1810 from London bridge to east dulwich (keeps getting cancelled

[Monkey]

And it is starting again-- the 1810 from LB to ED has not run once this week, which means no trains to ed between 1750 and 1828. I have queried it and will be posting the reply on this thread.

[Abe_froeman]

Lowlander's link from September confirms that Monkey, and it also shows that only one train this week leaving London Bridge after 5pm has arrived in E Dulwich on time!

Is today's 18.10 also cancelled?

[VixSta]

Today the 18.10 is running but the 17.50 was cancelled.

[Monkey]

Yes, you're right. Sorry, it's the 1750 that's cancelled today. Fury has impaired my senses!

[cyberplanes]

I sent the below request to the customer services email twice (one in September and once in October) but got no reply despite website saying i should hear within 20 days

"I wish to understand more about your staffing at London Bridge at peak evening times.

The frequency of the services at evening rush hour is not ideal (only one train to North Dulwich every 20 minutes between 17.11 and 19.01) People understand this frequency may improve post works at London Bridge. People also understand that sometimes technical problems lead to delays. Whilst both the frequency and technical issues are frustrating they are nowhere near as annoying as being stuck on a train at London Bridge that can't take off due to driver delays in arriving to the train. It is shameful that the delays of one person can have a detriment on hundreds of people trying to get home. Such delays seem to have increased lately.

Can you not have relief staff or surplus staff on the station to take trips for which a driver is late for? Failing that can you be more specific about the driver delay when announcing? How long more the wait is likely, why the driver is late etc? As it stands people think Mr Driver just couldn't be bothered turning up for work on time and feel wound up by the driver when a better explanation of the delay would dissipate that fury.

Yes the announcements apologise for the delay, yes there are people on the platforms saying the driver should be here soon, but those platitudes are not addressing the repeating problem.

Can you let me know the usual reasons for staff delays to trains (is it mainly due to late for work people, or sickness) and what if any cover you have in place for such delays

[FACEBOOK]

bonaome Wrote:

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> A couple of weeks back the 18:10 wasn't cancelled,

> but it was only calling at West Croyden - i.e. it

> was running from LBG direct, non-stop to W

> Croyden. I asked for an explanation and was told

> it was because "he's a new driver and he doesn't

> know the route".

Then the driver should has an assistant with him.

[sela]

Train companies don't understand complaints. They only understand if they need to pay compensation and that's only if the train is over 30 mins delay I believe. Until then they'll write a lot of bulshit to justify.

[El Presidente]

good job with the complaints. this service is just terrible at the moment.

[landsberger]

" relief staff or surplus staff on the station to take trips for which a driver is late for? "

See my response above.

i) they employ as few drivers as possible (basically as many as they need to run the service) - this invariably means "no relief staff"

ii) they rely on "rest day working" (i.e. overtime) to cover absences due to holiday or sick leave - in the run up to Xmas, this is when people want to take leave. People who say "don't allow leave at Xmas or busy periods..." - when would be convenient for drivers to take leave ? And for people other than yourself. if you only employ the exact number of drivers to provide the service, every time a staff member takes leave and there is no willing volunteer to do the duty he or she was due to take, you're going to get a cancellation.

"As it stands people think Mr Driver just couldn't be bothered turning up for work on time and feel wound up by the driver when a better explanation of the delay would dissipate that fury"

I think Southern/TSGN would like you to think that. A few years ago, Southern specifically changed the phraseology when announcing cancellations of this nature from "driver shortage" to "staff absence", meaning you'd blame the drivers, not the company too stingy to pay for them.

[JohnL]

I've noticed recently that some Thameslink trains are "cancelled" but then go past - just don't stop. Usually when another is quite close behind.

To late to stop for passengers :)

[landsberger]

A stop may be "cancelled" when the train is running late. The fines for missing out a stop are much less than for cancelling the train overall, or arriving more than 15 minutes late at the destination. It's a clear case of the system being played by the franchisee.

[rabbitears]

Southern managed to run 2 out of 2 of my trains late today. Spankers

[Abe_froeman]

2 out of 2 on time would be more surprising.

[rabbitears]

I live in a state of eternal optimism and consequent disappointment

[claphamMover]

Uh oh. We - family of 3 - are thinking of moving to East Dulwich from Clapham and have been worried the transport into the City isn't great. Is this is new phenomenon or something recent?!! We have been spoiled living next to a tube station but can't afford the hefty price tags of houses around here and you get much bigger gardens it seems in ED. Does anyone cycle down to Herne Hill station and use the Thameslink? Or is that just too much effort?

[Dr De Soto]

claphamMover Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Uh oh. We - family of 3 - are thinking of moving

> to East Dulwich from Clapham and have been worried

> the transport into the City isn't great. Is this

> is new phenomenon or something recent?!! We have

> been spoiled living next to a tube station but

> can't afford the hefty price tags of houses around

> here and you get much bigger gardens it seems in

> ED. Does anyone cycle down to Herne Hill station

> and use the Thameslink? Or is that just too much

> effort?

Worse recently I think, but there have been periods of disrupted trains all year, related to the rebuilding of London Bridge station. That work still has a year to run, but there's reason to be hopeful that when the next phase is complete (September 2016?) things will begin to get better.

[Milhouse]

claphamMover Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Uh oh. We - family of 3 - are thinking of moving

> to East Dulwich from Clapham and have been worried

> the transport into the City isn't great. Is this

> is new phenomenon or something recent?!! We have

> been spoiled living next to a tube station but

> can't afford the hefty price tags of houses around

> here and you get much bigger gardens it seems in

> ED. Does anyone cycle down to Herne Hill station

> and use the Thameslink? Or is that just too much

> effort?

Much depends on where in East Dulwich you are looking, but I think there are plenty of options. Peckham Rye has the Overground to Canada Water and a Thameslink service, that while busy, isn't as bad as the Herne Hill option.

There's also Honor Oak Park station toward the SE corner of East Dulwich. I've been using it recently and the service to London Bridge has been fine. It also has a second Overground route for trips to the City. The beauty of being able to access both Honor Oak Park station and East Dul/Peckham Rye is that when waiting for a train at London Bridge you can choose either route and take whichever train is leaving next. It effectively means there are eight+ trains an hour that will take you home.

[Monkey]

Transport (trains) used to be absolutely fine until the work started at London Bridge and Southern started using it as an excuse to provide an appalling service. If my husband was still working in the City, I don't know how we would be picking up from school (Goodrich) at 6.00pm.

claphamMover Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Uh oh. We - family of 3 - are thinking of moving

> to East Dulwich from Clapham and have been worried

> the transport into the City isn't great. Is this

> is new phenomenon or something recent?!! We have

> been spoiled living next to a tube station but

> can't afford the hefty price tags of houses around

> here and you get much bigger gardens it seems in

> ED. Does anyone cycle down to Herne Hill station

> and use the Thameslink? Or is that just too much

> effort?

[danielson00]

Another 1810 that ran "fast" to West Croydon today, hence the 1828 was rammed!

Plus I don't think ED station is safe when the platform is full of people, similar to the issues mentioned in a another thread about Denmark Hill.

[The Urbanite]

claphamMover Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Uh oh. We - family of 3 - are thinking of moving

> to East Dulwich from Clapham and have been worried

> the transport into the City isn't great. Is this

> is new phenomenon or something recent?!! We have

> been spoiled living next to a tube station but

> can't afford the hefty price tags of houses around

> here and you get much bigger gardens it seems in

> ED. Does anyone cycle down to Herne Hill station

> and use the Thameslink? Or is that just too much

> effort?

Depends on what part of East Dulwich you're thinking on moving to. I snub ED station in favour of Denmark Hill, which has a good service to Victoria and the Overground is useful, but Thameslink services are pretty much crush loaded and everyone tries to squeeze on.

[claphamMover]

I'm so pleased to have so many responses. Thank you so much for writing! It makes me want to move to ED even more. Despite the crap travel stories!!! So last question....do the trains - either at ED station into London Bridge, Denmark Hill or Herne Hill (Thameslink) get any quieter earlier on, i.e. 730am? The areas we like are the Grove streets, Trossachs Rd area but really anything off of Lordship Lane, top or bottom end.

[Lazero]

I do Denmark Hill to City Thameslink most days - the trains from around 8.20am to 9.07am are pretty full, even when running normally. Either side of that they aren't too bad. Even the busy ones aren't quite as bad as the central or northern line at their worst, and if you stand at the right point on the platform there are a lot of people who get off to go to King's. I sometimes take the 7.37am and it's fairly quiet.

[LJC56]

Lazero's experience echoes my own. For the last year I have been going Peckham Rye to Farringdon, travelling after 9.00 with very few problems. I also found the overground OK after 9.00, which was an alternative for me (working about 15 minutes walk from Hoxton or Farringdon). In the evening I found the overground completely unproblematic compared to the London Bridge route. The great thing about living so near to Peckham Rye is having travel options, especially if you're willing to do a small walk at your destination.

[JMK]

Pre-8am is generally fine and after 9 also. If you are around Trossachs, you can probably walk to N Dulwich station as quickly as ED. here you can always get on and get a seat whereas at ED from 8ish onwards it is significantly busier and more likely to stand, it can get very crowded if standing from PR

The service used to be significantly better with trains every 10mins, that then reduced to every 15mins which is not as good but manageable, then a significant reduction/limitation and much interruption coinciding with the LB redevelopment. How much of this is Southern's fault v's Network Rail is hard to say, it seems like there is as a minimum some poor project management. The chaos that has occurred on a few occasions seems to have gone, probably more due to commuters changing they're behaviour.

Overall, it's been better, is certainly not the worst and should improve in a relatively short time frame.

With proper signalling equipment and algorithms they could easily run significantly higher volumes and frequencies also with improved safety on many levels as has been done in many countries across the world from India to the US but that is probably more aspirational

If you choose the Half Moon Lane area you also have the choice of HH or ND on foot which has great flexibility for CityT/Farrigndon/St Pancras as well as Victoria (9 mins) and LB

[claphamMover]

Thank you all! This has set my mind at ease. Fingers crossed we will sell and see you soon.