"Due to a short-notice change to the timetable"

[XAM2175]

Wonderful. I bet that goes down well. Fortunately I never bother with advances. Presumably one can still ask for a refund if the pre booked train vanishes?

Yes, the right to fee-free abandonment of journey is unchanged.

I'm not sure how never bothering with advances is any relevance though?

 

[Watershed]

The DfT claims, in this FoI response, not to have sent any instructions or guidance to train operators regarding the use of cancellation reasons.

It seems to me that they may have missed some documents, particularly since @800001 has stated that this instruction has come from the DfT.

I hope that Mr Walker, the person who made the request, raises an appeal. It would be interesting to see whether that perhaps leads to the DfT confirming what @800001 says TOCs were told.

 

[800001]

O

The DfT claims, in this FoI response, not to have sent any instructions or guidance to train operators regarding the use of cancellation reasons.

It seems to me that they may have missed some documents, particularly since @800001 has stated that this instruction has come from the DfT.

I hope that Mr Walker, the person who made the request, raises an appeal. It would be interesting to see whether that perhaps leads to the DfT confirming what @800001 says TOCs were told.

only going by what I was told!!!! No need to tag me twice in the post

 

[Watershed]

O

only going by what I was told!!!! No need to tag me twice in the post

Of course. I don't doubt that what you were told is accurate, but at the moment there isn't anything in the public domain about it.

 

[kkong]

LNER website is now stating amended / cancelled services are "due to a shortage of train crew", which is an improvement.

 

[Bertie the bus]

The DfT claims, in this FoI response, not to have sent any instructions or guidance to train operators regarding the use of cancellation reasons.

It seems to me that they may have missed some documents, particularly since @800001 has stated that this instruction has come from the DfT.

I hope that Mr Walker, the person who made the request, raises an appeal. It would be interesting to see whether that perhaps leads to the DfT confirming what @800001 says TOCs were told.

It seems to me as though it is yet another thing that people try to blame on the DfT when it is the rail industry they should be complaining about.

 

[trainstrainstr]

It seems to me as though it is yet another thing that people try to blame on the DfT when it is the rail industry they should be complaining about.

No, it is the DfT

 

[Bertie the bus]

No, it is the DfT

Of course it is. Everything is. The fact it is an announcement that had been used for years for pre-planned cancellations and on the day cancellations still refer to a shortage of train crew is irrelevant. It’s the government’s fault.

 

[Watershed]

Of course it is. Everything is. The fact it is an announcement that had been used for years for pre-planned cancellations and on the day cancellations still refer to a shortage of train crew is irrelevant. It’s the government’s fault.

It has never been used in a widespread and misleading manner like this before. He who pays the piper...

You wouldn't believe some of the stuff that's going on behind the scenes.

 

[Bertie the bus]

The reason it hasn't been so widespread is because pre-planned cancellations weren't so widespread. There used to be far more on the day cancellations instead.

 

[Mitchell Hurd]

Today's Highland Chieftain from Inverness were cancelled and tomorrow's too Both started from Edinburgh.

So was the 09:52 Aberdeen to London service yesterday morning which started from Edinburgh. Why ScotRail couldn't accept passengers tickets I don't know because the passengers had to have a rail replacement coach which a coach wasn't suitable for a passenger.

Apparently it was they could implement. R website is now stating amended / cancelled services are "due to a shortage of train crew", which is an improvement.

 

[IanXC]

The reason it hasn't been so widespread is because pre-planned cancellations weren't so widespread. There used to be far more on the day cancellations instead.

Also because "Due to a short-notice change to the timetable" was only added to the list of Darwin cancellation reasons in around August 2021.

 

[trainstrainstr]

Actually, I stand corrected. The DfT have NOT communicated to the TOC I work for to use a particular phrase. If it was their idea, it didn't go directly to us. It went via something else like Darwin.

 

[Frontera2]

DFT instruction for TOcs to use this new reason when they have no crew to work a certain portion of the diagram.

Absolute and utter nonsense.

 

[800001]

T

Absolute and utter nonsense.

Really? Ok. Thank you for your input.

 

[Frontera2]

T

Really? Ok. Thank you for your input.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 20 Sep 2022 ==

The DfT had absolutely nothing to do with this. How do I know? Well for I start I was heavily involved in the discussions that led to this (and a couple of other additional reasons) being added to Darwin (and other systems)

This reason was born out of the issues around the 2018 timetable change where timetables were indeed being changed at very short notice..

 

[800001]

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 20 Sep 2022 ==

The DfT had absolutely nothing to do with this. How do I know? Well for I start I was heavily involved in the discussions that led to this (and a couple of other additional reasons) being added to Darwin (and other systems)

This reason was born out of the issues around the 2018 timetable change where timetables were indeed being changed at very short notice..

Well maybe the people from the dft who told the TOC I work for to use that reason code then need to make it clear that they as dft did not tell the toc to use it

 

[trainstrainstr]

They told all the TOCs I've spoken to NOT to use that reason code, I've seen the emails.

 

[XAM2175]

This reason was born out of the issues around the 2018 timetable change where timetables were indeed being changed at very short notice..

But why were they being changed at short notice?

 

[Starmill]

I think that as originally intended this reason was for a short notice change to a timetable for no reason other than that the timetable simply had to be changed to allow it to work, or because of another reason regarding the timetable itself.

There have been a number of cases more recently where a short notice change to the timetable is an accurate description for the cancellation, but the underlying cause is either more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time, or more commonly a shortage of train drivers, train guards, or both.

 

[trainstrainstr]

LNER and Northern have both responded to the FOI, seems that Mr Walker was wrong

 

[ABB125]

I'm not a fan of this particular explanation. If only because the train isn't delayed/cancelled due to a short notice change to the timetable; it is the short notice change

 

[Watershed]

LNER and Northern have both responded to the FOI, seems that Mr Walker was wrong

Indeed, interesting. I wonder if Mr Walker was perhaps taking the wibble on this thread a little too seriously?

The LNER response is nevertheless interesting as it suggests that the DfT actually made a contrary instruction, namely not to use the unhelpful "short notice change to the timetable" reason.