'Summer rail problems have cost me more than £800'

A train passenger said problems on the railway line between King's Lynn and Cambridge over the summer had cost him £800.

Data from a passenger group showed 280 trains were cancelled on the Fen Line in August, 380 in July and 177 in June. Operator Great Northern said hot, dry weather had damaged tracks and caused air conditioning to fail.

Barry Cheeseman regularly travels between his homes in Norfolk and London, and contacted BBC Your Voice to explain how he had devised "escape plans" to cope with problems at any point in a journey.

He said those plans had meant spending extra money on parking, fuel and taxis on several occasions.

For example, if the train does not show up at his local station Watlington, Norfolk, the 76-year-old will drive for an extra hour to Peterborough and get on a fast train to London.

This has happened five times this summer, costing him extra in fuel, £40 for parking and £50 for new tickets.

Return journeys can also be impacted, with trains terminating at Cambridge rather than continuing to Watlington.

If that happens, Cheeseman said he rushes to the taxi queue and spends £125 on the journey back to his car.

"If you don't hurry, all the taxis are gone and you are stranded," he explained.

This has happened three times this summer.

When asked why he does not wait for a rail replacement bus to be organised, he laughed.

"You are simply left marooned on the platform."

Despite asking for compensation from the train operator Great Northern, he said he had had "no success".

Jenny Saunders customer service director for Great Northern said: "I sincerely apologise for the disrupted service our passengers on the King's Lynn route have experienced recently.

"I appreciate the impact it has had on our customers and we've been supporting them with alternative travel arrangements, including special 'shuttle' services and replacement buses."

Cheeseman believes things have been steadily deteriorating during the 22 years he has been using this route.

"It's been getting unreliable and that makes me really upset. I think I've got no control over my life anymore."

A new organisation called Great British Railways, Anglia (GBR Anglia) - made up of Network Rail and train operating companies Greater Anglia and C2C - has been established to try to improve services.

While Great Northern is not part of the group, GBR Anglia said the organisations were working together to make improvements.

The Conservative MP for North West Norfolk, James Wild, raised the problems with Prime Minister Andy Burnham in the Commons.

The prime minister said: "The performance of the railways over the summer has been nowhere near good enough".

He suggested public ownership would drive improvements to services.

Wild has also held a meeting with both Great Northern and GBR Anglia.

"Clearly the hot weather is causing real challenges on the line but it is vital that steps are being taken to improve reliability of the trains," he said.

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