The Ticket Collector

Severe weather warning - Friday 1st and 2nd February.

Severe weather conditions have been forecast by the Met Office for the UK for Friday 1 and Saturday 2 February. The weather warning is valid from 0001 Friday 1st until 0600 Saturday 2nd February.

The Met Office continues to forecast colder weather to spread southwards across the UK during Friday and at first on Saturday giving heavy snow in places. Areas most at risk include Scotland and parts of Northern Ireland from early on Friday, extending to northern and central England and much of Wales on Friday afternoon, and perhaps into southern areas on Friday evening. Northern areas could see accumulations of 10cm of snow, with up to 20cm on higher ground, and blizzard conditions and snow drifts could occur in strong winds. Southern areas could see accumulations of 2 to 5cm of snow by Saturday morning. Disruption to transport and power networks is likely and the public are advised to take extra care. This warning will be updated by 1200 Friday 1st February unless superseded by Flash warnings.

Problem with line-side equipment between Broxbourne and Stansted Airport

13:55 Train services between London Liverpool Street and Stansted Airport, and also between Stansted Airport and Cambridge are being disrupted due to a problem with line-side equipment in the Bishops Stortford area.

We are being informed that all the signals in the area have failed and that is the reason as to there being no trains running to Stansted Airport and Cambridge. Services to Hertford East have also been suspended.

15:50 The problem has now been resolved, and train services are returning to normal on all routes in the area. Residual alterations and delays of up to 50 minutes can still be expected until approximately 17:00.

17:05 We have been told that services are back to normal now. Customers can claim compensation via the ‘delay-repay’ scheme on www.onerailway.com.

FGW - Fare Strike Monday 28 Jan 2008 to go ahead.

In the next few hours, campaigners from More Train Less Strain (MTLS) will be getting prepared for another fare strike on First Great Western.

The campaign list now includes: Bath, Bristol, Bristol Parkway, Oldfield Park, Keynsham, Yate, Yatton, Burnham and Highbridge, Frome, Trowbridge, Warminster, and Bradford on Avon. On Sunday 27th January it was announced that the fare srtrike had spread to Plymouth and Penzance and also to Severn Tunnel Junction in Wales.
Travellers at Cardiff and Swansea have also expressed an interest to join the fare strike.

Collect your Fare Strike ticket from outside your station on the morning of the strike. Tickets will be available from 07.15 hrs to 08.45 hrs.
Show your Fare Strike ticket on the train and hand it in at the barrier at Temple Meads instead of your valid ticket. It is up to you how you access the platform.
Meet up with other Fare Strike ticket holders on the train. If you have some spare Fare Strike tickets, ask others on the train if they are willing to use them too.
At your destination, go through the barriers with other Fare Strikers. Avoid confrontations with staff – they are on our side.

The TV and press will be taking a keen interest in how the strike goes, and will be at some stations and on some trains.

Campaign organiser Mark Richardson says “FGW recent offer of increased compensation for annual season ticket holders is once again playing the public relations game but offering very little. Commuters want a decent service at a fair price instead of increased compensation for some and a continued poor service for all. Frankly, we have lost patience with FGW and would seriously question their ability and commitment to running a train service. They have become the laughing stock of the train industry and it is now time that Ruth Kelly seriously considers removing their franchise.

Thousands of passengers from Bristol, Bath and surrounding commuter towns will be taking part in this day of public action to demonstrate that their patience with FGW has come to the end of the line. FGW service has continued to deteriorate since taking over its new franchise in December 2006 despite putting up fares by around 20% over the same period.”

More train Less Strain organiser Tony Ambrose says “Passengers have had to put up with short trains that were too crowded to get on, unreliable thirty year old rolling stock and staff shortages. According to independent rail watchdog Passenger Focus FGW has the highest rate of cancellations and delays in the UK. We have had endless apologies and excuses from FGW management and yet we still have some of the highest fares and worst service in Europe. We would urge all train travelers to visit our website at www.moretrainlessstrain.co.uk and join the protest on Monday.

The fare strike has spread and protests will now take place at Bath Spa, Bristol Temple Meads, Oldfield Park, Keynsham, Yate, Yatton, Burnham and Highbridge, Frome, Trowbridge, Warminster and Bradford on Avon. Fare strike tickets will be handed out at these stations between 7.00 and 8.45. Passengers will be encouraged to show their fare strike ticket to station staff instead of any valid ticket that they may carry.”

NXEC - “were better then GNER honest”

A review of the first few months of NXEC.

Customer service from NXEC seems to have gone rock bottom, the staff seem to have gained an attitude problem. “The NXEC attitude”.
You ask one of their staff, who happen to still be in GNER uniform with a pathetic prontaprint namebadge and a dirty white NXEC lanyard, what time the next train to York is.
You get a “Look at the board, what do you think im a walking timetable”. Or sometimes when traveling in first class “This coffee is not for you its for new passengers who have got on at Peterborough”.

Cancelations are at an all time high on NXEC. NXEC seem to like using the weather as an excuse, hmm that reminds me of Northern Rail (who in 2006 cancelled around 95% of their timetable in one day due to ‘act of god’). NXEC trains seem to have plenty of trains failing in the middle of nowhere.

NXEC have also started on a penny pinching misson. train maintenance is an obvious example. When you get 3 trains failing on the same day in a space of an hour, you know somthing is wrong.

The NXEC WiFi service is completly and utterly rubbish, it hardly ever worked under GNER with only 4 coaches of First Class passengers using it. So what a great idea it was to add another 5 coaches of standard passengers using it. Cue the on board server crashing under the pressure of so many passenger using it.

Ok we are back

Due to a major techical fault which could not be rectified the site was down for an extended period.

We hopfully have sorted it, however there could still be residual delays.

We have also installed a USB leaf blower on the server.

Update on GN route disruption.

Services back to normal from this morning.

22:15
National Express East Coast services are now running in/out of London Kings Cross.

21:50
Services are now running into London Kings Cross, Services continue to be subject to delays and cancelations.

19:05
All services into or out of Moorgate have been cancelled for the rest of the evening.

Services to Welwyn Garden City and Hertford are starting and terminating at Alexandra Palace. People wishing to use these services are advised to take the Piccadilly line to Wood Green underground station and walk to Alexandra Palace station.

Passengers for Cambridge and stations to Kings Lynn are advised to use underground services to London Liverpool Street and then ‘one’ railway services to Cambridge and then catch connecting train services to continue their journey.

Customers for Stevenage, Peterborough, Letchworth, are advised to use underground services to Finsbury Park station for replacement bus services to Stevenage and then shuttle train services to continue their journey.

18:50
Tickets are now being accepted on FCC Thameslink and East Midlands Trains from St. Pancras via reasonable routes.

18:38
Due to a major signalling failure in the Finsbury Park area services are unable to get to Kings Cross or Moorgate. Stopper services (to Hertford North and Welwyn Garden City) are being terminated at Alexandra Palace for an underground/bus connection.

Fast train services are also stopping at Alexandra Palace for connections with the stopper services, with the exception of the 12 Carriage services which will not fit on the platform.

Tickets are being accepted on London Underground, ‘one’ trains from London Liverpool Street and London Buses.

This is affecting Grand Central, First Hull Trains, First Capital Connect and National Express East Coast.

Further information will be posted on here as and when it is available.

Major disruption on FCC tonight - TL&GN

Due to a major signalling failure in the Finsbury Park area Southbound trains are currently unable to reach King’s Cross or Moorgate stations. Services are subject to severe delays, alterations and cancellations.

Train service between St Albans and Bedford has been restored following an earlier signalling failure.Please allow extra time for your journey as there will be ongoing delays throughout the evening. Services are subject to alterations and cancellations.

First Capital Connect tickets will continue to be accepted on FCC Great Northern route services, London Midland trains, South West Trains, Southern trains and London Buses.