XC Staff Shortages

[embers25]

Saturday night XC issued their Birmingham New Street staff with a note at 6pm informing them of staff shortages. That was bad enough. What was worse was when XC then went on to cancel numerous extra services. (Just some cancelled were 2003 to Bournemouth, 2033 to Guildford, 1942 to Bristol, 2012 to Exeter, several Nottingham ones, 2103 to Southampton terminated short at Winchester) Several times in the time it took to walk in the office to ask if a train was running control cancelled it and it was removed from the departure board leaving their poor staff telling us the train was running despite the boards telling the real story.

Firstly why was their no prior warning to customers or their own staff of such major issues and secondly the XC staff attitude of get as far as you can when we give you a train and figure out the rest then was a joke. Even the on train staff were no help refusing to look up connections or call control to sort out alternatives. Also they wouldn't approve route changes via london preferring to strand or bus poeple!

Secondly who at New Street approved removing cancelled trains from the departure board ages before they were due to leave causing people to wait around hoping they'd appear on the board nearer the time.

Anothter thing of note was that because each voyager needs staffing XC need more staff for a double voyager than a 125 (the 2103 to Winchester ran with one locked out of use due to not enough crew causing overcrowding). So why don't XC use their stored 125's and park some of their voyagers instead if they are that short of staff.

 

[Daniel]

Because all of the above would require common sense =D

 

[37401]

Maybe there was no prior warning because they assumed they would be fine for staff, as for staff saying a train is running after it has been canned it could just be a late communication there is lots of staff at bhm so it would take longer to tell them all than it would to press delete

getting as far as you can sounds fair if you wanted Bristol and you can only go as far as cheltenham with xc then that's fine as fgw can pick you up from there

getting the 125s out is easyer said than done even still they ain't stored at bhm so you have to allow for them to run ecs then you need an ecs path to get to new street and a driver and it's all extra cost

 

[embers25]

It's true that normally you go as far as you can and then improvise the rest but given the time of day there weren't any later trains for most people. Following much protesting XC finally contacted Bristol to try to hold the 2217 as this was the last soutwest bound train from there. I don't know if they did hold it. I was told by the staff in the office that the latest cost for holding a train is £150 a min. I wasn't blaming the XC staff for the confusion over the new train cancellations as they were changing so fast but putting people on trains and saying you can sort it out when you get further along is passing the buck onto first Great Western who aren't at fault yet get a number of very grouchy customers arrive with little or no warning from XC.
I was also questioning why a canx train isn't left on the board and shown as canx until its departure time so at least everyone knows and isn't left in the dark.
On the 125's I know they can't just be dragged out for me last night but surely if the company is struggling for staff then a quick solution would be to take their refurbed 125's (which cost a fair bit to refurb too) out of store and replace double voyager duties with them as then they could save on precious crew and redeploy them elsewhere helping to reduce the chance of such probelms in the future. (assuming they still have double voyager duties now given their costcutting)

 

[sheff1]

I arrived at New St to find the 1903 York cancelled but was impressed that an announcemout was made advising the next trains i.e 1919 Nottingham for passengers going as far as Derby and the 1930 Newcastle for those going further north. Of course in days gone by this would have been the norm, but nowadays, at Sheffield at least, all you get in these circumstances is a recorded 'cancelled' announcement with no advice on the alternatives.

On the 1930 the guard was looking up and printing out connection info for those who wanted. So again good service.

By the way, why such a staff shortage -is this a co-ordinated 'no overtime' action by XC staff ?

 

[royaloak]

Following much protesting XC finally contacted Bristol to try to hold the 2217 as this was the last soutwest bound train from there. I don't know if they did hold it.

No they didnt, it left at 2218.

 

[leedstraindude]

XC did not renew overtime agreement with drivers when it expired last month as they felt they didnt need drivers working overtime, hence the shortages on traincrew.

They pay for the voyagers on a fixed fee whether they use them or not as opposed to per use for the hst's, so youll always find voyagers out more.

 

[Greenback]

According to my contact in AXC, who sahll remain nameless for obvious reasons, there is a lot of disaffection with the company. In my source's words, they are a sahmbles when it comes to rostering, and train crew will not put themselves out to assist the company when they get messed about so much in termes of rest days, signing on times, breaks and the like.

It's not organised action, individuals are just fed up!

 

[TheExmoorBeast]

Could that be construed by a devious & cunning lawyer as unofficial industrial action?

 

[Greenback]

I don;t really see how even the most devious lawyer could possibly argue that an individual refusing to put themselves out to assist their employer (ie by not making themesleves available to be called in to work at 45 minutes notice on a Rest Day) can be considered unofficial industrial action.

Actaully, I can see that some might argue it, but I can't see that the argument would be successful!

It's purely down to the personal choice of the individual - my mate would have been willing to be more flexible in BR and Virgin days, as he would know with some certainty that he would be off, or finished by a certain time on a particular day weeks in advance. This made planning his life easier. Now, he says he is so fed up with being contacted to change his days off at very short notice, or to alter the start/finishing times for the following day, that they are routinely saying no - when it was a rarity they would help out if they could! He hasn;t discussed it with anyone else, but he says judging by the cancellations others must be showing less good will too!

 

[mickey]

the XC staff attitude of get as far as you can when we give you a train and figure out the rest then was a joke. Even the on train staff were no help refusing to look up connections or call control to sort out alternatives. Also they wouldn't approve route changes via london preferring to strand or bus poeple!

This is the really annoying part of this story. On a recent delayed Virgin service I was on (one of the last of the evening heading north, hence the problems) the TM, who was obviously tired and clearly wanted to sit down with a cuppa after a long day, spent as long as was needed with passengers who knew they were going to miss connections, working out what if any alternatives were available, and phoning ahead to make arrangements for those for whom there was nothing suitable. And even more impressively he did it for anyone who was likely to miss the last connection, even if it hadn't happened yet - the complete opposite of the 'get as far as you can then ask someone else' idea most staff seem to have. I've held off making this super case of customer service known to VT in case it's considered too good customer service, but it shows how things could be if everyone worked to the same level. Passing the buck is just laziness, and refusing to allow route changes that could sort the problem out shows a complete lack of courtesy and foresight.

 

[Ivo]

I know it's a little late to reply to this, but why am I not surprised to see "1942 to Bristol" listed above? Oh wait. Because I was supposed to travel on it :roll:

 

[HSTfan!!!]

the complete opposite of the 'get as far as you can then ask someone else' idea most staff seem to have.

I can understand how a TM can make such arrangements, but if you're referring to all staff, theres no point me bothering control if you've missed a connection and will have to "get as far as you can" because I know for a fact if I rang control they'd tell me to tell you the exact same thing "get as far as you can" it's not that we have a sh**y attitude, it's the fact that's how the railway works these days.

 

[devon_metro]

Because all of the above would require common sense =D

And money...!!!

Sounds similar to when Voyagers weren't running over the Dawlish sea wall recently, we were just dumped at Exeter and told to get on the next FGW train.

Luckily XC were kind enough to give me some monies in compensation for the shambles.

 

[mickey]

I can understand how a TM can make such arrangements, but if you're referring to all staff, theres no point me bothering control if you've missed a connection and will have to "get as far as you can" because I know for a fact if I rang control they'd tell me to tell you the exact same thing "get as far as you can" it's not that we have a sh**y attitude, it's the fact that's how the railway works these days.

We may have to agree to disagree about this, as experience shows that (fortunately) there are some staff on the railway with a definite 'can-do' attitude who will go the extra mile to help when passengers are in distress, and not just shrug their shoulders and say 'there's nothing I can do' or 'it's out of my hands'. Where there's a will there's a way, and all that.

 

[Ferret]

We may have to agree to disagree about this, as experience shows that (fortunately) there are some staff on the railway with a definite 'can-do' attitude who will go the extra mile to help when passengers are in distress, and not just shrug their shoulders and say 'there's nothing I can do' or 'it's out of my hands'. Where there's a will there's a way, and all that.

Nowt to stop a TM ringing the "as far as you can get" station and advising them they have x amount of customers are on board [insert headcode here] requiring a taxi to XYZ. That way the taxis can be arranged in advance of the customer arriving. Late at night trains are pretty quiet so there should be plenty of time to make a simple phone call......

 

[mickey]

Nowt to stop a TM ringing the "as far as you can get" station and advising them they have x amount of customers are on board [insert headcode here] requiring a taxi to XYZ. That way the taxis can be arranged in advance of the customer arriving. Late at night trains are pretty quiet so there should be plenty of time to make a simple phone call......

A perfect example of what I was talking about. Some TMs, however, just witter 'you never know you might be lucky, everything else could be delayed' and walk off. A quick phone call at least advises the station staff of what to expect and can allow him/her to plan ahead - after all, he/she will know whether the connection will in fact be missed - and the knowledge that this has been done will offer no end of reassurance to the passenger who may well be scared all staff will have gone home or be hard to find on arrival. It may also allow 'pre-emptive action' to be taken in cases where it would be better to tell the passenger to get off a station or two early if appropriate. In this case a simple phone call makes all the difference, but not everyone can bothered and that's what we're talking about.

 

[voyagerdude220]

Staff shortages today resulting in these cancelled throughout:
13.27 Newcastle - Reading
14.25 Newcastle - Reading
15.25 Newcastle - Reading
20:40 Reading- Birmingham

Also:

12.40 Reading - Newcastle terminated at Birmingham N St
07:47 Reading-Newcastle terminated at Sheffield
08:40 Reading - Newcastle terminated at Birmingham N St
09:40 Reading - Newcastle terminated at Birmingham N St

 

[mumrar]

Driver shortages. XC told the drivers they wanted to do without relying on Rest Day working, the drivers said you'll need more drivers. XC said they don't and drivers are making the point by not working rest days. Most affected I believe was New St depot with 16 jobs uncovered.

 

[Aictos]

Didn't Cross Country learn anything from First Capital Connect?
Unless you have the drivers available, you have to depend on Rest Day Working and seeing as most companies prefer to use the rest day work option is it any surprise then that the services aren't as good as they ought to be?

Still back to the point of being proactive, it also helps if you're aware of any trouble in advance - having a trainload of passengers to deal with at your station demanding action and no information from above doesn't help anyone, but I do agree about the point that some will go out of their way to help passengers.