Different diagrams for drivers and guards

[geoffk]

Am I right in thinking that, on the passenger railway, drivers and guards work different shifts rather than staying together for a whole shift? Clearly both grades have different conditions of service, drivers, for example being allowed extra time at the beginning of a diagram to prepare the unit (DMU or whatever).

When I worked in the bus industry years ago, I recall that drivers and conductors (I said it was years ago) worked the same shifts and this must have been an advantage in times of disruption.

When I was out and about observing the fall-out from the May 2018 timetable in Manchester, with many crew changes scheduled at Victoria and Oxford Road, delays were often caused by one member of the relief crew arriving late, but rarely both.

What would be the pros and cons of changing to the system I remember on the buses, i.e. you have the same “mate” for a whole shift? I expect one would be extra cost as more guards would be required.

 

[newtownmgr]

I suppose it would vary between company & depots as regards drivers & guards staying together.
As regards where i work, we have some turns where we have the same guard all shift on other occasions we can have up to 5 or so different ones during the shift.
Partly down to the guards having a slightly different route card & also differing PNB parameters. We also have about 20/25 less guards than we have drivers due to depot only drivers and also there is a guards only booking on point with about 12 guards a few miles away.

 

[43066]

What would be the pros and cons of changing to the system I remember on the buses, i.e. you have the same “mate” for a whole shift? I expect one would be extra cost as more guards would be required.

Indeed. Guards would be utilised less efficiently, hence more needed. Ours don’t even get PNBs away from the train .

The disruption thing can be a double edged sword - eg a lone driver can work a train DOO to where a guard is available*, the key thing is minimising crew changes enroute.

*This is rare in my experience. In three years of guarded ops I’ve done this precisely once.

 

[craigybagel]

TfW actively try to keep driver and conductor diagrams together on the Valleys network. Given its a captive network where all traincrew of both grades should have the same route and traction cards it's relatively simple to do. I understand it has been shown to be a big help in times of disruption.

That said, even then there's only so far you can go. The biggest issue you'll come up against is the need to bring units into service from a depot in the morning, or returning them at night. Given those parts of the duty don't normally require a guard, you end up with the guards duty being shorter than the drivers. With both working a 35 hour week, that imbalance needs to be made up somewhere.

 

[TEW]

SWR certainly aim for as much "full crew working", where the same driver and guard stay together for the whole shift, as possible.