9th Sept 08 - Day after line shutdown for two weeks

According to all the press releases, at least a couple of million pounds has been spent over the past few weeks while the entire Trent Valley line has been closed. Ignoring the inconvenience of travelling over to Birmingham international to pick up the next nearest line, it was great today to see everything was back to normal.

The 7:21 arrived 12 minutes late and got in to Euston 9 minutes late. Well done everyone!

The 17:48 was also ten minutes late on its return journey.

11th Sept 08 - 17:48 Cancelled

They eventually announced at Euston that the 18:06 would stop at Nuneaton and we would be bussed home. Half way between Watford and Milton Keynes they announced on the train, that we would now be stopping at LTV. We got in somewhere between 30 and 45 minutes late.

12th Sept

No announcements, just home 10 minutes late into LTV

6th October

7:21 train didn't arrive into Euston will 10:30

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17th November

25 minutes late into London. 7:21 didn't arrive till 9:05. No announcements either.

18th November

Getting better, under 20 minutes late today. 8:57 instead of 8:40.
As we passed through Rugby on the way home, one or two started to notice some sights we hadn't seen before. Five minutes later they announce we've been diverted via Birmingham. Got to LTV at 8:10pm.

They also advised to all regulars that since the service was changing to the Glasgow train instead of the Manchester service, that we should all consider getting ticket reservations. Could be fun.

19th November

Announced to be on time, stopped waiting for a platform, arrived 8:47.

21st November

Announced to be on time, stopped waiting for a platform, arrived 8:45.

24th November

7:21 was 12 mins late in (8:52)
17:48 was 4 mins late home (19:05)

25th November

7:21 was 5 mins late in (8:45)
17:48 was 7 mins late home (19:08)

26th November

Hooray, we get told we are arriving 5 minutes late. However that's at the 1 mile marker, and we are still crawling in to the station. 6mins now... 7...Oh I see a platform. Right so only seven late then.

27th November

I'm informed we were ten minutes late on the way in, I wasn't counting. Spot the apathy.
Announced 8 minutes late at Nuneaton. About that when we arrived.

28th November

Oh look. 10 minutes late again on arrival to EUS. No announcements. That's late every morning for the entire week!

1st December

New week, new month, maybe new timeliness. Or maybe not. 8:55 arrival so 15 mins late in.

4th December

Announced to be 3 minutes early, arrived on platform 6 minutes late.

5th December

Waiting for a platform at 8:40.  Euston is definitely the bottleneck these days. Hooray, nice apology for the delay at 8:46. 8:50 and I see a platform.

8th December

Well, I got to Euston at 8:40, unfortunately I had caught 6:33, so that's 36 minutes late. The 7:21 arrived at 8:55.

9th December

Delays on the way home. Unscheduled stops at both Nuneaton and Tamworth, to pick up, I quote "waifs and strays". Announced to arrive at 19:10, but as I type it's 19:12 already.

10th December

Yay! 5 minutes early on the way in
Boo! Diverted via Northampton on the way back, expected to be 15 mins late. Was 25-30 mins late.

New timetable

So following the year of disruptions, today we get the new service. We've said our fond farewells to the Preston crews who have been staffing the LTV service for 20 years (I have been informed). We've said goodbye to fellow Rugby commuters (Strangely I'm typing this as we pass Rugby out of the window), and their very annoying ability to book reservations while we can't.

15th December

The 7.08 was early to the platform and although it now looks as if all of the Lichfield commuters will be catching a single service, there was a significantly large number of seats available. No need for seat reservations so far (it is only a Monday though). However our optimism so far has been brought to crash with the announcement that this service will terminate at Milton Keynes. It's not delayed, its cancelled, due to signal problems at Harrow and Wealdstone. We've been told that other trains will be available to take us the rest of the way, but this train won't be continuing. So I'd like to personally thank Virgin Trains for helping me make a long lasting first impression on my first day of my new job.

Update: So now we are moved over to the new packed train, we get a Virgin trains representative collecting customer surveys. The real irony is that he has no more survey forms to give out, I'm one of several disappointed passengers and he can't find me an email address to forward my comments to. They've also announced that the train should arrive at 8:40, which is the time of old train, before these improvements.

Further Update: It's now 8:40. I don't see a platform, I don't even see a "Euston 1 mile" sign.
Spotted the 1 mile at 8:44. 8.46 arrival

Final update for morning: Not everybody caught the "earlier-late" train. Some did catch the "later-early" train, they described it as packed. Also after being thrown off at Milton Keynes as well, most could not find seats. Nor were they allowed to sit in first class. This practice has to stop, if they can't provide is with a train service that runs on time surely we cannot be expected to also stand for 2-3hrs.

Evening : I think we were 5 mins late.

 

19th December

So far Monday(15th) has been the only hiccup on the way in this week. We were five minutes early this morning! Well done Virgin, Network Rail, et al. Is this really the same train service as it was a week ago?

30th December

20 minutes late on arrival to EUS due to over-running engineering works, 8 mins late leaving EUS on way home and didn't get in until 19:20.
BTW When they say check trains on the day they mean it. according to Network rail last week, the 17:57 should have been unaffected, instead it left at 17:43. Could have been fun if I hadn't of left work to try and catch the 16:57 which I'm sure was advertised as running this Mon/Tues, instead I found that I had nearly an hour to kill.

Jan 5th

I've been told 7:08 was 15 minutes late. I don't know I was late myself. That meant I had to catch the 7:38 London Midland to Rugby at 8:18 and then wait five minutes for the 8:23 to take me rest of the way. Unfortunately the 8:23 was cancelled so I asked the nice lady in the Red Coat what would happen (with one foot still on the 8:18). I was advised that it would be quicker to wait at Rugby as another train was on its way.
Unfortunately that was the 8:40 and it turned up over 20 minutes later. Arrived at work 1hr 25 mins late.

17:57 was running late but made it up to only 3-4 mins late.

19:40 was half an hour late according to Roger.

Jan 6th

So tomorrow my annual pass runs out tonight, got to be a good journey today.

6:40 Cancelled. Coach Left at 6:50. Just as most of the 7:08 passengers were arriving.

7.08 Cancelled. We were advised to travel via Birmingham International. So only a few miles later we get in and parked and find a train waiting for us. Wow what service. Well at least it was for myself and Reg. We moved a little quicker than most and had to watch the doors shut before most of the passengers arrived. This execptional level of service was kind of spoiled by the fact it still didn't arrive until 9:25 and that was with an announcement it had arrived only 65 mins late. Personally I've got to work an hour late.

I've been told an engineer around Bletchley got his crossed, literally. Live to Earth, Earth to Live, oops.

Homeward bound...but how? My car is still at International, so I can't catch the Glasgow trains, which look as if they are unaffected. So instead I have to leave work early and catch the 17:13. This is a replacement for the 17:23 because the journeys are all due to take 30 minutes longer. Originally the delays were 60 minutes and supposed to be clear by 1:00pm, so I suppose I have to be glad for something.
Anyway race to the tube, race from the tube and find... 17:23 is back on. Shame about the rush but at least I'm here at 17:10. So a quick scout around and I find that there's Pendolinos on 15 and 1, could they be any further apart. There's a huge queue outside platform one, Murphy's law holds true and so at 17:35-ish we finally get to go the train. Train leaves EUS at 17:44, with people sitting in the aisles and on the tables.

Cheddington to Milton Keynes, moved to slow running lines. A slow train overtakes, must have been on the fast line. Guard estimates BHI at 19:00, but there's not a chance at the rate we just went through Bletchley.

Announcement after Coventry, 45 mins late now, originally delayed because of missing driver and then by Overhead power line damage.

Arrived BHI 19:08, arrived home 20:00, and I've paid for car parking twice.