The Engineering Works Conundrum

So, it's 2015 and Network Rail (NR) are finally spending some money on some proper engineering works on the Great Eastern Main Line (GEML), which is, of course, a good thing. For eight weeks, NR are closing sections of the GEML at weekends and Abellio Greater Anglia (AGA) are putting on rail replacement bus services to replace train services that they can't run as a result.

As a result of these works, I can't get trains directly from Shenfield to Chelmsford and back as I am normally used to on Saturdays. A direct train between the two stations in either direction usually takes around 10 minutes which isn't too much of a chore, if you forget about how incredibly dirty and tardy they usually are.

So what does AGA do to combat the closed line between Chelmsford and Shenfield, with the only intermediate station between the two being Ingatestone? You'd think they'd put on direct buses from one to the other, with a few of them stopping at Ingatestone too, wouldn't you? But alas, that is far too sensible for the good people at Abellio. They have come up with something so obscure it would make Richard Osman and Alexander Armstrong proud. I am expected to board a train at Shenfield, alight at Billericay (which is on the Shenfield to Southend Victoria line, off of the GEML) and get a rail replacement bus from Billericay to Chelmsford. How on earth does that constitute a good idea? Given that if the good people of Billericay want to go to Chelmsford, they normally have to get a train to Shenfield and another to Chelmsford, or get the First Essex 100 Service bus (which is a far better idea and is a service which has existed for over a decade).

As I have to get a rail replacement bus, I would expect my journey time to increase, and I have no issue with that. But, a bus travelling directly from Shenfield to Chelmsford (or back) would take roughly 20 minutes, maybe 25 if stopping at Ingatestone on the way. But alas, no, my new journey time in increasing by 30 minutes each way, that's an extra hour of my life AGA are stealing from me each week for eight weeks, that's the equivalent of a shift at work, when they need only take an extra 20 minutes each week. Do you think it would be worth billing AGA for my time? I could charge them the National Minimum Wage of £6.50 an hour, totalling £52 for my extra time, would go towards paying for my £112.90 monthly season ticket price I have to pay for, for which I am not going to receive a discount on, despite the engineering works.

Please AGA, think things through before you decide on them, if my normal journey from Shenfield to Chelmsford went via Billericay, I could understand the route you have chosen for me to take, but I don't, Billericay is on a different line to Chelmsford, so why make me go via I place a never go to or have to go through to get to work? It does not make sense. Please make sense in the future.