IMPROVE - OR GO! Brentwood Weekly News

IMPROVE - OR GO! was the headline from the Brentwood Weekly News on their 26th February edition.

Here's the article:

Greater Anglia's contract is up for renewal. As the line is named among the worst in the land, commuters have a simple message for bosses...

IMPROVE - OR GO!

A train company which runs services from Brentwood has been named one of the worst operators in the country, by consumer magazine Which?

Abellio Greater Anglia was named joint 15th out of 17 with 46 per cent customer satisfaction rating.

The ratings were taken from an overall sample of 7,309 commuters, who were asked to rate the train line they use for availability of seating, cleanliness or toilets, condition of trains, punctuality, reliability and value for money.

The worrying results come as no surprise to Abellio Greater Anglia commuters.

Katie Duke, 22, commutes from Brentwood every day. She said: "I can't remember the last time I was actually on time, so I'm not surprised at all."

The Department for Transport has now begun the search for the next operator as Anglia's contract runs out in October 2016.

But councillor David Kendall, also a member of the rail users association, thinks Anglia should "improve or lose it".

He said: "The keep making promises, but there are still delays and no fast trains to London. I think commuters are looking for positive steps where they can see a difference."

A Greater Anglia spokesman pointed out it had improved on it's rating last year, which it came last, and was incesting £30million to improve it's service.

OK, so a fair small article from a fairly non-de-script free local weekly newspaper, but it gets to the point. "Improve or go!" is a great headline for the bosses of Abellio! Get the hint, Burles and Denby!

Anglia Performance Figures 2011 to 2013

You may remember that I recently posted the performance or delay figures for the current Greater Anglia region for 2014, which can be viewed here). I have more recently obtained the figures for 2011 to 2013 as well, to compare them with 2014. As with the 2014 figures, they have been sub divided into four categories, Fleet, Infrastructure, Fatalities & Trespass and Bridge Strikes.

2011:

FLEET

INFRASTRUCTURE

FATALITIES & TRESPASS

BRIDGE STRIKES

2011 AT A GLANCE

2011 IN FULL

2012

FLEET

INFRASTRUCTURE

FATALITIES & TRESPASS

BRIDGE STRIKES

2012 AT A GLANCE

2012 IN FULL

2013

FLEET

INFRASTRUCTURE

FATALITIES & TRESPASS

BRIDGE STRIKES

2013 AT A GLANCE

2013 IN FULL

All these figures have been obtained from Network Rail and their Transparency Team. Remember that Abellio Greater Anglia took over the franchise in February 2012, so all the 2011 figures, along with the January 2012 figures are for when the franchise was run by National Express East Anglia.

AGA are running the franchise until October 2016, after which the new franchisee takes over, who that'll be, I don't know at the moment, but we'll find out at some point this year.

Weekly Travel Report W/C 16/02/15

Monday 16th February

See Special Travel Report for 16th February, Click Here

Tuesday 17th February

12.03 SNF to 12.12 CHM

Train: 360102 Carriage: 74552

3 of 4 Carriages

Pulled into SNF @ 12.01

Pulled out of SNF @ 12.03

Pulled into CHM @ 12.11

Temp: 21.9 to 22.4 C

Humidity: 37 %

Notes: Dirty floors, dirty seats, dirty exterior.

21.16 CHM to 21.27 SNF

Train: 360111 & 360107 Carriage: 65557

5 of 8 Carriages

Pulled into CHM @ 21.14

Pulled out of CHM @ 21.16

Pulled into SNF @ 21.24

Temp: 16.2 to 19.1 C

Humidity: 38 to 42 %

Notes: Dirty floors, dirty, faded seat backs.

Wednesday 18th February

No Travel

Thursday 19th February

12.03 SNF to 12.12 CHM

Train: 360115 Carriage: 74565

3 of 4 Carriages

Pulled into SNF @ 12.06

Pulled out of SNF @ 12.07

Pulled into CHM @ 12.15 (3 Minutes Late)

Temp: 17.8 to 19.2 C

Humidity: 39 to 42 %

Notes: Rubbish everywhere, even on seats next to bins (passengers fault but could have been tidied if 'train presentation' team were aboard) Filthy stained seats and floors, threadbare seats.

21.16 CHM to 21.27 SNF

Train: 360112 & 360120 Carriage: 65570

5 of 8 Carriages

Pulled into CHM @ 21.15

Pulled out of CHM @ 21.16

Pulled into SNF @ 21.24

Temp: 20.5 to 21.2 C

Humidity: 45 %

Notes: Filthy doesn't quite cover it.

Friday 20th February

12.03 SNF to 12.12 CHM

Train: 360121 Carriage: 74571

2 of 4 Carriages

Pulled into SNF @ 12.04

Pulled out of SNF @ 12.05

Pulled into CHM @ 12.13 (1 Minute Late)

Temp: 19.6 to 19.8 C

Humidity: 41 to 44 %

Notes: Dirty threadbare seats. Dirty floors.

15.26 CHM to 15.38 SNF

Train: 321336 Carriage: 71915

3 of 4 Carriages

Pulled into CHM @ 15.29

Pulled out of CHM @ 15.30

Pulled into SNF @ 15.41 (3 Minutes Late)

Temp: 16.0 to 17.4 C

Humidity: 48 to 49 %

Notes: Dirty exterior, dirty threadbare seats, dirty floors. Finished work early as M&S was closed because of a local power cut had meant the chilled food had to be sent back to the depot and wasn't going to be sent back until the evening.

Saturday 21st February

10.27 SNF to 10.33 BIC

Train: 321437 & 321427 Carriage: 71975

6 of 8 Carriages

Pulled into SNF @ 10.25

Pulled out of SNF @ 10.26

Pulled into BIC @ 10.30

Temp: 19.5 to 19.8 C

Humidity: 41 %

Notes: Dirty floors & seats.

10.40 BIC to 11.07 CHM

Bus Registration: EU64CVP

Bus Number: 206

Bus Company: Stephenson's

Pulled out of BIC @ 10.40

Pulled into CHM @ 11.02

Temp: 19.2 to 21.7 C

Humidity: 42 to 47 %

Notes: Clean, tidy and comfortable.

20.08 CHM to 20.35 BIC

Bus Registration: EU64CVP

Bus Number: 206

Bus Company: Stephenson's 

Pulled out of CHM @ 20.08

Pulled into BIC @ 20.33

Temp: 17.5 to 19.7 C

Humidity: 41 to 45 %

Notes: Same bus as earlier, condensation on the windows.

20.45 BIC to 30.52 SNF

Train: 321316 & 321427 Carriage: 71975

7 of 8 Carriages

Pulled into BIC @ 20.43

Pulled out of BIC @ 20.44

Pulled into SNF @ 20.50

Temp: 18.4 to 19.0 C

Humidity: 36 to 37 %

Notes: Same carriage/train as earlier, this time connected to a different train.

General Notes:

Not including Monday 16th, I was delayed three times and by a total of seven minutes. Rail replacement services on Saturday 21st seemed to be far more organised than a fortnight ago and had no issues that I saw. As usual, trains were dirty and not overly well looked after.

Station Codes:

BIC = Billericay, CHM = Chelmsford, SNF = Shenfield

2014 Performance Figures for Abellio Greater Anglia

Anyone interested in the actual performance figures for the Abellio Greater Anglia region? I was and AGA wouldn't give them to me, but our friends at Network Rail would. The specific figures I asked for were the figures relating to delays. They have given them to me in four catergories; Fleet (i.e. Train Faults etc), Infrastructure (i.e. Faults with signals, power cables, tracks & points), Fatalities & Trespass and Bridge Strikes (i.e. vehicles hitting bridges).

FLEET:

INFRASTRUCTURE:

FATALITIES & TRESPASS INCIDENTS:

BRIDGE STRIKES:

These are the exact figures that Network Rail have given me, it has to be said, infrastructure failures have accounted for more minutes of delays than other categories with more than 400,000 minutes across the year, which is down to Network Rail themselves. However with over 200,000 minutes of delays caused by train faults, is quite unacceptable.

Network Rail and the DfT are investing money into the Great Eastern Main Line the infrastructure to improve it's reliability. This is happening, while Abellio are sitting on their laurels and doing nothing to improve the reliability of their trains. We know they won't invest in new trains, as the current franchise runs only lasts for 2 years, which itself was a 2 year extension on the previous franchise, but they could at least try to maintain and improve their current ageing fleet.

YEAR AT A GLANCE:

YEAR IN FULL GLORIOUS DETAIL:

I've included percentages in the last two tables, to help illustrate how bad or good each category is in comparison to the others.

Hope it's been a good read for you, and lets hope (although I'm not going to hold my breathe) 2015 is a better year.

Dan ( @RealDC80 )

16th February Special Journey from Bedworth

This blog documents my journey from Bedworth back to Shenfield.

London Midland

20.22 BEH to 20.34 COV

Train: 153371 Carriage: 57371

Single Carriage DMU.

Pulled into BEH @ 20.20

Pulled out of BEH @ 20.22

Pulled into COV @ 20.34

Temp: 15.7 to 16.4 C

Humidity: 47 to 53 %

Notes: A little bit of rubbish, but otherwise clean. Heating not working.

Virgin Trains

21.11 COV to 22.13 EUS

Reserved Seat: Coach E, Seat 28

Train: 390127 Carriage: 68827

6 of 11 Carriages

Pulled into COV @ 21.08

Pulled out of COV @ 21.11

Pulled into EUS @ 22.15 (2 Minutes Late)

Temp: 10.1 to 23.8 C

Humidity: 38 to 58 %

Notes: Got my seat, power socket not working, can't get my plug in. Signs not saying whether seats are reserved. The low temperature when I got on may have been because I was sat on a cold platform for roughly 35 minutes. Train was clean, both inside and out.

London Underground

EUS to MOG

Line: Northern Carriage: 53521

Pulled into EUS @ 22.24

Pulled out of EUS @ 22.25

Pulled into MOG @ 22.33

Temp: 23.3 to 24.1 C

Humidity: 43 to 47 %

Notes: Clean, not overly busy.

MOG to LST

Line: Metropoliton Carriage: 22112

Pulled into MOG @ 22.37

Pulled out of MOG @ 22.37

Pulled into LST @ 22.38

Temp: 24.5 to  24.8 C

Humidity: 41 to 42 %

Notes: Clean, not busy.

Abellio Greater Anglia

22.45 LST to 23.16 SNF

Train: 321315 Carriage: 71894

2 of 4 Carriages

Pulled out of LST @ 22.46

Pulled into SNF @ 23.17 (1 Minute Late)

Temp: 19.4 to 24.4 C

Humidity: 39 to 47 %

Notes: Green seats, blue grab rails. Dirty floors and seats.

General Notes:

No real upsets today, the Virgin Train and the AGA train were both late getting to my alighting station, but not significantly. My only real issue was with the power socket at my seat, but since I had a portable phone charger, that wasn't a big issue.

Station Codes:

BEH = Bedworth, COV = Coventry, EUS = London Euston, LST = London Liverpool Street, 

MOG = Moorgate, SNF = Shenfield.

8th February Special Journey to Bedworth

This blog documents my journey from Shenfield to Bedworth

Abellio Greater Anglia

11.11 SNF to 11.44 LST

Train: 321331 & 321329 Carriage: 71910

3 of 8 Carriages

Pulled into SNF @ 11.09

Pulled out of SNF @ 11.11

Pulled into LST @ 11.41

Temp: 19.5 to 20.5 C

Humidity: 40 to 41 %

Notes: Fairly dirty interior, green seats with blue grab rails.

London Underground

LST to BANK

Line: Central Carriage: 92189

Pulled into LST @ 11.49

Pulled out of LST @ 11.50

Pulled into BANK @ 11.51

Temp: 20.1 to 20.3 C

Humidity: 40 to 44 %

Notes: Cleanish but busy.

BANK to EUS

Line: Northern Carriage: 52590

Pulled into BANK @ 11.55

Pulled out of BANK @ 11.56

Pulled into EUS @ 12.05

Temp: 21.1 to 21.2

Humidity: 41 to 44

Notes: Clean, and tidy.

Virgin Trains

13.20 EUS to 14.22 COV

Reserved Seat: Coach E, Seat 28

Train: 390154 Carriage: 68854

5 of 11 Carriages

Pulled out of EUS @ 13.20

Pulled into COV @ 14.19 

Temp: 18.1 to 25.0 C

Humidity: 40 to 43 %

Notes: Double booked my seat! Great start! Vibrating window next to seat 74. Jan at Coventry gave me a customer comments form to form a complaint about not being able to sit in the seat I had booked.

London Midland

14.46 COV to 14.57 BEH

Train: 153375 Carriage: 57375

Single Carriage DMU.

Pulled into COV @ 14.29

Pulled out of COV @ 14.46

Pulled into BEH @ 14.56

Temp: 19.9 to 23.4 C

Humidity: 35 to 38 %

Notes: A little bit dirty floor, but seats are clean. Conductor was very friendly.

General Notes:

First time I've had an issue with Virgin Train, having doubled booked my seat, meaning I had to sit elsewhere. Given that I had specifically asked for a seat with a power point, to keep my phone charged then had to sit in a seat without a power point, I wasn't overly happy. They'll be receiving a comment form in the post shortly, maybe it's worth giving me a free upgrade to first class for my journey on 16th February?

Station Codes:

BANK = Bank Underground Station, BEH = Bedworth, COV = Coventry, EUS = London Euston, LST = London Liverpool Street, SNF = Shenfield

Weekly Travel Report W/C 02/02/15

Monday 2nd February
10.51 SNF to 11.14 LST
Train: 360101 & 360110 Carriage: 68560
5 of 8 Carriages
Pulled into SNF @ 10.49
Pulled out of SNF @ 10.51
Pulled into LST @11.11
Temp: 13.5 to 20.0 C
Humidity: 36 to 44 %
Notes: Dirty floors, dirty seats. Quite busy, probably due to overhead line problems at Rayleigh.

15.02 LST to 15.24 SNF
Train: 360110 & 360102 Carriage: 74560
3 of 8 Carriages
Pulled out of LST @ 15.02
Pulled into SNF @ 15.24
Temp: 19.4 to 20.3 C
Humidity: 28 to 33 %
Notes: Filthy and horrible. Had trouble getting off the line at LST. D doors vibrating.

Tuesday 3rd February
12.03 SNF to 12.12 CHM
Train: 360110 Carriage: 74560
3 of 4 Carriages
Pulled into SNF @ 12.01
Pulled out of SNF @ 12.02
Pulled into CHM @ 12.11
Temp: 15.5 to 17.6 C
Humidity: 37 to 40 %
Notes: Still dirty. Left SNF @ 12.02.40. D doors still rattling occasionally, yesterday's tweet went un-noticed.

21.16 CHM to 21.27 SNF
Train: 360103 & 360107 Carriage: 68557
5 of 8 Carriages
Pulled into CHM @ 21.15
Pulled out of CHM @ 21.16
Pulled into SNF @ 21.25
Temp: 13.8 to 17.2 C
Humidity: 36 to 37 %
Notes: Filthy and disgusting.

Wednesday 4th February
11.41 SNF to 11.52 CHM
Train: 360117 Carriage: 74567
2 of 4 Carriages
Pulled into SNF @ 12.01
Pulled out of SNF @ 12.02
Pulled into CHM @ 12.11 (9 Minutes Late - Got me to CHM 1 minute earlier than I would normally get there)
Temp: 15.0 to 16.5 C
Humidity: 37 to 41 %
Notes: Delayed by a faulty train. Dirty seats, dirty floors, funky disinfectant smell.

21.16 CHM to 21.27 SNF
Train: 360119 & 260114 Carriage: 68564
5 of 8 Carriages
Pulled into CHM @ 21.15
Pulled out of CHM @ 21.16
Pulled into SNF @ 21.25
Temp: 14.9 to 18.4 C
Humidity: 36 to 38 %
Notes: surprise, surprise, it's filthy.

Thursday 5th February
12.03 SNF to 12.12 CHM
Train: 360104 Carriage: 74554
3 of 4 Carriages
Pulled into SNF @ 12.02
Pulled out of SNF @ 12.03
Pulled into CHM @ 12.14 (2 Minutes Late)
Temp: 16.6 to 19.7 C
Humidity: 37 to 39 %
Notes: Usual dirty carpets and seats, not as threadbare as most I see, but fairly faded.

21.16 CHM to 21.27 SNF
Train: 360108 & 360121 Carriage: 65571
5 of 8 Carriages
Pulled into CHM @ 21.15
Pulled out of CHM @ 21.16
Pulled into SNF @ 21.25
Temp: 16.2 to 18.1 C
Humidity: 34 to 35 %
Notes: Dirty as always, 108 had a clean exterior, although 121 wasn't clean.

Friday 6th February
12.03 SNF to 12.12 CHM
Train: 360110 Carriage: 65560
1 of 4 Carriages
Pulled into SNF @ 12.05
Pulled out of SNF @ 12.06
Pulled into CHM @ 12.15 (3 Minutes Late)
Temp: 17.5 to 19.5 CHumidity: 35 %
Notes: Dirty floors, dirty seats, dirty exterior.

21.16 CHM to 21.27 SNF
Train: 360117 Carriage: 65567
4 of 4 Carriages
Pulled into CHM @ 21.15
Pulled out of CHM @ 21.16
Pulled into SNF @ 21.28 (1 Minute Late)
Temp: 14.9 to 17.2 C
Humidity: 36 to 37 %
Notes: Short formed, 4 carriages instead of 8. Train Fault Bingo? Filthy everywhere.

Saturday 7th February
10.27 SNF to 10.33 BIC
Train: 321435 & 321421 Carriage: 63129
3 of 8 Carriages
Pulled into SNF @ 10.26
Pulled out of SNF @ 10.27
Pulled into BIC @ 10.33 
Temp: 17.4 to 18.0 C
Humidity: 38 to 40 %
Notes: Cleanish, grey seats and red grab rails. Very creaky.

10.40 BIC to 11.07 CHM
Bus Registration: EU64CVP
Bus Company: Stephenson's
Bus Number: 207
Pulled out of BIC @ 10.53 
Pulled into CHM @ 11.17 (10 Minutes Late)
Temp: 15.6 to 21.1 C
Humidity: 39 to 45 %
Notes: Made to stand in the car park while it's raining. Not good. Blaming First for a bus not turning up. Seats are comfortable and supportive, the bus is generally clean, exterior a bit dirty.

20.08 CHM to 20.35 BIC
Bus Registration: EX63UZV
Bus Company: Stephenson's
Bus Number: 206
Pulled out of CHM @ 20.08
Pulled into BIC @ 20.35
Temp: 15.5 to 20.4 C
Humidity: 39 to 45 %
Notes: Bus already at CHM and waiting to go. Seats are comfortable and supportive, the bus is generally clean, exterior a bit dirty but you expect that from a day's use.

20.45 BIC to 30.52 SNF
Train: 321423, 321421 & 321435 Carriage: 78155
9 of 12 Carriages
Pulled into BIC @ 20.42
Pulled out of BIC @ 20.45
Pulled into SNF @ 20.51
Temp: 18.2 to 19.3 C
Humidity: 37 %
Notes: Fairly dirty, First Class part declassified but still got the seats. Heating not working.

Sunday 8th February

http://dcabellioga.blogspot.com/2015/02/8th-february-special-journey-to-bedworth.html

General Notes:

Late running trains on 4 occasions with a late running rail replacement bus on another, however on one occasion, it didn't make me late to my destination as it was the 11:41 train running late, I normally get the 12:03 train. A total of 16 minutes late, 25 minutes if I had intended to get the 11:41 on Wednesday. The rail replacement bus organisation at Billericay was very poor, no one seemed to know what they were doing and were all very disorganised, considering they have been doing this since the start of the engineering works on the Southend Victoria line, they should be used to it by now and know what they're doing. They claimed a bus hadn't turned up, and the bus I eventually got on was apparently supposed to be the 10:55 service and it was apparently the 10:40 bus (run by FirstEssex) that didn't show. I didn't have an issue with the buses themselves though as they were fairly clean, warm and comfortable.

Station Codes:

BIC = Billericay, CHM = Chelmsford, LST = London Liverpool Street, SNF = Shenfield.