Only in britain
 

I noticed an ad in the Overground today - 93.55% of services arrived within
5 minutes of their booked time last month or whenever.

Are we supposed to be impressed? Its an abysmal statistic. In Japan the line
manager would have been sacked immediately if he hadn't already committed
hari kiri.

--
Spud

Only in britain
 

In message , at 12:16:24 on Tue, 16 Dec
2014, d remarked:
I noticed an ad in the Overground today - 93.55% of services arrived within
5 minutes of their booked time last month or whenever.

Are we supposed to be impressed?

Given that it's probably arrival at their destination only (which will
probably have an additional 5 minutes of recovery time added), then such
stats don't at all reflect the impact on the majority of journeys.

In Japan the line manager would have been sacked immediately if he
hadn't already committed hari kiri.

On the other hand, we don't want drivers ignoring speed limits and
signals, just to get to the destination on time.
--
Roland Perry

Only in britain
 

wrote:
I noticed an ad in the Overground today - 93.55% of services arrived within
5 minutes of their booked time last month or whenever.

Are we supposed to be impressed? Its an abysmal statistic. In Japan the line
manager would have been sacked immediately if he hadn't already committed
hari kiri.

Maybe on a Shinkansen. In my experience, the narrow gauge classic Japanese
railways are very slow and less punctual.

Only in britain
 

On Tue, 16 Dec 2014 12:31:03 +0000, Roland Perry
wrote:

In message , at 12:16:24 on Tue, 16 Dec
2014, d remarked:
I noticed an ad in the Overground today - 93.55% of services arrived within
5 minutes of their booked time last month or whenever.

Are we supposed to be impressed?

Given that it's probably arrival at their destination only (which will
probably have an additional 5 minutes of recovery time added), then such
stats don't at all reflect the impact on the majority of journeys.

In Japan the line manager would have been sacked immediately if he
hadn't already committed hari kiri.

On the other hand, we don't want drivers ignoring speed limits and
signals, just to get to the destination on time.

Which has indeed led to deaths in Japan:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amagasaki_rail_crash#Cause

Only in britain
 

On Tue, 16 Dec 2014 12:31:03 +0000
Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 12:16:24 on Tue, 16 Dec
2014, d remarked:
I noticed an ad in the Overground today - 93.55% of services arrived within
5 minutes of their booked time last month or whenever.

Are we supposed to be impressed?

Given that it's probably arrival at their destination only (which will
probably have an additional 5 minutes of recovery time added), then such
stats don't at all reflect the impact on the majority of journeys.

In Japan the line manager would have been sacked immediately if he
hadn't already committed hari kiri.

On the other hand, we don't want drivers ignoring speed limits and
signals, just to get to the destination on time.

No, but they could be slightly less tardy closing the doors. Wouldn't make
up 5 mins but it would help. A much bigger help would be replacing the 378s
with the much faster accelerating S Stock but obviously its too late for that
now.

--
Spud

Only in britain
 

On 16.12.14 13:22, Recliner wrote:
On Tue, 16 Dec 2014 12:31:03 +0000, Roland Perry
wrote:

In message , at 12:16:24 on Tue, 16 Dec
2014, d remarked:
I noticed an ad in the Overground today - 93.55% of services arrived within
5 minutes of their booked time last month or whenever.

Are we supposed to be impressed?

Given that it's probably arrival at their destination only (which will
probably have an additional 5 minutes of recovery time added), then such
stats don't at all reflect the impact on the majority of journeys.

In Japan the line manager would have been sacked immediately if he
hadn't already committed hari kiri.

On the other hand, we don't want drivers ignoring speed limits and
signals, just to get to the destination on time.

Which has indeed led to deaths in Japan:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amagasaki_rail_crash#Cause

Only in britain
 

On 2014-12-16 13:34:40 +0000, d said:

No, but they could be slightly less tardy closing the doors. Wouldn't make
up 5 mins but it would help. A much bigger help would be replacing the 378s
with the much faster accelerating S Stock but obviously its too late for that
now.

A culture of sloppiness appears to have developed in LM as well. I
noted that the delayed 1830ish MKC-Brum was at the platform for around
2-3 minutes while the guard faffed about and made an announcement he
could have made after departure, well after all the commuters had got
off.

Of course, you can run a punctual timetable with any rolling stock, you
just have to put enough slack in it. So as the stock is what it is,
the timetable perhaps needs more padding.

Neil
--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the @ to reply.

Only in britain
 

On 2014-12-16 23:05:26 +0000, Paul Corfield said:

Last time I was in Japan it was raining on arrival. There was a long
list of services and lines which were disrupted, suspended or with
delays. It felt like being back in London. ;-)

I have plenty of experience of delays in Switzerland, as well. Though
to be fair these are often caused by international trains, and
connections are often held. (This does often result in the entire
network picking up delays by the end of the day, as it does on DB, but
it does minimise standing around for 1h59 because you've missed your 2
hourly connection).

Neil
--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the @ to reply.

Only in britain
 

Paul Corfield wrote:
On Tue, 16 Dec 2014 12:16:24 +0000 (UTC),
d wrote:

I noticed an ad in the Overground today - 93.55% of services arrived within
5 minutes of their booked time last month or whenever.

Are we supposed to be impressed? Its an abysmal statistic. In Japan the line
manager would have been sacked immediately if he hadn't already committed
hari kiri.

Last time I was in Japan it was raining on arrival. There was a long
list of services and lines which were disrupted, suspended or with
delays. It felt like being back in London. ;-)

Don't believe all the public hype about Japan. It's good but it's not
perfect by any stretch of the imagination. The network is also
immensely complicated even with the aid of a reasonable amount of
English signage on the system.

As Boltar is afraid of flying, I don't think he's actually been to Japan
and seen what their railways are like in the real world. He assumes their
hype vs the reality of London. The UK also has a growing population, unlike
Japan, which brings extra challenges.

Only in britain
 

On 16.12.14 23:28, Recliner wrote:
Paul Corfield wrote:
On Tue, 16 Dec 2014 12:16:24 +0000 (UTC),
d wrote:

I noticed an ad in the Overground today - 93.55% of services arrived within
5 minutes of their booked time last month or whenever.

Are we supposed to be impressed? Its an abysmal statistic. In Japan the line
manager would have been sacked immediately if he hadn't already committed
hari kiri.

Last time I was in Japan it was raining on arrival. There was a long
list of services and lines which were disrupted, suspended or with
delays. It felt like being back in London. ;-)

Don't believe all the public hype about Japan. It's good but it's not
perfect by any stretch of the imagination. The network is also
immensely complicated even with the aid of a reasonable amount of
English signage on the system.

As Boltar is afraid of flying, I don't think he's actually been to Japan
and seen what their railways are like in the real world. He assumes their
hype vs the reality of London. The UK also has a growing population, unlike
Japan, which brings extra challenges.

Perhaps he took the train out to Vladivostok and took the ferry to Takaoka?

It's not impossible.