Fare Rise Day

Today is the day of the year when most train fares across the UK increase.

It's all over the news. The BBC, ITV, Sky News, Daily Mail and many other web sites all have very similar stories.

Now, I am no expert on the way our railway system is run, but the way that fares are set does seem to be like smoke and mirrors. There is talk of Regulated and Un-Regulated fares. There are 'baskets'. There are 'average price rises' and 'average regulated price rises'. It also appears that train companies can choose to take pot shots at particular groups of commuters by varying individual regulated fares (ie an annual season ticket) by up to 5% over the average price rise.

It is hugely complicated and I wouldn't like to be the person at a train company who is responsible for running the data that ensures they comply with all the rules.

Anyone who reads this blog regularly will know that I am a commuter on Chiltern Railways. They hold a black belt in making good use of the complex rules and regulations. Despite initially releasing their 2013 season ticket prices almost a month ago, they have been chopping and changing them right up until the beginning of this week.

So far as I can tell (as of last night), season ticket price rises to London across the Chiltern Railways network range from 0% (yes - no price rise) to a whopping 9.2% for long distance commuters. Now you might think that commuters from Princes Risborough would be pleased with their £nil price rise, but the reality is that they've got this because they kicked up such a fuss about the recently implemented timetable. I suspect the decision to not increase their prices today is an acknowledgement that there will be no improvement to train services anytime soon.

Car parking prices are 'un-regulated' which means that Chiltern have also increased their car park charges today. They would probably like to point out that many of their car park prices did not go up last year. All I can say is that the new price of £7.00 a day to park your car at the station is a heck of a lot of money!

Across the country many commuters will see their rail fares go up from today by far more than their net incomes.are likely to increase. That does not make people feel good.

Happy New Year everyone!

Skyfall

Always one to follow the crowd, tonight I went to see the latest James Bond film. Me and five other people were all that were there.

Actually, considering it wasn't an Ian Fleming story, I thought it was a pretty good continuation of the genre. An excellent game of Word Association, a young Q (Ben Whishaw from 'The Hour'), all the expected action and characters and a dramatic ending.

Naturally there is a requirement to suspend belief - it is a work of fiction, but nonetheless realistic enough. London's geography (and the underground network) gets a bit screwed up, geographically speaking, but everything is recognisable.

Daniel Craig is as good as ever and Dame Judi Dench is always good on screen. And of course there is Moneypenny. Rather nice.

If you haven't yet been to see the film on the big screen, I recommend that you do. It won't be so good on the rectangle in the corner of your living room.

There seem to be a few interesting films doing the rounds at present, so I may have to tie up a few more evenings in the near future.

2012 - A summary of my train travels

Summary figures for train travel for 2012 are:

• January: 2,229mi 52ch
• February: 3,264mi 70ch
• March: 3,167mi 47ch
• April: 4,204mi 58ch
• May: 3,693mi 50ch
• June: 1,698mi 00ch
• July: 3,911mi 14ch
• August: 4,377mi 43ch
• September: 3,951mi 5ch
• October: 4,597mi 50ch
• November: 5,045mi 24ch
• December: 3,765mi 5ch

This means that in 2012 I have travelled 43,906 miles 18 chains by rail, not including the London Underground.

During the year I have spent 33 days and 3 minutes on trains and have been delayed by 2 days, 7 hours and 16 minutes.

The worst delay of the year was on 11th August, while I was on my way to see a brilliant night of athletics in the Olympic Stadium. I was not the only person on the train getting slightly nervous as the delay wore on. It was not the fault of Chiltern Railways, but it was nonetheless frustrating.

I suspect that 2013 will see me travelling fewer miles by rail than happened this year. This is primarily because am am currently not travelling quite so much for work. Only time will tell.

All stats have been collected and collated using Railmiles, written by Tom Cairns.Thanks Tom!

Have a very Happy New Year and all the very best for 2013.

December 2012 - Back to normal numbers

This month turned out to be vaguely average for the month. With the Christmas break I would have expected it to dip more, but the numbers were boosted by a trip over the holiday period up to the North East on East Coast Trains (and very good they were too).

For the record:

Operator	Miles Travelled
Chiltern Railways	3,275.7875
EastCoast	465.25
London Midland	18.7375
South Eastern	5.2875
Total for Month	3,765.0625

I'll post an annual summary a little bit later. I hope you are having a good evening.

Track Bashing the new Chiltern Mainline Timetable (Episode 3)

Today saw the third significant recast of the Chiltern Railways timetable in 15 months. Technically the new timetable started yesterday, but the majority of the impact and changes affect weekday travellers.

As has become customary on these days, I have spent just a little too much of my time today stress testing the new timetable.

Disclosure: I pay for an annual season ticket for travel on a reasonable chunk of the Chiltern network. However for today I did approach the railway company for a day ticket that would enable me to travel further afield without paying any extra. They kindly agreed and I am most grateful. It was on the clear understanding, agreed with no difficulty, that anything I wrote would be my own and would not (on my part) just be a piece of marketing blurb for Chiltern Railways.

I should also add at this stage that I have significant and ongoing disagreements with Chiltern Railways relating to local matters, but those are for an entirely different time and place.

So, how did the day go?..... Well I suspect that Chiltern Railways will be fairly please with themselves tonight. Compared with the September 2011 and December 2012 Timetable days, today was considerably better.

Here is a summary of the day, using exactly the same format for the facts and figures that I used previously:

• Total number of individual train journeys:15
• Total distance travelled: 533.9 Miles
• Longest train journey: 111 Miles
• Shortest train journey: 4 miles
• Highest individual average journey speed: 78.5 mph
• Average speed of all journeys: 61.8 mph
• Cumulative delay: 15 minutes
• Number of cancellations experienced: 0
• Number of times my train was pulled over to allow a Mainline (express) service to overtake: 0 

By referring back to my previous posts, immediately it is possible to see that I experienced far fewer problems today than on either of the previous two Track Bash days, despite travelling on more trains and travelling further.

Last December I also made made reference (with a chart) to the PPM (Public Performance Measure) for Chiltern Railways. The PPM is an important Key Performance Indicator used within the railway industry to measure both punctuality and reliability. I believe that there is a target for 'All Day' performance, and also a requirement that the target must be separately hit in the three hour morning and evening 'Peaks'.

From first thing this morning, through to late this evening, I have been monitoring the cumulative PPM punctuality performance for Chiltern. Hopefully you can see from the above graph that while there was a dip at lunchtime (caused mainly by a failed train), the punctuality across the network has been pretty good, particularly for a new and virtually re-written timetable. Senior Management at Chiltern Railways are probably patting themselves on the back - without doubt the performance today has been absolutely stellar compared to the last two significant timetable changes.

A word of caution though: At some times of the day there is a ridiculously large amount of slack built into the timetable, meaning that a train has to be running a huge amount behind what it is capable of, before it is considered to be officially late.

However notwithstanding this, the measure is the measure and performance has improved.

In no particular order (other than vaguely chronological) here are a number of observations from the day:

• I spoke to five people before I boarded my first train of the day. Three were most unhappy with the new Timetable and what it would do to their work / life balance. Two were fine - they both travel just one stop to work.
• Much confusion at High Wycombe with the main 'London Platform' departure board out of order. I witnessed a number of people miss a train because it was unclear from where they entered the station which platform their train would leave from.
• The car Park at Princes Risborough was considerably quieter than normal till much later than normal. This can probably be attributed to the one remaining non-stop train running 20 minutes later than was previously the case.
• One train (the train that started from Princes Risborough at 0644) being full at the front from High Wycombe and roughly a third full in the rear two carriages. If you want a seat on the 0701 from Beaconsfield consider moving towards the back.
• Some people getting significantly animated (again, at Princes Risborough) with two senior Chiltern Railways staff about the withdrawal of their second morning non-stop train (there isn't one at all any more in the evening).
• The look of confusion when a Mainline Silver Train pulled into Princes Risborough (with 15 minutes to spare), to form the 0744 service to London. Quite a few people were on the train when it started. A lot more got on at High Wycombe and it is estimated that 150 people were standing from Beaconsfield, throughout the length of the train.
• I saw a Class 172 train heading to Stratford-upon-Avon, two cars long, capable of 100 mph, nor wi-fi or tables. The first I have seen that type of train on that route.
• A mixed train formed of a 75 mph two car unit and a 100 mph Class 172. The service was timed for 100mph. Not possible.
• Throughout the day, many more trains terminate at Bicester North than was previously the case. I witnessed three instances where terminating trains blocked or delayed the paths of Southbound trains. I have no doubt that this will have already been identified by the railway company, but instinctively it seems plain to me that the timetable modelling at that location has not worked.
• A 'key' service (the 1715 from Marylebone to Kidderminster, first stop Leamington Spa) left with no more than 180 passengers on board (a generous over-guesstimate). Fifteen people in my carriage and three sat in the Business Zone. That seems an under-use of a valuable resource.

So, quite a lot of trains. A fair few facts and some objectivity. However, that is the problem - that is how the railway is run.

None of this measures that countless people have have definitely had their working day extended, or their home day diminished. There will inevitably be delays and cancellations, but the fact is that people need to be where they want to be when they want to be. At some stations the only way this can happen is by passengers leaving for London earlier than was previously the case, or by leaving London later than was previously the case.

Some passengers have praised the new timetable. Many have been most uncomplimentary. Measured objectively, it broadly works. Measured from how people feel, some people are not happy.

You cannot please all of the people all of the time. Many passengers will be happy tonight, many will not. Change happens, but people don't have to like it. For some, change is a positive experience, for some it's a real negative, and some just work around it.

Personally, the new timetable will involve me changing my working pattern and some additional expense. Others won't be affected. I would like to think however that senior management at Chiltern will listen and act on all constructive or heartfelt feedback, not just measure their success by reliability, punctuality and passenger loadings.

I am grateful to Chiltern Railways for giving me the opportunity to Track Bash the Chiltern Mainline today.

For the record, my first journey this morning was at about 6.00 am, while my last finished at about 8.00pm. It would appear to be time for a beer and bed!

CU

November 2012 - I need to get a life!

Another record mileage this month - I cannot see that I am likely to do this much travelling again anytime soon.

Helped out by a day trip up to Windermere in the Lake District, during a week off work. That trip saw a new entrant to the list with the Transpennine Express shuttle between Oxenholme and Windermere.

Again, for the record:

Operator	Miles Travelled
Chiltern Railways	4,449.775
East Midland	99.325
First Great Western	140.525
TransPennine Express	20.375
Virgin Trains	289.925
Cross Country	45.375
Total for Month	5,045.30

A twelve minute delay, and this is what happens.....

Us normal rail travellers often don't realise how much pedalling behind the scenes takes place to attempt to keep an on-time railway running.

This afternoon I caught the Chiltern Railways 1555 Mainline Silver Train from Birmingham Moor Street to London Marylebone.

Once it was past Leamington Spa, it was reported that the Class 67 Locomotive (67012), pushing it from the rear, had dumped a load of oil. This was obviously reported very quickly, because six minutes before we arrived into Banbury Chiltern posted on their website that the train would be held at Banbury, due to a train fault.

Fortunately the driver(s) were unable to find anything wrong, so we left Banbury just 12 minutes late.

Regular Marylebone commuters will know that orchestrating on-time arrivals and departures is an art. The train plan has services darting in from all over the place - The train to form the flagship 1807 departure to Kidderminster is the train that was running late.

Clearly something had to be done to prevent carnage at Marylebone.

What actually happened tonight was:

• The 1702 departure from Bicester North to Marylebone was held for 6 minutes at Princes Risborough for us to whizz past. It arrived into London bang on the Working Timetable (1813) and three minutes ahead of the published public timetable.
• The 1648 departure from Bicester North to Marylebone was pulled over onto Platform 2 at High Wycombe, from where it left seven minutes late. It arrived into Marylebone one minute late. Being plonked there caused the 1710 MYB/SAV service to be delayed by six minutes, but that train should easily make up that time. [Edit: The SAV train actual missed it's slot at Aynho, so eventually arrived into Stratford-upon-Avon two minutes behind the public timetable.]
• The 1723 departure from High Wycombe to Marylebone was pulled over onto the slow line at West Ruislip and held at a red signal for us for about six minutes. That train arrived into London bang on time.

What that means is that due to some nifty footwork, the Silver Train was made to unexpectedly overtake three other trains and itself arrived into Marylebone on Platform 3 at 1758 (officially 9 minutes late). It left for Kidderminster a minute late at 1808. A pretty quick turnround. It is still running about one minute late, but that is neither here nor there.

All in all there were quite a few judgement calls to be made by the control staff. I would say they did a pretty good job tonight.

Without the manual intervention by signallers, it would have been total carnage at Marylebone. Trains would have been in the wrong platforms, hundreds or even a couple of thousand passengers could have been delayed, and there could ultimately have been significant costs to the railway company. All avoided bar some relatively minor inconvenience to a much smaller number of passengers.

Quite a bit of work caused by one late running train, but all's well that ends well!

October 2012 Railmiles - The highest yet

This month saw the highest mileage of the year so far, helped along by a weekend trip to Brussels on the Eurostar to see Saracens play in the Heineken Cup.

For the record:

Operator	Miles Travelled
Chiltern Railways	3,792.8625
Eurostar* (Guesstimate)	464.0
First Great Western	205.3375
London Midland	27.5875
Cross Country	107.8375
Total for Month	4,597.625

On time, early or extra early?

Chiltern Railways generally have a pretty good reputation for trains rarely arriving at their final destination late.

One of the reasons for this is that they pad out their 'Public Timetables' like mad.

For example the weekday 1907 train from Bicester North to London Marylebone is currently due to arrive into London at 2027. That's 3 minutes later than usual because lots of brown things are currently falling off the trees causing train wheels and tracks to occasionally disagree with each other.

Officially though, according to the 'Working Timetable', the train is due into Marylebone at 2019. It cannot arrive much earlier because the platform into which the 2027 arrives is only vacated at 2014.

Tonight the train left Bicester 2 minutes early and was officially two or three minutes early at every stopping station or monitoring point along the route. The train arrived into London at 2017 (it couldn't arrive any earlier) some 10 minutes ahead of the public timetable and even 2 minutes ahead of the Working Timetable.

I can only think that the clock in the driver's cab must need adjusting - why would anyone deliberately leave so early as to potentially make many people miss the train?

Apologies for the dodgy formatting... If you don't believe me, the table below shows the comparison between the Public Timetable, the Working Timetable and the Realtime Record for the train I have decribed. A train showing a negative delay is early.

This isn't a theoretical exercise - I nearly missed the train because it was running so early.

Goodness only knows what will happen when the clocks go back this weekend!

Public WTT Working Realtime Location Arr Dep Arr Dep Arr Dep Dly Bicester North 1907 1907 1905 -2 Blackthorne pass 1910 No report Haddenham & Thame Parkway 1919 1919 1919 1919½ 1915 1917 -2 Princes Risborough 1926 1926 1926 1926½ 1923 1923 -3 Saunderton 1931 1931 1931 1931½ 1928 1929 -2 West Wycombe pass 1934 No report High Wycombe 1937 1938 1937 1938 1934 1935 -3 Beaconsfield 1944 1944 1943½ 1944 1941 1942 -2 Seer Green 1947 1947 1946½ 1947 1945 1945 -2 Gerrards Cross 1951 1952 1951 1952 1948 1949 -3 Denham Golf Club pass 1954 No report Denham 1956 1956 1955½ 1956 1953 1953 -3 West Ruislip pass 1959 pass 1956 -3 South Ruislip 2001 2001 2001 2001½ 1958 1959 -2 Northolt Park Jn pass 2002 No report Northolt Park pass 2003 No report Sudbury Hill Harrow pass 2004 No report Sudbury & Harrow Road pass 2005 No report Wembley Stadium 2008 2008 2007½ 2008 2004 2005 -3 Neasden South Jn pass 2010 pass 2007 -3 London Marylebone 2027 2019 2017 -2

De Mortuis Nil Nisi Bunkum

I stopped Latin lessons after a couple of years. However the magic interweb thingy can quickly reveal what the above heading may be literally translated to mean.

The sentiment is absolutely right.

Move along please, there is nothing to see here. Oops sorry, that may not be right.

Beardie Rail Lives Longer

My view is that the Government's announcement that they are negotiating with Beardie Rail, in order that they might continue to operate the West Coast Main Line for an extended period of time, is probably sensible.

It will be interesting to see what pans out. The commercial terms of any contract extension will I suspect be even more sensitive that would normally be the case.

And today's news is...

The Department for Transport have today announced that the competition to run trains on the West coast Main Line has been cancelled.

I have seen examples of what I consider to be inadequate and erroneous analysis, by officials, of rail related information submitted to the DfT. I am therefore pleased to see an acknowledgement that the Department is not always right.

It is early, so I have to go to catch a train, but this story clearly has plenty of wheels. I wonder if many more are going to fall off?

September 2012 Mileage Data

This month saw a couple more trips on the Olympic Javelin Shuttle plus a weekend trip down to Exeter to see Sarcens play rugby.

For the record:

Operator	Miles Travelled
Chiltern Railways	3,373.45
First Great Western	420.4875
South Eastern	11.975
Virgin Trains	105.375
Cross Country	39.775
Total for Month	3,951.0625

Life moves on

This has been a good Summer for London.

Time that has been a long  while coming.

Tens of millions of people's expectations have been exceeded.

Thousands of people have had their hopes dashed.

There have been two flames at the heart of the most recent memories.

Tonight the second of those two flames will be extinguished.

The cauldron will then be dismantled.

Two hundred and four scorched petals to be despatched to every corner of the planet.

They will never be reunited.

The petals will move on, as life moves on.

The World will remember London in 2012.

The heat.

The rain.

The people.

The celebrations.

The endeavours.

The World has been reminded what we are about.

This land is full of good.

This planet is full of good.

The flames have been temporary.

The Games have been temporary.

They have helped remind us how to feel good.

Celebrate and move on.

Life moves on.

Olympic Month Mileage Data

A good month for a number of different reasons.

For the record:

Operator	Miles Travelled
Chiltern Railways	4,251.7375
Southeastern	17.9625
Cross Country	107.8375
Total for Month	4,377.5375

The second month running with a new Train Operating Company. The South Eastern mileage was all on the Javelin shuttles running between St Pancras International and the Olympic Park at Stratford International. That particular station will never ever see so many passengers again once the Paralympics have been and gone next month.

Well that was a little strange

I am not even sure how I found out (because I wasn't following him on Twitter), but today is Geoff Marshall's fortieth Birthday. Happy Birthday Geoff!

Before today I had never met Geoff and had never spoken to him either. Our only interaction had been a brief exchange of emails some years ago.

Just to give some background, Geoff was for a period the World Record Holder for travelling to every London Underground station in the shortest possible time. He also undertook a road trip to visit a place in each of the forty eight connected US States that had the same name as a London Underground station (and blogged about it). I am sure that you will notice a certain theme here - probably not a million miles from the sort of stuff that I have been known to blog about.

Anyhow, there I was up in Birmingham, about to catch a Chiltern Railways train home when I discovered that Geoff was organising a flashmob at five forty this evening at Forty Lane in Wembley.

I decided to go....

I did the proper thing and picked up an appropriate birthday card at Marylebone Station. I then checked my phone to discover that the Metropolitan Line service to Wembley could best be described as 'erratic'. While on the train, the adjoining Jubilee Line was suspended, followed shortly thereafter by the Metropolitan Line. Fortunately I had successfully wended my way through the tube detritus to reach the appointed place, about twenty minutes early.

Being just about the warmest day of 2012 so far, I needed no excuse to sit outside the local pub, soaking up the late afternoon sun. Meanwhile Geoff was tweeting away, mildly swearing and generally berating the misfortune that he and his friends were having trying to reach Wembley.

We were communicating by tweets, but at the appointed time it was clear that without Geoff & Co the flashmob was to consist of one person. Me.

It didn't happen.

Having had notice that the mob had arrived at Wembley Park shortly after the arranged time, I wandered back down towards the station. I then successfully stalked the party crowd up the road and successfully merged into them as they approached Forty Lane.

All a bit weird really.

Anyhow, I was made to feel most welcome, took a group picture, handed over aforesaid birthday card, and then travelled with most of the group back down to Baker Street, having been asked to sign a tee shirt on the way.

I am not sure why that all happened and, as I say, it was a little strange, but all in all it was rather fun.

Happy Birthday Geoff!


Oh, and check out the professional show reel - Geoff's pretty good at what he does for a living.

Friday Travel

Far more early Olympics spectators traveling into London this morning than any other morning, so far!

Still managed to get a seat on Chiltern Railways though... Every day so far.

July 2012 Mileage Figures

Back up to decent mileage this month, but this time just two Train Operating Companies:

Operator	Miles Travelled
Chiltern Railways	3,848.7125
Cross Country	62.4625
Total for Month	3,911.175

The 24th & 25th of July were poor performance days for Chiltern Railways, but other than that, not much to note really.

First day of the Olympics -

Leaving the house, I check my phone. There's a message from someone further up the line to say that my train is carryng a lot more people than usual. Damn - should have caught the earlier one.

Getting to the station I see two families of four wander in to the coffee shop before me - Oh, and there's a Gamesmaker in there already. It looks as though the normal coffee-making routine has gone out of the window.

Five minutes later - Oh dear, there are lots of people on the platform. Aforementioned Gamesmakers, little darlings clearly dragged out of bed, oh and the usual motley crew of commuters who keep the railway mandarins in their accustomed manner for the rest of the year.

Another message comes through - train really full. It's running 2 minutes late (it rarely does that - a measure of how full it is?). Our little cluster of regular travellers all start to collectively sigh, resigned to standing all the way to Marylebone.

The train come around the corner. We shuffle into a short line.

Deep breath.

Elbows deployed.

Train decelerates quickly, doors stop directly in front of us. Hmmmm. Something's wrong.

There are seats-a-plenty. We each sit down, puzzled.

The train pulls out three minutes late. We look around - the train now runs fast to London Marylebone and there are two empty seats. Chiltern Railways have not done anything special (they can't - they don't have spare trains), but the expected carnage has not appeared.

Actually, that isn't true - I think it is pretty full at the front of this train. Our little group of hardened commuters just made use of the really secret ingredient of successful commuting - the back door. Shush though - don't tell anyone!

Capacity?

According to the Chiltern Railways Passenger Charter, nobody should have to stand [on one of their trains] for more than 20 minutes.

I am currently sat on a train (which left Marylebone at 20.37) on which dozens and dozens of people are standing. The first stop is / was scheduled to be 25 minutes after leaving London Marylebone. We set off 30 minutes ago and have not yet reached that first stop.

I really do worry about what passengers are going to experience during the Olympics. The opening ceremony is two weeks tomorrow.

Oh, and it's still raining. Does anybody have a spare Ark?