I shouldn't have bothered, I finally received a reply yesterday from a James Catchpole. I publish this reply together with my observations (in RED) below for posterity:
Dear Mr Xxxxxxxxxx,
Thank you for your recent email. I am sorry for the delay in responding to
your comments; we are currently working through a backlog of correspondence.
This one sentence alone should tell them something; if there's a "backlog of correspondence" then a lot of people want to tell NXEA something. Maybe it's how poor their service is - it's difficult to imagine anyone wanting to praise them!
I was sorry to read that you were delayed on the 15th December when you
travelled from Stratford to Braintree, as a result of a missed connection
at Witham station. We aim to provide reliable interchange between services, [ Shame you can't isn't it? ] provided this is compatible with the needs of the majority of passengers.
What? It should be compatible with ALL of your passengers; in case you haven't noticed, we pay a lot of money to use your "service", we should ALL be accorded the same consideration, shamefully we aren't.
It is not therefore our policy to hold trains beyond their departure time
where this may result in a serious 'knock-on' effect and thereby delay a
greater number of passengers.
Well, obviously it depends, because I've twice caught trains which were then held for more than 15 minutes at Witham while awaiting mainline connections. On the evening I complained, the connecting train was no more than 15 minutes late.
In reality, it plainly depends on the destination of the connection; Clacton and Ipswich trains seem to be favourites for NXEA to make Braintree trains wait for. The connecting service I was on that evening was destined for Walton-on-the-Naze. Obviously not one of the favoured few destinations.
The decision whether or not to hold a train is based on:
* the numbers of passengers on the train being held
* the numbers requiring to connect into it and
* the length of time to the next available service.
All cobblers and debatebly dishonest.
We also have to consider whether we can get the train, and its crew back on
schedule for later services. I hope that explanation of these factors
clarifies the need for punctual departures [ It's just a shame you can't even manage this simple task isn't it? ] in the interests of all passengers, and explains why in most circumstances trains are not delayed
to await connections.
Nope, what it is is an insult to my intelligence.
Nevertheless, I am sorry that it was a missed
connection that led you to write to us.
Well thanks for nothing
Thank you for contacting National Express East Anglia.
You're welcome, I enjoy wasting my time on pointless correspondence.
Yours sincerely,
James Catchpole
Customer Relations Advisor
National Express
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