2009/06/17

Öresundstågen, never ever ever on time

I am really fed up with Öresundstågen.

The company Öresundståg is a joint venture between Danish Trafikstyrelsen and several smaller regional public transport authorities including Skånetrafiken, which runs the trains in the province of Skåne (the southmost part of Sweden).

I frequently travel back and forth between Schiphol and Sweden. The quickest route (very questionable) is to take the flight to Copenhagen Airport Kastrup and take the train across the bridge.

From the horse's mouth: First train cancelled, second train 27 minutes late,
third train cancelled and forth train 12 minutes late

The train ride should come to 30-40 minutes but there is a problem. There is always delays. I am not kidding, since I moved to Holland there has perhaps been two occasions when the train has departed from Kastrup on time. Öresundståg has the courtesy to announce why they are delayed so by now I have heard them all: "The conductor didn't show up", "We have engine failure", "There is a problem with the wiring" and "Bla bla bla bla bling bling bla".

Delayed in March


Delayed in May

So after god knows how many delayed trips I wrote a letter to Öresundståg with a business proposal:

Händelsedatum: 2009-05-29
Händelsetid: 20:00
Åkte med: Tåg
Plats: Kastrup

Hej, jag reser med Öresundståget frekvent till och från Kastrup. De senaste 10 gånger har tåget varit föresenat. Nu senast med nästan 40 minuter.

Jag undrar varför ni bemödar er med att ge ut en tidtabell eftersom den inte verkar ha någon som helst inverkan på de egentliga avgångstiderna?

Jag har därför ett besparingsförslag. Jag kan ge ut en tidtabell med en rad randomiserade avgångstider (jag är grafiker och programmerare). Då behöver ni endast betala min lön och kan avskeda all personal som är involverad i ert planeringsarbete. Tågen kan ni fortsätta skicka ut som ni gör nu (tillsynes slumpvis).

Om ni inte godtar mitt förslag vill jag ha en förklaring till varför ni inte klarar av att följa er tidtabell. Utifrån den hätska stämning som uppstår på era tåg när ni är försenade kan det skönjas att fler än jag skulle vilja få en förklaring. Varför inte publicera det på er hemsida och i er tidning ombord på tåget?

Jag bifogar gladeligen en lista med mina flygturer och era förseningar om så önskas.

Translation:
Hello, I travel frequently to and from Kastrup. On the last ten occasions there has been delays. Last time there was a delay of 40 minutes.

I am wondering why you as a company bother with printing schedules since it doesn't seem to have any influence what so ever on the actual arrival and departure times.

Therefore I have a business proposal that I which you would consider. I can make a schedule for you with randomised departure times (I am graphical designer and programmer). You would then only have to pay my salary and can fire all personnel involved with the planning. The trains can continue arriving and departing apparently randomised.

If you do not accept my proposal I would like to have an explanation as to why you are not able to follow the schedule. From the atmosphere among my fellow passengers it is quite obvious that there are more people then me who would like to have an explanation. Why not publish it on you web site or the magazine on board.

I can gladly send you a list of my flights and the delays.


On the sixteenth of June I got the following reply:

Hej,

Tackar så mycket för ditt förslag, men det måste vi tyvärr avböja.

När det gäller trafiken, jobbar vi hela tiden på att bli bättre. Dock är det många aktörer som skall samsas om resuserna, och när något går fel får det ofta följder för alla aktörer. Detta kan vi bara beklaga.

Med vänlig hälsning

Translation:
Hello, thank you very much for your proposal but we have to decline.

We are constantly working on improving our service. There are many actors involved that have to share the resources and when something goes wrong it impacts all parties involved. We are sorry for the inconvenience.

Best Regards


So I guess they didn't see the huge amounts of saving my proposal would deliver. Their loss I suppose.

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