Rail Replacement Misery

For five months last summer, commuters into Manchester from Stoke, Macclesfield and intermediate stations had to endure the dreaded Rail Replacement Buses while that bunch of cowboys commonly known as Jarvis Rail were busy making a complete hash of rebuilding the railway line.

Now it's the turn of passengers on the Wilmslow and Crewe line. And it sucks.

What had been an eleven minute commute to work has turned into a journey not much short of an hour, and that's when things are running smoothly. Sadly the timetable, presumably the same one as they used during the earlier weekend closures, has proved hopelessly optimistic in the face of peak time road congestion. And far this week, not only has one bus failed to materialise because the driver 'got lost', but I've also missed one because it departed before the scheduled time.

I don't even know how long this disruption is supposed to last. The line was originally going to be closed until May, but the timetables are showing times 'up to March 24'. At the moment it's anybody's guess.

They say these lengthy blockades are the most efficient way of doing things; I'm not convinced. I strongly suspect it's all the cumbersome rules imposed by the empire-building Health and Safely Executive that make it impossible to a decent amount of work in traditional weekend or overnight possessions.