Christmas and Boxing Day trains - ongoing discussion

[whole diary]

[TaplowGreen]

The one sure-fire way to ensure there are more widespread Boxing Day rail services is for them to be specified in franchise agreements, and, for whatever reasons, successive governments have not done that despite plenty of opportunities.

Accepted the Railways are a public service however we are talking about the removal of peoples right to a Public Holiday which if an employer tried to impose the terms it could spend years going through the Courts; unless of course HMG wishes to pass some primary legislation.

 

That simply isn't the case - I've worked on loads of Public Holidays (including Christmas Day for what it's worth) and have simply had the day off in lieu on another day, you're not removing anyone's right to have a day off in respect of Boxing day - otherwise how would you staff hospitals, Police, emergency services etc?

It doesn't need "Primary legislation", just some negotiation and common sense!

As an aside, when I've worked for an employer where Christmas working was necessary, the general deal was that if you worked over Christmas one year, you wouldn't have to the following year - seems pretty fair? Surely that could work?

If as others have stated Crossrail Drivers have Boxing Day working as part of their contract then that is a big step forward.

[Adelante_CCT]

I noted a lot of HST^▸ (High Speed Train) services to / from Waterloo 'capped' at Reading - and wondered if there was a staffing issue with a lack of staff / pilotpeople who knew the road rather than a more general issue?

Exactly my thoughts too Graham, the only trains I saw were the ones that were cut short at Reading, I don't remember seeing any cancelled from Bristol/Cardiff/Plymouth etc which made me think the problem was with the 'bought in' pilots rather than the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) drivers themselves.

On the other hand though if there was a shortage of drivers then stopping them at Reading would have made sense as passengers could continue to Waterloo via Staines or via Guildford and complete their journey with not much added on to the journey time whilst still running a full service on the rest of the network.

[IndustryInsider]

You will always get volunteers, those drivers that don't have families etc. I don't know what sort of offer they make to their drivers but on a network the size of GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) I don't think you would get enough to run a meaningful service on every route

Yes I agree, which I why I suggested starting small and offering an hourly service on just four GWR core routes running between the hours of 8am-8pm for which they'd only be a total of around 70 actual train services throughout the whole day.  That's probably going to need a dozen or so LTV^▸ (London [and] Thames Valley) and HSS^▸ (High Speed Services) volunteers from the large pool of drivers at their various depots.  You could cut that down further by sending some or all of the Cardiff services via Bristol.

I noted a lot of HST^▸ (High Speed Train) services to / from Waterloo 'capped' at Reading - and wondered if there was a staffing issue with a lack of staff / pilotpeople who knew the road rather than a more general issue?

Exactly my thoughts too Graham, the only trains I saw were the ones that were cut short at Reading, I don't remember seeing any cancelled from Bristol/Cardiff/Plymouth etc which made me think the problem was with the 'bought in' pilots rather than the GWR drivers themselves.

I did wonder that as well.  Will try and find out.

If as others have stated Crossrail Drivers have Boxing Day working as part of their contract then that is a big step forward.

Yes, AIUI^▸ (as I understand it) they do.  I definitely saw a drivers contract for Crossrail which had that stipulated quite clearly in it.  I assume that was the final contract that all new drivers would sign up to, even if existing drivers that TUPE^▸ (The Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006.)'d over were able to keep their original conditions.

[ChrisB]

And new franchises can bring in similar cintracts for new drivers, thus giving them a pool of drivers sufficient for major services over the length of the franchise. I wiuld expect the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) to go that way by contracting via new franchises if that's what was wanted.

The problem will be demand. While football/shops (& potential return to work on 27th) will likely overload any services provided, leading to even more complaints than currently

[JayMac]

Some of us neither want to shop or go to sporting fixtures. I'd just like the opportunity to be able to escape the relatives on the 26th if needs be.

That said, this won't be an issue for me next or future Chritmases. I shall be living closer to family from March 2016.

[Electric train]

The other issue to resolve with Crossrail due to the lack of toilets on the trains all the stations will need to be staffed so the station toilets can be available.

[ChrisB]

No chance unless Crossrail take over station operatorship - has this been determined? If so, staff from first to last is standard in a TfL^» (Transport for London - about) contract. But don't hold out for toilets where there currently aren't any

[ellendune]

No chance unless Crossrail take over station operatorship - has this been determined? If so, staff from first to last is standard in a TfL^» (Transport for London - about) contract. But don't hold out for toilets where there currently aren't any

If the predominant local services between Reading and Paddington are going to be Crossrail, the I assume they will take over the local stations. 

[TaplowGreen]

The other issue to resolve with Crossrail due to the lack of toilets on the trains all the stations will need to be staffed so the station toilets can be available.

No toilets on Crossrail trains? I guess the journey times are (relatively) short so hopefully not too much of an issue!

I guess it'll be a similar experience to a lengthy Tube journey and there are very few (if any?) toilets at Tube stations, at least I guess most LTV^▸ (London [and] Thames Valley) stations do have toilets.............I think there's two questions there for a trivia quiz!!!

[grahame]

I guess it'll be a similar experience to a lengthy Tube journey and there are very few (if any?) toilets at Tube stations,[snip] .............I think there's two questions there for a trivia quiz!!!

Sorry to kill your trivia quiz ... the TfL^» (Transport for London - about) station toilet map is at

http://content.tfl.gov.uk/toilets-map.pdf

[Electric train]

The other issue to resolve with Crossrail due to the lack of toilets on the trains all the stations will need to be staffed so the station toilets can be available.

No toilets on Crossrail trains? I guess the journey times are (relatively) short so hopefully not too much of an issue!

I guess it'll be a similar experience to a lengthy Tube journey and there are very few (if any?) toilets at Tube stations, at least I guess most LTV^▸ (London [and] Thames Valley) stations do have toilets.............I think there's two questions there for a trivia quiz!!!

Part of the fanfare announcement a few weeks ago by TfL^» (Transport for London - about) on the new trains, Boris gets panned in the press  http://www.standard.co.uk/news/boris-johnson-is-panned-over-lack-of-loos-on-1bn-crossrail-trains-6384452.html however he will not get flushed at the next Mayor for London election, note how we in the outside London have had a decision forced on us by a non-elected body (not elected by us that is)

[ChrisB]

And if the experiences of Met Line tube users from the extremities are to go by, TfL^» (Transport for London - about) don't listen either.

[grahame]

First Bus in Bath ran some services on Boxing Day and New Year's day for the first time for "many years" ... very interesting to hear of their experience.   Which should not put others off running on Boxing Day 

[IndustryInsider]

Good to see that the new London Overground concession, awarded to Arriva today, has, amongst other things, a commitment to run Boxing Day services on some routes.

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/transport/london-overground-services-to-run-later-into-the-night-after-privatisation-deal-a3206456.html

[JayMac]

This year, for the first time in many years, I shall be able to escape the relatives on Boxing Day if the need arises.

Thanks to better public transport provision on the 26th December?

Don't be silly. I have a driving licence now.