Yesterday the train manager proudly announced that the train was arriving five minutes early. I believe his exact words were
"Contrary to what you read in the press we are not always late"
At the time this was a little irritating as the train had been 30mins late on Monday.
It will come as no surprise to learn that we are currently 30 mins late today again. However this time it gets better. We are in the middle of a 50mph speed limit, so how late will we be by the time we get there.
Update: 7:18
We were just overtaken by a freight train in the slow lane.
Update: 8:50
We arrived in London at 8:50. That's over 40mins late, and after the time that the 7:21 should be arriving.
Update 17:40
I was informed by another regular that the 7:21 arrived at 10am.
Update 19:55
Well here we are pulled up at Tamworth, which we don't even stop at. The train is currently running 1hr late. Thanks Virgin, that's nearly 2 hrs of my day wasted.
Technorati Tags: Virgin Trains, Train Hell
Technorati Tags: Virgin Trains,TrainHell,Delays
Well its just taken 57 minutes to get from LTV to Tamworth. Has to be a new record, a bad one.
Without wishing to seems uncompassionate, why always us? I don't mean the person who choose to end their life this morning by causing maximum mess for the cleanup team and maximum delay at rush hour. I mean our train. Whenever here are delays they seem to re-balance the trains on the network by sending ours back up North. Come on Virgin, Pick on somebody else You might not want to believe it, but the primary reason I put up with this ridiculous 118 mile journey each way, is because I can sit at a table and type. However when you get moved from one train and onto another that's already full you loose that ability. So here we are pulling into Euston 30 minutes late, and I have managed to do some work for 20 mins of the 1hr 45 mins of this journey. Thanks Virgin. Technorati Tags: TrainHell, Virgin Trains
Good news, today we have a working train service.
Bad news (yes I am being pedantic) the train arrived backwards.
Technorati Tags: Virgin Trains, Train Hell
And the news reported on the national rail web site reads
Due to overrunning engineering work between Northampton and Coventry, Virgin Trains and London Midland services are continuing to be disrupted.
The West Coast Main Line will be closed until 05:00 on Friday 4 January. Passengers who intend to travel with Virgin Trains on Thursday 3 January are being urged not to travel ...
A normal service is expected to run tomorrow, Friday 4 January, however a small number of early morning journeys may be disrupted.
What's the betting that the small number of journeys includes mine?
Technorati Tags: Virgin Trains, Train Hell
After completing my first year of commuting insane distances I was pleasantly surprised to turn up to a near empty car park this morning. I had my new shiny season rail ticket and my new shiny car park ticket ready which had liberated me of nearly £8,000 for the years privilege and I was already to use them.
Shame the train network wasn't ready.
http://nationalrail.co.uk/service_bulletins/2fbb279e0a04000200df9a4c7e1c3e28.html
Route Affected:
London Euston, Watford Junction, Northampton, Rugby, Coventry, Birmingham, Crewe & Liverpool/Preston
TOC/s Affected:
First ScotRail, London Midland, Virgin Trains
Description:
Due to overrunning engineering work between Northampton and Coventry, Virgin Trains and London Midland services are being disrupted.
The West Coast Main Line will be shut at Rugby for the whole of the day. Passengers who intend to travel with Virgin Trains on Wednesday 2 January are being urged not to travel
Customers deciding to travel via Northampton and Coventry/Birmingham International should expect journey times of at least two hours longer than normal.
Thanks guys, now can you explain the increase in fares please?
Let's review the year, at least where I bothered to write about it
Train late again
Train Late - November 26th
Train delays
Train late - April
Did I ever really expect the train to be any better than the tube?
And of course there was the day when the trains never left London due to high winds and I had to stay in a hotel.
Technorati Tags: Virgin Trains, Train Hell, Commuting
Unusually the train was late on the way home. About 35mins late. Grrr.
Technorati Tags: Virgin, Train, Hell, Bad service Special mention for today, it was fantastic. 7:21 arrived at 7:21. Left on time, and went a little bit slowly, then it stopped. So after about half an hour we get an announcement, and eventually we get to Nuneaton. Here we are informed that we our train is now canceled, and we should proceed to the next platform where the train will take us to Euston. Lo and behold there is a train there and so it should be a simple case of getting on. Shame the doors aren't open, but it must have just pulled up. Its only 8:17 after all. There no announcements and off goes the train. Here comes another. This also pulls up at the platform and leaves. This is really starting to piss me off now, but finally somebody announces that the next one is stopping. So on we get, only a small number of seats left and its full on Monday morning irregulars, spread all over the tables, so there's no where to open the laptop. Actually that's not quite true, its so full that I see quite a few people in the halls on the floor. We got into London at 10:07, I got to work at 10:30. Thanks Virgin.
It's been going ever so well for a while... Yet here I am on the 18:06 that will stop at Birmingham international, where we have no connecting trains to get us home. It's coaches. Yay! Will I see my children while they are still awake, or maybe just before they go to school? Next stop Birmingham at 19:40! Update Looks like I was lucky. I got picked up at Birmingham by my wife and children, so only £3.50 in toll road fees. Jo shared a cab with some guys on expenses. Richard got on a bus that went to Tamworth, then Lichfield City, then finally LTV.
Dear Virgin trains, I've had such a great week I thought I would catalogue my experiences with you. Wednesday 3rd April 17:48 from Euston re-routed at Rugby to Birmingham New Street. Caught 19:35 Cross-City, home at 8pm. Thursday 4th April 17:48 from Euston canceled, no reason given. Instead caught the 17:40 to Birmingham New Street, then Cross-City, but the 19:35 was delayed and it didn't go to Lichfield Trent Valley. Back home at 9pm (I wonder how late the people who didn't jump get the 17:40 were?) Tuesday 10th April Fire at Watford. 6:30 from LTV delayed and arrived at 9:30.7:21 delayed to Rugby, left Rugby approx 8:30 and re-routed via Northampton (8:45). Arrived at 9:55. Announced estimated delays of 1 hour.