removing 'Express' from their name.
I really am starting to sound like a young Victor Meldrew but quite
frankly the whole National Express East Anglia' train service
experience is quite shocking.
Every time this month I've boarded a train this month I've experienced
a delay, which is quite frankly annoying when trying to run a small
business. These days I'm actually having to factor in enough time in
my journey planning for National Express to screw up.
Wednesday morning I borded a train jouney to Norwich which included a
change trains stop further down the line. That's fine, but when
National Express East Anglia terminate the train one stop before I'm
due to get off of it and change that kinda screws things up. The
thing that has annoyed me the most is that nobody has bothered to tell
the passengers what is going on. I had a gentleman sitting a few seats
behind me who was missing a connection and will be an hour late for
his meeting, to my right I had a really nice elderly lady confused and
concerned as she has no idea how the change in services will get her
to her destination.
I on the other hand arrived in Norwich 20 minutes behind when I should.
It has been over 10 years since the railways were taken over by
private companies. On this track since them we've had 'First Great
Eastern', 'Anglia Railways', 'One Railways' and now 'National Express
East Anglia' as the brand running the line.
Come on guys, get Network Rail to fix the signals, refresh the track
where it needs it and to stop this constant 'damage to overhead wires'
problem replace the trains with Diesel locomotives or put a power rail
in like the trains run on in Kent.
I'm sick of delays, and all that I see as visible changes in the last
10 years is repainted stations, rebranded and resprayed carriages and
increased ticket prices.
Bring back 'First Great Eastern', yes they were bad, but atleast they
invested in brand new trains with air conditioning so you could sit in
some kind of comfort during a delay.... Those trains since National
Express took over (under the 'One Railways' brand are now dirty, and
the carriages with toilets in them absolutely stink.
What we need is choice. Network Rail should own the train that pulls
carriages that are owned and opperated by different companies,
those carrier companies will then be competing for passengers to
board their carriages on the same train. A 12 carriage train should
have three companies selling seats in four carriages each, all boarding
from the right portion of the platform for their particular carriage.
The railways are a monopoly still, and the east anglia line needs
heavy investment.
