Mersey Rail fined £1m for worn out wheels

[hstudent]

http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/0...name_page.html

What happens to the money from fines?

Are some of them going towards the £800m bill for St Pancras station? (probably not in this case as it was Merseytravel that issued the fine)

Maybe instead of fines train companies should be forced to invest a certain amount of money in improvements to rail services or stations in the area where the problem has occured?

[John_142]

Well the thing that caused the exessive wheel wear in the first place was the lack of invest ment in New Rolling Stock and Merseyrail trying to save money by Building There own Wheel shead with a lade to do the wheel maintence them selfs.

But as one of the reasons for the exess wheel wear was that the lade had been setup wrong which Shoulden't readlly happen and probably woulden't have happend if the staff where trained correctly with the right attitude to the job and with the right encouragemnt from the Managment.

Another reason for it was the problem of over crowding of the trains which causes problems with the wheels as they are only able to carry so mutch weight and if the train is over loaded then you extra wear on the tyres mutch like if you overload your car or Lorry etc.

The age of the Rolling Stock is another reason that it happend as the chassis are only again able to carry so mutch weight and again if a train is over loaded as the majority of the time they are on Merseyrail then you get exess wear on other componets of the train such as doors motors etc and the track.

So the heart of the problem is the over crowding but Merseyrail (Serco /Ned Railways) won't learn from this untill one day they will have no trains servicable thats when they will learn that over crowding trains does not save money.

The Mersyrail Class 507/8 units are in desprate need of replacment with brand new Roling stock built to six cars instead of three and coupled up to make six on odd services then the over crowding will reduce and even if they open the Line upto Edge Hill and Hopefully Beyond Edge Hill to Tue Brook and Edge Lane etc this would give the Southport Line a 8 to 10 Minute Service and take a bit of presure off the main service Between Southport and Hunts Cross.

[swisstrains]

Originally Posted by hstudent

...........................
Maybe instead of fines train companies should be forced to invest a certain amount of money in improvements to rail services or stations in the area where the problem has occured?

Good suggestion.
The way things are at the moment you can guarantee that those most inconvenienced by the problems (the long-suffering passengers) won't benefit from the fines.

[John_142]

the long-suffering passengers) Iam one of those even today i was rater anoyed when i got to Orell Park Stn affter strugling up the hill on my bike and only a few minutes before the train and fighting the adverse weather conditions on a bike i was very upset to find that the train the 11.37 Depature to Liverpool Central was canceled due to a tecnical fault.

No prizes fro guesing what the technial fault was as i bet that it was 99.9% the doors.

People packed against them iat the peak times of the day scquashed in like a sardene in a tin, prams taking up the bike space etc.

Its no wonder the fine was so mutch but if i was Mersytravel i would not of fined them i would have stripped them (Serco / Ned Railways) of the franchise without doubt.

Also ther is no reason why Merseytravel can't run the Merseyrail frnachise them selfs as an in house contrac this way we would have a strong chance of reciving new trians which as i have said previousley the 507/8 Units are in
Desprate Need of replacement 30 years is too OLd for a Suburban EMU or DMU despite refurbishment.

Serco / Nedrailways will not learn by just being fined becuase it's only Money to them and the people at the top Don't know what it's like to be packed in like a Sardeen on a 507/8 as when they travel by train they obisoley go 1st Class.

And as they are more Buisnes People than Railway people running it thats why it's in a mess but yet they seem to be have the money to Build new Stations.

But it's like the whole country a compleate and utter shambles due to no good goverment too mutch mucking about going to war fro no good reason or evednce.

[Macmatt]

when they travel by train they obisoley go 1st Class.

The management travel by train? ( :P )

[hstudent]

It seems to be the norm for PTEs to coordinate trains, buses and trams rather than running them as it happens in Merseyside, Greater Manchester, West Yorks and South Yorks, probably as well as many other PTE areas. However, I think in Warrington buses are run and managed by the local council and in Cheshire a limited number of yellow school buses are operated by the council, while in other areas yellow buses are operated by companies such as First. So if local councils can run buses then there's probably no reason why PTEs can't run trains.

[John_142]

Exactly it just takes them to apply / tender for the contract them selfs to make it fare.

The way they could garuntee the contract is to put in a zero tender then they don't have to pay out anymoney to run it which would give us new trains on Merseyrail Norhern & Wirral Lines at least if Merseytravel where to do it.

As this is what i would do if i was in charge of Merseytravel strip serco of there franchsie for the way they treat passengers and the fallen reliabilty and the fact that the wheel problem was there own silly fault and take on the Merseyrail franchise on a zero tender.

Which with the money given to Merseytravel by the tax payer buy some new trains built up six cars with one car on each unit 4 dedicated Cycle Spaces 2 dedicated wheel chair spaces and 2 pram spaces all on one side of the carrage andwith bench seats on the other no tip up seats in the areas of the spaces.

The spaces on the layout of the 507/8 units will be simmler but as said one carrage for cycles prams and wheels chairs and where there are currently spaces seats would be put there.

Buty nobdy at Serco or Meresytravel has thought of things like this as they are too busy thinking about SAVING & MAKING MONEY for them selfs.