Another nightmare weekend courtesy of the BAA - g*d help us when the
Spanish takeover.

This last weekend the T4L London to Heathrow Pic. line was out of
action yet again for repairs / rebuilding / planned engineering works /
whatever - but this time HEX / Connect were NOT accepting Z1-6
Travelcards into/out of Heathrow. The two alternatives were T4L bus
rail replacement services to/from North Acton (??), or a ripoff £15 /
£9 for a single ticket on the BAA's toy electric trains. Heathrow
Airport staff were equally inconvenienced by this alternative
arrangement.

Secondly the Network Rail / Railtrack signalmen at Reading were really
playing trains - as they usually do at weekends - by swopping the
tracks of FGW Intercity and HEX / Connect services. So frequently at
Hayes Station whilst say a FGW Intercity train sped through on the up
slow local, a Connect from Heathrow came into platform 2 on the up fast
and stopped there - but unfortunately for the pax. waiting for it on
platform 4 was unannounced. Unfortunately dozens of hapless passengers
then had the choice of running up and down stairs from platform 4 to 2
or simply not botherng. The Connect staff however chose the dangerous
process of closing the doors as passengers were still running over the
footbridges and along the platforms. As readers will remember there is
an issue with Connect services stopping far away from the station
entrance. Some pax. made it, some did not. The doors were closed on
them regardless - whilst both the driver and the ticket checking staff
laughed at them as the train drew away. This is appalling customer
service and dangerous - but exactly what local users of HEX / Connect
now expect from the BAA which is more interested in running airport
hypermarkets than running a decent transport service.

CJB.

But there were no notices about these alternatives. CJB.

Neil Williams wrote:
CJB wrote:

This last weekend the T4L London to Heathrow Pic. line was out of
action yet again for repairs / rebuilding / planned engineering works /
whatever - but this time HEX / Connect were NOT accepting Z1-6
Travelcards into/out of Heathrow. The two alternatives were T4L bus
rail replacement services to/from North Acton (??), or a ripoff £15 /
£9 for a single ticket on the BAA's toy electric trains. Heathrow
Airport staff were equally inconvenienced by this alternative
arrangement.

Or Connect to Hayes and Harlington and then the bus, or SWT to Feltham
then the other bus (though I'm not sure if the latter is valid on a
Travelcard).

Neil

CJB wrote:
Another nightmare weekend courtesy of the BAA - g*d help us when the
Spanish takeover.

This last weekend the T4L London to Heathrow Pic. line was out of
action yet again for repairs / rebuilding / planned engineering works /
whatever - but this time HEX / Connect were NOT accepting Z1-6
Travelcards into/out of Heathrow. The two alternatives were T4L bus
rail replacement services to/from North Acton (??), or a ripoff £15 /
£9 for a single ticket on the BAA's toy electric trains. Heathrow
Airport staff were equally inconvenienced by this alternative
arrangement.


The Heathrow line was NOT affected by engineering works. The Picc and
District were both suspended EAST of Acton Town, but you could still
have got to Heathrow by Picc. I admit it was a farce having to find a
way to get to Acton from the east in the first place, but to their
credit, TfL had buses running every few mins from North Acton (to
connect with the Central line) and had loads of porters at Acton
helping with luggage.



Secondly the Network Rail / Railtrack signalmen at Reading were really
playing trains - as they usually do at weekends - by swopping the
tracks of FGW Intercity and HEX / Connect services.

Just as a point of order, that area is actually controlled by Slough,
not Reading! (I know I'm nit-picking!!)

"CJB" writes:

The Connect staff however chose the dangerous process of closing the
doors as passengers were still running over the footbridges and
along the platforms. As readers will remember there is an issue with
Connect services stopping far away from the station entrance. Some
pax. made it, some did not. The doors were closed on them regardless
- whilst both the driver and the ticket checking staff laughed at
them as the train drew away.

It would have served the staff right if some of the pax who did manage
to get there in time were to have blocked the doors from closing so as
give a chance for those still hurrying over the footbridge.

In article ,
(Graham Murray) wrote:

"CJB" writes:

The Connect staff however chose the dangerous process of closing the
doors as passengers were still running over the footbridges and
along the platforms. As readers will remember there is an issue with
Connect services stopping far away from the station entrance. Some
pax. made it, some did not. The doors were closed on them regardless
- whilst both the driver and the ticket checking staff laughed at
them as the train drew away.

It would have served the staff right if some of the pax who did manage
to get there in time were to have blocked the doors from closing so as
give a chance for those still hurrying over the footbridge.

They get upset when you do that though. I ran ahead of the family and
held a door open trying to make a connection at Stevenage from a
late-running GNER service to Cambridge but people got annoyed. Made the
connection though.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

wrote:
CJB wrote:
Another nightmare weekend courtesy of the BAA - g*d help us when the
Spanish takeover.

This last weekend the T4L London to Heathrow Pic. line was out of
action yet again for repairs / rebuilding / planned engineering works /
whatever - but this time HEX / Connect were NOT accepting Z1-6
Travelcards into/out of Heathrow. The two alternatives were T4L bus
rail replacement services to/from North Acton (??), or a ripoff £15 /
£9 for a single ticket on the BAA's toy electric trains. Heathrow
Airport staff were equally inconvenienced by this alternative
arrangement.


The Heathrow line was NOT affected by engineering works. The Picc and
District were both suspended EAST of Acton Town, but you could still
have got to Heathrow by Picc. I admit it was a farce having to find a
way to get to Acton from the east in the first place, but to their
credit, TfL had buses running every few mins from North Acton (to
connect with the Central line) and had loads of porters at Acton
helping with luggage.



In my experience, these replacement buses to Heathrow (or in this case,
to Acton from the city centre) are fine. Generally plenty of people to
tell you where to go and help you get your case on, and usually only a
wait of 5 minutes or so. The journey is then more comfortable
(guaranteed seat in an air conditioned coach) and often quicker.

Neil Williams wrote:

Or Connect to Hayes and Harlington and then the bus, or SWT to Feltham
then the other bus (though I'm not sure if the latter is valid on a
Travelcard).

Yes - the 285 is an ordinary London bus route (though travelcards/bus
passes were also valid on its predecessor, the T123). It's actually a
pretty good way to Heathrow from most of South London.

On 12 Jun 2006 06:23:20 -0700, wrote:


CJB wrote:
Another nightmare weekend courtesy of the BAA - g*d help us when the
Spanish takeover.

This last weekend the T4L London to Heathrow Pic. line was out of
action yet again for repairs / rebuilding / planned engineering works /
whatever - but this time HEX / Connect were NOT accepting Z1-6
Travelcards into/out of Heathrow. The two alternatives were T4L bus
rail replacement services to/from North Acton (??), or a ripoff £15 /
£9 for a single ticket on the BAA's toy electric trains. Heathrow
Airport staff were equally inconvenienced by this alternative
arrangement.


The Heathrow line was NOT affected by engineering works. The Picc and
District were both suspended EAST of Acton Town, but you could still
have got to Heathrow by Picc. I admit it was a farce having to find a
way to get to Acton from the east in the first place, but to their
credit, TfL had buses running every few mins from North Acton (to
connect with the Central line) and had loads of porters at Acton
helping with luggage.

And, as usual, there were extra buses on the 65 covering South Ealiing
- Ealing Broadway (and, also as usual, this wasn't advertised).

--
James Farrar
. @gmail.com

"Neil Williams" wrote in message
oups.com...
CJB wrote:

This last weekend the T4L London to Heathrow Pic. line was out of
action yet again for repairs / rebuilding / planned engineering works /
whatever ... ...The two alternatives were T4L bus
rail replacement services to/from North Acton (??), or a ripoff £15 /
£9 for a single ticket on the BAA's toy electric trains.

Or Connect to Hayes and Harlington and then the bus, or SWT to Feltham
then the other bus (though I'm not sure if the latter is valid on a
Travelcard).

Travelcards are valid on both trains to Feltham (Zone 6) and on the
connecting Route 285 bus.

--
MatSav

In message .com, CJB
writes
Another nightmare weekend courtesy of the BAA - g*d help us when the
Spanish takeover.

George Best seems to work quite well. They aren't quite as obsessed
with building a shop in every available bit of open space as other
airport or, indeed, railway companies.

The station that was supposed to serve the new terminal and the shopping
centre at Holywood Exchange is still noticeably absent though.

--
Goalie of the Century