One of the worst journeys of my life...

I thought it had been a while since I've written a post about my distain for public transport, so I thought I would write one. No, that's a lie, if there weren't any problems with the trains then I would have nothing to write about.
I decided to take a weekend trip to see Chris as I hadn't seen him in ages, and as my friends have been total let-downs I felt in need of company.
The train I was due to get was to London Liverpool street, so imagine my confusion when, on boarding, we were informed that the train would only be calling at Colchester. For those of you who do not know this route, Colchester is only two stops away from where we started from! So myself and another passenger practically jumped from the train (5 mins until departure) and I ran to one of the men who worked at the station. He then told me that the train is the one which which goes to London, but first it is a train to Colchester (highly confusing, but put simply it was a split journey where we didn't need to get off of the train mid-journey).

I raced back onto the train (1 min until departure!), still a little unsure of the exact situation but prepared to hold my breath and see what would happen.

When the train arrived at Colchester the situation was exactly as described by the man who worked at the station (I could remain in my seat and there would be no issue). However, there was one point which us passengers had not been warned of. Serious delays. At Ipswich we had been told of possible delays but to be perfectly honest that didn't phase me (typical dreadful British transport, so I was used to it). It was the moment in which the the friendly guy on the tannoy (at Colchester) reported delays of 45 minutes that I got somewhat frustrated. From there, it got gradually worse. They cancelled the next few trains to London and held us at Colchester, this meant that my nice, comfortable, enough space for my bag to had its own seat, train became packed. To hold the extra passengers (from the cancelled trains) we were informed that "another eight coaches will be added to the end of the train". Being the easily amused person I am, I thought that would be something interesting to liven up the journey; especially as we may only "experience a slight bump". Slight? Slight? Slight understatement I think! It felt like a goddamn earthquake! (okay, that may be a little exaggeration, but it was certainly a bit more that a 'slight' bump!

We eventually left Colchester (all in one piece!) and eventually reached our destinations.

This journey did get me thinking (not for the first time, I might add) about how we (we as Britain, rather than me personally!) are going to cope with the Olympic transport. Indeed, there are no huge events going on in Ipswich/Colchester, but this was a London bound train. Anyone who lives in the area and has had the need to travel via train at least once, may have predicted the cause of these delays - signal failures! It has become somewhat a cliché for such thing as a signal failure to be the reason for a disrupted journey, as it has been a renowned excuse for years. Ever since I was a small child, I remember my dad complaining about his work journey being disrupted for this reason, and as I have got the train more often I am also experiencing this. This particular occasion took place since the rail has been taken over by Greater Anglia (in all fairness I don't really know the whole situation about the company changing, so maybe they got bored of the name 'Network Rail', but I doubt it very much). Anyway that brings me back to the Olympics; if these supposed signals cannot successfully work when they have had years to perfect them to usual routes, with a fairly consistent number of commuters, how will they cope with an increased number of travellers? Not only this, I think they should definitely increase understand ability of where trains are heading. Luckily, if I had ended up in Colchester, I know I wouldn't have been stranded because I know that it is gradually closer to London, but imagine if a foreign tourist had been in the same situation!

There's the pause for thought and the rant of the day ;)

<3