Your Last Train Journey?

[Pilot]

Only about half have departed on the minute they were supposed to, and none have arrived in the scheduled minute!

How many of those are within 3 minutes of the scheduled time though? After all, they aren't officially late until they're more than 3 minutes late here AFAIK.

[beeurd]

Just got home from a holiday in Cardiff. Whilst there we used the short line from Cardiff Bay to Cardiff Queen Street, which uses 153s.

I found myself idly wondering if any of the Arriva 153s operating on that route were previously used on the Stourbridge Town line way back when. Hmm.

[Pilot]

I found myself idly wondering if any of the Arriva 153s operating on that route were previously used on the Stourbridge Town line way back when. Hmm.

I could be wrong, however, I believe the old London Midland 153s ended up going to First Great Western.

[Dave]

Likely that at least one of the ATW SCUDs has been down the branch at some point though.

[JamieLei]

Only about half have departed on the minute they were supposed to, and none have arrived in the scheduled minute!

How many of those are within 3 minutes of the scheduled time though? After all, they aren't officially late until they're more than 3 minutes late here AFAIK.

Not very many. I would say that over half have arrived over 10 minutes late.

[Pilot]

Only about half have departed on the minute they were supposed to, and none have arrived in the scheduled minute!

How many of those are within 3 minutes of the scheduled time though? After all, they aren't officially late until they're more than 3 minutes late here AFAIK.

Not very many. I would say that over half have arrived over 10 minutes late.

I'm sure that would cause Rioting if it were to happen in the UK!

[Redirect Left]

I'm sure that would cause Rioting if it were to happen in the UK!

Why would people riot over a normal occurence

[kamnet]

What about tram journeys, does that count?

I officially road my first rail on Sunday. I visited Cincinnati and rode the new Cincinnati Bell Connector streetcar line. It runs in a figure-8 loop that connects the city's two biggest entertainment districts - Over the Rhine and the city's baseball and football stadiums on the Ohio River. It passes by the city's large indoor/outdoor Finlay Market, the central library, a park and a few areas that are under redevelopment. The line operates five CAF Urbos 3 trams. The vehicles are fine. Their operation was slightly less desirable. It was clear from the tram that I was on that the driver wasn't very experienced. Takeoffs were too fast that tended to throw passengers back a little, and stopping was a bit too sudden many times.

[Geo Ghost]

My last journey...

On board the first 'in service' Class 387 on the GN route. From Hornsey EMUD To Kings Cross, Kings Cross to Letchworth Sidings, then back towards Hitchin.
So I guess that makes me the first 387 passenger on the route

[JamieLei]

Circumvesuviana from Pompeii Scavi to Napoli Garibaldi. It was poop (the railway; Pompeii was amazing).

[dequire]

What about tram journeys, does that count?

I officially road my first rail on Sunday. I visited Cincinnati and rode the new Cincinnati Bell Connector streetcar line. It runs in a figure-8 loop that connects the city's two biggest entertainment districts - Over the Rhine and the city's baseball and football stadiums on the Ohio River. It passes by the city's large indoor/outdoor Finlay Market, the central library, a park and a few areas that are under redevelopment. The line operates five CAF Urbos 3 trams. The vehicles are fine. Their operation was slightly less desirable. It was clear from the tram that I was on that the driver wasn't very experienced. Takeoffs were too fast that tended to throw passengers back a little, and stopping was a bit too sudden many times.

Looks pretty cool - and just opened, too! Now, if only we could get a Governor in office that will support the proposed high-speed Cle > Col > Cin route, that'd be fabulous. I know one was proposed, although Governor Kasich nixed it (for now?)...Ohio Hub From Wikipedia

[supermop]

I've been waiting for the 3C train since I was a kid in the 80s - I still spend time ideating on potential ROW choices and COTA connections around Columbus, but I've given up all hope. (ultimately part of why I chose to move out of the Midwest and stay away even as Columbus has rebounded culturally and economically).

On Topic - missed out on trying any trains in Dallas or Austin over the Weekend, so last journey was boring Lexington Avenue 6 train yesterday because I was running too late to walk to work.

[Pilot]

Tuesday, 12th October. I ended up travelling on an East Midlands Day Ranger, doing a little bit of Route Learning for Work, started at Leicester (I got a lift to Leicester, as one of my colleagues was going to a meeting there), and finished at Burton-on-Trent, where I was staying the night for a conference the next day.

1001 Leicester to Derby on 222011 and 222007. I can't help but feeling how much better the Voyagers would be if they were made something like the Meridians!
1052 Derby to Matlock on 156401. Nice relaxed journey to Matlock, couldn't exactly see much, but was the best way for me to see the track up as far as Ambergate Jn.
1136 Matlock to Nottingham on 156401. As there isn't much to do in Matlock, I was straight back on the train.
1332 Nottingham to Leicester on a HST, powered by 43050 and 43052. I was originally going to head off to Peterborough, but time constraints after I had grabbed some Lunch meant that I cut out that section.
1418 Leicester to Nuneaton on 170115. Far busier that I would expect on the Leicester to Birmingham train, however the earlier Stansted to Birmingham train had been delayed, so a lot of people got on the 1418 instead. Also had 3 women (in their late 40s, early 50s) next to me, who, from what I gathered were Lawyer's, and they were complaining about how they didn't get written feedback from their job. I almost felt like saying to them that they weren't in school anymore!
1454 Nuneaton to Tamworth on 350110. Delayed by 33 minutes due to a broken down train further south. This meant I missed my connection at Tamworth, but I did get to see a Class 56 on a Steel working, and a Class 68 on a Ballast working.
1609 Tamworth to Burton-on-Trent on 170397. Last Journey of the day, all went well.

[YNM]

Venezia Mestre --> Verona Porta Nuova on the Frecciarossa. It was 4 minutes late on departure (despite only being 10 minutes from the start of the line in Venice) and 14 minutes late on arrival.

Been on about 6 journeys now in Italy. Only about half have departed on the minute they were supposed to, and none have arrived in the scheduled minute!

Must be unrealistic scheduling.

As now I live in Bandung where the local trains aren't useful to me, my only trip on trains would probably be interlocal trains to / back from Jakarta. Last journey was back from Jakarta last month, took ~3 hours, quite much on schedule (within one or two minutes). Have to say the scenery was fantastic, I didn't knew the line had that many bridges ! (those old bridges where you can notice the bridge from the sound and no barriers ! not the usual concrete-enclosed ones)


EDIT :
Also, compared to going on the highway, much, much more scenic. In fact I can't help to think why they decided to build a highway with lots of cuts, massive monotone bridges and fills, which ruin the view (like this - imagine it from the other side). Then now, they plan to build high-speed railways across the terrain (well, the terrain isn't in the map though) with unrealistic schedules and mostly viaducts or tunnels !

[JamieLei]

Must be unrealistic scheduling.

Not necessarily. Sometimes trains may be pathed for journeys that they physically cannot make (eg: a 75mph unit turning up on a 90mph path...), but otherwise it may be due to poor dispatch, signalling, guard not turning up on time, etc. Not to say that it always is or isn't, but adding extra padding into a schedule won't necessarily make the train run on time. Departing 30 seconds late after the booked time, when the train's been ready to depart and has a green signal, is inexcusable for instance; adding an extra minute into the timetable will simply shift that back a minute.

[YNM]

Must be unrealistic scheduling.

Not necessarily. ...

Ah, yes, I see.

But that train I took here goes through a fair amount of single-tracked section with passing loops, and it wasn't late. Granted it's not as fast as possible as it has been at one time* but it's on-time. There were even earthworks going on around the track at a point and it has to slow down. Also, the scheduling was near-perfect that almost no train in either direction has to stop for long. So IMHO their scheduling can be much more realistic and better.

Unnecessary rant, but just a few thought I have in mind regarding to lateness.

* : believe me, the schedule for that service during colonial rule here was 2 to 2.5 hours on steam train, which still goes that way until about late 90s (ofc then on diesel), when it starts to be well-known for lateness - trains depart 15 to 30 minutes off the schedule was the real routine, and arrival 1 to 2 hours late was normal as well. Until a few years ago when the management changes quite radically, now all service is pretty much on-time.

[Pilot]

So IMHO their scheduling can be much more realistic and better.

This is something I experience in my job a lot of the time, a train can be planned to the most perfect schedule ever, but there are many other factors that could delay a train. Something as simple as another, higher priority train being one or two minutes late (let's say it's a HST with slam doors, these have longer dwell times, and maybe on this particular occasion, it was longer than usual), could result in a slower train being held for 6 extra minutes (2 minutes to account for the delay, then a further 4 minutes as headway (the time required between trains)), the slower train may have an extra minute in the timings between two junctions, so may only be 5 minutes late at the next junction, but it could then be held there for another higher priority train to pass, again, possibly for another 6 minutes, by which point, it's 11 minutes late.

This process can carry on endlessly, and result in massive delays not only to the slower train, but other trains which are caught behind the slower train, but not considered high enough priority to pass it.

[YNM]

So IMHO their scheduling can be much more realistic and better.

This is something I experience in my job a lot of the time, a train can be planned to the most perfect schedule ever, but there are many other factors that could delay a train. Something as simple as another, higher priority train being one or two minutes late (let's say it's a HST with slam doors, these have longer dwell times, and maybe on this particular occasion, it was longer than usual), could result in a slower train being held for 6 extra minutes (2 minutes to account for the delay, then a further 4 minutes as headway (the time required between trains)), the slower train may have an extra minute in the timings between two junctions, so may only be 5 minutes late at the next junction, but it could then be held there for another higher priority train to pass, again, possibly for another 6 minutes, by which point, it's 11 minutes late.

This process can carry on endlessly, and result in massive delays not only to the slower train, but other trains which are caught behind the slower train, but not considered high enough priority to pass it.

On the commuter service here (in Jakarta) there is a rule : if an intercity train is late on arrival to Jakarta and it's local peak time, then the train has to wait until a slot for non-local trains is available. It did cause significant delay on themselves but not on everyone else. But then most of the intercity trains are increasingly punctual and this doesn't happen often anymore.

[JamieLei]

On the commuter service here (in Jakarta) there is a rule : if an intercity train is late on arrival to Jakarta and it's local peak time, then the train has to wait until a slot for non-local trains is available. It did cause significant delay on themselves but not on everyone else. But then most of the intercity trains are increasingly punctual and this doesn't happen often anymore.

That's really interesting! Totally the opposite of what usually happens in Britain!

[YNM]

On the commuter service here (in Jakarta) there is a rule : if an intercity train is late on arrival to Jakarta and it's local peak time, then the train has to wait until a slot for non-local trains is available. It did cause significant delay on themselves but not on everyone else. But then most of the intercity trains are increasingly punctual and this doesn't happen often anymore.

That's really interesting! Totally the opposite of what usually happens in Britain!

Well... But then it's only around Jakarta I suppose. Other cities have only close to infrequent local service . Around Bandung there's only one a day in each direction for example. Then I guess there's some form of local train between Yogyakarta and Solo, also around Surabaya, which have more frequent service, but not as organized as the ones around Jakarta.

Additionally, the commuter schedule has 1-hour "holes" in them, regularly looped. For example, the line I usually use (which is one of the two line that sees intercity and freight trains running along the route) has holes on around 9-10 AM towards the city and on 3-4 PM outward. The empty slot are often used for departure/arrival of most intercity trains, or for those that are late, or for replacement service in case of earlier disruption. They're a bit annoying (coming in just as the 9 AM train departs ? then wait an hour), but I guess from scheduling standpoint they makes sense.

Then, a new set of tracks alongside the originals are being build to allow full separation between commuter trains and intercity / freight trains. It has been laid on most parts but progress are disrupted by current station platforms/buildings themselves.