Train travel

Whilst we were on holiday (see blog entry below), my wife and I had to go to a funeral. It was in Warrington and we were near Totnes, in Devon. We entered the stations on the Internet and found we could do the journey in about four and a half hours, with only one change of train. Although on the way back it was quicker by half an hour to do two changes, so we opted for that.


I know some some of my blog followers work in the rail industry, so I thought they in particular would be interested to hear that for the return journey (3 trains) the punctuality rating was 33%!


Let me explain. We had about 12 minutes between train one stopping at Wolverhampton and train two timetabled to arrive there. However, our first train was running about 12 minutes late! It was a Virgin train and we explained this to the conductor when he came round to check our tickets. He knew of the situation as a number of passengers needed that connection and promised to update us over the PA system. And he did. He explained he had been in touch with the signal box and they were ensuring that our train arrived first.


Then a few moments later another message; he had learned that we were arriving on platform 2 and our connection was arriving on platform 4! So he advised us to make haste, but explained that the station staff were aware of the situation and would give us a reasonable time to get across.


So full marks to that Virgin conductor! And it illustrates that as it is possible to be in contact with stations and signal boxes, they can pass on information to passengers about what is happening when there's a problem.


So, all was going well and we were on time for the Cross Country train from Birmingham New Street to Totnes. BUT, when we arrived at Birmingham, the information boards said it was running 50 minutes late! Our hearts sank. But my wife said that for once she was pleased that I'm a bit of a nerd. You see, I'd picked up a timetable for our route when we first arrived at Totnes in the morning. And I could see that the next train from Birmingham to Totnes was due in 30 minutes! And if this one was not delayed, we could catch that. As this one started in Manchester and the one we were due to catch started in Edinburgh, I thought this was quite possible. And it was!


So we boarded this one. We did not have reserved seats, but we found out there were NO reserved seats on this train and as it was not crowded we got a seats at a table. Unfortunately, although it started on time, it was 20 minutes late by the time we arrived in Totnes- no explanations.


So that was our foray on the trains. We were pleased we were able to get to the funeral and see relatives we had not seen for some years. All in all, not too bad a service on the railways. And as we had bought our tickets in advance, they were at the 2010 rate.