The Victoria to Orpington Service - A Tale of Woe and Misery
The story goes something like this. At Victoria, off chugs the Orpington stopping service, calling at places such as Brixton and Penge East.
It gets a 12 minute head start on the Kent Coast / Ashford express services, which call first at Bromley South (the 9th stop for the Orpington stopping service).
Off sets the Kent Coast / Ashford service. It gains speed along the line (mainly a paltry 2 tracks in either direction as far as just before Bromley South).
The Orpington service starts to run late. Often, it's already 2 minutes late leaving Herne Hill (just its 2nd stop) - possibly due to congestion at Herne HIll itself, a busy (and awkward, jumbled) junction that Southeastern shares with Thameslink trains.
So, let's give the Orpington service the benefit of the doubt - signalmen at Network Rail have so far caused the 2 minute delay.
But then the train develops more lateness down the line. Why?? The most plausible reason is due to the fact that the trains that run the Orpington service are old - very old and decidedly unreliable (and deplorably grotty - I will post separately about this issue). They require what seems to be a lot longer to accelerate and to brake. This adds time to the journey.
At Kent House, the Orpington service is now very often running four minutes late. The Kent Coast / Ashford service is steaming through the Sydenham Hill tunnel. At Kent House, the line expands out to 4 tracks either side of the station. Then it goes back to 2 through Beckenham Junction, before expanding out to 4 again at Shortlands.
Now the slow and ageing Southeastern train conspires with the Network Rail signalmen to really annoy the fast service behind it. Instead of letting the fast service through at the passing point at Kent House, the Orpington service is allowed to continue to Beckenham Junction station in front of the express service. The express service has to slam on its brakes, and crawl all the way down to Shortlands until the stopping sevice has finally moved on to the slow country-bound tracks and the points are with the express train.
The upshot is that both the Orpington service, and the express Kent Coast / Ashford service, arrive at Bromley South at exactly the same time. Obviously, this means the express service is now as late as the Orpington service. Tonight, 5 minutes late, which is fairly typical.
A 16 minute journey blows out to a 21 minute journey, an increased travel time of 30%. I have often observed the calling pattern of the Orpington service, and it seems that much of the lateness down the line is simply due to the age of the rolling stock, and the longer than necessary time spent with the doors open at stations. (Open ze doors, close ze doors, accelerate to next station, repeat process). One also often wonders whether the drivers of the Orpington services have any appreciation for the fact that their lateness directly affects the lateness of the fast services. If they do, they evidently care not.
It gets a 12 minute head start on the Kent Coast / Ashford express services, which call first at Bromley South (the 9th stop for the Orpington stopping service).
Off sets the Kent Coast / Ashford service. It gains speed along the line (mainly a paltry 2 tracks in either direction as far as just before Bromley South).
The Orpington service starts to run late. Often, it's already 2 minutes late leaving Herne Hill (just its 2nd stop) - possibly due to congestion at Herne HIll itself, a busy (and awkward, jumbled) junction that Southeastern shares with Thameslink trains.
So, let's give the Orpington service the benefit of the doubt - signalmen at Network Rail have so far caused the 2 minute delay.
But then the train develops more lateness down the line. Why?? The most plausible reason is due to the fact that the trains that run the Orpington service are old - very old and decidedly unreliable (and deplorably grotty - I will post separately about this issue). They require what seems to be a lot longer to accelerate and to brake. This adds time to the journey.
At Kent House, the Orpington service is now very often running four minutes late. The Kent Coast / Ashford service is steaming through the Sydenham Hill tunnel. At Kent House, the line expands out to 4 tracks either side of the station. Then it goes back to 2 through Beckenham Junction, before expanding out to 4 again at Shortlands.
Now the slow and ageing Southeastern train conspires with the Network Rail signalmen to really annoy the fast service behind it. Instead of letting the fast service through at the passing point at Kent House, the Orpington service is allowed to continue to Beckenham Junction station in front of the express service. The express service has to slam on its brakes, and crawl all the way down to Shortlands until the stopping sevice has finally moved on to the slow country-bound tracks and the points are with the express train.
The upshot is that both the Orpington service, and the express Kent Coast / Ashford service, arrive at Bromley South at exactly the same time. Obviously, this means the express service is now as late as the Orpington service. Tonight, 5 minutes late, which is fairly typical.
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| A familiar tale - The Kent Coast express having been delayed by the Orpington service |
A 16 minute journey blows out to a 21 minute journey, an increased travel time of 30%. I have often observed the calling pattern of the Orpington service, and it seems that much of the lateness down the line is simply due to the age of the rolling stock, and the longer than necessary time spent with the doors open at stations. (Open ze doors, close ze doors, accelerate to next station, repeat process). One also often wonders whether the drivers of the Orpington services have any appreciation for the fact that their lateness directly affects the lateness of the fast services. If they do, they evidently care not.
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| How does this ruddy service get later and later as it moves down an empty line, in off-peak conditions (i.e. fewer passengers than normal??) |
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