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.

Yep me too!
we are travelling south - might get to Swindon, possibly stroud after that well bad luck - we’ll chuck you off at any point because the crew are “over hours”

The job is more mechanized / automated than ever before but we still want wages higher than bloody doctors, teachers, nurses 🙄
The faster they automate all trains the better - no staff needed

Made a long distance trip today, including crossing London. Admittedly the first train did arrive 10 minutes late in Euston, but it doesn't take the official 50 minutes to get from one train in Euston so I made my onward train from Waterloo easily. Which ran on time.

If you think that other countries are so much better than us, I am going to assume that you've not got much experience of long-distance travel in Germany. Deutsche Bahn is considered a national embarrassment these days.

The reason that Crosscountry run short trains is that successive governments over 20+ years have refused them permission to lengthen them. Would cost money. The money could be recouped through extra passengers carried on the longer trains, but the Treasury have an extremely risk-adverse attitude.

If you wanted to invest £1 with a near certain chance of a return of £2, the Treasury would rather you didn't invest the £1.

What a load of cobblers.

I don’t think it is cobblers . I’ve been on trains where they’ve announced delays whilst waiting for replacement staff because the current ones have ‘ gone over their hours ‘ .

London actually has a very good bus and tube service, I know as I've used it. Now try going north and see how it compares. Oh wait it dosent compare because everywhere else is far worse. Londoners don't realise how lucky they are..

I also live in a part of the UK not experiencing the heatwave and averaging 20C.

I agree that trains are completely unreliable and I avoid them unless absolutely necessary.

they are also ridiculously expensive in comparison to air travel.

My husband's train journey last week was delayed because of cows on the line.😕

A few years ago I got stuck on a train because of some cows on the line.
The farmer was called to come get them and the train driver was giving us passengers running commentary which was actually quite funny.
"Ok.....the farmer is here. Oooh he looks angry. These cows are in big trouble"

😆

I had to wait at Crewe for over 30 minutes the other week while we waited for a new driver for this reason. Luckily they didn't cancel us!

Apparently they can also have a second "break" if their break is disturbed by a manager talking to them during the break, however briefly, again for H&S reasons. Doesn't have to be anything major or lengthy to "restart the clock".

Yup, I laugh when a Londoner complains about their train/tube being cancelled and having to wait 5-15 minutes for the next one! Here in Northern Land, the "next one" could be 2 hours later, and that could be cancelled too especially on a Sunny Sunday!

Agreed. Regularly use Transpennine and occasionally northern. So many delays I have to always intentionally get a much earlier train than required to make sure I get to work on time.

This is very true. London’s transport system is amazing. Have had issues with tube stations randomly being closed though or certain lines and that’s been annoying but I’ve walked to another station instead.

Tell me you don’t regularly use GWR south west without telling me!

Talk to ANY of the station team. They’ll happily tell you. I do every week!

The crew themselves often announce it on the train when they stop the service at a random point on the line.

If I could get the "very good bus and tube"to work, I wouldn't be complaining about the nightmare of commuting by train would I?

It's refreshing to hear we are lucky, usually we are just fools to live in an overcrowded very expensive city, so I take that 😂

And london IS a fantastic place. Trains in and out of the suburbs are beyond shit.

"Huge proportion" is certainly cobblers. Most delays are infrastructure-related to start with, and to go over their hours there must have been a delay in the first place.

The rulebook is written in blood. Fatigue rules exist for a reason.

Part of my issue is the lack of info. I am regularly at the station while we just get a sign saying delayed but no information. The other day they finally announced a platform then left us standing by the closed doors for 15 mins before cancelling the service and not even informing us (people saw in their apps). As a result I was standing up for over an hour waiting when a bit of information could have at least allowed me to find somewhere to sit and work or wait in a cafe. It just feels like a total lack of care for the customer

That's Daily Mail bollocks too.

The plural of "anecdote" is not "data"

In the SE too and have travelled 3 times in the last 6 weeks of which 2 of those trains were cancelled. One due to signalling issues and the other due to a driver not turning up.

DD has just returned from Japan. Railway apologised profusely about the next train arriving late….a staggering 4mins, worlds apart

where is this?

we have started to take the Oxford Tube bus into London, NHG,
walk down to Kensington High Street, or onto Marble Arch then
Victoria, as it is comfortable, tinted windows, wifi, toilet, seatbelts,
eating food not allowed which is a real bonus, rather than the train
which can be two carriages only, packed, hard seats, no wifi, toilets
not working, ridiculous ‘service’ and unpleasant
we can also take the coach to Heathrow via High Wycombe, which
then carries on to Gatwick
this excellent and civilised form of travel was a revelation to us,
every 20 minutes, no going back now