Cross Country Cancellations - Emergency Timetable

[Goldfish62]

Maybe because they operate a generally decent service Mon - Sat they get a free pass for the Sunday horror shows?

Quite possibly.

 

[Killingworth]

Sundays have been horrendous on GWR for several weeks now, but they somehow manage to escape media attention.

Like Northern and Cross Country, perish the thought, the services don't impact commuters in London and the South-East.

 

[Wilts Wanderer]

GWR’s Sunday cancellations had a specific story on the BBC News website only a couple of weeks ago.

 

[LittleRedTrain]

In fact, if you're still looking for a replacement day out you could do what I'm doing and head for Loughborough and the Great Central Railway. They've got an end of season gala on with an intensive timetable of steam, DMUs, and goods trains with a real ale bar at Quorn. There's even a heritage bus service from Loughbrough (Midland) to Loughborough Central. I'm off in an hour.

I had looked at the option of going to the GCR gala today (from Banbury), but decided with the risk of disruption on the CrossCountry Turbostar routes, I just didn't want to risk it.

I see the last trains each way between Birmingham and Leicester have already been cancelled due to shortage of conductors, and replaced by coaches. That'll be popular with people visiting the Brum Christmas Markets!

It's quite frustrating when you can't drive, by car the journey would only take just over an hour!

 

[GoneSouth]

Interestingly, there are few truncations today on the Nottingham-Cardiff route due to "a shortage of train conductors" instead of the usual "shortage of train drivers". Did they train extra drivers only to find out they don't have enough other train crew?

Anyhow, I guess we really need a few weeks worth of the reinstated timetable to compare with the last few weeks before the emergency timetable.

Cue emergency timetable to train conductor training!

This has been going on for years, I’ve been stood on a platform and watched my train go through empty because there was no conductor, then had to wait for an hour for the next which was obviously double loaded! Grrrrr!

 

[occone]

I had the worst XC journey for years yesterday - yes the service ran and kept somewhat on time, but that is only part of the picture when passengers are left on platforms because every bit of standing space is used up.
Focusing only on cancellations leads to a very narrow view of how XC are doing.

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

Game over here once the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill passes i would suggest.

 

[Trainman40083]

Game over here once the Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Bill passes i would suggest.

But I seriously don't see any improvement even when nationalisation happens.

 

[Llandudno]

But I seriously don't see any improvement even when nationalisation happens.

Indeed, Nationalisation has made Northern far worse…!

 

[Goldfish62]

Indeed, Nationalisation has made Northern far worse…!

What is it specifically about nationalisation that has made it worse?

 

[Trainman40083]

What is it specifically about nationalisation that has made it worse?

I would have phrased it "it did not make it any better". Because the root causes are higher up than Northern.

 

[duffield]

Indeed, Nationalisation has made Northern far worse…!

I'm sceptical that there is any evidence that Northern is currently worse than it would have been at this point had it not been nationalised. Basically there is no way to prove that one way or the other.

But it's also worth noting that it was nationalised as a last resort by a government committed at least nominally to a privately run railway, so showing how much better Northern could be when operated by the state would, let's say, not exactly be a top priority.

Permanent nationalisation under the new, yet to come, GBR setup could be a very different proposition to nationalisation as a "temporary, emergency measure". That's not to say it will definitely succeed and improve services, but the fact is we just don't know and past nationalisations are not necessarily any sort of guide to what will occur in the coming years.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 20 Nov 2024 ==



Meanwhile, back on XC, on Wednesday 20th, we have three cancellations and five truncations shown on journey check, all due to "a shortage of train drivers". Ho hum. Maybe this is as good as it gets, it's just a bit depressing that every single instance is due to the exact problem the emergency timetable was supposed to address.

 

[LittleRedTrain]

CrossCountry not covering themselves in glory today, lots of train crew related cancellations on Reading-Birmingham, including the last northbound.

Lots of single sets on the remaining services and reports of people being left behind.

Can't blame the weather as most of these were cancelled from the start of service!

 

[Jimini]

Reading-Birmingham, including the last northbound.

That's pretty poor. One heck of a long way round through town and out of Euston as a result.

 

[LittleRedTrain]

Looks like they're expecting passengers to use a mixture of other services and a rather tedious replacement bus.

From JourneyCheck:

19:45 Bournemouth to Birmingham New Street due 22:50 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train drivers.
Further Information
Customers are advised to board the 19:57 South Western Railway service to Winchester, changing there for the 20:56 South Western Railway service to Basingstoke, changing there for the 21:20 rail replacement service going direct to Oxford, then setting down only to all booked stations towards Birmingham New Street.
Customers to Reading should board the 21:51 GWR service from Reading to Oxford, Changing there for the 22:20 Chiltern Railway service from Oxford to Banbury, or await the above rail replacement service for all other stations towards Birmingham New Street.
Customers may also board the 23:08 Chiltern Railway service from Banbury to Birmingham Moor Street.
- Rail replacement service operated by Amans.

Unfortunately a tree down at Seer Green is going to mess up some of those Chiltern alternatives!

 

[duffield]

CrossCountry not covering themselves in glory today, lots of train crew related cancellations on Reading-Birmingham, including the last northbound.

Lots of single sets on the remaining services and reports of people being left behind.

Can't blame the weather as most of these were cancelled from the start of service!

And after a short flurry of "shortage of conductors" they appear to be back to "shortage of drivers" again (at least last time I looked at journey check). Sigh.

 

[12LDA28C]

That's pretty poor. One heck of a long way round through town and out of Euston as a result.

Of course that is not the only way to get from Reading to Birmingham if XC are disrupted...

 

[Jimini]

Of course that is not the only way to get from Reading to Birmingham if XC are disrupted...

I posted that with my Reading to Coventry hat on (invisible as it may be, apols).

 

[Envoy]

Saturday 23 Nov 2024 and 10 Cross Country services are cancelled between Birmingham & Cardiff (5 each way). This on a day when South Africa are playing Wales in Cardiff.

Does anyone know what of anything Cross Country are doing to sort out this problem of lack of crew?

 

[Doctor Fegg]

Of course that is not the only way to get from Reading to Birmingham if XC are disrupted...

Difficult today though. So far only two trains (from five) have run from Oxford to Worcester, and only two (from five again) from Oxford to Banbury.

 

[12LDA28C]

Difficult today though. So far only two trains (from five) have run from Oxford to Worcester, and only two (from five again) from Oxford to Banbury.

Oxford to Bicester Village, walk to Bicester North then to Birmingham…

 

[Jimini]

Difficult today though. So far only two trains (from five) have run from Oxford to Worcester, and only two (from five again) from Oxford to Banbury.

Tree on the line at Bramley (Hants) seems to be the main problem on the Bournemouth > Manchester route, this morning. Has now been removed.

 

[Doctor Fegg]

Oxford to Bicester Village, walk to Bicester North then to Birmingham…

Oh indeed. Personally I wouldn't bat an eyelid at having to do that. But a railway system that requires you to walk a mile with whatever luggage you might have in the sort of weather Oxfordshire is experiencing today, just to travel from Reading to Birmingham, is not really anywhere near functional.

 

[Mugby]

Saturday 23 Nov 2024 and 10 Cross Country services are cancelled between Birmingham & Cardiff (5 each way). This on a day when South Africa are playing Wales in Cardiff.

Does anyone know what of anything Cross Country are doing to sort out this problem of lack of crew?

I think the question here is; what did they actually achieve between August and November? They stated in publicity that the temporary reductions in the timetables would reduce the number of daily cancellations and provide a more reliable service.
Clearly the exercise has made little, if any difference. They should be called upon (hopefully by the Transport Secretary) for a further explanation.

 

[takno]

I think the question here is; what did they actually achieve between August and November? They stated in publicity that the temporary reductions in the timetables would reduce the number of daily cancellations and provide a more reliable service.
Clearly the exercise has made little, if any difference. They should be called upon (hopefully by the Transport Secretary) for a further explanation.

If the reason for the current cancellations (which appear to be mostly weekends) is an unwillingness to do overtime because of the back pay, then the SoS will certainly not be keen to draw attention to it.

 

[Trainman40083]

You have to tread very carefully with such situation. At the moment, the private sector gets the kicking for trains not running. Unless the real problems are identified and addressed, it will soon be the State, and the Transport Secretary.

 

[baza585]

If the reason for the current cancellations (which appear to be mostly weekends) is an unwillingness to do overtime because of the back pay, then the SoS will certainly not be keen to draw attention to it.

Indeed this exact situation was predicted by many, no doubt including some at DfT. The SoS chose to ignore these warnings.

Not a good start to her term in office, but no doubt No 10 gave her encouragement to settle the dispute quickly.

 

[Goldfish62]

Indeed this exact situation was predicted by many, no doubt including some at DfT. The SoS chose to ignore these warnings.

Not a good start to her term in office, but no doubt No 10 gave her encouragement to settle the dispute quickly.

What choice did she have? The only other choice for her would have been to let the dispute drag on indefinitely. There was certainly absolutely no sign of the unions caving in.

And because the last government did let the dispute drag on well beyond when it became obvious that there was to be no caving in on the union/staff side it became inevitable that at whatever point it was settled there would be large back-pay lump sums.

 

[takno]

Indeed this exact situation was predicted by many, no doubt including some at DfT. The SoS chose to ignore these warnings.

Not a good start to her term in office, but no doubt No 10 gave her encouragement to settle the dispute quickly.

There was no clean way to settle the dispute after it had been allowed to drag on for 2 years, so she did the best possible thing under the circumstances. The fact that there are some after-effects for a few more months is nothing compared to the disruption if the dispute hadn't been resolved

 

[D9006]

I’d very much doubt it for the majority. Was just saying it’s another reason for cancellations to be expected.

Some friends I know work on railway was loving the 4 day week(1 day on strike) as due to paying less tax their take home pay was just a little less than 5 days, so can’t see them wanting do 6 days