Why is snow causing train delays and who should be held accountable?

  • Thread starter Schrodinger's Dog
  • Start date
In summary, the rail company is to blame for the delays, and people in other countries should invest in de-icers to prevent this from happening.
  • #1
Schrodinger's Dog
835
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Overnight we had 1 inch of snow : hurrah snow ball fight!

But low and behold this morning the trains were all late, does anyone else have this problem, in my country if there are leaves on the line, the entire rail network cannot function?

We get all the excuses, it was the wrong type of snow, the leaf blowers couldn't get out in time to blah, blah. I was an hour late for work this morning, because the companies making huge profits don't seem to see the need to invest in de-icers etc.:rolleyes:

What do you think: is this the responsibility of the rail company who's just incidently raised prices way above inflation, or should we just put up with a crappy service? After all the shareholders are happy.:wink:
 
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  • #2
Yea exactly the same here! I live in london (uk). where do you live?
I hate it so much when the trains mess up because i take them to get to school, and it takes me 45minutes as it is with the 20mins on the train, when they arent working we have to take extra buses which can take up to an hour!
I think we should get the rail company to do something about it, it's deffinitely their responsibility. We should never have let them privatise the train lines and other public transports.
 
  • #3
Portsmouth(UK) I noticed their were signal problems coming from london today particularly London Victoria, as well as the obvious catastrophe that a thin layer of snow and cold weather causes, it's a real annoyance, especially after the price hike, invest in some cold weather measures please. Instead of giving you CEO's masssive wage hikes.
 
  • #4
Silly Brits. You all should be driving SUV's.

More global warming = no train delays.
 
  • #5
cyrusabdollahi said:
Silly Brits. You all should be driving SUV's.

More global warming = no train delays.

I think I made my point clear about how I feel about SUV's on the other thread :smile: This year has been so warm this is the first time it's fallen close to or below freezing in my neck of the woods.
 
  • #6
Schrodinger's Dog said:
We get all the excuses, it was the wrong type of snow, the leaf blowers couldn't get out in time to blah, blah. I was an hour late for work this morning, because the companies making huge profits don't seem to see the need to invest in de-icers etc.:rolleyes:

My favorite excuse I was given for the cancelling of the train service was "I'm sorry, sir, but the wrong type of leaves have fallen on the line." I didn't know there existed such a thing as a type of leaf!

Also, whenever it gets cold in Manchester, then trams stop running and their excuse is that the power lines have frozen!
 
  • #7
cristo said:
My favorite excuse I was given for the cancelling of the train service was "I'm sorry, sir, but the wrong type of leaves have fallen on the line." I didn't know there existed such a thing as a type of leaf!

Also, whenever it gets cold in Manchester, then trams stop running and their excuse is that the power lines have frozen!

I'll never forget the time they had a rather unexpected over night leaf accumulation, the train was trying as hard as it could to move, but because the leaves had reduced the traction so much we ended up going at 5-10mph for most of the journey. :bugeye:
 
  • #8
Bloody hell, you guys are wimps! If we get just one inch of snow in Alberta, we go on a picnic.
 
  • #9
Danger said:
Bloody hell, you guys are wimps! If we get just one inch of snow in Alberta, we go on a picnic.

Thats telling 'em :rofl:
 
  • #10
Danger said:
Bloody hell, you guys are wimps! If we get just one inch of snow in Alberta, we go on a picnic.
Really! If we get one inch of snow, it's time to get out in the garden and plant the garlic. I you wait until there's a foot or more, you may have missed garlic-planting time. :tongue2:
 
  • #11
turbo-1 said:
Really! If we get one inch of snow, it's time to get out in the garden and plant the garlic. I you wait until there's a foot or more, you may have missed garlic-planting time. :tongue2:

Tell that to the rail companies, apparently it creates chaos? I love snow, but the trials of transport I could do without.

Daffodils isn't it :smile:
 
  • #12
turbo-1 said:
Really! If we get one inch of snow, it's time to get out in the garden and plant the garlic. I you wait until there's a foot or more, you may have missed garlic-planting time. :tongue2:

Man you are really procrastinating on your planting schedule, you put garlic in the ground during the first week of October (it snows here in November). Then cover the stuff after a good watering or two. It makes for a good root system in the fall so it has a head start in spring.
 
  • #13
Well I was reading an article in a London free newspaper and the Rail companies have said this often happens in extreme weather, apparently a light dusting of snow is considered extreme :smile: Also the underground said they were aware from the met office that temperatures could fall, but did not see the risk as great enough to do anything about it:rolleyes: you're earning your 200 grand obviously, you just lost your company a few million in revenue, because you didn't think the meteorological office were right:yuck: silly man.
 
  • #14
Danger said:
Bloody hell, you guys are wimps! If we get just one inch of snow in Alberta, we go on a picnic.

tell the english private train system. Onmy they really won't care because they're just in it to make as much money as they can, and they don't want to risk breaking one of their prehistoric trains because then they would have to spend money on new ones, when that money could be better off in their personal bank acounts.
 
  • #15
Beautiful Mess said:
tell the english private train system. Onmy they really won't care because they're just in it to make as much money as they can, and they don't want to risk breaking one of their prehistoric trains because then they would have to spend money on new ones, when that money could be better off in their personal bank acounts.

Part of the problem at least with SW trains is the trains are so ridiculously expensive(the trains are leased from a separate body) We have to pay a resultantly high fare. So much for ecouraging people onto public transport, we have one of the most expensive in the world. :rolleyes:
 
  • #16
yea lol, and then they tell us we should take public transport into central london rather than pay the £8 congestion charge, but if you are an adult comming from zone 6 then it costs the same or even more than that! so we might as well use the car.
 
  • #17
Beautiful Mess said:
yea lol, and then they tell us we should take public transport into central london rather than pay the £8 congestion charge, but if you are an adult comming from zone 6 then it costs the same or even more than that! so we might as well use the car.

It's a conundrum alright :smile:
 
  • #18
they should do what they did in, san fransisco?, i can't remember exactly where, but they have a tram that is free, and runs over n under land. I need to look that one up again, i know i did it as a case study for geography last year. I know it doesn't crete noise pollution...
 
  • #19
Beautiful Mess said:
they should do what they did in, san fransisco?, i can't remember exactly where, but they have a tram that is free, and runs over n under land. I need to look that one up again, i know i did it as a case study for geography last year. I know it doesn't crete noise pollution...

Monorail!:biggrin:
 
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  • #20
http://www.freewebs.com/mypicturesandsht/simpsons%20monorail.gif

ala Simpsons:biggrin:
 
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  • #21
Schrodinger's Dog said:
http://www.freewebs.com/mypicturesandsht/simpsons%20monorail.gif

ala Simpsons:biggrin:

Damn it, what didn't the Simpsons do? :biggrin:
 
  • #22
Schrodinger's Dog said:
Monorail!:biggrin:

That won't help. We have a little monorail type thing on campus, and every time it snows, it's closed and you have to take buses instead (or just decide it's not worth traveling to another campus that day).
 
  • #23
The Oregon solution.

http://www.bigfoot4x4.com/images/bf5spec.jpg
 
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  • #24
Ivan Seeking said:
The Oregon solution.

http://www.bigfoot4x4.com/images/bf5spec.jpg
[/URL]

yea! that's the way to do it! Bendy buses in london would be more popular if they looked like that :rofl:
 
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  • #25
Maybe everyone should boycott the rail once in a while to wake them up.
 
  • #26
i can't do that :frown: i have to take the train to and from school everyday, there is no other way, its around 10miles from my house.
 
  • #27
Delzac said:
Maybe everyone should boycott the rail once in a while to wake them up.

That won't make the slightest bit of difference! I only take the train when there's absolutely no other way to travel (for example when I'm traveling a long way, and don't want to drive). I doubt that the train services will miss my fare a few times a year! And then you have the people who use trains to get to work/school/college. This camp of people have to use the trains, since there would be no other way for them to travel, and so it would be impossible for them to boycott the service.

SO, I doubt that boycotting the rail service will do anything. The public transport in this country needs to sort itself out though; especially if the government's thinking of bringing congestion charges to cities other than london.
 
  • #28
If you Brits came over here for a week to sample Amtrak, you would run back home and hug your railway and apologize profusely.

"I said nasty, terrible things. I was upset."
 
  • #29
lol i think i might just need to do that then.
 
  • #30
Ivan Seeking said:
The Oregon solution.

http://www.bigfoot4x4.com/images/bf5spec.jpg
[/URL]

Its the people in the wheels that propel it that you have to feel sorry for.
 
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  • #31
Chi Meson said:
If you Brits came over here for a week to sample Amtrak, you would run back home and hug your railway and apologize profusely.

"I said nasty, terrible things. I was upset."

Well the fact that no one ever uses it might be a deciding factor in why it's so crappy, you build it those foreign laborers die in great numbers, and then retreat to the automobile and what happens :smile: Ours is highly used, and highly expensive, it's not a crap system but it is way too expensive to encourage people to give up cars, in a country that is less than 1000 miles by x this is not really very clever. And the wrong sort of God on the line, is not making anyone feel any better, act of parliament might help.:smile:
 
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  • #32
Schrodinger's Dog said:
Overnight we had 1 inch of snow : hurrah snow ball fight!

But low and behold this morning the trains were all late, does anyone else have this problem, in my country if there are leaves on the line, the entire rail network cannot function?

We get all the excuses, it was the wrong type of snow, the leaf blowers couldn't get out in time to blah, blah. I was an hour late for work this morning, because the companies making huge profits don't seem to see the need to invest in de-icers etc.:rolleyes:

What do you think: is this the responsibility of the rail company who's just incidently raised prices way above inflation, or should we just put up with a crappy service? After all the shareholders are happy.:wink:
It's poor planning and poor management on the part of the railway company if they cannot meet the 'normal' seasonal challenges to their operations. That's why company have planners. :rolleyes:

In the southern US, many areas, particularly cities are not used to snow. When I lived in Houston and it snowed 1 inch, the city was more or less paralyzed. It was dangerous to venture out on the freeways/highways, but then there are so many people who are inexperienced on slippery roads, that one risks being involved in an auto collision. The number of traffic accidents usually increases by an order of magnitude when it snows, or there is a light rain. Many drivers are so used to driving 70 mi/hr or greater and switching lanes frequently, they do not change to safer practices when traction is diminished.
 
  • #33
The problem (in the UK, in my opinion) with the trains is the unions because they push the prices to the limit.
 
  • #34
Schrodinger's Dog said:
Well the fact that no one ever uses it might be a deciding factor in why it's so crappy, ...

No one uses it becuase it's so expensive because no one uses it because it's so expensive because no ne uses it because American railways have an entrenched mode of thinking: passenger trains lose money and must be discouraged.
 
  • #35
Chi Meson said:
No one uses it becuase it's so expensive because no one uses it because it's so expensive because no ne uses it because American railways have an entrenched mode of thinking: passenger trains lose money and must be discouraged.

I see, so not being arsed to walk is a valid excuse too? In america walking 400 yrds to the shops is considered a sin? :grumpy: :biggrin:

I quite agree Astronuc. Don't seem to have this problem in Switzerland? I wonder why?
 

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