The earliest snow fall for years has caused travel misery for Greenwich commuters.
Train services to and from central London terminals have been badly affected by the adverse weather conditions.
Many passengers have complained that the problems with the disrupted train service have been compounded by the lack of reliable information. Twitter has been buzzing with angry commuters voicing their opinions with many pointing the finger at train operator, southeastern.
Information boards at some stations stopped showing train information yesterday, and southeastern’s website was providing different information to that found on the Network Rail website.
Twitter user, @Helstweets, tweeted: “No #southeastern trains going from #Greenwich this morning, and no staff at the station (at least at 0720)”
One passenger, @nairobiny, arrived at Maze Hill station this morning to find there was no “No trains, no staff, no info, no announcements.”
Southeastern came in for heavy criticism last time there was snow. In January of this year, local MP Nick Raynsford accused southeastern of not having learned the lessons from snow-related disruption in February 2009. He returned to his theme today when he told Greenwich.co.uk:
“Every year SouthEastern Railway assures us that they are doing their utmost to keep trains running during the worst of the winter weather. And in this case, the severe weather had been forecast several days in advance, so it is disappointing that so few trains have been running. This has caused immense inconvenience to passengers and I will be raising with them as a matter of urgency.”
Southeastern have published a contingency timetable that will remain in operation throughout Wednesday and Thursday.
Keep an eye on 853 blog for more detailed coverage of southeastern’s response to the adverse weather.
What have your experiences of travelling on the train been like since the snow came down?
When is somebody from the council going to stand up and explain why their efforts to grit the roads have been even worse than last year? Everybody knew that the show was coming and I even saw gritting trucks operating last Sunday, so not having the equipment or materials can’t be the excuse (I bet they’ll try this). This can only be the result of very poor management, or worse, the work of some bloody minded town hall mandarin who wants to demonstrate to people what happens if public services are reduced as a result of budget cuts. I’m not holding my breath and expecting the Council to explain in Greenwich Time this cock-up that affects people’s lives more than 99.99% of other stories that the paper runs.
Weirdly when I went out the info boards were not working but the “online departure boards” website were running and proved to be completely accurate.
Strange that a smart phone outdoes a purppose built information system.