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Thankfully not much to report recently, but this is not the best start to the week

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I arrived at Liverpool Street around 18:00. The concourse was packed. When you see a lot of people staring at the big depature board, you know there are train delays, you just hope it won't be your train. Unfortunately, Liverpool Street to Southend Victoria services were affected. 

No platform was given for the 18:05 or 18:14, but there were expected arrival times (delayed of course). I went to the information desk and asked if tickets were being accepted on C2C ... no joy. Then, the 18:14 was announced as departing from platform 14. Unfortunately, most people had already gambled on this, and so I ended up standing.

The train was delayed leaving Liverpool Street, but this is not unsual. At 18:37, I tweeted:

The train took an age to get to Stratford due to the signal problems at Romford. 

I was looking forward to having dinner at my parents yesterday. National Express East Anglia seem to have access to my calendar, so whenever I plan something, you can bet they will step in and screw things up.

Anyway, we got to Stratford, and as the train pulled away from the station, it ground to a halt. Silence for a few minutes, followed by a gentleman in an orange safety vest running down the tracks by the side of the train. I gathered this was the driver. At 19:10, I tweeted:

Nothing happened for quite some time. What was frustrating was that the emergency alarm had been pulled between Stratford and Maryland. Had it been pulled at Maryland, the sick person could have been immediately let off the train to get some fresh air, and may have felt better.

The driver was running up and down the tracks, and to his credit, was giving us regular updates. Mainly to say that the paramedics were on their way. They took a long time to get there. 19:33:

It really was.

I didn't make a note of the time the paramedics arrived, but like the driver, they had to walk down the tracks to get to the carriage where the person was taken ill. 20:05:

Part of me was selfishly thinking that dinner was ruined, but the other half was concerned that the person was seriously ill at the back of the train. The train started to move forward to the Maryland platform, and then the paramedics made the "seriously ill" man walk through 3 carriages. I think some people lost a bit of sympathy for him at this point, but perhaps the driver's medical assessment exaggerated how bad the guy was. Train drivers are not qualified doctors by the way.

After the man was taken off the train, the journey was rather less eventful. 20:33:

I don't know the policy around the emergency alarms. What about if an alarm is pulled, the train stops at the next available station? Stopping a train between 2 stations has bad idea written all over it. It delays the response time of help, and that's surely not a good thing.

Dinner was not spoilt, although would have been nice to eat earlier. I hope the sick passenger makes a full recovery.

Thanks.

Left London Liverpool Street at 18:05, arrived at Billericay at 18:56.