The Ticket Collector

Snow and Icey conditions predicted from early 08Feb

Update at 23:55
People should be prepared for severe disruption to all services tomorrow if the snow falls.

In preparation for this First Capital Connect are running empty trains throughout the night to stop rails and power lines from freezing over, treating train doors and other equipment to ensure they don’t freeze over.

At stations, each station will have ice thawing granules laid along the platforms and extra staff have been mobilised to clear station platforms. Special announcements are being prepared for stations and trains tonight to warn customers of the potential disruption.

12:03
Snow is predicted to fall in most of England from 01:00 tomorrow morning.

Passengers are advised to check and double check there journey, and consider is it worth going into work today and then call in sick, or work from home.
Current indications are that the snowfall will be heaviest across the midlands and East of England, including routes via Stevenage, Peterborough and Cambridge.

The snow is currently forecast to start falling from approximately 01:00 on Thursday, with the heaviest falls expected during the morning peak hours. The snow is then expected to clear by the late afternoon / evening peak of Thursday, although this is followed by a risk of widespread icy conditions, which may cause problems with electrical supplies and line-side equipment, leading to further train service disruption. All snowy and icy conditions are expected to clear early on Friday morning.

As soon as we have any further information I will update this blog entry.

Save 20% on most items from station shops.

Thanks to a comment on a fellow bloggers site GNER Commuter, you are able to get 20% off on items from most stores on railway stations.
The Card is called a BITE card and can be ordered from http://www.bitecard.co.uk.

This gives 20% most items from retail outlets on Railway Stations, The site has a list of what accepts the card.

“Crowded trains are safer in crashes” - ORR

Was reading somthing of interest to regular visitors of this blog in the Evening Standard yesterday. The Standard/Daily Mail are continuing on there “Campaign” for a seat for every commuter. Well we all know that this will never be possible.
What defines a commuter? Someone who travels every day including weekends? Someone who travels 3 days a week? Prehaps someone who travels on the overnight trains once a week in both directions, are they classed as a commuter?

Now this is what really pisses me off about the Evening Standard, yeah we will moan and complain but what we wont tell you is we couldnt even run a train service, we barley run a newspaper.

But anyway onto the main reason for this blog posting.

The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) yesterday stated that “Packed trains are safer”, “Research in the late 1990’s found that where there was a crowded or overcrowded train carriage there was no detrimental effect to people involved in crashes”. “In a lot of cases people were better off in train carriages where there was overcrowding”

The Evening Standard continued to moan about how commuters are getting a raw deal, but did they mention that fact that most companies offer you a 5% refund on your ticket if you dont get a seat? No because that would go against their unwinnable campaign “a seat for every commuter”.

There is actually no legal limit to how many people can travel in any given carriage at any given time, there is also no safety law regarding the maximum number of people in a train carriage.

FCC are planning to increase their services between Cambridge and London to 12 carriages, this is dependant on Network Rail and the DfT upgrading the power supply between Cambridge and Letchworth. Some platforms are going to have to be lengthened.
Also there are rumors and these are only rumors at the moment that FCC will be getting some new trains to replace the extra carriages which will be taken from other routes to lengthen the Cambridge - London services. These could be HST’s, 180’s or the trains which silverlink use.

Severe Delays to FCC services tonight.

Final Update: 2156
Information for traveling tomorrow is limited and patchy at the moment. The Hertford loop remains closed due to Overhead Lines needing replacing. Hertford Loop line will remain closed until approx midday.

TL Route is expected to run to a timetabled service.

GN Route is still suffering delays, and the last trains tonight on FCC are as follows:
LAST TRAIN TO CAMBRIDGE LEAVES KINGS CROSS AT 22:30
LAST TRAIN TO PETERBOROUGH LEAVES KINGS CROSS AT 22:40

Next time I have any information will be tommorrow morning so please do check back in the morning.
Update: 1836
FCC are slowly opening up the GN route this evening, but customers are still advised to seek alternative means of travel if they can.

The services FCC are currently aiming to operate are:
One train per hour King’s Cross to Peterborough. (Stopping at Finsbury Park, Stevenage, all stations to Peterborough).
One train per hour King’s Cross to Cambridge (Stopping at Finsbury Park, Stevenage, all stations to Royston, then Cambridge).
Two trains per hour between Welwyn Garden City and Cambridge.
Two trains per hour between Welwyn Garden City and Peterborough.
Moorgate to Bowes Park two trains per hour.
King’s Cross to Bowes Park two trains per hour.
Cambridge to King’s Lynn shuttle operating.

If you can delay your journey on the GN route, pelase do. Your FCC tickets are valid on LUL tubes and trains.

Update: 1730
It is unlikely that FCC will be able to operate any trains for the majority of this evening on the GN route.

FCC are working as hard as possible with Network Rail to open the main line and we may be able to operate something later this evening.

If you can delay your journey on the GN route, pelase do. Your FCC tickets are valid on LUL tubes and trains.
First Capital Connect have decided that there will be no service between Watton at Stone and Bowes Park this evening. The entire Hertford Loop branch is closed due to Overhead Line problems.

Update: 1603
First Capital Connect have now issued an Emergency Statement on their website, timed at 15:54

FCC Emergency Announcement
Last Update: 18/01/2007 15:54:23
Nature of Incident: SEVERE WEATHER CONDITIONS

First Capital Connect services are badly affected due to the severe weather conditions today, we are working closely with Network Rail to restore services as soon as we can.

There are currently no services operating on the GN route, but we are confident services will be restored in the near future.

On the TL route, there are 2 trains operating per hour:

Bedford - Brighton
Departing Bedford at xx25 and xx57

Brighton - Bedford
Departing Brighton at xx07 xx37

Luton to Sutton: full service

Update: 1542
I have been told that the bits of Huntington Station on the line has now been cleared and services can run as far as Stevenage
It is confirmed that Kings Cross station has had some of its station building fall down, it is not known if this has fallen on a track, taken down overheads, or not.
The Overhead wires at Huntingdon which were flapping loose have now been ‘fixed’.

There are still trees on the line in the New Barnet area, these have taken down the Overheads with them and NR are trying to restore power. ETA 17:00hrs

Leeds to Doncaster on the East Coast Mainline is blocked, at the moment we do not know the cause but belive this is due to Overhead Line problems.
At York a train has gotten its pantograph stuck in one of the side platforms.
The Signal Box which has caught fire and blown up somewhere on the East Coast Main Line remains unconfirmed.

And to top it all the A1 main road is now blocked due to an acident.

15:21
Services are suspended and at a stand due to various operating incidents.

I have edited this blog entry a few times and as such have lost some of the original content I am afraid.

The Times = Theiving Bastards

It Seems that the theiving bastards more commonly known as The Times have decided to steal content of this site. We all know that most of the people that read The Times are a bunch of dinosaur thatcherite tories. Also the people that work for News International well I better not say because I want google to keep listing this blog as a clean friendly blog.

Well The Times have stolen the content of this site and NOT linked back.

The Times has learnt that as few as four groups are expected to submit expressions of interest in the service, which is expected to be worth more than £1 billion and run for up to 7½ years, when a deadline expires on Monday.

I wonder how they have learnt this hmmm. Was it because we were leaked to first and The Times were pissed of that they were left out of the frame as per normal because they are a crap paper? Makes you think that we reported the news first and The Times reported afterwards?

The Times understands that Arriva, National Express, FirstGroup and a joint venture between Virgin and Stagecoach will submit expressions of interest. A question mark hangs over the possibility of a fifth, joint bid from Serco and the Dutch rail operator NedRailways.

There we go again, cut and pasted from our blog. Needless to say we have had a new document leaked today from an unnamed source at the DfT, but to be honest its not going to be published because the greedy wankers from The Times will steal it.