Information on the Metropolitan Line

In RAIL 816’s The Fare Dealer, I criticised the outdated information screens at Harrow-onthe-Hill, which don’t say where Chiltern services are going and omit to say they don’t call at Moor Park (they haven’t done since 1993).

Passing through again in January, I was surprised to see new versions installed - although this is London Underground, so expect an oddity!

The destination is ‘Chiltern Service’. Beneath it scrolls through the calls as far as Chalfont & Latimer, adding “then all stations from Amersham”. So there’s no way of knowing where the train is actually going or what its calls are once it leaves LU terrain to venture into the great unknown of rural Buckinghamshire. You’ll never know if it’s for Aylesbury or Aylesbury Vale Parkway, let alone Milton Keynes!

Actually, I’ve subsequently been told that future Marylebone to Milton Keynes services will run via Princes Risborough and Aylesbury, rather than Amersham, so that’s one fewer problem for LU to cope with!

Finally, I write this a few days after Storm Doris affected services around the country. I know winds were genuinely high in some parts, but fear some of the dramatic changes imposed were an over-reaction.

The previous evening Southern issued dire warnings regarding the cuts it would make, while a little further west, South West Trains ran almost normally.

Incidentally Southern said that between 1100 and 1800 there would only be one direct train per hour between Victoria and Brighton, and that customers should use Thameslink services instead.

Thameslink said that between 1100 and 1800 there would be no service from London Bridge to Brighton, and that customers should use Southern services instead. You’d never guess they were part of the same franchise!