Travelling from chapeltown to Lincoln yesterday was a complete nightmare.
We boarded the train at chapeltown- standing up until the train reached meadowhall , then we got a seat.
We arrived in sheffield and were told to get off the train as it had to re fuel.
We were told to stand down at another platform with three hundred more people who were waiting to get on the same train
We protested about this as we were already on the train and did'nt see why we should have to fight to get back on a train we had aleady been on.
We were told that the guardsman or whatever would make sure all the passengers that got on at chapeltown would re board the train first.
In our dreams.
No such thing happenned. we scrambled to get a seat and luckily did .(Bearing in mind through all this that the train only had two small coaches.)
The train was absolutely chock o block and more.
Every station going up to Lincoln had loads of passengers waiting
who were refused entry as the train could'nt hold any more.
We finally arrived in Lincoln .
And an announcement came on apologising to everyone for being crushed and that we could complain to the train company and even offered us the number , in the announcement.
The staff were even disgusted themselves.
As such a big event like this with all these people were only given two small coaches.
coming back to sheffield was worse.
We got to the station for the 18. 28 and the train was about twenty minutes late . there were hundreds of people more than
the outward journey.
The train arrived, every body shouted in anger as guess what-there were only two small coaches again.
It would be pointless to wait for the next train as that would be the same.
It was pretty horrific to say the least ,people were literally being trampled on.
One lady was knocked to the ground.
people were hanging out of the doors at the end .when we got on no one would move up.
The police told us to try the other door further up as there was only a few people stood up in that part.
But the train driver and guard wouldn't let anyone on in the other doors.
The people would not move down the train so there were people nearly suffocating at one end and hardly anyone at the other.
The police had a word with the guard and driver and told them that they were out of order. the guard did nothing to guide people or tell them to move up the train. theres only one word springs to mind that this resembled -Auschwitz.
the police advised us to catch a next train to notts and then get to sheffield from there.
We did and god what a difference, it was a midland mainline train
and a new one with loads of coaches.
the train from notts to sheffield was as good if not better the kids said it looked like something from red dwarf very mod cons and bags of room.

I am going to write a strong letter of complaint to Arriva how can they treat people like cattle .
profiteering and not putting any money at all into the trains.
even if they only had two couplings.(which i dont know.)
whats wrong with extra trains.
for special events like these , when they KNOW hundreds of people go to the Lincoln markets from sheffield.

What i cant understand is other trains that had loads of coaches
were travelling shorter distances like the one from sheffield just going to Leeds.

Needless to say i will never get on an Arriva train again.

Originally posted by tara
Needless to say i will never get on an Arriva train again.

Made that decision a loooong time ago. We got the train(s) to Whitby once. It turns out that Arriva run their train and bus services up there, poor sods :(

What special event was this?

me and the misses had the same problem last fri.we were traveling to warrington 2 stops after manchester. the train was 1 hour late when got on the driver told us he had to run on reduced engine speed and the train would go slower so futher delay when we got to manchester we were told to get of the train and go to the other side of the station at picadilly and catch another train!! as this 1 is going no further it took us 4 hours to get to warrington never again i will use my car in future good job we had not got an important visit or somethin

I've recently returned from a weeks hols travelling around Europe using the train network. If you think our uk trains are crappy now, go to Europe and see how great their trains are in comparision... then you'll really see the difference!

All the trains we used (all economy) had at leat 8 carridges, very clean, ran on time without fail and were very reasonably priced! The seats had loads of leg room, unlike the ones here where they cram you in. And the windows were clean!!!

People who come on holiday here must be stunned when they see our trains with 2 carridges...bet they wonder where the rest are.

Originally posted by noseyrosie
What special event was this?

Lincoln Christmas Market.

I have to go to Manchester tomorrow, do Arriva supply the only train service there?

Good case for continued car use, methinks!

Originally posted by tara
theres only one word springs to mind that this resembled -Auschwitz.


Don't be stupid.



As for the trains, do you really expect Arriva to have hundreds of coaches on standby for one day per year? Under British Rail that would have happened - extra trains would have been laid on. But, in the brave new world of privitised railways, it always comes down to money, and there simply isn't the money to have spare trains and crews waiting around.

Even if Arriva wanted to have extra trains, the Strategic Rail Authority (aka the government) would not allow it.

The reason Midland Mainline's trains are bigger is because they are an intercity operator running trains between Sheffield, Leeds, Nottingham, Leicester, Derby and London. Obviously, on an average day there will be more demand for travel to these destinations than there is to Lincoln.

The worst train journey I've ever been on was an Arriva departure form Leeds to Sheffield.

It took 5 hours, unfortunately these hours were between11pm and 4am and I wasn't in bed until about 4-30am.

I was due back in the office at 9-30am but I decided to take a duvet day....:)

So, Arriva are not high on my list of favourite transport operating companies.

And don't get me started on the journey itself......

Joe

I'm pretty sure in 1997 that bloke who looks like Les Dawson with the two Jags promised faithfully to sort this mess out.

In a few months he'll be wanting you to vote for him and his crew again :rolleyes:

Originally posted by duffman
I have to go to Manchester tomorrow, do Arriva supply the only train service there?

No, Virgin do a Train to Manchester Picadilly or to the Airport.

Cheers Rich, just hope the that one is on time then.

Originally posted by designbunny
People who come on holiday here must be stunned when they see our trains with 2 carridges...bet they wonder where the rest are.

i was.. i turned to my boyfriend and was like "its the morning, why isnt there MORE train?!?"

granted i live on long island, ny where the norm has 8 compartments going and in rush hour there are 12, but still just two SMALL ones??! its nuts.

and we used arriva on the way manchester international to sheffield.

Originally posted by duffman
I have to go to Manchester tomorrow, do Arriva supply the only train service there?

Arriva don't do Sheffield-Manchester you will be pleased to learn... Choice of Central Trains, First Transpennine or First Northwestern.

Originally posted by tara
Travelling from chapeltown to Lincoln yesterday was a complete nightmare.
We boarded the train at chapeltown- standing up until the train reached meadowhall , then we got a seat.
We arrived in sheffield and were told to get off the train as it had to re fuel.
We were told to stand down at another platform with three hundred more people who were waiting to get on the same train
We protested about this as we were already on the train and did'nt see why we should have to fight to get back on a train we had aleady been on.
We were told that the guardsman or whatever would make sure all the passengers that got on at chapeltown would re board the train first.
In our dreams.
No such thing happenned. we scrambled to get a seat and luckily did .(Bearing in mind through all this that the train only had two small coaches.)
The train was absolutely chock o block and more.
Every station going up to Lincoln had loads of passengers waiting
who were refused entry as the train could'nt hold any more.
We finally arrived in Lincoln .
And an announcement came on apologising to everyone for being crushed and that we could complain to the train company and even offered us the number , in the announcement.
The staff were even disgusted themselves.

Needless to say i will never get on an Arriva train again.

I was on that train!!! - the delayed 1048 from Sheffield! I had to stand all the way from Sheffield to Lincoln.

Apparantly some of the passengers at Worksop had been waiting nearly 3 hours as every train was arriving too full to get on.

Well, I have to say I could see that one coming after last year. I wrote to Arriva Trains Northern a few weeks ago to ask if they were going to strenthen the service and basically replied along the lines of 'no - we have no spare trains and as our franchise expires soon we have no intention of sourcing additional ones'.

I'm sure you noticed at Lincoln how all the other trains, which are operated by Central Trains, had extra carriages on, and Central had even hired a 450 seat High Speed Train from Midland Mainline to lay on an extra train to Nottingham.

I came back early from Lincoln as I had had enough and got the 1529 Arriva train from Lincoln - this was a 3 carriage train and I got a seat fine, although I guess it would be less busy at that time.

Anyway, you will be pleased to know come 12th December the Arriva Trains Northern company will no longer exist - all the local trains currently operated by Arriva Trains Northern and First Northwestern will be transfered to the new Northern Rail franchise, which has been won by a joint venture of Serco and Netherlands railways, however they seem to be under instruction from the government's rail authority to cut costs to the bone, so don't hold your breath for any improvements. North-south divide huh?

Incidentally the Huddersfield-Sheffield-Lincoln line is one of those rural railways the government thinks ought to be closed as they are not in the business of carting fresh air around. Well, there was more than fresh air on Saturdays trains.... (actually very little air it was so crowded).

I read in the Sunday Times the other week that Bob Davies the Chief Executive of Arriva is a Sheffielder.

I went to chester for the weekend xmas shopping with 2 friends... got on a first trans-pennine at m'hall only to be told in town we would have to get off because the train was faulty!!!

we then had to rush for the liverpool train which was packed and only had 3 carridges but people were standing all the down the aisles surely this is not safe !!!

We were changing at stockport anyway but because we had missed our original connection we were then told we also we had to change at crewe it took us an hour extra !!

On the way back we had to get on 2 carridge arriva that rattled into every station i dont think think that was safe either we were bobbing up and down like on a ship!!

Rubbish :rant:

Well I know it's easy to point out one bad train and forget about all the good ones, but...

Out of the last 12 trains I've caught, virtually every one has been seriously late or cancelled at the last minute. In one case this was compounded by stations not talking to each other (one was supposed to arrange a taxi but didn't).

Last one they had to pay a taxi to take me all the way to London from Donny. The guy just laughed and it sounded like they messed up a lot.

I spend a lot of time in Europe and the train services there are infinitely better. They can go through multiple countries and still be on time.

And they're far cheaper.

The prices we have to pay a daft, particularly at certain times of the day.

And then there is all the confusion with different operators.

I would love to catch a train to meetings and events, but I can't because they are too unreliable and generally significantly more expensive than me driving, even if on my own.

First of all, you'll all be pleased to know that from the 12th in the morning, Arriva Trains Northern and First North Western will be no more, it is to become ONE company called Northern and will be operated by Serco/NedRailways, who operate the Docklands Railway and MerseyRail.
Originally posted by designbunny
I've recently returned from a weeks hols travelling around Europe using the train network. If you think our uk trains are crappy now, go to Europe and see how great their trains are in comparision... then you'll really see the difference!

All the trains we used (all economy) had at leat 8 carridges, very clean, ran on time without fail and were very reasonably priced! The seats had loads of leg room, unlike the ones here where they cram you in. And the windows were clean!!!
That can't have been France :p Trains are ten times worst in France than the UK ! I know, I lived there
Originally posted by duffman
I have to go to Manchester tomorrow, do Arriva supply the only train service there?
You have a choise of Central Trains 2 or 3 coach (Norwich-Liverpool), Northern (Sheffield all stops to Manchester) 2 coaches and TransPennine (which is NOT operated by First, but by First AND Keolis 50/50%) 2 coaches.

I think its time to get rid of the 2 carriage units and get real
trains with carriages and a locomotive. :confused: :rant:

Can't see a loco-hauled train being suitable for all stations trips up the Barnsley branch!

As regards the railway it Arriva possibly didn't have the stock available to supplement the service that you mentioned, therefore it was unable to add extra carriges.

Question for Andy C, you seem to know a lot about the railway, do you work on the railway and in what capacity?

i use the trains regularly. especially on a friday night and i can sympathise with the crammed part. due to the many people traveling from manchester airport to doncaster and the rest just going to the coast. but other than that i find it a reasonbly service with only every 1 in about 15 trips being a bad one

Arriva allready use top and tailled trains that is a locomotive
carriages three maybe four and another locomotive they are
currently using this style of train on the Leeds to Carisle line
and has proved populer and more relyable than the two car
units have.

:clap:

They did indeed, but Leeds-Carlisle is a long distance route and the stops aren't as numerous and close together. Locomotive hauled trains have poor accelleration and braking, making them unsuitable for local services that stop every few minutes.

There is also the issue of platform length.

I know but it woud be nice to ride behind a locomotive
instead of a boring two car unit especially an EWS EE class 37
Hmmmm I can hear that engine noise now.:nod:

I get the 17:08 train every night after work from Sheffield to get off at Chapeltown.

It is a 2 coach train and it always get dangerously full, especially now because of everyone getting on at Meadowhell.

Why o why cant they just put one extra coach on?? The 17:36 train sometimes has 4 coaches but less people get on!!!

Does this make sense??

Bring on my practical driving test then I can forget about public transport

I would have thought a service like that would be one they should be either running a 3 carriage unit or 2 x 2 carriage coupled together.

The problem with local services in South Yorkshire is they are run to the specification of the Transport Executive, who pay Northern Rail the operating costs and keep the revenue. Therefore it is up to the Transport Executive to pay for the extra carriages, and they don't have the funding to pay for it.

If the Huddersfield train has 4 carriages it may be more down to operating convenience than service specification.

Andy C are you into railways like me.:wave:

Originally posted by Sniper
Andy C are you into railways like me.:wave:

Only during office hours.... let's say it is a professional interest.

That said I do enjoy travelling by train.

MY ARRIVA BUS RANT :(

right where i live......between middlesbrough and whitby theres a bus depot 4 miles from where i live, after it (whitby way), we only get 1 bus an hour, tother side of it (middlesbrough way) they get about 6 or 7 buses an hour.
obviously being more sparse not that many people use it.....but obviously for us trying to get to / back from work its essential.

BUT
last may they cut back on "our" service, now my bus in the morning (7.22 is the first one)
and they stopped my 5.30 one which now stops just past the bus depot, so now i leave home at 5.00 and dont get home till 6.30 cos the next bus i can catch is about 6pm
buses later are now every 2 hours.....

.........now for the **** :(
the bus driver this morning (is one of the top gadges in the bus depot) and he told me arriva are going to be issuing more cuts to save money

1) i know the travel centre in whitbys gonna be closed
2) he said our first bus in a morning will almost certainly be cut. which means i wont be able to catch a bus to work till 8.30, im supposed to start work at 8.30 and prolly wont get to work till about 9.10

are they allowed to do this? screw up peoples lives?
cant they use (cut) a couple of the bus services that run from the bus depot that people get 6 or 7 an hour to choose from to subsidise a bus in the morning to get people to work??

theyre always on about maximising profits, while they buy foriegn bus/train companies and all the while our services diminish and we get charged more and more for the privelidge (currently £16 a week)
the missus just come back from seeing her mum and the weekly passes were £10
seems they can get away with murder in our area cos theres no competition, only stagecoach but thats purely round the middlesbrough area