This new Met timeTable...

Now you know how it feels.

THC

Generalising of any sort is pointless as there are pockets of any classification you care to come up with to be found everywhere. I dare say that commuters too, from whichever station, are an egalitarian lot. That's why labels like "toffs" and "snobs" are unhelpful; they appear borne of envy and smack of a divisive "us" and "them" mentality. When it comes to using the Metropolitan line, or Chiltern Railways for that matter, we are all one class.

THC

Chesham is currently very equal - buried under about 5 inches of snow

..on everyone being one class..



So the differences were phased out, then? 'Mayflower' and 'Galatea' going in '39, yes?

<off topic>
Funnily enough, I think that an exact date can be gained for the GN&C, as we know exactly when the transfers took place.
</off topic>

it depends which part of chesham,there's some nice countryside around there,however like everywhere it does have its problem areas'.to know an area well you have to live in and not visit and form an opinion.unfortunately there's trouble everywhere these days and no area is immune,the worrying thing with chesham is the decline of the town center,you need to travel if you need shops this is the reason partly i came here,people it those areas tend to use their cars to do most things the terrain isn't suitable for any long term alternatives such as cycling.

i wish when i was there i used the train more then the car,if the train was withdrawn there would be complaints here there and every where,people should use it more and not take it for granted as just being there.

It has started to pick up again recently - the pubs are one by one closing down and we've had a WHSmith open this year along with an M&Co (only been in there once) about 3 years ago.

Things are still not right, five watford branch trains now finish at harrow in the morning peak, instead of central London.

HOPELESS.

question is, what is the reason for the 5 Watford trains terminating at HOH in the morning peak?

WTT 329 uses half a train less than WTT 328, so it's not as if a greater burden has been placed on fleet to turn out more trains each day!

I realise that age/reliability issues are bound to impact upon the A60/62 fleet the older they get, but what has that to do with the 'This new Met timetable'?

What, when we have deadman's well-informed opinion to go on ;D

I think I am in a position to more or less detail what is going on and why, and when it will all be fixed.

Forget the weather last month, forget the stock shortages and forget the Chesham shuttle more or less sums up where we are at now. None of those factor in the current "plan of action." The couple of things that do factor are as follows - and as all reality shows worth their salt tell you, these are in no particular order ;D

The first major factor is that there is the slightly altered timetable. Let's face it, south of Harrow it's hardly changed from the previous one, and north of Harrow all we have seen is a few tweaks and the through Chesham service introduced. The timetable - at least on paper - is fully workable. But it has to be able to withstand some other factors. The tweaks to enable both the through Cheshams, and the pathing of S-stock test trains have lead to a few shorter than previous lay-over periods at termini. This naturally impedes the amount of recovery that can be achieved, meaning that small delays are currently taking longer to recover from than previous.

The other major factor is that the large majority of crew reliefs have been moved to Harrow. The station has recently become the hub of the Met, and anything that affects Harrow will now affect the entire line. Harrow's impact on the current timetable is twofold:

a) Crews that pick up trains at Harrow are not necessarily Harrow crews. They may have travelled from Rickmansworth or Neasden - so still technically drivers based at those depots, but without any pick-ups at their home depots. This means they have to be allowed travelling time between their "home" and "work" locations. A driver from Neasden will normally have plenty of trains to choose from to get them from there to Harrow. However for a Ricky driver, with a much less frequent service, one cancellation at a critical time could mean the driver reaching Harrow long after the train they were meant to pick up has gone. On top of this, a few of the duties do not allow enough "overlap" should things run late. There are also a couple of duties which were written with the fully opened staff accommodation in mind, rather than the currently extended time it takes drivers to reach their trains.

b) Some of the members of staff now running the crew relief depot which is at the centre of the Met are not as experienced with the way in which the line operates than would be desired. This has been causing the odd problem, but has lessened greatly over the last week.

So how is the Met dealing with the problems?

The timetable is being operated as it is meant to be, but with some planned cancellations. The cancellations to the outsider will look like we're picking on Uxbridge and Watford customers. It wasn't meant to work out like that. The trains that are being targeted are those which have the most issues with recovery time and/or crew reliefs. They have been highlighted as the ones that were most likely to delay the rest of the service at some point due to the current issues, and have been removed to allow the rest of the service to operate freely.

The future?

Our service is under the microscope each day. Once it is seen that we are operating well on days where nothing else has happened (as it has certainly done so far this week) then the decision will be made to begin very gradually introducing the cancelled trains. Also, the duty sheet problems will be ironed out, and the staff operating the crew depot will have gained experience and will be assisted by extra (older) staff until they have got to grips with what is expected of them.

Management know they are suffering from trying to do too much too quickly. They know what they did wrong. But that has to be put in the past if we are to move on and get back to normal. The weather has "thawed" slightly and the stock shortage is no longer an issue.

Plan the crew reliefs and timetable months in advance ready for date x, but unfortunately due to several factors (not least the recession) the full facilities won't be ready until date y.

Amersham train nearly 20 minutes late at Chalfont this evening, preceding Chesham train 12 minutes late.

'Good service on the Metropolitan Line'

haha

Frustratingly, my usual 07:44 from Amersham is terminating at Harrow. Really annoying as I miss a connection. I can't use the alternative Chiltern services as they don't stop at Finchley Road. So (selfish mode) why cancel an Amersham service and run more Watford services who have more trains to chose from?