More Southeastern Railway Woes

Another bemused grumble today. See the last post for background.

So yesterday in the evening rush hour, instead of the usual 8 coach train that has arrived consistently for over a year of commuting, or the short 6 coach that had been on all last week, came a 4 coach train. This is rush hour, and going to Gillingham. This had never happened before since I started using the line daily 18 months ago. Ever since I’ve been back there’s been a problem. After 2 days of short trains last week I though it might be unlucky a co-incidence, but after 5 days something’s amiss.

Although the problems of southeastern have been much discussed, the problems I’ve seen in the week I’ve been back now are worse than anything I had experienced in the 18 months I used them before I left the UK in May for 6 weeks. Though the company comes in for much criticism, rightfully, it’s normally down to one off events and subsequent abysmal communications. The large price increases is a big complaint as well, but that’s dictated by the Department for Transport. However day to day running is normally ok. I have had very few cancellations or consistently short trains except this past week. Today it continued with a cancellation of my morning train. Something has gone very wrong at southeastern based on the past 5 days.

UPDATE: Tuesday 12th July – train cancelled again this morning.

Adverts are far from enough to cover living costs and and pay to keep it going with hosting fees, URL fees and Theme costs adding into the hundreds of pounds.