Connex Whinger: 2006-02-12

Saturday, February 18, 2006

Summary 13-17 February

Attention Sir Topham Hatt: you've failed miserably to deliver a reliable service - how about getting Thomas, Gordon and a few of the others in to show you how it's done?

You've still only delivered 60% of my trains on time (by my realistic measure of within two minutes) since I started keeping stats. You've either failed to deliver a service at all, or it's been so late that it even misses your Orwellian standard of "on time", 17% of the times I've tried to catch a train. Put that another way - ONE IN SIX TIMES the train is either very late or doesn't show at all. Very few CEOs would survive anywhere else with such an appalling track record (groan!) how do you manage to do so?

Mon 13/02	Tue 14/02	Wed 15/02	Thu 16/02	Fri 17/02
07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14	09:37
17:38	17:49	17:49	17:27	13:42
Mon 06/02	Tue 07/02	Wed 08/02	Thu 09/02	Fri 10/02
08:49	07:14	07:14	07:14	N/A
17:49	17:38	18:24	18:01	N/A
Mon 30/01	Tue 31/01	Wed 01/02	Thu 02/02	Fri 03/02
07:14	09:24	N/A	N/A	N/A
17:49	17:38	N/A	N/A	N/A
Mon 23/01	Tue 24/01	Wed 25/01	Thu 26/01	Fri 27/01
07:14	07:14	07:14	N/A	07:14
17:38	18:01	17:49	N/A	17:07
Mon 26/12	Tue 27/12	Wed 28/12	Thu 29/12	Fri 30/12
N/A	N/A	07:59	07:29	07:14
N/A	N/A	17:27	17:17	15:45
Mon 19/12	Tue 20/12	Wed 21/12	Thu 22/12	Fri 23/12
10:04	07:14	10:32	07:29	07:49
18:01	18:01	N/A	19:35	N/A
Mon 12/12	Tue 13/12	Wed 14/12	Thu 15/12	Fri 16/12
07:14	07:14	N/A	N/A	N/A
18:12	17:49	N/A	N/A	N/A
Mon 05/12	Tue 06/12	Wed 07/12	Thu 08/12	Fri 09/12
07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14
17:49	18:50	18:01	N/A	17:07
Mon 28/11	Tue 29/11	Wed 30/11	Thu 01/12	Fri 02/12
07:14	07:14	07:14	N/A	07:14
18:35	18:35	18:35	N/A	17:49
Mon 21/11	Tue 22/11	Wed 23/11	Thu 24/11	Fri 25/11
07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14	10:47
17:49	17:27	18:01	17:38	18:01
Mon 07/11	Tue 08/11	Wed 09/11	Thu 10/11	Fri 11/11
08:49	N/A	N/A	N/A	08:49
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	18:12
Mon 31/10	Tue 01/11	Wed 02/11	Thu 03/11	Fri 04/11
07:14	N/A	07:14	07:14	07:14
17:38	N/A	17:38	17:27	17:49
Mon 24/10	Tue 25/10	Wed 26/10	Thu 27/10	Fri 28/10
07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14
17:38	17:38	17:38	17:38	17:07
Mon 17/10	Tue 18/10	Wed 19/10	Thu 20/10	Fri 21/10
07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14
17:49	18:24	17:38	17:17	18:12
Mon 10/10	Tue 11/10	Wed 12/10	Thu 13/10	Fri 14/10
07:14	07:14	07:14	N/A	07:14
18:12	18:24	17:38	N/A	17:38
Mon 03/10	Tue 04/10	Wed 05/10	Thu 06/10	Fri 07/10
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	09:49
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	17:38
Mon 26/09	Tue 27/09	Wed 28/09	Thu 29/09	Fri 30/09
N/A	07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14
N/A	17:38	18:01	18:01	18:24
Mon 19/09	Tue 20/09	Wed 21/09	Thu 22/09	Fri 23/09
07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14	06:59
16:57	N/A	17:38	18:01	N/A
Mon 12/09	Tue 13/09	Wed 14/09	Thu 15/09	Fri 16/09
07:14	07:14	07:14	N/A	07:14
17:27	17:38	17:38	N/A	18:50
Mon 29/08	Tue 30/08	Wed 31/08	Thu 01/09	Fri 02/09
07:14	07:14	07:14	N/A	07:14
17:27	17:38	18:12	N/A	N/A
Mon 22/08	Tue 23/08	Wed 24/08	Thu 25/08	Fri 26/08
07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14
17:38	17:38	17:38	18:01	17:27
Mon 15/08	Tue 16/08	Wed 17/08	Thu 18/08	Fri 19/08
07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14
17:38	17:38	17:49	17:38	17:38
Mon 08/08	Tue 09/08	Wed 10/08	Thu 11/08	Fri 12/08
07:14	07:14	07:14	10:17	07:14
18:01	17:38	17:38	17:49	17:38
Mon 01/08	Tue 02/08	Wed 03/08	Thu 04/08	Fri 05/08
07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14	09:24
17:38	17:38	17:49	17:38	N/A
Mon 25/07	Tue 26/07	Wed 27/07	Thu 28/07	Fri 29/07
N/A	N/A	07:14	07:14	07:14
N/A	N/A	17:27	11:42	18:24
Mon 18/07	Tue 19/07	Wed 20/07	Thu 21/07	Fri 22/07
06:59	07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14
17:38	18:12	17:38	17:38	16:27
Mon 11/07	Tue 12/07	Wed 15/07	Thu 14/07	Fri 15/07
07:14	06:59	07:14	07:14	07:14
18:01	17:38	17:38	18:50	18:01
Mon 06/06	Tue 07/06	Wed 08/06	Thu 09/06	Fri 10/06
07:14	07:14	N/A	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Mon 30/05	Tue 31/05	Wed 01/06	Thu 02/06	Fri 03/06
08:39	07:14	07:14	06:59	05:40
17:49	17:49	18:12	18:24	18:12
Mon 23/05	Tue 24/05	Wed 25/05	Thu 26/05	Fri 27/05
07:14	07:14	N/A	07:14	07:14
17:38	18:24	N/A	17:49	17:38
Mon 16/05	Tue 17/05	Wed 18/05	Thu 19/05	Fri 20/05
07:14	12:47	06:59	N/A	07:14
17:38	17:38	17:38	N/A	17:38
Mon 09/05	Tue 10/05	Wed 11/05	Thu 12/05	Fri 13/05
07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14
18:01	17:38	18:01	18:12	18:35
Mon 02/05	Tue 03/05	Wed 04/05	Thu 05/05	Fri 06/05
07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14
16:37	17:38	17:38	17:38	18:50
Mon 25/04	Tue 26/04	Wed 27/04	Thu 28/04	Fri 29/04
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	09:11
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	17:38
Mon 18/04	Tue 19/04	Wed 20/04	Thu 21/04	Fri 22/04
07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14
17:49	17:38	17:38	17:38	17:38
Mon 11/04	Tue 12/04	Wed 13/04	Thu 14/04	Fri 15/04
07:14	07:14	07:14	N/A	07:14
17:38	17:27	17:27	N/A	19:35
Mon 04/04	Tue 05/04	Wed 06/04	Thu 07/04	Fri 08/04
07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14
17:38	17:38	17:38	17:27	17:38

Friday, February 17, 2006

Fri 17 February - Motor Show...

I'm having the day off today to take my son to the motor show. Maybe I'll get one of these to drive into the city every day and just forget about the trains...

Call me a glutton for punishment, but even on my day off we go into the city on the train. We catch the 09:47 and it pulls into Flinders Street just over three minutes late - once again proving that the problems are not resticted to peak hour trains. After a few hours of ogling we return on the 13:42 and it's pretty much on time.

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Thu 16 February - A bit of fat...

I never really noticed before, but there's a bit of fat in the timetable that explains something that's been bugging me for a while. Often the 07:14 train pulls into Ripponlea a minute or two late, but generally we disembark around 07:28, which is the scheduled arrival time.

Today I happen to glance at the platform clock at Balaclava and it's 07:17:30 - the scheduled time is 07:15. In theory we're over two minutes behind. Yet it's 07:28:30 when we pull into Flinders Street - on time.

The answer is that there's an extra minute or two in the timetable. Outbound journeys to Ripponlea are either 12 or 13 minutes, while inbound are either 14 or 15 minutes. Just an extra bit of padding to avoid the penalties. Add these couple of extra minutes to the five minutes and 59 seconds that still counts as "on time" and you have a buffer of just a whisker short of EIGHT MINUTES up your sleeve before you're penalised for being late!

How long before 16 minutes counts as "on time"? I'll give it five years. So in 2011 when the 17:27 pulls in 16 minutes past its scheduled time, as it does today, that'll get a big tick in the Connex log book (or maybe in the PDP-11's database, they're bound to still be running) for another service satisfactorily delivered. And I can also bet, that just as today, there will be zero announcements to tell us where the hell the train is as we stand on the platform wondering and the departure time of the following train rapidly approaches. Pathetic Sir Topham.

Wednesday, February 15, 2006

Wed 15 February - Not the worst...

Sam kindly highlighted a very succint article by none other than the legendary Ben Schneiders yesterday - click here to read it. Seems the Sandy line was not the worst performer in January - commiserations to the Alamein line!

As Daniel Bowen of PTUA fame pointed out "There's been month after month lots of cancellations. It's high time that Connex and the Government took steps to actually fix it instead of making constant excuses."

While I might not agree with the PTUA's approach to fixing our problems, on this occasion I almost agree with Mr Bowen - except he doesn't go far enough. It's time for Bruce "Sir Topham Hatt" Hughes to make way for somebody who can do the job. And it's time that weasel Batchelor stepped down from his position too.

Anyway, the 07:14 is on time.

Get to the station in time for the 17:49 and the monitor on platform 8 reassuringly tells us that the next train from there will be the 17:49. Better than the last couple of evenings. But as we walk along the platform it updates to show the 18:01 is next. Uh oh. A few curses are uttered, not just by the Connex Whinger, and then it suddenly changes back to show the 17:49. Trouble is, once that's happened you're left wondering if it'll show - and as we get closer to the departure time we start to steel ourselves for the inevitable no show.

But, to our surprise, it pulls in with about a minute to spare, as per yesterday. And we leave a bit late, as per yesterday. And we get to Ripponlea about three minutes late.

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Tue 14 February - Valentine's Day...

Happy birthday Mum.

I wonder if I should send a dozen red roses to Bruce Hughes? Maybe he'll be more responsive to my suggestions on how to improve his model railway!

The 07:14 is pretty much on time this morning and manages to avoid dumping us on platform 10... bonus.

Hit Flinders Street in plenty of time for the 17:49. Just as yesterday, there's a train sitting there on platform 8 and the monitors on 8 and 9 are blank. This time the doors are closed and the train is empty. Eventually they announce the front two carriages will form the Williamstown train, the rest of the train slinks off towards Spencer Street... er Southern Cross. Why are they subjected to a two-carriage train during peak hour? How would they all fit in? One of life's Connex mysteries.

Ours pulls into platform 9 with a minute to spare. We leave a minute or so late.

Monday, February 13, 2006

Mon 13 February - All aboard...

I finally set up the train set for my son over the weekend. (It's a Marklin Z gauge set, very small!) He's got the basics of how to operate it properly, a la the Japanese approach. This weekend we'll work on the Connex approach - the train will keep breaking down, it'll be delayed or cancelled for no obvious reason, and he won't tell anybody what's going on!

The 07:14 is more or less on time this morning although we get dumped on platform 10 for some reason. What a mess - I'm sure they'll get it sorted before the Commonwealth Games though...

Arrive at Flinders Street this evening and there's a train on platform 8 but the monitors are blank. I'm about to hop on and they announce that the train on platform 9 is a Williamstown train. But there is no train on platform 9! This is repeated a few times over a couple of minutes, until it's suddenly changed to the Williamstown train is on platform 8. Half the people pile out of the train, looking around in a slightly bewildered way, wondering where the Sandy line train is if this isn't it.

A fellow passenger questions why they don't tell us what's happening to our train when there is obviously some confusion. We both have a whinge about how utterly hopeless Connex is in keeping passengers informed.

A train slips in unnanounced on platform 9. Once bitten twice shy... very few passengers board the train. The monitors remain blank. The announcer confirms it's the 17:38 to Sandy and we all pile in. We're three minutes late at Ripponlea.

Sunday, February 12, 2006

Summary 6-10 February

Connex still seems to be struggling to deliver and seems to be back to the bad old days. Over January you could possibly cut them some slack because it's the holiday period, but the rest of Melbourne is back to work now, so that doesn't really cut it. Mrs CW found an article in the local Leader newspaper wherein Andrew Cassidy, the Connex spokesman, claimed there had been "significant improvement" on the Sandy line. Given we have more cancellations than any other line, I'd suggest there was plenty of room for further improvement yet!

Red is unchanged at 17%, orange at 23% and green at 60%. Still a long way from the target.

Mon 06/02	Tue 07/02	Wed 08/02	Thu 09/02	Fri 10/02
08:49	07:14	07:14	07:14	N/A
17:49	17:38	18:24	18:01	N/A
Mon 30/01	Tue 31/01	Wed 01/02	Thu 02/02	Fri 03/02
07:14	09:24	N/A	N/A	N/A
17:49	17:38	N/A	N/A	N/A
Mon 23/01	Tue 24/01	Wed 25/01	Thu 26/01	Fri 27/01
07:14	07:14	07:14	N/A	07:14
17:38	18:01	17:49	N/A	17:07
Mon 26/12	Tue 27/12	Wed 28/12	Thu 29/12	Fri 30/12
N/A	N/A	07:59	07:29	07:14
N/A	N/A	17:27	17:17	15:45
Mon 19/12	Tue 20/12	Wed 21/12	Thu 22/12	Fri 23/12
10:04	07:14	10:32	07:29	07:49
18:01	18:01	N/A	19:35	N/A
Mon 12/12	Tue 13/12	Wed 14/12	Thu 15/12	Fri 16/12
07:14	07:14	N/A	N/A	N/A
18:12	17:49	N/A	N/A	N/A
Mon 05/12	Tue 06/12	Wed 07/12	Thu 08/12	Fri 09/12
07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14
17:49	18:50	18:01	N/A	17:07
Mon 28/11	Tue 29/11	Wed 30/11	Thu 01/12	Fri 02/12
07:14	07:14	07:14	N/A	07:14
18:35	18:35	18:35	N/A	17:49
Mon 21/11	Tue 22/11	Wed 23/11	Thu 24/11	Fri 25/11
07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14	10:47
17:49	17:27	18:01	17:38	18:01
Mon 07/11	Tue 08/11	Wed 09/11	Thu 10/11	Fri 11/11
08:49	N/A	N/A	N/A	08:49
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	18:12
Mon 31/10	Tue 01/11	Wed 02/11	Thu 03/11	Fri 04/11
07:14	N/A	07:14	07:14	07:14
17:38	N/A	17:38	17:27	17:49
Mon 24/10	Tue 25/10	Wed 26/10	Thu 27/10	Fri 28/10
07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14
17:38	17:38	17:38	17:38	17:07
Mon 17/10	Tue 18/10	Wed 19/10	Thu 20/10	Fri 21/10
07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14
17:49	18:24	17:38	17:17	18:12
Mon 10/10	Tue 11/10	Wed 12/10	Thu 13/10	Fri 14/10
07:14	07:14	07:14	N/A	07:14
18:12	18:24	17:38	N/A	17:38
Mon 03/10	Tue 04/10	Wed 05/10	Thu 06/10	Fri 07/10
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	09:49
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	17:38
Mon 26/09	Tue 27/09	Wed 28/09	Thu 29/09	Fri 30/09
N/A	07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14
N/A	17:38	18:01	18:01	18:24
Mon 19/09	Tue 20/09	Wed 21/09	Thu 22/09	Fri 23/09
07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14	06:59
16:57	N/A	17:38	18:01	N/A
Mon 12/09	Tue 13/09	Wed 14/09	Thu 15/09	Fri 16/09
07:14	07:14	07:14	N/A	07:14
17:27	17:38	17:38	N/A	18:50
Mon 29/08	Tue 30/08	Wed 31/08	Thu 01/09	Fri 02/09
07:14	07:14	07:14	N/A	07:14
17:27	17:38	18:12	N/A	N/A
Mon 22/08	Tue 23/08	Wed 24/08	Thu 25/08	Fri 26/08
07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14
17:38	17:38	17:38	18:01	17:27
Mon 15/08	Tue 16/08	Wed 17/08	Thu 18/08	Fri 19/08
07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14
17:38	17:38	17:49	17:38	17:38
Mon 08/08	Tue 09/08	Wed 10/08	Thu 11/08	Fri 12/08
07:14	07:14	07:14	10:17	07:14
18:01	17:38	17:38	17:49	17:38
Mon 01/08	Tue 02/08	Wed 03/08	Thu 04/08	Fri 05/08
07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14	09:24
17:38	17:38	17:49	17:38	N/A
Mon 25/07	Tue 26/07	Wed 27/07	Thu 28/07	Fri 29/07
N/A	N/A	07:14	07:14	07:14
N/A	N/A	17:27	11:42	18:24
Mon 18/07	Tue 19/07	Wed 20/07	Thu 21/07	Fri 22/07
06:59	07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14
17:38	18:12	17:38	17:38	16:27
Mon 11/07	Tue 12/07	Wed 15/07	Thu 14/07	Fri 15/07
07:14	06:59	07:14	07:14	07:14
18:01	17:38	17:38	18:50	18:01
Mon 06/06	Tue 07/06	Wed 08/06	Thu 09/06	Fri 10/06
07:14	07:14	N/A	N/A	N/A
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Mon 30/05	Tue 31/05	Wed 01/06	Thu 02/06	Fri 03/06
08:39	07:14	07:14	06:59	05:40
17:49	17:49	18:12	18:24	18:12
Mon 23/05	Tue 24/05	Wed 25/05	Thu 26/05	Fri 27/05
07:14	07:14	N/A	07:14	07:14
17:38	18:24	N/A	17:49	17:38
Mon 16/05	Tue 17/05	Wed 18/05	Thu 19/05	Fri 20/05
07:14	12:47	06:59	N/A	07:14
17:38	17:38	17:38	N/A	17:38
Mon 09/05	Tue 10/05	Wed 11/05	Thu 12/05	Fri 13/05
07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14
18:01	17:38	18:01	18:12	18:35
Mon 02/05	Tue 03/05	Wed 04/05	Thu 05/05	Fri 06/05
07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14
16:37	17:38	17:38	17:38	18:50
Mon 25/04	Tue 26/04	Wed 27/04	Thu 28/04	Fri 29/04
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	09:11
N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	17:38
Mon 18/04	Tue 19/04	Wed 20/04	Thu 21/04	Fri 22/04
07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14
17:49	17:38	17:38	17:38	17:38
Mon 11/04	Tue 12/04	Wed 13/04	Thu 14/04	Fri 15/04
07:14	07:14	07:14	N/A	07:14
17:38	17:27	17:27	N/A	19:35
Mon 04/04	Tue 05/04	Wed 06/04	Thu 07/04	Fri 08/04
07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14	07:14
17:38	17:38	17:38	17:27	17:38

: Name: Connex Whinger; Location: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

An extract from my first post best sums up what this is all about.

"Perception is reality" was one of the many glib phrases my ex-boss used to regularly use. Well my reality is that I have never had a full week of the train that I want to catch running on time. Let me rephrase that somewhat inelegant sentence - I don't believe that of the ten scheduled trains that I would wish to catch in any given week, all ten have ever run as scheduled. Ever. In over four years of commuting on the Sandringham line, my perception is that at least one train per week is either delayed or cancelled.

That's probably a pretty bold call, so to turn my perception into reality, I plan to keep a diary for a while and we'll see how often Connex can deliver me a full week of reliable services. Yes, I know that's a little self-centred, but isn't that the whole point of blogging?

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Connex Whinger