Hailing a train could prove dangerous say passengers

[whole diary]

[Btline]

A NEW train service could be a danger to users who are forced to flag down the moving carriages to make them stop, a mother has warned.

The more frequent service between Truro and Falmouth was launched last week and hailed as an "historic" move by train operator First Great Western, but local users are unimpressed by the changes.

Perranwell Station has become a request stop and travellers now have to flag down the train from the platform or ask the driver to stop the train.

Liz Wood from Perranwell Station, whose teenage daughter uses the train to get to school in Penryn twice a day, said: "I think it's really dangerous; we tell children to stay away from the platform edge but now if you want to get on the train you have to stand on the edge and wave your hand in front of a moving train to make it stop.

"My mum, who's 81 and walks with a stick, would have to walk down a wobbly train in the six minute journey from Truro to tell the conductor she wants to get off.


"I feel that the trains should continue stopping at Perranwell until they introduce a safer system such as a button to tell the driver you want to stop."

The trains now run every half an hour instead of every hour because a new passing place has been built in Penryn. But the trains will only have one carriage instead of two, leaving people dubious that the service will relieve congestion and improve public transport use, as First Great Western have claimed.

"I don't understand why they've done it ^ what possible benefit could it have?" said Mrs Wood.

"If you have to timetable to get from Truro to Falmouth and sometimes the train stops and sometimes it doesn't surely that's going to create a timing problem?

"What about young children who get on the train and it doesn't stop so they end up at Penryn.

"They've told me that if you are responsible enough to get on a train by yourself you are responsible enough to stick your hand out to stop it."

A spokesman for First Great Western said the station is rarely used by customers and making it a request stop allows for a faster journey time.

They said the train crawls through the station at a very slow speed meaning there is no risk to customers who hail the driver to stop and passengers on the train wishing to get off at Perranwell should contact the guard who will be checking tickets.

They added: "The safety of our customers is at the forefront of everything we do and we wouldn't have introduced the request only service if we thought it would jeopardise this.

"The decision to introduce the half-hourly service was primarily to give our customers more journey options and convenience as opposed to increasing overall capacity.

"However, despite the reduction from two to one carriages, the new half hourly service has seen an increase of more than 400 seats throughout the course of the day."

What do people think?

From: http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/westbriton/Hailing-train-prove-dangerous-say-passengers/article-1027000-detail/article.html

[RailCornwall]

I have left a pithy response on the website.

How does this passenger consider that the service could be operated without Perranwell becoming request only to it's hourly timetable. There is absolutely no problem hailing a train at Perranwell. The only problem being requesting the service to stop, this really isn't an issue either as the conductor has adequate time to check passengers from either Truro or Penryn station. The new service is superb.

[eightf48544]

There do seem to be some contradictions in FGWs^▸ (First Great Western) response.

They imply the service is half hourly which is correct for the branch but I thought the request stop for Perranwell was only hourly.

So what happens if you try hailing the non stopping train expecting it to stop?

[devon_metro]

Better put cotton wool on the platforms in case they fall over. Drivers are not blind, a simple hand signal will make them stop.

Why are people never happy.

[Tim]

So what happens if you try hailing the non stopping train expecting it to stop?

Er, it doesn't stop and you wait half an hour for the next one?

[Tim]

Better put cotton wool on the platforms in case they fall over. Drivers are not blind, a simple hand signal will make them stop.

Why are people never happy.

Quite, All that you need to do is signal to the driver.  You don't need to trip the train up to make it stop (wasn't there a Monty Python cartoon of an old lady tripping a bus up with her foot to make sure it stopped?).

And if the train is too wobly to find the guard between Truro and Perranwell how about you speak to him at Truro before you get on the train and still have your feet on the non-wobly platform

[Andy]

Bitchy comment warning....but I'll try to be diplomatic:

Sounds like the interviewee is too uninformed to know what she's talking about and the reporter too ignorant to realise her comments hold little water.

[devon_metro]

Bitchy comment warning....but I'll try to be diplomatic:

Sounds like the interviewee is too uninformed to know what she's talking about and the reporter too ignorant to realise her comments hold little water.

Indeed, I didn't read the whole article as it was very predictable.

As Tim mentions something interesting, might be worth pointing out that if the Guard does not pass through the train, then it will stop.

[vacman]

Oh dear what sad newspaper prints this crap! in Cornwall there are TEN other request stops on other branches that have been that way for years! all it means now is that the kids who get off at Perranwell can't hide from the guard anymore to avoid paying as they have to tell him to stop! as for her saying that "sometimes stopping sometimes not" will mess up the timetable, well if she actually bothered to look at the timetable then she will see that every other train stops there so it is uniformed and timed tightly!

[Rogang]

The press in this area are determined to discredit FGW^▸ (First Great Western)'s service improvement. Customer numbers on the route are up, and the service has settled down to fairly smooth operation. And yet, we get another uninformed story. The service is tightly timed, and making the lightly-used stop at Perrenwell an hourly request stop only in the off-peak helps to keep the service delay-free

[inspector_blakey]

That's the biggest load of garbage I've read in a while. And that's saying something because in absolute desperation I resorted to reading an abandoned copy of the Daily Mail on a train the other day 

[IndustryInsider]

What can you say about this? Local papers need to sell copies or recoup their costs through advertising. The age of the internet has caused them to start cutting corners even more. 'Andy' has made the point spot on. The reports on the punctuality records set by NR^» (Network Rail - home page) and the TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company)'s over the last couple of days is a good example. A true 'good news' story, which every rag I have seen has managed to fill up half the article by negative paragraphs bemoaning the fall in Virgin and LM^▸ (London Midland - recent franchise)'s performance, and typically negative quotes from union leaders.

If you manage to include a perceived safety danger, and potential problems for frail old ladies, then it seems to be a story worth running - whatever the thoughts of us 'informed' mature individuals.

[Kingfisherdart]

Articles like this are those that give Journalism a bad name. Just a little extra research and the reporter would have known that the story is based on hardly anything.

Well done to First Great Western for having the initiative to provide such an enhanced service - and for the bad press to finally be unjustified.

[moonrakerz]

That's the biggest load of garbage I've read in a while. And that's saying something because in absolute desperation I resorted to reading an abandoned copy of the Daily Mail on a train the other day 

You obviously missed the story about money-grabbing UK^▸ (United Kingdom) shops ignoring the "new" EU^» (European Union - about) rules about warranties !!!!

[eightf48544]

Whilst I agree that hailing a train is no big deal, I still have some confusion as to what the service is for Perranwell is.

Is it totally a request stop and are there signs on the platform to say "Hail a train"?

Do all trains stop if hailed? If not then are there prominant timetables to say which trains will stop?

Otherwise, I think there could be some confusion as to which trains you hail and which you don't. Presumably you might get the occasional stranger/hiker who turns up not knowing the service.

If all trains don't stop if hailed, is this different from the other request stops in Cornwall where I believe all trains will stop?

If it is different from other request stops then it needs careful thought about how it is implemented. This comes under "Attention to detail", which should be the mantra for the operation of the railway.

Whilst the article might be a gross exageration, there is a grain of truth in it which does require consideration.

The fundamental questions, therefore, are not about the veracity of the article but:

"Is the system for hailing trains at Perranwell as robust as it can be? Is it explained clearly and concisely so that anyone can understand it?"

Hopefully you locals can confirm that there is a robust system in place with the necessary attention to detail I've eluded to above.