Reading Roars!

Another five days of rail travel over and I’m now enjoying the (beautifully sunny!) weekend. I found time today to participate in a Rail Crowding Survey handed to me a couple of days ago at Reading Station.

The survey began with the words:

Thank you for taking part in this survey on crowding on rail services in London and the South East. This research has been commissioned by the Department for Transport and is undertaken by MVA Consultancy, completely independent of your train operator. We are looking at people’s views and opinions on crowding on rail services and would greatly appreciate a few moments of your time to help us with this important study.

The survey proceeded to ask for details about the journey I was making when handed the questionnaire. It was the usual morning trek to London Paddington and I didn’t have a seat.

As I was unable to park my rear anywhere convenient (other than the floor), I was stumped by question 9:

What class did you travel in this for journey? (Please tick one box only).

The two options were Standard Class and First Class. I was technically in neither class, as I was in between carriages. I don’t believe there is any difference between First and Standard standing areas. I drew a third box, named it “Neither” and ticked it. Cheeky? No. I was asked for my opinion.

Question 16 asked:

How did you spend your time on this journey? (Please tick all that apply).

During my journey, I had Metro in one hand, a small umbrella in the other and my coffee was on the floor. I was switching my attention between Metro and the coffee cup that was vibrating during the journey. I didn’t put the umbrella on the floor as I didn’t want to dirty it. I ticked “Reading a book/magazine/newspaper”.

I wasn’t keen on the About You section either (the last section):

The information you provide will be used solely for statistical purposes and will remain confidential.

Eh? What statistical purposes? Question 37 asked if I was male or female. So what?

On the whole, however, I thought the survey was rather good. There were a series of questions presenting diagrams of two train seating areas and asking which option I preferred (Train A or Train B) based on the information provided (journey time, fare and percentage of seats occupied).

Now I’m hoping for a similar survey about the London Underground. Should be a crowd pleaser.

More train woes.  This morning my First Great Western train to Paddington crawled along the track at an average speed of 50mph, marginally faster than the speed of an Ostrich.  Choo choo! Just to compare, a new super-fast train was unveiled yesterday in France.  The AGV will cruise at a speed of 210 mph and was described by its train maker Alstom as the rail equivalent of the A380 “Superjumbo”.  We, too, have a jumbo: a jumbo mess resulting from rail privatisation.

Services between Reading and Paddington tonight were considerably slower still.  Due to a “fatality in the Burnham area” trains were either delayed or cancelled.  I was seriously contemplating catching the Heathrow Express to the airport then the Rail Air coach back to Reading. Eventually, I was allowed to board the 19:48 train two hours later than scheduled.  Two hours!

What will tomorrow bring?

Brazil is currently enjoying Carnaval. Our dazzling equivalent is the pancake race. Sadly, not everyone’s happy. One town not celebrating this year is Ripon, up North, whose race was cancelled because of (it is alleged) health and safety regulations. I experienced health and safety nonsense myself this morning, when travelling on a First Great Western train.

Stepping on the Paddington-bound train at 08:08, I was surprised to discover an entire coach without passengers. The lights were out, indicating a problem. That didn’t stop a couple of commuters joining the train, who immediately made their way into the carriage to occupy its seats - only to be stopped by an FGW staff member. We were not allowed to enter, we were told, because of “health and safety” due to the lights not working.

We were forced to stand instead. Somewhat bafflingly, this was not deemed a health and safety risk in itself.

As I expected, there were a couple of sardonic comments made by other passengers. No one, however, made the rebellious move of entering the Forbidden Territory. We’re far too polite for that, leading me to believe that this sort of grudging acceptance will take us nowhere. We, myself included, give in too easily.