Still plenty of spares sitting around on occasions.  Depends on time of day, time of year, day of week, and the nearest depot as to how likely you might be able to get cover.

If you have short notice sickness then if there is no spare available it becomes very tricky.  You might get lucky and have someone that agrees to stay on, but that’s rare - especially with the current ongoing dispute.

I don’t see how you could nationalise the RoSCo’s.

Good to see some actual commitments from Labour. I doubt a huge amount will change, but GBR^▸ (Great British Railways) does desperately need to happen ASAP as we currently have the worst of both worlds.

Delay minute accountability won’t change much IMHO^▸ (in my humble opinion).  All the privately owned freight and open access operators will still be running (probably more of the latter), who will need compensating if the agreements they have are breached.

Not too many crumbs of comfort offered to the unions either.

Doesn’t the GWR App have formation information (along with how busy train are)?

Also worth including the context that GWR has two-and-half times the number of passengers Avanti carries.

Anyway, you don’t need statistics to work out the rail industry is currently broken.  It’s just nice that a very generous compensation scheme is in place.

If you remove Avanti West Coast/Virgin West Coast from the figures then the total payout is about the same as it was in 2019/2020.

Shows what a nightmare time they’ve been having, and why the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) have suddenly become keen to chuck extra money for Rest Day Working at them.

I expect some of them to happen - some are at a very advanced stage and/or have the support of large companies such as First Group.  There are also less hurdles to overcome with the way national rail contracts are let compared with the old franchising model.

I expect others, including the Go-Op proposals, to fail.

There’s a lot to moan about on the railways as we know, but just taking a look at today’s unit allocations on the line and of the 29 trains on the route today, just 2 were allocated for 5-car units - the first up one and one of the evening down ones.

In the pre-IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) days on a Sunday it was a mix of 3,5,7, and 8 carriage trains, so quite a leap in the right direction capacity wise on the increasingly busy Sunday services.

There is a difference, albeit a subtle one, between a station in the database with a platform with unusual characteristics and one that is not in the database at all.

The TMS will recognise it's at Par, whereas it would not (currently) recognise Melksham.  As I’ve said before though, a manual door release is perfectly possible where you can choose any individual door on the train to release if you wish.

It’s best practice, where possible, to have the system do it for you rather than the risk the driver selects the wrong doors by mistake as it’s not very often they have to do it.

 

Yes, I guess I would like to see things like that posted on a local board (where they exist).  There’s less chance it will be missed or quickly forgotten about amongst everything else that’s lumped in here, and it’s easier to follow disruption trends in a given area over time if they are on that specific areas board.

This is a thread I often don’t bother reading these days.  Quite ironic given I started it! 

I think it would definitely be better suited in the London to Kennet Valley board:  http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?board=8.0

Better regulation and clearer laws will no doubt help - the current free-for-all cannot continue. 

If you pass laws that make JustEat and the like directly responsible for ensuring their riders use proper equipment (perhaps by supplying it, or offering incentive schemes through approved retailers) and don't break the law then that will help enormously IMHO^▸ (in my humble opinion).  Forcing them to provide proper contracts of employment rather than treating them as contractors and letting them get on with sourcing their own bikes and (lack of) equipment will also help.  Being paid per delivery only encourages them to buy unsuitable equipment and ride it irresponsibly.

It might end up making their businesses unviable which is tough.

That’s quite right, which is why I said they need coming down on hard - with new employment laws if necessary.  That sort of thing is easy now we’ve left the EU^» (European Union - about) isn’t it?!    I don’t blame the riders themselves on bit.

The likes of Just Eat and Deliveroo need coming down on hard as their riders routinely use illegally modified e-bikes without helmets and lights at far too high speeds.