(27 Oct 2014, 6:32 pm)Dan wrote This is exactly what should be happening, but isn't. This was suggested on Tyne & Wear Metro's Facebook page too... A revised timetable, to compensate for the slower acceleration times to pull away from stations, should be made. At least then, the timetable could be relied on.
At the moment, we don't have this. My views are unbalanced due to the fact I regularly use the Metro and I am therefore regularly inconvenienced; however, I do thankfully have alternative means of travel, should there be delays. It's suggest that many people do not have alternative means of travel (most likely due to the fact that the ticket they've paid for does not cover other forms of public transport), and this is why customers have taken to the Metro's Social Media pages in their fury at trains being massively delayed or being cancelled/withdrawn altogether.
The solution to the problem is creating a 'low rail adhesion timetable' which can be relied on - meaning that people can plan in advance and know that they'll stand a chance of getting to their destination on time.
Low rail adhesion timetables don't solve issues such as leaves blocking signalling circuits though.
You can have the best driver in the world slowing down approaching a station a lot earlier and taking longer to pull away from a station - but if the leaves are blocking the signalling circuits...
There isn't one solution - the fact Network Rail spend millions of pounds of money on several solutions and still can't crack it, tells me that Nexus/DB and their smaller budgets, don't stand much of chance either.
Just to clarify for those who are unsure.
Nexus look after the railway, signalling etc.
DB look after timetables etc.