ShortList is supported by you, our amazing readers. When you click through the links on our site and make a purchase we may earn a commission. Learn more

Southern Rail is so bad it's even blocking the roads

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse

Southern Rail is so bad it's even blocking the roads
Danielle de Wolfe
22 December 2016

It’s been another classic year for Southern Rail.

Strikes, delays, cancellations, fist-fights – they’ve had the lot.

Naturally, of course, they’re still running the franchise, because why would the government do anything about it? It’s not like it’s a critically-important piece of infrastructure for a huge number of people that’s caused untold misery and disruption on an almost-daily basis. Hey, privatising a monopoly will definitely result in a better service and definitely not huge profits for people whose only concern is making money. Right guys? Right??

But not even its fiercest critics could have predicted that it would spread its chaos-causing tentacles away from the railway tracks that we all thought it was – at least – confined to.

We’re sorry, Southern, we underestimated you.

For one of their much-maligned trains managed to cause delays for motorists when it became stuck at a crossroads in Crystal Palace on Wednesday night, with traffic held up for half an hour.


Related: 21 reasons Southern Rail really is the devil’s train operator


An onlooker told Metro,  “I think the truck taking it had taken the wrong route and it had completely jammed itself on top of the crossroads. Everyone was finding it the most hilarious thing – including the truck drivers themselves who were trying to negotiate it through the crossroads.”

He added that the turning was a “pretty tight squeeze”, with the carriage becoming “wedged against a traffic light” at one point.

We’d still bet every single one of the motorists affected got home earlier than those commuters travelling by train though.