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Cheadle and Gatley Lib Dems are moving
Cheadle and Gatley Lib Dems are moving
What were the local issues four decades ago?
Cheadle and Gatley Lib Dems are moving
Piccadilly train chaos: tell us what should have been done better
by Lib Dem team on 2 July, 2015
Cllr Iain Roberts,Leader of the Lib Dem group on TfGM, is asking anyone affected by the rail disruption on 1st July to let him know what the rail companies could have done better.
Damaged overhead lines caused chaos at Manchester Piccadilly and other railway stations across the North, with passengers stranded and delays lasting for hours on the hottest July day on record.
“We need to understand why the incident happened and what can be done to prevent it happening again,” Iain said “but we also need to look at whether more could have been done for the passengers suffering in the heat. Was there enough water available? Were people given the information they needed? What could be done better the next time something like this happens?”
Cllr Geoff Abell, Liberal Democrat train spokesman for Greater Manchester , added “The Liberal Democrat team on TfGM will press for the lessons to be learnt, and the first-hand information from people who were stuck in the trains and stations is absolutely essential.”
Please use the comments below to tell us your story and give us your ideas.
6 Comments
Like many we’d flown in to man airport with minor delay so when got to train station we found no trains. Staff organised and helpful getting us on metro and bus to man piccadily, obviously slow and very hot so it compounded feelings at Piccadily as it was chaos. Main problem seemed to be fact that the display boards could not cope with updating info still showing departure times for trains cancelled and long overdue. Also there was lack of staff with relevant info to help, though they were swamped and often puzzled themselves. Water was available. Arrived home in hull at 21:00′ instead of 6:30. Spent hours walking from platform to platform as info changed and “advice” .
Even as a regular commuter from Gatley to Piccadilly, I can confirm it was chaos. The boards were changing by the minute, as were the platforms and you just saw people running from one to another only to find the platform had been changed again. However the most confusing were the announcements. They weren’t particularly clear with one blending in to another. Luckily I wasn’t actually delayed too long (probably about 20 mins and possibly 3 or 4 platforms later) and was thankful to be on a TransPennine Express train with full functioning air con, in comparison to the Northern Rail saunas.
The rail companies must introduce or improve a system for getting drinking water to stranded passengers during hot weather.
We travelled to London from Stockport on THURSDAY and our train was cancelled – no warning, nothing. The next train was heaving, but nothing extra had been put on the train. In fact, they ran out of bread and had no fruit (someone had forgotten to load it). This, by the way was first class, where we had paid for a seat and breakfast. We got not much of either.
Many countries have to endure far greater temperature differences between summer and winter. It is these that stress both rails and overhead wires. There are engineering solutions to alleviate these problems but they cost money. It would be instructive to benchmark British performance against that of other rail systems. If our problems are the result of cutting corners then this should be rectified. Unfortunately, politics often leads organisations to hide such unwelcome news – we are very good at that in the UK, whether it is road, rail or NHS systems that are underfunded.
I was one of the passengers who took a good hour to travel from Stockport to Piccadilly. I felt that the situation might have been less serious if there had not been so competing management systems that were each running their own little railway. A firm leader co-ordinating the functioning of the various rail companies might have been more effective and efficient, and one could then dispense with all those company bureaucrats on high salaries who negotiate contracts to provide services. However that would upset those who mistakenly follow Thatcher in her belief that railways are a suitable subject for operating as a market economy. Without all those expensive accountants and lawyers negotiating contracts to run services we might well achieve a cheaper and more reliable transport system that met the needs of the consumer. Most of the best European railways provide good services even on public holidays.
As someone who has used Manchester Piccadilly 5 days a week for 4 years the ability of staff to advise you was poor. I spoke to 5 or 6 members of staff and received confused information from all. At one point a asked one of them why there had been no apology on the tannoy explaining the reason for the delay. I was told that announcements had been made however I had been there for over an hour and had not heard any form of explanation. However I managed to get water quite easily.