Bad Train Day
I really like riding the train to London. It's still exotic enough to be interesting.
But. It's amazing how little it takes to slow or stop the trains. Today was especially bad.
This morning we'd just come inside the M25 when the train slowed down, coming to a stop at one of the smaller stations in outer London. After about 20 minutes the senior conductor told us over the intercoms about the situation. A fire alarm had been sounded at the switching station in London Liverpool Street. So the area had to be evacuated. With no one watching the switches, that meant red lights for all the East Anglia trains out of London. In the end, we arrived 45 minutes late - the worst morning delay I've had yet.
Mid-morning Margo called me asking if I'd heard of the train delays. She was concerned because tonight she has a Christmas party with her work team and didn't want to miss it in case I couldn't get back in time to pick up Sarah after school. I thought she was talking about the morning delay, but checking the site of One Railway, I saw it was a new delay: strong winds blew a tree onto power lines.
Sure enough, there were delays and cancellations through mid-afternoon. I left the office an hour early, and I mostly avoided delays, though I did hear a rumour of a potential third delay: a suicide on the line. You might be taken aback at that, but suicides and other fatalities on the line are not that uncommon - perhaps one a month. And when that happens, investigators are called in and trains get backed up for a while.
Despite situations like today, the trains are mostly run right on time. Railways keep regular metrics of on-time services, and these are generally in percentages of the high 80s to low 90s. And when problems do occur, they're generally remedied within an hour or two. But it is often quite frustrating.
But. It's amazing how little it takes to slow or stop the trains. Today was especially bad.
This morning we'd just come inside the M25 when the train slowed down, coming to a stop at one of the smaller stations in outer London. After about 20 minutes the senior conductor told us over the intercoms about the situation. A fire alarm had been sounded at the switching station in London Liverpool Street. So the area had to be evacuated. With no one watching the switches, that meant red lights for all the East Anglia trains out of London. In the end, we arrived 45 minutes late - the worst morning delay I've had yet.
Mid-morning Margo called me asking if I'd heard of the train delays. She was concerned because tonight she has a Christmas party with her work team and didn't want to miss it in case I couldn't get back in time to pick up Sarah after school. I thought she was talking about the morning delay, but checking the site of One Railway, I saw it was a new delay: strong winds blew a tree onto power lines.
Sure enough, there were delays and cancellations through mid-afternoon. I left the office an hour early, and I mostly avoided delays, though I did hear a rumour of a potential third delay: a suicide on the line. You might be taken aback at that, but suicides and other fatalities on the line are not that uncommon - perhaps one a month. And when that happens, investigators are called in and trains get backed up for a while.
Despite situations like today, the trains are mostly run right on time. Railways keep regular metrics of on-time services, and these are generally in percentages of the high 80s to low 90s. And when problems do occur, they're generally remedied within an hour or two. But it is often quite frustrating.
posted by Michael Nelson at 11:05 am
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