Role of the dispatcher

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Tracks laid for controversial Airdrie to Bathgate route

The first length of new tracks on the ^330m Airdrie to Bathgate rail link have been laid.
The project, which will create a new route between Glasgow and Edinburgh, is due to be completed later this year.
Operator First ScotRail is currently in dispute with the RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers) rail union over staffing on the new link.
Rail workers have taken part in two 24-hour walkouts over proposals which would see drivers, rather than guards, open the train doors.
The union has said the move would jeopardise the safety of passengers but that claim is disputed by First ScotRail.
The company insists the trains are safe, and are the same as those which have operated in Scotland for 25 years.
Network rail chiefs and local MSPs^▸ (Member of Scottish Parliament) from areas the new rail route will pass through attended a track laying ceremony in Bathgate.
The route is due to be operational by December.
It is designed to complete the "missing link" for communities between Glasgow and Edinburgh.
There will be new stations at Armadale and Caldercruix; re-located stations at Bathgate and Drumgelloch and upgraded stations at Airdrie, Livingston North and Uphall.
A third 24-hour strike by rail workers is planned for Saturday, the day of the Scotland v England RBS 6 Nations rugby game at Murrayfield.

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Rail union claims strike has 'solid support'

Leaders of the RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers) union have claimed there is "rock solid" support for a 24-hour walkout by rail workers.
About 560 members of the RMT were taking part in a strike over plans to run the new Edinburgh to Glasgow via Airdrie route without conductors.
It is the third strike this year over the plans, which the RMT claims would jeopardise passenger safety.
First ScotRail said it was "business as usual" and rugby fans travelling to the Scotland v England were unaffected.
The firm said extra carriages had been provided for 11,000 supporters on the Glasgow to Edinburgh route.
It also claimed it had run even more trains than on the previous two strikes - with 100% of services on key routes and at least 95% of trains overall.
However, the RMT said the train operator faced "major disruption" as a result of the action, and accused the firm of running "ghost trains" - services with no passengers on board - to distort their figures.
The union held a rally at Edinburgh's Waverley Station as part of its action, and assistant general secretary Pat Sikorski said about 100 people from the capital and Stirling attended the event.
Bob Crow, RMT general secretary, said: "Our members are rock solid across Scotland in their third day of strike action in defence of rail safety and the role of the guard. It says it all that the company have resorted to running ghost trains this morning to pump up their numbers. We will be meeting with the transport minister next week and hope to be able to make progress on maintaining the safety-critical role of the guard."
However, a ScotRail spokesman described the union's claims about ghost trains as "a lie".
"Full details of the services we are running are available on our website for all to see," he added.
The RMT has also issued warnings of potential safety breaches, citing two alleged incidents on previous strike days.
At Glasgow Queen Street station, the union said the train doors on one service were activated on the track side rather than the platform side.
It also claimed doors were activated when a train was short of the platform at Falkirk.
But the ScotRail spokesman said: "We are not aware of any such incident at Falkirk. With regard to an incident at Glasgow Queen Street, it is true that a member of staff activated both sets of doors so that passengers could open them. But the member of staff immediately deactivated the doors. No doors were opened. Therefore, no-one was put at risk and safety was not compromised."
The company's managing director, Steve Montgomery, said: "Our contingency plans are such that almost all our customers will not notice there is a strike."

[Super Guard]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Rail union claims strike has 'solid support'

Leaders of the RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers) union have claimed there is "rock solid" support for a 24-hour walkout by rail workers.
About 560 members of the RMT were taking part in a strike over plans to run the new Edinburgh to Glasgow via Airdrie route without conductors.
It is the third strike this year over the plans, which the RMT claims would jeopardise passenger safety.
First ScotRail said it was "business as usual" and rugby fans travelling to the Scotland v England were unaffected.
The firm said extra carriages had been provided for 11,000 supporters on the Glasgow to Edinburgh route.
It also claimed it had run even more trains than on the previous two strikes - with 100% of services on key routes and at least 95% of trains overall.
However, the RMT said the train operator faced "major disruption" as a result of the action, and accused the firm of running "ghost trains" - services with no passengers on board - to distort their figures.
The union held a rally at Edinburgh's Waverley Station as part of its action, and assistant general secretary Pat Sikorski said about 100 people from the capital and Stirling attended the event.
Bob Crow, RMT general secretary, said: "Our members are rock solid across Scotland in their third day of strike action in defence of rail safety and the role of the guard. It says it all that the company have resorted to running ghost trains this morning to pump up their numbers. We will be meeting with the transport minister next week and hope to be able to make progress on maintaining the safety-critical role of the guard."
However, a ScotRail spokesman described the union's claims about ghost trains as "a lie".
"Full details of the services we are running are available on our website for all to see," he added.
The RMT has also issued warnings of potential safety breaches, citing two alleged incidents on previous strike days.
At Glasgow Queen Street station, the union said the train doors on one service were activated on the track side rather than the platform side.
It also claimed doors were activated when a train was short of the platform at Falkirk.
But the ScotRail spokesman said: "We are not aware of any such incident at Falkirk. With regard to an incident at Glasgow Queen Street, it is true that a member of staff activated both sets of doors so that passengers could open them. But the member of staff immediately deactivated the doors. No doors were opened. Therefore, no-one was put at risk and safety was not compromised."
The company's managing director, Steve Montgomery, said: "Our contingency plans are such that almost all our customers will not notice there is a strike."

Am I the only one that thinks that sounds a bit contradicting?  The fact that no-one opened a door means they got away with it... not that "no-one was put at risk" 

There are FGW^▸ (First Great Western) managers who are currently working as Guards on ScotRail on strike days.

[Chris from Nailsea]

That is why I quote such items, Donkey Guard - to contribute to the debate on these issues, here on the forum.

C. 

[John R]

FGW^▸ (First Great Western) managers working as guards on ScotRail on strike days? Goodness, that's a long way to go to keep the trains running.

[readytostart]

I was up in Edinburgh on Saturday to support my ex-colleagues, the staff brought in to run the trains were being kept well away from all other staff in the first class lounge with muffins and kitkats aplenty to keep them going. The train crew supervisors were not let into the secret of who was working what train, having to telephone managers to issue instructions to 'acting conductors'.
How a door could be released on the wrong side at GLQ is beyond me, every sevrice can be accommodated on the platform so obviously the staff working the trains after a 'comprehensive' 7 day guards course should know they need to be on the platform before releasing train doors!

[inspector_blakey]

Sticking my neck out here, I know, but isn't that a bit of a storm in a teacup? From the arguments above you would think that any slam door stock without CDL^▸ (Central Door Locking) was a complete death trap, seeing as it's entirely possible for pax to open doors on the "off-side" there too. I know there are plenty of numpties out there but I'd wager that even the Great British Public had more sense than to actually open the doors on the wrong side of the train and take a flying leap, even if they were released!

[Exeter]

Latest on the Scottish Dispute - and...............  don't shoot the messenger, I know how "twitchy" some people on here get when the word "Union" is mentioned in any post!!




ON THE eve of direct talks with Scottish Transport Minister Stewart Stevenson tomorrow over the dispute concerning safety issues and the axing of the Guard on Scotrail^s new Airdrie-Bathgate line, RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers) have written to the Minister today seeking clarification on four critical points:


The failure to produce any risk assessments from either First Scotrail or Transport Scotland on the proposed Driver Only Operation mode for the new route despite repeated assertions from Scotrail that they consider the plans to axe the Guards on the service to be safe. The failure to produce the full correspondence between First Scotrail and Transport Scotland regarding the decision of management and the Scottish Government to opt for Driver Only Operation on the new route despite being aware that the decision is in breach of an agreement between the company and RMT and despite assurances from Alex Salmond that these documents would be made available to the union. Repeated breaches of the franchise agreement over the running of trains in the Strathclyde area without a second member of staff on board, effectively allowing First Scotrail to bring in Driver Only Operation via the backdoor contrary to explicit contractual agreements with the Scottish Government. Justification for the running of so-called ^training courses^ for a strike-breaking force pulled in from all corners of the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) on strike days on Scotrail and the publication of all documentation relating to the validation and risk assessment of these courses as safe practice.

RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said:


^Despite all the spin and hot air from ScotRail it remains the case that the dispute on their services, and the third day of strike action over the weekend, are all about the company compromising safety by axing the Guards in order to save money. In our letter to the Minister today we are bringing the focus back on to the safety critical points at the heart of the dispute and the misinformation that has been churned out by the company as fact.


^First Scotrail are prepared to ride roughshod over the terms of their contract with the Scottish Government, rip up existing agreements with the unions dating back to 2001 and ignore the overwhelming safety case against Driver Only Operation simply to save ^300,000 that they can add to ^18 million that they paid out in dividends to shareholders last year.


^We are fighting for passenger and staff safety on Scottish railways and we will be pressing Transport Minister Stewart Stevenson in talks tomorrow to issue a clear instruction to Scotrail to abide by existing agreements and the contractual commitments that they signed up to when they took on this franchise.^

[JayMac]

Um... is this not a new line with a new service? How exactly are guards being axed? You can't axe something that wasn't there in the first place.

[Exeter]

Think Bathgate to Edinburgh has guards and it wont on the new service. Can anyone confirm or deny?

[Henry]

Um... is this not a new line with a new service? How exactly are guards being axed? You can't axe something that wasn't there in the first place.

 If you read the paragraph properly you will see their was an agreement dated back in 2001 that Scotrail would keep Conductors on trains. Personally I would hate to see guards axed from any services, but if Scotrail want to 'axe' this role then perhaps common sense would had told them to go through the correct negotiating procedure. Both sides sign up to these procedures, so Scot rail have no excuse.
 I suppose that is the cost driven society we are now in, where safety is compromised by finance.
 It's all O.K. till something goes wrong.

[super tm]

Think Bathgate to Edinburgh has guards and it wont on the new service. Can anyone confirm or deny?

Yes correct

[JayMac]

I suppose that is the cost driven society we are now in, where safety is compromised by finance.
 It's all O.K. till something goes wrong.

Well, nothing major has gone wrong, that can be attributed to DOO^▸ (Driver-Only Operation (that is, trains which operate without carrying a guard)), on the multitude DOO services in operation across many other parts of the rail network. Yes, it's nice to have the additional staff member, but just remember who pays for them - not the TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company), not the union - guess who?

If DOO has proved safe elsewhere them I'm all for it being used on new lines - anything to lower the cost of rail reopenings should be welcome.

[Henry]

  I think it is rather niave to think any 'savings' made by First Group would be invested into the railway system.

  Bearing in mind the franchise agreement FGW^▸ (First Great Western) are commited to, makes you wonder how FGW will 'save' money ?

 

[John R]

If you read the paragraph properly you will see their was an agreement dated back in 2001 that Scotrail would keep Conductors on trains.

There will be a second person on the train, in accordance with the franchise requirements. They just won't open and close the doors.

Given the significant (over a hundred?) net number of new jobs for drivers and conductors/train managers/revenue protection staff (or whatever you want to call the second person), I don't have any sympathy whatsoever for the Union's position. The trains become an extension of the current electric service from Glasgow to Airdrie, and will operate to exactly the same standards.