Guest book comments placed in 2004

It might be helpful if other made the point to the council that the passengers should be consulted.

Why not suggest the Friday service to 'one'? But be prepared to take the issue up with the Rail Passengers Council (RPC) if you don't get satisfaction. The RPC don't seem too effective to me, but I suspect if there are sufficient complaints about the service on a particular line, 'one' will have some pressure to improve it. If your MP is John Whittingdale, you might want to suggest it to him quickly - I know he is meeting the managing director of 'one' on the 9th December, so it is perhaps something he could raise.

Data on weekday departures from Southminster

The first trains are earlier, the last are later, and the number have been reduced, so the average interval between trains has been increased.

PS, although Simone did oringally think I has mis-counted, she has emailed me to say she accepts I am right. So there is no doubt there is a nett loss of trains

Has anyone got any good ideas on how we should tackle the problems on our line? Is there anything that could usefully be added to this web site to aid in bringing about improvements to this line?

Simone (or anyone else for that matter). What of the 22 trains that have I listed is currently not a scheduled service? I still make it 22 trains/day now, with 21 from December. Someone else has emailed me to say that she agrees with this too, but we could both be wrong.

Would anyone else care to count if there are 21 or 22 trains in the current timetable, and if so state which I have listed below that is incorrect.

Has anyone else noticed that the number of trains in the new December 2004 timetable are acutally reduced? Instead of 22 trains/day in each diretion, this is reduced to 21 trains/day!

Unless I am mistaken (and I'd appreciate if someone else will double-check this), there are currently 22 trains/day leaving Southminster during the week (0542, 0634, 0715, 0753, 0835, 0929, 1023, 1123, 1223, 1323, 1423, 1523, 1602, 1638, 1720, 1755, 1847, 1926, 2015, 2115, 2200 and 2240). From December this is reduced to 21/day (0530, 0610, 0652, 0735, 0817, 0917, 1017, 1117, 1217, 1317, 1417, 1517, 1617, 1705, 1747, 1827, 1917, 2017, 2117, 2217 and 2256).

The same applies to trains from Wickford to Southminster. Currently 22 trains leave per day from Wickford (0542, 0631, 0712, 0752, 0835, 0928, 1023, 1123, 1223, 1323, 1423, 1523, 1600, 1640, 1722, 1756, 1848, 1928, 2017, 2117, 2200 and 2240), but this will be reduced to 21/day (0520, 0610, 0648, 0735, 0820, 0920, 1020, 1120, 1220, 1320, 1420, 1520, 1620, 1707, 1750, 1829, 1917, 2020, 2120, 2200 and 2258).

So not only only have 'one' altered the times, but they seem to have dropped a train in each direction too!

I have personally always felt that changes to the times will suite some, but not others, but this reduction in the number of trains explains why people are finding their journeys are going to take longer. Trains are starting earlier, finishing later, but with a reduced number. Obvioously that means the average interval betwen them must increase. But would someone please check this.

Printed copied of the new timetable can now be found at Liverpool St. Station. I have one in front of me, and comparing this to the current timetable using data collected from the National Rail Enquiries web site, I see there is one less train per day in each direction. I don't have a physical copy of the current timetable in front of me, so are getting the figures from two different soruces. But if correct, this is really bad news, and something we must all fight.

Any Comments?

I thought other might like to see the email I sent to 'one' on the 21st of October, to which I have received no reply. I have sent a second email, asking how long replies take, and have recevied no response to that either. Others are reporting responses in a few days, or even the same day.

The guestbook post is an exact copy of what I sent them.

1. You put the dates, times and locations on your web site.
   
   Will you do this?


2. You *encourage* the ticket examiners to tell people about such meeting. Nobody expects them to go up to every single person on the train, but since many of us are on first-named terms with them, they are in a good position to make commuters aware of the meetings, if they themselves are told about them, and asked to convey that information. (Some know, but are reluctant to share the information, and will make comments like "you did not hear it from me" ).
   
   Will you ensure your ticket examiners are given the information, and enouraged to convey it?


3. You arrange for posters (or similar) to be put at all stations along the branch line. These should be in a format that is likely to last for a few weeks. A bit of A3 paper stuck on a wall is not really sufficient. At Althorne station there is a notice board, which I assume you own, which has a lock. A notice put behind that, a couple of weeks before a meeting would be useful.
   
   Will you do this?


4. Would you tell me if you have any more meetings scheduled, and where/when they are, if the dates are known.



There have been meetings at


a) Burham-on-Crouch, sometime in April -June. I was completely unaware of this, only finding out *after* the event.

b) Burham-on-Crouch in July, which I attended and found useful.

c) Another at Wickford, which I found out *after* the event again.

There may have been others too.

You are no doubt aware of the web site I have set up, with the aim of trying to get us a better service on this line. http://www.southminster-branch-line.org.uk/

There is a guest book
http://www.southminster-branch-line.org.uk/guest-book/guest-book.php there where people can make comments - feel free to read them, or even add your own if you wish!! Here is one comment from another commuter, Paul Harris posted on the 9th October, 2004. He is referring to my comments on the web site about attending a meeting at Burnham-on-Crouch Station in July 2004. I have put his comments between two rows of stars, to show it is a quote

***************


One last thing, having read the Doctors comment on his meeting in July. Who are these people that are consulted by the train operators. Are they 'regular' commuters or just people that live near to the branch line?

I ask this because I know of an individual who used to meet with the train operators and didn't have to commute to work. This person was heard to state 'what a good service there was'. I feel we need to draw attention to the shortcomings and not pat the operators on the back for the service we should be getting. Hopefully the Doctor can confirm this is now the case."


*****END OF QUOTATION****


So clearly Paul Harris, like many, was not aware this was a public meeting, where anyone could attend. He is not the only one. Few commuters I speak to know of the meetings, or they know about them too late.

So will you make details public, via the use of a web site, posters, and *encouraging* your staff to tell people?

Dr. David Kirkby
Stokes Hall Lodge
Burnham Road
Althorne
Essex
CM3 6DT.


Well, 'one' have failed to responsd to that. Are my 4 questions unreasonable? They also faled to respond when I asked how long email replies took?

So I guess I have made a nuisance of myself, and they no longer wish to communicate with me, which is harldly very good. They (as well as other commuters) might not agree with all my points, but I don't think I am such a fool that I should be totally ignored. However, it seems I am now ignored.

I'd appreciate comments on the contents of my email to one, and their failure to respond. I'd prefer they were put on the web sites guest book, for all to see, but if you want to make them privately to me, you have email me.

An interesting point raised by Shana, since I sent an email on the 21/10/04, which must be the same day Shana sent hers, since she said it was 10 days ago (31/10/04 as I write).

Anyone else had any replies by email, and can indicate how long it took to get a response?

Keith has made a very good point about email addresses. It was one I have thought about, but tended to leave it up to the individual to decide what information about themselves they wanted to make public. My page where you add your comments does say to leave blank any fields you wish to.

I have just added an extra @ sign to all email addresses on this page, so any that are here now, are most unlikly to get harvested by any automatic mechanism. If someone actually takes the trouble to visit a page and write them down manually, then there is not a lot I can do about it. But the two @@ signs should defeat any automatic means of harvesting email addresses. I have just tried sending an email to an address with two @@ signs and the mail client I use (Mozilla, not Internet Explorer) immediatly reconises it as a bad address, so people should realise soon if they made a mistake, and hopefully work out how to correct it.

If anyone has their email address on this site, and wants it removed, let me know by sending an email from that account.

I will (within the next two or three minutes), add a comment saying everyone should use two @@ sign's on their address, so I don't have to manually change them. I will look at changing the software, so the extra@ sign is added automatically.

I hope that is acceptable to all, but if not, let me know.

Do others find the speed of this web site acceptable, or is it too slow? Particularly for some of the copies of letters e.g. this reply to me, or a reply to Christine Drew, the letter from the RPC to 'one'.

These replies are usually scanned images of letters, which tend to be large. I then convert them to pdf format using GNU Ghostscript which you can leggally get for free, and even use commerically. So why pay for Adobe's product, when you can get it for free? In fact, When I converted my PhD thesis to pdf, I found the free version worked better than the commerical one!!

If you have a low dialup connection, downloading them will be slow. There is nothing I can do about that

But I'd like to hear from those with broadband or fast company networks if the letters are downloaded slowly. If so, I will move the larger files to a faster server.

This site is currently run on a 10 year old Sun SPARCstation 20 computer with an ADSL line, with a 64-256 kbit/s upload speed (which is dowload for people using the site). It is also shared wtih about 5 other web sites, one of which (http://www.g8wrb.org) gets a lot of hits. Hence speed could well become an issue on this site, and one I will resolve if it is for people. I tend to find it slow myself from my place of work, where we have an excellent network.

For anyone interested, here a few pictures (not of my machine, but it looks very similar) of a Sun SPARCstation 20. Mine is a bit faster with dual 125 MHz CPUs. However, the performance of the computer is not an issue - it is my lack of network bandwidth which might make this site slow on larger files.

With reference to the the issue of 12-car trains on the line (first mentioned by Neil Knappett on October 14, 2004, later by Martin from Colchester on the 24th of October), I spoke to one to the ticket examiners this morning about this. It would appear that Woodham Ferrers in the only station with a platform sufficiently long to take them. I thought the 1816 from London was 12-car, but I am told it is only 8. Hence I assume this means there are no 12-car trains at present, so there are none to be phased out. The ticket examiner was rather busy, so I did not have chance to have a long conversation about the matter. So perhaps someone getting the 1816, or other long train, can actually count the carriages.

This rather brings into question the point in section 2 of the letter from First Great Eastern to John Whittingdale back in 2001, where it is stated they use 12-car slam door trains, and had in mind modifications to 12-door sliding door trains to allow their use.

With reference to the term Grandfather Right mentioned by Martin from Colchester, I believe I know what this term means now, although I have not looked it up in a dictionary. It is general term where legislation is introduced, but is not applied retrospectively. So whilst a house might be wired in the old colours, when a new colour scheme is introduced (as there will soon), it does not mean all old houses have to be converted to use the new colours.

The letter to Keith Leddiman from 'one' says: I am not sure that I can answer specifically as to who will benefit from the changes, but we always make sure that the Rail User Groups and local councils approve of any changes that we make. It is through consulation with and approval from these groups, that allows us to go ahead and make the new arrangements. Speaking to one of the ticket examiners today, he said the main complainers about the new timetables are coming from the school children, who will have to wait 25 minutes for a bus at Woodham Ferrers. It would be nice to know who in the council was consulted about these new times.

Whilst I feel on the whole the timetable will benifit as many as it inconveniences, I must admit it would seem sensible for 'one' to arrange sensible connections with trains from Stratford. Given sufficient priority (which is what our line lacks), they could I'm sure stop at Stratford. But as a second best, at least allow for sensible connections from there.

I don't use Stratford, and have not looked at the timetables from there, but is there any point in people going from Stratford to Liverpool Street to board a Southminster train? Just a thought - it might possibly work out quicker - but possibly more expensive too.

PS, I also heard today that some enterprising sole is selling advanced timetables at £1 each. Whether or not they are the offical timetables from the printers used by 'one', or printouts from web sites such as mine, I do not know.

For the information of the users of this site http://www.thetrainline.com also has the timetable information for the Winter timetable - as my post on the BBC Essex message board for commuters indicates.

The comments in bold type are from David Kirkby the website administrator. Keith's e-mail's to 'one' are in red, and the replies in blue.

I am also frustrated by the reponse from so called 'One', here are my letters and replies:

Nice to see Bambi4thumper@@hotmail.com posting again. I have re-formatted your message, to make it look a bit clearer. I have not changed the text. If people know HTML they can format messages themselves - I will add some brief notes on this to the site later.

I'm not sure there is much point in 'One' confirming or denying the new times, since they tell you (e.g. here) to phone National Rail Enquireis on 08457 48 49 50 for train times. Hence I think it is reasonable to assume that 'One' trust the data that National Rail Enquiries hold, and hence the validy of the National Rail Enquiries web site. But publishing a full timetable would make a lot of sence.

As for trains not stopping at Stratford, there was a lame excuse given for this - the platforms are too short at Stratford! Yes, that is right! With sufficient piority this could be avoided, by running the Southminster train on a line with longer platforms at Stratford, but of course we are well down the priority list.

I agree with you that nobody is ever going to be completely satisfied, but to address the itemised issues you raised, here are my personal thoughts. Others please post theirs.

1. Aparently it was impossible to run two 12-car trains on the branch at once, due to the length of the loop at Fambridge. This was the case in 2001, but whether it still is I do not know. Hence more than one 12-car train may not be physically possible.
2. See my comments above about Stratford. Personally I would not use a Stratford stop, but many would, and I believe it should be something people ask for. However, it is not an issue I intend taking up with 'one' personally - I have enough arguments with them, and don't wish to complain about issues that do not affect me. Others who want the train to stop at Stratford should ask for it, then if they are refused it, write to their MP and/or the Rail Passengers Council.
3. A 12 pm train would be nice, but realistically I think 11 pm is the best we can hope for - and 'One' have said they have no intentions of running a later train during the period of the current franchise. This worries me, as the franchise extends to at least 2011, and likely to be 2014.Do we have to put up with whatever they chose to throw at use for another 7-10 years?
4. I am inclided to agree with you about the stop at Billericay. How about allowing the train to stop for pick up only, allowing only those with a ticket to Battlesbridge or beyond to use the train? Anyone on the train without a ticket to Battlesbridge or beyond would get penalty fared - including those with tickets to just Wickford? That will reduce the conjestion somewhat.

1. At least one of the peak trains should be 12 carriages long.
2. Peak trains should stop at Shenfield and Stratford.
3. Last train from liverpool st. connecting with southminster branch line, should be 12.00 (midnight).
4. There is no need for Peak Branch Line trains to stop at Billericay in the evenings, as they are always full until SWF.

The person calling him/herself 'FS' from Burnham makes a valid point. Someone else mentioned this before. There are a large number of trains going from Billericay to Wickford, so some say there is no need for the peak period Southminster train to stop there. But of course, that could be very difficult for the few who board the train at Billericay

One option might be to allow the train to stop at Billericay, but to stipulate only those with a ticket valid fom Battlesbridge or beyond may use the train. Anyone else would be penalty fared. That would be an unusual step, but not one which should be entirely dismissed.

Given the excessive overcrowing on the Southminster trains leaving London in the evening peak, it does not seem unreasonable to limit the usage somewhat.

Glad you find the site useful. I've actually put quite a bit of work into the site, and in other activites to improve our line. If other did 10% of this, we would have a better service. Too many just moan, but do nothing constructive. Or they stop once 'one' send them a reply. They need to take matters further than 'one'.

Thank you Mike for your comments. How do you arrive at the 500-800 pound figure? We have around 20 trains per day. One extra one would be an increase of 5%. The current cost of a ticket to say Woodham Ferrers (the most popular station) is 2600 pounds. 5% of that is only 130 pounds. I appreciate it must be more expensive to pay overtime to people, so 130 pounds is too low an estimate, but 500-800 pounds seems to be an excessive estimate. Perhaps you can justify where you got that from. But I believe the increase can be zero (or close to it), without me living in a dream world!

There are a lot of people who do want later trains - managers admit is one of the most common complaints. Given the following facts:

• Southend customers pay 8% less than those travelling the same distance down the branch line.
• There are around 3x as many trains going to Southend each day than to Southminster.
• Southend trains were running 2 hours and 50 minutes later during the week, increasing to over 3 hours at weekends.
• There is low occupancy in the later evening Southend trains.
• Southend has a large number of theatres, cinemas, clubs etc, where people living around the branch line have no such facilities.

it is hard to see how we can't argue on reasonable grounds to get a better service, without an extra cost, by reducing slightly the excessively high frequency of Southend trains.

Of course, Southend commuters can rightly argue more people go to Southend, but that is just about the only argument they have. In contrast we have many.

Only yesterday (Sunday) I went to a Christening of a school friend's baby in Harrow. My wife drove to Wickford, as there was no guarantee we would leave to meet the last train. In fact, we were at Wickford in time to meet the last Southminster train, but driving to Wickford gave us the flexibilty. I'm not suggesting trains run later on a Sunday, as the usage would probably be low. I just gave this is one example of where the poor service causes people to abandon the branch line, and drive to Wickford.

I think it is a selfish attitude to take not wanting more trains since your house is next to the line. You say Move to London if you like it there so much. One could ask with equal validity; Why you buy or rent a house next to a train line if you don't like the vibrations from trains?

Andrew clearly agrees with you. Do you know him by any chance, or were the two of you expressing entirely independent remarks?

You say it's a small minority that want to say in London for a xxxx-xx. It is not a small minority that wishes to stay later in London some times. The two managers from 'one' I spoke to in July at a 'Meet the Managers meeting' at Burnham Station both admitted the time of the last train one of the most common complaints. As someone pointed out on the front of this week's Maldon and Burnham Standard, the 2215 is still too early to 'see a show' in London. There have been several people on this guest book mention this too. A lot of people has have told me they would like to visit the theatre on a Saturday, but are unable to.

I'm sorry to Marian Stokes if you felt I ignored some of your points. I was not trying to be rude, but just trying to make the point the timetables will not suite everyone.

I would have to agree with you completly about the ticket examiners - they are very polite and informative. I think there must be hundreds (probably thousands) who would agree with you.

I do not agree with you about the service being very good. I think we get a pretty poor service really. If a train is going to be cancelled, it is usually ours. The peak-time trains are too infrequent and hence overcrowded. The last train during the week is nearly 3 hours before the last to Southend and even longer at weekends. We pay a high price, with an annual ticket between Woodham Ferrers and London costing more than one between Southend and London. When there are oppotunities to meet Onerailway's managers, these are very poorly publicised. The list could go on. A number of people drive to Wickrod, rather than use the branch line - they are clearly not happy.

I do not doubt for one minute that there are a lot of people happy with the line, but there is a very large number who are not. I think you only have to listern to some of the conversations on the trains, to realise there are a lot of unhappy commuters.

So clearly a train suites you in the evening, does not suite your sister. This does not surprise me at all - it is the nature of the different work patterns of you and your Sister.

You then say "I have heard many people talking about the new timetable on the train and none of them were happy about it.". Yet Jonathan Andrews said on this guest-book on the 6th October "The timetable offers significant improvement for me." I have heard others say it is better, and of course others say it is worst - it all depends on their individual circumstances.

Someone (not me) got a petition going a few years back when the 1802 was re-timed to 1816. Now people moan when the 1816 becomes the 1827. I'm sure just as many would moan if it was put back to 1802.

Unless I am misunderstanding the problem, there is no way the peak-time timetable can really be fitted in to suite a large group of individuals - there are just too many variables. Start time, end time, distance from the stations etc, all differ from one person to the next.

As much as I believe in a democracy, I don't think it is realistic to expect the train operating companies to set up an election so we can vote for the times that suite us best for the peak periods.

Trying to get your employers to be a bit more flexible sounds a good idea. Depending on the nature of your job of course, this may be impractical. (I admit I have very flexible working hours, so perhaps I have a biased opinion, but I'd like to feel it is based on sound logic, and not biased in some way.)

I think it would be a shame if people waste time writing to 'one' about this issue. In contrast, there are a LOT of issues where I believe 'one' could please a lot of people, without upsetting many. These are the issues we should be pressing for - not tring to get the timetable to best fit in with our own work patterns - which might well 'backfire' if you change jobs.

Feel free to repond and post your comments on the guest book. Others might clearly disagree with me. Feel free to say so. If you do agree with me, please say so, since nobody has mentioned this, yet I feel it is an important point.

I have been travelling from Southminster since the beginning of last December having moved to St.Lawrence. I must be living on a different planet because I have found the branch line service to be very good. If there has been a delay it has always been when we join the main line at Wickford. I have travelled home from London during the day on quite a few occasions and have never encountered any problems. I have also found the "on train" ticket collectors to be very polite and helpful.

I think the new timetable is a nightmare. I get the 7.53 a.m. at the moment and the 17.22 in the evening. The evening is fine but the morning will get me to work too early so I will have to change my hours. My sister who gets on my morning train at Althorne will have to change her hours as there is no convenient train for her to get in the evening. She will have a long wait if she leaves at her normal time.

I have heard many people talking about the new timetable on the train and none of them were happy about it.

Why do people have to get busy and make things difficult for so many people?

Everyone should have been given the opportunity to vote before a final decision was made about changing the timetable? That would have been the right thing to do.

• More facilities on stations. (In a a survey published by one, this is what people voted for! Somehow I doubt it is the most important thing to users of the branch line, but perhaps most of you see getting more facilities at stations as the number one priority.)
• More fare offers for days out.
• Closer links with the community.
• More facilities on trains.
• Later trains in the evening - Monday to Friday
• Later trains on Saturday
• Later trains on Sunday
• More frequent trains during the off-peak (Monday-Friday)
• More frequent trains on a Saturday
• More frequent trains on a Sunday
• Buses to replace the trains that don't run on a Thursday
• Trains that stop at Stratford in the peak time
• Trains that no not stop at Stratford in the peak time
• Trains that stop at Billericay in the peak time.
• Trains to do not stop at Billericay. (Some say this makes the 1816 and 1854 from London more packed than need be.)
• Cleaner trains
• Larger seats
• Air conditioned trains
• Buffet service!!!
• Lower fares
• Better methods to stop fare evasion

My aim is to set up a survey, trying to get some statistically significant data, that can be presented to the train operator One Great Eastern, since they seem (in my opinion anyway), to ask questions of little relevance to us users of the branch line.

However, this survey will not be set up very soon, as I need to best determine how to avoid the results being skewed by someone submitting their views 100 times over. I can do some checks (I wont reveal how), but I need to look at this carefully, as otherwise the data will become useless.

One option might be to put the survey, but ask people to print it off and send there responses by post to Onerailway themselves. If you write, you can expect a written response. Any ideas from others are most welcome, either on the guest book, or via email

Keep posing your comments, and wish lists. I'm sure some people from One must read this site anyway. I know they are well aware of it.

• There are 'Meet the Manager' meetings held at stations on some days. That was what I attended in July 2004. However, these are very poorly publicised, but are open to anyone who gets to the station. They only have them at manned stations (Southminster, Burnham, Woodham Ferrers and Wickford). The dates/times do not get published at other stations (Althorne for example). I have asked Onerailway if they would put dates/times on the web. The reply I receieved said he would mention this to the communication people. Well, not much communication has taken place. There have been other meetings at Woodham Ferrers and Burhnam since then,. but few poeple know about them.
• Someone who attended such a meeting at Burnham Station, said she was the only one of the twenty or so people present, who was a commuter.. Unfortunately, commuters are their own worst enemy. The people who use the train once or twice a month to go shopping tend to turn up to meetings more than the commuters who use the trains daily.
• A last train that is non-stop would be nice, but I think the highest priority is getting some more trains going up the branch, so I'm a bit less inclined to ask for direct trains, when there are more pressing issues. I think we need one, or preferably two more trains per day.

On Friday 1st October I was sitting in a glass booth at the head of the platform of Stratford station waiting for the last train to connect with the branch line (22.07) Sadly, for me, I missed this train as it was formed of only 4 coaches and I wasn't made aware of this, so didn't realise the train was at the other end of the platform. Consequently I had to pay the 'licenced bandits' to get home.

Maybe, at a later date, those additional 15 minutes being added to the final train for Southminster would have saved me an unnecessary expense.

Just a thought though, why don't we have a through service as the last train. It could stop at additional stations between Stratford and Wickford but continue on to Southminster. This would help all those who have been out late that worry about changing at Wickford.

One last thing, having read the Doctors comment on his meeting in July. Who are these people that are consulted by the train operators. Are they 'regular' commuters or just people that live near to the branch line?

I ask this because I know of an individual who used to meet with the train operators and didn't have to commute to work. This person was heard to state 'what a good service there was'. I feel we need to draw attention to the shortcomings and not pat the operators on the back for the service we should be getting. Hopefully the Doctor can confirm this is now the case.

Anyway, this is a great site. I'll be letting my fellow commuters know about it. Keep up the good work!

I think there are a few points we must all keep in mind, when making comments about the times of the trains on the new timetable.

• One Great Eastern will no doubt get a flood of letters complaining about the new times, but I don't think that such complaints will achieve very much – other than to let One Great Eastern know that there are a lot of unhappy commuters on the branch line (which is a good thing). Changes to the timetable are likely to please as many people as they upset. Some people work within 5 minutes of Liverpool St. For others, like me, the journey is 15-20 minutes, whereas my wife works some 35 minutes from Liverpool St. Some start work at 8, others at 8:30, and others at 9:00. Some have flexible working hours. Some people like to be in the office a few minutes before they start work to make a coffee etc. And as Jonathan Andrews pointed out, not everyone travels to/from Liverpool St.
• Having more trains will on average reduce the interval between trains. There seems a good argument for trying to get this. The gaps between evening trains (one hour) are excessive, and unnecessary. This I know effects those people working late in Oxford St shops, as well as those wishing to socialise later in the evening.
• There are practical problems with the geometry of the line, that does put a lower limit on the interval between trains (around 40-45 minutes), and does prevent two 12-carrige trains following one another, as they are too long to cross at Fambridge.

Whilst I don't claim to know all the answers, I do believe arguments about the timing of particular trains, based on the working hours of groups of individuals are not too useful. I think we have a far stronger case to argue for more trains, running later, with a reduced interval between them.

A significant reduction in the frequency of peak-period trains requires investment in new track, which will not be done by the train operating companies. Our MPs may be helpful in this matter, as they may be able to put pressure on the SRA to do this, or perhaps fund part of the cost from Essex County Council.

I’m glad to see a lot of people using the site. If anyone has suggestions for improvements, or corrections, please let me know.

The timetable offers significant improvement for me. Not all of us are London commuters: many seem to catch the branch line and change at shenfield. I usually catch the first one 0542(southminster) but will much prefer catching the direct 0610. My journey home varies but usually the 1619 (Shenfield) which connects with the 1722 at Wickford is my train. The 1650 will suit me perfectly. My only complaint is I wish more peak trains stopped at Shenfield.

Congratulations on a very useful site.

Thank you to bambi4thumper@@hotmail.com for pointing out how you can get information on the new Winter timetable. Despite numerous rumors of it being on the web, I have yet to find a copy, but the method suggested by bambi4thumper@@hotmail.com to get the data does work, so I have compiled my own copy which has been added to this site. I have not had chance to look at it carefully, so are passing no comment at this stage.

The last train leaving London is marginally later (as reported here before), but 15 minutes is too small a change I feel. As such, I have written to the Rail Passengers Council about the time of the last train. I wish others who feel strongly about this too would take the matter up with One, then with the Rail Passengers Council.

there are some MAJOR changes to the branchline timetables from Sun 12/12/04. here are the rush hour trains departing from southminster AM 5.30am (1 change)6.10am 6.52am 7.35am 8.17am liverpool st. PM 4.25pm(1 change) 5.15pm 5.54pm 6.42pm 7.38pm (1 change). 8.38pm 9.38pm 10.15pm (all changing at wickford) last train gets to southminster at 11.27pm

got this info from www.nationalrail.co.uk - plan a journey and put in the 13th december (monday)

Have any of you guys heard what the new timetable will be like? The SRA have written a new timetable which the One Railway will need to use, under their Capacity Utilisation Plan (Basically, Less trains on the mainline to allow for more Freight to go via the Ipswich Tunnel), and also less trains in general to improve performance in the event of delay.

So far, we've heard that the mainline is being cut to 2 Anglia (Norwich) services, 1 Anglia Peterborough/Lowestoft service, 1 Braintree, 1 Clacton and 1 Harwich.

Metro, 1 train per hour is being axed, and to make up for the loss, some Southend Vic services will stop at extra places, such as Ilford/Romford/Brentwood to make up for this...and the Southminster line will shuttle between Southminster and Wickford (Possibly just off peak).

Anyone know if thats the case?

1. Trains do not run frequently enough
2. The last train from London is far too early
3. Train fares are extremely high - over 3 times the cost of driving in to London
4. The trains are old, have no ventilation and are uncomfortable.

I drive the not inconsiderable distance from Burnham to Wickford, to avoid using the branch line. It costs me more in fuel and parking costs too, although I do save some of this on reduced rail fares.

• I don't need to worry about being back at liverpool St. at by 10 pm.
• I can get any number of trains bound for Southend Victoria. So leaving work a little late, or getting held up in the tube does not cause me much of a problem.

If the trains were more regular, and the last train during the week later, I would use the branch line. But until that happens, I'll continue to drive to Wickford.

I would like to add that there is no chance whatever of the Southminster Branch Line being closed. Some people have the feeling that it is only kept going by the Bradwell power Station. This is simply not true today. It is true to say that without the Bradwell Power Station the line would probably have been closed in the past, but this is no longer a threat.

At a 'meet the managers' meeting held at Burham Station last weak, I spoke to one of the managers for quite a long period of time. He confirmed there is no risk of this, as there are sufficient users to make the line economic. So even though Bradwell Power Station has closed, and eventually there will be no more trains carrying used fuel rods, this will not cause the line to close.

Some do feel reluctant to complain, feeling we are lucky to have the line running. This is just not true. The Southminster Branch Line is economically viable.

As you will have realised, I'm unhappy about this line. We pay more for our tickets (a ticket between London and Southminster is 300 pounds more than between London and Southend. Our last train from London is only 10 pm, whereas there are 12 Southend Victoria trains leaving Liverpool St. after 10 pm, spaced an average of 13 minutes between them. We need more trains.

I hope that by providing this site, and this guest book, people will comment about the line. Perhaps share information, and ideas on how to get things improved. The line is used a lot. There is no risk of it ever being closed now, as there are far too many users. We must try to get a better service.

All the best,