The Bedpan

Sign the petition on the Number 10 website

2010-01-21T20:56:00.001Z

Don't forget to sign up to the petition on the Number 10 website calling for the termination of First Group's Thameslink franchise. Follow this link to view and support the petition: http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/FirstCC/

Same old same old

2010-01-21T18:17:00.006Z

I'd forgotten all about this blog, first written during a period when it seemed that Thameslink passengers were on the wrong end of one of the biggest construction projects in Europe. The project to create St Pancras International would, we knew, deliver major benefits to passengers on Eurostar and Midland Mainline trains, which would be using the new station. But after the construction was finished, the expectation was that Thameslink trains would revert to the cramped Kings Cross Thameslink station (because only the construction of a concrete box under the new international station had been approved, not its fitting out as a station).

Since then, of course, we have the glittering new St Pancras low level station for trains on the Thameslink line, and a new franchise holder in the form of First Capital Connect. Things we were told, could only get better.

Well, they got a whole lot worst, and the erstwhile nickname for the line - The Bedpan - now seems apt once again. And we know where the contents of the bedpan end up.

So I'm now campaigning for an end to the First Capital Connect franchise. The sooner the better.

Time to empty the bedpan...

The St P Handicap (2 furlongs, going hard)

2004-12-17T07:45:00.000Z

I suppose that the posters at St P have been up for long enough, but I just didn't take it in (suspect others did the same).

Arrived at St P last night only to discover that as part of crowd control tests, they have closed off the normal access to the stairs and escalators. Instead we are expected to follow what looks like the longest possible route to get there. I was keen to catch a particular train to ensure that I didn't miss the start of my sons' school concert, so in common with a number of other passengers broke into a run, but struggled to get past the slower and those dragging suitcases on wheels, the equivalent of a rolling road block.

Reaching the escalators with relief, I ran up, only to be faced with a similar arrangement and less than a minute to catch my train, which I caught with only seconds to spare, boarding just as the doors closed.

I assume that the tests were done for our safety, and therefore under realistic rush hour conditions, but from my perspective they couldn't have picked a worse day.

Open access

2004-12-15T07:30:00.000Z

The last couple of days have seen a comparatively better performance on both Thameslink and the tube. No problems getting out of St P nor into KX tube.

This could be because all my journeys have been a little earlier than usual, or because people are beginning to wind down for christmas, or even, absurd though this may seem, that the operators have learned from the last three months, and produced a more effective timetable!

My big discovery is that there is a wireless hot spot at St P, and it seems to be open access - my pda had no difficulty whatsoever connecting, so should be able to upload my posts to this blog much more easily.

Another bad evening for the Underground

2004-12-10T19:30:00.000Z

One stop on the Victoria line and then we're told to get off and find alternative routes. Apparently there's yet another problem with the Victoria line, so I head back to the Piccadilly. Fifteen minutes later arriving home than I would like to be. And some moron with a tiny briefcase on a trolley has just dragged it across my shins.

The joys of commuting.

Another bad morning for the Underground

2004-12-10T09:15:00.000Z

Shut out of KX tube three times before getting in. Squeezing through the next gate, only to find out that the Victoria Line is out of action and to head for a grossly overcrowded Piccadilly Line. Twenty five minutes late arriving at work.

The morning after the night before

2004-12-10T07:45:00.000Z

I'm sitting in what may very well be the same seat in the same carriage on the same old WAGN train that I sat in less than nine hours ago, to return from a night out in London with the lads.

Not an especially late night out as you can tell, but enjoyable.

Until, that is, went to I board my train back to St Albans. Maybe I was lulled into a false sense of security by the easy access to St P from KX tube - it's astonishing how much space there is for pedestrians in Pancras Road when there are none around - maybe I had just forgotten what it is like to travel out of London after the evening rush hour, when it can be a quite unpleasant experience.

Firstly, none of the departure screens give any clue as to whether any trains are scheduled to depart from St P at all. So I get on what I take to be an all stations service on platform 13. The Thameslink official assures me that it is the next train to my destination but I don't trust her grasp of English – I’m not confident that she knew what my question was!

Then I’d also forgotten how different the average late-night pre-Christmas traveller can be. There’s the drunk middle aged man who may not even be on the right line, let alone the right train. The sleeper. The mp3 warrior with the volume turned up so loud that people from the next carriage keep coming in to complain about the noise. The couple so passionately entwined that they have completely forgotten about the woman sitting on the seat between them. You know the sort of thing.

What a relief to get back the rush hour.

Master of all they survey?

2004-12-09T13:10:00.000Z

Market researchers have been out in force at St Albans station.

I used to hope that one would interview me; I like to talk! But it never happened.

This week, everyone is being given survey forms to complete. I'm still carrying around the LUL questionnaire that I was given a month ago. Looks like a lot of effort, and none of the questions give me opportunity to tell LUL what I really think about the service that I have received recently and what is wrong with it.

Hence this blog.

And what a lot there was wrong at KX tube this morning.

The gates to the tube station were closed no less than four times while I was standing in the queue to get in. Each time they opened for a minute or so, and then remained closed for five.

Gave me plenty of time to enjoy the passive resistance of other travelers determined to get to their destination despite the megaphone men. Also plenty of time to think again that traffic really should be diverted by some other route than Pancras Road. The pedestrian areas were so overcrowded this morning that it really isn't surprising that people walk all over the road, and it is only a matter of time before someone is seriously hurt. I wonder whether the planners will be found to have done everything that they reasonably could to protect the health and safety of the vast majority of the roads users, who are the pedestrians.

Eventually I get through the gates only to be held at the next set of gates for another 5 minutes. The station apparently is overcrowded so has been closed. It is inconceivable that it is overcrowded with passengers from St P as so few of us have been allowed in. So where is everyone coming from? My assumption is KX rail station is being given priority (again). I really do feel unwanted by LUL despite the fact that quite a lot of the cash that I hand over to Thameslink each year is for the privilege of traveling on the underground. 25 minutes to get from platform at St P to platform at KX tube.

To cap it all, I got stuck on the underground as a result of a passenger using the emergency stop on a train ahead of us.

But I'm just another statistic...

A case of mistaken identity

2004-12-06T18:42:00.000Z

Nothing to write about this morning. The train arrived on time, I got a seat and there were more seats to spare in my carriage, no unscheduled stops, arrived at St P on time, where I walked straight into the tube station, through the ticket barrier and onto a tube train without delay. Marvelous.

As I walked back along Pancras Road to St P tonight, I realise that all the signs and posters are issued by CTRL/LRE/Union Rail. Wherever I go on the underground I'm warned to avoid KX tube because of Thameslink engineering works, but the truth of the matter is that these works are CTRL works, or LUL works, or both. While they may ultimately be a step towards achievement of the Thameslink 3000 project, as yet, this is still stuck on the drawing board. Meanwhile CTRL, LUL, etc avoid the infamy that such disruption brings to Thameslink .

A case of mistaken identity or a PR coup by CTRL?

No one not to talk to

2004-12-03T08:55:00.000Z

I'm not commuting today (joy!) but that does deprive me of one of the experiences that seems very particular to travelling on commuter trains.

I've got no one not to talk to. Once I get off the train, I am aurally assaulted by Thameslink and LUL public announcements, the megaphone men, automated station announcements on tube trains, London traffic, etc. And it doesn't stop there. There's a continuous hubbub in the office where I work that lasts well beyond the time that most sensible people have gone home.

But on the train, no one speaks. At least not to each other (I don't count that other piece of noise pollution one gets on trains that invariably starts with the words 'I'm on a train...'). We see each other every day; the same people in the same place on the same platform getting into the same carriage of the same train, often reading the same (the very same) newspaper. And the rule is that we never speak. Sometimes not even to people we know quite well away from the world of commuting.

Why is that?

The only time that etiquette allows us to speak to strangers on a train is when something goes really seriously wrong with the service. Then we are victims together, backs to the wall, reviving the Dunkerque spirit, companions in adversity.

Maybe it's no wonder that we get treated like sheep...

Whatever happened to the Ticket Inspector?

2004-12-02T17:53:00.000Z

Despite the fact that I have never travelled without paying the fare, I always feel guilty and defensive at the sight of Thameslink's revenue protection people. Tonight they were waiting at the entrance to St P platform 12. Their brusque manner always manages to convince me that they really think that all passengers are potential criminals, and guilty unless proven – beyond all possible doubt – to be innocent.

I think that part of the problem is just the name ‘Revenue Protection’. In the old days, we had ‘ticket inspectors’: friendly people whose job it ways to stamp our ticket, and ensure that any difficulties (eg with the wrong ticket) were cleared up quickly and amicably. ‘Revenue Protection’ makes me think of the taxman, excise and Customs, all wrapped up in one. I feel the same way walking through the green 'nothing to declare' channel at airports.

This does nothing for my sense of being a valued Thameslink customer. I’ve only been commuting to ten or the last fourteen years from St Albans, and I feel variously treated as a four year old, then as a criminal. I always arrive stressed, angry, tired or late (or some combination of these), and when I think of how much money I pay Thameslink every year in order to be treated like this, I can’t help but feel the way I do.

So how about bringing back a few old-fashioned courtesies, and remembering who it is that pays for Thameslink.

When the Piccadilly line sneezes...

2004-12-02T13:38:00.000Z

I couldn't believe how smooth the journey was this morning once I'd got my ticket and got onto the train. Plenty of seats, no hold-ups getting out of St P, and even the traffic waited for us at the Pancras Road crossing (rather than the other way around).

However there's a common saying that if something looks too good to be true, it probably is...

There’s a long wait to get into KX tube (one set of closed gates, another gate with only a narrow gap open, crowds by the ticket barriers, and only half the barriers open). Seems that the Piccadilly line has slight delays, causing it and the Northern line to be overcrowded and effectively a temporary closure of the tube station.

Had to be too good to last...

Don't bank on getting a ticket

2004-12-02T07:59:00.000Z

Just for once, the problems being experienced at St Albans station seem to have nothing whatsoever to do with Thameslink or any other part of the rail industry.

As I arrive at the booking hall I can see that it's full of people. None of the automatic ticket machines are in use, there's a small crowd around two or three Thameslink revenue protection staff equipped with the portable ticket machines often used on board trains for fare dodgers, and a long queue at the ticket counters.

I have an innate and unerring talent for choosing the wrong queue and that's where I am - I can see that the queues around the revenue protection people are disappearing more quickly.

While I'm waiting several people try to go straight to a counter without queuing and are sent back by the counter staff (good for them), though I suspect that the young man that has appeared immediately behind me at my counter may get away with it and I am not going to get involved.

The problem appears to be that banks are taking much longer to authorise card payments, and I assume this means that the automatic machines are timing out before authorisation has been obtained.

The end result however is the same; I miss the 7.52 service, and am only just in time for the 7.57 which turns out to be an all stations service.

Paying through the nose

2004-12-01T18:51:00.000Z

I don't normally try and write two posts in one day, but two headlines on the BBC News website got me thinking.

Firstly there's the revelation that over-crowding on trains and tubes may expose commuters to lots of bugs and viruses. Not much of a surprise (I don't seem to have had a single cough- or cold-free day for weeks). But add that to the news that commuters suffer more stress than fighter pilots, and travelling by train and tube starts looking like a very unhealthy pastime.

The second headline is announcing above-inflation fare increases. I note that Thameslink fares are scheduled to increase by an average 4% to 4.5%. I’m feeling stressed already.

So, bad for the health and for the bank balance. Remind me why I put myself through this everyday???!

What not to buy at a car boot sale

2004-12-01T07:43:00.000Z

TV warnings of delays on the northern half of Thameslink into St P have thus far proved false. But the late-running 7.37 is standing room only so I opt for the 7.42 all stations service starting at St Albans.

It's only a couple of minutes late, but it turns out to be one of the tattyest WAGN trains I've seen. As I look around the as yet mostly empty last carriage, possibly a quarter of the seats have loose cushions, and almost all the lower cushions have holes in them. Some have part of the metal upholstery poking through. I had assumed that Thameslink were working to sort this problem, but looks like they missed this train [I recall that in the early days on the blockade, the seat of my trousers caught on a sharp metal piece of the upholstery of a similar seat, and I had to throw the suit out; not a great loss as it was already quite old, but a reason for caution today].

There's an, admittedly, childish part of me, that feels that as compensation for all the disruption and inconvenience Thameslink could at least provide a better service in other ways than we would normally get - for example by leasing some better additional stock; I can't help but wonder whether these wagn trains were picked up at the railway equivalent of a car boot sale for 10p each - but only after haggling over the price. The question I suspect that nobody asked of WAGN is 'why do you want to get rid of them?'

Bandits at 8 o'clock

2004-11-30T07:43:00.000Z

The train's on time! But bouncy WAGN stock, so picking out the words for this blog on my PDA is a very hit and miss affair (literally); we've bumped so hard that the man next to me with the laptop loudly uttered an expletive. It felt rather like the sort of aircraft turbulence that would get the 'fasten seatbelts' signs on.

What I really planned to write about this morning was the news report on BBC Breakfast this morning about commuting being more stressful than flying a jet fighter.

Apparently, a scientist has observed that stress levels rise markedly while commuting on buses and trains (no surprise there), and that parts of the brain switch off. Ignoring the rich but obvious opportunities that this presents for a swipe at my fellow travellers, the suggestion is that we abstract ourselves - we are day-dreaming. I presume that this is a mechanism for coping with the crowds and the stress.

My personal experience is that unless my mind is actively engaged, sleep soon follows - and I snore. With nothing to engage my mind, I can (or more accurately, used to) get on a train at Blackfriars and be asleep before City Thameslink. With a book I could hold out for longer (say, KX Thameslink). This blog requires more than passive engagement, so I'm awake the whole journey. This blog is my therapy.

It's all about coping with difficult and unpleasant experience; who knows what the long-term mental and physiological effects of commuting are?

However, I see that we are on the final approach to St P International, so time to switch off electronic devices, stow luggage under the seat in front and prepare for the rush to get through crowd control.

Very Swiss

2004-11-29T19:30:00.000Z

I spent a couple of days in October visiting Geneva, and had the opportunity to try for the first time their much-praised rail and tram network. Very impressive in some senses but not as different from British trains as I had expected.

The difference seems to be in the way that they plan for reality, rather than for theory. Trains leave on time because they arrive with minutes, not seconds, to spare before they leave. Trains are clean, because the cleaning crew joins the train before it terminates the previous journey.

It's hard to imagine Thameslink doing either of these things; there would be a public outcry if journey times were extended to improve punctuality, and without substantially fewer people on the train, cleaners wouldn't stand a chance.

Of course, a solution to both of these problems would be to invest significantly more in the network, both stock and stations - and I don't just mean leasing WAGN stock that is woefully in need of sending to the scrapyard (more on this later). This is not going to happen, however, while Thameslink’s franchise is short-term and there is so much uncertainty around Thameslink 2000. I find myself therefore , quite uncharacteristically arguing for public intervention. And with pressure on public spending and an election looming, I can't see it happening.
Makes me wonder how a business case could be made for the present works given that the main beneficiaries will be Eurostar and its customers.

Platform roulette

2004-11-29T08:05:00.000Z

I arrived a few minutes late for the 7.42am at St Albans station this morning, but that's ok because I can see the service still in its siding. And they've just announced that it will be all stations to Kentish Town only. Funny how it's safe to stop trains there when it suits Thameslink.

…

May have made a tactical error by not getting on the 7.42 because now that it has left the station, they have just announced that the 7.52 will also be late and make two unscheduled stops.

…

As the 7.52 arrives, it's clear that I won't get a seat, and I need to work on the train. In any case, they have just announced that the late running 7.57 will be the next train to arrive on platform 1, so I decide to see if that’s any less crowded.

Just as well I notice it arriving on platform 3.

…

So here I am, sitting comfortably on the 7.57 and ready to begin work. I wonder where this one will stop; would be nice to know.

A very English kind of hell

2004-11-26T08:03:00.000Z

A comparatively trouble free journey so far. Carriage no more than normally overcrowded. Speeding through Hendon we don't quite have the élan of W H Auden's Night Mail, but we do seem to be headed rather more inexorably towards St P than usual.

But this is no transport of delight. St P is where any vestigial trace of romance evaporates. If I could describe my vision of hell, it would have little to do with flames and forked tails. Hell is standing at the closed gates for an eternity, in a crowd of silent, sullen people, in a light, but interminable drizzle, while bombarded by empty exhortations to 'mind the traffic', 'walk on the pavement', etc.

We are the lost souls. This is the day of the living dead.

And it's Friday.

Out of season

2004-11-25T07:45:00.000Z

I'd forgotten that my weekly season ticket had expired when I arrived at the station this morning. Only two of five automatic ticket machines were working, and while waiting in the queue managed to miss both the 7.42am and 7.43am trains. Next one at 7.52am so already 10 minutes later than I had wanted to be...

Lucky to get a seat but it's broken. Still, got the entertainment of watching the woman opposite trying to fix her makeup in one of the bouncy old wagn trains...

Court out

2004-11-24T23:38:00.000Z

Someone told me yesterday that local residents at St Pancras have won a court order that prevents 24 hour working by the construction firms, though I have been unable to find any confirmation of this on the internet. If the forecast date of completion of these works of May 2005 is based on 24 hour working, we should presumably expect the blockade to continue for rather longer, if the report is true. Would be nice if someone came clean and told us.

The animals went in one by one

2004-11-24T09:09:00.000Z

Relatively uneventful journey this morning, only a few minutes late, and still room for a few more standing in the carriage.

All that changed on arrival at the entrance to the Kings Cross tube station. The entrance from Pancras Road was closed only once while I was waiting, compared with the normal twice, and having got passed that gate, it became very apparent that the next one, at the top of the steps was closed too. In fact, they were letting people from St P into the tube station one at a time, and if anyone tried to exit through the gap, none at a time!

I have long suspected that rail passengers arriving at KX got preferential access to the tube station over and above Thameslink and Midland Mainline, and the crowds of people arriving in the tube station from the direction of KX in comparison with the dribble from St P seemed to bear that out.

So having, in effect, closed West Hampstead and Kentish Town tubes to Thameslink passengers, this feels like the beginning of the closure of KX tube to Thameslink passengers.

Where will we be sent next?

An attractive Australian model

2004-11-23T11:07:00.000Z

Apparently, commuters in one Australian city have become so outraged by the poor quality of the service that they experience that they have refused to pay fares for one day. Even the state premier seems to be supporting their action.

Is anyone listening to us?

Guilty as charged?

2004-11-23T11:04:00.000Z

A lawyerly voice was overheard by a colleague waiting to get up the steps at Kentish Town having been prematurely ejected from his train saying "I wonder if we could serve an anti-social behaviour order on Thameslink...".

I wonder what other charges could be levelled. Assault with an offensive rail service?

The endless loop

2004-11-23T07:45:00.000Z

I sort of knew yesterday afternoon when I read on the Thameslink website that they hoped to resume services at 6.00am this morning that it was a somewhat forlorn hope; sort of whistling in the dark. I could almost see the crossed fingers. Sure enough the service is just as bad, just as slow and just as unpleasant as it was yesterday. Then the regulation double closure of the gate to KX tube station. I think that they have stopped making live announcements about delays accessing the tube station and started playing a pre-recorded message on an endless loop. So much safer if we all just assume the worst, then there's always the chance that we might be pleasantly surprised.

Bicycle/parts

2004-11-22T19:30:00.000Z

As expected the journey back to St Albans was just as bad as the journey in. Despite having left later and travelling via West Hampstead, I only just manage to squeeze onto the train and then only because I don't mind getting a little more intimate with the handlebars of a bicycle than would be normal in circumstances where we hadn't been formally introduced!

Here we go (or don't go) again

2004-11-22T09:31:00.000Z

People were standing five deep on the platform when I arrived this morning. Something to do with yet more overhead power lines down at Elstree tunnel. Apparently Silverlink and WAGN will accept our tickets - but we've got to get to Watford or Hatfield under our own steam so not an especially useful offer.

First train to arrive has only 4 carriages - not a chance of getting on. I manage to get on the second - an all stations service which leaves people on the platform at St Albans. Inevitable shouts at Radlett and Borehamwood for people to move down and make a bit more room. Some fellow travellers ignore these pleas; not sure that I could have done so without my conscience being pricked a little.

By the time we get to Mill Hill and Hendon it really is hard to see how anyone else will get on, and the cry from the platform is now 'we've got to get to work too'; haven't they come across the Northern line yet - would seem like an obvious alternative?

Obviously when we get to kings cross we're shut out of the tube station - the gates shut twice before I finally get in. Only there's been a problem with the Victoria line so those trains are also running with delays and heavily overcrowded.

Finally get to work only 30 minutes later than I'd planned, and feeling like it's friday not monday.

Back to normal

2004-11-15T16:30:00.000Z

Apparently things are back to normal (as if we hadn't noticed this morning).

Thameslink have just announced that: "Following on from the overhead power wire problems in the West Hampstead area this morning, Thameslink services have now been restored to normal, subject to some short notice cancellation and delays.

So 'short notice cancellation and delays' = normality.

Rock bottom

2004-11-15T11:58:00.000Z

Thameslink services reached rock bottom this morning (at least I hope so, the thought of them deteriorating from here is truly depressing).

Full when they got to St Albans with Midland Mainline passengers from Nottingham, dangerously overcrowded by the time we reached Radlett.

A 20 minute journey from the platform at St P to the Victoria Line platform at Kings X, made worse by two closures of the Thameslink access to KX tube station while I was queuing to get in.

And shouted at to keep out of the way of a bicycle (at full pelt in the middle of a crowd of several hundred people).

It would help if the length of Pancras Road was closed to all traffic (including bikes) then they could do away with most of the crowd controllers whose sole role in life is to shout at us through megaphones, along with the barriers that keep us penned like sheep on the left hand side of the road; it surely must be possible for taxis and buses to leave the station forecourt by the same or similar route to that by which they got there.

And who benefits at the end of all this? Midland Mainline and Eurostar passengers get a bright new station. Regular users of KX get a new tube station. Thameslink passengers get a huge dry cleaning bill and a promise that services will return to 'normal' in May 2005.

Bitter? Moi? You bet.