Why is the same train late almost every day?

[Riley Blue]

O/H catches the 6:17 Nottingham to Leeds train at Chesterfield. Most days it's late, today by six minutes but usually by two or three. I'm curious about the reason, could anyone enlighten me please?

[Riley Blue]

Gareth1974 said:

It tends to start on time at Nottingham and often loses a bit of time in running to Chesterfield for various reasons, but in 1 minute increments which tend not to be investigated .

Today, lost time in running with clear signals en route to Chesterfield after a right time start.

Yesterday, had a slower than booked unit on.

02/11 - lost a couple of minutes in running, but below the threshold to be investigated

01/11 - 4 late at Chesterfield, low adhesion reported en route

31/10 - Ran on time

30/10 - Started 2 late, 2 late still at Chesterfield

29/10 - lost a couple of minutes in running, but below the threshold to be investigated

Thanks for that. The 'lost a couple of minutes in running' seems to be a regular feature of this train but that's explained by it being a stopping train.

[Riley Blue]

Thank you Robin, for your very informative post.

I quizzed my O/H last night to find out why she prefers the 'almost always late' Northern train to the Birmingham to Glasgow train a few minutes later which is rarely delayed. It turns out the one she catches uses platform 1 at Sheffield so it's a quick out of the train, across the platform and out of the station. The later train, though more punctual, stops at a different platform which means she has to climb the stairs to cross the tracks then descend another set of stairs - as she walks almost four miles to and from stations daily I suppose there's a logic to that.

[Riley Blue]

O/H decided to catch the 6:00 Birmingham to Glasgow train this morning (7:02 at Chesterfield) and it's five minutes late at Derby though Trainline advises it will be on time at Chesterfield - or will it, it's a minute early at Clay Cross?

Is there an app that gives the same level of timing detail as http://raildar.co.uk/radar.html?

[Riley Blue]

Gareth1974 said:

Riley Blue said:

O/H decided to catch the 6:00 Birmingham to Glasgow train this morning (7:02 at Chesterfield) and it's five minutes late at Derby though Trainline advises it will be on time at Chesterfield - or will it, it's a minute early at Clay Cross?

Is there an app that gives the same level of timing detail as http://raildar.co.uk/radar.html?

That train has it's schedule padded out with 6 minutes pathing time between Derby and Chesterfield as it's booked to follow an ECS to Ambergate. The systems use the logic that if a service is running late, the pathing time in it's schedule should be recovered as in theory you won't be following a train as per the plan, and should achieve the normal running time Derby to Chesterfield.

Aha, now I'm starting to understand the complexities of train scheduling. I'll pass that on to O/H who, I suspect, will switch to the Glasgow train.

Any opinion about the most accurate app for an Android phone?

[Riley Blue]

To return to my original point; towards the end of last week my O/H decided to catch the 7:02 train (Birmingham to Glasgow) instead of the frequently late 6:54 (Nottingham to Leeds). By yesterday she had resigned herself to getting on whichever of the two arrived at Chesterfield first, the 7:02 also having arrived late once or twice.