At least you got on. At Milton Keynes this afternoon they kettled everyone on the concourse until too late and they missed their trains.
Yes,posted in the other thread and it seems that I was incredibly lucky.Arrived at Euston at 18.20,on the train 18.40 and back in MK at 19.10.Think I should buy a lottery ticket.
Think it was mostly sorted by then. Had been total chaos mid afternoon
Separating zones is a blessing and a curse just look at the A end of Birmingham New Street especially if there is a slap dash platform alteration,
He mentions in one of his tweets that it is faster to drive from Manchester to London. When the train is not delayed it takes under 3 hours. I find it hard to believe the car would be quicker than that when you take parking into consideration.
He does mention that when they are stuck at Stockport: "I am much closer to home than when I started"
But they could let people onto the platform.
He also mentions the M25 closure which suggests a start from the outer suburbs to the south or southwest if London. When you add in a taxi to your local station, with an allowance for the driver bring late, train to a London terminus and tube transfer then the car does start to become competitive.
Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston on Avanti is just over 2 Hours, with 2 Hours 6 minutes being the fastest journey - barring any delays. Impossible to do it faster in a car unless you break all the speed limits and travel at 2am in the morning. From experience (I'm in Chester, a similar distance to London) driving is going to take 4 or 5 Hours unless travelling in the very early hours of the morning. Chester to London on the Direct Avanti Service can be done in 2 Hours 3 Minutes.
But he was measuring door to door time. He lives at neither Picadilly nor Euston
I think you're misunderstanding though. There's nothing to say people need to board the train is there?
To travel on a train with an Advance ticket you must turn up much earlier, with a private car you can depart at any time you wish. Add connections across London into the mix and the likely extra time you need because the train won't get to your destination at exactly the right time for your preferred schedule and you find driving and thw train service usually on a par on a typical day for congestion / train punctuality.
Waterloo doesn't often announce trains at the last minute. Usually they're on the screens 10 - 15 minutes before departure, and pax are allowed through even as the incoming train is arriving, without any apparent safety issues.
This would probably solve half of the trouble at a stroke.
Avanti West Coast sometimes allow this but don't advertise it. In my view it makes absolutely no sense not to derestrict a ticket so it may be used on any service that day as soon as a full cancellation becomes known, even if it were to retain it's original TOC restrictions. Ideally this would be in the NRCoT, but there's no need for that specifically because Avanti could just put up posters and tweet out this policy unilaterally for their services...
Always remember that crushes can be quiet and subtle. Not saying that this video shows a crush, but worth remembering.
There are turn round cleaners but it's very inconsistent. They also clean at the other end for some routes. So for example Windsor has cleaners where they get nearly 30 minutes rather than around 10 at Waterloo. I suspect rethinking where tasks like this take place would be part of the answer for Euston.
Most of the European countries I'm familiar with (so predominantly the German-speaking ones) go so far as to publish the booked platform numbers on the printed timetable posters.
Easy enough for Birmingham/Manchester/Liverpool, those journeys are short enough to do the turnaround cleaning at the country end and a basic litterpick at Euston. The Anglo-Scots on the other hand are travelling far enough that you really want a proper clean at both ends.
If you look at historical data the situation at Euston could very easily become a crush and ultimately a major incident.
Seems that way. Then it'll be Euston, we have a problem...
