[Closed] south western railways

Can't remember the last day I had trains both ways on time.  yesterday morning was fine, then they ****ed it in the evening, and ****ed it again royally this morning.  Just got in, an hour and a quarter late.

What accountability does Network rail have to govt, operators? - obviously none to passengers.

SWT seemed to have a lot less issues with NR mess-ups.

Apparently SWT had a pretty close association with NR a while ago, which ended but they stayed in close co-operation.

That's what the ticket office guy said - but why have things got worse since SWR - NR deliberately messing things up or something, seems strange that there are red boards up at Waterloo virtually every day now.

And then SWR wording their guard-on-the-train pledge in such a way that it means nothing, whereas SWT guaranteed a guard on the train.

Some serious incompetances in both organisations - seems like Chris Grayling actually wants a labour government as if they get in he will be accountable for a lot of the reason.

So fed up with SWR these days, I'd like to know how much of money they have spent re branding the trains, uniforms etc

As far National Rail I mean they could run a bloody bath.

Why aren't the CEO's of these companies held accountable?

Thanks for the link.

I don;t think that you can blame SWR for the delays, not when there's been people cutting and stealing signals cables. The signals problems this morning also aren't SWR's fault and the works at Waterloo which still appear to have some legacy issues were planned and executed before they took over the franchise.

The big problem with rail infrastructure works is that it is still hard to determine the condition of existing assets so when any works are done, there's an everpresent risk of finding near life expired assets which can blow the programme - why do you think that works using a blockade are so highly prized as there's significant opportunities to update or reinstall without having to hand back the railway 5 hours later...

As far as rebranding - why would you expect a company to operate its services using trains branded with a company that doesn't exist?

I don;t think that you can blame SWR for the delays, not when there’s been people cutting and stealing signals cables.

yes, but how come there is magically an big increase in problems since SWR took over ?

it is still hard to determine the condition of existing assets so when any works are done, there’s an everpresent risk of finding near life expired assets which can blow the programme

how about doing exploratory work to determine this before commiting and also leaving contingency - rather than screwing up the commute completely for thousands of commuters ? i.e managing the risk.

 yes, but how come there is magically an big increase in problems since SWR took over ?

Because of cost. Railway franchises aren't the most profitable, which makes one wonder why we have this idiotic system in the first place, but SWR have been on a major "re-organisation" exercise. In other words cost cutting to increase profit.

Hence a downturn in the service.

how about doing exploratory work to determine this before commiting and also leaving contingency – rather than screwing up the commute completely for thousands of commuters ? i.e managing the risk.

If only it was that easy.

"As far as rebranding – why would you expect a company to operate its services using trains branded with a company that doesn’t exist?"

They went from South West to South Western ...  - change of color to the uniforms, change of colors to the train in addition to the .. putting lipstick on a pig isn't going to obscure the S$%£ service they provide.. .. money that could have been spent better elsewhere imo.

Just realized/looked it up it's the same ham fisted group that runs GWR.. no wonder it's so messed up.

Theyre also building brand new trains to replace almost new trains which are going off lease the new trains are an untried design and concept in the uk, so expect more delays and complaints.

Theyre also refurbishing older trains with new motors and electrical systems so expect more problems while they sort the niggles out