Lee, I am afraid I see your comments as unnecessarily patronising.  Because I am presently working for a railway company you are wrong to assume that I am of below-average intelligence.  I have, in fact, retired from a professional career and do not need to work to survive.  It is not necessary to remind me that this is a forum for passengers etc.  Graham welcomed me onto the forum to try to give an insider view of different situations which I have always tried to do.

Your supercilious comment 'as you will no doubt appreciate', I turn back on you and point out that a balance indeed has to be struck.  As about 90% of the comments on the site are negative (and justifiably so to some degree) I consider that one positive comment is going some way to striking the balance that you are looking for.

During the last few months I have tried to use my many years of customer service experience to help both you, the passengers, and the company to understand better what is happening.  You obviously don't appreciate my input and I have far better things to do with my time to try and offer help where it is not wanted.

I wish you luck with your efforts to change the way the FGW franchise is run.  I shall just go to work and stay anonymous and help the passengers on my train and go home and leave it all up to you while I relax.

Good luck - and goodbye

Whistleblower

As most of the roads are closed in the area, as well as the railway, and waters are still rising, I wonder what alternatives you might suggest, Graham

We have been told not to sell tickets to Oxford or North of Gloucester.  We have to advise people not to travel as there is no way through and no trains or buses can run!  It's hardly reasonable to use the floods as a stick to hit FGW^▸ (First Great Western) with - give it a break for a bit.

It's been an awful weekend trying to cope with the thousands of people who are trying to travel despite the constant advice in the media not to do so.  Do people think we are making it up?  I'm ready to slap the next person who gets nasty with me because his or her train is late or overcrowded.

BTW^▸ (by the way) the Oxford to Hereford line is now expected to be closed for at least 14 days with no alternative transport.

A Funny Story (unless you were involved!).  On Sunday evening a steam-hauled special failed at Westbury.  It was heading to London with 400 people on a very special day out.  The special was declared a total failure and it was decided that all these people would join the next HST^▸ (High Speed Train) to Paddington departing from platform 3 at 2130.  Can you imagine what Westbury might have looked like with more than 400 disgruntled people on the platform?

The HST had departed from Castle Cary on time but had still not arrived at Westbury before the Weymouth service left at 2138 - from platform 3!  My friend was driving this and the rest of the story is his.  It took several minutes for 400 people to try and climb on to the Weymouth, assuming it was the Paddington service, and for the staff to try and get them off again.  Eventually they left for Frome and had an uneventful journey as far as Bruton when they had, unusually, a double yellow signal to slow them down.  This co-incided with an emergency call for the train behind him to come to an immediate halt.  My friend proceeded slowly over the crest of the hill and saw flashing headlights on the up line and moving silhouettes in front of them.  He came to a halt and as the headlights came closer he realised that it was the missing HST and in front of it were three cows meandering up the line.  The HST driver stopped to speak to my friend, who was in stitches of laughter, and said "It's not funny - I've been following them for 5 miles!"  He didn't have the heart to tell him what was waiting at Westbury!

For some time afterwards, there were hilarious radio messages asking the HST driver to try speeding up to nudge them out of the way or blowing the horn, but none of it worked and he had to follow them from Castle Cary to Bruton before they moved off the track.

Can you imagine the number of complaints inundating customer services.  Poor FGW^▸ (First Great Western) - trying to run a railway alongside steam engines and cows.  What chance have they got?

I understood that the Reading to Paddington services are DOO^▸ (Driver-Only Operation (that is, trains which operate without carrying a guard)) so there would not be a conductor on board - even for 'safety reasons'

As to the ECS^▸ (Empty Coaching Stock) (empty coaching stock) units, there are several valid reasons for this and it is a fairly frequent occurrence out West as well.  The diagram will state whether the rear unit is ECS and has to be locked out.  I imagine the TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) has to pay less track usage charges to Network Rail for ECS.

As already mentioned, some units do not have through gangway connections.  These are the 180s (Adelantes), LTV^▸ (London [and] Thames Valley) 165/166s and the 143 Pacers.  In the West (143s) we are still working to Wessex Trains rules which were that if a 143 was included there was no requirement for a traincrew member to be in the rear unit - unless you were travelling through the Severn Tunnel!  We (conductors) objected strongly as a fire, accident or security problem could arise anywhere and passengers in that unit are sealed in with no immediate assistance.  There are occasions when a conductor needs to be in the front unit for revenue duties or to operate the front door at short platforms.  We asked for two conductors to operate on trains in this configuration but Wessex rejected it.  The Rule Book does not have a ruling on this issue.  Commuters in the Bath/Bristol/Weston areas will often see the conductor of a pair of units which includes a 143 hopping in and out of the units at stops - to chase fare dodgers who will watch to see which unit he/she is in before boarding!

FGW^▸ (First Great Western) (before the new franchise) did the opposite and agreed that two Adelantes coupled together should have a train manager each for safety reasons but we are still working to pre-Greater Western operating manuals.  With DOO trains the agreement allows for no conductor anyway but my guess is that with only one traincrew member (the driver) working two independently sealed units, the rear one is locked out for security reasons.  That would be taking too much of a risk and is probably an LTV agreement.

Other reasons for locking out would be a failed unit being returned to the depot (no electrics?), the unit being carried for only part of the journey (having to get passengers out again), too long for the platforms (six cars on the Weymouth route), or simply because it is easier for the conductor to manage a shorter train.  I will often agree with the driver that he should run the train as a two-car and we will simply ignore what is trailing behind.  If there are not many passengers I don't want to walk up and down four or more carriages to find them!

Yes, that would work.  I forgot about the Mail platform.  I still don't think it makes commercial sense to make people go up to Parkway to get to Cardiff.

But from a personal point of view I'd rather have a break at Parkway than go thundering through that dark, dank tunnel any more than I have to

There's a lot of traffic between South Wales and the South coast and also between Temple Meads and Cardiff so it doesn't sound very practical from the passenger flow point of view.

Also it would negate the advantage of the extra platform at Parkway to have trains terminating and reversing.  Platform 2 is not reversible except for trains from the Avonmouth branch, by the way.  I suppose they could go through the station, crossover and wait on the down goods loop but then they'd have to get it back on to a platform line again to restart.

I don't think Network Rail (or the customers) would be very enthusiastic about it.  Which probably means it will happen anyway

Interesting statistic, Graham.  But understandable in human terms.  You may be interested to know that as far as FGW^▸ (First Great Western) is concerned I am personally involved in an informal arrangement that alleviates this problem.  I recently made a personal presentation to our Customer Services Director in which I demonstrated the gap between the expectations of rail customers and what we were actually delivering in FGW West.  I also offered several possible initiatives and suggestions for improvement to our customer service and staff morale (which is an essential element of it).  The bottom line is that most of the customer expectations are not being met because of the rolling stock condition, numbers and reliability.  My only input to that is to ensure that it is recognised.  Only the accountants can bring about an improvement to that baseline.

I'm pleased to say that my input has been enthusiastically welcomed and I have been invited to help in several ongoing initiatives as many of the project managers do not have front-line experience - which I can provide.  I should add that I have many years of experience in front-line customer service in the transport industry, including managing a front-line team.

Regarding the quote from your post, one of my suggestions was that I send regular reports directly to our CS Director to ensure that she was fully aware of any issues that affect the delivery of service in the West.  This has worked exceedingly well and I send her informal fortnightly reports including my own observations and experiences and often illustrated by photos to bring home my point.  And reading contributions on these forums also helps me to pick up particular issues that I think she should know about.  Because I do not report to her (in the management sense) and do not have management aspirations nor a fear of retribution or a threat to my position, I am able to tell her exactly what I think of any situation.  And indeed I have been overtly critical in some cases and she appears to respect that.

So although her work is prioritised by HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) and Paddington (which provide about 90% of our revenue) I know she is fully informed about what is happening to us (customers and staff) out here in the West.  She may not action all my reports herself but she certainly passes them on to those who need to know.

As Alison is getting praise for keeping in touch, I thought you'd like to know that she is not the only one.  Glenda has a very sound customer service background and is very much in touch with customer thinking.  Of course she has to balance the customer's wishes with what she has to work with, but rest assured that our directors are certainly getting unadulterated feedback from the front-line in this area!

(another public service from whistleblower )

Not sure whether to laugh or cry at this story.  Over the weekend a colleague took the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) service to Brighton.  After everybody had left the train he found a suitcase had been left behind.  It had airline tags from an Arab airline and had Arabic writing on it.  No, really!

The platform was packed with people and he called the Police and started trying to clear the platform on his own.  When the BTP^▸ (British Transport Police) policeman arrived he said it wasn't suspicious as it was not hidden.  The fact that there is nowhere to hide a suitcase on a 158 was not part of his deduction.  He lifted it out of the train on to the platform which, despite the efforts of my colleague was still busy with passengers, and promptly flicked the catches to open it.

So there's a handy tip for any terrorists trying to get one over the BTP.  Make it look like a cannonball with a smoking fuse coming out of it.  Write BOMB on it - preferably in Arabic - put it on full display and send it to Brighton.

The tickets are only valid if supported by a passport - this is one of the conditions, so if it is requested and you do not have it (or don't want to show it!) your ticket is invalid.  I know someone who regularly has a First Class one sent from Australia and has used them for many years without being challenged. The trick is not to travel the same route very often or the train managers will recognise you!

The new generation on-board Avantix^▸ (Ticket Issuing System used on board trains) machines that have been introduced have this built in to the software.  We haven't officially been instructed not to sell them early, the new machines won't let us.  We assume it is for the reason stated by BandHcommuter - to close a loophole.  By the way, if you ask a conductor for an advance purchase and it is after midday the previous day and he tells you that the machine will not issue it, remind him that it has to be done through the Tertiary/seasons menu and not the Fares menu.  Of course you won't remember that because I didn't yesterday when somebody asked me and they will have had to queue at the ticket office the next morning.  If you are that person and are reading this I am very very sorry and I will definitely remember next time

Don't ask me!  I only work for them

We've heard nothing - as usual

All trains are intensively cleaned overnight at the depot.

During the day there are various opportunities for a tidy up and a wipe down.  There are cleaners based at Bristol Temple Meads who are contracted to go through any train that ends it's journey at a platform and is not going out again immediately.  There is also a team of cleaners based at Westbury who travel on trains between Bath and Salisbury litter-picking and wiping the toilets and surfaces as required.  They also clear out the litter bins and take the rubbish off with them in a sack.

And there are the conductor and trolley steward who can also pick things up as they go along.

Oh yes!  And the people who enjoy tearing tickets and newspapers into little pieces and scattering them as far as they can.  And throwing half-empty beer cans around the saloon and leaving half-eaten sandwiches and chewing gum on the seats.  They could help by not doing it in the first place.

The worst trains are the Saturday and Sunday leisure trains to the shops, coast, nights out and sporting events.  What you saw was fairly typical of these, Graham.  There are fewer cleaners about at weekends and if the train has a short turnround there can be less of an opportunity for the conductor to do it.  We don't carry cleaning equipment with us and do not have the protective clothing for kneeling on the floor and rummaging amongst litter which may contain sharps and other risky items.  We can only do a cursory tidy up and it can be quite disheartening to have to face that when you have had a busy shift and still have to sell tickets etc.  Some of us do it, some don't.

You may be interested to know that since the three companies amalgamated into FGW^▸ (First Great Western) there has not been a set of standard job requirements published.  As the new management process is now in place this is being worked on and I have had a glimpse of a draft set of standards for conductors which stipulates a requirement to keep the train tidy where possible.  At present there is no official job description.

As always, I hope my comments help in your understanding of how the railway actually runs.

I understand what you are saying completely, Graham.  There is definitely an 'insider' attitude amongst railway staff and a reluctance to listen to an outside point of view.  Having worked for 30 years in a similar industry with a similar 'insider' profile (and for the same reasons), I'd like to make a few comments on this general issue.

Let me try to give you a perspective of customer input - at least on the basic level.  Like the majority of my colleagues, I am not a railway enthusiast.  My interest is purely professional and my knowledge is either necessary for the job or accumulated by exposure to working full time in that environment.

However, the amount of knowledge that is necessary to work in a safety critical role on the railway is unbelievable.  Even for a conductor, the initial course is three months of relentless study before being allowed to work a train.  A conductor will do an intensive six weeks learning 'The Rules' which is the basic 6cm thick safety procedures manual and various other operational and safety documents dealing with things like use of the radio, systems of different train types, DC^▸ (Direct Current) electric lines, fire-fighting etc.  The exam (with an annual re-exam) is about five hours of face-to-face quizzing by a manager.  No multi-choice options here!  If he passes that he will then spend another six weeks learning the routes that he will work on.  He will have to be able to memorise and repeat all the stations, level crossings, junctions, line speeds, tunnels and associated signals and the individual requirements for each station and area.

Every week he will have to sign for a 250 page booklet of notices covering speed restrictions, engineering works, permanent way alterations and anything else he may need to know covering the area in which he works.  This has to be read and carried at all times.  There is an additional booklet of 150 pages which is less frequent but the same requirements apply.  On top of this are company notices and communications - and I haven't even mentioned ticketing and travel knowledge!

There is also plenty of 'gossip' in the messroom about incidents and occurrences and constant pager messages of what's happening around the network.  So even for somebody that has little outside interest in the railway I can't help accumulating a vast amount of knowledge and experience in a relatively short time.  Of course everybody on this forum will have both an interest and a reasonable amount of knowledge about the railway or they wouldn't be here - so I'm not referring to your readers, but the all-too-common armchair railway expert that usually confronts us is often armed only with comments from the letters page of the local paper.

So speaking for myself, I am reluctant to get into a conversation with somebody who thinks I am interested in his limited opinion of the railway.  I am not interested because the debate is far deeper than that and the 'letters page' stuff has been done to death and because I (reluctantly!) have far more background information than he can hope to acquire and I cannot transfer much of that knowledge in the five minutes between Trowbridge and Westbury.  Even if I had the will and the energy to do so   So for every informed person like yourself, Graham, there will be a great many who do not have anything original to offer and, unless one is having a very quiet day, it is tempting to avoid such conversations! 

But I am not rude, unlike many people who work on the railways.  I might be a bit dismissive in trying to avoid entering such a conversation, but I will be friendly and they will not feel rebuffed.  I think that's the real problem on the railway -  the prevelant attitude of rudeness to other people.  Note that I don't say to customers.  These people are just as rude to other railway staff - particularly those who work along the South Coast (SouthWest Trains and Southern).  Many of us have taken to avoiding the messrooms in places such as Fratton, Portsmouth and Brighton because they are so unpleasant.  So please don't feel that they are only being rude to you, the customer.  It's not that personal - it's their culture and it's not even sophisticated rudeness like in New York.  It's just RUDE

Hope this is helpful in giving you more of a background to the 'insider' attitude of railway staff.

There's a short article about the West Sprinter fleet refresh in the Staff magazine 'The Works' - out today.  Work on the 158s will start at Wabtec Rail in Doncaster at the end of July.  The 150s and 143s will be done by Pullman Rail at Cardiff.  The investment in the fleet will be ^11 million which is more than the franchise commitment .  Interiors will include CCTV^▸ (Closed Circuit Tele Vision), new ceiling and wall panels (to reduce noise and vibration levels) and laminated glass.  There will also be technical work to improve reliability.  (Yay - new elastic bands!).

It looks nice (well, it would do, wouldn't it? ).  The complete fleet should be finished in 12 months.  Here is an artist's impression of a 153....