That’s nice then. You wait in Moorfields for the 5:36 to West Kirby, and it doesn’t turn up. No announcement, just a big space where the train should be standing at the platform.

The ‘Information Board’ was totally cocked-up, changing every minute or so with what appeared to be a random selection of train destinations and times. There was an announcement that the the Chester/Ellesmere Port trains were in a mess, but that was all. My Brother and I were left wondering (like a few others, I suspect) whether we had somehow missed the 5:36 to West Kirby perhaps.

But no, it was indeed late, as I found out when it finally arrived in Moorfields at about ten to six. The ‘Information Board’ said that there was another one immediately behind it, but bearing in mind that the board had been changing like a fruit machine display, I decided to board the first train that was hopefully going my way – along with anyone also going to Chester as well, as the announcement told them to do.

Imagine the looks on my fellow passengers faces when the cattle truck- like train pulled into Conway Park and the guard announced that because the train was late it was now cancelled, and we were all to get off and stand on the platform to await the next one !

It is absolutely no wonder that people don’t believe in the Merseyrail PPM figures – I overheard a chap next to me saying that he believed they cancelled the train to avoid it being counted as late, and it is hard to argue with him. Why the bloody hell else would you piss people off like that – passengers who have paid for a journey that is already late, the delay has not been explained to them, and then you turf them off the train “because it’s late”?

Until I see a categoric explanation of how the PPM figures are calculated – I’ve searched the internet and can’t find an authoritative answer to this – I’m inclined to the popular belief that they are rigged. From a passengers perspective, it’s an almost unavoidable conclusion. And I’m not the only one who shares it.

UPDATE:

In an effort to get to the bottom of the question about the PPM figures, I have written to the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) as follows:

Good evening,

 

I am writing to ask if someone from your office can explain to me, in non-technical terms that a layman can understand, how the Public Performance Measure (PPM) figures for a rail operator are calculated.

 

My specific interest is in an explanation of under what circumstances (if indeed there are any) a train does not count toward the operators PPM calculation, or if there is a circumstance(s) for which an operator can claim an exclusion for a particular train journey.

 

I have tried to find the answer to this question myself, and can only find conflicting explanations.

 

Your help with this request would be greatly appreciated.

 

Best Regards

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 …

… are not to be relied upon. Not if last night was anything to go by.

There was chaos on the Northern Line, and the Wirral line trains were running ten to fifteen minutes late, all of this during the evening peak period, and there wasn’t a Tweet to be heard.

I found out because my girlfriend phoned from Conway Park to warn me of the delays getting home, and then when I got to Moorfields the foyer was packed full of commuters with nowhere to go.

It makes the whole idea of Merseyrail using Twitter as a means of communicating with passengers pointless, totally pointless. Which is hardly a surprise, I suppose.

After their run of delays and cancallations recently, I’ll be interested to see their published performance figures, and how loudly ther crow about them.

That doesn’t say a lot for the competition, does it?