Waterloo was completely screwed up on Friday - fatality at Surbiton.
No trains on the departure boards, no advice over the tannoy about
what people should do if they needed to get to Alton, Farnham, Fleet
etc, impossible to get to information desks. So I got on the first
(stopping) train to Woking. We stopped at Surbiton which had trains
announced on the other down platform, couldn't see where to, didn't
want to risk getting off the train to see, the guard (although she
apologised at every stop) didn't think to advise passengers if it
might be worth getting off and waiting for another train.

We sat outside Woking for about 15 minutes waiting for a platform,
then I waited over half an hour for a Basingstoke train which took
over half an hour to get to Fleet. So having got to Waterloo in time
for the 1811, I didn't get home until nearly nine.

I'm still not sure whether I did the right thing to get a slow train
from waterloo or whether I should have held out for a Basingstoke
service.

The staff of SWT made the best of a bad job, but it set me thinking
about whether it could be dealt with better.

(1) The announcers & people at Waterloo need a better "script" to work
from. Personally I would turn off the automated announcements and
just make human ones, continuously. Then the script needs to make
sure they deal with the needs of all passengers - on Friday they
adequately covered suburban stations, and long distance (past
Basingstoke) but forgot to mention the needs of people inbetween.

(2) Stop apologising. It's a pain in the arse, and takes up time when
you could be telling us something useful. Someone jumped under a
train, it's not your fault, you have nothing to apologise for.

(3) the guard could have communicated with station staff at Surbiton
to determine whether there were any connecting services expected, and
then let the passengers know.

(4) at Woking the customer information signs were completely screwed
up. At one point I thought I was waiting for a 1953 to Basingstoke -
it was only a while after it arrived I realised that actually it had
been an 1853, and was either running over an hour late or was not
going to run. However the information board said "on time" which is
why I mistook the time. If the signs are this misleading, turn them
off.

(5) From time to time, there were platform changes, leading to a
severe crush on the stairs and over bridge. No-one thought to advise
passengers that they could leave the station and use the underpass
(the up platforms were almost deserted... at that time of the evening
most up journeys will be recreational and hence people just wouldn't
have bothered... it would therefore have been reasonably easy to
access the centre platforms from the up side).

However, as I said, staff were making the best of a bad job - I'd be
interested to hear from anyone who has ever had to sort this sort of
thing out professionally.

"Phil Clark" wrote in message
...

I'm still not sure whether I did the right thing to get a slow train
from waterloo or whether I should have held out for a Basingstoke
service.

You should have got a Reading service and changed there!

tim

On Sun, 27 Nov 2005 12:00:04 +0100, "tim \(moved to sweden\)"
wrote:


"Phil Clark" wrote in message
.. .

I'm still not sure whether I did the right thing to get a slow train
from waterloo or whether I should have held out for a Basingstoke
service.

You should have got a Reading service and changed there!

To be honest, I can't remember if there were any Reading services
listed - even trains that don't run through Surbiton were messed up,
presumably due to other trains being in the wrong place.

I'm not sure a slow train to Reading - Basingstoke - back to Fleet
would have been any quicker. They were turning round some West of
England services at basingstoke, and advising people to travel via
Woking, not Reading.

But it's one to remember for future use - my ticket isn't valid via
Reading, so not one I'd normally think of.

"Phil Clark" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 27 Nov 2005 12:00:04 +0100, "tim \(moved to sweden\)"
wrote:


"Phil Clark" wrote in message
. ..

I'm still not sure whether I did the right thing to get a slow train
from waterloo or whether I should have held out for a Basingstoke
service.

You should have got a Reading service and changed there!

To be honest, I can't remember if there were any Reading services
listed - even trains that don't run through Surbiton were messed up,
presumably due to other trains being in the wrong place.

I'm not sure a slow train to Reading - Basingstoke - back to Fleet
would have been any quicker.

Obviously, I didn't read your post properly. I assumed your
final destination was Basingstoke.

No matter, aldershot line and local bus, there is a bus isn't there?

They were turning round some West of
England services at basingstoke, and advising people to travel via
Woking, not Reading.

That was surely going to be out of laziness?

tim

But it's one to remember for future use - my ticket isn't valid via
Reading, so not one I'd normally think of.

On Sun, 27 Nov 2005 14:05:19 +0100, "tim \(moved to sweden\)"
wrote:

I'm not sure a slow train to Reading - Basingstoke - back to Fleet
would have been any quicker.

Obviously, I didn't read your post properly. I assumed your
final destination was Basingstoke.

Actually, now I've got my head round some of the posts on the previous
thread I started - on routing from Fleet to London terminals - I
realise I could have travelled Wokingham - Farnborough North - walk
to Farnborough Main - Fleet although again I wonder how quick it
would have been.

No matter, aldershot line and local bus, there is a bus isn't there?

That's another Via Woking option - see Spyke's post. And there is a
bus service between Aldershot and Fleet, but the last service is 1915.

"Phil Clark" wrote

I'm not sure a slow train to Reading - Basingstoke - back to Fleet
would have been any quicker. They were turning round some West of
England services at basingstoke, and advising people to travel via
Woking, not Reading.

But it's one to remember for future use - my ticket isn't valid via
Reading, so not one I'd normally think of.

The NR disruptions page mentioned delays up to 150 minutes, and also said
that SWT tickets were being accepted on FGW/FGWL via Reading.

Even with all lines closed at Surbiton for, perhaps, a couple of hours, it
ought to have been possible to serve Guildford and the Portsmouth line via
Epsom, Leatherhead and Effingham Junction, and to run a few Basingstoke
route traions via Staines and Chertsey - I don't have any information as to
whether these routes were actually used.

Peter.

Peter

On Sun, 27 Nov 2005 16:21:49 +0000 (UTC), "Peter Masson"
wrote:

The NR disruptions page

A bit difficult to access while standing on the concourse at Waterloo,
and pretty poor if information was reaching the website, but not
reaching pax standing waiting at Waterloo.

SWT tickets were being accepted on FGW/FGWL via Reading.

Which would have meant a cross-London journey to Paddington... when I
reached Waterloo at 1800 I believe they had just closed the
Underground station due to congestion from ppl seeking another route.

Even with all lines closed at Surbiton for, perhaps, a couple of hours, it
ought to have been possible to serve Guildford and the Portsmouth line via
Epsom, Leatherhead and Effingham Junction, and to run a few Basingstoke
route traions via Staines and Chertsey - I don't have any information as to
whether these routes were actually used.

Quite. The basingstoke train I eventually caught at Woking was almost
empty, and not many people got off, so I wonder if it had come down
from Waterloo, or been turned short somewhere?

On Sun, 27 Nov 2005 10:21:22 GMT, Phil Clark
wrote:

(2) Stop apologising. It's a pain in the arse, and takes up time when
you could be telling us something useful. Someone jumped under a
train, it's not your fault, you have nothing to apologise for.

Pretty much exactly what I said when I was trying to get from Norwood
Junction into London a few months back.

The thing that really makes it irritating is that the computer says "I
am sorry for...". No, you're not. You're a computer. You cannot feel
sorrow.

--
James Farrar
. @gmail.com

The thing that gets me is that the computer is sorry for delays up to 5
mins from 5 to 30 mins its very sorry and for more than 30 the computer
is extreemly sorry! Not bad for something unable to feel emotion!!!

Conductor in Charge of.......... ) gurgled happily,
sounding much like they were saying :

The thing that gets me is that the computer is sorry for delays up to 5
mins from 5 to 30 mins its very sorry and for more than 30 the computer
is extreemly sorry! Not bad for something unable to feel emotion!!!

Hmmm. Perhaps this could be changed according to the expected audience?

A 9.30 train from the posher corners of Surrey could be "really tewwibly
sorry, what?", whereas a train full of footie supported could be "totally
gutted, Brian".