Not that we have noticed - there is some impact - the odd extra turn late
for example. The Postal strikes have hit us and we had to hold a turn
back
a day though. I guess we had less players at the pubmeet than we might
have
due to this as well.
Clint
> I'm curious in knowing if the (what a good word for
> 'extremely wet '?) weather is affecting harlequin or
> anyone else ?
>
> I remember going to work via public transport after
> only a day of heavy rain. The train got cancelled
> (seems they were not designed to go on water), and I
> spent many hours waiting for a bus trying to get home.
> These days I would say "bugger it, i'm staying home
> and calling in sick", but then I was a loyal employee.
>
>
> so my sympathies if the weather is as bad as the new
> reports are claiming (worse in 400 years, train system
> collapsing, and some people going on strike to stop
> petrol flowing).
RD: The rail network was totally fouled up when, in the wake of the Hatfield
train crash, Railtrack slapped emergency speed restrictions (ESRs) on every
suspicious stretch of track. Rumour has it that there would have been even
more ESRs only Railtrack ran out of the signs they use to warn drivers.
Every route in the country was affected to a greater or lesser degree. A
single ESR can apply to several miles of track and each one can delay you up
to an hour. The longer the journey, the more ESRs you are likely to
encounter, so the later your train gets. And this was before the storms
hit!
The storms wreaked even more havoc on an already crippled network. Trees
fell on the track or onto the overhead power lines, and there were floods
and landslips, not to mention the odd power cut. I don't think 'leaves on
the line' has been used this year because of all the bigger problems.
So yes, rail travellers have never had it so bad, but the delays and
cancellations due to the weather are blips by comparison with the miles of
track which need replacing, due to decades of neglect under BR and a
conflict of interests under Railtrack. You see, Railtrack have to pay
penalties to the train operating companies if Railtrack delay trains so as
to make repairs. So it is in Railtrack's financial interest not to carry
out repairs unless they are urgent.
Thankfully, since Hatfield, Railtrack have at last put safety first, but it
will take MONTHS before all the necessary work can be done. Since
privatisation, all the track workers were laid off 'to save money' and
maintenance work was contracted to outside engineering firms. Now, when
there is at last a sense of urgency to carry out long overdue repairs, we
are so short of workers with the requisite skills that we have had to bring
in people from Germany Sweden and even Romania (!) to get the jobs done.
It is ironic, isn't it, that the railway was privatised with the idea that
the private money would replace public subsidies and save the government
money. Now the government finds itself having to give nearly FIVE BILLION
QUID to a private company rather than a national utility. The shareholders
must be laughing all the way to the bank.
One thoroughly fed-up railway worker.
···
----- Original Message -----
From: "Harlequin Games" <pbm@harlequingames.com>
To: <mepbmlist@egroups.com>
Sent: Monday, November 06, 2000 2:24 AM
Subject: Re: [mepbmlist] Whats the weather like ?
