It appears that the annual travelcard price anomoly has been 'fixed'. Annual from Southend to London has now been increased to £3,100 (from £2,980). Price from Wickford and all other stations back to Prittlewell now reduced by £68 to £3,060.

Also all waiting rooms and toilets reopened at Wickford station.

With the Southminster train now departing from Wickford, people should not be stranded at Shenfield on a regular basis. Hence the point made by the "railway insider" on Thu January 13 2005 at 15:23:56 GMT has come true. I still don't accept his account of what happend on the 5th January this year at Shenfield, with the not very helpful "Steve" at Shenfield though.

There's obivosuly one or more poeple who post messages anonymously to this guest book who work on the railway (most likely 'one' employees). It's very useful to have your comments.

It sounds as if someone has got the wrong end of the stick regarding the SRA's Community Railway Development Plan (Of which the Southminster Line is classified as one) Full details of which can be found by clicking that link, where it stresses that community railway isnt about replacing trains by buses, but reducing the costs involved in the maintenance of the infrastructure. (i.e as its only a branch with very little freight they can cut costs by cutting maintenance).

Also One are contracted to run all their current lines until their franchise expires.

I recently had a look at the web site of one's parent compant National Express Group. Under "Our Company - Group Overview" they set out their "four key values" for the group, number four states in part "We are a people business. People talk to us - we listen"

As one seem determined to ignore their parent's values perhaps it is time to change the direction of attack. Instead of complaining to one (and getting either no reply or standard garbage responses) why not try complaining to :-

Incidentaly all the talk about Tim Clarke is irrelevant - the power behind the throne at one is his number two, who is known affectionately throughout the company as The Weasel.

Nice to know that Mr Whittingdale has been assured that the line is safe, however we must all remember that it was his party and their blind doctrinare stupidity that gave us the dogs breakfast of a railway that we have to endure today. (Not that I hold a brief for any other political party - the rest are just as clueless)

Regarding the number of passengers permitted on a train there is no legislation whatsoever. You may be interested to know that you are unlikely to get much support from the Strategic Rail Authority. Currently there are massive problems with overcrowding on parts of the Virgin Cross Country system of which the SRA are fully aware. However, even though they are directly responsible for the franchise (Virgin Trains run it under an annual management contract to the SRA) they steadfastly refuse to let Virgin hire extra trains to relieve the overcrowding.

With the Government's determination to put ever more housing in the south east problems with peak hour overcrowding can only get worse. How any legislation could ever control overcrowding on trains is extremely problematical.

There has been a major points failure. A train carrying the legal maximum number of passengers arrives at (say) Shenfield roughly 30 mins late. 47 people travelling in five of the eight carriages get off. There are 827 waiting to get on. Calculate
a) The number of platform staff needed to ensure compliance with the law,
b) The length of time taken to comply,
c) The number of trains held behind the train above due to b),
d) The number of police needed to quell the ensuing riot.

How we might get 'one' to take notice

Here's a suggestion which might just cause 'one' to think a bit more about our line, and perhaps allow 'one' to put a decent case to Network Rail, for increasing the number of passing points, so getting us a more frequent and relieable peak service. I'd be interested in comments to this plan of action. Anyone with any legal background that can help? Any experts on safety or the rail industry?

When bus replacments are used at Wickford when the rail service goes wrong, they are often overcrowded at peak times? (The same applies to morning buses too). By overcrowded I mean the number of standing passengers clearly exceeds the maximum permisable number stated on the bus.

That may be illegal. This may well affect the insurance of the bus, although I am not a lawyer and have no legal training at all.

• Photograph the bus, showing the number of standing passengers, with the station in the background. Lots of people have phones with cameras now, although personally I don't even know how to "text" and forever fight my phone!
• Photograph the notice on the bus showing the maximum permisable number of standing passengers.
• Ask the staff at Wickford (or wherever) to provide the excess passengers (including you) with a Taxi, stating you are willing to share the Taxi with the maximum legal number in that Taxi, but not willing to get on an overcrowded bus. If the staff refuse, get a Taxi anyway and pay for the Taxi.
• Request a refund from Customer Services by letter, stating that if they refuse to pay, you will seek legal redress and copy the photographs to the Health and Safety Executive, the Ministry of Transport or other legal body that might be more appropiate - I have not reseached who this would be, but a search of the web should find the most appropiate body. The do so if necessary.

This might allow 'one' to put a good case to Network Rail for expanding the number of crossing points, so bringing a more relieable and frequent peak-time service.

Most large companies are very aware of the problems safety issues can create, and whilst 'one' can tend to ignore our complaints about the poor service, they might have more difficulty if safety issues are bought to their attention.

As regards closing this line, or replacing it by buses, Tim Clark, the MD of 'One' told John Whitingdale MP on the 11th December 2004, that one regards the service as a key stategic service and has absolutely no plans to close the line. Read it on John Whittingdale's web site

Can you really imagine how many buses it would take to move the commuters currently using the line in the peak time?

The people who represent one at these meetings are all earnest and hard working, but in management structure terms are at the bottom of the heap and seem to have no ability to improve matters. One even wonders if one's senior management take any notice of what transpires at the meetings.

The Meet the Management sessions are just another example of one's ability to weasel it's way out of the commitments that they entered into when awarded the franchise. Harking back to the much maligned days of B R you could find the equivalent of Tim Clarke spending two hours on the platform in the morning peak slugging it out with the commuters. What chance of Tim ever putting his head above the parapet?

Regarding the post by Anonymous on 01/06/05 re rumours about the closure of the branch. There could be a grain of truth here, the Railways Act that was rushed through Parliament just before the election makes closure of lines and substitution by bus services much easier. With the Rail Passenger Committees emasculated to the point of vanishing and the Strategic Rail Authority being subsumed into the Department of Transport future poilcy will be fully in the hands of civil servants. The Act facilitates closure proposals and makes it almost impossible to oppose them.

Privatisation was supposed to make the level of taxpayer support for railways decline, instead the level of support is now 3 to 4 times higher than in the last days of B R and there is immense pressure from the Treasury to get costs under control.

Noted your comments Ray. So how do One propose to resolve the over crowding issue on the 17.17 by making our train available to Billericay commuters when the 17.15 is always crowded in the first place. Who actually plans these changes and based upon what data.

Was caught on the 17.54 last Friday and was interested to be told that the bus that was waiting for us at Wickford had been there for some time i.e. they knew that the train would be terminated at Wickford. Therefore, it was disappointing that this message was not relayed to the passengers stuck on the train outside Billericay for what seemed an age rather than telling us that "we should be on the move soon". We are not fools and considering the weather was rather impressed how good-natured everyone seemed to take this news. Funny event was finding that the bus driver did not his way to SWF so had to be directed!

It seems to me more logical to run the Southminster at 1717 and let the 1715 go to Southend , with the 1717 calling at Stratford for those Southminster people needing to connect.

However, after the "Keystone Cops" type fiasco last friday 27/5 evening what else can we expect.

Shame the manager never came to the meeting! This in bold is added by the webmaster. If you mean the scheduled for the 19th May 2005, the manager was ill, so I think we can excuse that fact. She had in fact sent an email to John Perry of the ESSCRP asking him to let me know so it could be put on this website, so this can be excused.

Still no answer about the plus one card...

Has anyone else heard anything along these line's?????

I'm not aware of any further information about the one for the 25th at Burnham, so have marked it as 'subject to confirmation'.

1. Removal of weekend +1 ticket - One company policy - currently with marketing developing new scheme. "one" day.
2. Charges for parking on Saturday - One company policy - implemented across the board.
3. Sunday timetable - i.e. almost hour to London with extra stops. Network Rail engineering works.

• Thursday 19th May 2005 at Woodham 0600-0800 hrs
• Wednesday 25th May 2005 at Burnham 0600-0800 hrs

I personally think the whole of the road need attention, and this is just going to be yet another bodge job that lasts for a few years. But we shall see. Anyway, more to the point, the implications for those who drive to Althorne Station are important in the short term.

I heard recently that they credited people's accounts on the existing Inter-City Mainline scheme instead of debiting them.

Also, I can't imagine the new scheme will incorporate completely free weekend travel like the old First Great Eastern. It will probably be like the C2C scheme where you have to purchase an additional ticket (admitedely for a reasonable £2.50).

It seems the answer from "One" is that they have introduced a new system and the only way we can use this is to give up our season tickets and pay additional fee's or increased fares to join the scheme. The scheme also requires a direct debit to be made whereas the majority of annual season ticket holders will be making arrangements with their employer for season ticket loans !

The answer to get information requires the season ticket holder to take active steps. Why are "one" not taking active steps to keep their customers informed!!

If others value the price of their properties, they should consider that having dumped cars and fly tipping around an area is likely to reduce the value of your house, so it makes economic sence to do your best to get them removed asap.

The other rubbish dumped along with the fridge, and the glass door from the fridge are still there, but it does not look quite the eyesaw it did once do.

I'm not taking any bets on how long it will be before another gets dumped though.

There have been several fridges dumped in Station Road in Althorne in recent months, along with some other rubbish. Station Road is owned by Network Rail, not the local council and is the only road giving access to Althorne Station.

One fridge was cleared by a local resident, but he left the other rubbish - it is not his job to remove it of course.

A second fridge was removed by someone else (no idea who).

A third is still there, several months after being dumped, and several months after the land owner has been made aware of it. I don't think this is a domestic fridge, but an industrial one, with the front door all being glass (now smashed of course).

I'm attaching a picture of couple of pictures of it, although you can see them at http://www.southminster-branch-line.org.uk/guest-book/guest-book.php#fridge too.

Is there any chance anyone can do something about this?

• The fridge was restricting the use of one of the places where vehicles can pass on the road, although someone has pushed it back into a field a little now. You can see from the photo where is was originally dumped with all the smashed glass, but it has been moved back a few feet.
• is clearly a safety hazard with broken glass.
• It is clearly corroding now, having been left out all winter, so there is a risk of the refridgerment escaping - if it has not already.

John Perry of the Essex and South Suffolk Community Rail Partnership has contacted Network Rail about this, and whilst he has received a response from Network rail saying: Regarding dumped material we have arranged clearances from time to time and will continue to do so when reports of such a requirement is received. no such removal has taken place.

I have today contacted Network Rail myself by Telephone (08457 114141) and gather this will be passed onto the "London and South East Community Relations Team". I offered to email pictures, but apparently Network Rail do not have an email address - I'm sure they do, but just refuse to give one. Neither can I get an email address for their London and South East Community Relations Team.

I have for several months now been trying to get the fridge removed without success.

Can anybody do anything to hurry the process along?

Perhaps the press can do something to highlight the issue, and perhaps do something to discourage fly tipping.

I realise John Whittingdale my MP is busy now, but perhaps if he is re-elected, he could take this matter up.

• An eyesaw
• Partially blocks one of the passing points which makes it possible for larger vehicles to pass - such as the rail replacment buses. (The fridge was formallly dumped nearer the centre of the road, where the glass is all smashed, but someone has pushed it towards the field a bit so it does not obstruct traffic)
• Is bad to the enviroment. The fridge is obviously rusting, so it seems likely futher corrosion will eventually lead to the escape of greenhouse gases.

"Will you kindly add to you Web page the following dates etc for Meet the Manager meetings arranged by 'one'

Please pass on this information, as I doubt it will be well publicised. Let's hope some commuters will turn up with some constructive comments.

Avantix the larger, newer black touch screen devices:

which can issue gate compatiable tickets

I have asked the ticket examiners if there is the ability to save popular tickets, but I am told not on the machines they have. It just seems so silly to not have that ability. Or perhaps it does exist, but none of them were shown how to use the facility. Certainly none of the ticket examiners use such a feature, so it is not just one individual that makes hard work for himself.

Let's hope the situation is resolved. I for one get fed up with buying exchange travelcards only to have to queue up at Liverpool St to exchange them.

Looking at the present ticket machines, it seems they are poorly designed. One would expect commone tickets (a daily return to Liverpool St, a Travelcard, a Travelard with a Network card etc) could be programmed into a memory, so only one button push is needed - much like most of us use one button to dial phone numbers we regulary use.

All the ticket examiners I speak to so new machines are at Wickford, but the staff are awaiting training. Today I learned the person doing the training is off sick.

One other thing just to warn rail users, Drivers union are meeting with One, over some issues about the way they are treated, and RMT have balloted their members (The Guards) over an issue with the new Avantix ticket device.

• It's really good news to hear Gwen at Burnham-on-Crouch Station has received an award for outstanding service. Although I have only met her on a few occasions, so don't know her well, I gather from others that she does do an excellent job. Well done Gwen!
• One of the ticket examiners said to me the other day that some commuters were telling him new timetables were available on the internet. He requested I print them off, as he was not aware of them. However, I can't find any new timetables, and even after entering future dates into the National Rail Enquires web site (the trick that worked before to find changes ahead of offical annoucements), I am unable to find an changes occuring within the next 3 months - the maximum period in advance the web site will accept.

  Does anyone else know of any timetable changes published anywhere?

• Am I the only one to feel that increasing the number of blue badge disabled car parking places from 1 to 3 at Althorne Station car park is excessive? It is good to see the needs of the disabled being taken seriously, but I think in a car park that can only hold about 30~33 cars, allocating nearly 10% for disabled drivers is excessive, especially given the car park is often full.

  For medical reasons (epilepsy) I am unable to drive myself, so from a purely personal point of view it makes no difference to me at all. But I do feel that overall 3 places is excessive in such a small car park

  As far as I can assertain, from asking in the uk.legal newsgroup, there is no specific legislation about the number of disabled car parking places there should be, so I don't believe that 3 is a legal minimum.

  I'm sorry if this offends any disabled people, but if you feel three places are necessary at Althorne station, please let us know why. I suspect increasing the number to 3 is likely to be counter-productive as commuters are quite likely to think the number is excessive and just ignore them.

• Do other users of Althorne Station feel the car park is too small? With extra land owned by Network Rail beyond the car park, expanding it should be quite easy.
• I noticed some children playing by the fridge dumped in Althorne car park yesterday. Clearly if a child got trapped, he/she could suffocate. I have reported this to Maldon Police, who said they will contract the British Transport Police about the issue. I've also emailed onerailway (not that they they ever reply to emails from me), as well as John Perry of the Essex & South Suffolk Community Rail Partnership (ESSCRP).

This talk of old trains reminds me of a conversation I had with a commuter a couple of months back.

I was saying that I feel it's unfair that refunds on season tickets are determined by relieabilty and puntuality at no station on the branch line - the stations with the monitoring points are published somewhere, but there are none on the branch line.

I said there is no doubt that the nature of the single track line does mean when problems occur, their effect is likely to be high, since trains have no way of passing each other. Whereas if a train breaks down on a line with multiple tracks, it is possible to move a train onto another line. We see this often at Wickford, when Southend bound trains pass the Southminster train stuck at Wickford by moving the Southend train onto the line normally used by London bound traffic.

The lady bought up a very valid point. She said if you have an issue that makes problems more frequent or worst (such as the single track line), these should be monitored more not less often. She said should one of her staff be performing poorly, she does not say to herself "X is always pretty poor, so I'll ignore their peformance" but will monitor their peformance more often, and do what she can to improve their performance, by giving them more help to address the reasons for their poor performance. I do likewise in my job. She said if the single track line creates problems, then:

• The peformance of that line should be monitored more closely.
• Special efforts made to increase relieabilty and puntuality, such as by using newer (and presumably more relieable) trains.

She said Network Rail should be audited by the National Audit Office (NAO) and that the report should be public. Sure enough, she was right and full report is online. The comments from that report from the NAO are interesting to say the least. Here are a few snipits

Over the last few months, a number of the rush-hour morning & evening Southminster to Liv St branch line trains have comprised of very 'tatty' unliveried stock (two white, one plain dark blue) which have less seats than the normal trains (only 4 across instead of five) and are very dirty, with a number of broken seats. <> Also, recently a passenger was locked in a toilet on one of these trains when the door handle broke off. The driver had to force the door open to release him.

I intend speaking to John about the work of the ESSCRP, although my initial thoughts are that the ESSCRP is aimed at small community projects, and off-peak travellers, not commuters, who bring in the vast majority of the money for 'one'. There does not appear to be a similar group working for commuters who use the train on a daily basis.

I have just discovered another con from One Railway. They now charge for parking at most stations on a Saturday. Now £1 all day. It used to be free at weekends. If you do drive to Wickford everyday, I would suggest against parking in the station car park, as this costs £610.00. For £370.00 you can park in the Sommerfield car park (controlled by Basildon District). A saving of £240. And a loss of £610 for One.

By the way, don't forget to claim for both journeys if you were delayed yesterday - there is no automatic refund anymore.

I was doing a search on the web, and found something with the title 'one' announces timetable changes from Monday 7th February. It WAS at the location http://www.onerailway.com/services/about/newsdisplay.asp?id=671 but (for me at least) is no longer there - I get an error from the web server. However, Google helpfully kept a cache, so I have downloaded this. Basically one say:

So they seem to accept they made a mess of things, but there are no changes for our line. A full copy of the article archived by google can be found here

There should be more 'Meet the Managers' arranged for May this year. The actual dates will be advertised on local stations about two weeks before they are due.

Now May seems about the most inappropiate time 'one' could possibly choose.

• The current timetable ceases in June, and the new one starts. So we can reasonably assume that by May, there will be no chance for customer feedback to have any effect on the new timetable.
• Since the new timtable will not have started, commuters will be unable to comment very much on its implications for them. We might well by then know the new timetable, but it is easier to make convincing arguments about a timetable you are using, rather than one you like or dislike on paper. In fact, although last time we were able to get the new times ahead of offical publication (by putting advanced journeys into the National Rail Enquires web site), it's unlikely many will know about the times anyway.

Despite my best efforts, 'one' still seem unwilling to put the dates of these meetings on the web. So if anyone gets to know about them, send me the details, or post them on here

It's also clear 'one' are to a large extent constrained by Network Rail, and so are not always to blame when trains are terminated, or severly delayed for no good reason. But Network Rail seem unwilling to answer questions from commuters, so we are in a catch-22.

I don't know what the 'incident' was as I only herd from the driver it was 'an incident'. But perhaps I missed the reason, so I'm not denying one was given and that perhaps it was outside the control of 'one'.

Had 'one' delayed the passengers on the train towards London at Fambridge it would have inconvenienced them. However, the number involved would have been quite small, as few would be travelling from Fambridge to Wickford at that time of the evening. Instead they delayed hundreds at Wickford, which does not seem too sensible.

My suspicition is that this is either due to one of two reasons:

• Bad planning - 'one' should really plan how best to solve a set of problems and I find it hard to believe what happened last night was the best way to solve the problem.
• Statistics. Had they delayed the London bound train at Fambridge I suspect this would have been recorded as a delay. Whereas by delaying the Southminster bound train even further made no difference to their statistics. It was already late (perhaps not their fault) and so delaying it further made no difference to them.

I had a Taxi booked at Althorne Station (I can't drive, as I'm epileptic). The Taxi could not wait, so I had to go onto Southminster and wait a little while for it there. By the time I got home, I was an hour late. I realise the train was not an hour late, but for me personally it meant I got home an hour late. So I was not too happy last night.

After being delayed 15 minutes at goodmayes due to an incident (which i have no problem with as it was outside of their control) we finally arrived at woodham ferrers 33 minutes late. this is another example of "one" having no regard for us large group of weary branch line commuters paying over the top for our season tickets as well documented on this site.

i have also asked them to consider re-timing the 1854 to 1852 swapping it over with the 1852 witham that makes its first stop at shenfield as every night without fail we chase it down the line and sit around outside shenfield waiting for it to clear off - in turn often making us late on arrival woodham despite the scheduled journey time of this train being increased from 41 mins (the old 1816) to 43 minutes. It seems a very small change to make but i wonder if i will ever hear from the elusive customer services department. i have also asked them when / where the next "meet the managers meeting" will take place on the branch

The Burnham/Althorne Annual fare is 9.9% higher than One Southend and a staggering 21.7% higher than C2C Southend.

Burnham/Althorne Daily fare is 20% higher than One Southend and 84% higher than C2C Southend, these are unbelievable figures.

In my reply from the Rail Passenger Committee, Guy Dangerfield, he stated that "The reality of the situation is that fares charged have much more to do with what the market will bear". This can literally be interpreted as rail companies can charge what they like knowing full well that passengers really have no choice other than to pay up. If you live in a rural area and work in central London then there are really no other alternative methods of commuting other than by train, this is in terms of being time and cost effective. People living in major towns have the option of possibly more than 1 train line or coach companies that offer a commuting service to London.

• c2c
• Onerailway
• Stanstead Express
• Gatwick Express
• Silverlink Trains
• Wagn
• Wessex Trains
• Midland Mainline
• Plus others !!

In a letter sent to a fellow commuter 'one' have said the disparity in fares between Southminster and Southend Victoria was due to the need to compete with the Southend Line into Fenchurch St. But now both c2c and 'one' are part of the same group, c2c and 'one' will be competing with themselves.

I did not know until it was too late, but the acquisition of the Anglia frachise was refered to the Competition Commision. Here's a submission by the RPC about National Express getting the franchise. It would have been useful to get some commuters to comment to the Competition Commision too. However, it is now too late, and I guess we did not know what a mess 'one' would make of the Southminster Branch Line, with now less trains per day.

One have no competition along the Branch Line, so they can afford to charge higher prices, which is basically what they said in that letter to Chrisine Drew.

Basically 'one' have Southminster Line passengers over a barrel. I suspect the same will happen with Southend ones over the next few years, although they may choose to keep the prices different, so that the competition commision (or anyone else) can't say they are not competitave.

• Suggestions for questions - and the choice of answers
• Answers in the same format as surveys done by companies for 'one'
• General comments on the idea.

I seem to remember a couple of years ago, when the planned expansion of SWF was still on the drawing board, a 'transport analyst' had done a feasibility study of the effect of a passing loop at Woodham or Battlesbridge and had come to the conclusion this would be of no benefit in increasing frequency. His conclusion, if I remember correctly, was that a doubling of the line all the way to Burnham was the only solution.

I never understood this since, surely, a loop at Woodham would enable extra trains to run and terminate solely at Woodham, thereby going some way to alleviate the problem.

There are meetings (known I believe as 'meet the manager') but they suffer two serious problems:

• They are very poorly publicised. I had some information from someone yesterday who knew one of the very senior managers personally. I won't give any more details, but they said he/she would not tell them! There is a big secret about these.
• When these meetings are scheduled, they seem to be taken over by non-commuters. One lady said she went to one such meeting and was the only commuter out of 20 people present!

• Asked one, and been told 'the idea would be passed to their communications department'. Nothing happended.
• Made a formal complaint to the Rail Passengers Council about this matter, but only got a response that 'one' would consider it putting the infomation on the web. Again no commitment to do anything and as far as I'm aware, nothing happened.

Would a few other peope ask 'one' to make a firm commitment to advertise these better via posters and the web? Say you know others have asked (don't mention me), but you want a firm commitment, not a 'maybe'. You can eamil 'one' at customer.services@onerailway.com. If the response is 'we will consider it' then then make a formal appeal complaint to the Rail Passengers Council asking the issue. If your MP is John Whittingdale, then contact him too. Details are on his web site or you can e-mail him. (With an election coming soon, he might be more keen than ever to do more). Doing the above should not take too much effort of your part. But if enough people request the chance to make their views known verbally, 'one' will be under some pressure to do this.

I think many people, whatever their views, would like the oppotunity to discuss them with the managers. The surveys that are done do not ask questions of relavance to our line. The councilers consulated rarely if ever use the line.

If anyone can find out the dates, locations and times of any meetings I will put them on this web site. But currently this site gets around 32 visitors/day, which must be a lot less than the 'onerailway' web site.

Thats right, and there is no need to fear closure of any other railway line in the UK currently with a regular service, even one of the most loss making lines in Wales has recently been given £5Million investment.

Some of the smaller local lines in the One area as well are soon to recieve upgrades.

Of course on this 2 tier system there are 2 ways to make a loss To the TOC and to Network Rail, and in the case of the TOC, its not an issuse, they are one of the few TOCs that make a vast profit.

The of course theres the cost to Network Rail who are making losses on most lines which arent full mainlines, anyone will tell you this.

Anyway, the next step is to see the outcome of the SRAs community railway scheme. (which the line is a part of) If you are unaware of this check the SRA site, its a scheme, not about closing railways, but cutting costs by reducing maintenance and such.

Doubling the branch would improve puntuality, as there is no doubt the nature of the single-track line means when problems occur, they tend to be worst than on other lines with two tracks. (I have that in writing somewhere, but might not have it on the web). I would guess that making two tracks along the whole length would cost more than adding two extra passing places. But nobody seems to be looking at these issues.

I'm not aware that anyone (this includes Essex County Council, the Strategic Rail Authority, Network Rail, the Rail Passenger Council or 'one') is researching whether extra loops are necessary. I asked John Whittingdale MP a few months back if he was aware of anyone researching that - but he was not.

But there is no doubt there is going to be a lot of extra housing at Battlesbridge. The roads are being built, but the railway infrastructure is not, so rail commuters can expect to see a more crowded service, unless they do something constructive about the problems we face.

BTW, can I dispell two myths

1. There never has been two tracks along the line. There were passing places at several stations (evidence can still be been seen at Woodham Ferrers and Burnham on Crouch). Trains could also pass at Althorne, although they usually did not.
2. The line is profitable and there is no reason it will ever be closed - it does not need the service from Bradwell Power Station to keep the line open, although this may well have been true many years ago. Tim Clarke, the Managing Director of 'one' confirmed that to John Whittingdale, details of which you can see on John Whittingdale's website. There is also a copy of an email John Whittingdale sent to me about this, which is on the guest book here. So there is no need to fear closure, so no excuse not to do something about the poor service we receive.

Do us ALL a BIG favor. Put in an 'appeal complaint' to the Rail Passenger's Council. Click this link and make the appeal complaint, stating your letters are not being properly answered, but that the answers are the same as those given to someone else asking different questions. The more people that let 'one' get away with standard replies, ignoring questions, the more they will do it.

If 'one' realise that by failing to answer questions properly they waste a high proportion of their staff's time, then they will tell their staff to ensure questions are fully answered.

Of course, in some cases it is reasonable for a standard reply to be given. If numerous passengers ask 'why cant there be a 20 minute service in the peak?', then there is a good reason for 'one'to send the same reply to everyone. They can't do a 20 minute service, even if they wanted. The reasons are technical and easy to explain. There is no need to send everyone an individual letter in such a case. However, 'one' abuse this. If the cost of doing this outweighs the cost of answering the question properly the first time, then they will answer it properly the first time.

The reply I got from them was interesting as it did not actually address the points I raised and was exactly the same reply word for word as that a colleague had received when he raised differant questions about another part of their service (sic). When I pointed this out to them they sent a second standard response(same as colleague). I feel we are being treated as mugs. Good luck with the site David.

I was not one of the first commuters to enter the 'information office' (as you call it), but arrived at the 'Office of No Information' on platform 3 a few minutes after realising the 2008 Southminster train had departed. When I arrived, the only staff member visible in that room was 'Steve'. There was no obvious evidence that 'Steve' suffered the abuse you claim. I also find it hard to believe that nobody would have mentioned this in that office, the platform or the next Southminster train, if it was witnessed by anyone else. Steve never claimed he had been physically abused, which is what you are claiming.

Later on a second 'one' employee arrived, holding numerous newspapers. He never claimed anyone had assorted his colleague. Since it was clear this 'Steve' was not going to be helpful, I asked his colleague, but he was no more helpful. When I asked his role, he said he was a 'Platform Assistant' but then went on to say 'but this is not my platform'.

You posted your comments anonymously. You don't say whether you are Steve, a friend of his, a railway employee, union member, commuter, or what your role is.

Whilst your advice to get the 1934 Southend Victoria train rather than the 1938 Ipswich train might be well intended, it could be a dangerous thing for passengers to do unless we get this officially from 'one'. The earlier train is not listed as a connecting train from Liverpool St, and makes one extra stop (Romford). Its scheduled departure time from Shenfield (2000) is only 1 minute earlier than that of the Ipswich train, which is scheduled to depart at 2001. If the connection listed on the poster boards and the web site is delayed then 'one' should make arrangements to get us home. Had the Southend train been delayed and not the Ipswich train, then commuters would probably be in a weaker position to request 'one' lay on buses (as a letter I received, said should have happened this evening).

I personally much prefer to change trains at Wickford than Shenfield, as at least from Wickford getting a Taxi or bus is more practical if things go wrong. Also, the staff are more helpful. My experience that night at Shenfield was:

• 'Steve' was unhelpful
• The 'Station Assistant' was unhelpful (Someone remarked that carrying newspapers was all he was fit for!)
• Another member of staff was deeply resentful of one's management.

BTW, I telephoned 'one' about this incident. They have actually written to me twice (this was a mistake I am sure). I will put copies of the letters on the site later.

Following this incident, which was reported immediately to railway management, customer services and train planning, discussions are now (I believe) underway with the aim of starting the 2008 from Wickford rather than Shenfield. The connection would be off the 1934 Southend service from London, as there is more possibility of holding the branch at Wickford where it would not interfere with so many other services - platform 4 at Shenfield is required immediately after the departure of the 2008 for another service, preventing holding of the Southminster train.

Until such a change is discussed and hopefully implemented, I would recommend passengers to use the 1934 service from London to Wickford anyway, as there is a much higher chance of catching the Southminster train from that service than waiting an extra 4 minutes in London for the Ipswich service. If the Southminster service is changed to start from Wickford, the 1934 will become the latest available service to depart London on for the branch anyway.

Why not copy the letter (preferable) or email to your MP, so he is aware of your specific concerns? (You can find your MP here if you don't know his contact details.)

The next option (after contacting 'one') is to contact the Rail Passengers Council if the response from 'one' is not to your satisfaction. Whilst the RPC have no power over 'one' to force them to do anything, they can try to persuade them to put a longer train.

See some other ideas on my web site.

If you don't mind, post a copy of any letter/email you send and any reply you get.

Would anyone else be willing to donate some money so I can order some more? If enough people will donate a few pounds, I'd like to order 5000 (about 45 pounds in total). If so, see here for how to do so.

Or (better still) will someone else order 250 free cards (postage is less than 4 pounds) and distribute them around. It will be better if more than one design is around. Unfortunately 250 cards will not go very far, but I'm not personally willing to pay for 5000 given I already pay all the costs of this site from my own pocket.

It would be nice to make people aware of the site on some of the early trains. I never travel before 8am. I distributed about 3500 leaflets in June/July, but think a business card might be a better idea, as people might tend to keep hold of it and pass the information on to someone else.

PS, what do people think of this design? What would you add or remove? Having a picture of a train would be nice, but I'm no graphic artist and in any case using your own images adds to the cost.

In the morning, I get off at Wickford and get on an overcrowded train to Stratford. I only get a seat if I'm right by the doors.

My evening journey is totally unworkable. It is almost impossible for me to get the 5.53 at Stratford,(the Jubilee takes too long and comes in too far away from platform 10 at Stratford and the DLR is either too slow or not on time) and I have missed the connection at Wickford 8 days out of 10. If everything is running on time, I reach Stratford between 5.49 and 5.52 and am then running like a mad person from platform to platform.

Inevitably, everything is not on time and I have the choice of an hour's wait at Stratford or Wickford or getting a lift home. I opt for the latter. As I have already paid for my journey to Burnham, I feel that ONE should compensate me for all the extra money we are having to spend on petrol because of their unworkable, ludicrous timetable!!

Lastly, I would like to invite a member of ONE's staff to travel with me for a week!

I totally agree with David's comments regarding the 1938 from Liverpool St delayed: Southminster train leaves on 5/1/2005 comment.

Whilst I think that we all understand there will be some delays and disruptions to our journeys, it is simply unacceptable to receive the beligerent, incompetent, incoherent and totally unhelpful customer service we received on Platform 3 at Shenfield. Steve (surname would not be provided), was totally out of his depth in trying to communicate with, what I witnessed, totally reasonable requests for information. Each response was incredulous. For example, what is your surname? (response: Don't have to tell you; who is your supervisor (response: don't know); can you call your duty manager? (response: I will when you lot go); surely you can escalate issues to a superior? (response: only if it is serious). Then after a short period hiding in the back office, pretending to make a phone call - he came back to the information desk (body language suggested he was in a very emotional state) and tried to replace a water canister in his water machine only to fail doing that properly with the result that water poured everywhere. The astonishing result of this was that he did not have to put up with being assaulted and he hot footed out of the office. If I had not witnessed this myself, I simply would not have believed that any organisation could employ such inept staff. Indeed, I don't know whether to commiserate with ONE if that is the calibre of people they have to work with, or lambast them for not providing better management, leadership and training (tongue in cheek - I know it is the latter!).

Seriously, David is right, we do need answers to what the policy is at Shenfield for trains running 2 or 3 minutes late (with clear confirmation that the Southminster service is a connecting train); and also we, as customers, should expect at least some level of competence at a customer service point and should be told whether indeed this occurence was a simple (if inconvenient) mistake or whether we can expect better information/service.

PS - I believe there are 2 Steves at Shenfield - to protect the innocent - this one had long hair!

Many commuters (myself included) were infurated last evening (Wednesday 5th Jan 2005) when the 1938 Ipswich train, which is supposed to connect with the 2008 Southminster train, was delayed. We arrived approximatly at Shenfield at 2010 - 2 minutes after the Southminster train was due to depart (2008). Hence we were stranded at Shenfield for an hour. This was totally unnecessary, as holding the Southminster train for 3 minutes would have allowed us all to make the connection.

I'm sure we would all like to show our appreciation for the ever so unhelpful customer service person (Steve, refused to give surname).

I know many people, swapped phone/email addreses with others on the matter, as Steve's attitude was just so unhelpful.

Following a telephone conversation I had with David, he suggests we try to get a Rail Users Group, with the aim of being involved in the decision making process. He is looking into this, to find out if such a group exists. Hopefully more will follow on this.

A quick check on the National Rail Enquiries Journey Planner does indeed show that this was supposed to be a connecting service - not that Steve cared at all really. This was calculated by assuming travel on Thursday 6th January 2005, but of course the times would have been identical for Wednesday 5th January.

Outward Journey times (from Network Rail's web site).

We should I feel try to sort out a few things.

• Why Steve was so unhelpful - did he go on a course to be as unhelpful as possible - refusing to make phone calls, claiming he had no phone, refusing to give out any telephone number other than customer services...
• What procedures are in place if a train is delayed by such a small amount as our train?
• What other arrangements will 'one' make in such a circumstance?