OK, so I’ve slightly altered Charles Wentworth Dilke’s saying, but I would so dearly love to know how Merseyrail (and presumably the other train operators) arrive at their PPM performance figures.
Tonight is the second night this week (and it’s still only Wednesday) that I’ve had my journey home ruined because one of Merseyrails 30 year-old piles of scrap wasn’t able to limp from one station to the next. Stuck at Birkenhead Borth on Monday night waiting for a train because the one I should have been travelling on had ”technical difficulties” and then stranded at James Street this evening because of the same sorry excuse. And it’s not like these are isolated incidents … anyone care to examine the Merseyrail Twitter feed to see just how often their trains are cancelled or severely delayed on the lines I have the blessing to have no need to travel upon?
Perhaps Jane is right – the reason they’ve apparently been spending so much on their stations recently is so we all have somewhere nice(ish) to sit while they try to find a train that still works.
And all this on the day that a Google Alert for “Merseyrail” threw up another of their sanctimonious press-releases about how sodding reliable they are. The internet is littered with these objectionable documents, normally a few every week. Either the figures are questionable, or we should have real worries about the state of the remainder of the countries rail services.
Interesting to note in this latest load of verbiage from Merseyrail Towers that they are also apparently claiming credit for keeping their trains running while there was a couple of inches of snow lying on the ground. Well, excuse me for sounding ungrateful, but isn’t that kind of what a modern transport operator should be capable of doing, without expecting to be congratulated for it? Just because all the buses stopped running – in itself inexcusable – doesn’t mean that we ahould therefore judge Merseyrail as being some kind of great success. They did what they are paid to do.
Talking of paying, I found out last week a little ‘quirk’ of their fare system – you can’t buy a return ticket unless it’s for the same day. I had to travel to London last week, out one day, back the next. I had to buy two singles, so my return journey from home to Liverpool Lime Street to catch a proper train cost £5.50 instead of £3.65. Bloody cheek.
I also saw tonight, while I was sitting waiting at James Street that they have a train called “John Peel”. Personally, I would regard that as the ultimate degradation. If I ever end up with my name on the side of one of their trains after I’m gone, I’ll leave instructions for my estate to sue for defamation of character.
Unless of course the late Mr Peel was regarded as an unreliable sort of person …
Trackback by MiseryRail — February 24, 2010 @ 11:49 pm
New blog post!: Lies, damned lies and Merseyrail statistics … http://bit.ly/cq7UYy
Comment by First Class — March 5, 2010 @ 8:37 pm
If you had of thought on, if you’re ticket was a “walk up” ticket you could have just either got an excess, (probably at no extra cost), from your start station to London or if you were using an advance purchase, just paid extra few pennies to allow travel on Merseyrail.
You will find that usually unless you’re travelling more than 50 miles, there is no “open” ticket available as this prevents fraud caused by somebody using the same ticket continuously for a month. This principal is the same around the UK.
I would also like to point out that Merseyrail does not own the rolling stock, just leases it. They have no choice in this, as the PTE, “Merseytravel” has told them to use it in the franchise specification- it is Merseytravel/government who is responsible for sourcing and paying for new rolling stock- not Merseyrail. You may be interested to hear that they’ve taken a LOT more fitters on to service the fleet, at great expense.
The track/signalling/stations are down to Network Rail, another organisation. You may be interested to know that they are planning a ‘National’ walkout which should cripple the ENTIRE UK rail network in the next couple of weeks, this is due to their bosses wanting to sack 1500 staff, because they’re cutting costs. Perhaps if Network Rail wasn’t fining Merseyrail thousands of pounds for delays, they would be less inclined to cancel services. A cancelled service might cost £1000, but for every minute delay, you could be looking at £200.
What you don’t seem to appreciate is that Merseyrail has very little say in the things you criticise them about. ATOC/Merseytravel regulate the tickets, Angel Trains/Merseytravel regulate the rolling stock (fleet), Network Rail control the infrastructure.
Merseyrail just pay these organisations to “operate” what they’re given. The only thing Merseyrail controls really is their staff. There is room for improvement here, absolutely, and the company recognises that.
With regards to Merseyrail running during the cold weather, Merseyrail went above the call of duty by allowing bus tickets to be accepted on their services. You’re also forgetting about the staff having to make all sorts of efforts to get into work at really unsociable hours to ensure the likes of you can have a hassle free journey in the morning.
Finally, as for your comments about slander against you- this is ironic. If Merseyrail felt it necessary, I would imagine that it would be fairly easy to sue this site for deformation of character (slander) by making accusations of PPM fiddling, when you probably don’t have first hand experience of performance monitoring.
Merseyrail gets you from A-B fairly cheaply and quickly, (compared to other companies). Things do go wrong, and due to the nature of the infrastructure (which they don’t own), often takes a while to get things back to normal.
Like many other people, you don’t really notice the journeys you make most often which are hassle free. It’s only on the odd balls up that you do notice, and they aren’t as common as you make out.
By all means, you’re free to publish your opinion, but when you are a hard-working, honest member of staff, it is disheartening to hear your company being slated when I know it’s not always their fault.
Comment by James — March 8, 2010 @ 1:01 am
“Merseyrail just pay these organisations to “operate” what they’re given. The only thing Merseyrail controls really is their staff. There is room for improvement here, absolutely, and the company recognises that.”
Oh they do, do they? So why have we had the “You think our staff are great” posters thrust in our faces? The message they are sending out with posters such as this is the direct opposite of what you are suggesting.
“You’re also forgetting about the staff having to make all sorts of efforts to get into work at really unsociable hours to ensure the likes of you can have a hassle free journey in the morning.”
Rubbish. If you don’t like unsociable hours, don’t do the sodding job. It’s as simple as that. I have absolutely no sympathy for them in that regard.
“You may be interested to hear that they’ve taken a LOT more fitters on to service the fleet, at great expense.”
It’s interesting, isn’t it? I use the Southport – Hunts Cross line regularly (easily the busiest branch of the network) with 6-car trains running as 3 being a near daily occurrence. This was far rarer under Arriva, the previous operator.
Merseyrail have also refused to take on three extra trains that are the same design as the those they already have (these have been withdrawn by a London train operating company) despite the train owner, Angel Trains (yes, some of us are aware trains are leased) actually moving them to Warrington in readiness for their acceptance back on Merseyside! It was also reported in the Liverpool Daily Post that extra trains were on the way. Guess what? Nothing has materialised.
The job this company does when things go wrong is frankly appalling. Shortening trains that should be 6 cars to 3 without even apologising is totally unacceptable in my opinion.
Comment by Barry Jameson — March 8, 2010 @ 5:54 pm
James I know who you are !!! And you have a very big chip on your shoulder where merseyrail are concerned and I bet its because you put in for a job with them and never got it because you’re not up to the standard of the rest of the staff !!! You’re just a LITTLE know it all …….. Oh and a complete a******e at that !
Comment by Chris — March 8, 2010 @ 6:04 pm
I DO NOT normally edit or otherwise censor comments on this site, but can I point out that if this turns into a slanging match, or becomes any more personal than it already has, I will delete ALL comments by the authors involved.
Comment by Barry Jameson — March 15, 2010 @ 12:46 am
Ok Chris Understood !!