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Scenes from commuting by train

Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2012-07-14 09:31:06 - Graham Ellis

I was training near London Bridge at the end of the week just gone ... a commute home after the end of the course, via the Jubilee Line, the Bakerloo Line, First Great Western, and a pickup by car. As ever, only that last leg to Melksham was ill served by Public Transport, with the train arriving at 20:45 at Chippenham and the bus run by the same company leaving a minute earlier at 20:44. What twat planned that timetable??

I'm glad I don't commute on a daily basis. On my tube, "Mum" with a Newcastle accent, and posh kids, was asking how they were enjoying becoming seasoned travellers, and asking them if they would fancy standing on the tube, stretching up to grab a bar way above their heads, ten times a week. They seemed oblivious to the tiringness and sometime pointlessness of mass flows on a daily basis, when so much can be done remotely these days, and commutes (where necessary) can be phased.

The escalators were running to capacity - here at Waterloo, coming off the Jubilee for the l-o-n-g walk to the Bakerloo. Familiar signs pointing to other lines have been papered over in many places with signs in deep pink pointing towards Olympic venues; crowded already, though few people will yet be following those signs.


Yet in amongst the crowds, there's a beauty in the functional design and construction of the tube's infrastructure - Waterloo again, on the travellator.


Brunel and Paddington Bear have been joined at the Great western terminus by two other statues; I'm not so sure I personally appreciate the design of these more abstract and mythical forms to the extent I appreciate the Man and Bear, and I would predict they won't endure for quite so long. But - good to see things moving onwards and (usually) forwards.


George Orwell's "Double Speak" has come to the railways. This - slow moving - queue was one of a number at what are labelled as "fast ticket machines"; I question whether they're any quicker than a chap at a window in terms of each individual served.


And so to the platforms - and back to Double Speak. I'm just about to venture down from my perch on the bridge into this throng, with the train on the right being mine. It's described as "super off peak" ... but to me it looks like a peak train. In fact, the train manager was telling customers NOT to try to push their way through to the buffet car as "the train is rammed". Such correct wording.


I got home 12 hours ago. I've eaten a light supper, slept in a bit, had some breakfast and I'm starting my day. And I'm thinking - if I had waited at Chippenham for the next train to Melksham, I would still be there - it doesn't run until this afternoon. There's something out of balance there - clearly, people want and need to travel; I'm hopeful that Melksham's rail service is now moving towards something more appropriate. Not looking for crowds like those shown here, but given a service that's frequent enough to be routinely useable, I suspect we would see such crowds ...