Apparently it’s possible to simulate the Huddersfield to Manchester train experience, which is just as well because experiencing it in real life is a bit of a lottery.
In-game purchases include an excuse generation module, and a station cat deployer should any of the press turn up looking for a story.
Rumour has it that it works intermittently in the daytime but is prone to outages for no apparent reason. it’s programmed not to function in the evenings.
Also coming soon – the Rail Replacement Bus Simulator with the option for the driver to ignore his instructions and stay on the A62 rather than picking up the passengers waiting at Marsden station.
[For the avoidance of doubt, the product is real and we’re giving them a bit of free advertising. We’ve embellished the commentary a bit based on suggestions from some Marsden and Slaithwaite commuters.]
“Cancelled due to a short-notice change to the timetable.”
This is a new explanation for cancelled trains, used both in passenger announcements on stations and in online information such as Journeycheck.
It’s not just TPE who are using this excuse. All the train operating companies are using it, which indicates that it’s not an initiative by TPE and its use is down to a decision either by the Department for Transport or the Rail Delivery Group.
If it sounds meaningless, then it probably is. All they are saying is
TPE will be running a bus replacement service both directions between Manchester Piccadilly and Huddersfield, also calling at Stalybridge, Mossley, Greenfield, Marsden, Slaithwaite.
Additionally, TPE will be running a shuttle bus service between Manchester Piccadilly and Stalybridge, and Northern will be running a shuttle bus service between Stalybridge and Manchester Victoria.
The timings are very generous. It doesn’t take 16 minutes for a bus to get from Mossley to Greenfield, nor does it take 27 minutes for a bus to get from Greenfield to Marsden. That might explain why there were reports last weekend of replacement buses departing from stations early, and also diverting to Slaithwaite station when the published information stated they would not do so. We do not feel confident in saying that either the published timings, or the locations where the replacement buses will call, will prove to be accurate.
TPE have been quite clear to us, in all our conversations with them, that trains during TRU engineering works would run “as close as possible to the point of obstruction”. In other words, passengers would be kept on trains as far as practicable. From this it follows that if the line is blocked at, say, Stalybridge, trains from the east can run at least as far as Marsden to retain a train service for Slaithwaite & Marsden.
Last weekend (3/4 September) the line was blocked at Stalybridge. The line was not closed between Huddersfield and Marsden, so according to the principles set out trains could and should have run up to Marsden. Actually the Huddersfield to Hull trains did run up to Marsden to reverse, but not in passenger service. So the first time TPE had the opportunity to do what they promised, they chose not to. It’s not clear why they did this. It’s not even as if there was any saving to TPE on fuel or staffing costs, just the completely unnecessary inconvenience for passengers of a replacement bus taking three times as long.
We are also waiting, impatiently, for Network Rail to start discussing with us and other local stakeholders how disruption will be managed during the TRU construction phase.
Three years ago, Andrew Haines (Chief Executive of Network Rail) was interviewed in The Guardian about changing the culture of the organisation and listening to passengers:
Plans such as the rebuilding of stations and the introduction of new timetables have been implemented without sufficient concern for passengers, he adds. “In any normal business you wouldn’t even have to think about it – if you don’t look after your customers, they go somewhere else.”
Part of his prescription for change is simply to consult more; for example, on the biggest scheme that Network Rail will be tasked with in this period, the TransPennine upgrade. Haines says passenger groups should be clearly informed about the years of closures and disruption it will entail on the line between Manchester and Leeds, and given a choice: “Do we want to get the pain over and done with, very intense pain, or prolong it?”
Three years on, Network Rail have yet to talk to any of the rail users’ groups along the TRU route, but the disruption has already started. Either Mr Haines didn’t mean it, or other less senior people in Network Rail decided it wasn’t necessary.
[UPDATE 23/09/2022. We still do not have any reply from TPE as to why they decided to run empty stock trains up to Marsden on 3rd & 10th September instead of providing a useful train service. Presumably it’s taking longer than usual to think up a flimsy and implausible excuse which they can retro-fit to an unjustifiable decision.]
[UPDATE 20/10/2022. A further month has passed and we still do not have any reply from TPE as to why they decided to run empty stock trains up to Marsden on 3rd & 10th September instead of providing a useful train service. Not only have they given up on providing a decent train service, but it seems they can no longer be bothered with the (far more important) task of thinking up lame excuses to retro-fit to an unjustifiable action.]
