Description
Sue Young
I travel daily to London Victoria from Crawley on the 07.04 train, which starts at Bognor Regis. The number of carriages has gradually been reduced so that a busy commuter train from the south coast into London now only has eight carriages. When you take account of the first class sections, this is probably reduced even further. By the time the train arrives at Crawley, it is already full, with people standing as there are no seats available. This is all the more galling, given the exorbitant amount that Southern charges for an annual season ticket. The train also then stops at Three Bridges, Gatwick and Horley before proceeding non-stop to East Croydon. Could someone please explain the reasons why an eight-carriage and not a 12-carriage train is used for this journey.
On a separate topic, I would be interested to learn why it is necessary to have the aircon blasting away on this line when the outside temperature is hovering around the 15-18 degree mark. At this level, particularly when the weather conditions are wet/damp, the aircon is really not warrranted. Rather, the reverse is true - some form of heat would be preferable.
Thank you. I look forward to receiving your comments.
Sue Young
Problem History
- 1 Sue Young reported the issue on FixMyTransport. close 15:12 10 Jul 2012 #
-
2
Sue Young wrote to Southern
close
15:12 10 Jul 2012
#
Here is the letter that Sue Young wrote.
Lack of carriages
I travel daily to London Victoria from Crawley on the 07.04 train, which starts at Bognor Regis. The number of carriages has gradually been reduced so that a busy commuter train from the south coast into London now only has eight carriages. When you take account of the first class sections, this is probably reduced even further. By the time the train arrives at Crawley, it is already full, with people standing as there are no seats available. This is all the more galling, given the exorbitant amount that Southern charges for an annual season ticket. The train also then stops at Three Bridges, Gatwick and Horley before proceeding non-stop to East Croydon. Could someone please explain the reasons why an eight-carriage and not a 12-carriage train is used for this journey.
On a separate topic, I would be interested to learn why it is necessary to have the aircon blasting away on this line when the outside temperature is hovering around the 15-18 degree mark. At this level, particularly when the weather conditions are wet/damp, the aircon is really not warrranted. Rather, the reverse is true - some form of heat would be preferable.
Thank you. I look forward to receiving your comments.
Sue Young
-
Dear Sir/Madam,
Thank you for your email. Your reference number is
[53332-1341929796]
We appreciate you taking the time to contact us. We aim to
respond in full to your enquiry within 7 days. Please note that
if you have sent us a Delay Repay claim, our team will aim to
respond within 28 days. If you have sent us a Refund claim, our
team will aim to respond within 10 days.
Kind Regards,
Southern Customer Services
Reminder of your message:
----------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Southern,
I travel daily to London Victoria from Crawley on the 07.04
train,
which starts at Bognor Regis. The number of carriages has
gradually
been reduced so that a busy commuter train from the south coast
into London now only has eight carriages. When you take account
of
the first class sections, this is probably reduced even further.
By
the time the train arrives at Crawley, it is already full, with
people standing as there are no seats available. This is all the
more galling, given the exorbitant amount that Southern charges
for
an annual season ticket. The train also then stops at Three
Bridges, Gatwick and Horley before proceeding non-stop to East
Croydon. Could someone please explain the reasons why an
eight-carriage and not a 12-carriage train is used for this
journey.
On a separate topic, I would be interested to learn why it is
necessary to have the aircon blasting away on this line when the
outside temperature is hovering around the 15-18 degree mark. At
this level, particularly when the weather conditions are
wet/damp,
the aircon is really not warrranted. Rather, the reverse is true
-
some form of heat would be preferable.
Thank you. I look forward to receiving your comments.
Sue Young
------------------
Here is some information from FixMyTransport about the location
of
this issue:
Location name: Train route between Crawley and London Victoria
----------
To view a map of the precise location of this problem, or to
provide an update on the problem, please visit the following
link:
http://www.fixmytransport.com/campaigns/...
[ PLEASE NOTE: Your replies to this problem report will be sent
to
Sue Young and will be published online. This message was sent
via
FixMyTransport.com - a not-for-profit service dedicated to
helping
people get public transport problems resolved. If there is a
more
appropriate email address for messages about this type of
problem,
please let us know by visiting
. This will help improve
the service for people travelling. We also welcome any other
feedback you may have. ]
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
This e-mail message has been scanned and cleared by NetIQ
MailMarshal.
Southern Railway Ltd is registered in England No. 06574965.
Registered office: 3rd Floor, 41-51 Grey Street, Newcastle Upon
Tyne, NE1 6EE
This email is sent subject to our email disclaimer which can be
accessed here http://www.southernrailway.com/emaildisc...
Southern is the trading name of Southern Railway Ltd.
Registered in England under number: 06574965
Registered offices: 3rd Floor, 41-51 Grey Street, Newcastle upon
Tyne, NE1 6EE.
This email is sent subject to our email disclaimer which can be
accessed at: [1]www.southernrailway.com/emaildisclaimer
References
Visible links
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Dear Sue
Thank you for contacting us on 10 July 2012 concerning the
overcrowding on our services.
We understand that travelling on a crowded train can be an
unpleasant experience and we are working with the Department for
Transport to increase capacity where we can.
We operate the maximum number of trains we can during peak times
and deploy all our carriages, save those undergoing essential
maintenance. For the type of operation we have, there is no
practical way of limiting the number of people choosing to board
a particular train. Often, people will join the first carriage
available to them which may be far busier than another carriage
further along the platform. We do encourage passengers to use
the whole length of the train via onboard and station
announcements.
We are able to fairly accurately measure the passenger loadings
on each of our services and we use this data to decide how best
to deploy our fleet. We have a limited number of carriages
available to us, but we have been able to take advantage of some
cascaded rolling stock which has enabled us to increase capacity
from December 2011.
The Rail regulatory bodies, the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR)
and the Rail Safety Standards Board (RSSB) set the safety
standards on which we base our operations. There are regulatory
standards for train construction and passenger loadings, and
these are monitored, reviewed and reported to the regulators who
ensure that compliance is met.
Please be assured that you will notice less overcrowding by late
2013 as we have purchased 100 plus carriages and expect delivery
of them in early 2013. These will then be deployed on routes
where crowding is a major issue as well as using them to
lengthen short formation services where platform lengths allow.
The heating system on our trains is designed to maintain an
ambient temperature on around 21 degrees Celsius. Each vehicle
is controlled and supplied independently so, in the event of a
malfunction in one coach, the coaches either side should
continue to work. If you find the heating is not working in one
particular carriage, the next carriage may be a more comfortable
temperature.
If you experience the problem again, you can help us identify
any defects by noting the time of the journey, as well as the
carriage you were sitting in. Each carriage has a unique number
displayed on the exterior and often on the interior above the
internal interconnecting doors.
If you wish to contact us further regarding your query, please
contact our Customer Service team directly at
[1][Southern problem reporting email], by phone on 08451 27 29 20 or
in writing to:
Southern Customer Services
PO Box 3021
Bristol
BS2 2BS
quoting ticket number [53332-1341929796] on all communication.
For the latest travel information, why not follow us on Twitter
@southernrailUK and @GatwickExpress
Kind regards
Matt West
Southern Customer Services
Your message :
Dear Southern,
I travel daily to London Victoria from Crawley on the 07.04
train,
which starts at Bognor Regis. The number of carriages has
gradually
been reduced so that a busy commuter train from the south coast
into London now only has eight carriages. When you take account
of
the first class sections, this is probably reduced even further.
By
the time the train arrives at Crawley, it is already full, with
people standing as there are no seats available. This is all the
more galling, given the exorbitant amount that Southern charges
for
an annual season ticket. The train also then stops at Three
Bridges, Gatwick and Horley before proceeding non-stop to East
Croydon. Could someone please explain the reasons why an
eight-carriage and not a 12-carriage train is used for this
journey.
On a separate topic, I would be interested to learn why it is
necessary to have the aircon blasting away on this line when the
outside temperature is hovering around the 15-18 degree mark. At
this level, particularly when the weather conditions are
wet/damp,
the aircon is really not warrranted. Rather, the reverse is true
-
some form of heat would be preferable.
Thank you. I look forward to receiving your comments.
Sue Young
------------------
Here is some information from FixMyTransport about the location
of
this issue:
Location name: Train route between Crawley and London Victoria
----------
To view a map of the precise location of this problem, or to
provide an update on the problem, please visit the following
link:
http://www.fixmytransport.com/campaigns/...
[ PLEASE NOTE: Your replies to this problem report will be sent
to
Sue Young and will be published online. This message was sent
via
FixMyTransport.com - a not-for-profit service dedicated to
helping
people get public transport problems resolved. If there is a
more
appropriate email address for messages about this type of
problem,
please let us know by visiting
. This will help improve
the service for people travelling. We also welcome any other
feedback you may have. ]
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
This e-mail message has been scanned and cleared by NetIQ
MailMarshal.
Southern Railway Ltd is registered in England No. 06574965.
Registered office: 3rd Floor, 41-51 Grey Street, Newcastle Upon
Tyne, NE1 6EE
This email is sent subject to our email disclaimer which can be
accessed here http://www.southernrailway.com/emaildisc...
Southern is the trading name of Southern Railway Ltd.
Registered in England under number: 06574965
Registered offices: 3rd Floor, 41-51 Grey Street, Newcastle upon
Tyne, NE1 6EE.
This email is sent subject to our email disclaimer which can be
accessed at: [2]www.southernrailway.com/emaildisclaimer
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[Southern problem reporting email]
2. file:///tmp/www.southernrailway.com/emaildisclaimer
Problem Reporter