Here we go again!

Well good morning folks! This morning I took the train to work; as I was approaching my platform I saw a familiar sign on schedule board that I hadn't seen for a long time: train delayed.

I chuckled to myself as I recalled the days of travelling on the Silverlink Rail service 2 years ago, quite possibly the worst train line in the whole of England. I've lost count of how many times the train was cancelled or delayed, in some instances the train was delayed by as much as 50 minutes.

One particular journey was so bad that I vowed to never use the service again. The train pulled into the station late, as per usual, and by this time the platform was thronging with people. We all fought, shoved and squeezed our way on the train and after about two minutes the doors shut. I was holding onto one of the bars that was at eye level for support and some unfortunate soul was wedged in my armpit. Fortunately for them my armpits were deodorised....as they are every morning I hasten to add!!

I could feel a variety of body parts squashed firmly into mine. I tried not to think about which parts they were as the train pulled away from the station. As far as the eye could see on my carriage there were people crammed into every available space. There were more people standing up than there were seated; I think I stopped counting after 100. You could hardly breathe. It was so bad that if the train had crashed we would all have died standing up! If I could have manoeuvred my hands to my phone I would have taken a picture of the sight and sent it to a national paper.

If animals were transported that way there would have been a national outcry with immediate remedies being drafted up in Parliament. But for Silverlink passengers, pfffffft, forget about it. Although that episode was the worst case of overcrowding I'd experienced on that line, it was pretty much standard fare.

As I waited on the platform today wondering what would happen, the train rolled up. It only had three carriages with possibly 200 people to get on. Yep, it was pretty similar to my experience 2 years ago; it all came flooding back to me. After one stop the congestion eased a bit. When I got to my stop I chuckled to myself and shook my head. Some things never change! I'd better steel myself as this is the way I will be travelling to work for the next few months or so!