Ever Thought The Trains Ran For Your Benefit...?

Do you ever wonder when travelling by train that perhaps you’re something of an inconvenience getting in the way of the railway being run efficiently?  Any early birds commuting from Manningtree as I do will be familiar with the sometimes-cancelled 05:54. (Currently 05:53 to account for the autumn leaf fall timetable, which mysteriously sees the train run more on time anyway, so why not stick to that time all year round?) I digress.

There is sometimes an announcement, usually on a cold morning, that the 05:54 has been cancelled due to something or other.  We are then resigned to catch a slower service that is due to leave some 15 minutes later calling everywhere, but more importantly, with uncomfortable seats.  Often though, before this slow lumbering service arrives, the ‘cancelled’ 05:54 speeds through the station with its tail on fire.  Not only does it not stop at Manningtree but it usually skips Colchester too.

What could possibly be the point of running a service but cut out certain stops, leaving passengers stranded at those stations and, I know for a fact, catching out passengers already on that train who want to get off!

Well there is a theory to explain all this.  Not one the train company will ever admit to of course but well accepted by us commuters as being the case anyway.  Train journeys are considered to have arrived on-time if they arrive at their destination within 5 minutes of their advertised time (10 minutes in the case of Inter City services).  Note – this only applies to the destination, not the intermediate stops.  So, if there’s a chance of getting the train to its destination ‘on time’ and therefore keeping the reliability statistics looking good then why not take steps to speed it on its way.  One way is, where possible, to get other trains to pull over out of the way but then there’s the danger of making those trains late too.  The alternative of course is to avoid making all those annoying stops that slow everything up. 

That way, the train arrives on time – albeit half empty – and the statistics look good. 

A similar tactic is sometimes employed in the evening.  My train is supposed to go to Ipswich but often lately when it has been running a bit late they decide to terminate it at Colchester.  The commuter theory is that a train that doesn’t even reach its destination somehow scores more brownie points than a late one.  And of course the return trip is less likely to be delayed to its destination, skewing the figures.

All theory, of course.  But a good one.  And you thought they were running the trains for you?

Published in The Gazette "On The Rails" 14th November 2014