To think that the number of train cancellations is totally unacceptable.

[MrsBennetsPoorNervesAreBack]

Just that, really. Every time any member of my family has taken a train in the last few weeks, at least one of the trains that they're supposed to be travelling on has been cancelled.

What is the point of having a train schedule at all if they never stick to it?

It simply isn't good enough.

About 12 years ago I needed to commute regularly from Frankfurt to Hanover. Catching an early morning train on a Monday was fine, seat reservation was compulsory, so no issues there, even when I missed the train with my reservation and had to catch a later one.
But the return journey on a Friday afternoon was a different story. Train due at 16:15 and it was always 1 hour late due to delays between Berlin and somewhere before Hanover. Every week for about 4 weeks, when I lost patience and booked to fly instead.
Deutsche Bahn is now engaged on a massive multi-year project to upgrade its infrastructure. Lots of building work on the tracks etc. so I either drive or fly. I was quite interested to discover recently that Deutsche Bahn is also responsible for the Royal train. Hmm.
When commuting to Zürich I either drove or flew, cost less and was infinitely more reliable.

The system is clapped out, it was never 'designed' in the first place. Its essentially a 150 year old hotch potch of independent lines that have been joined together to make a network.

It also doesn't help that one set of tracks has to support express trains, commuter trains, local trains and freight trains.

We need a high speed network which is dedicated to express passenger only.

DH commutes by train mainly possible as there are frequent trains due to being on both local route - which have new rolling stock due to welsh gov investment - and being on London route. Also line got upgraded few years ago with electification.

Tyring to go further afield to see family or on hoilday when we tend to encounter huge problems with trains.

I suspect what is needed is more investment in track, in staff in newer rolling stock which privitsisation was trailed as bringing and I don't think it did. It's not like ticket prices haven't got very expense these days either.

But what gets me with cross country is they know the routes are already crowded and then they often cancel trains - leading to fequent over crowding and complaints - but they still have only a few carriages on. There may be a reason why trains need to be shorter but many times we've thought a longer train would solve some of their custmer satifcation issues.

You haven’t said why those cancellations took place; so I can’t decide if YABU or not.

No TOC is cancelling trains without good cause though.

Little sympathy if trains are cancelled due to staff being unavailable.A lot more if it's people or cows( a real incident) on the line.

@AprilMizzel

in newer rolling stock which privitsisation was trailed as bringing and I don't think it did

Privatisation has brought in the new rolling stock. Virtually everything in use by British Rail pre-privatisation was non compliant with health & safety and disability and emissions laws etc. It has cost billions to get all that replaced with "modern" compliant stock that simply couldn't have been afforded by the government. Privatisation was the railway equivalent of PFI in the NHS to replace ageing resources. Of course, a lot of the "new" stock is now coming end of life itself hence why breakdowns and faults are commonplace again (just as they were in the 80s and 90s!).

You are not wrong. I live fifteen miles from my nearest station, which takes me into York where I can get trains to anywhere. It would be more convenient and cheaper to park my car at my nearest station, get the train to York and change for my onward journey. However there is a tendency for trains on that line to be randomly cancelled, so I can never be sure of making my connection or, even worse, being stranded in York when the last train back to my station has been cancelled.

So I drive to York and pay the equivalent of a week's wages to park the car (it is honestly ridiculous costs) in order to be able to get to London (or Devon or Wales) on my appointed train. I would much prefer not to have to and to pay a tiny fraction of the cost to leave the car at my local station but I can't risk being stranded.

@AprilMizzel

But what gets me with cross country is they know the routes are already crowded and then they often cancel trains - leading to fequent over crowding and complaints - but they still have only a few carriages on. There may be a reason why trains need to be shorter but many times we've thought a longer train would solve some of their custmer satifcation issues.

The dept of transport dictates train lengths, train types, etc. XC have a very small number of trains, so short-forming and cancellations are commonplace. Nothing they can do as they simply don't have enough carriages to "double up" every service. The DOT knew all that years ago and have done nothing at all to solve the problem. The older/longer trains (such as HSTs) became non compliant with modern laws/rules so had to be replaced. The only alternatives available at the time were shorter units. What people don't realise is that the train operating companies don't have carte blanche to make their own decisions re trains/routes, etc - it's all dictated by the DOT.

It's not just London 🙄😏

Burnham fixed the Manchester bus timetable, allegedly.

He can tackle the rail network, too.

Nationalisation, probably - I mean, some of us can remember how excellent BR were….

There's even a joke in Die Hard 2 about British Rail!

Our line is so unreliable (signal failure, flooding, fallen trees, people-related incidents) that claiming delay repay is practically a full-time job.
And the number of times I’ve had to drive miles to pick up stranded family means I don’t dare have a drink if anyone is travelling in the evening.

I say I did say I wondered if there were reasons for that.

However frankly given what most jouneys now cost and how disruptive most journeys now are - I'm done being understanding.

Over 20 year of using trains regularly - I had the replacement buses follow me round the country with upgrades for a while and still had old rolling stock with slam doors for years past privatisation.

Public private it's just an endless list of excuses of poor bloody practise or lack of investment.

You go to London and the public transport system is great - rest of the country it's dire and expensive - maybe if Brunam does put more power back to the regions this may improve can but hope - certainly welsh government seems to be making some sort of effort for bit if wales I'm in - which is very noticable.

Which is why they were privatised in the first place. Sadly the current government are too young to remember that half the Two Ronnies, the News Hudlines and ever stand up comics show was about how bad British Rail were

It now takes me longer to get from Swansea to my hometown on the East Coast of Scotland by rail than it did 40 years ago.

I am sure it's not, but my misery is very localised geographically

Trains are apalling, much worse than they used to be. It’s true there used to be jokes about British rail, of course.. but we also used to complain about the price of food… if we could buy it at the price now we’d be over the moon. If rail today was a good as BR we’d be golden, relatively.

just because we moaned then, doesnt mean it isn’t worse now.

Sometimes they can't help having to cancel trains.

But the station skipping really gets on my wick. It's so annoying to be on a delayed train and be running late anyway, and then they decide to kick you off the train somewhere. They say it's to recover the service but I have no idea how it's allowed when you could have disabled people on the train who simply can't sort out changing trains, or don't have the mobility to do so.

I live on the south coast and I can guarantee I cannot get back from a day trip to London because the train is either cancelled or have decided to not travel as far south . I’m starting to find the number of ‘ people on the lines ‘ suspicious .

*deleted as wrong thread

I can’t bear it op. I commute into London2-3 days a week and it should be a totally manageable journey but the amount of train cancellations is breathtaking. I can barely ever just get the train I planned and get to work. It’s making me look for more local jobs now despite actually loving my role / it’s just awful trying to commute on such a terrible service

Where was I trying to cover up the neglect of the railway system?

Many operators are yet to be nationalised, and thirty years of fragmentation won't be undone overnight.

Yes because despite privatizing the service, the employees are still unionized.
Sunday trains, trains when it’s sunny out, trains during or after a sporting event don’t run because staff just don’t bother turning in and there is nothing the company can do. One of the current disputes / strikes is because train staff want more money for pointing a scanner at the QR bit on a ticket because this apparently different to punching a hole in a paper ticket so they need paying more. Unions have wrecked the train service - it’s as simple as that.
And now we want to give them similar power over water, electricity etc FFS

And a huge proportion of the time cancellations are due to lack of crew who have gone “over hours”
only job in country paid at 60K plus but 37 hours and not a minute more in case of ‘fatigue‘