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Train trouble
Mar. 5th, 2017 03:39 pmI went into London yesterday to see a play. Turned out that wasn't as easy as it should have been.
Fast trains from Guildford to Waterloo normally take about 35 minutes. However, I checked the national rail website yesterday morning and discovered that trains were scheduled to take over an hour on that route. That usually means that the direct line from Woking to Clapham Junction is closed for engineering works and the trains are diverted via Chersey, Virginian Water, Kew Bridge and Barnes. This turned out to be the case.
The train was a couple of minutes late at Guildford, but then, whilst on its diversion, it came to a halt. The guard announced that there was a trespasser on the track at Barnes and the power had been shut off whilst the emergency services dealt with this. The train got into Waterloo about 20 minutes late. I'd left plenty of time to get to the theatre, but it did mean I had slightly less time than I'd hoped to eat before the performance.
It was quite a short play and I got back to Waterloo afterwards about 20:45. On a normal day, I'd get the 21:00 and be home before ten. The 21:00 was up on the board, but it was marked as delayed, as was the 21:30. These were not only the only trains going to Guildford, they were the only trains going to Portsmouth. The tannoy annoucements said it had been delayed due to disruptive passengers on the incoming service. The guy at the information booth didn't know anything about this, although he did know about the trespasser earlier in the day. Apparently, a woman had tried to walk from one station to the next along the tracks.
The 21:00 finally arrived slightly after 21:30. It was a long train, so there were plenty of seats despite the crowd trying to get on. It left about 40 minutes late. But the Chersey line was still blocked up and the train was delayed even more, getting into Guildford after eleven. However, at one point the guard did announce that the disruptive customers mentioned at Waterloo was actually a fight had broken out on the train. Can't see any reports of this on the news today, although there are reports of a fight on a train earlier this week involving bagels, of all things.
Fast trains from Guildford to Waterloo normally take about 35 minutes. However, I checked the national rail website yesterday morning and discovered that trains were scheduled to take over an hour on that route. That usually means that the direct line from Woking to Clapham Junction is closed for engineering works and the trains are diverted via Chersey, Virginian Water, Kew Bridge and Barnes. This turned out to be the case.
The train was a couple of minutes late at Guildford, but then, whilst on its diversion, it came to a halt. The guard announced that there was a trespasser on the track at Barnes and the power had been shut off whilst the emergency services dealt with this. The train got into Waterloo about 20 minutes late. I'd left plenty of time to get to the theatre, but it did mean I had slightly less time than I'd hoped to eat before the performance.
It was quite a short play and I got back to Waterloo afterwards about 20:45. On a normal day, I'd get the 21:00 and be home before ten. The 21:00 was up on the board, but it was marked as delayed, as was the 21:30. These were not only the only trains going to Guildford, they were the only trains going to Portsmouth. The tannoy annoucements said it had been delayed due to disruptive passengers on the incoming service. The guy at the information booth didn't know anything about this, although he did know about the trespasser earlier in the day. Apparently, a woman had tried to walk from one station to the next along the tracks.
The 21:00 finally arrived slightly after 21:30. It was a long train, so there were plenty of seats despite the crowd trying to get on. It left about 40 minutes late. But the Chersey line was still blocked up and the train was delayed even more, getting into Guildford after eleven. However, at one point the guard did announce that the disruptive customers mentioned at Waterloo was actually a fight had broken out on the train. Can't see any reports of this on the news today, although there are reports of a fight on a train earlier this week involving bagels, of all things.
