Network Fail - UPDATED
SEETHING commuters have battled through one of the worst
weeks ever on our railways, with more delays expected
-
today.
Each day 20,000 passengers use Chelmsford station and a
further 6,500 board trains at Witham but once again they have
been forced to endure horrendously long waits for trains after
more than a mile of Network Rail's overhead cables were torn
down.
Trains to and from London ground to a halt Monday when the
5.20pm service from Liverpool Street became entangled in
cabling near Ingatestone.
A restricted service was up and running by Tuesday but it
was unable to cope with the demand and thousands were forced to
catch rail replacement buses.
Others spent hours stuck in stifling carriages as urgent
repairs were carried out and platforms up and down the line
were packed solid as commuters jostled for a space on the
trains that were running.
Hopeful commuters arrived at stations throughout Essex
Thursday morning to discover yet more delays.
Repairs to the overhead power cables were completed
Wednesday night but shorter trains than usual are running along
the line from Liverpool Street out to Shenfield, Chelmsford and
beyond.
Passengers are being told to expect delays of up to an
hour.
Mark Leslie, coordinator of the Essex Federation of Rail
Users, said: “It has been fairly horrendous since Monday
evening.
“National Express got buses on quite quickly and they have
been running a limited train service but there is a lot of
overcrowding in the mornings.
“The trains are jam-packed and journeys are very
unpleasant.”
6 Comments
by The Man, Europe
Saturday, July 12 2008, 9:30PM
“Mr N Arked, removing my politeness u r a complete cock, u whine about a freight train being derailed anc calling NXEA a shower of shit because of it, if u get stuck in a queue do u call ur car manufacturer and blame them, no, so shut up. Nxea don't run freight trains, they also don't derail them. Get a grip and look at the facts b4 u blame someone ya muppet!”
by C Muter, Chelmsford - L'pool Street
Friday, June 13 2008, 1:49PM
“Hey, Jimmy! Sounds like sour grapes, get the o'l redundo did we? Anyway, we pay nearly 10% (roughly) for our fares to get to London, which I happen to think is reasonable value for money and I've been reasonably happy with the route, whoever the TOC has been. It is after all Network Rail who look after the infrastructure.
It's jus that with weeks like this, on top of the grief earlier (New Year/Easter+ others), they've exhausted most of their goodwill.”
by Jimmie S, Witham
Thursday, June 12 2008, 10:21PM
“Call me selfish, but people commute to access the larger salaries offered in London. And so they should jolly well expect to pay for their own train journeys, and not try to leech freebie rides whenever there is a slight disruption to a normally top class service. I commuted to London for 14 years, but had to stop not because of any action by the excellent rail companies, but rather because the other passengers were so ghastly. And I only have to think of all those horrible travellers making their noisy, unnecessary mobile phone calls to convince myself that they deserve nothing finer than the train service that National Express has provided this week. I say tough, tough and thrice tough to all the train travelling whingers. Where the hell is your Dunkirk spirit? Go and earn your megabucks in the City of London if you like, but you'll get no sympathy from me.”
by Steve Campen, Chelmsford
Thursday, June 12 2008, 3:54PM
“I have just put together a website www.ihatenationalexpress.com Frankly we have all had enough, it's time to change the way we run the railways in the UK. I am not talking about nationalisation but putting both rail and train together in a government run trust, rather like the way Network Rail runs now.”
by Mr N arked, Chelmsford
Thursday, June 12 2008, 2:40PM
“Just when you thought it was safe, a freight train has now derailed at marks tey leaving passengers unable to get past Witham. I can safely say that National express are the biggest shower of S###.”
by N. O. Choochoo, Chelmsford
Thursday, June 12 2008, 12:24PM
“This goes to show the dependency we have in our railways and how little those responsible for running them have disregard for their paying passengers. I bet prices will rise above inflation yet again in the New Year and all this will be conveniently forgotten. Well, it is time that the commuter made a stand.
National Express should give all season ticket holders 1 month of free network travel as compensation.”