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Post by Michael on Nov 30, 2016 19:45:36 GMT
I've just read that there seem to be severe delays on the Piccadilly Line until at least mid December as half of their trains had to be taken out of service because the brakes and/or wheels seem to be malfunctioning. Quick questions to all you Londoners: How bad is it really? Avoid Piccadilly Line at all? Terribly overcrowded and trains severly delayed? Reason I'm asking is that I'm flying over this weekend (if Lufthansa's pilots don't go on strike again...), so I might have to re-arrange my plans, especially travelling from and to Heathrow (no, I'm not willing to pay for the terribly overpriced Heathrow Express and/or Connect). I might have to change my hotel to my usual hotel down in Croydon and simply take the X26 bus and avoid the Piccadilly Line altogether though... And, if I understood it correctly, Southern won't be on strike until 6th December, right? So their train service from East Croydon to Victoria/London Bridge and v.v. should be running normal (bad) this weekend. Correct? Any feedback and first hand experience is greatly appreciated. Thanks  |
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Post by bengal73 on Nov 30, 2016 20:06:53 GMT
Even without Southern rail being on strike the service isnt up to much currently due to alleged sickness levels. There are trains running and you should be ok though
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Post by d'James on Nov 30, 2016 20:08:07 GMT
It's not that bad. I got it the other night. You'll have to wait a bit longer than usual and it'll be a bit busier but I wouldn't worry too much unless you've got tonnes of luggage. Where is your hotel this time?
Other people might have had worse experiences than me, however.
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Post by Michael on Nov 30, 2016 20:16:29 GMT
Where is your hotel this time? I'm on an early morning flight back home on Sunday morning, so I've booked an airport hotel at Hatton Cross. My plans were to take the Piccadilly line to and from Central London on Friday and Saturday for my theatre outings, but with the service problems ongoing, I'm not sure if that's the best of plans right now... I've just booked a (refundable) hotel down in Croydon as backup solution, but that'd mean to take the X26 bus at 4.15am on Sunday morning for my 7.30am flight (the next bus at 5.15am would cut it a bit short). |
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Post by showgirl on Nov 30, 2016 20:17:03 GMT
I have to use Southern for almost all my train travel (including today - usual mix of lottery/nightmare) but there is advance information available on their website re both planned engineering (or "improvement" work) and strikes, and there are apps which give more reliable and up-to-date information on the day itself than Southern's own.
I also use the Piccadilly Line a lot, again not through choice, and not travelling as far out as Heathrow. It always seems very busy in central London to me anyway and I had to use it last Saturday to do a particularly tight transfer between venues, but still managed it with 5 minutes to spare. It's certainly true, as d'James says, that you are likely to have to wait longer than usual (I noticed the next trains were listed as 10 minutes apart) and if waiting on the concourse you might be held back due to overcrowding, but if you are getting on at the far end, as you will be from Heathrow, that won't affect you.
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Post by Jan on Nov 30, 2016 20:20:43 GMT
No problem on the Piccadilly today despite their permanent "severe delays" status. Wrong type of wheels apparently.
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Post by Phantom of London on Nov 30, 2016 20:44:34 GMT
Problem is the seasonal leaf fall, this puts a fine film over the running rails, this means the train operators have to brake a lot harder that causes flattening on the train wheels, so the trains need to be taken out of service and the affected wheels need to be lathed back into a round shape, before they can enter service again. This is a big problem for all train operating companies, that suffer leaf fall and millions of pounds of been spent on research, different technologies get used each year to eraticae this problem, some with varying success.
When they say severe delays this is aimed more at the Uxbridge branch than the Heathrow branch, I expect minor delays on this branch. Just catch the train as you normally would, but take the first Heathrow train, even if it is going to terminal 4 first and going onto Heathrow terminal 2&3, except if the station dot matrix advertises that a direct train to your desired terminal is not far behind, going via terminal 4 will add 10-15 minutes to your journey.
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Post by Michael on Nov 30, 2016 21:11:39 GMT
Thanks for all your advice. Think I'll sleep over it and make my decision first thing tomorrow morning.
If only I needn't go on a business trip on Sunday afternoon so I wouldn't have to take such an early flight...
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Post by canadianturtle on Nov 30, 2016 21:20:33 GMT
No problem on the Piccadilly today despite their permanent "severe delays" status. Wrong type of wheels apparently. You've been very lucky. I live on the Piccadilly Line and the last few weeks have been rubbish, especially bad today and yesterday. Displays of the next train in 15 minutes (during morning rush hour when normally it's every minute) means that it's very overcrowded and it doesn't stop at all stations as people just can't get off. If you're not travelling during rush hour you'll be ok crowd wise, but still allow for an extra 30mins travel time to be sure. Save |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 1, 2016 1:48:11 GMT
I have been to London twice recently with these "severe delays" but it really isn't noticable in my opinion. It seems more like having the status as "severe delays" just in case it al goes tits up again, they have their backs covered.  |
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Post by Jan on Dec 1, 2016 7:42:21 GMT
I have been to London twice recently with these "severe delays" but it really isn't noticable in my opinion. It seems more like having the status as "severe delays" just in case it al goes tits up again, they have their backs covered. I think they do it to keep people off the reduced service they are running. Yesterday on the Heathrow to London section trains were quite frequent in rush hour, no problem. |
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Post by Phantom of London on Dec 1, 2016 8:52:52 GMT
Just had a look at a internal website, where I work, which you guys cannot see.
There are over 40 trains running between Cockfosters and Heathrow.
Think what Jan said above sounds plausible as well.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 1, 2016 10:35:02 GMT
It's not that bad. 8-9 mins is the most I've had to wait for a train.
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Post by Phantom of London on Dec 1, 2016 12:15:45 GMT
Also Sunday morning, there isn't a full service, so should operate to timetable, so I expect a good service.
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Post by loureviews on Dec 1, 2016 21:49:49 GMT
It's not that bad. 8-9 mins is the most I've had to wait for a train. That can be a problem at rush hour when they are usually at 2 minute intervals, but outside of those times all seems to be well. |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 1, 2016 23:29:31 GMT
Forget what I said about 8-9 minutes. 14 minutes between each train an hour ago when I left the theatre. Had to change route.
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Post by Dawnstar on Dec 9, 2016 23:34:15 GMT
At Piccadilly Circus this evening there were huge queues as only a handful of gates in operation & announcements that this was to reduce platform overcrowding. Well the certainly succeeded: when I finally got down there were only about 30 people on the platform! A train turned up within a minute too. It seems like stations' responses to the delays are more of an issue than the delays themselves.
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Post by Mr Wallacio on Dec 10, 2016 0:56:37 GMT
I was informed of 'severe delays' as I was trying to get from Charing Cross to Earls Court, so I went to Embankment and hopped on the District Line instead.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 10, 2016 8:33:06 GMT
Piccadilly line has been horrendous over last two days!
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Post by Laineee on Dec 10, 2016 14:43:40 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Dec 10, 2016 16:57:41 GMT
Good article. The sneering at "leaves on the line" has always irritated me. It's as if the idiots who do it think that the railway staff will suddenly think "Hang on. Of course leaves on the line can't be a problem. How could we have been so stupid?" I like the mention of the "stands to reason" test. For me it's "why don't they just...?": any question of the form "why don't they just...?" can be answered by "because they know what they're doing and you don't". |
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Post by loureviews on Dec 10, 2016 18:54:43 GMT
But instead of getting better, it is getting worse. Whatever the cause we have had the 1973 stock all these years and have only now reached meltdown. Of course people are frustrates and annoyed.
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Post by Phantom of London on Dec 11, 2016 18:43:59 GMT
That 1973 stock is likely to be replaced in 2026 the earliest.
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Post by profquatermass on Dec 12, 2016 13:46:53 GMT
Good article. The sneering at "leaves on the line" has always irritated me. It's as if the idiots who do it think that the railway staff will suddenly think "Hang on. Of course leaves on the line can't be a problem. How could we have been so stupid?" I like the mention of the "stands to reason" test. For me it's "why don't they just...?": any question of the form "why don't they just...?" can be answered by "because they know what they're doing and you don't". " Indeed as any veteran London pub quizzer will tell you, only two lines actually stay beneath the surface entirely – the Victoria and Waterloo & City lines." I'd be interested to know why the Victoria line has been so terrible recently. I occasionally go through Brixton in the morning and there are regularly 300 or so people queuing to get into the station |
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Post by Jan on Dec 13, 2016 8:00:55 GMT
That 1973 stock is likely to be replaced in 2026 the earliest. And they will be driverless which at least removes one source of service disruption. |
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