Odd Service Status

[superteacher]

Saw this on the TFL site:

London Overground: No service between Willesden Junction and Richmond while we fix a power failure at Acton Central. MINOR DELAYS on the rest of the route.

However, the status says “Special Service”. Why is it not showing part suspended?

[goldenarrow]

It's presumably because there's a timetable notice for the GOBLIN for a late night service alteration that's overridden the more pressing incident.

Having just one tab for all of the Overground routes makes for a very confusing weekend status or as seen here with just one incident and an ongoing service alteration.

I personally think that the Overground should be split on the status page as reflects its usual service pattern. If down in Croydon and just too a glance at the status board, what benefit does it give to the same space that is being used to broadcast information on disruption in the Lea Valley or southern Herts?

[Deleted]

The way the Overground is grouped for service status purposes is an absolute shambles. As an ex-Lea Valley user, we had JourneyCheck when it was Greater Anglia that could tell you which individual trains were disrupted - very useful if you tend to get a particular train. It would also tell you if the train was going to be short-formed.
Now under TfL 'who have made everything better by painting it orange', it's just 'Minor Delays'; much less useful. Add to that, it could be minor delays on the West London Line, which is completely irreleant to a Lea Valley commuter, so you have to click through to find out which line has the delay. Further, if there are multiple issues on the Overground network, you then have to work through the ridiculous stream of prose to understand which lines have which disruptions. All in a small sidebar. It's a travesty of useability.

It's also a complete double standard. Since TfL have repeatedly insisted that the West London line, the East London line, North London line etc. no longer exist and are instead the tongue-twister route names they are now and that is the right way of doing things, then the Underground should clearly follow suit such that Service Status should show Minor Delays for the 'Underground', at which point you click through to find it's on the Cockfosters-Heathrow Airport/Uxbridge route, when you were looking to go from Morden to Clapham on the Morden/Battersea-Edgware/High Barnet route....

[superteacher]

@steveofthestow - Couldn’t agree more!
(and welcome to the forum by the way.

EDIT: The status has now been changed to part suspended. Must be quite a bad problem for it to be suspended for this length of time.

[Deleted]

Feb 5, 2018 15:15:01 GMT superteacher said:

@steveofthestow - Couldn’t agree more!
(and welcome to the forum by the way.

Thank you! I've actually lurked for years, but this issue gets me irate enough that I felt the need to post

[Chris M]

I completely agree with you on that - I've related a time or two about the occasion when the announcements at Bank said only that "London Overground is part suspended" with no further detail. In reality there was a good service everywhere except on the Romford-Upminster shuttle.

[goldenarrow]

Feb 5, 2018 15:15:01 GMT superteacher said:

Must be quite a bad problem for it to be suspended for this length of time.

From the National Rail Service Indicator (17:30) : 
A problem with the electric third rail at South Acton has resulted in disruption to trains running between Richmond and Stratford. Trains are currently unable to run between Richmond and Willesden Junction and may be cancelled or revised.


Edit: Service has now resumed with severe delays between Willesden Jct and Richmond