Railway station gripes

Go get 'em MikeP!

They need a bomb up their collective backsides!

Recently I travelled by train from the northwest to the south east, involving four changes with connecting times of 15-20 minutes in each case. In many countries, connection times of 3 or 4 minutes are the norm, and work, as trains are synchronised and connections are cross-platform, rather than via stairs and stinking passageways.

My first train was 20 minutes late, but I didn’t miss the connection onto a Virgin service because, in defiance of Murphy's law of travel, it was 30 minutes later than my delivering service. Then my train disappeared from the board.

An announcement was made, apparently in Punjabi by a man with an Azerbaijani accent, a speech impediment and his head up his @rsehole, with just the word 'Birmingham' comprehensible.

An enquiry elicited the reply that the train was behind a broken down freight train and that no further information was available. The man imparting this news seemed gleeful in doing so, but perhaps that was just my imagination. Maybe he knew he didn't have to rely on the trains to get home that night.

An hour after my train should have arrived, but was still missing in action, the next service to Birmingham was announced. I boarded this train, on time but dirty and overcrowded, with grime encrusted seats and tray tables, at least one toilet in a condition which would have shamed most third world countries, and with luggage racks dangerously crammed with bags and cases waiting to decapitate the unsuspecting.

The ticket collector wanted to fine me for being on the wrong train despite the fact that the train for which my ticket and reservation were valid was still stuck in the Lake District. I refused firmly and politely to pay the fine, and am now eagerly awaiting Virgin Rail taking me to court, which I look forward to as a welcome opportunity to tell them, in front of the press and the Rail Watchdog, what I think of their service and the rail infrastructure in this country generally!

Not a single word is understood in announcements. Management of railways is very poor!!

Rail Industry: We will whinge about things we DO understand. Late trains may be a financial inconvenience to you, but they could be a LIFE inconvenience to me if I get sacked because I'm late again thangs to the bloody useless rail industry! If the trains ran on time and provided a decent service you wouldn't have whinging ignorant passengers!

Tony: You're an idiot. Have you ever taken a late night train with vandalised ticket machines and no staff? How do you buy your ticket then - do we just walk home twenty miles? As for the bin thing, just SHUT UP will you.

Number One: Try buying a ticket before you travel (IT'S A LEGAL REQUIRMENT).However, since you are such an expert' you will have a thorough knowledge of the NATIONAL CONDITIONS OF CARRAGE.
and Number Two, If you are trying to work out what to do with your old ticket I will spell it out for you. TAKE IT HOME AND PUT IT IN THE BIN. It's not hard to do.

Oh if we could have announcements. My station has no TV screens or announcements just a phone which is often broken or hazardous to health. When you do get through the foreighn operator usually can't understand the name of the station!

You try running a station! It's not easy. £90 a minute fine to the Operator for each late arrival at principal stations. And having to deal with smart alec, complaining, ignorant passengers.
Don't winge about things you don't understand.

I agree with that comment about station announcements and not being able to hear them properly. I would say it is worse in the big stations that have a city link service and at peak times when there are trains pulling in at different platforms. Very frustrating, but what can you do? It isn't always possible to run down the platform and check a board.