On Trains & Buses

In February, I was travelling by train from Oxford to Macclesfield and got held up in Oxford for longer than was planned. The cause was a familiar one: someone was struck by a train and died of their injuries. In cases like these, investigations are needed and it takes an hour or more to complete those and reopen the line. My only complaint about that was that we weren’t told sooner what was going on. Of course, when there fatalities, you have to think about those who are left after the deceased. Compared to their lot, disruption to a journey seems trivial.

Tonight, something very similar has happened on the East Coast Mainline around Alexandra Palace in North London. There is no account as to whether the person struck by a train has died or not though it clearly is a concern. Having witnessed a suicide attempt in front a First Transpennine Express train at Oxenholme after a day spent walking in the Lake District, I do realise that these can be survived. That incident may have left me feeling shaken but the vigilance of railway staff meant that all was under control very quickly though that train from Scotland to Manchester Airport got cancelled if my memory serves me correctly. Police investigations always are needed when things like these happen.

Returning to the present, there is no doubt that this evening’s incident has been the cause of disruption for many commuters and other travellers who were headed north from London. In the middle of this, First Capital Connect made available useful maps showing alternative routes for those caught up in the disruption. Hopefully, that information got put into the hands of those who need it because this precisely is what’s needed for onward travel when railway lines are closed like this. Compounding that, a train broke down around Shepreth too so passenger travelling between Hitchin and Cambridge were inconvenienced too though the reason is a less worrying one.

Near the end of September, I too walked into similar disruption at King’s Cross Station while bound for Hatfield. Then, that kind of information was scarce and there was an hour’s wait before I got to know that travelling to St. Albans and taking a bus from there would get me where I wanted to go that night. The cause then was less tragic: rats had eaten cable near Finsbury Park and caused a signal failure that made journeys for everyone so rough that it got into BBC London news bulletins.

For me, it came at the end of a month spent commuting from home to work on site at a client and it brought me face to face with other delays too. Even without fatalities, Virgin Trains were struggling to keep trains running to schedule. A signalling mistake was all it took to delay me between Macclesfield and London one evening, the very same one that I have described above as it happens. Friday night departures from Euston hardly ran on time for me though I have done better with earlier Wednesday and Thursday evening ones since then. Signalling problems around Wembley were to blame one evening so it does look as if railways in the north of London are a little on the fragile and criminality in the form of cable theft does not help either.

While my thoughts starting with persons being struck by trains on Britain’s railway, they seem to have meandering to other causes of railway disruption. Nevertheless, fatalities are the most tragic of all these and thoughts to be with those left behind by such incidents regardless of the amount of disruption that is caused.

Update 2011-12-13: There seem to be two such casualties tonight, one around East Croydon and another near Brighton. Of course, disruption ensues but it’s the families of those struck by trains who should be uppermost in anyone’s mind. Hopefully, everyone gets home O.K.

Scotland still is catching the brunt of storm force winds and heavy rain as I write this. Bridges are shut (Tay, Erskine and Forth) and public transport services heavily affected. West Coast Motors are not running buses in Oban and Bute; the latter being due to a power failure. Sticking with the west of Scotland, the last Scottish Citylink departure for Fort William has been cancelled and that tells its own story. Glasgow and Edinburgh too have seen service changes as operators struggle with the weather. Even with that, most services seem to be running and keeping an eye on announcements from the likes of First Glasgow or Lothian Buses would be no bad idea.

Trains do not seem to have got too badly though there were some line closures around Glasgow earlier. Nevertheless, tomorrow will see the aftermath of what is battering Scotland so things may not be operating as smoothly as usually is the case. After all, there has been some structural damage done to buildings and infrastructure with a wall falling on a car in Aberdeen. At times like these, the only hope that can be expressed is that everyone is safe.

Update: National Rail Enquiries have on their website a page describing train running in the current adverse weather conditions. It looks as if there is more disruption than what I suggested above, such as between Edinburgh and Aberdeen. There’s quite a list of cancellations there with services such as the Caledonian Sleeper from Fort William and local ones around Glasgow being examples.

Update 2012-01-03: Yet another storm has hit Scotland again and with much the same effects too.

Work has been the cause of taking me on journeys to and from Hertfordshire from Macclesfield over the last few months. Parts of those are made on First Capital Connect trains between London King’s Cross and Hatfield. It’s the passage at speed through tunnels that has inspired for the title.

It seems that there is a pressure change on passing through every one that is reminiscent of air travel and it isn’t pleasant for ones ears, or mine at least. Though the southeast of England not that hilly, the East Coast Mainline seems to pass through its share of tunnels as it goes through Greater London and Hertfordshire. The ones between Hatfield and Hitchin never are perceptible but the same cannot be said for those south of Hatfield. Quite how no comment has arisen about them is a little beyond though there are other causes for complaint such as how busy these trains can be, having to stand can be common depending on when you travel.

When I had cause to travel between Edinburgh and London, I cannot recall my ears “popping” on going through tunnels near London but the air conditioning on those trains may cancel out the effect and there were other concerns in my mind back then; interviews for first jobs after university were what drew me down from Scotland on day return itineraries. Then, I wouldn’t realise quiet how unsettling it is to see trains travelling a breakneck speed through commuter stations because it was so far in the future.

That last fact may explain the sensation I am getting in my ears on FCC trains. However, that also makes me wonder if the lack of quadrification on the West Coast Mainline between Stock-on-Trent and Stockport keeps even express services from speeding through trains like their counterparts on the East Coast Mainline. That may be frustrating for those wanting to shorten travel times but it makes awaiting a train in a station that bit less scary and passage through any tunnels less of an experience. It also is another argument for getting HS2 as far as Manchester but that’s another story.

While I was away down south over the last week, we got fuller clarity regarding what is going to happen to those subsidised bus services whose funding is about to be withdrawn. Some such as the Sunday 10A between Bollington and Macclesfield will become commercial operations while others like the Sunday 108 between Stockport, Macclesfield and Leek or the summer Sunday 27 between Macclesfield and Knutsford will cease to exist. Seemingly, some operators are willing to give things a go while others aren’t.

Quite a few school services are getting the chop too though some operators (Hulme Hall come to mind here) are speaking to schools. This is something that is undesirable given the need to cut down on car use for the school run but you have to ask what kind of message service cuts like these are sending to people.

Still, the reductions aren’t going to be as bad as elsewhere but we cannot be complacent either, After all, the weekday evening (Monday to Saturday, that is) 130 Macclesfield to Parr’s Wood service just about came above the threshold for withdrawal of support. The counterargument to criticism of the loss of bus services applies here too: use it of lose it. That may sound harsh but it seems to be the world in which we are living at the moment.

Is Edinburgh’s tram system going to look a bit like the National Monument on Calton Hill in the heart of the city unless the project gets past its first phase? Well, that’s how things appear following a recent council decision to limit the extent of the first phase to between Haymarket and Edinburgh Airport. To make sense, it really needs to be extended into Princes Street and, even better, Edinburgh’s East End. Money seems to be at the heart of the matter with Labour and Conservative councillors outvoting Liberal Democrats and the SNP abstaining. For Labour, this looks especially odd given all the discussion of the subject that went on during the 2007 election for the Scottish Parliament; the SNP opposed the idea.

Of course, the whole project has been beset by problems for a good while now and there is a council comment about the project unravelling too, one that sounds all too apt. Rows with contractors regarding the quality of their work and questions surrounding the effectiveness of the project’s management have been among these. The result seems to be a botched execution that has the misfortune of an economic downturn overtaking it. Edinburgh City Council may not have to borrow money for this now but it doesn’t look good when you realise what has been achieved in places such as Manchester, Sheffield, Nottingham and Dublin. After all the work that has been done to prepare streets, it would be a shame to see the project stop at its first phase.

The first phase that now is planned does look like a comedown for an attractive city like Edinburgh. If I still live up there (and I left the city more than ten years ago, though I still return from time to time), I am not sure that I’d be considering the idea of using trams instead of buses for getting to the city’s airport for flights to my home country, Ireland, and other destinations. From a shopping point of view, it falls short too. As the plans stand, it almost feels as if it is a shuttle for anyone coming to Haymarket train station instead of being something for the locals. Unless the project continues into future phases, there is a risk that the system becomes a white elephant rather than being a real asset to public transport in a city that enjoys a very good bus network that also is very well used. All in all, it looks like yet another faltering step that surely could not happen elsewhere. For folk wanting to get there or though it, the sound of more work on Princes Street doesn’t sound too promising and it really stings that isn’t for restoring trams to the thoroughfare either, especially with it’s extending from next week until next summer.

Update (2011-08-30): The plot thickens on this story. Scottish Government now threatening to withhold £72m of funding if there is no extension as far as St. Andrew’s Square. Only time will tell if that more sensible course is the one taken. Now, why did SNP councillors abstain in the relevant vote at all?

Update (2011-09-02): The Scottish Government’s threat has done the trick. The tram line is getting extended to St. Andrew’s Square after all. Council borrowing may be needed but I hope that things go better from here on than they have done before now. The last thing that Edinburgh needs is the extension of what has become like a farce.