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Author Topic: Shortage of train crews on Great Western Railway since September 2017 - ongoing discussion  (Read 424380 times)
bobm
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« Reply #120 on: October 25, 2017, 08:40:23 »

Indeed it was a driver of a train in the area.  He could hear a man calling for help, has now located him and waited for a medical team to arrive and treat him.
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NickB
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« Reply #121 on: October 25, 2017, 08:50:41 »

Impressive stuff.
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grahame
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« Reply #122 on: October 25, 2017, 12:20:54 »

Indeed it was a driver of a train in the area.  He could hear a man calling for help, has now located him and waited for a medical team to arrive and treat him.

Now that is one of the circumstances where "delayed due to awaiting driver" or "shortage of drivers" is acceptable for consequential disruption.
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Timmer
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« Reply #123 on: October 28, 2017, 08:11:00 »

No GWR (Great Western Railway) services to/from Brighton today due to train crew issues. At least there are plenty of alternative services available for anyone making long distance journeys because it's Saturday and not Sunday.
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grahame
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« Reply #124 on: October 28, 2017, 09:36:18 »

No GWR (Great Western Railway) services to/from Brighton today due to train crew issues. At least there are plenty of alternative services available for anyone making long distance journeys because it's Saturday and not Sunday.

Recently added to today's cancellation list - everything between 15:22 and 21:06 from Swindon to Westbury.

Wonderful day to leave the TransWilts bereft of return trains when a timetable leaflet hit every letter box in Melksham on Thursday.   Prior to those cancellations being announced, I popped down to Melksham station and chatted with people using the train for the first time ... 
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ChrisB
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« Reply #125 on: October 28, 2017, 09:38:03 »

Re Brighton services - 1046 ex-GMV arriving 1615 reinstated, according to journeycheck

But the last two services to/from Melksham gave gone again owing to staff shortages
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grahame
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« Reply #126 on: October 28, 2017, 09:59:22 »

Re Brighton services - 1046 ex-GMV arriving 1615 reinstated, according to journeycheck

But the last two services to/from Melksham gave gone again owing to staff shortages

See Attachment ...
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TaplowGreen
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« Reply #127 on: October 28, 2017, 10:27:32 »

Re Brighton services - 1046 ex-GMV arriving 1615 reinstated, according to journeycheck

But the last two services to/from Melksham gave gone again owing to staff shortages

See Attachment ...

Looks like you've got road replacement in place anyway if worst comes to worst.
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ChrisB
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« Reply #128 on: October 28, 2017, 10:29:54 »

They so have a legal requirement to 'repatriate' the day trippers....
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SandTEngineer
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« Reply #129 on: October 28, 2017, 11:03:13 »

An interesting and telling comment on the WNXX (Stored Unserviceable, Mainline Locos HQ All Classes) Forum from somebody on the inside:

Quote
With fleet reliability, I don't doubt the maintenance staff do the best they can with what they have. I don't think anyone goes to work to deliberately do a bad job.

Despite this, it is an inescapable fact that fleet reliability is sub-par, and has been for years. Next month is the Modern Railway Golden Spanner Awards. Will we see yet another year where GWR (Great Western Railway) is the bottom of the pile for unit and HST (High Speed Train) reliability? If this summer is anything to go by, probably. I remember on one day in the Summer, we had half the 158 fleet grounded.

This is not a personal attack on the staff. It's a harsh reality check about how GWR seems to do things. The company knew years ago that we'd lose maintenance staff to Hitachi. What did they do to mitigate the shortage of staff? Not a lot. It's also worth noting that in the past we used to have fitters visit some of our outstations overnight to do minor work. Doesn't happen any more unless there is a major issue. I reckon that it is cheaper to cancel trains than spending the money to keep them up together.

It is true that GWR has a knackered and stretched fleet, but the same is also true at TOCs (Train Operating Company) such as Northern and EMT» (East Midlands Trains - about), and they do better than us somehow.

It's not just the fleet side either, on the train crew side things are a mess. We have over established depots that have had work taken away from them, while depots that are notoriously short of train crew such as Bristol have had an increase of work. We have diagrams produced in cookoo land, and then the company scratches its head when a train is cancelled due to a lack of crew, while another depot has drivers sat around spare that don't sign the route/traction. Modern day railway.
« Last Edit: October 28, 2017, 11:12:03 by SandTEngineer » Logged
JayMac
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« Reply #130 on: October 28, 2017, 17:02:54 »

An interesting and telling comment on the WNXX (Stored Unserviceable, Mainline Locos HQ All Classes) Forum from somebody on the inside:

Telling. Very telling. GWR (Great Western Railway) is being very badly managed across all aspects of the business.

Accountability from senior management and the board is missing. Sadly there is no chance of butt kicking from the DfT» (Department for Transport - about). For ideological reasons the Conservative government won't countenance putting the operator on an improvement notice or consider stripping failing FirstGroup of the franchise.

Passengers will continue to suffer on GWR until the next franchise. FirstGroup don't deserve to be even considered for the next franchise.

What can GWR do to restore some faith from passengers and improve staff morale? Well, a public apology from Mark Hopwood would be a start...
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« Reply #131 on: October 28, 2017, 18:54:08 »

Re Brighton services - 1046 ex-GMV arriving 1615 reinstated, according to journeycheck

But the last two services to/from Melksham gave gone again owing to staff shortages

Fortunately the cancelled Melksham services have all been reinstated, although not of use if you have already made alternative plans assuming that the trains were not running.
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grahame
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« Reply #132 on: October 28, 2017, 18:56:06 »

Re Brighton services - 1046 ex-GMV arriving 1615 reinstated, according to journeycheck

But the last two services to/from Melksham gave gone again owing to staff shortages

Fortunately the cancelled Melksham services have all been reinstated, although not of use if you have already made alternative plans assuming that the trains were not running.

I was just writing that up as a separate topic - took the dog for a walk in Chippenham to see how busy the reinstated trains were.  http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=18908.msg224076#msg224076
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TaplowGreen
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« Reply #133 on: December 04, 2017, 06:08:01 »

Quite a few of these this morning - Christmas hols starting?


07:32 Maidenhead to London Paddington due 08:06 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train drivers.
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ChrisB
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« Reply #134 on: December 04, 2017, 06:56:02 »

Oh dear, another subject line needs updating!
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