January Summary

An awful month.

Delays due to First Great Western   4
Delays due to London Transport      5

This month's winner is London Transport. Well done.

January 27 - Signal failure at Moorgate

Today the trusted H&C train came to a halt at Edgware Road and stayed there for 20 minutes. The train doors remained open so that absolutely all warm air was expelled, probably to keep us focused. Then finally the train set off at a brisk walking pace the rest of the way pausing overly long at each and every station like an asthmatic mole trying to recover its breath. Still, we were all very cosy and cuddled together.

January 26 - Delay at Slough, again.

Once again we slowed to a crawl past Slough arriving late for no adequately explained reason. It could be parallel lines on the track, the wrong kind of rain, the wrong kind of wind. But much more likely is the wrong kind of time management!

January 25 - electronic "chase the rabbit"

Having written a complaint on the 17th, today I received a reply requesting details of the complaint despite having supplied those in the original email. I duly replied, restating all the facts as I had done before. I hit the send key and immediately received a reply thanking me for my email and assuring me that they would look at it in five days time! At least their customer service is consistent with their rail timekeeping.

January 21 - Delay at Slough

For no adequately explored reason this morning's train changed from the express lane to the hard shoulder at Slough and crawled like a sniper under fire all the way to Langley. It finally arrived at Paddington 10 minutes late leaving us to join the H&C cattle trucks.

Janury 19 - Moorgate signal failure

Another signal failure at Moorgate left the platforms swelling while full to bursting trains made futile stops unable to take on any more. I took the Metropolitan line to Baker Street where I am delighted to report that the down escalator is finally back in working order.

January 17 - Hayes signal failure

The Great Western cattle truck stopped at Hayes & Harlington for half an hour and then proceeded at a snail's pace the rest of the way to Paddington arriving just short of an hour late. The journey on the H&C was slowed to a crawl also due to signalling failures at Bow. I arrived an hour late rather than 20 minutes early. I raised my 1st complaint to the rail company

January 13 - H&C communication cord

Cattle truck conditions again and to exacerbate matters we halt in the tunnel outside Kings Cross for 20 minutes because some claustrophobe pulled the communication cord. Perhaps they wanted to go from anxiety to panic in one step. Finally at Kings Cross the train has to be emptied so that medics can attend and everybody crams down to the Northern line to stand on dangerously overcrowded platforms. Another great way to start the day.

January 7 - H&C Cattle trucks

Well done Hammersmith & City. 3 trains pull through the Barbican laden like cattle trucks while the announcer tells us "There is a good service on all underground lines". In the end I had to take a Metropolitan line train and change at Baker street, where the down escalators to the Bakerloo line were still out of order.

January 6 - Baker Street stoppage

The Hammersmith and City line came to complete halt at Baker street dumping an entire train load of passengers into Bakerloo line trains. Predictably the Baker Street escalators were out of action and the trains crowded to the point of intimacy. I managed to make all connections despite this.

January 5 - Stuck in lift

A brilliant start to the year. I spent an uncomfortable 45 minutes in a lift at Twyford station with 11 other passengers. Strangely the lift capacity was set at 16 so I surmise this was manufactured and rated in a country where the population are considerably smaller than in England. The fire service did a sterling job but the delay meant that I missed all connections and had a 2 mile walk home in the drizzle.

A weary commuter

I have decided to log the vagaries of my travels along the Great Western line from Wargrave to the Barbican in London just to see if the memories I have accord with the monotonous reality.