We’ve had some crappy days on the trains lately. Last night I was on the 19h02. I could have been on something much earlier, but a tree fell down on the line and blocked it. Not the train company’s fault, of course, but annoying nonetheless. The upshot was hordes of people at Liverpool Street waiting for trains, and just as many at Shenfield waiting for a shuttle bus to take them on to their destinations.
When we did get back to Chelmsford there were no ticket inspectors in evidence. The barriers were wide open and they’d been replaced by police in fluorescent jackets, no doubt to discourage any rioting.
Tuesday was a day spent working from home. Not through choice, but because of a fatality on the line near Stratford. That’s code for suicide. Again not the fault of the train company, but the broken down level crossing that scuppered the rest of the afternoon pointed to lack of investment in the infrastructure.
Last week, on the 9th, there was a fault on a train in Norwich and problems with the signals between Norwich and Diss, which made me late in the morning, for the second day in a row.
How can a daily journey of 35 miles be so difficult?
