guess it had to be done, although it was a shame to see the lovely lush grass, speedwells, buttercups and cowslips go to be replaced by unsightly stubble.

Even more unsightly, however, is the months-old litter of cans, bags and bottles that the cull revealed, which the good citizens of ED have lost no time in adding to. Could you please ask your team to clear the rubbish away?

Many thanks

Moos

[Jeremy]

No trains on Sundays... replacement bus doesn't turn up... and people wonder why there are so many car owners in the area?

[bookhopper]

Will the NEW oyster machine be ready soon? I tried today - 6am - and was told "machine not ready please wait.... tried again today 2:30pm - machine not ready please wait... :-S

[stevebailey]

LadyGooner, you should have walked to Goose Green park and got on a 37 - goes straight to Peckham Rye station.

or a walk up East Dulwich Road and left at peckham Rye park and your there in 10 mins.

Not a dig just for future reference.

[Ladygooner]

Thanks Steve Bailey - I know how to get to Peckham Rye - could have walked in that time - but the woman at the station counter assured me the bus would be coming soon!

[SMBJones]

Dear all, there will be an influx of messages coming through, apologies for late response. Firstly, I have spoken with NWR regarding the screeching and they inform me they have now inspected and lubricated the area. Please see an extract from an email I received, some of this will be railway jargon, however I am sure you will understand the basics

The stretch of track between Peckham Rye and East Dulwich has now been inspected with the following findings:

Up Portsmouth - there is an even distribution of grease coming from the Lubricator situated at East Dulwich (quoted as being our best one on the section) - no action required.

Down Portsmouth - this is mainly lubricated to standard except for 2 locations where it is light. The Lubricator feeding this Down curve is situated at Blue Anchor 2.5 miles way. We will order and install a 'small' pot at the country end of Peckham Rye Station at 3m44c (the curve in question goes from 3m50c to 4m10c) on the weekend of Week 14 to see if this helps with the situation as well as the re-railing mentioned below.

We will revisit site on Week 14 Midweek to see how this has bedded down following this work and having a few days worth of trains running over it to review.

There was also another email looking at the medium and long term, please see below

In the medium term, we do have some re -railing planned on the Down Line Reverse Curve London Side of East Dulwich in a new type of rail steel called MHH (Mill Heat Hardened) which should also help with this as it wears slower. This will take place on the weekend of July 13 / 14 (Week 14). I will then plan in a grinding train to help profile the rail in this area which will help the trains sit better on the rail head rather than the gauge face and help with reducing wear and noise.

I have already proposed to our Level 2 Engineering Team a long term solution to help reduce this noise by the installation of 'Top of Rail Friction Modifiers'. These are basically lubricators that apply a thin film of 'Kelsan' solution to the rail head to help with the friction and noise generated between the wheel / rail interface.

plimsoul Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> hi barry,

>

> trains still screeching, i shall call that number

> and if you could chase up the person that you

> spoke to when you get back that would be great.

>

> thanks,

> a

[SMBJones]

Hi

I have a manager on route now to find out was is going on with the Oyster at Peckham. I will await his report this morning and then formulate a plan to get this rectified immediately

Apologies for inconvenience

Barry

AllyCat Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Hi Barry

> The ticket machine at Peckham Rye is not working

> for Oyster Cards..... is it possible to get this

> fixed please?

> Thank you!

[SMBJones]

Cora

Apologies for delay responding, Denmark Hill is run by SouthEastern not Southern, however I took the opportunity to check this for you and sorry to say there are no lifts

Farringdon has no lifts either

Sorry!

Barry

Cora Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Hello Barry...Do you know if Denmark Hill Station

> and Farringdon have working lifts? Need to take

> the pushchair and don't fancy all the

> steps..(Farringdon is having major refurbishment

> at the moment so need to get up to date

> information).

>

> Thank you

[SMBJones]

Hi

SUNDAY BUS REPLACEMENT

I have just spoken to my supervisor who was working the weekend and I have also spoken with my duty manager. I have to say I am a little confused as they have clearly stated that all posters were displayed regarding bus replacements and he persoanlly was in the booking hall directing passengers to the buses

Reports from staff are that there were no issues with passengers on the day and everything was ok

I will now ask my Deputy to look into this further

Barry

Ladygooner Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> What happened to the replacement bus service to

> Peckam Rye today? Waiting 30 mins for a bus today

> from 12.05 to 12.35 today and nothing turned up.

> The girl at the station said it would arrive

> outside Kwik Fit but the times were not

> guaranteed! Missed my train from Peckham Rye and

> connection from London Bridge!

[SMBJones]

Hi

Can you tell me which station your referring too please?

Barry

bookhopper Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Will the NEW oyster machine be ready soon? I tried

> today - 6am - and was told "machine not ready

> please wait.... tried again today 2:30pm - machine

> not ready please wait... :-S

[SMBJones]

Hi

I have someone on way in about half an hour, on your way home tonight it will all be cleared, not sure why this has got into the state it has (deal with that seperately)

Barry

Moos Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Morning Barry!

>

> A couple of weeks ago the maintenance team cut

> down the wildflowers (well, weeds) growing next to

> the fences on either side of the ramps going up to

> the tracks at ED. I guess it had to be done,

> although it was a shame to see the lovely lush

> grass, speedwells, buttercups and cowslips go to

> be replaced by unsightly stubble.

>

> Even more unsightly, however, is the months-old

> litter of cans, bags and bottles that the cull

> revealed, which the good citizens of ED have lost

> no time in adding to. Could you please ask your

> team to clear the rubbish away?

>

> Many thanks

> Moos

[stevebailey]

Hi Barry,

Can i ask, what's the deal with the new timetable? For the past 4-5 months I've been getting the 08:41 to London Bridge everyday of the week no troubles, always on time, except for 1 or 2 occasions.

Since the change to an 08:33 or 08:45 its been delayed 2 out of 3 days, i gave up this morning and went to denmark hill instead as it wasn't due till 9:01 when i was there at 08:40.

Are these just teething troubles or has some overpaid 'genius' made one hell of a boo boo??

Thanks

Steve

[SMBJones]

Hi Steve

Can I ask what station you are travelling from please?

Barry

tevebailey Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Hi Barry,

>

> Can i ask, what's the deal with the new timetable?

> For the past 4-5 months I've been getting the

> 08:41 to London Bridge everyday of the week no

> troubles, always on time, except for 1 or 2

> occasions.

>

> Since the change to an 08:33 or 08:45 its been

> delayed 2 out of 3 days, i gave up this morning

> and went to denmark hill instead as it wasn't due

> till 9:01 when i was there at 08:40.

>

> Are these just teething troubles or has some

> overpaid 'genius' made one hell of a boo boo??

>

> Thanks

>

> Steve

[stevebailey]

Sorry, that would help :-) East Dulwich Station

[Jeremy]

I've also experienced several delays this week, both to and from London Bridge. I'm assuming there's teething problems with the new timetable.

[SMBJones]

Hi

I have just been looking into the performance stats for this week. I think as a company we have been rather unlucky with the timing of the introduction of the new time tables and experiencing a few issues this week on the route. For example, there has been a fatality, faults with points and signals so in reality the revised timetable is fine

I am sure that you will see an improvement as the days go by. I will be keeping a close eye on the Metro East

Regards

Barry

stevebailey Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Sorry, that would help :-) East Dulwich Station

[SMBJones]

Dear all

Just to let you know there is a Meet the Manager session at London Bridge tomorrow morning. I am in attendance along with senior managers/directors from Southern Railway. We will be there from 0730-0930

Please stop by even if just to say hi, it would be nice to put some faces to those who post regularly

Regards

Barry

[SMBJones]

Hi Please see extract from my Ticket Office Manager

Hi Barry, I observed the working of the Oyster transaction form 09:10 to 09;50. There were over 29 transactions done and two failed. Those cards were not reading properly. The code error 35 comes on the card which means there is no credit. But she could not top up at the machine because it could not read the card. To prove it I used my card and it read with a balance of ?1.35, The manner in which the transactions are done are that passengers are eager and they do not wait for instructions as they do on the underground. The system asks them to wait and then ask the customer to touch the card again. There is a few seconds between the request. The customers are impatient and touch the pearls pad before the system request and hence fails.

In addition to this, It has also been suggested that the computer inside the ticket machine is not able to handle the power and this new oyster programme. In view of this I am now on the case to get this resolved as quickly as possible. I am have sent emails to parties asking them to meet with me at Peckham to resolve this once and for all

I can only apologise for the inconvenience this has caused, however you have my word that this issue is now a priority to ensure we can deliver good customer service

Barry

catma Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Hi - this was raised a little while ago but I

> would just like some clarification as it's been

> causing me a problem - the oyster readers at

> Peckham rye never work for my card.On them is a

> sign telling us to hover the card rather than lay

> it on the machine, which was the advice from the

> previous related query - so the question is why do

> we have to use these readers differently and is

> this why i can never get out of Peckham Rye

> without causing a mass pileup but can get through

> every other barrier in London!

[plimsoul]

Hi

great news that they are looking into screeching because with the dry weather this is just getting worse and worse.

i would like to echo complaints about the delay, today was a disaster especially as if the 46 runs into any problems out of ED then there are no trains between 36/01. i appreciate consultancies were undertaken and that problems do happen but the trains are certainly slower getting into london bridge on the 01.

anyways, as ever barry many many thanks. i hope southeastern realise how much time and bad press you are saving them.

[SMBJones]

Good afternoon and again I extend my apologies for late responses and lack of information over the last few weeks, this was due to a very busy work schedule and annual leave.

As stated before London Bridge has now been aligned with the Streatham Hill Area and there have been some changes to areas and stations. For example, Balham, Wandsworth Common and Battersea Park have now been moved from my area of responsibility to another area.

My new role as Area Station Manager Metro East is a little different from what I currently do, for example I will be looking at more community engagement, projects, working with local schools, neighbourhood police teams, stakeholders to name a few, The East Dulwich Forum remains firmly a part of my commitment to passengers in the area, of course I still have the running of the stations to oversee.

I have now appointed a Station Manager who will be based at London Bridge and from time to time Mr Simon Bott will also look in on this site also to engage with you. I remember once from a posting someone stating that I wouldn?t be here long, well I am here to stay and further improve my relations with you the customer and your expectations. It is my opinion that over the last year we have come along way together to improve your stations and customer service and I honestly feel that there has been an improvement, you only have to look back to see what I have implemented, dont get me wrong... we have not got it right all of the time, but my team and I are listening and looking at ways to enhance the customer experience even more. I am still open to ideas and will very shortly announce some initiatives I have in the pipe line which of course benefit the customer and my staff. My next big task is to appoint 3 Station Group Managers who will assist managing this area as well as London Bridge. On the topic of London Bridge it is my plan to announce what is going to happen over next year very shortly. I do want to post anything which maybe incorrect, the main issue we are facing is managing the station whilst all the major building works are taking place over the next few years. I am working very closely with Network Rail and will post accordingly

Here is a small update on what is happening currently

* Staffing First to Last is now been in place a few weeks and is now starting to work well, hopefully queuing for tickets not an issue anymore

* The following stations are about to get a makeover which will include deep cleans, new seating, yellow markings repainted, painting of station, chewing gum removal, minor building works, the stations are East and North Dulwich, Streatham, Queens Road Peckham, South Bermondsey. Works are now currently underway at most locactions

* Peckham Rye will also benefit from a makeover, pleased to announce that the booking hall, walkways and canopies are also a part of this program as well as the works mentioned above.

* Gipsy Hill and Streatham Hill refurbishments in relation to the gates and new ticket offices are due to finish late July

Hopefully not bored you too much and would like to say thank you to those who have sent private messages and posted kind comments over the last year

Regards

Barry Jones

Area Station Manager

Metro East

[Ladygooner]

Barry as always you have worked wonders! Keep up the good work. Am loving the extra trains in the morning - seems like delays were just down to bad luck this week. Todays timings were fine. Now if we could only get extra trains coming back after 9pm..............

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

Huzzah! Hope that new title comes with a fat pay rise. Well deserved.