In respect of your conversation with Graham Eccles. The biggest reason for rest day working on any of the TOCs and FOCs is because they don't employ enough drivers. You cannot have a spare to diagram ratio based on a multiplier from the 1980s. The railway has changed beyond all recognition since then. The worst thing that happened was the new bargaining procedure bought in in the early 90s that took depot establishments from bargaining to consultation. It allowed the management to dictate the establishments and look where that's ended up. ASLEF has always argued for robust establishments. I know because I was one of them across the table arguing for them. It's a matter of supply and demand if companies can't and don't see why they need spare drivers sitting in the lobby then rest day working is their only option. The other thing that privatisation did was to reduce the amount of drivers who signed a route. They have determined that diversionary route knowledge is a luxury. So when the job goes up the wall the options to get out of it are limited. You only get what you pay for in life.
Absolutely. At my TOC we have had “as few drivers as possible” for as long as I have been in the grade (16 years). We hardly ever sit spare, struggle to get annual leave, and the job goes south at the slightest hiccough. We don’t even have middle or late cover at my depot. A skeleton staff would look positively corpulent compared with us.
@royluxford2925 very true that was my opinion when I worked on the railway rosters relied on rest day working and although Sundays were supposed to be covered they always came up due to illness or annual leave also the entrance exam to get on the drivers course is to extreme to pass leading to a waste of possible talent
@17:44 "Whilst I'm absolutely with the Secretary of State on wanting to move fast and fix things....." I was instantly transported back four decades. Sir Humphrey Appleby : Minister, it takes time to do things 'now'. Of course it was condescending. Like a grandmother patting her grandaughter on the head and saying "Yes dear" and delivering a homily. It is blindingly obvious that there has been no fundamental change in the corridors of Whitehall.
I didn't read it like that. LH said it would take 2 years, and Dame BK was getting in a response early to the inevitable comment that it's a long time, maybe body language in the room. We don't want shooting from the hip, not looking at where there may be unintended consequences, as we've seen with agricultural IHT relief for instance. And better to under promise and over deliver.
The long interviews that you do where you allow the person to talk without [within reason] a time constraint is where you win. Some of the long interviews that "The Rest Is Politics" do are also very good for the same reason. You have got someone you want to talk to and let them run.
Thanks for showing the TSC. One point of the many that I have picked up on are the DFT and the anti passenger matters it's allowed to grow. For example, 4 operators between York and Leeds and 4 company specific non inter changeable tickets. 3 of these companies are operators of last resort. Having travelled lots of times across this route to see passenger board the wrong train and then asked to pay again for their journey. I am sure there are many more examples of this type of problem across the network. Which serves to put passenger off or anger them.
Haha! I wasn't expecting a personal shout-out for my contribution to the bat-shed debate! So that was a treat but I'm always impressed with the way you guys are very interactive with your audience. I contend that this is one of the most important things we have to beat if we're going to advance infrastructure improvement whether for rail, road, decarbonisation etc. We have to find a method to short cut all the planning and consenting and legal conflicts. I live in Gravesend and for years we've been hoping for progress on the Lower Thames Crossing to relieve congestion, but it has been glacially slow to settle all of these things. The final complete package of planning and consenting ran to 375,000 pages! For just 8 miles of road and a tunnel! The system creates battleground opportunities for every pressure group, and blights the properties of those affected for years or even decades. The cost of all this is staggering and the lost opportunity cost of not having the facilities is crippling. All of the pieces of legislation and required steps are well-meaning individually, but the tangled mess that has resulted is madness! Overall it's killing the country. The bat shed debate has become totemic - it has caught the consciousness of politicians and journalists, and at last shone a light on the fundamental problem, and whilst this is still a hot topic, now is the time to try to get the debate out there. Strike whilst the iron is hot! You have lots of influential connections, this needs someone to lead a non-partisan working group or examination of the difficulty to come up with some recommendations and ideas. Don't let it drop! Well done guys Marion
I’m constantly impressed by the wealth of experience and knowledge you both bring to this subject. Let’s hope you can get the Sec of State to agree to an interview.
Looking forward to an in depth look at TfW's operations. Also see if you can get an output from the partnership between NR and TfW to make it simpler and easier to develop and deliver a better rail network for Wales and the borders.
A bit ironic that the RDG, having been at the forefront of running the railway down and exacerbating the recent industrial dispute, has chosen to publish this report lauding the railway just as they move forward through irrelevance into history. From a railway worker’s perspective, they will not be missed.
I find it difficult to believe the finding in the RDG report on rail's general contribution to the economy that the average passenger spend on ancillaries such as food and drink is £80 per journey.
2025 will mark Dame Bernadette’s 10 year anniversary in DfT senior leadership roles, 8 of them as Permanent Secretary. She rose to that role when Chris Grayling was SoS, perhaps adopting her combative tone to the TSC from him. Her numerous TSC appearances attempting to defend lack of effective oversight on Crossrail cost overruns bordered on cringeworthy. While I’m sure Dame Bernadette is well respected by many in her role, business solutions implemented successfully in one era become inappropriate in another as ‘customers’ move on and demand fresh action on new and longstanding issues. She is now supporting her sixth SoS in very different times to Grayling/Shapps/Harper. Maybe it’s time she woke up and smelt the coffee. In other news, Dame Bernadette is 60, the same age as Sir Robert Devereux when he retired from the same role in 2007.
Great commentary on Sec of State’s appearances. Hope she’s listening to your supporting comments and suggestions especially the 3 points. The third is so essential to get things moving clearly and decisively - but by a leader of the industry!
An excellent listen once again. Insightful, authoritative and knowledgeable as always. I couldn't agree more that the unions are running rings around management when it comes to Ts & Cs, and pretty much everything else! And that the answer is better training for managers to more clearly understand the wider impact of the decisions they make locally. Also, being a Ln ex-Pat Welsh Valleys boy, it would be great I'd you could apply the considerable expertise and talent of GS to making a film about the superb transformation in rail transport that's happening in South Wales. The frequency of passenger services that are shortly to be introduced are unprecedented: even the GWR didn't run up ton4 trains per hour into Cardiff! Mind you, that was mainly because the tracks were full of coal trains, and everyone worked where they lived. Still, there's a huge investment being made in rail to turn the dream of the South Wales Metro into reality.
Gov needs to get a move on with GBR. Good plan to get Louise on GS. Enjoyed her TSC appearance, seems on top of things and has the right ideas. Let's hope she stays in post longer than most. Never understand why services are planned when no plans to have sufficient staff are in place. Graham was really interesting and can see the pitfalls of apparently easy resolutions. Good interview with Jac but should Richard be on the right of the screen as he's looking away from his guest. Strange plans by goop, don't such services exist already? Another fun episode.
Good to see the follow-up on the HS2 Bat-Shed report in GS-59. I am glad that you picked up his main thrust - the conflicts which could never be priced into the original 2010/2015 costings envelope. Do PLEASE follow up on this. Mike
Sadly, I’m not in a position to pay subscriptions. I’m disabled and low income. But although it started slowly I’m now a confirmed fan of green signals. It’s entertaining. Informative and appealing. It keeps up up to date on the news in the railway world in the UK. The two of you have a relationship that’s homely and freindly. You engage us with witty yet intelligent conversation and ample interviews. You’d piece on the Wordsworth branch was brilliant. Thank you the pair of you. I would love to be on your programme one day. You never know where my vast knowledge could lead you.
Let me guess, GBR will be HQ'ed in an old Government office, situated between the DFT and Treasury. With a management team picked by a committee of Treasury and DFT Civil servants. A selection that will contain a diverse selection of Civil servants, from across every flavour of Whitehall department.
I had never heard of the rumour of the buried locomotive under Wembley. There is actually a Furness Railway engine that fell into a hole formed when one of the former sidings at LIndal in Furness collapsed into a defunct iron ore working. It was quite deep. and it was decided that the neccesity of getting the lines working again outweighed the value of the loco, and the time it would have taken to dig the engine out with the technology of the time; - late 1800's I thimk. The dsriver and fireman both clambered clear, and they and colleagues managed to disconnect and rescue the tender before the engine slid too far down the hole. The book I read said that the driver was most upset at losing his jacket which was still in the cab, and contained his presentation , long service gold watch from the FR.
Just a thought chaps, inspired by your final story - how about an exposee of the Clayton Equipment Co and what they are doing now? Most people only remember the name for the spectacularly unsuccessful Class 17s, but they survived that debacle (how many companies that made first generation diesels can claim that?!) and remain a successful UK loco manufacturing company, a real force in their specialist area of mining and shunting, both narrow and standard gauge. I think they have recently supplied some new battery locos to Sellafield as well. I'm sure they'd be delighted to give you a tour of their works and it would do no harm to promote a solid UK player.
Great episode. As a long suffering passenger who has had to use Sunday rail travel to be located in, especially various Northern cities for start of play operations in my field of work, I have for years suffered at the ludicrously inefficient nature of these services, and can't for the life of me understand that, especially since the public's increased desire for weekend leisure travel, that various heads have not been banged together to sort out 'rest day working' etc. I suspect that it's a uniquely British problem and mostly the fault of intransient unions (yes no doubt I'll get some stick for that). In my field of telecoms and IT, Sunday is no different to ANY other day as far as rostering and the ability to apply for days off is concerned, and nobody has ever called for it to be treated any differently either. On a less controversial note, your upcoming feature on DART services in Ireland is very much welcomed. I have family over there who have seen the Irish rail service improved beyond recognition over the past few years.
Given that the Railway has gone from British Rail, Rail Track, Network Rail and soon to be Great British Rail, isnt it about time that the DFT had a good look at itself and questioned its own function and what its achieved?
The problem is that the job of the Civil Service is to enact the whims of whichever SoS is in charge. It's the ministers who've dictated the structure of the industry, not the DfT.
@@joegrey9807 I agree thats how they manage up. But the ministers are transient at best and as such pandering to the Ego is a short term transport requirement and the betterment of the industry needs to be the decades long objectives. The DFT are ineffective and you can see that by example in NPR. A decade in development and still no requirements or known end dates.
@@joegrey9807 Transport for North was leading it but no more and NWR are developing it not leading. Its the DFT that have allowed a project to be developed for 10 years without requirements.
What disgusted me was when on the media interview circuit this week the Northern spokesman (didn't see who exactly it was) blamed the 2018 timetable change for the issues saying it would take until 2027 to repair the damage. This was a ludicrous statement, it does not take 9 years to repair the damage to operation from one timetable change that was mostly reverted anyway!
I do think the DfT would give up control when they feel that the industry is capable of taking up the baton. They just can't do something that has an even slight chance of failure. Unfortunately the industry has been enfeebled to such an extent that even the SoS has had to make operational decisions. Is the industry even able to create its own structure and literally pull itself together? Someone in the industry needs to grow a pair, quickly, and show that they mean business and that they have the whole industry behind them. And is Hendy in the wrong job? Anyway, it's so good to see someone who is so passionate and articulate as the SoS.
The Civil Service will do its best to drain that passion into its black hole. The expression used is "house trained." Sir Arnold Robinson: "Power goes with permanence." Sir Humphrey Appleby: "Impermanence is impotence." A reshuffle is manna from heaven to the mandarins in Whitehall.
Since you are going to do a feature on TfW, you might ask why TfW operate a lot of 2-coach trains between Manchester and South & South West Wales. Indeed until recently many of them were old Class 150s! They might still be from time to time. Two-coach trains are totally inadequate for that route, with journey times of up to seven hours. They are not just full at almost any time of day, they are rammed, with standing passengers in the aisles and vestibules. This is quite unacceptable but seems to be OK in the eyes of TfW. Occasionally 2 units are coupled together to make a 4-coach train, but these are comparatively rare and even when they do appear, such is demand on this busy route that these are also often full. Sometimes a 2-coach DMU deputises for a Mk4 / DVT / Class 67 set. Tough luck if you booked a 1st class seat in the Mk4 set and intended to have a meal, but end up standing in a rammed 2-coach DMU! I cannot understand why TfW don't provide trains with enough capacity - 4 coaches minimum are required on the route. Vince Chadwick
TfW have been allowed to run 5-car (3+2) formations of 197s in and out of Manchester since the 4th of November 2024 (which they have done where it has been possible), and they've also just started using ETCS-fitted 197s (for the Cambrian line) "off-Cambrian" - 57 197s have now been in service rather than 54. TfW have now had 73 of their 148 brand new trains in service - that's only one away from half - they just haven't yet got to the point where the reliability of them is where it should be. The plan when everything has settled down is for all TfW services in and out of Manchester to be 5-car, whether 3+2 197 or 5-coach loco-hauled.
@@RWL2012 "Allowed" to run 5 cars? Whose permission was needed to 'allow' that? Why couldn't they just do it? I look forward to the demise of 2-car trains on this route, but I'm not holding my breath.
Given the long platforms at Crewe, even three 150s would provide an excellent boost to capacity for the Manchester to South Wales run. Not holding my breath, naturally!
Thanks Team for another great episode. I think the highlighted intervention by Ms Kelly in the TSC was indeed very perceptive of civil servants desire at wanting to dot every i an cross every t. The issues around Northern are interesting; my take on the much shorter agreement with conductors is to ensure its gets over the two busy seasons - Blackpool Illuminations and Christmas shopping!
Why is the Sunday working issue at Northern (and maybe elsewhere) so difficult to solve? Why should staff need to work their rest days, either recruit new guards on a contract to work some Sundays or change contracts for existing staff. Either way, passengers rightly expect a service 7 days a week and the fact you’re saying it’s a difficult problem to solve will sound ridiculous to the average passenger.
From an enthusiasts point of view, and with acceptance that there is alot to do which will take a long time and will cause a lot of upheaval, I'd like to see aesthetics changes as soon as possible. New branding, livery, signage and a 'togetherness' feel. Other operational improvements can also start immediately.
Hi Roy! I always remember establishments as being consultative. The rosters were negotiable. At the end of BR the spare to booked ratio at a drivers depot was considered appropriate at around 28%. By the time I’d retired in 2007 the South West Trains ratio was 50%. I dread to think what it should be today. However, I agree with your analysis. Operators have failed to recruit and train to establishment over recent years for reasons best known to themselves. The outcome has been to build up a backlog that will take some years to close. A foreseeable and avoidable situation I would suggest that even the most junior of railway operations managers should have seen coming.
As with attempts to improve the NHS by restructuring, GBR will just see the same people doing the same jobs the same way - all that will change is the letterheadings and the signage.
@andrewhotston983 yeah I agree with you on that, the structure needs to be driven by the industry, unfortunately the industry has been enfeebled and fragmented so much that it's difficult to see that happening.
@DanRyan-v5y the structure at BR changed quite a few times, but it was always one step removed from the CS so had more flexibility. The BR chairman had devolved responsibility - both to help them to manage the organisation in a more business like way, and also to reduce the flak that the SoS would get if they were directly in charge of it. The big problem as far as I can tell was that HMT wouldn't let BR plan sufficiently well in advance. At least with the pre-COVID private structure, HMT was committed to subsidising the TOCs for the franchise length. And NR had committed funding for each Control Period. Going forward there needs to be removal of micromanagement from both the DfT and HMT. I think getting the latter to keep their grubby hands away from every minor project will be harder than getting the DfT to walk away from it.
I think her civil servants will do everything they can to keep Louise away from you, (you meddling kids). I agree with the statement that union reps are way ahead of managers. They tend to stay in post, know their subject, get good training and can run rings around managers who don't care and are just looking for their next job or promotion. They regard negotiations as a battle to be won, or at least valliantly fought. I worked in the NHS and saw this all the time. Those of us who treated the union reps as part of the team and understood their needs, would always get much further in talks and development of the service. Unfortunately the 'hit em quick' type would get the promotion and senior leadership jobs calling us with all the knowledge and experience deadwood. There should be no need for big battles as 99% of workers want to do a good job, it just needs to be described correctly so know they have achieved it.
The glaring problem with all of these retired railway experts (except Richard and Nigel, of course!!!) such as Graham Eccles, is that it is all well and good going on about how management have got into this or that mess due to 'historical working agreements', but WHY did they not sort it out when they were industry movers and shakers? ASLEF and RMT are playing their hand well, footballers earn more when they are in demand, airlines put up seat prices when demand outstrips supply, so why is it a dirty word when unions do it? Obviously, if there were more drivers than the industry needed, the companies would be the first to turn the drivers over!
But some of us did! Witness the performance of the railways at South West Trains and Virgin from 1998 to 2007. You need to look more carefully at the correlation between financially challenged TOCs and vacancy gaps from about 2011 to the beginning of COVID. Post COVID I suspect one has to look no further than HMT to find why funding recruitment and training has become an issue.
Wonderful, particularly the casting of Nigel's nameplate. Can't help but think they've missed a trick though and "NIGEL HARRIS #JFDI" would have been just so good... 😁
As always a really good episode. To play devils advocate I listened to the committee hearing and took away a slightly different view on the perm secs comments. I’ve worked in several companies that have been merged and as a really crude example. If you bought say 14 travel agents all with duplicate management/IT/contract/supplier variations and said I want them all merged completely in 2 years even some of the more gung ho M&A specialists might look slightly surprised. With that in mind her comments could well be taken more as a polite note of caution to a committee whose members are very new & eager to manage their expectations. I also thought the point on how important it is to get it right is astute. Again I have personal experience of rushing to complete a merger/integration in less than a year. Then spending two more years cleaning up the mess that a surfeit of enthusiasm and shortage of stopping to think created. (A painful lesson well learnt 😞). Looking forward to next weeks guys😃
Except the SoS had already made the point perfectly clearly. Why the need for a "point of emphasis" The reality is that harmonisation of Ts and Cs is not going to happen in 2 years. Probably going to take 20 years or even more. It's what we do right now that matters and that will never happen (successfully) if it's left to officials.
I loved your Wordsworth video. I was a member there years ago. It’s quite an amazing place. The line was famous for being the spot where publicity photos for new motive power. Including the Blur Pullman
Something I have always been curious on but never been able to find the answer. Your mention of the stadler FLIRT brought back into my mind. With the last few years being dominated by new fleets of trains why do you guys think Stadler were really the only ones to make a meaningful break through with the issues around access for the less able and level boarding. Im a user of the FLIRTs on the Greater Anglia network and it has made the world of difference to a disabled family member being able to travel independently
Another problem Northern adopted when the franchise was awarded was the retirement and staff movement between TOCs and not looking ahead to manage the staff leaving problem. Agree with Graham and the way it costs and the transfer of power away from the managers.
It’s happened quite a lot over the years. CrossCountry use to take London Midland Drivers and ones that had just done 2 years and then gone. All of a sudden, no drivers, trains cancelled and they got dragged through the coals about it and had to offer scratch cards for free journeys.
1:08:09 no, the actual first day of 756s in service was Friday the 15th of November 2024, but Monday the 18th of November 2024 was the first day of consecutive days in service of 756s, and the "official" date that TfW gave to the press. Also, they're the second type of FLIRTs to enter service with TfW, as they've had their DEMU version 231s in service since 2023.
0:54 Ah! The good Old Goon Show jokes: Minnie Bannister: Just sit nearer to Africa, it's warmer there, you know. Henry Crunn: Yes, there's nothing like Africa to keep you nice and warm. Announcer: Yes, folks, do away with dirty coal. Keep yourselves warm with Africa. Africa is now on sale to anyone who wants to make it a second India.
I’ve seen this week, several TH-cam videos of the Night Riviera and GWR trains running adjacent to the Caledonian Sleeper from Euston. Apparently an ambition of Brunel. That poses the question of whether HS2 should go into St Pancreas, stabled alongside HS1 and Eurostar with a view of running HS2 to Sicily, Nice, Marseilles, Porto and Barcelona during school summer holidays and perhaps Xmas. A low carbon solution for the 2030’s? 😎😇
Ideas like this were proposed around the time that the Channel Tunnel was built, but for various sad reasons, were never taken up. Mainly because operators were not confident that they could obtain financial backers to cover the inevitable risk.
@ spending the money on Euston or St Pancreas would not seem to be vastly different financially? Things have moved on and having a stand alone - white elephant with few prospects of broadening the use case would seem backward. With autonomous driving technologies and the potential of platoon convoy driving by coaches along the motorways at 120mph into London, could destroy any short distance, 2 station, terminal to terminal service like HS2 Phase 1. Long distance, 300 miles plus, is the best hope for its survival! 😎😇
@@gbphil There is already a huge station box beneath St Pancras - used with great success by Thameslink. It would be difficult to re-route the "final bottom end" of HS2 to St Pancras. Remember that, at one point in Crossrail tunnelling, the TBMs had to fit through a slot between existing infrastructure which allowed less than a foot either side, to "thread the needle". This is a once-in-a-century opportunity to get it right for the New Spine Railway.
The issue, which Graham alluded to is ‘who pays?’. As a microcosm, you can see the difficulty that the SNP Govt in Scotland has got itself into. It’s using the income from selling off the sea bed for wind farms to pay a range of employees. The auditor general pointing out how do they can keep paying these growing bills.
RDW is literally us coming to work on our days off. Graeme speaks like we are sneaky. Employ the correct amount of Traincrew if you want power of overtime. Carrying on like we are meant to feel sorry for being organised and competent negotiators because railway management are incompetent. 😠
In fairness, I don't think Graham was saying that all. The point about relative experience of negotiators is just a fact, and Graham and i would both agree that the solution to everything is to have sufficient traincrew so as not to have to rely on RDW or overtime. Everyone wins then.
Caution! The company have agreed a deal with the RMT council, however it's out for a referendum and the soundings from RMT members at Northern that I know suggest it could be a substantial no vote against the deal.....
Don't get me started richard on tfws Dec 2024 timetable. Still waiting for our long promised hourly off peak swanline service which is long overdue. The Maesteg line gets a much better clockface timetable with a last train from Cardiff at 2324 current last train is 2230. Swanline will now also serve Pencoed, Llanharan and Pontyclun giving those stations a near half hourly service. Plus last train from Swansea to Cardiff will now be 2330 another long overdue improvements
The Swansea to Cardiff service intervals are worse than ever! They should be every half hour, every hour & with Manchester trains restored to hourly. Swanline should continue every two hours until they decide to increase it to hourly.
@@andrewhotston983 I watched his interview and I think he can do it, although he might not wish to at this stage of his life. Just think of the age of the USA President elect (although I wouldn't want Trump to run GBR)🤣
I feel I must comment about TFW. They are the worst train operator in the UK even beating Northern Rail. I live in North Shropshire and as I am writing this all TFW trains have been cancelled for a week between Wolverhampton and Birmingham for the umpteenth time due to maintenance issues. Due to poor maintenance of the 158 perhaps! Travelling to work using TFW trains cancelled for a week due to driver shortages you could be at the station early and the cancelled train would turn up unannounced. I have travelled to work on trains for the last 30 years and they are far the worst operator ever even run by the Welsh government. I can’t wait for Great British Rail. Sorry John Fogerty. Ps love your podcast.
TfW isn't run by Welsh Govt. It's run by supposed Railway professionals on behalf of Welsh Govt. who are not qualified in railway operations. All they do is. set the budget ( largely, imposed by DFT at Westminster) & outline what they'd like to see achieved. I'm no fan of TfW but many of their problems were inherited & outside of their control ( incl.massive inflation following Covid, affecting S.Wales Metro electrification costs)& of course at times, they have been victims of circumstances. The recent accident on the Cambrian, being one, which has left them 2 Class 158 Units short & hence the temporary service cutbacks beyond Wolverhampton. Even without this, they are short of rolling stock. Having said all that, there doesn't appear to be anyone in the management team ( & maybe, I'm doing them a disservice) with any interest in resolving their problems, including, cancellations, poor Customer service ( especially in Central & West Wales) plus Overcrowding elsewhere & in trying to increase usage & revenue by more than costs. In fact, with all of the above, they have done much to discourage usage, including the Sly & below the radar big increases to Off Peak fares, last July, West of Bridgend, as well as the massive increase to the ' Explore Wales' tickets, this year. At the beginning of this year, the 'All Wales' ticket was £104. Now it's £149. The North & South Wales tickets have increased from £72 to £119.00 and are valid on fewer bus services. Port Talbot to Cardiff has increased this year from £10.40 to £13.70 & Swansea to Cardiff from £11.10 to £14.10.
Im sorry but no matter how wise you say Mr Eccles is, his attitude/opinion/knowledge is so outdated its a joke. His local level agreement knowledge is not how it works now. No local level rep has the authority to do as he says and as for the summer leave craic, he definitely hasn't been in the lower ranks where April to the end of September is deemed as summer leave. He's basically saying ' tell them this is how it is or else '. His insight is short sighted and so BR. I'm sorry but it is. He sounds like he is negotiating in the 1980's. Any rest day working agreement aides any company, as most run on the minimum amount of drivers and spare cover possible. So i agree it has a cost but balanced against cancelled services which the knock on affect for other industries, its worth it.
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In respect of your conversation with Graham Eccles. The biggest reason for rest day working on any of the TOCs and FOCs is because they don't employ enough drivers. You cannot have a spare to diagram ratio based on a multiplier from the 1980s. The railway has changed beyond all recognition since then. The worst thing that happened was the new bargaining procedure bought in in the early 90s that took depot establishments from bargaining to consultation. It allowed the management to dictate the establishments and look where that's ended up. ASLEF has always argued for robust establishments. I know because I was one of them across the table arguing for them. It's a matter of supply and demand if companies can't and don't see why they need spare drivers sitting in the lobby then rest day working is their only option. The other thing that privatisation did was to reduce the amount of drivers who signed a route. They have determined that diversionary route knowledge is a luxury. So when the job goes up the wall the options to get out of it are limited. You only get what you pay for in life.
Absolutely. At my TOC we have had “as few drivers as possible” for as long as I have been in the grade (16 years). We hardly ever sit spare, struggle to get annual leave, and the job goes south at the slightest hiccough. We don’t even have middle or late cover at my depot.
A skeleton staff would look positively corpulent compared with us.
@royluxford2925 very true that was my opinion when I worked on the railway rosters relied on rest day working and although Sundays were supposed to be covered they always came up due to illness or annual leave also the entrance exam to get on the drivers course is to extreme to pass leading to a waste of possible talent
@17:44 "Whilst I'm absolutely with the Secretary of State on wanting to move fast and fix things....." I was instantly transported back four decades.
Sir Humphrey Appleby : Minister, it takes time to do things 'now'.
Of course it was condescending. Like a grandmother patting her grandaughter on the head and saying "Yes dear" and delivering a homily.
It is blindingly obvious that there has been no fundamental change in the corridors of Whitehall.
It wasn't a great look....
I didn't read it like that. LH said it would take 2 years, and Dame BK was getting in a response early to the inevitable comment that it's a long time, maybe body language in the room. We don't want shooting from the hip, not looking at where there may be unintended consequences, as we've seen with agricultural IHT relief for instance. And better to under promise and over deliver.
The long interviews that you do where you allow the person to talk without [within reason] a time constraint is where you win. Some of the long interviews that "The Rest Is Politics" do are also very good for the same reason. You have got someone you want to talk to and let them run.
Thanks Iain. That's certainly our intent so glad it's coming across well.
Thanks for showing the TSC. One point of the many that I have picked up on are the DFT and the anti passenger matters it's allowed to grow. For example, 4 operators between York and Leeds and 4 company specific non inter changeable tickets. 3 of these companies are operators of last resort. Having travelled lots of times across this route to see passenger board the wrong train and then asked to pay again for their journey. I am sure there are many more examples of this type of problem across the network. Which serves to put passenger off or anger them.
Yes I've seen this on that route. Same happens between different TOCs on the South and South West coast. Puts people off.
Haha! I wasn't expecting a personal shout-out for my contribution to the bat-shed debate! So that was a treat but I'm always impressed with the way you guys are very interactive with your audience. I contend that this is one of the most important things we have to beat if we're going to advance infrastructure improvement whether for rail, road, decarbonisation etc. We have to find a method to short cut all the planning and consenting and legal conflicts. I live in Gravesend and for years we've been hoping for progress on the Lower Thames Crossing to relieve congestion, but it has been glacially slow to settle all of these things. The final complete package of planning and consenting ran to 375,000 pages! For just 8 miles of road and a tunnel! The system creates battleground opportunities for every pressure group, and blights the properties of those affected for years or even decades. The cost of all this is staggering and the lost opportunity cost of not having the facilities is crippling. All of the pieces of legislation and required steps are well-meaning individually, but the tangled mess that has resulted is madness! Overall it's killing the country.
The bat shed debate has become totemic - it has caught the consciousness of politicians and journalists, and at last shone a light on the fundamental problem, and whilst this is still a hot topic, now is the time to try to get the debate out there. Strike whilst the iron is hot! You have lots of influential connections, this needs someone to lead a non-partisan working group or examination of the difficulty to come up with some recommendations and ideas. Don't let it drop!
Well done guys
Marion
I’m constantly impressed by the wealth of experience and knowledge you both bring to this subject. Let’s hope you can get the Sec of State to agree to an interview.
Looking forward to an in depth look at TfW's operations. Also see if you can get an output from the partnership between NR and TfW to make it simpler and easier to develop and deliver a better rail network for Wales and the borders.
A bit ironic that the RDG, having been at the forefront of running the railway down and exacerbating the recent industrial dispute, has chosen to publish this report lauding the railway just as they move forward through irrelevance into history. From a railway worker’s perspective, they will not be missed.
I find it difficult to believe the finding in the RDG report on rail's general contribution to the economy that the average passenger spend on ancillaries such as food and drink is £80 per journey.
That’s two sandwiches and a coffee.
2025 will mark Dame Bernadette’s 10 year anniversary in DfT senior leadership roles, 8 of them as Permanent Secretary. She rose to that role when Chris Grayling was SoS, perhaps adopting her combative tone to the TSC from him. Her numerous TSC appearances attempting to defend lack of effective oversight on Crossrail cost overruns bordered on cringeworthy.
While I’m sure Dame Bernadette is well respected by many in her role, business solutions implemented successfully in one era become inappropriate in another as ‘customers’ move on and demand fresh action on new and longstanding issues. She is now supporting her sixth SoS in very different times to Grayling/Shapps/Harper. Maybe it’s time she woke up and smelt the coffee.
In other news, Dame Bernadette is 60, the same age as Sir Robert Devereux when he retired from the same role in 2007.
Great commentary on Sec of State’s appearances. Hope she’s listening to your supporting comments and suggestions especially the 3 points. The third is so essential to get things moving clearly and decisively - but by a leader of the industry!
An excellent listen once again. Insightful, authoritative and knowledgeable as always.
I couldn't agree more that the unions are running rings around management when it comes to Ts & Cs, and pretty much everything else! And that the answer is better training for managers to more clearly understand the wider impact of the decisions they make locally.
Also, being a Ln ex-Pat Welsh Valleys boy, it would be great I'd you could apply the considerable expertise and talent of GS to making a film about the superb transformation in rail transport that's happening in South Wales. The frequency of passenger services that are shortly to be introduced are unprecedented: even the GWR didn't run up ton4 trains per hour into Cardiff! Mind you, that was mainly because the tracks were full of coal trains, and everyone worked where they lived.
Still, there's a huge investment being made in rail to turn the dream of the South Wales Metro into reality.
Gov needs to get a move on with GBR. Good plan to get Louise on GS.
Enjoyed her TSC appearance, seems on top of things and has the right ideas.
Let's hope she stays in post longer than most.
Never understand why services are planned when no plans to have sufficient staff are in place.
Graham was really interesting and can see the pitfalls of apparently easy resolutions.
Good interview with Jac but should Richard be on the right of the screen as he's looking away from his guest.
Strange plans by goop, don't such services exist already?
Another fun episode.
Thanks Allan. Great points and yes, probably got that wrong with the guest positioning!
Cheers
Richard
Excellent episode again.
Good to see the follow-up on the HS2 Bat-Shed report in GS-59. I am glad that you picked up his main thrust - the conflicts which could never be priced into the original 2010/2015 costings envelope. Do PLEASE follow up on this. Mike
Sadly, I’m not in a position to pay subscriptions. I’m disabled and low income. But although it started slowly I’m now a confirmed fan of green signals. It’s entertaining. Informative and appealing. It keeps up up to date on the news in the railway world in the UK. The two of you have a relationship that’s homely and freindly. You engage us with witty yet intelligent conversation and ample interviews. You’d piece on the Wordsworth branch was brilliant. Thank you the pair of you. I would love to be on your programme one day. You never know where my vast knowledge could lead you.
Let me guess, GBR will be HQ'ed in an old Government office, situated between the DFT and Treasury. With a management team picked by a committee of Treasury and DFT Civil servants. A selection that will contain a diverse selection of Civil servants, from across every flavour of Whitehall department.
It will be in Derby if that helps......😊
I had never heard of the rumour of the buried locomotive under Wembley. There is actually a Furness Railway engine that fell into a hole formed when one of the former sidings at LIndal in Furness collapsed into a defunct iron ore working. It was quite deep. and it was decided that the neccesity of getting the lines working again outweighed the value of the loco, and the time it would have taken to dig the engine out with the technology of the time; - late 1800's I thimk.
The dsriver and fireman both clambered clear, and they and colleagues managed to disconnect and rescue the tender before the engine slid too far down the hole. The book I read said that the driver was most upset at losing his jacket which was still in the cab, and contained his presentation , long service gold watch from the FR.
I wrote an article about this back in 1981 in Steam World....
Just a thought chaps, inspired by your final story - how about an exposee of the Clayton Equipment Co and what they are doing now? Most people only remember the name for the spectacularly unsuccessful Class 17s, but they survived that debacle (how many companies that made first generation diesels can claim that?!) and remain a successful UK loco manufacturing company, a real force in their specialist area of mining and shunting, both narrow and standard gauge. I think they have recently supplied some new battery locos to Sellafield as well. I'm sure they'd be delighted to give you a tour of their works and it would do no harm to promote a solid UK player.
Great episode. As a long suffering passenger who has had to use Sunday rail travel to be located in, especially various Northern cities for start of play operations in my field of work, I have for years suffered at the ludicrously inefficient nature of these services, and can't for the life of me understand that, especially since the public's increased desire for weekend leisure travel, that various heads have not been banged together to sort out 'rest day working' etc. I suspect that it's a uniquely British problem and mostly the fault of intransient unions (yes no doubt I'll get some stick for that). In my field of telecoms and IT, Sunday is no different to ANY other day as far as rostering and the ability to apply for days off is concerned, and nobody has ever called for it to be treated any differently either. On a less controversial note, your upcoming feature on DART services in Ireland is very much welcomed. I have family over there who have seen the Irish rail service improved beyond recognition over the past few years.
Given that the Railway has gone from British Rail, Rail Track, Network Rail and soon to be Great British Rail, isnt it about time that the DFT had a good look at itself and questioned its own function and what its achieved?
What about the shadow SRA, then the actual SRA which was abolished after a short time.
The problem is that the job of the Civil Service is to enact the whims of whichever SoS is in charge. It's the ministers who've dictated the structure of the industry, not the DfT.
@@joegrey9807 I agree thats how they manage up. But the ministers are transient at best and as such pandering to the Ego is a short term transport requirement and the betterment of the industry needs to be the decades long objectives. The DFT are ineffective and you can see that by example in NPR. A decade in development and still no requirements or known end dates.
@boxingfan2281 NPR is being led by NR and Transport for the North, not the DfT.
@@joegrey9807 Transport for North was leading it but no more and NWR are developing it not leading. Its the DFT that have allowed a project to be developed for 10 years without requirements.
What disgusted me was when on the media interview circuit this week the Northern spokesman (didn't see who exactly it was) blamed the 2018 timetable change for the issues saying it would take until 2027 to repair the damage. This was a ludicrous statement, it does not take 9 years to repair the damage to operation from one timetable change that was mostly reverted anyway!
I do think the DfT would give up control when they feel that the industry is capable of taking up the baton. They just can't do something that has an even slight chance of failure.
Unfortunately the industry has been enfeebled to such an extent that even the SoS has had to make operational decisions. Is the industry even able to create its own structure and literally pull itself together? Someone in the industry needs to grow a pair, quickly, and show that they mean business and that they have the whole industry behind them.
And is Hendy in the wrong job?
Anyway, it's so good to see someone who is so passionate and articulate as the SoS.
The Civil Service will do its best to drain that passion into its black hole. The expression used is "house trained."
Sir Arnold Robinson: "Power goes with permanence."
Sir Humphrey Appleby: "Impermanence is impotence."
A reshuffle is manna from heaven to the mandarins in Whitehall.
@maunsell24 it's a bit more complicated than that.
Thank you guys
Since you are going to do a feature on TfW, you might ask why TfW operate a lot of 2-coach trains between Manchester and South & South West Wales. Indeed until recently many of them were old Class 150s! They might still be from time to time.
Two-coach trains are totally inadequate for that route, with journey times of up to seven hours. They are not just full at almost any time of day, they are rammed, with standing passengers in the aisles and vestibules. This is quite unacceptable but seems to be OK in the eyes of TfW. Occasionally 2 units are coupled together to make a 4-coach train, but these are comparatively rare and even when they do appear, such is demand on this busy route that these are also often full.
Sometimes a 2-coach DMU deputises for a Mk4 / DVT / Class 67 set. Tough luck if you booked a 1st class seat in the Mk4 set and intended to have a meal, but end up standing in a rammed 2-coach DMU!
I cannot understand why TfW don't provide trains with enough capacity - 4 coaches minimum are required on the route.
Vince Chadwick
TfW have been allowed to run 5-car (3+2) formations of 197s in and out of Manchester since the 4th of November 2024 (which they have done where it has been possible), and they've also just started using ETCS-fitted 197s (for the Cambrian line) "off-Cambrian" - 57 197s have now been in service rather than 54.
TfW have now had 73 of their 148 brand new trains in service - that's only one away from half - they just haven't yet got to the point where the reliability of them is where it should be.
The plan when everything has settled down is for all TfW services in and out of Manchester to be 5-car, whether 3+2 197 or 5-coach loco-hauled.
@@RWL2012 "Allowed" to run 5 cars? Whose permission was needed to 'allow' that? Why couldn't they just do it?
I look forward to the demise of 2-car trains on this route, but I'm not holding my breath.
Given the long platforms at Crewe, even three 150s would provide an excellent boost to capacity for the Manchester to South Wales run.
Not holding my breath, naturally!
Thanks Team for another great episode. I think the highlighted intervention by Ms Kelly in the TSC was indeed very perceptive of civil servants desire at wanting to dot every i an cross every t.
The issues around Northern are interesting; my take on the much shorter agreement with conductors is to ensure its gets over the two busy seasons - Blackpool Illuminations and Christmas shopping!
Why is the Sunday working issue at Northern (and maybe elsewhere) so difficult to solve?
Why should staff need to work their rest days, either recruit new guards on a contract to work some Sundays or change contracts for existing staff.
Either way, passengers rightly expect a service 7 days a week and the fact you’re saying it’s a difficult problem to solve will sound ridiculous to the average passenger.
From an enthusiasts point of view, and with acceptance that there is alot to do which will take a long time and will cause a lot of upheaval, I'd like to see aesthetics changes as soon as possible. New branding, livery, signage and a 'togetherness' feel. Other operational improvements can also start immediately.
Hi Roy! I always remember establishments as being consultative. The rosters were negotiable.
At the end of BR the spare to booked ratio at a drivers depot was considered appropriate at around 28%. By the time I’d retired in 2007 the South West Trains ratio was 50%. I dread to think what it should be today.
However, I agree with your analysis. Operators have failed to recruit and train to establishment over recent years for reasons best known to themselves. The outcome has been to build up a backlog that will take some years to close.
A foreseeable and avoidable situation I would suggest that even the most junior of railway operations managers should have seen coming.
As with attempts to improve the NHS by restructuring, GBR will just see the same people doing the same jobs the same way - all that will change is the letterheadings and the signage.
100% Agree. It will be very similar people with very similar behaviours.
Not if the structure is different. There are ex-BR staff at the DfT, it's the structure and legalisation that's the problem, not the people.
@@joegrey9807The people will recreate the structure they're comfortable with. That includes the Civil Servants.
@andrewhotston983 yeah I agree with you on that, the structure needs to be driven by the industry, unfortunately the industry has been enfeebled and fragmented so much that it's difficult to see that happening.
@DanRyan-v5y the structure at BR changed quite a few times, but it was always one step removed from the CS so had more flexibility. The BR chairman had devolved responsibility - both to help them to manage the organisation in a more business like way, and also to reduce the flak that the SoS would get if they were directly in charge of it.
The big problem as far as I can tell was that HMT wouldn't let BR plan sufficiently well in advance. At least with the pre-COVID private structure, HMT was committed to subsidising the TOCs for the franchise length. And NR had committed funding for each Control Period.
Going forward there needs to be removal of micromanagement from both the DfT and HMT. I think getting the latter to keep their grubby hands away from every minor project will be harder than getting the DfT to walk away from it.
I think her civil servants will do everything they can to keep Louise away from you, (you meddling kids).
I agree with the statement that union reps are way ahead of managers. They tend to stay in post, know their subject, get good training and can run rings around managers who don't care and are just looking for their next job or promotion. They regard negotiations as a battle to be won, or at least valliantly fought. I worked in the NHS and saw this all the time. Those of us who treated the union reps as part of the team and understood their needs, would always get much further in talks and development of the service. Unfortunately the 'hit em quick' type would get the promotion and senior leadership jobs calling us with all the knowledge and experience deadwood. There should be no need for big battles as 99% of workers want to do a good job, it just needs to be described correctly so know they have achieved it.
The glaring problem with all of these retired railway experts (except Richard and Nigel, of course!!!) such as Graham Eccles, is that it is all well and good going on about how management have got into this or that mess due to 'historical working agreements', but WHY did they not sort it out when they were industry movers and shakers? ASLEF and RMT are playing their hand well, footballers earn more when they are in demand, airlines put up seat prices when demand outstrips supply, so why is it a dirty word when unions do it? Obviously, if there were more drivers than the industry needed, the companies would be the first to turn the drivers over!
But some of us did! Witness the performance of the railways at South West Trains and Virgin from 1998 to 2007.
You need to look more carefully at the correlation between financially challenged TOCs and vacancy gaps from about 2011 to the beginning of COVID.
Post COVID I suspect one has to look no further than HMT to find why funding recruitment and training has become an issue.
Hey, less of the "retired" please! R
@GreenSignals 😬 My sincere apologies, Sir R! 😂
A very educational eposide with political issues but easily understood thank you
Wonderful, particularly the casting of Nigel's nameplate. Can't help but think they've missed a trick though and "NIGEL HARRIS #JFDI" would have been just so good... 😁
Ah, never thought of that! Drat.
As always a really good episode. To play devils advocate I listened to the committee hearing and took away a slightly different view on the perm secs comments.
I’ve worked in several companies that have been merged and as a really crude example. If you bought say 14 travel agents all with duplicate management/IT/contract/supplier variations and said I want them all merged completely in 2 years even some of the more gung ho M&A specialists might look slightly surprised.
With that in mind her comments could well be taken more as a polite note of caution to a committee whose members are very new & eager to manage their expectations. I also thought the point on how important it is to get it right is astute. Again I have personal experience of rushing to complete a merger/integration in less than a year. Then spending two more years cleaning up the mess that a surfeit of enthusiasm and shortage of stopping to think created. (A painful lesson well learnt 😞).
Looking forward to next weeks guys😃
Except the SoS had already made the point perfectly clearly. Why the need for a "point of emphasis"
The reality is that harmonisation of Ts and Cs is not going to happen in 2 years. Probably going to take 20 years or even more. It's what we do right now that matters and that will never happen (successfully) if it's left to officials.
I loved your Wordsworth video. I was a member there years ago. It’s quite an amazing place. The line was famous for being the spot where publicity photos for new motive power. Including the Blur Pullman
Something I have always been curious on but never been able to find the answer. Your mention of the stadler FLIRT brought back into my mind. With the last few years being dominated by new fleets of trains why do you guys think Stadler were really the only ones to make a meaningful break through with the issues around access for the less able and level boarding. Im a user of the FLIRTs on the Greater Anglia network and it has made the world of difference to a disabled family member being able to travel independently
Another problem Northern adopted when the franchise was awarded was the retirement and staff movement between TOCs and not looking ahead to manage the staff leaving problem. Agree with Graham and the way it costs and the transfer of power away from the managers.
It’s happened quite a lot over the years. CrossCountry use to take London Midland Drivers and ones that had just done 2 years and then gone. All of a sudden, no drivers, trains cancelled and they got dragged through the coals about it and had to offer scratch cards for free journeys.
1:08:09 no, the actual first day of 756s in service was Friday the 15th of November 2024, but Monday the 18th of November 2024 was the first day of consecutive days in service of 756s, and the "official" date that TfW gave to the press.
Also, they're the second type of FLIRTs to enter service with TfW, as they've had their DEMU version 231s in service since 2023.
Thanks!
Thanks ever so much Alan.
0:54 Ah! The good Old Goon Show jokes:
Minnie Bannister: Just sit nearer to Africa, it's warmer there, you know.
Henry Crunn: Yes, there's nothing like Africa to keep you nice and warm.
Announcer: Yes, folks, do away with dirty coal. Keep yourselves warm with Africa. Africa is now on sale to anyone who wants to make it a second India.
I’ve seen this week, several TH-cam videos of the Night Riviera and GWR trains running adjacent to the Caledonian Sleeper from Euston. Apparently an ambition of Brunel. That poses the question of whether HS2 should go into St Pancreas, stabled alongside HS1 and Eurostar with a view of running HS2 to Sicily, Nice, Marseilles, Porto and Barcelona during school summer holidays and perhaps Xmas. A low carbon solution for the 2030’s? 😎😇
Ideas like this were proposed around the time that the Channel Tunnel was built, but for various sad reasons, were never taken up. Mainly because operators were not confident that they could obtain financial backers to cover the inevitable risk.
@ spending the money on Euston or St Pancreas would not seem to be vastly different financially? Things have moved on and having a stand alone - white elephant with few prospects of broadening the use case would seem backward. With autonomous driving technologies and the potential of platoon convoy driving by coaches along the motorways at 120mph into London, could destroy any short distance, 2 station, terminal to terminal service like HS2 Phase 1. Long distance, 300 miles plus, is the best hope for its survival! 😎😇
@@gbphil There is already a huge station box beneath St Pancras - used with great success by Thameslink. It would be difficult to re-route the "final bottom end" of HS2 to St Pancras. Remember that, at one point in Crossrail tunnelling, the TBMs had to fit through a slot between existing infrastructure which allowed less than a foot either side, to "thread the needle". This is a once-in-a-century opportunity to get it right for the New Spine Railway.
@DanRyan-v5y But where, aroubd St Pancras, would you stick an 11-platform station to eventually serve the 18TpH capacity of the new HS2 network?
The issue, which Graham alluded to is ‘who pays?’. As a microcosm, you can see the difficulty that the SNP Govt in Scotland has got itself into. It’s using the income from selling off the sea bed for wind farms to pay a range of employees. The auditor general pointing out how do they can keep paying these growing bills.
Government's do no create wealth. They only spend other people's money.
RDW is literally us coming to work on our days off. Graeme speaks like we are sneaky. Employ the correct amount of Traincrew if you want power of overtime.
Carrying on like we are meant to feel sorry for being organised and competent negotiators because railway management are incompetent. 😠
In fairness, I don't think Graham was saying that all. The point about relative experience of negotiators is just a fact, and Graham and i would both agree that the solution to everything is to have sufficient traincrew so as not to have to rely on RDW or overtime. Everyone wins then.
Caution! The company have agreed a deal with the RMT council, however it's out for a referendum and the soundings from RMT members at Northern that I know suggest it could be a substantial no vote against the deal.....
Thanks
Thanks Chris, this is really kind of you.
Usual bugbear - transparent pricing - do all train fare apps make it difficult to find open return prices?
Don't get me started richard on tfws Dec 2024 timetable. Still waiting for our long promised hourly off peak swanline service which is long overdue.
The Maesteg line gets a much better clockface timetable with a last train from Cardiff at 2324 current last train is 2230.
Swanline will now also serve Pencoed, Llanharan and Pontyclun giving those stations a near half hourly service. Plus last train from Swansea to Cardiff will now be 2330 another long overdue improvements
The Swansea to Cardiff service intervals are worse than ever! They should be every half hour, every hour & with Manchester trains restored to hourly. Swanline should continue every two hours until they decide to increase it to hourly.
For a CEO to run GBR, may I suggest Chris Green? He has the most impressive track record (pun intended).
He's a bit long in the tooth, isn't he?
@@andrewhotston983 I watched his interview and I think he can do it, although he might not wish to at this stage of his life. Just think of the age of the USA President elect (although I wouldn't want Trump to run GBR)🤣
Just figured that your theme tune is much like Oceans 11 (Brad Pitt)
Looking forward to the Britannic Explorer. Why all trains cant be like that! 😅
I think there may be cost issue Nathan! but it does look magnificent, I agree.
@GreenSignals pass the caviar!
GBR? What happens to Scot Rail?
Same as Transport for North. The London based Civil Servents flexed their biceps and dragged them back to Whitehall.
It will remain.
I feel I must comment about TFW. They are the worst train operator in the UK even beating Northern Rail. I live in North Shropshire and as I am writing this all TFW trains have been cancelled for a week between Wolverhampton and Birmingham for the umpteenth time due to maintenance issues. Due to poor maintenance of the 158 perhaps! Travelling to work using TFW trains cancelled for a week due to driver shortages you could be at the station early and the cancelled train would turn up unannounced. I have travelled to work on trains for the last 30 years and they are far the worst operator ever even run by the Welsh government. I can’t wait for Great British Rail. Sorry John Fogerty. Ps love your podcast.
TfW isn't run by Welsh Govt. It's run by supposed Railway professionals on behalf of Welsh Govt. who are not qualified in railway operations. All they do is. set the budget ( largely, imposed by DFT at Westminster) & outline what they'd like to see achieved.
I'm no fan of TfW but many of their problems were inherited & outside of their control ( incl.massive inflation following Covid, affecting S.Wales Metro electrification costs)& of course at times, they have been victims of circumstances.
The recent accident on the Cambrian, being one, which has left them 2 Class 158 Units short & hence the temporary service cutbacks beyond Wolverhampton. Even without this, they are short of rolling stock.
Having said all that, there doesn't appear to be anyone in the management team ( & maybe, I'm doing them a disservice) with any interest in resolving their problems, including, cancellations, poor Customer service ( especially in Central & West Wales) plus Overcrowding elsewhere & in trying to increase usage & revenue by more than costs.
In fact, with all of the above, they have done much to discourage usage, including the Sly & below the radar big increases to Off Peak fares, last July, West of Bridgend, as well as the massive increase to the ' Explore Wales' tickets, this year.
At the beginning of this year, the 'All Wales' ticket was £104. Now it's £149. The North & South Wales tickets have increased from £72 to £119.00 and are valid on fewer bus services.
Port Talbot to Cardiff has increased this year from £10.40 to £13.70 & Swansea to Cardiff from £11.10 to £14.10.
@ thank you for your insight much appreciated.
Northern Is state owned and just look at it
It’s state run which is the actual problem. State owned shouldn’t have to mean state run.
Im sorry but no matter how wise you say Mr Eccles is, his attitude/opinion/knowledge is so outdated its a joke. His local level agreement knowledge is not how it works now. No local level rep has the authority to do as he says and as for the summer leave craic, he definitely hasn't been in the lower ranks where April to the end of September is deemed as summer leave.
He's basically saying ' tell them this is how it is or else '. His insight is short sighted and so BR. I'm sorry but it is. He sounds like he is negotiating in the 1980's. Any rest day working agreement aides any company, as most run on the minimum amount of drivers and spare cover possible. So i agree it has a cost but balanced against cancelled services which the knock on affect for other industries, its worth it.
Whatever Louise Haigh attempts will be undermined by Angela Rayner giving train drivers the right to work from home!
😂 Don't give her the idea!
I really don’t like the name. It’s so clunky. GBR is a nice abbreviation though.
Thanks!
Thanks Graham. Very much appreciated.
Thanks
Many thanks Paul - much appreciated.
Thanks!
Many thanks Bob - it's much appreciated.