Rail user's 'hellish' daily commute

3:40pm Thursday 25th October 2012 in News By Ben James

Graffiti on First Capital Connect trains serving Sussex Graffiti on First Capital Connect trains serving Sussex

A disgruntled rail user has said he is considering moving out of Sussex to avoid his hellish daily commute.

IT worker Garth Walters, who lives in Haywards Heath, pays £4,888- a-year to travel to London for work.

A year ago he moved out of Brighton hoping that the Mid Sussex town would ease his commuting woes.

But after 12 months of what he describes as late services, graffiti-covered carriages, packed peak-hour trains and broken seats, the 41-year-old is planning to move again.

He said: “The service has got worse since First Capital Connect took over. All they have really done is painted the carriages a different colour.

“I despise them so much that I’m thinking of moving out again.”

Mr Walters described how his daily commute begins any time between 7.30am and 9am – depending on what time he is due at work.

He steps on to the already packed train and shuffles to a comfortable position for the journey to the capital.

He added: “The trains are so old that in the winter the doors sometimes freeze shut. It’s ridiculous.

“They will very rarely be on time and I can end up changing two or more times to avoid certain services.

“Then there’s the graffiti, it’s everywhere and looks awful.”

Frustration

He describes his journey home as frustratingly similar.

He added: “First Capital Connect still seem to run a number of four-car trains in peak times when most platforms can at least accommodate eight car trains.

“I think it’s ridiculous, I pay £94 a week. They just seem happy to take our money and then forget about everything else.”

A spokesman for First Capital Connect said that the company shared passengers’ frustration about graffiti adding that a recent surge in attacks has been costing them £10,000 a week to remove.

He added: “Most of our trains are indeed old and many parts in our toilets are obsolete which makes finding replacement parts another challenge, which is why the picture shows a toilet out of order for so long.

“We have added over 12,000 seats a day to the Thameslink route by increasing the number of trains in our fleet by 47% during our franchise.

“Obviously many of these are the old style but 26 trains are new air-conditioned Electrostars.

“We have also more than halved the number of four-carriage trains we run in the rush hour.

“The standards of our cleaning contractor is being looked at closely but trains that are nearly 30 years old will never look as fresh as more modern stock.”

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Comments(33)

Crystal Ball says...
3:58pm Thu 25 Oct 12

Is this person among many others who choose not to throw their toys out of the pram but simply get on with their lives?

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BiggerH says...
4:20pm Thu 25 Oct 12

never realised there were actually peope in real life called 'Garth' - party on dude!!

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Nathan_Adler says...
4:26pm Thu 25 Oct 12

1. In the last 12 months it has not been cold enough for the doors to freeze shut. We had a very mild winter. Methinks you are listening to tales.

2. Why is it the only people who moan about trains being packed at peak times are those who repeatedly use trains at peak times?? That's life or ask your boss to do a 11-7 day.

3. You "despise" a company so much you want to move? I hate with a passion the Greens but I will not move because of them. Get real!

4. YOU CHOSE to work in London because that is where the bucks are. £94 a week to get to London and home again 5 times a week sounds like good value. Yes, you don't get a seat, but do you know what? You don't get a seat if you walk either!!

What a moaning old silly sausage this man sounds like,

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DC Brighton says...
4:46pm Thu 25 Oct 12

The Thameslink trains are terrible. That is why I travel on Southern/Gatwick Express which provides much better trains (albeit they are no more timely). You need to make a decision about how to divide your journey. Given that it takes over an hour to get to London I choose to take a comfortable Gatwick Express train and I take the hit at the London end with a tube journey instead of taking the whole hour and a half journey on a dreadful Thameslink. At $4,888 this chap must have a travelcard like me (Thameslink-only tickets are much less).

I am in full support of this gentleman's aim of highlighting the disgraceful state of the Thameslink service. Indeed, I merely avoid it which is unlikely to ever get it improved.

That said, what was he doing moving to Haywards Heath and then taking a Thameslink train which, as a commuter, he knows starts in Brighton and would be getting full by the time it reached him anyway? He was always going to be worse off unless he took a different train. Strange.....

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DC Brighton says...
4:46pm Thu 25 Oct 12

The Thameslink trains are terrible. That is why I travel on Southern/Gatwick Express which provides much better trains (albeit they are no more timely). You need to make a decision about how to divide your journey. Given that it takes over an hour to get to London I choose to take a comfortable Gatwick Express train and I take the hit at the London end with a tube journey instead of taking the whole hour and a half journey on a dreadful Thameslink. At $4,888 this chap must have a travelcard like me (Thameslink-only tickets are much less).

I am in full support of this gentleman's aim of highlighting the disgraceful state of the Thameslink service. Indeed, I merely avoid it which is unlikely to ever get it improved.

That said, what was he doing moving to Haywards Heath and then taking a Thameslink train which, as a commuter, he knows starts in Brighton and would be getting full by the time it reached him anyway? He was always going to be worse off unless he took a different train. Strange.....

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longman says...
5:02pm Thu 25 Oct 12

Totally agree with Mr Adler. You are lucky enough to have a job, have transportation (albeit a bit uncomfortable) and a roof over your head. If it is that bad, dont work in London! My job is horrible, but I have to do it. I have an injury from it. Instead of moaning, I get on with it, grateful for the fact that I actually have a job! I am watching a programme where a mother hasnt seen her children for 3 years because she had to leave them with her parents because she didnt have enough to look after them. People like this woman are those who my hear bleeds for, not for moaning men who cant cope with the slight inconvenience of over-crowding and horrible trains. Use your brains and your feet, go to work via another train service!

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longman says...
5:02pm Thu 25 Oct 12

Totally agree with Mr Adler. You are lucky enough to have a job, have transportation (albeit a bit uncomfortable) and a roof over your head. If it is that bad, dont work in London! My job is horrible, but I have to do it. I have an injury from it. Instead of moaning, I get on with it, grateful for the fact that I actually have a job! I am watching a programme where a mother hasnt seen her children for 3 years because she had to leave them with her parents because she didnt have enough to look after them. People like this woman are those who my hear bleeds for, not for moaning men who cant cope with the slight inconvenience of over-crowding and horrible trains. Use your brains and your feet, go to work via another train service!

Report this post »

leobrighton says...
5:06pm Thu 25 Oct 12

New trains are soon to be ordered by the Department of Transport for this route. It is they who truly run the railways. Companies such as FCC merely running the trains for them

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Hoarder12345444 says...
5:19pm Thu 25 Oct 12

Nathan_Adler wrote:
1. In the last 12 months it has not been cold enough for the doors to freeze shut. We had a very mild winter. Methinks you are listening to tales.

2. Why is it the only people who moan about trains being packed at peak times are those who repeatedly use trains at peak times?? That's life or ask your boss to do a 11-7 day.

3. You "despise" a company so much you want to move? I hate with a passion the Greens but I will not move because of them. Get real!

4. YOU CHOSE to work in London because that is where the bucks are. £94 a week to get to London and home again 5 times a week sounds like good value. Yes, you don't get a seat, but do you know what? You don't get a seat if you walk either!!

What a moaning old silly sausage this man sounds like,
No not at all, why should you pay that much and get such as pathetic service? Yes one chooses to work in London for the money factor of course.


But if you choose to work anywhere, London or whatever why should the service be so poor when the prices are so high? Why should people put up with it, good on him for speaking up because most people dont complain and it never gets better.

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eastbourne andy says...
5:36pm Thu 25 Oct 12

dear oh dear.. Have you thought of taking a £5000 a year pay cut and getting a job closer to home? This is a typical 'commuter moan' that I have been hearing for over twenty years. So he moves from lovely Brighton by the Sea to Haywards Heath, a mere 22 mins up the line to make his commute to his 'job' more manageable! At this rate he'll be moving to London. At least when he makes his next rant to his local paper about the 'high cost of living in London' thankfully the Argus readers won't be subjected to it!

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Gary Manilow says...
5:41pm Thu 25 Oct 12

Andy, can I borrow your brain please as I'm building an idiot.

Regardless of anything, for £94 a week (basically the same cost as rent for most people) you should get a better service and not have to ride in trains that were around when ET was on at the cinema.

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DC Brighton says...
5:51pm Thu 25 Oct 12

eastbourne andy wrote:
dear oh dear.. Have you thought of taking a £5000 a year pay cut and getting a job closer to home? This is a typical 'commuter moan' that I have been hearing for over twenty years. So he moves from lovely Brighton by the Sea to Haywards Heath, a mere 22 mins up the line to make his commute to his 'job' more manageable! At this rate he'll be moving to London. At least when he makes his next rant to his local paper about the 'high cost of living in London' thankfully the Argus readers won't be subjected to it!
Yeah....because, there's just so many jobs near home aren't there?

Have you read the job pages recently?
Like this man I choose to work in London (it's the only place with jobs which fit my experience) and commute. It's my choice. But that's not the point here.

The point is that the service is extremely poor. You'll see from my previous post that there are alternatives but I'm afraid your "well get a job nearer to home" argument is comfortably as old as that of the commuter. And is completely naive.

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nocando says...
6:01pm Thu 25 Oct 12

Get a motorbike mate. £5k a year, got to be some kind of mug.

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John Steed says...
6:27pm Thu 25 Oct 12

what the problem with graffiti on the outside, you ride on the inside, stop moaning you choose to commute, you choose to travel by train at the peak time. you chose to to move up the line knowing full wellseats are harder to find. the world doesnt owe you a living.

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John Steed says...
6:30pm Thu 25 Oct 12

I forgot to mention I know people who barely earn a year what you spend on your ticket, they are gratefull to be working and struggle to get to work as well

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btnboi says...
7:26pm Thu 25 Oct 12

leobrighton wrote:
New trains are soon to be ordered by the Department of Transport for this route. It is they who truly run the railways. Companies such as FCC merely running the trains for them
what utter rubbish, the 26 new ones they have belong to southern and are on loan to fcc. yes the dft choose the stock but the train companies buy/lease it

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eastbourne andy says...
7:28pm Thu 25 Oct 12

John Steed wrote:
what the problem with graffiti on the outside, you ride on the inside, stop moaning you choose to commute, you choose to travel by train at the peak time. you chose to to move up the line knowing full wellseats are harder to find. the world doesnt owe you a living.
Exactly!!

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btnboi says...
7:34pm Thu 25 Oct 12

Hoarder12345444 wrote:
Nathan_Adler wrote:
1. In the last 12 months it has not been cold enough for the doors to freeze shut. We had a very mild winter. Methinks you are listening to tales.

2. Why is it the only people who moan about trains being packed at peak times are those who repeatedly use trains at peak times?? That's life or ask your boss to do a 11-7 day.

3. You "despise" a company so much you want to move? I hate with a passion the Greens but I will not move because of them. Get real!

4. YOU CHOSE to work in London because that is where the bucks are. £94 a week to get to London and home again 5 times a week sounds like good value. Yes, you don't get a seat, but do you know what? You don't get a seat if you walk either!!

What a moaning old silly sausage this man sounds like,
No not at all, why should you pay that much and get such as pathetic service? Yes one chooses to work in London for the money factor of course.


But if you choose to work anywhere, London or whatever why should the service be so poor when the prices are so high? Why should people put up with it, good on him for speaking up because most people dont complain and it never gets better.
well drive then! that £10 a day congestion charge, £20 a day parking and £10 a day fuel.

a snip at £200 a week but at least u get a seat stuck in the traffic. yes it seems a lot of money but when you break it down it cost £18.80 over 5 days and you get weekend travel free...can you do it in a taxi or bus cheaper? No. Im happy with the money im spending.

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Dr.Draconian says...
8:23pm Thu 25 Oct 12

"Since FCC too over"? they have been running trains for as long as I can remember on that line. :-/

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leobrighton says...
8:39pm Thu 25 Oct 12

btnboi wrote:
leobrighton wrote:
New trains are soon to be ordered by the Department of Transport for this route. It is they who truly run the railways. Companies such as FCC merely running the trains for them
what utter rubbish, the 26 new ones they have belong to southern and are on loan to fcc. yes the dft choose the stock but the train companies buy/lease it
I'm talking about trains that have yet to be built can't you read

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HJarrs says...
9:14pm Thu 25 Oct 12

longman wrote:
Totally agree with Mr Adler. You are lucky enough to have a job, have transportation (albeit a bit uncomfortable) and a roof over your head. If it is that bad, dont work in London! My job is horrible, but I have to do it. I have an injury from it. Instead of moaning, I get on with it, grateful for the fact that I actually have a job! I am watching a programme where a mother hasnt seen her children for 3 years because she had to leave them with her parents because she didnt have enough to look after them. People like this woman are those who my hear bleeds for, not for moaning men who cant cope with the slight inconvenience of over-crowding and horrible trains. Use your brains and your feet, go to work via another train service!
Sounds like it is you that should get another job. Which job do you do that you have no alternative! This is not the middle ages!

I dislike the inverted snobbery of " I have it harder than you". It is this attitude that is contributing to the decline of the country as people compete to beat themselves up with a stick.

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The Real Phil says...
10:53pm Thu 25 Oct 12

It is very rational to be hacked off at the First service. One of the last journeys i made had overcrowding to the extent where the train was packed with an extra fifty per cent of passengers crammed into the carriages standing. Where they were able to reach the toilets they were found to be locked shut, with adults in some discomfort and children in tears.
A letter raising the issue with the company illicetted a standard "not our fault gov" reply. Historical steam attractions put on more effective trains than First. time for a new frachise perhaps.

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kkj says...
1:00am Fri 26 Oct 12

John Steed wrote:
I forgot to mention I know people who barely earn a year what you spend on your ticket, they are gratefull to be working and struggle to get to work as well
So, just because someone is worse off, everyone else has to put up with sub-standard service?

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nocando says...
10:06am Fri 26 Oct 12

Cattle class for people that choose to travel like that. It won't change until a peaktime commuter train derails, kills a load of people on board and the subsequent,long winded, expensive enquiry predictably states the bleeding obvious and says more lives would've been saved if everybody had been sitting down.

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bluemonday says...
11:23am Fri 26 Oct 12

why can't they put trains on with 15 carriages so they can make sure theres enough seats for everyone to be able to look out the window at the scenery,does'nt matter what the cost would be,or that it would be empty 90% of the time,as long as the commuters are happy,or you could just get an earlier train

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Made In Sussex says...
11:46am Fri 26 Oct 12

Dear oh dear isnt someone justified in complaining for an overcrowded over priced service?! Of course you lot out there must know other jobs nearby and allternative train services are guaranteed and life is always that simple including having a job or boss that enables you to start and finsihed when you like. Sometime life isnt that simple..

..really? If so then please illuminate us with some actual detail!

Also life

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little boo says...
12:08pm Fri 26 Oct 12

Train companies want revenue, not satisfied 'customers'. What do they care if services are trash, they know that people have to travel anyway. If you live in Brighton or the south coast and work in London that's up to you lot. Deal with it !

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little boo says...
12:08pm Fri 26 Oct 12

Train companies want revenue, not satisfied 'customers'. What do they care if services are trash, they know that people have to travel anyway. If you live in Brighton or the south coast and work in London that's up to you lot. Deal with it !

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Tring says...
12:24pm Fri 26 Oct 12

Some of the FCC trains have got longer, but there are still four car units - like the 9 am. Could this be because it is the first 'cheap' train of the day, and FCC would rather we fork out for a full price ticket?

The worry is that First (aka Worst) group will get the new combined franchise, recently put on hold in the wake of the west coast debacle. We can then look forward to worse service and more fare rises, because there will be no competition on the route.

I wrote to my MP, Mike Weatherley, about this, and was told that my comments had been 'noted'. Deafening silence since. First Group are substantial donors to the Conservative party, I believe.

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lydz25 says...
12:51pm Fri 26 Oct 12

I'm tired of hearing about commuters' woes. Since you seem able to move anyway then move! Or get a job close to where you live. Don't treat a newspaper as your agony aunt.

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Fairfax Sakes says...
2:44pm Fri 26 Oct 12

Taking aside the usual petty and vindictive comments the website thrives on, here are three solutions to this problem:

1) Market forces to push fares up even higher. Economics dictates you raise prices untill demand matches supply (although the truth is demand IS matching supply, since people are still prepared to travel and there is room on the train).

2) Government intervention to induce further competition. Difficult due to natural monopoly enature of this product. Industry already regulated on profit margins, so no room for significant change there.

3) Nationalisation-this will inevitably involve greater tax payer subsidisation.

In brief, railways have no incentive or scope to provide better service beyond that of the regulated standards. The relative expense of rail travel is irrellevant, and there is a strong case for further price increases on peak fares. Put up, pay up or shut up!

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Old Ladys Gin says...
4:56pm Fri 26 Oct 12

Perhaps change you method of earning a living rathe than your transport.
To move so many times? To keep a job?
Why?

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ShorehamBeachcomber says...
7:10pm Fri 26 Oct 12

I don't suppose he is paid too much as anyone earning decent bucks is on far earlier & more reliable trains than him.

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