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Author Topic: Redundancies at Laira depot as maintenance work moves away from Plymouth  (Read 8951 times)
Chris from Nailsea
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« on: September 30, 2015, 21:41:00 »

From the Plymouth Herald:

Quote
Redundancies in the pipeline at Laira train depot as maintenance work moves away from Plymouth


David Cameron talks to First Great Western engineering director Andy Mellors at the Laira Maintenance Depot in Feburary 2014

Redundancies will be made at Laira train depot with the number of skilled engineers set to be cut given the new trains being brought in to serve Plymouth will be maintained outside of the city.

Great Western Railway (GWR (Great Western Railway)) - the new name for First Great Western - confirmed the city depot, situated along Embankment Road, will lose 60 per cent of its workload when the modern Hitachi trains are rolled out.

Hitachi will instead carry out any required heavy maintenance in-house at its London depot, while lighter servicing will carry on at Laira.

The Herald understands the 250 or so Plymouth staff members were briefed in April regarding the amount of work which the depot will lose as the former British Rail InterCity 125 trains, built in the 1970s, are taken out of service.

Staff at the century-old depot described the news as "disappointing and a shock".

One worker, who asked to remain anonymous, said: "Only 12 months prior to the announcement we were told we were heroes for going to London to work on the Dawlish line and then all of a sudden our jobs are at risk with the new trains. The figures we were given regarding the amount of trains Laira will lose will be quite devastating to skilled staff.

"It is something we realised would happen and that the vehicles would have to be replaced but it came as a shock because we thought whatever came in their place, we would still work on them," the worker added.

The Government gave GWR the go-ahead in July to purchase 29 state-of-the-art trains which will have up to 24 per cent more seats compared to the majority of the 40-year-old trains serving the route today, creating more than 1,000 additional peak-time seats into and out of Paddington every day.

Journey times will improve by only six minutes, however, with no current plans for electrification for the lines beyond Bristol.

A spokesman for GWR said it was doing all it could to minimise staff loses but explained that the new Japanese-made AT300s will require less heavy duty maintenance in the West Country.

"Around 60 per cent of work at Laira was always going to shift to Hitachi," said the spokesman. "That was always going to be part of the deal that the Government struck with Hitachi at the time.

"The addition of the brand new trains we are putting in specifically for the London to Penzance corridor will have some impact in terms of the number of skilled workers needed at the depot. At this stage, we don't have the numbers for that. We are working on a voluntary redundancy scheme because there will be fewer people needed for the newer trains as they will require less maintenance."

He said some staff will be offered the chance to relocate to other depots, with job openings expected in Penzance and Exeter.

Despite the cut backs, he insisted that "Laira will definitely remain open", with new maintenance contracts a possibility. "Laira has a significant role to play in the servicing of our new trains," he added.

While a servicing role means the depot will retain work on long-distance trains, it still stands to lose much of the major engineering it has been undertaking on the 125s.

Jim D'Avila from Unite said union members would be sent letters explaining the options open to them. He said he hoped the process could be completed without any compulsory redundancies, with skilled staff transferring to different depots or possibly retraining for non-skilled jobs.

Aides to Plymouth MP (Member of Parliament) Oliver Colvile said he had written to GWR asking them about the number of expected job losses and plans to raise the issue when he meets with Hitachi representatives next month.
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plymothian
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« Reply #1 on: October 02, 2015, 09:33:42 »

Shame this article wasn't produced earlier in the year, or connected with the strikes.
No one knows the connection, but still believe they were about pay and deliberate inconveniencing of the public.
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ChrisB
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« Reply #2 on: October 02, 2015, 09:45:16 »

But still pointless as completely out of the control of GWR (Great Western Railway)
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Rhydgaled
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« Reply #3 on: October 02, 2015, 10:27:19 »

But still pointless as completely out of the control of GWR (Great Western Railway)
FirstGWR apparently chose to remove Laira's contingent of IC125s. The DfT» (Department for Transport - about) had dropped that aspect of IEP (Intercity Express Program / Project.) and allowed FirstGWR to decide whether to keep IC125s for the Plymouth/Penzance services I thought, and FirstGWR decided to opt for new trains instead as their prefered option (pending DfT approval which I believe they have now got).

I take it from the above story that somebody has decided where the new non-IEP Hitachi trains will be maintained? They are to be owned by a ROSCO» (Rolling Stock Owning Company - about) I believe (Eversholt?) not by Agility (who own the IEP fleet and depots at Swansea, Bristol and London) so I thought the conventional depots (particularly Laira) might end up maintaining the non-IEP bi-mode fleet.
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----------------------------
Don't DOO (Driver-Only Operation (that is, trains which operate without carrying a guard)) it, keep the guard (but it probably wouldn't be a bad idea if the driver unlocked the doors on arrival at calling points).
ChrisB
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« Reply #4 on: October 02, 2015, 10:34:45 »

Has that decision in fact been taken? Are Hitachi msintaining these non-IEP (Intercity Express Program / Project.) AT300s too?
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paul7575
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« Reply #5 on: October 02, 2015, 11:43:10 »

I take it from the above story that somebody has decided where the new non-IEP (Intercity Express Program / Project.) Hitachi trains will be maintained?
You need to read it again then...

Paul
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ellendune
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« Reply #6 on: October 02, 2015, 21:09:53 »

I take it from the above story that somebody has decided where the new non-IEP (Intercity Express Program / Project.) Hitachi trains will be maintained? They are to be owned by a ROSCO» (Rolling Stock Owning Company - about) I believe (Eversholt?) not by Agility (who own the IEP fleet and depots at Swansea, Bristol and London) so I thought the conventional depots (particularly Laira) might end up maintaining the non-IEP bi-mode fleet.

Most new train contracts are for the manufacturer to supply a certain number of diagrams each day. That transfers the risk that the trains will not work back onto the manufacturer. This avoids the sort of problem FGW (First Great Western) had with the 180's performance. However, to be fair to be manufacturer to do this they have to be in control of the maintenance. It is therefore up to Hitachi where they do it.   
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eightf48544
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« Reply #7 on: October 03, 2015, 09:44:32 »

Irrespective of who does the maintenance I would have thought the Rail Industry as a whole cannot afford to lose skilled rolling stock engineers by making them redundant.

Hopefully they will be Tupe'd with a generous relocation package.

Unfortunately though that's not the way modern industry works.
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TaplowGreen
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« Reply #8 on: October 03, 2015, 11:38:46 »

Irrespective of who does the maintenance I would have thought the Rail Industry as a whole cannot afford to lose skilled rolling stock engineers by making them redundant.

Hopefully they will be Tupe'd with a generous relocation package.

Unfortunately though that's not the way modern industry works.

.....well it does if TUPE (The Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006.) applies in this case!
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ChrisB
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« Reply #9 on: October 03, 2015, 11:44:49 »

It won't...I understand that they have to apply for a job with Hitachi, and relocate where necessary at their own cost.

I suspect most would likely land a job, but relocation may not be something many would consider. Of course, Hitachi may not recognise the unions.
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a-driver
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« Reply #10 on: October 07, 2015, 17:34:29 »

The plan might all change yet with the rumour that HSTs (High Speed Train) will be getting an extension on services operating to the South West past the introduction of the AT300's
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