Service meltdown - advice is to use other means to travel

[whole diary]

[grahame]

So what is needed is not more drivers, but a change if contract? One maybe can't expect a depot to be effectively overstaffed, but with enough drivers on the 'right', newer contract?

Where the message says "This is due to a shortage of train crew" it indicates to me that there are not enough of them available when needed.

And it's, frankly, down to directors to direct the managers as to how they are to manage train crew to have enough available to run services within the target levels. Whether that's done by employing more, changing contracts, or providing an environment in which everyone wants to work longer but safe hours is for them to direct and manage. 

Target levels?  Average 99% running.   That's 5 TransWilts cancellations over 28 days.  We have had 12 cancellations in the last two; pretty sure the 19:35 is running (it would, wouldn't it, because it serves the Golden Valley ...) - first train in either direction since before lunch.

[ChrisB]

Changing contracts isn't easy. You have to get to a point where drivers sign up. That is very likely to be an expensive change.

Methinks a requirement of franchise renewal ITT^▸ (Invitation to Tender) fron the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about), where an acceptance from the winning TIC^▸ (Tourist Information Centre) would reduce the income to the taxpayer/increase in unregulated fares.

[grahame]

Changing contracts isn't easy. You have to get to a point where drivers sign up. That is very likely to be an expensive change.

Who said it needs a change?  They seemed to cope much better in the summer of 2014, the summer of 2015, the summer of 2016, so perhaps the problem is caused by something that has changed!

[LiskeardRich]

Seen a nice group photo of 20+ people on a friend's Facebook posing with the powercar at Weymouth. several off duty staff in that photo.

I have similar photos.  I didn't add any here. I have mixed emotions when I see so many GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) staff gathered in front of a train on the same day that the company has cancelled a whole morning's TransWilts service due to lack of staff. The staff who headed off to Weymouth are probably amongst the greatest advocates and supporters of a decent customer-serving service, and the last ones I want to put in front of my lens and suggest they should have been deployed that day to provide that service.

On the other hand if it's the rest day, they are perfectly entitled to go on a jolly. The chap I know is a trolley attendant on the class 180s, which I believe don't do weekends, so there is no traction he's trained on at present for the weekend.

[grahame]

On the other hand if it's the rest day, they are perfectly entitled to go on a jolly.

Oh - I totally know that - which is why I didn't use / involve / mention my pictures until the subject was brought up in another public post.

[TaplowGreen]

It's been very poor for West services over this summer on weekends (and not much better for LTV^▸ (London [and] Thames Valley) and HSS^▸ (High Speed Services)), but I don't think it's quite reached the tipping point yet where it's bad enough for those responsible to be forced to be held to account and take action.  It's also a little easier to hide from the headlines when it is predominantly weekend services affected as they aren't as high profile as weekday commuter ones.  If it continues for the next few months then it might reach that point, but if it settles down at the end of the summer and all is well until next year then GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) will probably get away with it.  And before TG leaps in, I am not for one minute suggesting that is an acceptable situation from a customer perspective, but I expect that is what will happen.

London Midland a couple of years ago reached the tipping point when for several weekends there was a very high cancellation rate due to drivers not coming in on Sunday's - unofficial strike action if you will - and that obviously reached the level where the national press got interested in it.  The same can obviously be said for the ongoing Southern fiasco.

One slight light at the end of the tunnel is that I gather through the grapevine that talks to bring Sunday work within the working week are likely to be on the table sooner rather than later.  I had feared the recent IEP^▸ (Intercity Express Program / Project.) deal for HSS drivers had meant that was unlikely to be the case.

Thanks for the namecheck II!  .....thing is, it's not just weekend services being decimated by driver shortages (increasingly affecting weekdays too), it's the constant short forms making already extreme overcrowding worse due to more trains "than usual" needing repairs (the usual has still not been quantified), it's the regular closure of ticket offices, often accompanied by non functioning TVMs^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine), it's the appalling customer service, with peoples enquiries/complaints/compensation claims going unanswered for months on end (ongoing for almost a year now)........Hopwood et al (I'll be careful to avoid accusations of libel!) are directly accountable for these issues - no blaming DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) or NR^» (Network Rail - home page) - and yet there seems to be little visible or effective effort to address any of them - so yes, it is time for them to be called to account and for answers to be given as to what they are doing about it, whilst they justify their very chunky salaries.

[ChrisB]

The 'usual'number needs repairs is the number that are scheduled during a typical week for overhaul / exams / maintenance etc that one would not normally notice.

As has been explained several times in this & other threads, this is *not* under the control of Mark H & his colleagues - the schedule of transferring / retiring stock has been well and truly bust by the delay in electrification & delivery of electric stock. Neither of which GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) had any control over, and never will.

I rarely see cancellations on weekdays to lack of staff - and those that are are likely to be on-the-day sickness.

[grahame]

As has been explained several times in this & other threads, this is *not* under the control of Mark H & his colleagues - the schedule of transferring / retiring stock has been well and truly bust by the delay in electrification & delivery of electric stock. Neither of which GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) had any control over, and never will.

Let me tell a personal story.   As a supplier of services to customers over the last 20 years, I have subcontracted (bought in) staff and supplies rather than have us do everything direct.   It's worked pretty well (though I say so myself) with hotel breakfasts always being on the table in time, with rooms ready for guests when they arrive, and so on.  There have been occasions where we have been let down by staff (way-back, not the recent team as we all learned how to get it right!) and suppliers, but we always found a way to look after our customers.    We were able to do it through having a good setup in the first place, excellent relationships with our suppliers, and important but none-time-critical work which could be postponed a day or two in the event of an immediate time-dependent customer facing issue.

It seems - according to ChrisB - that this sort of business practise doesn't apply to the railways.  For sure, if we were short of ham we couldn't grow our own pigs - but we could look around for alternative supplies.  Of course, in our business there was no need to go as far as Salisbury, Carnforth, Southall, Long Marston, or Derby.

I rarely see cancellations on weekdays to lack of staff - and those that are are likely to be on-the-day sickness.

I would agree with what you see.  With fewer drivers available than turns, it would seem that there's a direction to cover Monday to Friday in priority over the weekend rather than thin out any weekday turns.  I suspect that's performance measure and financially driven; without wishing to name them here, I could find you a couple of diagrams which could be  dropped back to following services, perhaps with a single extra call in that following service.

[ChrisB]

For sure, if we were short of ham we couldn't grow our own pigs - but we could look around for alternative supplies.  Of course, in our business there was no need to go as far as Salisbury, Carnforth, Southall, Long Marston, or Derby.

And I'm quite sure that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) have been to all those locations to see what's available and works logistically for them. You are quite aware how the rolling stock leasing works, both from ROSCOs^» (Rolling Stock Owning Company - about) and private owners. And the hand that the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) has in it all.

If the problem of delayed works & stock were the cause of the TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company), I'm sure the DfT would be down on them to sort this particular problem out, money no object. But as the DfT and its subsidiary, NR^» (Network Rail - home page), have been the total cause, a commercial organisation would look to them to sort out the problem. AS would you have done if the staff you hired were from an agency & they didn't turn up - you would not have expected to pay again, right?

[stuving]

Let me tell a personal story.   As a supplier of services to customers over the last 20 years, I have subcontracted (bought in) staff and supplies rather than have us do everything direct.   It's worked pretty well (though I say so myself) with hotel breakfasts always being on the table in time, with rooms ready for guests when they arrive, and so on.  There have been occasions where we have been let down by staff (way-back, not the recent team as we all learned how to get it right!) and suppliers, but we always found a way to look after our customers.    We were able to do it through having a good setup in the first place, excellent relationships with our suppliers, and important but none-time-critical work which could be postponed a day or two in the event of an immediate time-dependent customer facing issue.

Maybe a more direct parallel is quite relevant. In effect, you were the manager and (for labour-only items like preparing breakfast from supplies already in stock) if no-one else was there you did it - because it had to be done. Why not apply the same to driving trains? It is done sometimes during strikes, I know, but this is a general rule that if a train lacks a driver then the manager (who obviously has to be qualified for this) has to do it, including being called into work.

I'll bet that would push the issue up their priority lists, if nothing else. And the more senior levels of management it can be applied to, the more effective that would be.

[ChrisB]

And the unions would very quickly call a strike. Nice.

[grahame]

For sure, if we were short of ham we couldn't grow our own pigs - but we could look around for alternative supplies.  Of course, in our business there was no need to go as far as Salisbury, Carnforth, Southall, Long Marston, or Derby.

And I'm quite sure that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) have been to all those locations to see what's available and works logistically for them.

I didn't suggest that they hadn't. 

As a business, I would also ask myself (if offered the very best Parma ham) if I really wanted to spend that much on my customers, or if a more pragmatic approach would be to turn down the alternative, and tell my customers I had been let down by my supplier.   Were buying in the Parma ham to be so expensive that I had to recover significant extra expenditure from my wider customer base, or if I had to explain to my fellow directors and shareholders a significant extra expense that hit them in their pockets, there would be temptation indeed to turn down the alternative product, and if explained to my customers "it was either no ham, or that and prices going up", I suspect many would have agreed with my decision.

[ChrisB]

Which is where we are at.

[JayMac]

Fares didn't go up (except in the normal annual January increase) when London Midland were forced by the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) to recruit more drivers and sort their weekend rostering.

Why should it be different on GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)?

[JayMac]

And the unions would very quickly call a strike. Nice.

Striking because your employer is filling staffing gaps with managers to provide the advertised service? Not sure that would be a legal reason for a strike. Definitely sure it wouldn't go down well with passengers or the press.