Trains a commuter tale

I have to be honest when I say that on taking a job in London I was a little nervous as I have heard many horror stories about trains and the delays and headaches they cause. First things first my commute to and from work is not a pleasure in any way shape or form, I am up out of bed 6am in the morning and I am usually standing on a train platform at Bedford station waiting for the 7:28am train to Farringdon.

This train has been delayed on a number of occasions what with recent strikes and also the cold weather causing some issues on track. The journey home is equally frustrating as it would seem that more than 50% of my journeys home so far have been delayed.

The usual course of events for getting home is to get the 18:11 train from Farringdon, jump off at St Pancras, and jump on the 18:30 train to Lincoln which should arrive in Bedford at 19:08. This train is frequently late for a number of reasons, we have had no drivers, unable to couple cars together and of course the obligatory jumper on the tracks that has delayed my journey home.

It is not all bad though, which is the main reason for writing this. We have had some serious cold weather and snow recently and the trains although late have been running. I find this pretty amazing as this goes against the preconceptions I had about trains and snow. I heard that the wrong type of snow can cause trains to just grind to a halt, however thus far I have been proved wrong.

Tonight it is going to snow and there is already snow falling in Bedford, I have been watching the trains and so far only a few have been delayed and the delay is nothing more than a few minutes. I think trains get hard press and I think most people believe they are a rubbish service and form of transport. I have to disagree, they maybe late sometimes they may get cancelled due to circumstances which to be honest can’t be helped. But in my limited experience so far they have done the job in getting me home, not always when I wanted to get home but they get me home never the less.

The only thing I would like to change is the cost, they are not cheap and to be honest when you add up the cost of driving to the station, parking and the train fare itself it would be cheaper to drive my car to London and back, however not as convenient. As I would be sat in traffic for hours on end, so delayed no matter what I do. If the government can somehow get the cost of a ticket down to those who commute regularly then trains truly are a way forward.