Another day of railing

Coping behaviours for Southeastern Railways

There aren't any.

As I waffle away from my bloggery in Belgium, I have to say that I was impressed with Eurostar yesterday. The trains on the indicator boards existed, I didn't receive any messages saying that my train 'might' be cancelled or delayed and it answered my tweet about which services were running politely and directly. The Eurostar was about 30 mins late at Brussels because of speed restrictions (in France and Belgium) but we were advised of this before we left - but the fare was £59 return. £59! That's how much Southeastern would charge for a cup of tea, and then you wouldn't actually get the tea - but if you did it would be left to get cold and then poured over your head if you asked for it more than once because you didn't know what had happened to it.

But you'd really appreciate that cup of tea because it will be £75 next year in order to pay for 'improved' cold tea flung at you from a distance. And, of course, the Southeastern board would want a portion of the profit from your tea to take home in a big bundle once a year, as well as some for the shareholders. You get to keep the old tea bag. Enough about tea, let's hear from David about what's happening on the rails.

Snow

The platform at my station on 21 January 2013.  As you can see, the snow-clearing fairies never turned up here, maybe they were coming by train? Observe the indicator board, more (quite a lot more) of that in a minute.

A frank exchange of views

A short but hopefully not boring story of a typical exchange of views with a Southeastern Railway person, from 21 January 2013:

Announcement at station: “If you cross to the other platform you can get a train to Dartford and change, there are more trains going up to London from there via Woolwich Arsenal.”

My thoughts: “I’ll stay here thanks because the indicator board says there are three trains direct to London, albeit slightly delayed - coming soon! And Dartford is in the opposite direction.”

Narrative: I remain on the London platform along with about 30 other people. We discuss if this is a sort of Russian roulette: what if a train comes to other platform? Should we get that? Should we stay here? We decide to stay as a ‘selection pack’ of trains direct to London is indicated. Eventually, as the first train simply disappears from the indicator system, I go to the ticket office and ask for some advice on changing to the other platform (in railway terms you understand).

Ticket-office lady (ToL): “Those indicator boards are showing nonsense. I don’t even know if there are any trains to London.”

Me:  “Ah, right. Nobody realises that the indicator boards are wrong.”

ToL: “What do you expect me to do? I made an announcement.”

Me: “You could have said that the indicator boards were wrong so that people didn’t carry on waiting for trains that don’t exist.”

ToL: “See that screen up there? (points to screen pictured above) That’s wrong too.”

Narrative:  I notice that this other screen carries information that also conflicts with the one on the platform.

Me: “So why don’t you tell us?”

ToL: “I said that you might be able to a train quicker by going down to Dartford.”

Me: “But no-one is doing that because your info system is telling them they can get trains direct to London by staying where they are.”

Narrative: I wanted to say: "If you'd step out look at the station you appear to be responsible for you would see that no-one had moved, you would then realise the flaw in your plan." I couldn't say that though because it was so obvious it would have sounded rude.

ToL: “I can’t help that, I’ve been here since 5.45. I don’t know what you expect!”

Me: “Can I make the announcement for you?”

ToL: “I’ve been here since 5.45. Are you going to get on a Dartford train or what?”

Me: “Can you stop being so rude? I just want to get the train I pay for. All you had to do was say ‘ignore the indicator boards.’”

ToL: “You’re not at work at 5.45 every day are you?”

Me: “Ok, I’ll make the announcement.”

(Walks on to platform and shouts very loud)

“Excuse me! The indicator boards are showing utter bollocks. In actual fact the only option is to get a train to Dartford, if there is one. Apparently there are no London trains, so there’s no point waiting for one. ”

Narrative: About half the people cross over. The other half remain because they think I’m a shouty tramp, or they still trust the indicator boards more. A Dartford train comes in. I, and my new best friends, go to Dartford and eventually get a train from there to London via the scenic route, taking in Woolwich Dockyard, etc.

Temporary staff

@cukie_juice posted this on twitter from her station. So fed up were passengers with the lack of information or any sort of concern at all from Southeastern or its representatives that they built their own station staff member. He (or she) has apparently been a vast improvement on the permanent staff, describing in detail what is not happening on the rails instead of shouting: "How am I supposed to know?" or just walking off without saying anything (mind you, he's got no legs). Unfortunately he/she can't hang about beyond February so responsibility for the station will revert to the current permanent staff.