Northern cancellations getting worse

[Killingworth]

Seems Northern have thrown in the towel for the 24th and 27th…..

And TPE are likely to throw their towels in too. The most reliable way across the Pennines might be what limited service EMR can operate between Sheffield and Piccadilly.

Currently it's not the age of the train

 

[Twingo37175]

And TPE are likely to throw their towels in too. The most reliable way across the Pennines might be what limited service EMR can operate between Sheffield and Piccadilly.

Currently it's not the age of the train

I seem to think EMR are on strike anyway on 24/12. A seasonal Christmas donkey maybe quicker...

 

[standish1]

And TPE are likely to throw their towels in too. The most reliable way across the Pennines might be what limited service EMR can operate between Sheffield and Piccadilly.

Currently it's not the age of the train

EMR on strike today.

 

[Matt_pool]

I think it's time that local rag the Liverpool Echo got involved. They only ever highlight issues with Merseyrail. There was an article on their website a couple of days ago about how Merseyrail would be affected by the strikes, but no mention of Northern who operate (or try to operate) what is known as the City Line out of Lime Street and how the OT ban has seen lots of cancellations.

They sometimes mention Avanti, but also seem to forget that EMR, TfW, TPE and West Midlands Trains operate into and out of Lime Street and that the strikes/OT ban also affects their services.

Actually, I tell a lie - yesterday they did an article about how Liverpool supporters might have trouble getting to Manchester for the City game last night because of all of the TPE cancellations. But again, no mention of the Northern cancellations which affected not just the Warrington Central services but also some Manchester Airport and Oxford Road services.

I'm off work today and decided to go into Liverpool city centre for a few pints. I didn't even check to see what trains had or hadn't been cancelled, I just went and got a bus, which was actually not as busy as I thought it would be because everyone has decided to use their cars and cause traffic congestion!

 

[sheff1]

Services marked "VCN" are cancelled the day before, "this service is cancelled due to a short notice change to the timetable" type.
Services marked "CAN" are genuine cancellations, usually for engineering works.

A service cancelled the day before is genuine cancellation.

 

[Peterthegreat]

A service cancelled the day before is genuine cancellation.

Agreed!

 

[ChrisC]

EMR on strike today.

The strikes affecting EMR don’t seem to be getting much coverage by the media. I did hear it mentioned on the radio today that EMR are only running 1tph to London from Sheffield and Nottingham but no mention of no trains on any of their routes east of Nottingham or between Sheffield and Liverpool. Lincoln is getting a very bad deal with quite a number of Northern cancellations too. There wasn’t even much press coverage when there were no EMR trains on the Friday and Saturday of the Lincoln Christmas Market.

 

[TheSel]

... Currently it's not the age of the train

Nope. It's the rage and the strain.

 

[py_megapixel]

"Let the train take the strain"
"Cancel the train; let the passenger take the strain"

 

[gazzaa2]

As you can see from other posts in this thread trains are cancelled on many routes not just Liverpool. Northern will look at what resources they have and decide what to cancel based on that. Liverpool does seem to have a bad run at the moment. Earlier in the year Barrow and Windermere services went through similar. The unions do not have any input on which services Northern choose to cancel.

Routes like Liverpool to Manchester via Warrington are only signed by drivers at 2 depots (Liverpool and Piccadilly) and even then not all links at Piccadilly sign the route. Therefore if short they can't just get a driver from Wigan or Victoria for example. There are other routes that may be signed by drivers from 5 or 6 depots and have more options. Which depots sign which routes is decided by Northern management and the local union reps are often pressing for more routes for their respective depots.

Northern have given up on Lime Street-Warrington Central by splitting the route and cancelling all trains on that portion that don't go direct to/from Oxford Road.. I'd like Merseyrail to take that line over from Widnes or Warrington.

 

[blackpoolsouth]

Seems Northern have thrown in the towel for the 24th and 27th…..

You sound surprised. It's pathetic

And TPE are likely to throw their towels in too. The most reliable way across the Pennines might be what limited service EMR can operate between Sheffield and Piccadilly.

Currently it's not the age of the train

And still no timetable as to what they intend to run.
Not like it's Christmas Eve tomorrow...oh wait it is

 

[Peterthegreat]

You sound surprised. It's pathetic


And still no timetable as to what they intend to run.
Not like it's Christmas Eve tomorrow...oh wait it is

Both Northern and EMR have announced their Hope Valley timetable for tomorrow.
Err nothing.

 

[nedchester]

You sound surprised. It's pathetic


And still no timetable as to what they intend to run.
Not like it's Christmas Eve tomorrow...oh wait it is

I’m more annoyed than surprised at the deterioration of the railway to giving up at the first opportunity to the extent that it’s now the norm.

Cutting the service by stealth.

 

[ricoblade]

The 08:37 Leeds to Lincoln was cancelled yesterday. My daughter was travelling from Gainsborough Lea Road to Lincoln and back so am glad we spotted this in the morning, the other services ran so she was fine.

The reason on RTT is "This service was cancelled due to the train operator's request (TB).". Any clues please?

 

[janb]

The 08:37 Leeds to Lincoln was cancelled yesterday. My daughter was travelling from Gainsborough Lea Road to Lincoln and back so am glad we spotted this in the morning, the other services ran so she was fine.

The reason on RTT is "This service was cancelled due to the train operator's request (TB).". Any clues please?

It was a train fault.

 

[Peterthegreat]

The last FIVE stopping services from Doncaster to Sheffield were cancelled yesterday. No information on whether extra stops or road transport was provided. The last train from Doncaster was 18.35. The next one is scheduled to be 06.06 on the 28th.

 

[317 forever]

Seems Northern have thrown in the towel for the 24th and 27th…..

There were also considerable reductions on December 15h between RMT strikes. There are normally 4 trains an hour each way serving my local station Heaton Chapel but no service at all that day.

 

[D6130]

Seems Northern have thrown in the towel for the 24th and 27th…..

Looks like Northern are hoping to run a strke day timetable on Tuesday 27th....nothing on the Calder Valley, but an hourly service Leeds-Skipton and vv.

 

[NorthWestRover]

Yesterday and on Tuesday, you can't get from Wigan to Manchester (or Liverpool) by train, I don't think.

 

[Howardh]

I’m more annoyed than surprised at the deterioration of the railway to giving up at the first opportunity to the extent that it’s now the norm.

Cutting the service by stealth.

The only good thing about today's rail is you can sit in a comfy cafe bar and follow the cancellations/late trains on those apps or realtimetrains, dread to think what it would be like if the only info available was at the station, and you had to hang around for, well, literally hours these days, or you could miss that vital announcement.

 

[Bletchleyite]

The only good thing about today's rail is you can sit in a comfy cafe bar and follow the cancellations/late trains on those apps or realtimetrains, dread to think what it would be like if the only info available was at the station, and you had to hang around for, well, literally hours these days, or you could miss that vital announcement.

You have to be careful though, I nearly missed a train last week that went from 20 late to 5 late due to a long layover at Northampton and the system not realising that would catch it up.

 

[Howardh]

You have to be careful though, I nearly missed a train last week that went from 20 late to 5 late due to a long layover at Northampton and the system not realising that would catch it up.

True, one has to be quite savvy and have several apps/pages on the go at once!! That happened to me once, saw a train was late, dawdled to the station and nearly missed it as it had caught up time!

As an aside, won't the "departures" shown both at the station and on the National Rail app be one of the same?

Back to Northern; just tried their engibe to see what's available Bolton/Manchester for a night out on Tuesday. Nothing. It's not even Boxing day, it's a Bank Hoilday and the buses to the best of my knowledge are running a Sunday service.

 

[Bletchleyite]

As an aside, won't the "departures" shown both at the station and on the National Rail app be one of the same?

https://tiger.worldline.global/ gives you an actual display on stations with the Worldline system.

Back to Northern; just tried their engibe to see what's available Bolton/Manchester for a night out on Tuesday. Nothing. It's not even Boxing day, it's a Bank Hoilday and the buses to the best of my knowledge are running a Sunday service.

It is indeed very, very poor.

 

[Howardh]

https://tiger.worldline.global/ gives you an actual display on stations with the Worldline system.

Northern, and Bolton, aren't covered?

 

[Watershed]

Northern, and Bolton, aren't covered?

It only works for stations which have a Worldline CIS.

 

[Bletchleyite]

It only works for stations which have a Worldline CIS.

Indeed. Still useful for many stations Northern serve but don't operate, though.

 

[janb]

Northern, and Bolton, aren't covered?

For Northern use https://webcis.northern.ketech-uis.com/departures?target=BON but it does fairly frequently stop working.

 

[Killingworth]

For Northern use https://webcis.northern.ketech-uis.com/departures?target=BON but it does fairly frequently stop working.

That's the feed that now goes to enabled ticket machines, linked from the Live Departures tab - although all on 25th December all will currently say "There are currently no services to display."

When it works it should display like this below, pictured on the platform TVM at Grindleford on Friday, although the display inside the private cafe at the station disagreed saying the next train was cancelled (that 3rd train looks suspect too). It wasn't and about 20 walkers from it piled into the cafe ;


When tested at Dore & Totley it wasn't playing;

 

[londonmidland]

It only works for stations which have a Worldline CIS.

Not all EMR station are listed, despite all of their stations using the Wordline CIS?

 

[Matt_pool]

No Northern on the CLC today.

Arriva buses to the rescue again!

I wouldn't want to be living out in Widnes or Warrington though. Hundreds of people there rely on the trains to get to pubs and restaurants (especially over Xmas and New Year) and also shops, work, visiting relatives etc, in Liverpool and Manchester.

Not everyone can drive, not that you should be driving to Liverpool if you want to have a night out!