Train Life: Chapter 9

So far, our Train Life has focussed on the cast of fellow commuters. But we all know there is much more to the daily commute to that. Oh so much more to delight - no, let's be realistic - so much more to annoy you!

In my case, one of the biggest frustration is when they cancel trains. It feels like my train is cancelled on a fairly regular basis, for a variety of reasons, some of which seem more understandable than others. Here are just some of the actual reasons Scotrail has given over the years for cancellations on my line:

• signalling issues
• congestion on the line
• train fault
• shortage of train crew
• broken down train in front of this one
• damage to overhead wires
• electricity failure
• slippery rails
• lack of available train units/carriages
• dangerous conditions due to wind
• dangerous conditions due to snow 
• dangerous conditions due to high temperatures
• flooding
• late running engineering work
• trespassers on the line
• passenger taken ill on the train ahead
• power failure
• unscheduled maintenance
• cow on the line (so much for all of those people who tell me I don't live in the countryside).

There were more, but I think that gives an indication of what we're dealing with. In fact, I'm sure you've heard even more than that. Basically, it gives about a three week window when weather conditions make it possible to run trains without cancellations. My train is more picky than Goldilocks - no, today is too wet, too windy, too snowy, too hot!

And of course, when they cancel, you'll only get compensation if you're delayed 30 minutes or more. So you could be delayed 29 minutes each way, every day for a working week and get nothing - that's 290 minutes, or just under 5 hours. Thankfully, that doesn't really happen but I have had more than one week when I was delayed 6 or 7 journeys out of 10. And when any single delay is under an hour, I get under £2 in compensation for that journey. It really feels more like an insult than any sort of compensation. You couldn't even get a decent coffee for that.

So as an experiment, I'm going to keep track of my trains over the next month to calculate the amount of delays and cancellations. Watch out for updates on that!