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A 24-hour strike by drivers on London Midland train routes planned for Thursday has been suspended following an injunction by the High Court.

The court upheld the service operator's claims of irregularities in the strike ballot held by members of Aslef union.

The union called the 23 December strike over a pay and conditions row. Aslef leader Keith Norman said: "I am desperately disappointed".

London Midland said the union needed to be "realistic" in its demands.

The train firm operates through London, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire, Staffordshire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire, the West Midlands, Shropshire, Cheshire and Merseyside.

London Midland obtained an injunction claiming there were irregularities in the strike ballot. The union said the issues involved three ballot papers.

A London Midland spokesman said the firm was "delighted" that customers would not face "unnecessary disruption at such an important time of the year".

He added that the firm remains "open to discussion and want to resolve this dispute with Aslef, but they have to be realistic".

Mr Norman said: "I am desperately disappointed. My private opinion of the legal system is best not quoted."

Aslef said it had been trying for three years to "harmonise the conditions" of 600 drivers from two firms - Central Trains and Silverlink - which merged to form London Midland.

The train company said former Central Trains drivers were being paid ^1,200 more than their ex-Silverlink colleagues.

London Midland said the union turned down a deal which could have achieved equal terms and added that former Silverlink drivers "receive a more generous holiday entitlement".

I used to work in the care industry.  We were contractually required (and required by regulation) to provide a level of staffing 24 hours per day.  This was achieved by either having a roster that included some weekend working or by having a separate group of staff who worked at certain times, e.g. nights or weekends.  Presumably signallers work on such arrangements or the system would grind to a halt every Sunday.  You also have to wonder whether drivers working high levels of overtime is not a safety risk.  Sensible working arrangements that meet the needs of the customer should be put in place and if this means more drivers have to be trained then so be it.  TOCs unable to deliver their specified service for this reason should be heavily penalised, in my view.

London Midland and Aslef reach agreement in pay dispute

Train drivers' union Aslef says it has reached agreement with London Midland in a long-running dispute which has caused weeks of disruption.

Drivers have been refusing to volunteer to work overtime, leaving a shortage of staff, especially at weekends.

A three-year pay deal was discussed which brings parity to employee pay, a large part of the dispute, Aslef said.

The deal has been described by Aslef as a "win-win" agreement. The rail operator was not available to comment.

The proposal will now be put to the union's 605 members who are being advised to accept it. There are 614 London Midland drivers.

London Midland was formed from Central and Silverlink in 2007 and operates services from the Midlands to London and the North West.

Former Silverlink workers had six days more annual leave than former Central workers but were paid up to ^1,500-a-year less.

The union has said there had been an undertaking by London Midland to harmonise pay and conditions by March 2009 affecting up to 1,000 issues, which had not happened.

'Recommending acceptance'

But after talks in London on Wednesday, Simon Wellar, national convener for Aslef, said pay harmonisation has been reached by the union offering more "flexibility" and agreeing some productivity changes and the rail operator also "moving" on other issues.

Services should return to normal at weekends while members are consulted and a new pay rate of time-and-a-half has been agreed for Sunday working, he added.

Sunday services have been disrupted by the dispute most weekends since 29 January which both parties have apologised for.

Mr Wellar said: "It's a two-way street this. It's what you would call a win-win agreement and our negotiators are recommending our members accept the deal."

Rail watchdog, Passenger Focus, said it welcomed the news and is awaiting more detail.

London Midland operates services through London, Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire, Staffordshire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire, the West Midlands, Shropshire, Cheshire and Merseyside.

16:55 Northampton to Birmingham New Street due 18:01

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17:53 Birmingham New Street to London Euston due 20:19

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17:42 Rugeley Trent Valley to Birmingham New Street due 18:36

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22:05 Milton Keynes Central to London Euston due 23:12

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22:33 Rugeley Trent Valley to Birmingham New Street due 23:33

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20:39 Birmingham New Street to Birmingham International due 20:55

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21:17 Birmingham International to Birmingham New Street due 21:33

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22:22 Birmingham International to Birmingham New Street due 22:38

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16:57 Redditch to Lichfield Trent Valley due 18:16

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18:20 Lichfield Trent Valley to Longbridge due 19:24

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19:32 Longbridge to Birmingham New Street due 19:52

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16:50 Lichfield Trent Valley to Longbridge due 17:54

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18:02 Longbridge to Lichfield City due 19:02

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19:13 Lichfield City to Longbridge due 20:14

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21:30 Lichfield Trent Valley to Redditch due 22:52

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22:57 Redditch to Birmingham New Street due 23:36

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17:50 Lichfield Trent Valley to Longbridge due 18:54

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20:30 Longbridge to Birmingham New Street due 20:50

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20:53 Birmingham New Street to Longbridge due 21:14

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21:27 Longbridge to Birmingham New Street due 21:47

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22:27 Longbridge to Blake Street due 23:24

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18:50 Lichfield Trent Valley to Longbridge due 19:54

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20:02 Longbridge to Birmingham New Street due 20:23

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21:27 Redditch to Lichfield Trent Valley due 22:46

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22:56 Lichfield Trent Valley to Longbridge due 23:54

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17:20 Lichfield Trent Valley to Longbridge due 18:24

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18:32 Longbridge to Lichfield City due 19:32

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19:43 Lichfield City to Longbridge due 20:44

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17:33 Birmingham New Street to Northampton due 18:34

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17:46 London Euston to Birmingham New Street due 20:01

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18:31 Walsall to Wolverhampton due 19:33

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19:49 Wolverhampton to Birmingham New Street due 20:14

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20:08 Birmingham New Street to Wolverhampton due 20:33

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20:38 Birmingham New Street to Wolverhampton due 21:04

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20:49 Wolverhampton to Birmingham New Street due 21:14

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22:08 Birmingham New Street to Wolverhampton due 22:33

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22:49 Wolverhampton to Birmingham New Street due 23:14

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17:47 Four Oaks to Redditch due 18:52

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17:52 Longbridge to Four Oaks due 18:41

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23:46 Northampton to London Euston due 01:09

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This was at 18:00. Are there disruptive passengers on the 23:46 from Northampton every Friday night?

London Midland staff shortages cancel trains

(http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/63253000/jpg/_63253006_train_cancelled_simon_gray_.jpg)
Trains were cancelled on several routes from Birmingham

More than 30 London Midland train services, including routes to London, Birmingham and Liverpool, have been cancelled because of staff shortages.

London Midland apologised and said the cancellations were "predominantly due to recent high turnover of staff". It advised passengers to check online over cancellations, which affected 12 evening services.

Commercial director Richard Brooks said it had recruited "a substantial number of new people who are in training".

The RMT trade union said it had warned the company about ongoing staff shortages in areas including drivers and guards "for some time", but said it had "fallen on deaf ears".

Services to Rugeley and Redditch were also affected.

Phil Davis, from Travelwatch West Midlands, said it seemed to be part of an ongoing problem. He urged London Midland to "get their act together", particularly with ticket prices going up. "I was caught myself yesterday with a cancellation on the route to Redditch and the knock-on is that the next train is chock-a-block. It's not good enough really," he said.

Earlier, London Midland warned of delays of up to 25 minutes on some other services, while a number of passengers complained about overcrowding on other routes, including Birmingham to Shrewsbury.

One passenger, Tom Hammersley, used Twitter to describe a service in "meltdown" at Five Ways station outside Birmingham.

Another Birmingham traveller complained of cancellations on one cross city service, only to find an 11-minute delay on the next train.

London Midland said a number of drivers in training were due to qualify soon and that it had recently advertised for more.

Sixty London Midland trains set to be cancelled

More than 60 trains to and from Birmingham are expected to be cancelled on Tuesday as London Midland's shortage of drivers continues.

On Monday the company cancelled about 30 trains on the Lichfield to Redditch, Birmingham to Northampton and Walsall and Rugeley to Wolverhampton lines.

The cancellations and delays have been going on for several weeks.

The company apologised to passengers and said it would provide road transport where necessary.

It has said the shortfall in qualified train drivers will be addressed by mid-December.

The company has listed all the affected services on Tuesday on its website.

On Saturday afternoon and evening up to 30 services on the same routes were subject to delays or cancellations.

The company has said that daily cancellation updates will be posted on its website at 17:00 BST the day before services are due to be affected.

These include trains between Coventry, London Euston, Northampton, Birmingham International and Birmingham New Street as well as between Redditch, Lichfield and Four Oaks.

London Midland train cancellations: Rail minister issues warning

Rail Minister Norman Baker has warned train firm London Midland about its performance, after further cancellations of services.

Mr Baker said commuters, who have faced weeks of disruption, were not "getting the services they need".

More than 60 services were affected on Tuesday, prompting Marcus Jones, Conservative MP for Nuneaton, to say the situation was unacceptable.

Mr Baker said he would be closely monitoring the firm's performance.

Most of the services affected are to and from Birmingham, but the problems have affected other destinations on the London Midland network.

There is a full list of affected services on Tuesday on the London Midland website.

Fourteen services between Nuneaton and Coventry were cancelled on Tuesday. Mr Jones warned that commuters would turn to other ways to travel.

Richard Burden, Labour MP for Longbridge, Birmingham, tabled a written parliamentary question on Monday asking the transport secretary to make a statement on the cancellations.

Mr Baker said he had spoken to the firm's managing director to "discuss how performance can be improved".

He said in a statement: "As with other franchises, London Midland is required to meet stringent benchmarks relating to their performance and I will be monitoring this extremely closely to ensure that normal services are resumed as a matter of absolute priority."

London Midland has the disruption on a shortage of drivers, but said it was addressing the problem.

The company apologised to passengers and said it would provide road transport where necessary.

It has said the shortfall in qualified train drivers would be addressed by mid-December.

Up to 30 services were cancelled by the company on Monday and Saturday.

A rather extreme, expensive and unworkable solution, but I wonder how much training would be involved in getting other TOC's drivers to work some of London Midland's trains?  I'm thinking many Virgin drivers will already have the route knowledge, just need to learn about the different rolling stock.

London Midland driver shortage cancels 133 more trains

London Midland, which has cancelled more than 400 trains in three weeks because of a driver shortage, plans to cancel 133 more on Saturday.

The firm lists the planned cancellations on its website, which impacts a range of services, mainly in the West Midlands region.

The firm, which runs 1,300 services a day, said 410 trains had been cancelled since 7 October and many others had been disrupted.

On Friday, 38 trains were cancelled.

Lines affected on Friday included Birmingham-Coventry-Northampton, Lichfield-Birmingham-Redditch and Wolverhampton-Birmingham-Walsall-Rugeley.

Some services terminated early and road transport was provided where necessary, according to London Midland.

On Saturday, the same lines are expected to be affected, while many trains between Birmingham New Street and London Euston will be running only shorter distances.

The firm said the shortfall in qualified train drivers would be addressed by mid-December.

A London Midland statement said: "Due to a temporary shortfall of qualified train drivers, we have had to cancel a number of trains over recent weeks. We're sorry if you have been affected.

"Whilst the shortfall itself should be addressed by mid-December, we are working hard to ensure the impact on our passengers in the meantime is kept to an absolute minimum. On most days we hope to run a full service."

The firm said some drivers were working overtime to reduce the impact and "a number of changes to the way we resource our train services" would also help.

London Midland has said it will list its cancellations every day on its website until 11 December.

Rail Minister Norman Baker has warned the firm its performance is being monitored.

The Birmingham Chamber of Commerce has said it is "critical" the issue is resolved for businesses in the area, especially shops during the half-term holiday.

The Sunday Politics in the West Midlands will be looking at the London Midland issue in more detail on BBC1 at 11:00 GMT on Sunday.

A conversion course from one type of unit to another can be around a week or two (from experience).

I seem to recall that a recent report on a rather unpleasant rush hour failure of a FCC unit was very critical of FCC because drivers had not been appropriately trained on the unit (it was one of the Southern Electrostars, not the usual 319s).

From the BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-20093690):

London Midland driver shortage hits 37 trains

The ongoing driver shortage affecting London Midland is expected to affect 37 train services by the end of Thursday.

Six shifts have been left uncovered, meaning 37 of its 1,311 scheduled services have been cancelled or are starting later or terminating early. The disruption included a replacement bus service between Coventry and Nuneaton prior to 13:30 GMT.

The train operator has been warned it could face Department for Transport (DfT) sanctions. Leader of the House of Commons Andrew Lansley MP said London Midland was not yet technically in breach of its obligations, but if improvement was not seen "in very short order" the Department for Transport would need to consider taking action.

The issue of hundreds of cancellations by London Midland was raised in the House of Lords on Wednesday. Labour peer Lord Hunt of Kings Heath said the company was "not fit to run the franchise".

London Midland mainly operates services across the West Midlands but also runs services to Liverpool and London Euston. The train operator said it had seen a higher than normal turnover of drivers, which has hit more than 500 services since 7 October.

The Rail, Maritime and Transport Union (RMT) said earlier this month that 31 London Midland drivers had recently joined other operators for better pay and conditions.

London Midland has repeatedly apologised for the problem which it expects to be resolved by mid-December. It said drivers were working overtime as part of efforts to keep disruption to a minimum.

Train drivers' basic annual gross salary in West Midlands

London Midland..........^42,619

Arriva Cross Country...^53,171

Virgin Trains..............^49,620

Chiltern Railways........^45,305

Source: Aslef trade union website

London Midland: Train drivers' union blames pay levels

(http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/64047000/jpg/_64047607_simulator.jpg)
Simulators are used to test how trainee drivers react to emergencies.

Delays caused by London Midland's ongoing driver shortages have happened because other train operators in the West Midlands "pay substantially more", according to the Aslef union.

The drivers' union has been working with London Midland over the amount of overtime its members can work to cover the shortage but said this was only a "temporary solution".

Simon Weller, from Aslef, said: "Across the concourse [at Birmingham New Street] they've got CrossCountry who pay substantially more. Their work is more interesting, it's less of the suburban type of stuff. It is very, very attractive, so London Midland is losing their drivers."

Mr Weller also said London Midland will train people with no previous experience while CrossCountry employ "qualified drivers".

A spokesman for CrossCountry said: "While we don't take on untrained drivers we do have to train any we recruit to use the types of trains we operate and to familiarise them with the routes."

The Rail, Maritime and Transport Union (RMT) claimed last month 31 London Midland drivers had recently joined other operators for better pay and conditions.

Steve Male, who is undergoing the year-long training course necessary before he can drive a London Midland train, said the training was very "safety critical".

"You are responsible for thousands of people's lives every day and you can't take any risks," he explained.

It is the length of time it takes to train a driver that London Midland blames for the more than 500 trains it had to cancel or alter in October.

The train operator has said the number of drivers who had left lately had been "far larger than planned". The mathematics is that drivers have to give three months notice before they can leave but it takes a year to train their replacement. Would-be drivers have to undergo physical and psychometric tests before they can even begin to train.

Mr Weller, national organiser for Aslef, said there was a "very high failure rate".

"The psychometric tests measure whether an individual is capable of taking instruction and their ability to concentrate and do system-type tasks," he said.

He said trainees were expected to be a competent driver after 250 hours of driving accompanied by an instructor. They also had to master the rules and regulations that govern safety on the railway.

Mr Weller said simulators were used to test how trainees respond in an emergency. "The simulators are quite realistic and it puts the individuals under quite a bit of pressure," he said.

He was a driver for 25 years and still remembers how big the train cab seemed the first time he was in it on his own. "It was very nerve wracking because you are responsible for several thousand horsepower and a lot of people," he said.

Shropshire commuter Ben Whitehouse probably hears more complaints than most about the train company's problems.

Mr Whitehouse travels every day on London Midland's Shrewsbury-Wolverhampton-Birmingham service and, after tweeting about his own problems of overcrowded trains and delayed and cancelled services, became what he said was "almost a counselling service" for other frustrated commuters.

The commuter, better known to his 1,300 followers on Twitter as @benjionthetrain, said using social media had produced a "community" for equally disheartened travellers.

"When people are stuck on a delayed train, they have time and can whip out their phone to take photos and video of any overcrowded services they're on and complain publicly," he said. "London Midland are very good on Twitter, and passengers can then get a real-time response - and maybe an apology - if they tweet them."

However, he said the instant apologies often appeased travellers to an extent they then did not bother to make formal complaints.

"When the government comes to looking at who runs franchises in the future, they'll be looking at the numbers of official complaints and passenger satisfaction survey results, rather than how many people have contacted London Midland via Twitter," he added.

"It's really important that as well as tweeting them, people make those official complaints and register the issues on a website like fixmytransport.com where lots of people can club together to add weight to any service problems as a group."

Mr Whitehouse said in the future it could be worth investigating whether a passenger-run co-operative could take on an entire rail franchise itself.

He added: "I would be willing - and I suspect many others would be too - to put money into knowing a service would be run for the passengers rather than advancing revenues or shareholders' profits."

He said trainees were expected to be a competent driver after 250 hours of driving accompanied by an instructor.

Blimey! I flew solo after 15 hours' instruction. My then instructor did his first solo at 6 hours.

A light aircraft is aguably easier to control than a car or a train.
In the air, if one mistakes the position of another aircraft, or the position of a hill, there is often the chance to take last minute evasive action.
In the cab of a train, the misreading of a signal can result in large scale loss of life, even if the mistake is realised, it may be too late to avert disaster.


The controls of most trains are not that complicated, the extensive training is mainly learning the route, the numerous regulations and rules, and the actions to take in case of failures.

I have driven a steam locomotive on a heritage line, after a days instruction and would feel  competant to do so even with passengers. Would I be passed as competant to drive a steam or other locomotive on the main line ? no way!

London Midland timetable changes tackle driver shortage

Changes to train timetables and work patterns have been introduced to reduce cancellations caused by a driver shortage, according to London Midland.

The shortage of drivers has caused the cancellation of more than 950 services since 14 October.

Train drivers' union Aslef said it agreed to the changes in rotas to "free up drivers to cover services".

London Midland said a number of trainee drivers are due to finish their training and start work "very soon".

This will also help the company to deal with short-notice problems such as sickness, a spokesman said.

Dicky Fisher from Aslef said the union would continue to work with London Midland to "assist them in delivering the train service".

London Midland said it was continuing to recruit and train more drivers. The train operator has apologised to anyone who has been affected by its recent problems.

In October the Rail Minister Norman Baker warned London Midland about its performance, and said commuters were not "getting the services they need".

The hundreds of cancellations were also raised in the House of Lords.

From the BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-20644061):

London Midland warned by PM over cancellations

Action may be taken against London Midland if the train operator does not reduce the number of cancellations, the prime minister has said.

A shortage of drivers has caused the cancellation of more than 950 services since 14 October.

A new timetable was introduced on Sunday but three services were affected on Monday morning because of a lack of staff, according to the firm's website.

David Cameron said the company was on a "warning list".

Mr Cameron, in an interview with BBC WM, said: "It's not acceptable what's been happening. Under the franchising system if there's unacceptable service then action can be taken. It has in the past and it would be in the future if things don't pick up."

No guarantees

The prime minister said he was confident the new timetable would help address the issue.

The company has a number of trainee drivers who are due to finish their training soon.

London Midland's operations and safety director, Wallace Weatherill, said he could not rule out further delays or cancellations.

"There's never a guarantee when you're dealing with people and you're running over 1,300 trains a day," Mr Weatherill said.

"But what I can guarantee is there is no shortage of focus in making sure that every single one of our trains is covered so people can get to work and do what they need to do. When you have short-term sickness it's sometimes very difficult to recover from that."

Mr Weatherill said the likelihood of cancellations had "significantly" reduced because of the recent timetable change and the support of staff.

I've tried to quantify the number of people at the very top who change when a new franchise starts, and as far as I can gather it's around a couple of dozen.

Passengers angered by decision not to sack train operator

Passengers have attacked a Government decision to allow a train company to continue operating on one of the country^s busiest rail lines despite inflicting months of misery on passengers.

Industry experts expected London Midland, to be stripped of the franchise when its ^332 million contract came up for review late last year. But instead the company will be allowed to complete its term ending in September 2015. This is despite being condemned for waves of cancellations caused by driver shortages and plans for ticket office closures.

Critics included MPs from all sides and Norman Baker, the rail minister.

^Passengers weren^t given any opportunity to have their say when the decision to extend London Midland^s franchise was made by the Government,^ said Anthony Smith, chief executive of Passenger Focus.

So-called break clauses are seen as a way of protecting passengers from companies which fail to deliver, especially with the Government moving towards longer franchises in the hope of stimulating investment.

Having been warned about their poor performance by Mr Baker in October, the industry expected that the company would have been told to surrender the franchise early. Instead, just before Christmas it was told it would be allowed to complete its term, albeit after agreeing to dish out 100,000 free tickets to its passengers

^The driver issue at London Midland has been one of the most embarrassing errors of recent years, and yet the government rewards the company with a longer franchise, and no penalty for failing to provide services for customers," said an industry insider ^It is actually very embarrassing for Government. London Midland only won the franchise by saying it could cope with reducing drivers, so the failure is shared by company and the Department for Transport, now wonder it has taken a soft line.^

Maria Eagle, Labour^s transport spokesman, added: ^Yet again the Government has put the interests of the private train companies over passengers."

Mr Baker defended the Government's approach. ^London Midland has a lot to do to restore the trust of its passengers and has agreed a remedial plan with the Department which includes specific passenger benefits as well as additional investment," he said. "Early removal of the franchise would put at risk the delivery of this plan and could generate months of ongoing problems for passengers, as well as jeopardising the successful delivery of several projects, such as the procurement of 80 new carriages that will enable much needed capacity increases."

...as a result of a request later in 2009 by the Department for Transport to include within the procurement requirements new electric rolling stock for use on the Manchester to Scotland route, approximately 40 of the new vehicles (probably in 10 x 4-car unit formation) are to be procured and subsequently transferred by London Midland to First TransPennine Express (FTPE). The transfer is intended to occur in early 2012 via a novation to FTPE of the relevant contracts between London Midland, Siemens and Angel Trains. FTPE and the successors to the TransPennine franchise will run these vehicles on routes between Manchester and Scotland following the electrification of routes in the North West of England in line with national rail strategy.

[Also]

Negotiations with the preferred supplier in respect of the units destined for the Manchester to Scotland service are likely to include certain interior design changes which reflect the longer distance journey patterns on this route.

http://www.londonmidland.com/about-us/latest-news/new-rolling-stock-for-london-midland-and-for-first-transpennine-express/

They have been ordered by LM, are sub-leased from LM and will have LM interiors I believe.

I didn't realise that, thanks. LM are just being used to order the 350s quickly then.

British Waterways lock-keepers worked this system in th 1960s.