Weekend rail works

clapped-out bus

It is a pleasant rail trip to Alton. Or at least it is if there are trains. Such are the perils of rail works.

I was on my way to Alton for the Alton Food Festival, an annual event. I arrived at the station to find no trains. Outside the station a clapped-out double-decker bus, maybe suitable for stops around town, but no way suitable for a cross-country trip.

The journey was needless to say horrendous, rattle, rattle, rattle. I arrived in Alton shattered.

The journey back was no better. There was supposed to be buses every half hour. There was a coach parked up, but the driver said no, he was for the next half hour slot.

At least it was a coach, but it was little better than the bus. Halfway we were told to get off and catch another coach.

We pay some of the highest railfares in Europe. If you pay for a train, you expect a train, or at the very least a comfortable coach. And a refund or a reduction in the fare paid.

But at least the delay travelling back from Alton meant I saw a steam train at Alton.

Tags: Alton, rail fares, rail works, South West Trains, trains