Wemberleey!

For a reason that I haven't really been able to fathom out, Saracens are playing this afternoon's rugby match against Northampton Saints at Wembley Stadium. Somewhere around 35,000 / 40,000 rugby fans are expected on what could be a Bluebird Day (if it had snowed last night, which obviously, it didn't).

It suits me fine as it save a drive to Watford and the dreaded Match Day Parking CPZ around Vicarage Road - Today I can let the train take the strain, and possible have a sherbert or two, something I cannot normally do.

Chiltern Railways have extra trains stopping at Wembley Stadium - great for me, but with engineering works on the Amersham branch, and no Metropolitan Line from Northwood to Wembley Park and the Jubilee Line also out for engineering works, I suspect that London Midland services (serving both Northampton and Watford) at Wembley Central will be a bit busy.

Hopefully the rugby will not play second fiddle and it should be a great afternoon.

It's not too late to go - tickets are £10 on the door, £5 for children. Shades and shorts required.

Falling down around our ears

Anyone with a modicum of interest in public transport in the UK cannot have failed to have noticed the string of problems that have affected the West Coast Main Line over the last few days.

Problems have included:

• A fatal plane crash on 2nd January, near Stafford, which destroyed overhead power lines and caused service cancellations for a few days
• The power cables coming down near Watford Junction on 4th January, again causing a total suspension of services
• Another set of power cables coming down on 6th January, somewhere near Wembley, causing a total line closure, and
• Further power cable problems (this time in Warwickshire) today, 8th January.

Now, the first of these incidents was obviously a tragic accident, but the rest do seem to call into question the nature of engineering work and/ or maintenance of the West Coast Main Line infrastructure.

According to reports, Network Rail have set up a major enquiry into the events of this week. That is good to note - in my line of work a Post Incident Review would be instigated for events that would have a far smaller operational or financial cost.

I do not know what staff turnover is like within either Network Rail or its subcontractors, but I do wonder whether the person who has trained people how to tie up the power cables actually knows how to do it?

Free Lunch

Have you ever heard of the phrase "There's no such thing as a free lunch"?

Well, time will tell, but I may have found me one today.

There is only one problem in that it involves me going to a footall match.

Now, as I don't do football, I am being a bit of a hypocrite in accepting the invitation, but the person who has invited me knows me well and is a good friend. And I like food.

I'll let you know whether it really is a free lunch.

The next conundrum is how do I get there? I usually drive, but if I am on a freebie in a paid-for box, I quite fancy a drink or two. That means doing battle with several Chiltern Railways trains and the Metropolitan Line. I've even found my empty Oystercard so that I don't have to pay silly cash fares for the last bit of the journey to Watford.

I think I'll drive tomorrow for the rugby and go by train today.

Get up... get out... it's a lovely Autumn day here in rural Buckinghamshire. I've just taken this picture shown at the top of this post from the bedroom, especially for you! Enjoy.

Oops - And I have a rugby match to attend

I like snow. I think snow is great to walk around in. It is also great to ski down mountains that are covered in loads of snow.

What is less good is when I looked out of the window just now and saw that we had had the first covering of proper snow of the winter. It is only an inch or so here, but having lived in London for 18 years, I am a member of the "Snow = National Emergency" brigade when it comes to driving.

Every route from where I live to Watford (directly across the huge mountain range North West of London called The Chiltern Hills) involves steep hills or narrow country roads. The trouble is I don't particularly want to take the train. There is a very high risk that something will go wrong with either Chiltern Railways or the Metropolitan Line, and I do have to get back.

Why Watford?

There is a 12.30 kick off for the Saracens -v- Ospreys match at Vicarage Road. It is an important match and the stadium has totally sold out (all 18,214 tickets have been gone).

Having just listened to the travel news on LBC, the tube appears to have problems on the Bakerloo, Central and Metropolitan Lines. Common factor: all in North West London, not far from Watford.

I shall have to put on a pan of porridge and then carefully consider my options.

A New Year and An Inauspicious Start to it by Network Rail

After a stormy night across the British Isles, a fantastic New Year's firework display from London (seen on the box) and a pleasant evening with friends in Abbots Langley, Network Rail have decided to scotch the best efforts of the Silverlink and Southern train operating companies at offering a good train service today, by offering a major signal failure just south of Watford Junction by way of a New Year gift. Thank you Network Rail.

I am not going to carry this on for the year, but... time lost so far in 2007 due to train delays... 60 minutes. As the song goes; "It can only get better."

Happy New Year!

Signalling problem between London Euston and Watford Junction
Time Reported:	12:18
Route Affected:	London Euston - Watford Junction - Milton Keynes Central - Northampton/Rugby - Birmingham New Street/Manchester Piccadilly/Liverpool Lime Street
TOC/s Affected:	Silverlink, Virgin Trains
Description:	Train services between London Euston and Watford Junction are being disrupted due to a signalling problem. Alterations and delays to services can be expected. There is currently no estimate for a normal service to resume.
Updates:	14:35 Train services are suspended again between London Euston and Watford Junction in both directions. Alterations and delays of up to 90 minutes can be expected. Silverlink County are running two trains per hour between Hemel Hempstead and Northampton in both directions, departing Hemel Hempstead at xx:06 and xx:36, departing Northampton at xx:02 and xx:32. Silverlink County tickets are being accepted on the London Underground between London and Watford, also on Midland Mainline services between London and Wellingborough, on First Capital Connect services between London and Bedford, and on Chiltern Railways services. Virgin Trains services are making additional calls at Tring for Silverlink County passengers travelling to/from Watford Junction. Virgin Trains are terminating services at Watford Junction. Passengers can complete their journey to London using Silverlink Metro services. Midland Mainline are accepting Virgin Trains tickets. 14:58 Southern services between Clapham Junction and Watford Junction are now starting from/terminating at Wembley Central. Passengers can use Silverlink Metro services between Wembley Central and Watford Junction.

	18:34 Train services are able to operate normally again between London Euston and Watford Junction. But residual alterations and delays of up to 90 minutes are still likely for the next 2-3 hours.
Time reported cleared:	20:29

New Year's Day Train Services from Watford Junction

I am a creature of habit and will once again be travelling through Watford Junction, towards London Euston on New Year's Day.

My second post of this blog was a rant at the timetabling of trains from Watford Junction during engineering works.

Silverlink Trains do not appear to be having to endure significant engineering works from Watford Junction this year on New Year's Day and appear to be offering a pretty good service. Good News. A link to their timetable page is here.





Have a very Happy New Year!

Watford Junction - New Year's Day Timetable Rant

See if you can fathom this one out:

New Year's Day, lunchtime.
Silverlink County operating hourly stopping services southbound from Northampton. ALL terminate (contrary to published New Year's Day Timetable), arriving at Watford Junction at xx.26

Silverlink Metro operating hourly stopping services southbound from Watford Junction departing at xx.22

Southern operating hourly service southbound services from Watford Junction departing at xx.22, first stop Harrow & Wealdstone then Kensington Olympia.

What sort of idiot makes up these timetables? I was of course aiming for Harrow & Wealdstone. In the end Virgin Trains agreed to accept southbound to Euston- so with 95% of the passengers having been herded outside to catch a 'Fast Coach' to Euston, a small number of us lucky cattle were able to get on a big fancy red train resulting in me going the long way round, probably quicker than any other means. Oh- and the screens weren't showing any Virgin Trains going south, because they are only timetabled to drop off.

What exactly is it that Network Rail do? Grrrrrr...