SE Railway
The twitter account @se_railway is the official account of Southeastern.
However it is not a manned account, unlike other TOC's. It is just a bot feeding any problems reported by their backend systems. As a concequence the feed can be a bit spammy
Contents |
Cancellations
- Crew unavail 10:07 Cannon St-Slade Gn canc
Here the 10:07 Cannon Street to Slade Green service was cancelled due to crew being unavailable
An alternative is when a train will not call at a scheduled stop. When this happens then at those specified stations the train is cancelled but then seen to drive through the station.
- Sig prob 07:40 Ramsgate-Charing X won't call Tonbridge; extra stop Hildenborough
Here it's not going to stop at Tonbridge
Sometimes you will see the phrase alt & canc - which indicates that the service is going to be altered & potentially cancelled at some point if the situation gets worse.
Delays
- Sig prob 09:03 Orpington-Cannon St 8 mins late Orpington
- Sig prob 08:33 Charing X-Ramsgate 1 mins late Charing X
- Congestion 15:05 Dover P-Victoria 16 mins late Dover P
In these we have services which are late. It tells us by how much and where that figure relates to. I.e. in the last example it's 16 mins late getting into Dover Priory.
On-going problems
Sometimes a problem continues for a longer period, like an entire morning or even an entire day
- Owing to elec prob trains through Dover P & Ashford Int subject to delay
Here there's continuing delays caused by an earlier Electrical Supply Problem between Dover Priory and Ashford International.
Problems that have been cleared
- Owing to bdge strke trains through Canterbury E now running ok
Here there were problems going through Canterbury East because of an earlier Bridge Strike, but thats now been cleared.
Extra Stops
Sometimes the tweets notify us of an extra unscheduled stop in a service:
- Sig prob 07:40 Ramsgate-Charing X won't call Tonbridge; extra stop Hildenborough
- Sig prob 15:07 Victoria-Ashford Int extra stop Eynsford, Shoreham Kt
In this instance because of a Signal problem the 15:07 Victoria to Ashford International service is stopping additionally at Eynsford and [[Shoreham (Kent) Rail Station|Shoreham Kent]
Multiple Tweets
Sometimes the problem is too long to fit in a single 140 character tweet so two or more tweets are sent.
- Congestion 15:05 Dover P-Victoria won't call Teynham, Sittingbourne, Rainham Kt, Chatham, Rochester, Meopham, Longfield; 16 mins (1/2 ED)
- late Dover P #southeastern (2/2 ED)
Here we actually have one problem split out into two. Both tweets end with their number (1/2 or 2/2 although I have seen one three parter already) and a 2 character id, in this case ED.
That 2 character suffix appears to be a sequence so the next multiple tweet after that example would have EE as it's id.
This is now an example of how bad the software behind this is. That code is not Alphabetical. Here's why - the following is the sequence of ID's up to and including that one:| DY DZ D$ D% D& D* D; D: D| EA EB EC ED |
Another problem with this scheme is that the #southeastern hash tag gets included on the last tweet - so seems disjointed. Sometimes on that stream you just see a tweet with the hashtag and a url because the rest of the information is in the previous one. Sometimes all we see is the (2/2 ED) suffix.
Abbreviations
The following is a list of abbreviations seen so far in these tweets. This list does not contain station names which are usually abbreviated but the ones which have sometimes caused confusion.
| Abbreviation | Definition | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| A fatality | A Fatality | A fatality |
| Bad weathr | Bad Weather | Rain, Wind, Snow etc has caused a problem. Anything more than 0.1mm/h of rain tends to do the trick |
| Bdge prob | Bridge Problem | An unspecified issue with a bridge |
| Bdge strke | Bridge Strike | Many causes for this:
|
| Congestion | Congestion | Yes there is such a thing as Congestion on the railways… usually due to trying to get far too many services down a single set of tracks like Platform 6 at London Bridge.
See also Phantom International |
| Crew unavail | Crew Unavailable | The train crew are probably stuck on another delayed train |
| Depot delay | Depot delay | The train was late due to leaving the depot late as that would have caused a delay in the depot getting a cup of tea ;-) |
| Disruptive pass | Disruptive passenger | Disruptive passenger |
| Elec prob | Electrical Supply Problem | No power being provided to the lines so nothing can run |
| Emerg srvcs | Emergency Services | The Emergency services are involved |
| Eng wk | Engineering Work | Either planned, unplanned/emergency or overrunning Engineering Works |
| fire | Fire | Not an alarm but an actual fire |
| Fire alrm | Fire Alarm | A fire alarm at a station is causing delays |
| Lrge pass flow | Large passenger flow | The sheer number of people wanting to get on a train has surprised Southeastern so the trains are being delayed because they are full |
| Ill passgr | Ill Passenger | A passenger has been taken ill. This could also mean they are waiting for an ambulance in extreme cases although the Emerg srvcs code is then used. |
| Level x prob | Level Crossing Problem | A problem on a level crossing. Only a few lines have these but could be one of:
|
| Nearby prob | Nearby problem | A problem near to the railway is causing disruption |
| Obstruction | Obstruction | An obstruction like a shopping trolley or a block of concrete is blocking the tracks |
| Op incident | Operational Incident | This ones usually a get out of jail card as it could mean anything |
| Person hit | Person hit by a train | Person hit by a train, not necessarily fatally |
| Prev delay | Previous delay | Due to a previous delay with this train or a part of this train |
| Problem at level | Problem at level crossing | A problem with a level crossing. This is probably the same as Level x prob |
| Prob U/I | Problem Under Investigation | There's a fault but "control aren't sure what's caused the delay so will be trying to find out off guard" |
| Pssgr transfer | Passenger Transfer | Passengers are being transferred from one train to another due to a failure with the first one.
This usually involves backing up the 'rescue' train into the failed one. |
| Rail cond | Bad Rail Conditions | You guessed it, slippery rails caused by leaves, snow or ice |
| Safety chks | Safety Checks | Something seriously wrong with the train that it might not be safe to use right now |
| Sig prob | Signal Problems | Signal problems are causing the delay, sometimes after someone has stolen cable but mostly down to lack of maintenance etc |
| Speed restr | Speed restriction | A speed restriction is in place slowing down the network |
| Train defect | Train defect | A defect caused by a lack of maintenance has caused an issue |
| Tresspass | Tresspasser on the line | there's some moron who's decided they can walk along the tracks, totally ignoring the fact that the Third rail is powered up at all times. When this happens they have to turn the power off before attempting to remove the idiot causing delays that can last for an hour or two. |
| Vandals | Vandalism | Some morons have vandalised the train. e.g. If they have smashed the outer pane of a window the train has to be removed from service. |
In the press
Kent online[1] published an article where they state: Southeastern's new Twitter feed makes for unhappy reading for passengers - with more than 300 posts about problems with its network in just two days.
