{"id":270,"date":"2010-06-06T17:02:25","date_gmt":"2010-06-06T16:02:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/smart-rail.co.uk\/?p=270"},"modified":"2011-06-23T09:25:05","modified_gmt":"2011-06-23T08:25:05","slug":"smart-still-campaigns-for-a-better-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smart-rail.co.uk\/?p=270","title":{"rendered":"Smart still campaigns for a better service"},"content":{"rendered":"

For those unable to get hold of a copy of the Huddersfield Examiner article on June 3rd, here follows a copy of that article.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Passengers demand improvements at Slaithwaite and Marsden stations <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Jun 3 2010<\/span> by Joanne Douglas, <\/span>Huddersfield<\/span> Daily Examiner <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

DIRTY trains and a PA system which broke after three days are just two of the complaints about Slaithwaite station from a local travel action group.<\/span><\/p>\n

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And now Slaithwaite and Marsden Action on Rail Transport (SMART) are demanding answers.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Tony Bowers said the PA system, installed on May 19 after a nine month absence had broken down just three days later.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

He said improvements on the <\/span>Huddersfield<\/span> to <\/span>Manchester<\/span> <\/span>Victoria<\/span> service were needed urgently.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

SMART are calling on Northern Rail to get moving on improving the station\u2019s facilities for passengers.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr Bowers, of Slaithwaite, said: \u201cIt is significant that Northern Rail has, after an interval of some nine months, finally restored the PA system for passengers travelling from Marsden and Slaithwaite.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe reconnection of the information tannoy on May 19 is to be welcomed, but the public announcement system only lasted three days. It had failed again by Saturday.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

He said the nine-month wait for passengers raised serious questions about the capacity of Northern Rail to fulfil its responsibilities of providing a service to the public. Last month the company won a two-year extension to its franchise to continue running after next September.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr Bowers added: \u201cThis information system is of considerable importance, not least because Northern Rail now appears to be cancelling regular weekday trains \u2013 currently those outside rush hour. \u201cIt is our experience that during the entire period of Northern franchise, not only have passengers been promised new rolling stock, but those travelling from Slaithwaite and Marsden have had to suffer the most broken down, ruined, leaking and dirty stock in the country.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

He said it was \u201cfrustrating\u201d for people to be left waiting on the platform for a train that had been cancelled, but with no information telling them.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe were told to call the train operator on our mobiles, but that\u2019s a few minutes on a phone waiting to speak to someone \u2013 it\u2019s not acceptable,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it\u2019s an hourly service and people depend on it to get to work, not to be told if the train is coming or not, is frustrating.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

And he said the facilities on the <\/span>West Yorkshire<\/span> side of the service were poor in comparison to those in Greater Manchester, where there are platform ticket facilities and up-to-date display boards with information at stations.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Northern Rail secured a new deal after improving the punctuality of its services from 84%, when it took on the franchise in 2004, to 92% last year.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

They say they have \u00a3100m for more and newer trains and to improve facilities at stations.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

A spokeswoman for Northern Rail said: \u201cWe are aware of the ongoing problems with the PA system at Slaithwaite station and apologise for the inconvenience this is causing to our passengers.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have repaired the system several times and are investigating longer term solutions to provide consistent information to passengers.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For those unable to get hold of a copy of the Huddersfield Examiner article on June 3rd, here follows a copy of that article. Passengers demand improvements at Slaithwaite and Marsden stations Jun 3 2010 by Joanne Douglas, Huddersfield Daily … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[8,32],"class_list":["post-270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-northern-rail","tag-marsden","tag-slaithwaite"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smart-rail.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smart-rail.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smart-rail.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smart-rail.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smart-rail.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=270"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.smart-rail.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":272,"href":"https:\/\/www.smart-rail.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270\/revisions\/272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smart-rail.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smart-rail.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smart-rail.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}