Availability of staff and trains (Qn.1 5/11/2019)

[whole diary]

[Red Squirrel]

What assurances can you give that you have enough staff to run every service once the new timetable commences on the 15th of December given that there are problems staffing the current level of service, particularly at weekends?

Will you have enough trains available to run the correct length trains on all services from the commencement of the new timetable?

[MarkHopwood]

We have a good level of confidence about traincrew levels.  We have fully reviewed the numbers and they look good, coupled with the several years’ worth of preparation we have been doing in this area.

We estimate every one of our driver depots will be in surplus by the start date of the December timetable and we have made good progress in ensuring not only the drivers are in place but they have the requisite route and traction knowledge to allow them to work the train services we require them to work.

The question also asks about weekend traincrew position. Our Saturday resource position is supported in exactly the same way as weekdays and we are confident it is robust. Sunday presents more of a challenge and the timetable change in December will not change that. We have already negotiated changes to our catering and driver grades which make the provision of a Sunday service more robust over time and we have a proposed deal currently under consideration by RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers) for our Conductors and Train Managers.
 
We have dedicated a lot of time, effort and resource to ensuring we have the traincrew in place and extensive recruitment has also taken place. We have recruited a number of new team members from Thomas Cook who will help us to ensure we deliver a consistently high standard of customer service.

Regarding the length of the train we now have the rolling stock in place to deliver the timetable.  The last piece of the jigsaw is 2+4 sliding door stock, we need another set to deliver the timetable which is all on target. 

[Red Squirrel]

Thanks Mark.

More specifically, what is the current position regarding the class 769 procurement and deployment - in particular-
1 - Have there now been satisfactory testing of prototypes of the "trimode" versions for GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)?
2 - What is the current best estimate of a delivery timetable?
3 - Are they going to be deployed on all of North Downs/Thames Valley to Oxford and Thames Valley branches or just some of them
4 - In light of recent posts on this forum, does GWR management have concerns as to their suitability for North Downs operations, especially having regards to apparent limited power when on diesel operation and possible weight distribution related traction problems?

[grahame]

There's a further corollary onto the question  ...

(( And specific elements  ... Question from ** ))

"Well it been a shocking service again over the past week with services cancel almost everyday." from a Trowbridge to Swindon commuter.  How can we ever trust GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) to run this? There is a timetable upgrade in December not giving me much confidence.

Background - cancellations on this line have reached a level that's putting people off using the trains - and the problems have now persisted for several years.

[MarkHopwood]

We are expecting testing to commence in early 2020 with the first set in passenger service for May 2020. Class 769s will initially operate on the Basingstoke route and then North Downs in 2020.  There is potential for further routes in the future but initial focus is on Basingstoke and North Downs.

Regarding the North Downs operation, we have a set of sectional running times for diesel and electric and the key benefit 769s will bring on this route is capacity.

[MarkHopwood]

There's a further corollary onto the question  ...

(( And specific elements  ... Question from ** ))

"Well it been a shocking service again over the past week with services cancel almost everyday." from a Trowbridge to Swindon commuter.  How can we ever trust GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) to run this? There is a timetable upgrade in December not giving me much confidence.

Background - cancellations on this line have reached a level that's putting people off using the trains - and the problems have now persisted for several years.

We recognise the recent disruption to the service between Trowbridge and Swindon has not been acceptable. We know it's been a challenging few months for customers on the Westbury to Swindon route and we apologise to customers impacted by such disruption. We've been talking with the TransWilts group all summer and delivered a number of presentations and will be doing so again on November 18 in Chippenham.

Simply, there are three main reasons;

We do have the right number of traincrew at our Westbury and Gloucester depots but have been adversely impacted by sickness, continuing route and traction training and some issues mentioned above about Sunday working. We are confident that our plans to recruit, train and address Sunday working will make a positive difference.

We've had a number of infrastructure issues with points, axle counters and track circuit failures in the Thingley junction and Westbury areas over the last few months plus a trespass incident (alcohol related). We are working closely with our NR^» (Network Rail - home page) colleagues to understand the causes of these failures and put in place measures to avoid reoccurrence.

More recently we've suffered some fleet failures. The failures we have seen have been a mix of door faults, sets requiring coolant or fuel or other technical issues preventing us from using a set in service. This is frustrating as Turbo performance had been improving.

We are going through a significant cascade and transformation of sets for the West services combined with a number of modification programmes which has reduced availability of sets and thus when one fails we don't have spare sets lying around to replace it. We are working hard to get to the end of our reliability modifications and ensure we have the right number of sets provided for service each day.

Cancelling trains on this route is unacceptable and we are determined that the recent improvements we have seen with GWR performance more generally are achieved on this specific route.

[eightonedee]

In relation to class 769 deployment, are there any contigency plans if the testing is not satisfactory and deployment further delayed. Presumably this will have an adverse impact on the cascade of the Turbo stock. Will it mean retaining Pacers for a further period? Is there any other suitable diesel stock coming off-lease that might be available to fill  the gap?

[broadgage]

Whilst I find the reply from the MD somewhat reassuring, I remain very doubtful about train length. When the IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train) were introduced two years ago we were promised that all services to/from London that needed to be full length, would be full length.
And look what happened ! half length trains featured regularly from day one and still appear all to often.
Numerous reasons have been offered, but short formations remain.

I am very doubtful that a new timetable will help in this regard since the stock required is the same. Unless of course the new timetable will normalise 5 car formations. No longer "short formed" but now improved to "as planned"

EDIT TO ADD^▸ (Automatic Dropping Device) my reference to the "reply from the MD" Is about the FIRST reply in this thread by Mr Hopwood, and not to subsequent replies.

[MarkHopwood]

On the Class 769s, I think you have summarised the options to address late delivery. However, we very much hope the trains will be into production and further delay can be avoided. Any future service enhancements which would require additional rolling stock would need to be timed to coincide with availability after Class 769 introduction.

If we are able to retain Class 143s we would try and minimise the period of use as far as possible.

We remain in regular dialogue with Porterbrook and the supply chain to ensure the Class 769 programme risk is minimised.

[MarkHopwood]

With regard to short formed IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) services, clearly it is not acceptable and we are working closely with Hitachi to avoid this happening. The number of services being short formed is definitely reducing but I agree it happens too often.

We have been encouraging Hitachi to address the modifications required prior to our December timetable and ensure we have less trains stopped.

[grahame]

We've been talking with the TransWilts group all summer and delivered a number of presentations and will be doing so again on November 18 in Chippenham.

Simply, there are three main reasons;

We do have the right number of traincrew at our Westbury and Gloucester depots...

Cancelling trains on this route is unacceptable and we are determined that the recent improvements we have seen with GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) performance more generally are achieved on this specific route.

We (at least I) appreciate the issues of insufficient operational staff available based in Westbury ... but it does seem that the line from Westbury to Swindon has been fare more advesely effected than the lines via Salisbury, via Bath or via Frome - all staffed from the same pool, and most cancellations above the norm ARE staff related.  We truly look forward to the same level of cancellations as seen of other lines - not looking for favouritism. Talk and promises are great - but sadly we've been having that for so long that we really want the reliable train service to ride on - can't ride on a promise.

I had the meeting on 18th as Trowbridge rather than Chippenham?   Will get that clarified, and I understand it's members only and not a public meeting.  But we would expect members from that meeting to also be at the West Wilts Rail user group a couple of days later, and at the Melksham Rail User Group the following week - both of which are public meetings on the forum diary.  And of course we can add publcity / data here.

[Reginald25]

As will be clear, a two hourly (approx) service on the TransWilts route means that a cancelled train has a bigger implication to a passenger (or potential passenger) at Melksham than on other routes where  a more frequent service operates.

[MarkHopwood]

I recognise the sentiments about cancellations on TransWilts. Message received and understood and I shall ensure we focus on this very clearly.

[grahame]

We've been talking with the TransWilts group all summer and delivered a number of presentations and will be doing so again on November 18 in Chippenham.

As I commented last night, I have checked on the venue - upcoming meetings / presentations later this month:

18th November meeting is at afternon in Trowbridge Civic Centre (a change of venue)
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/transwilts-6-monthly-meeting-for-stakeholders-and-members-tickets-72501364533
Not on our forum diary as it's a closed meeting - "TransWilts 6 monthly meeting - Stakeholders and members only"
This is the meeting at which Mark's promised update from Jon Morgan will be presented.

There's a GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) update at the West Wilts Rail User Group on 21st November - 19:00 for 19:30 at the Railway Inn, Westbury
http://www.passenger.chat/20614 - this is a meeting at which public / guests are welcome

The Melksham Rail User Group meets on 27th November - for 19:30 at the Unted Reform Church, Melksham
http://www.mrug.org.uk/meetings.html - this is a meeting at which public / guests are welcome
The subject will be discussed, and for sure attended by people who have been at one or both of the above,

[IndustryInsider]

On the Class 769s, I think you have summarised the options to address late delivery. However, we very much hope the trains will be into production and further delay can be avoided.

We remain in regular dialogue with Porterbrook and the supply chain to ensure the Class 769 programme risk is minimised.

There has, at last, been diesel testing of one of the Northern Class 769s:

https://flic.kr/p/2hFw5GH