November Strikes - no trains across the Pennines ?

[yorksrob]

According to the Manchester Evening News, TPE won't be running through Manchester during the up coming strikes, although this doesn't appear to have been uploaded to TPE's own website yet. Can anyone confirm ?

If true it means that there will be no trains across the Pennines (Hadrians wall line, Little North Western, Copy pit, Calder valley, Standedge or Hope Valley), given that Northern and EMR have already published their strike timetables and won't be running on these routes.

No TransPennine Express trains through Greater Manchester on strike days

The operator cancelled 165 trains over just three days last week, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, according to its own website.

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk

TransPennine Express (TPE) will be running no trains through Greater Manchester on three planned strike dates next month. Only one TPE service will be operating on November 5, 7, and 9 - between Huddersfield and York.
The planned strike dates are the latest action announced by the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) and the Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA) unions. It means that people who had planned to use a TPE train to travel from Greater Manchester to Edinburgh, Hull, or Huddersfield for Rugby League World Cup fixtures on those dates will have to make alternative arrangements.

 

[Segedunum]

There's the 685 between Carlisle and Newcastle which I'm sure has been drumming up some extra business in light of the derailment and strike action.

For those further south, it'd be a case of getting to Oldham by tram/bus then getting the 184 over to Huddersfield.

Slow and less than convenient, but physically possible if someone really has to travel.

 

[mike57]

Slow and less than convenient, but physically possible if someone really has to travel.

I think that route sets the 'really has to travel' bar pretty high. I reckon faced with that people will do everything possible to avoid travelling. When you get to Huddersfield will the train actually be running, or will you be faced with another bus ride east if your destination is Leeds.

 

[yorksrob]

I think I'll have to have to have another go "on the buses" again !

 

[py_megapixel]

The obvious question: in the summer, they managed an hourly Manchester-York service - stopper and fast in alternate hours - with double 185s. Why can't they do that again?

 

[87015]

The obvious question: in the summer, they managed an hourly Manchester-York service - stopper and fast in alternate hours - with double 185s. Why can't they do that again?

Did it rely on volunteers?

 

[HamworthyGoods]

The obvious question: in the summer, they managed an hourly Manchester-York service - stopper and fast in alternate hours - with double 185s. Why can't they do that again?

Because this time around there are generally less volunteers overall to work trains in lieu of booked traincrew.

 

[Segedunum]

This happened with the protracted action on Northern across 2017-2019 (or thereabouts).

In the beginning, there was a fairly decent service (some lines seeing no difference whatsoever) thanks to a wealth of volunteers being available/willing. As time wore on, you had fewer and fewer volunteers, with more and more services getting sacked off as a result.

I suppose because it goes from volunteering to chip in to becoming a part-time job in itself.

 

[Andyh82]

On the strike on the 1st October (and possibly the other ones around that time), Transpennine we’re only running an hourly service Huddersfield to York, and there was no Northern service at all

 

[mangyiscute]

It's interesting to hear that there's less volunteers this time, because gwr seem to be running a much better service than the August strikes - 4 fast trains per hour out of paddington this time around compared to 1/2 in august iirc

 

[yorksrob]

Some transport flows do seem to be disproportionately affected by the strikes - given that one in five trains are generally said to be running.

I had reason to catch the York - Huddersfield service last time and it was very lightly loaded. It would have been more useful to the public to run half as many trains all the way to Manchester.

 

[mangyiscute]

Some transport flows do seem to be disproportionately affected by the strikes - given that one in five trains are generally said to be running.

I had reason to catch the York - Huddersfield service last time and it was very lightly loaded. It would have been more useful to the public to run half as many trains all the way to Manchester.

If the strikes are the signallers and people like that than running services on more lines would need more staff even if the number of trains running doesn't change