First Capital Connect's Brighton service goes into meltdown (From The Argus)
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First Capital Connect's Brighton service goes into meltdown
4:41pm Monday 11th January 2010 in
First Capital Connect's rush hour service is in chaos this afternoon after it cancelled a raft of services.
National Rail Enquiries says all the Bedford to Brighton trains have been cancelled - although the operator itself says it is running two trains an hour.
In a statement on its website, FCC said: "During the unprecedented cold weather our Thameslink route fleet has developed technical problems including train motor failures.
"The majority of these faults developed while trying to provide a service through heavy snow and sub-zero conditions.
"Our engineering team is working around the clock to repair the trains as quickly as possible, however a number remain out of action which is affecting the level of service we can provide.
"We will be re-introducing trains as soon as they are cleared for service. We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience experienced this morning and over the recent weeks on Thameslink services."
But Bob Crow, RMT General Secretary said the troubles were due to staffing, not technical issues.
He said: "The continuing chaos on First Capital Connect and other parts of the rail network is down to a shortage of operating staff, track crew and serviceable rolling stock.
"Those issues must be tackled as a matter of urgency in light of the events of the past week.
“FCC has once again proven itself to be a complete disaster in terms of service delivery and the only solution to the continuing and repeated chaos on their franchise is to bring it back under public ownership with proper resources and staffing put in place to deliver for the travelling public."
FCC drivers almost went on strike before Christmas in protest at staff shortages after weeks of working to rule crippled the service.
Comments(16)
jonmorris
says...
5:38pm Mon 11 Jan 10
The problem is that they have to manually input every new service for the snow timetable AND remove all the standard services.
On Friday, and today it would seem, they have not removed the normal services (yes, you can definitely have a go at them for this!).
As every single one of these is therefore coming up cancelled - it results in a significant number of service updates being pushed out on Twitter, National Rail, SMS etc.
If you look carefully, you'll see that there are a number of services injected between the cancelled ones that are showing as running from Bedford to Brighton and vice versa on the TL side.
I believe that tomorrow GN will run a normal timetable, TL will run the we're-short-of-drive
rs timetable and the Wimbledon loop will start up again.
Dee Zelastra
says...
5:41pm Mon 11 Jan 10
Something to say
says...
6:51pm Mon 11 Jan 10
lated. However, not acceptable for the thousands who rely on the service to commute. Having to contend with problems day-in-day out, month-on-month is causing my OH to get very depressed. And he has been looking for a job for a while - although maybe he should apply to be an FCC train driver!
It is worth checking out the alternative FCC website - firstcrapitalconnect and also sign the petition on the 10 Downing Street website to get the franchise ended
Forbes Coleman
says...
7:53pm Mon 11 Jan 10
toryinside
says...
8:36pm Mon 11 Jan 10
7:53pm Mon 11 Jan 10
Time to re-nationalise!!!
Not on your nelly - look at the state of the trains in europe, would you really want that hear?!! OK some private companies could improve but a nationalised railway service is madness - the state always messes up, its an unwritten rule.
Christophe Hawtree
says...
9:30pm Mon 11 Jan 10
johnners
says...
10:27pm Mon 11 Jan 10
http://eveningstrand
ed.wordpress.com/
Andy R
says...
11:25pm Mon 11 Jan 10
toryinside wrote:The "state" of trains in Europe? Cheap, quick, comfortable, punctual. Oooh no! We don't want any of that sort of thing here!
Forbes Coleman, says... 7:53pm Mon 11 Jan 10 Time to re-nationalise!!! Not on your nelly - look at the state of the trains in europe, would you really want that hear?!! OK some private companies could improve but a nationalised railway service is madness - the state always messes up, its an unwritten rule.
davyboy
says...
12:02am Tue 12 Jan 10
Andy R wrote:distance for distance, european trains are much cheaper than ours, and usually more punctual. having said that, i have just booked a advance return for 2 adults, and 1 child, oxford to liverpool, for £82, all in. when you take into account the total running costs of a car, this is very reasonable. the proof of the pudding, as they say, is whether it all gels ok when we go. i believe a national rail company would be better for all, as at the moment, services are being cut to satisfy the shareholders needs for profits. if the only shareholders are us, the general public, we will ultimately reap the benefits of good service.
toryinside wrote:The "state" of trains in Europe? Cheap, quick, comfortable, punctual. Oooh no! We don't want any of that sort of thing here!
Forbes Coleman, says... 7:53pm Mon 11 Jan 10 Time to re-nationalise!!! Not on your nelly - look at the state of the trains in europe, would you really want that hear?!! OK some private companies could improve but a nationalised railway service is madness - the state always messes up, its an unwritten rule.
tonybee
says...
3:40am Tue 12 Jan 10
Hornby Railway. I travel for 3 months of the year in France & the trains are clean and on time etc etc - & this from a country that never drew a war let alone won one.
Hadrian is to blame since he didn't
build the wall high enough to keep these useless Scottish **** out.
Tye
says...
7:04am Tue 12 Jan 10
toryinside wrote:Bring back British Railways - the state subsidy was a HECK of a lot less than it is now (Yes - more than twice in real terms)
Forbes Coleman, says... 7:53pm Mon 11 Jan 10 Time to re-nationalise!!! Not on your nelly - look at the state of the trains in europe, would you really want that hear?!! OK some private companies could improve but a nationalised railway service is madness - the state always messes up, its an unwritten rule.
after all we have to ensure larger profits and dividends even for all those who wouldn't be seen dead on a train
Also if you check their figures on improving on time /efficiency figures - they're comparing the first year of privatisation NOT with BR
Turing Test
says...
7:15am Tue 12 Jan 10
toryinside wrote:The only meaningful thing to be understood from this comment, toryinside, is that you've never travelled by train in Europe.
Forbes Coleman, says...
7:53pm Mon 11 Jan 10
Time to re-nationalise!!!
Not on your nelly - look at the state of the trains in europe, would you really want that hear?!! OK some private companies could improve but a nationalised railway service is madness - the state always messes up, its an unwritten rule.
jamesdean2002uk
says...
9:00am Tue 12 Jan 10
Jimmy Stewart's Imaginary Rabbit
says...
10:12am Tue 12 Jan 10
I'm not a train buff but it can't all be down to staffing problems - from my layman's perspective I'd say the Southern's rolling stock is simply better.
Zamora25
says...
3:54pm Tue 12 Jan 10
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Christophe Hawtree says...
4:51pm Mon 11 Jan 10