Shortage of train crews on Great Western Railway - ongoing discussion

[whole diary]

[a-driver]

[Taking Weymouth (and Gloucester) off Bristol drivers and Melksham off Gloucester drivers certainly raised a few eyebrows in May.

They’ve taken routes off several depots….. and immediately felt the consequences!  Staff questioned this with management at the time and they were told this was a “decision based on the needs of the businsss”.   

That level of decision making is what cost First Group the TPE^▸ (Trans Pennine Express) franchise.

[Wizard]

[Taking Weymouth (and Gloucester) off Bristol drivers and Melksham off Gloucester drivers certainly raised a few eyebrows in May.

They’ve taken routes off several depots….. and immediately felt the consequences!  Staff questioned this with management at the time and they were told this was a “decision based on the needs of the businsss”.   

That level of decision making is what cost First Group the TPE^▸ (Trans Pennine Express) franchise.

Yes, I’m aware. I had routes taken off me too. I believe only the LTV^▸ (London [and] Thames Valley) depots didn’t lose routes in May.

[Timmer]

How does taking routes off traincrew save money?

[a-driver]

How does taking routes off traincrew save money?

It doesn’t, that’s why it’s baffling decision.

Removing route knowledge from crew increases the number of crew you actually need to run the service.   

[Wizard]

How does taking routes off traincrew save money?

Fewer routes to learn saves time in route learning and route refresh days. So instead of taking 50 days to route learn it takes 30 and a driver is productive for those extra 20 days.

[a-driver]

How does taking routes off traincrew save money?

Fewer routes to learn saves time in route learning and route refresh days. So instead of taking 50 days to route learn it takes 30 and a driver is productive for those extra 20 days.

In the short term only.

The problem is, GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) have too many depots in some areas fighting over too little work which is why they’ve had to take route knowledge away.
A driver for example can do 4 hours (I think) continuous driving,  a well run company would strive to get close to that getting the most productivity out of a driver. 

In the good old days!
Driver 1 would drive A to E and take would take, for argument sake, 4 hours.  Then a break, and then 4 hours back E to A.

What you have now is something like:
Driver 1 goes A to B, then 30 minute break, then drives B to A, 30 minute break etc etc
Driver 2 does the B to C, 30 minute break, then drives C to B etc
Driver 3 does C to D etc
Driver 4 does D to E etc
As you see, half their day could see them sitting around doing nowt.  When there’s service disruption, all 4 drivers are in the wrong place which leaves trains stranded or perhaps Driver 2 doesn’t work their Sunday and the whole service is cancelled.

[Timmer]

Wow, they weren’t joking when they said that fewer trains would run between Westbury and Bristol. Almost a three hour gap between the 8.39 and the next train at 11.36 with this train down as a 2 car 165! 

[Timmer]

As of 10:10 83 cancellations and 58 amended services, so it’s not just the three lines out of Westbury that are affected.

Here’s one of note: 10:03 and 10:36 London to WoE services cancelled. Yeah it happens, but what’s concerning is the 11:03 Newquay train (making extra stops at Pewsey, Westbury and Castle Cary to cover the cancelled 10:36) is down as a 5 coach IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train - replacement for HSTs (manufactured by Hitachi in Kobe, Japan))! Crazy!

[grahame]

Wow, they weren’t joking when they said that fewer trains would run between Westbury and Bristol. Almost a three hour gap between the 8.39 and the next train at 11.36 with this train down as a 2 car 165! 

For the record - at 09:00 this morning

[IndustryInsider]

Here’s one of note: 10:03 and 10:36 London to WoE services cancelled. Yeah it happens, but what’s concerning is the 11:03 Newquay train (making extra stops at Pewsey, Westbury and Castle Cary to cover the cancelled 10:36) is down as a 5 coach IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train - replacement for HSTs (manufactured by Hitachi in Kobe, Japan))! Crazy!

Swaps happen at quite short notice sometimes.  800304, a 9-car, is working this train.

[Timmer]

Swaps happen at quite short notice sometimes.  800304, a 9-car, is working this train.

That’s good news for those booked on this train and those who held back from the previous two trains. Some may have been advised to travel via Bristol of course.

[grahame]

Late substitution / strengthening of a train where the previous one (or two) has (have) been cancelled is to be commended,

[TaplowGreen]

Late substitution / strengthening of a train where the previous one (or two) has (have) been cancelled is to be commended,

Given the number of cancellations today, I'd imagine there is no shortage of available stock to add to those trains that are running, or to substitute 9/10 for 5.................although if there are 3 trains worth of customers filling them up due to earlier cancellations, it's still not going to be a pleasant experience, particularly in the current heat.

[TaplowGreen]

...............yesterday on this route the trains weren't working, today there's no crew.

Exactly the sort of route that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) should be strengthening and exploiting the revenue opportunities on a hot, summer weekend.

Utterly shambolic - customers? Well they're on their own.

Cancellations to services between Liskeard and Looe

Due to a shortage of train crew between Liskeard and Looe the line is closed.

Train services running to and from these stations have been cancelled. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

Customer Advice
The Liskeard to Looe service has been suspended until the end of the day due to no crew being available.

Few alternatives are currently available; we are currently arranging road transport to run between the stations, but so far is quite limited. Customers are also able to use their ticket on the local bus network if it suits, however, it is a fairly infrequent service on a Sunday and does not operate along the route.

[bobm]

Here’s one of note: 10:03 and 10:36 London to WoE services cancelled. Yeah it happens, but what’s concerning is the 11:03 Newquay train (making extra stops at Pewsey, Westbury and Castle Cary to cover the cancelled 10:36) is down as a 5 coach IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train - replacement for HSTs (manufactured by Hitachi in Kobe, Japan))! Crazy!

Swaps happen at quite short notice sometimes.  800304, a 9-car, is working this train.

Started running late from Pewsey onwards and was eventually 50 minutes late into Newquay.  Still well in time for the return trip.