Thames Valley infrastructure problems causing disruption elsewhere - 2014

[whole diary]

[grahame]

There are certain places where it's easy to get alternative trains/buses but some where it's not...

I'm reminded of the Thameslink "Alternatives available if the trains aren't running" maps.
http://www.thameslinkrailway.com/your-journey/planning/alt-maps-tl/
and see attachment example on this post.

Is there a similar map for the Thames Valley or for any other FGW^▸ (First Great Western) areas?

[Timmer]

Isn't this what Network Rail wanted to do around Watford this year? And everyone got up in arms and said it wasn't right so they changed it to a much longer series of weekend possessions.

Yep.

I think doing work in August is the way ahead for big engineering projects so long as good alternatives are provide be it diverted services or express coach services. We are going to see work taking place next July and August when Box Tunnel and Sydney Gardens in Bath is wired giving us a chance to see how well it works.

The important thing is to give as much notice as possible along with details of a revised timetables, ticket easements etc.

[Electric train]

Graham in the case of the TLP London Bridge blockage alternatives this is easier south of the Thames the Victorians left a myriad of cross connecting routes, also TLP have been working away improving these divisions for the best part of 10 years, most of it was needed anyway.

TLP is a big and well established team as I said almost 10 years and I do mean team it is a very collaborative set up if you walk in the offices you would not at first glace identify NR^» (Network Rail - home page) staff from the contractors staff, indeed normally rival contractors sit side by side.

The Reading blockades did have alternatives set up which worked well, it gets more difficult once you get east of Reading to do a full 4 track closure, reopen the Maidenhead - High Wycombe line? build the Windsor link? I have done the Maidenhead to London Waterloo a few times, an odd occasion is ok to do it every day for 2 weeks folks would loose the will to live

[Super Guard]

Yes, more staff do want time off over Christmas - no surprises there (and for the record that doesn't impact on my belief you could easily get enough volunteers for a skeleton Boxing Day if you paid a descent amount!).  The rostering should be robust enough to deal with that as there are only a certain number of drivers (or TM^▸ (Train Manager, or Ticket Machine, or Temple Meads (Bristol), depending on context)'s) allowed to be off on a given day.  For example, just this week it looks like over 20 days of holiday requests have been declined at Oxford drivers depot alone!

But a huge backlog of route and traction knowledge amongst established staff, and a large number of vacancies still to be filled is causing even more problems than it would normally do.  The fault for that lies squarely at FGW^▸ (First Great Western)'s door.

Sounds to me like 6 of one and half dozen of the other - to an extent the tail is wagging the dog, in most situations the starting point is "we need to have enough staff to maintain the service" before any A/L is considered, but if there are not enough staff with the necessary skills to start with without relying on people giving up rest days then that becomes tricky.......agreed though, money talks, but again it comes down to having the right people available, not just lots of bodies....both sides probably need to consider their positions to find a solution....suspect staff will cling onto their "right" to have Xmas day/Boxing day off as of right however that's not sustainable in the longer term if the politicians/public demand a Boxing Day service (which they already are) and Xmas engineering possessions become less of an issue........sometime around 2100 then?  

At each depot establishments are calculated by adding in the service that needs covering + spare coverage + standby coverage + annual leave requirement and then rounded up.

Annual leave is a red herring, as a minimum number allowed off is agreed and built as part of the link (usually 15% at any one time).  I don't know any service/catering/retail industry that would say "oh sorry we cannot cover xyz so your annual leave is cancelled".  Extra leave will of course be granted but only if the service is covered.

Of course if there are vacancies in the link and not enough overtime volunteers or training hasn't happened for route/traction then you start getting uncovered turns.  Then add the fact that more people are sick this time of year (genuinely) and no doubt the odd extra case that may not be genuine (a problem that is faced by all service industries in the winter/xmas time), and you have problems.  Apart from the odd case who may not be genuinely sick, those problems are not caused by operational staff, but the recruitment policies and higher management off them.

You have drivers who are moving from West & LTV^▸ (London [and] Thames Valley) depots to HSS^▸ (High Speed Services) to allow a full service to run on HSS while IEP^▸ (Intercity Express Program / Project. This will offer more capacity on routes, save money, give a consistent and safe service and meet customer requirements. Intended to replace HSTs.) training happens, and there is a massive recruitment programme going on across all depots and business areas for the long-term, but training drivers takes approximately a year if not longer, and whether you like or not, the current running of the railway means decisions will be made with money in mind from both a FGW (business/profit view) and a DfT^» (Department for Transport - about)/taxpayer view (deficit reduction anyone?)

Ultimately though, if depots were fully trained on traction/routes required and all vacancies fully filled then you wouldn't see this problem.

[Chris from Nailsea]

These posts have been split off from an ongoing topic on the Coffee Shop forum.

One of our members made the valid point that we could split that topic, year by year, for comparison purposes:

The topic heading here used to have "2024" in it, to distinguish it from other "delays and cancellations" topics for 2022 and 2023. Can we have the year back?

This might be a good idea for other line-specific threads, too.

Even though I have never travelled through Melksham by rail, I find myself comparing the number of posts each year as a crude measure of whether things are getting better or worse. The "Thames Valley Infrastructure Issues causing problems elsewhere" thread might also be usefully replaced by annual ones, in the (vain?) hope that one day it might give an indication that the problems have at last been addressed.

I have now started that process.