Cleared: Service disruption between Birmingham Snow Hill and Kidderminster

Update: Chiltern trains are now running between Birmingham Snow Hill and Kidderminster.

A full normal service is expected tomorrow morning 1st October 2014.

Trains suspended between Kidderminster and Birmingham Snow Hill

Edit: The problems referred to below have now been resolved. A normal service is expected to run tomorrow morning.

Owing to a line side fire at the Hawthorns all Chiltern trains are suspended between Birmingham Snow Hill and Kidderminster.  Disruption is expected until 09:00 01/10.

All Chiltern trains will start from Birmingham Moor Street tomorrow morning 1st October. Passengers travelling tomorrow from stations between Kidderminster and Birmingham Snow Hill are advised to leave earlier than usual to take a London Midland train to which, depending on the state of the fire, will either stop at Birmingham Moor Street or Birmingham New Street where a walk to Birmingham Moor St will be required. Please allow plenty of extra time to reach Birmingham Moor Street, from where Chiltern trains will run at their normal times to London.

Tonight, local bus services are conveying passengers between Birmingham Moor Street and Kidderminster in both directions until further notice.  Arrangements have been made for Chiltern Railways rail tickets to be accepted for these journeys. 4M, 9, 53, 80, 87, 120 and 127. Ticket acceptance on all London Midland trains via any reasonable route is in place until further notice.

And now for something completely different

Where does one start?

Well, "It was a dark and stormy night" would be one way but, to be frank, that's a bit passé. so, i guess I'll have to think of something else.

How about "The sun was shining and Elsa decided to go for a walk along the beach."?

I think that is a little better, it has moved on from just describing the weather (a very British pastime) to something else.

Next step.

How about, "Alphie was still feeling cross so, as the sun was shining, he decided to go for a walk along the beach to see if it would calm him down."

Why was Alphie cross? What does the weather have to do with anything? Would a walk along the beach calm him down?

Chapter 1

Alphie was still seething after last night's argument with Elsa.  He didn't understand why she had got so upset.  After all, he was only going to be away for three months.

Elsa had stormed out in a rage and hadn't come back.  With no idea where she had gone, or when she would be back, Alphie was frustrated.  He didn't want to leave things like this, but his flight was due to leave at lunch time.  He needed to get out.  He needed to clear his head.

Elsa meanwhile had other things on her mind.

The evening had gone badly. After what had seemed like a perfectly normal start to a Saturday night, Alphie had told her what he planned to do the next day.  It had come as a complete surprise.  Actually, it wasn't a surprise, it was a massive shock.  They had had a massive row.

What a complete bastard.  How could he even think of doing something like that?  It was pure selfishness.  They had been making plans together for months.  Now this!  She had to get out.  Away.  Away from the devious little shit that she thought she loved.

She screamed.  She hit him.  She slammed the door and she ran.  She had no idea where she was running to, but as she ran out into the storm, tears was streaming down her face.  Elsa was not thinking straight.  She just wanted to run... and run she did, straight from one nightmare into another.

To be continued. 

Many a true word is spoken in jest

Apparently the phrase is derived from one originally written by Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th Century. 

Anyhow, it is most apposite in respect of the following, which I re-found today. 

Corporate life is often completely bonkers. Mine is. 

CU

In the beginning was the plan.

And then came the assumptions.

And the assumptions were without form.

And the plan was without substance.

And darkness was upon the face of the workers.

And they spoke among themselves saying,

"It is a crock of shit and it stinketh."

And the workers went unto their supervisors and said,

"It is a pale of dung and none may abide the odor thereof."

And the supervisor went unto their managers and said,

"It is a container of excrement and it is very strong, such that none may abide by it."

And the managers went unto their directors, saying,

"It is a vessel of fertilizer, and none may abide its strength."

And the directors spoke among themselves, saying to one another,

"It contains that which aids plant growth and it is very strong."

And the directors went unto the vice presidents, saying unto them,

"It promotes growth and is very powerful."

And the vice presidents went unto the president, saying unto him,

"The new plan will promote the growth and vigor of the company, with powerful effects."

And the president looked upon the plan and saw that it was good.

And the plan became policy.

This is how shit happens.

Haw-Haw

To someone of my generation, Haw Haw means something to do with the Second World War.

On Tuesday, I discovered that haw-haw is a noun for something completely different. The full effect has to be seen from the opposite side - it really is quite effective. Unfortunately the house is not mine. I was a car park attendant!

Cable Fire at London Marylebone

Sunday 15th June 2014

Overnight, there has been a cable fire just outside London Marylebone. This means that the signals don't work, so there are no trains running to or from Marylebone at present.

Full guidance from Chiltern Railways is available here.

In a nutshell....

• Passengers for the High Wycombe line should travel to/from West Ruislip using the Central Line.
• Passengers for the Aylesbury via Amersham line should use the Metropolitan Line. Chiltern Railways trains will start/finish at Harrow on the Hill. 

The situation could change during the day, so check before you travel. 

Information is also available via the National Rail Enquiries website.

Edit: 1038. It appears that some trains on the High Wycombe line may be starting / finishing their journeys at Wembley Stadium station. However connections by public transport there are poor into Central London (and it won't be all trains anyway. It is STRONGLY RECOMMENDED that passengers follow the official advice and travel directly to West Ruislip for travel to railway stations along the High Wycombe line. 

Edit: 1345. Most trains towards London (on the High Wycombe line) are currently stopping at South Ruislip to drop off for connections to the Central Line. Trains out of London however are still picking up at West Ruislip. It is clearly proving difficult to run all trains to time - many have extra stops, so allow plenty of time and expect delays.

Edit: 1630. The Central Line is currently suspended between Westbound between Marble Arch and a White City. Not good news for Chiltern Railways passengers trying to get to West Ruislip. 

Options seem to be:

1. Northbound Bakerloo Line to Wembley Central and then a 10 minute walk to Wembley Stadium station or
2. From Bakers Street or Edgware Road (H&C) stations take the Hammersmith & City Line to Wood Lane. White City station is a 3 minute walk from there, from where the Central Line runs to West Ruislip. Allow at least an hour from Marylebone. 

The day just got worse. 

Edit: 1715. Unsurprisingly, the Central Line suspension between Marble Arch & White City is now both ways. Expected to last until 1900 but no guarantees on this. 

Edit: 1745. It appears that a through service has now resumed on the Central Line. Severe delays are reported at present. 

Edit: 1950. Central Line has improved. Now just 'Minor Delays' reported. 

Email received at 1920 from Chiltern Railways re tomorrow morning:

"Dear Customer,

Marylebone station is closed due to a cable fire. Around 2 metres of signalling cable in the tunnel into the station has burned away meaning the signalling system is not working. Without signals we cannot safely run trains, so are not running to or from Marylebone until new cables are installed and tested. Engineers are on site however, disruption is expected and Marylebone will be closed into Monday morning and until further notice.

We strongly advise passengers to avoid travelling on Monday unless essential.

Chiltern tickets are valid on Virgin Trains, London Midland, FGW, CrossCountry & London Underground services."

Final Edit: 2320. Marylebone is not expected to open in time for the Monday morning rush hour. An emergency timetable has been published for the Amersham line. The Wycome line version will hopefully be out in the next hour or so.

Good night everyone.

London buses will not accept cash fares from a Sunday 6th July 2014

I received this email yesterday from TfL.

"I am writing to let you know that from Sunday 6 July, all our buses are going cash free so you will no longer be able to use cash to pay for your bus fare in London.

Instead of cash, you can use an Oyster or contactless payment card to pay as you go, or a Travelcard. A single adult bus fare is £1.45 with Oyster or a contactless payment card. Only touch the card you want to use on the yellow card reader."

I understand why they've done it, but don't feel particularly comfortable with the changes. 

As the tourist season has got into full swing (is there such a thing in London?), I have recently noticed an increase in the number of passengers paying for their bus fares with cash. Certainly more than the 1% of passengers who supposedly do so. 

The changes will happen and will not be reversed - I think there needs to be a digital brand campaign for Oyster targeted at overseas tourists. Too many have no idea of what their optimal ticketing arrangemts ought to be when visiting and traveling around London. 

What is the point?

So, more people in the UK have voted for UKIP than for any other party.

The UK will be sending more UKIP MEPs to Brussels than any other party. 

Will it make any difference to the way the EU is governed? Almost certainly not. 

So what is the point?

That is the point!

Passenger Engagement and Public Toilets

Before reading any further, I must first of all point out that I am not in the habit of taking pictures in public toilets. Honestly.

A significant part of the role of a corporate Marketing & Communications team is to increase customer engagement with your brand. 

The word engagement is something that means different thinks to different people. Thanks to the English language, context is of course important. 

Employee Engagement is part of the modern management lexicon of corporate-speak. A cynic might say that someone with a high level of Employee Engagement is likely to accept less remuneration (or lower pay rises) and is less likely to leave, than would otherwise be the case. 

For a train company, customers are in the main your passengers. Passenger Engagement can therefore mean different things, but if a Marketing & Communications team can successfully increase brand perception, then that is good. It is what they are there for. 

A strong brand increases loyalty from existing customers and will also help attract new ones. For a train company, that means new passengers.

I am probably fairly high up the target list of a passenger that a train company would want to keep loyal. I do not say that because I have an over-sized head but because (a) my local Train Operating Company gets sack loads of my dosh every year (b) I use twitter to communicate with and about them and (c) I occasionally write blog posts about my experiences. 

For me, there is no chance of another TOC getting my day-to-day business. Chiltern Railways operate a monopoly in my area so, along with thousands of other commuters, I am not going anywhere else. 

It's a different story however for Chiltern Railways when looking at the entirety of their route. The London to Birmingham route is highly competitive. 

Here are the options and a snapshot view of each brand and offering (my views alone). 

• Virgin Trains. London Euston to Birmingham New Street. Fast. Expensive. 
• Chiltern Railways. London Marylebone to Birmingham Moor Street / Snow Hill. Not so fast, better value. 
• London Midland. London Euston to Birmingham New Street. Really slow. Good value. 

So, see what I've done? I have ranked and compared three multi-million pound businesses based on just two comparatives and my perceptions. 

Each of those comparatives (speed and price) can easily be challenged, or proven wrong, or may be completely irrelevant to particular passengers. 

Speed (time a journey takes) is affected by a number of factors including your specific start and finishing points, ease of connection to onward trains and even the time or day of the week. 

Price, as far as the UK railway industry is concerned, should be the subject of a Masters Degree in Confusion and Complexity. I will simply say that a single one-way journey between London and Birmingham can sometimes be obtained for as little as 50 pence (a newspaper promotional offer) to as much as £135. Of course the vast majority of passengers pay somewhere in the middle and well below the mid-point of those two prices. 

Other passenger relevant variables might include;

• The availability of wi-fi and it's cost. 
• Tables
• Refreshment services
• Station ambience
• Plug charging points
• Types of trains
• View out of the window
• Friendliness of staff
• Availability of seats
• Awareness of what choices there are
• Cleanliness of toilets

Everybody is different and each individual will have their own personal decision-making matrix that they use. That is complicated and is difficult to model or to communicate effectively. 

That is where the Communication and Marketing team comes to the front. Can they encapsulate little snippets of information that subtly make people want to use their services over those of a competitor? Perhaps a self-deprecating choice of language. Humour. Honesty. Integrity. Everything helps, almost anything goes. 

So, what has all that got to do with toilets?

Take a look at the toilets at Marylebone Station and you'll find out!

CU

Pictures - Saracens -v- Worcester on Saturday 3rd May 2014

Something a little unbalanced happened with the colour - I suspect that this is a combination of (a) shooting into the Sun and (b) all the blue glass in the West stand. Well, those are my excuses.

Use and abuse as you wish!

Pleased to see you made it to the end!

CU

Bond Street - No Central Line until 17 June 2014

From today until Tuesday 17th June 2014, the Central Line will not be calling at Bond Street.

Central Line passengers will need to use stations either side (Oxford Circus or Marble Arch). 

Jubilee Line trains will still call at Bond Street, but for entry / exit only. It will not be possible to change lines at Bond Street because Central Line trains are not stopping there.

Steam Train along the Chiltern Line (Sunday 14th April 2014)

There is a steam train passing along much of the Chiltern Line today.

It has just left Paddington for Stratford-upon-Avon, and will be returning this evening. 

Expected timings are shown below - click to enlarge. 

A lovely day for it!

Euphemism

I was somewhat amused to see this piece of paper posted to the inside of the cafe door at Leamington Spa station, earlier this morning.

It is possible that the door lock was broken, but I would put money on the reality being that "Technical Difficulties" really meant "We don't have a key".

Random musings about running a railway

I am generally a real fan and advocate of the train services offered by Chiltern Railways. From this starting point, I do however try to remain objective about my experiences and have, on occasion, been openly critical about some aspects of what they do.

A little bit of background. 

Upon privatisation, Chiltern Railways was a tiny franchise operating fairly limited services from London Marylebone station*, with services along two separate lines through the Chiltern Hills to Aylesbury and stations along the M40 corridor. 

* If you are a gentleman, the toilets at Marylebone have a giant Monopoly board on the wall, cleverly reminding you where you are. The ladies facilities are currently being refurbished, so we wait to see what droll humour emanates from the minds of the marketing gurus in respect of the decor there. 

A huge amount of money has been spent in improving the line over the years and the consensus view would probably be that passengers along the Chiltern Railways routes generally benefit from the way the franchise has been managed. 

The Franchise itself is unusual in that it was extended to a 21 year term (with an option to extend), the longest in the UK. The train services are operated by a company that is now ultimately owned by the German government. 

The number of passengers using Chiltern Railways has grown phenomenally over the years. However due to a combination of investment, and the profile of agreed payments due to the Exchequer, the train company is currently loss making. 

Infrastructure spending continues - the line between Bicester Town and Oxford has just closed for over a year, to enable that stretch of railway to be completely rebuilt and linked up to the main line to Marylebone. This is the last phase of Project Evergreen 3, which saw a huge amount of track work leading to much faster journey times during the project's early stages, a couple of years ago. 

Interestingly much of the infrastructure spending is initially paid by Network Rail, with the costs paid for by Chiltern (including interest at reasonably commercial rates) by way of increased track access charges over time. From later in 2014 Network Rail's large (huge) borrowings will be accounted for as part of the National Debt. Bear that in mind when the railway company talks about investment - Yes they have spent many millions of their own money, but they have also spent lots of ours. The audited accounts make for an interesting read. 

With the exception of the London Underground tracks between Harrow and Amersham, the Chiltern routes are not electrified. This means that all their trains are powered by diesel powered engines. In the national context much electrification is planned. Other than the stretch of replacement railway between Oxford and Bicester, and much of the line heading North from Oxford / Banbury, the Chiltern Railways routes are unlikely to be electrified anytime soon. 

This causes a problem, because due to the increasing passenger numbers throughout the UK, there is a real shortage of passenger carriages and trains. Yes, there are plenty of new trains in the pipeline, but none of these will be powered only by diesel.

With an ever increasing demand, clever time-tabling can only get you so far.

A few years ago, Chiltern 'acquired' four 2 car Class 172 train sets. Capable of 100 mph, these trains were originally planned for the 'inner' services. Typically Marylebone / Gerrards Cross. However with huge chunks of the Birmingham line now running trains at 100 mph, it has made perfect sense for these new trains to run much further afield.

It is not unusual to see the Chiltern Class 172s bolstering the Class 168 'Clubman' trains, and they often provide the rolling stock for services to Stratford upon Avon. 

However, in the overall scheme of things, eight carriages doesn't get you very far. The new carriages are also not popular with many long distance travellers as they don't have wi-fi or tables. 

A failed service was the acclaimed Wrexham & Shropshire train service, which used to run an occasional but regular service between Marylebone and Wrexham. The last services ran on 28th January 2011. The trains used were refurbished Mark III coaches with a Class 67 locomotive at one end and a Driving Van Trailer at the other. 

These trains provided the catalyst for Chiltern's solution to the nationwide shortage of rolling stock. What they did was to acquire a job lot of the old Mark III coaches which were originally built in the 1970s & 80s, retro-fit most of them with plug doors, and put them into service with diesel locomotives providing the traction at one end and DVTs at the other. Result!

Yes, four posh 'new' trains have made it possible to run a significantly enhanced service following Evergreen 3 (part 1). They also have an old un-refurbished 'Blue & Grey' train that makes up a morning commuter train from Banbury to London, with a return trip in the evening. 

The problem is, the Class 67 locomotives have proven to be prone to breakdowns. A few months ago, Rail magazine said that they were the least reliable fleet in the country. The measure was the average number of miles between breakdown. 

I know that Chiltern have invested a lot of time and money in trying to improve the reliability of their locomotive hauled trains. The problem is, of course, that if one fails en-route (a) it's likely to have a lot of passengers on board and (b) when this happens, the nearest available 'Thunderbird' rescue engine may be many miles away with possibly lots of 'normal' trains sandwiched in between. 

Oh, the joys of running a railway.

A final thought. The current timetable is said to include train paths that will be used to run the new services to Oxford. It will take a lot longer to run a train from the new curve at Bicester to Oxford than it currently does to turn the Bicester terminators round in the siding.

Anyone got any spare trains?

CU

A question of ticket checks...

A question was asked on Twitter this evening as to why, having just passed through the ticket barriers at Marylebone, a passenger's ticket was then checked on the train a few minutes later. 

A perfectly reasonable question. 

It got my mind racing in a number of different directions - The following are some of my thoughts on the topic, from the perspective of an ordinary honest fare paying passenger, traveling mostly with Chiltern Railways. If you a reading from the perspective of someone less scrupulous, please go elsewhere. 

From a revenue protection perspective, Chiltern Railways will want to check that (a) a ticket is valid on a particular train and (b) that a ticket covering the journey is held at all. 

I suspect that the barriers are not that clever and will open with any ticket that is valid from that station at roughly that time of day. That could include tickets to any one of literally hundreds of destinations, tickets that are valid only during peak periods, or even tickets valid on just one specific train. 

The vast majority of passengers are honest and travel with valid tickets, some honest passengers travel on trains for which their tickets are not valid due to ticket-type restrictions, and some passengers travel dishonestly. 

It is possible to buy tickets in advance, for specific trains, that can cost as little as £6 or £9 to travel between Marylebone and Birmingham. By buying an 'Advance' ticket at such bargain prices, the passenger forfeits much of the flexibility that a more expensive ticket would provide. If you have an Advance ticket for a specific train, you must travel on that train, otherwise you you can expect to have to buy a replacement full fare ticket if it is checked by a ticket inspector. 

On a weekday, trains arriving into or departing from destination stations at peak times have specific ticket restrictions, meaning it is more expensive to travel at those times. Peak time restrictions do not apply on weekends or Bank Holidays. 

London stations are peculiar in that a tap of an Oystercard (a smart card ticket) will make the ticket gates open. Oystercards are valid from London Marylebone, but only as far as West Ruislip or Amersham. A surprisingly large number of people travel outside of the London Travelcard zones having simply tapped in, in London. If caught, they will usually be made to buy a full ticket and will also have the problem of an unresolved (unfinished) journey on their Oystercard to contend with. 

The unscrupulous passenger might buy a ticket far short of their destination, in the hope that they don't get caught. That is totally illegal and anyone who knowingly does this deserves to have the book thrown at them. 

The busiest stations (Marylebone, Gerrards Cross, Beaconsfield, High Wycombe, Leamington Spa and the Birmingham Terminii) have ticket barriers, as do London Underground stations at which Chiltern Railways trains call. Banbury will have barriers installed later in 2014. As most passengers have valid tickets, staff only have to deal with the small number of exceptions. Ticket barriers have to be left open if a station is unstaffed, so they are not a complete solution. 

South of Banbury, only the locomotive hauled trains (plus one other) have Train Managers on board. Other than that, surprise ticket checks are carried out on-board by a small band of roving ticket inspectors. 

There are also random 'blockades' at stations, where tickets are fully checked. 

North of Banbury, every train has a guard on board, so tickets will usually be checked. This extra presence is because a Driver Only Operation is only permitted between Marylebone and Banbury. DOO is not possible on the locomotive hauled trains and is not allowed on the one eight car weekday morning commuter train. 

Revenue protection is all about checks and balances. A commercial decision has been taken to not have ticket inspectors on every train. However when a member of staff is on board it makes sense for them to check tickets, for the reasons I have given. 

Most people welcome their tickets being checked on-board as it provides reassurance that the money they have paid is not subsidising people who have not paid the correct fare. 

During the week, it is not possible to check many tickets on-board, because the trains are too full and uncomfortable. That is however an entirely different story...

So in summary:

-Ticket barriers help prevent ticketless travel and, broadly, help to enforce peak / off-peak ticket restrictions. 

-On-board ticket checks help to minimise the number of people traveling with invalid tickets. 

The ticket checking regime is not perfect, but I for one welcome anything that stops my fares going up unnecessarily due to people not paying the correct fares for train travel. 

Wahay!

We've just booked for a second week of skiing for this season.

Three or more would be better, but I'll take what we can get!

Chiltern Railways - Early Services on Thursday 13th February 2014

Chiltern Railways had a torrid day yesterday. Major problems were caused following a power / signalling system failure in the Banbury area.

This caused the total suspension of services between Bicester North & Leamington Spa for almost six hours.

I expect many long distance commuters will work from home today, simply due to the times that they eventually got home.

Anyhow, at present, it would appear that the problems at Banbury have been fixed and the vast majority of trains operated by Chiltern Railways are running, and to time.

Good show chaps and chapesses!

The wi-fi service on board Chiltern Railways trains

Chiltern Railways offer 'Free' wi-fi to all passengers on most of their long distance trains. Some might argue that it's included in the price of the train ticket so isn't free of charge, but in my mind it's an extra service that you don't pay extra for, so I consider it free.

The wi-fi service is usually available on all Class 168 'Clubman' style trains and on the fancy 'Silver' trains that have electrically operated doors. If your train has tables, it should have wi-fi, unless you happen to catch the old 'blue & grey' train (with slam doors) that does one trip from Banbury to Marylebone each weekday morning, with one return trip in the evening.

The service is obtained by registering for the service the first time you log on, and then by using your email address on subsequent visits.

The wi-fi doesn't always work for everyone, usually for technical reasons.

You should also be aware that the wi-fi system on board the trains uses the mobile phone network. This means that there is not an unlimited amount of bandwidth (usage is slowed down after 20mb of data) and if the train is passing through a mobile-data Bermuda Triangle, then the data connection will drop off.

The service is provided by a company called icomera, which is based in Göteborg in Sweden. They have staff in the UK, but the company's customer Help Desk is located in Scandinavia. They are a jolly helpful and friendly bunch of people.

What support options are available when the wi-fi doesn't work for you?

Telephone: A geographical London based Help Line number was announced in September 2014. It is  020 8028 0375. [Edit Sep 2014]

 
Email: Provided you have 3G access (presumably the on-board wi-fi is not working), you can email chiltern.support@icomera.com You should include basic information about the nature of the problem and what train you are on. It is really helpful if you can include the carriage number you are in - this isn't always obvious, but is usually above the door to the drivers cab if you are in one of the the end carriages of a Clubman 168 train.

Sending an email will automatically generate a service ticket, with an auto response email. My experience is that these tickets do usually take a few minutes to feed through the system before they come to the attention of an icomera Help Desk agent.

Internet: There is also a support website - Once you have logged an email ticket, you can respond and log further tickets via the support system. I like this because I have a record although, as with the emails, it can take a short while before your problem is picked up.

The web site also offers a Live Chat facility - of course you will need your own means of accessing the internet to use this. Also, if you lose your signal, the conversation may break off. With Live Chat, you can have the system email you a copy of your conversation.

The icomera Help Desk service is supposed to be available from 0600 to 2200 every day. Occasionally response times are not immediate, but please remember that the agent(s) on duty are likely to be multi-tasking. Very occasionally response times suggest that no one is there - When that happens, I tend to get grumpy.

Support is not currently available from icomera via Twitter although the lovely Chiltern Tweeters will occasionally log a fault - I find it much more efficient to do it myself.

Newquay Airport - Some good news

Newquay airport in Cornwall appears to have been struggling a little recently.

I've just had an email from FlyBe to say that they are flying three times a week, this Summer (2014) between Southend and Newquay.

The route will be operating between 16th May and 27th September. It will be possible to book flights from tomorrow.

I hope the new route works well for FlyBe and both airports. Cornwall is a beautiful county and the beaches are amazing.

This is not a plug-a-torial. I have had many a happy family holiday in the far South a West of the UK - If you haven't' tried it, why not give it a go.

** Other travel options to Cornwall are available.

Saracens - Quote of the day

Alex Goode

On his stunning second-half try he added;

“It was like an Under 12s try – I’ve never scored one like that before! I got the ball, and I had a lot of time to swing my hips, throw about fifteen dummies and annoy Ashy as I didn’t give him the ball, to score."

Full article.