Shortage of train crews on Great Western Railway since September 2017 - ongoing discussion

[whole diary]

[bobm]

Somebody has taken it to them to make a parody GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) account and reply to the complaints instead..
https://twitter.com/Custome08903108

Page has been removed.

Can’t say I’m surprised.

[grahame]

Looking in the current very useful and easy to use GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) Guide to Services TT Book  there seem no trains shown as BHX^▸ (Bank Holiday excepted (on timetables))(Bank Holiday Excepted), which used to be a standard practice some years ago for very good operational and commercial reasons.

There aren't (in the book - I just took a look) but there are (in practise - checked on Real Time Trains).   

The 06:36 Melksham to Southampton Central is not running - first train that way should be the 09:18.   The 07:20 Melksham to Cheltenham Spa is not running - first trains that way should be 07:50.    Can't argue with either change on a Bank Holiday.

[bobm]

Of course. I’d forgotten all about BHX^▸ (Bank Holiday excepted (on timetables)). 

[bobm]

From GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Twitter

@GWRHelp: Great Western Railway tickets dated August 25 may be used on services tomorrow, August 26, after today’s service disruption. This includes Advance tickets. Please travel at the earliest opportunity.

Thank you for your patience today.

[TM]

The most exasperating thing about all this is it’s hard to pin who is responsible for the continued shortage of crew across the rail network; particularly on weekends. Is it the train company, the unions, the dft even British Rail?

All I do know is there seems to be little urgency to sort it as it’s being going on for years.

Pritvatisation takes a large part of the blame in my book.  Previously drivers were a common resource working for one company.  Splitting into myriad different companies is inherently inefficient. 

Great Western have a tiny depot in Weymouth so when short of crew a train has to be cancelled.  Most of the time South West Railway will have a spare drive who could have covered the work in British Rail days.  So a driver or guard are available just not the right one.

When new trains are introduced into an area it means a large part of the workforce for the Train Operating Company need training.  Ideally you would recruit extra drivers for 18 months but that is not a realistic option.  So you have to rely on overtime working which is fine for most of the year but there inevitable pinch points, such as a bank holiday, when you will not get sufficient volunteers so trains have to be cancelled.

Don't forget Great Western have a huge increase in service in December and the staff have to be trained.  Usually for the peak summer season you would stop the training for 6 to 8 weeks.  However this is not really an option with a hard deadline of timetable change in December.

[trainbuff]

Another very poor performance, which sends out the message to avoid train travel at holiday times and to holiday resorts.
I suspect that some GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) staff are declining to work today as an unofficial show of support for the cross country strikers.
Organised secondary strike action is illegal, but nothing prohibits failing to volunteer for voluntary overtime.
And of course it is barbecue season.

There is very considerable anger in the West country tourist trade about the continual failings of GWR.
Not just the traditional staff shortages, but also breakdowns and general unreliability.
And as for the actual trains, it is not just me that considers the new trains to be a significant downgrade, and to be totally unsuitable for long distance travel.

Its not a strike for cross country. Sundays are voluntary and overtime. There is an overtime ban in place!

[trainbuff]

Train crew aren’t going to have their contracts amended and give up their Sundays, their guaranteed day with their families, for nothing.  In fact, for some, no amount of money will get them to accept Sundays as part of the working week. 

I agree it's unreasonable to amend existing C of E's for existing staff.  But why have GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) not introduced a different C of E for new recruits that does include Sunday in the working week.  It seems to me to be entirely unreasonable for ASLEF^» (Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen - about) or RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers) to object to something which does not affect the conditions of their existing members.  If new recruits are happy to sign C of E's with Sundays as part of the working week (and maybe balanced off against benefits like a 4 day working week like TVL Drivers), why should they not be able to?

I have seen this happen in the bus industry. After a while when critical mass is reached the old staff are just told they will be on new contracts. I suspect ASLEF and RMT know this

[phile]

The most exasperating thing about all this is it’s hard to pin who is responsible for the continued shortage of crew across the rail network; particularly on weekends. Is it the train company, the unions, the dft even British Rail?

All I do know is there seems to be little urgency to sort it as it’s being going on for years.

Pritvatisation takes a large part of the blame in my book.  Previously drivers were a common resource working for one company.  Splitting into myriad different companies is inherently inefficient. 

Great Western have a tiny depot in Weymouth so when short of crew a train has to be cancelled.  Most of the time South West Railway will have a spare drive who could have covered the work in British Rail days.  So a driver or guard are available just not the right one.

When new trains are introduced into an area it means a large part of the workforce for the Train Operating Company need training.  Ideally you would recruit extra drivers for 18 months but that is not a realistic option.  So you have to rely on overtime working which is fine for most of the year but there inevitable pinch points, such as a bank holiday, when you will not get sufficient volunteers so trains have to be cancelled.

Don't forget Great Western have a huge increase in service in December and the staff have to be trained.  Usually for the peak summer season you would stop the training for 6 to 8 weeks.  However this is not really an option with a hard deadline of timetable change in December.

I thought GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) only had guards at Weymouth, Westbury drivers are taxied morning and night

[PhilWakely]

From GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Twitter

@GWRHelp: Great Western Railway tickets dated August 25 may be used on services tomorrow, August 26, after today’s service disruption. This includes Advance tickets. Please travel at the earliest opportunity.

Thank you for your patience today.

I guess that appeared long after pax had started their journeys. I know of folk starting out at Paignton or Torquay expecting easy connections at Newton Abbot - only to find they were in for a loooooooooooong wait as successive services were cancelled. If they had known that their cancelled service was actually starting at Exeter, they could have stayed onboard the local service, but no... the information was not available!

[grahame]

I guess [that] appeared long after pax had started their journeys. I know of folk starting out at Paignton or Torquay expecting easy connections at Newton Abbot - only to find they were in for a loooooooooooong wait as successive services were cancelled. If they had known that their cancelled service was actually starting at Exeter, they could have stayed onboard the local service, but no... the information was not available!

It rather reminds everyone just how important information is at the point of travel ... and perhaps how much better it could be if the cloth of services was tailored to fit the resources available (and predictable!) a week or two ahead, rather than in an overnight patch-up job.

[TaplowGreen]

From GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Twitter

@GWRHelp: Great Western Railway tickets dated August 25 may be used on services tomorrow, August 26, after today’s service disruption. This includes Advance tickets. Please travel at the earliest opportunity.

Thank you for your patience today.

I guess that appeared long after pax had started their journeys. I know of folk starting out at Paignton or Torquay expecting easy connections at Newton Abbot - only to find they were in for a loooooooooooong wait as successive services were cancelled. If they had known that their cancelled service was actually starting at Exeter, they could have stayed onboard the local service, but no... the information was not available!

Yep the "here to help 24/7" Twitter service didn't wake up until 1pm and the website wasn't updated until about the same time, by which time most of the damage had been done to people's plans.

Given the amount of overcrowding which can be expected today as people return from the long weekend, adding on a lot of other people whose plans were ruined yesterday who are having to travel today instead and combining it with the forecast heat means conditions will probably be pretty horrific.

[grahame]

Given the amount of overcrowding which can be expected today as people return from the long weekend, adding on a lot of other people whose plans were ruined yesterday who are having to travel today instead and combining it with the forecast heat means conditions will probably be pretty horrific.

A number of these today.

07:36 London Paddington to Cheltenham Spa due 09:52
Facilities on the 07:36 London Paddington to Cheltenham Spa due 09:52.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.
Will be formed of 5 coaches instead of 9.

Very curious that train crew shortage is resulting in shorter trains.  Mostly look to be north and south Cotswold services which - at least - are not the seaside services we might expect to besot heavily loaded today.

[ellendune]

Very curious that train crew shortage is resulting in shorter trains.  Mostly look to be north and south Cotswold services which - at least - are not the seaside services we might expect to besot heavily loaded today.

2 x 5 coach trains presumably need a member of traincrew in each half, so it is not driver who are the problem, but conductors/train managers or whatever they are called these days. 

[bobm]

Or trains ended up in the wrong place at the end of yesterday due to cancellations.

[Celestial]

Train crew aren’t going to have their contracts amended and give up their Sundays, their guaranteed day with their families, for nothing.  In fact, for some, no amount of money will get them to accept Sundays as part of the working week. 

I agree it's unreasonable to amend existing C of E's for existing staff. 

I do. If businesses had not been able to change C of E's then we would still have typing pools full of elderly ladies awaiting their retirement with nothing to do. And lots of other examples where the world has moved on and businesses need to adapt.  It's unrealistic to enter a job at 18 and think that your terms and conditions are protected for the next 50 years until you reach state retirement age. The only reason it is resisted on the railway is that it has a monopoly position and the unions are very effective in using that position.  Others will argue that they are only doing the best for their members, but that doesn't make it right for society as a whole.