Scotrail

[welshbairn]

8 hours ago, peasy23 said:

The shambles that is the Caledonian sleeper service continues with some passengers still being put on buses. They have caused so many problems in recent weeks that Network Rail are running out of patience with them and they have seemingly come very close to barring the trains from their tracks.

Still in testing and snag fixing phase according to Serco. You would have thought they would have done that before launching.

[Savage Henry]

The shambles that is the Caledonian sleeper service continues with some passengers still being put on buses. They have caused so many problems in recent weeks that Network Rail are running out of patience with them and they have seemingly come very close to barring the trains from their tracks.

Imagine booking a sleeper and getting a bus. I presume full refunds all round?

[Sherrif John Bunnell]

The big train must stay open.

[peasy23]

Still in testing and snag fixing phase according to Serco. You would have thought they would have done that before launching.

They are supposed to have 4 trains in service but so far have only managed to get 2 onto the tracks. The Highlander service to Fort William is still using tje old stock. The new trains have been a mess with constant failures, water leaks in the cabins, heating and aircon problems. Last week's breakdown which saw a whole trainload on the northbound service turfed off at Stafford at 5am was attributed to flat spots on some of the wheels.

Their latest plan is to try and get the two trains in use working correctly then put them onto the Highlander service, then stick the other 2 new trains on the Glasgow/Edinburgh routes so the staff on there will have to go through the whole snagging process again.

[peasy23]

Imagine booking a sleeper and getting a bus. I presume full refunds all round?

Yep, and the prices now have shot through the roof because of Serco's vision of having a 4 star hotel on wheels.

[welshbairn]

1 minute ago, peasy23 said:

1 hour ago, Savage Henry said:

Imagine booking a sleeper and getting a bus. I presume full refunds all round?

Yep, and the prices now have shot through the roof because of Serco's vision of having a 4 star hotel on wheels.

If you're travelling on your own you have to pay double as they don't allow cabin sharing anymore, despite the 2 bunks. 

[Savage Henry]

If you're travelling on your own you have to pay double as they don't allow cabin sharing anymore, despite the 2 bunks. 

I don’t know about you, but I almost never travel without my posse, or at very least my crew, so this doesn’t effect me.

[Bold Rover]

Lots of nice Caledonian Sleeper signs at the stations, mind. 

[Raidernation]

I can nivvir get to sleep on ae sleeper....

[IrishBhoy]

On 20/06/2019 at 19:46, peasy23 said:

They are supposed to have 4 trains in service but so far have only managed to get 2 onto the tracks. The Highlander service to Fort William is still using tje old stock. The new trains have been a mess with constant failures, water leaks in the cabins, heating and aircon problems. Last week's breakdown which saw a whole trainload on the northbound service turfed off at Stafford at 5am was attributed to flat spots on some of the wheels.

Their latest plan is to try and get the two trains in use working correctly then put them onto the Highlander service, then stick the other 2 new trains on the Glasgow/Edinburgh routes so the staff on there will have to go through the whole snagging process again.

The fault last week was actually due to the train manager. When the units coupled together in London they were in a different configuration than usual and he didn’t update the trains main computer to reflect that, which meant the coaches were unable to communicate with the computer and after a set period of time the emergency brakes deployed, causing wheel flats in the process. 

You are spot on about how much of a shambles the trains are though and I genuinely wouldn’t be surprised to see these removed from service in the near future as the quality of work from CAF is horrendous and potentially unsafe. The reason being given is that CAF panicked thinking Brexit wasn’t going to happen sooner and rushed half finished trains from Spain over to a depot in Kilmarnock where the plan was to finish them off with a team of their own factory workers alongside a bunch of Scottish contractors. Obviously this hasn’t went to plan and they are now more than likely costing themselves more money than if they had been completed in Spain. 

Btw I don’t work for any of these companies but Sercos main inspector on the job is a friend of mine. From day one they haven’t seen a spec sheet to specify torque settings etc. I hope it never happens, but if these trains were to be involved in a fatal accident there will be people going to jail.

 

Edited June 22, 2019 by IrishBhoy

[Sergeant Wilson]

I never really understood the need for a sleeper. Either go the day/night before, or get up early. The sleeper gets to Watford, or somewhere, in the middle of the night then lies in a siding for a few hours.

[Scary Bear]

I never really understood the need for a sleeper. Either go the day/night before, or get up early. The sleeper gets to Watford, or somewhere, in the middle of the night then lies in a siding for a few hours.

Exactly! The only people affected by the current shambolic service are oddballs. Probably paedos.

[BallochSonsFan]

Fucking Scotrail.

Went for the 3:30 train from Queen St to Helensburgh with the aim of getting off at Dumbarton Central. Train is running 6 minutes late but we get on at Queen St fine. Get to Hyndland and the driver announces that the train will stop at Dalmuir (as normal) and then Cardross (skipping the 3 Dumbarton stops). Advises that anybody wanting to go to Dumbarton should change at Dalmuir for a subsequent service that was due at 4:01.

Off we all get at Dalmuir to get the train that'll take us to Dumbarton Central. Said alternative?

Is running 5 minutes late.

Scotrail tweeted to explain that there had been a fault on the train that meant they had to skip stops. What kind of train fault lets you stop at Dalmiur and Cardross but skip the 3 stations in between? It's not like we were holding up subsequent services because the next train on our line was running 5 minutes late and had extra stops between Dalmuir and Dumbarton. I know Scotrail swear that they don't skip stops to ensure that they can make up time for their final stop on a service and that if they skip stations then it's to avoid congestion, but that was clearly bollocks on the train I was on. They skipped the 3 Dumbarton stops to try to make up time to finish in Helensburgh without being too late.

To top it all off? The delayed train we were switched on to had the fucking heating on full blast.

I've done well since I moved back to working in Glasgow. I moved to my old office in February and it's taken me until the last week in June to have my first "fucking Scotrail" moment of moaning about the trains. 

[welshbairn]

On 22/06/2019 at 08:43, Sergeant Wilson said:

I never really understood the need for a sleeper. Either go the day/night before, or get up early. The sleeper gets to Watford, or somewhere, in the middle of the night then lies in a siding for a few hours.

Handy if you have to be in the centre of London early in the morning from Inverness or Aberdeen, and especially if you have too much luggage to get on the plane without paying a fortune. Most people sleep really well on them with the gentle trundling. You're basically paying for a hotel with free travel.  The new trains are more expensive and don't work, so maybe it's no longer an option.

[Stellaboz]

Fucking Scotrail.
Went for the 3:30 train from Queen St to Helensburgh with the aim of getting off at Dumbarton Central. Train is running 6 minutes late but we get on at Queen St fine. Get to Hyndland and the driver announces that the train will stop at Dalmuir (as normal) and then Cardross (skipping the 3 Dumbarton stops). Advises that anybody wanting to go to Dumbarton should change at Dalmuir for a subsequent service that was due at 4:01.
Off we all get at Dalmuir to get the train that'll take us to Dumbarton Central. Said alternative?
Is running 5 minutes late.
Scotrail tweeted to explain that there had been a fault on the train that meant they had to skip stops. What kind of train fault lets you stop at Dalmiur and Cardross but skip the 3 stations in between? It's not like we were holding up subsequent services because the next train on our line was running 5 minutes late and had extra stops between Dalmuir and Dumbarton. I know Scotrail swear that they don't skip stops to ensure that they can make up time for their final stop on a service and that if they skip stations then it's to avoid congestion, but that was clearly bollocks on the train I was on. They skipped the 3 Dumbarton stops to try to make up time to finish in Helensburgh without being too late.
To top it all off? The delayed train we were switched on to had the fucking heating on full blast.
I've done well since I moved back to working in Glasgow. I moved to my old office in February and it's taken me until the last week in June to have my first "fucking Scotrail" moment of moaning about the trains. 

Windows down I hope?

[BallochSonsFan]

8 minutes ago, Stellaboz said:

22 minutes ago, BallochSonsFan said:

Fucking Scotrail.
Went for the 3:30 train from Queen St to Helensburgh with the aim of getting off at Dumbarton Central. Train is running 6 minutes late but we get on at Queen St fine. Get to Hyndland and the driver announces that the train will stop at Dalmuir (as normal) and then Cardross (skipping the 3 Dumbarton stops). Advises that anybody wanting to go to Dumbarton should change at Dalmuir for a subsequent service that was due at 4:01.
Off we all get at Dalmuir to get the train that'll take us to Dumbarton Central. Said alternative?
Is running 5 minutes late.
Scotrail tweeted to explain that there had been a fault on the train that meant they had to skip stops. What kind of train fault lets you stop at Dalmiur and Cardross but skip the 3 stations in between? It's not like we were holding up subsequent services because the next train on our line was running 5 minutes late and had extra stops between Dalmuir and Dumbarton. I know Scotrail swear that they don't skip stops to ensure that they can make up time for their final stop on a service and that if they skip stations then it's to avoid congestion, but that was clearly bollocks on the train I was on. They skipped the 3 Dumbarton stops to try to make up time to finish in Helensburgh without being too late.
To top it all off? The delayed train we were switched on to had the fucking heating on full blast.
I've done well since I moved back to working in Glasgow. I moved to my old office in February and it's taken me until the last week in June to have my first "fucking Scotrail" moment of moaning about the trains. 

Windows down I hope?

Damn right

[Le Tout P'ti FC]

I never really understood the need for a sleeper. Either go the day/night before, or get up early. The sleeper gets to Watford, or somewhere, in the middle of the night then lies in a siding for a few hours.

Quite handy for a night out in London if you need to get back to work next day. Last time I did it was to see Brazil v Italy at Emirates, quick tube journey, pint at Euston and then onto bed. Wasn't really aware of it stopping overnight and I awoke just in time to see Wester Hailes trundling by as we came into Edinburgh. Who wouldn't pay to wake to that view?

[NJ2]

Damn right

So heating on, windows open and thus the train was fixed.

[Hedgecutter]

2 hours ago, BallochSonsFan said:

I know Scotrail swear that they don't skip stops to ensure that they can make up time for their final stop on a service and that if they skip stations then it's to avoid congestion, but that was clearly bollocks on the train I was on. They skipped the 3 Dumbarton stops to try to make up time to finish in Helensburgh without being too late.

You can expect more of this seeing as they're at serious risk of losing their contract if performances don't improve.

Well, until they fiddle the timetables to give themselves leeway that is.

[Boghead ranter]

3 hours ago, BallochSonsFan said:

Fucking Scotrail.

Went for the 3:30 train from Queen St to Helensburgh with the aim of getting off at Dumbarton Central. Train is running 6 minutes late but we get on at Queen St fine. Get to Hyndland and the driver announces that the train will stop at Dalmuir (as normal) and then Cardross (skipping the 3 Dumbarton stops). Advises that anybody wanting to go to Dumbarton should change at Dalmuir for a subsequent service that was due at 4:01.

Off we all get at Dalmuir to get the train that'll take us to Dumbarton Central. Said alternative?

Is running 5 minutes late.

Scotrail tweeted to explain that there had been a fault on the train that meant they had to skip stops. What kind of train fault lets you stop at Dalmiur and Cardross but skip the 3 stations in between? It's not like we were holding up subsequent services because the next train on our line was running 5 minutes late and had extra stops between Dalmuir and Dumbarton. I know Scotrail swear that they don't skip stops to ensure that they can make up time for their final stop on a service and that if they skip stations then it's to avoid congestion, but that was clearly bollocks on the train I was on. They skipped the 3 Dumbarton stops to try to make up time to finish in Helensburgh without being too late.

To top it all off? The delayed train we were switched on to had the fucking heating on full blast.

I've done well since I moved back to working in Glasgow. I moved to my old office in February and it's taken me until the last week in June to have my first "fucking Scotrail" moment of moaning about the trains. 

Cos, tory-voting Helensburgh arseholes