Recent content by CN75

The problem is the perception a conductor has more responsibility is a view that only conductors and possibly some drivers would have. To the customer it makes no difference who the person helping them on the train is. Maybe Southern were not lying when all along they said the OBS was a proper...

Another TOC which already operates some services driver-only. ASLEF assume that they will lose in court - expensively - if they attempted to argue operating the doors or running trains without a guard over new routes was a legally significant change in terms and conditions. Their alternative to...

The other option for Arriva is to run a better strike contingency service. For instance, Northern could reduce the standards required for training and the route knowledge for guards since the TOCs set their own standards. Or Arriva could use stronger incentives to get more stand-in guards from...

Arriva have not said they do not need (want) to lose any of their guards. If individuals chose to leave because their job changed, they would need to be replaced at cost to the employer. Arriva’s proposed stated staff model is (now) a second person - which is realistically the guard’s current...

Southern have traditional conductors on a number of routes and still managed to achieve the conversion of part of the former conductor routes to new operation with their On Board Supervisors, so it has been shown to be possible.

Another poster eloquently explained that having to crew trains with two inflexible staff members causes greater performance risk, particularly in disruption. If the second member of staff is more flexible, the problem reduces but the train retains two staff members. The savings - time, which is...

The DfT believes the changes proposed are in passenger interests. As has been commented before, if this episode of industrial relations isn’t taken on at some point, it would simply kick the problem down the path. After twenty-five years of no progress on the rapid introduction of DOO-P that...

The Desiro trains are the last passenger fleet that was genuinely designed for guard operation when it came to doors. It’s surprising that SWR do not seem to care particularly any more about their guards working these trains from the non driving cabs on a routine basis - when the whole design...

The argument is that Southern runs better now and provides better customer service as it runs DOO. DOO will always be better to recover from disrupted conditions on complex networks and operators such as South Western, Southern or Northern particularly around the cities, as having to locate a...

Guards must be in particular parts of trains and dispatch them in certain inflexible ways. On Board Supervisors do not. This is potentially a significant revenue and customer service benefit. Guards must be route and train specific, and certified and managed accordingly, in order to be able to...

This is massive progress for the guards (taking the RMT’s objectives as separate, for a moment). Northern were planning to remove second staffing on a number of trains, but now are saying all of the future roles will be on board. The opportunity to negotiate around that principle for salary, job...

The RMT are significantly responsible for both undermining the morale at Northern and elsewhere as part of their industrial relations strategy against the TOC and have a long record of defending the indefensible on all train companies to protect the brothers when management try to deal with...

A good post that sets the scene. How do you get a majority of undermotivated staff, scared of technology and loyal foremost to their union’s instructions rather than their employers to move forward? The industry has no answers. The other problem with the positive experience of the conductor...

To be blunt, the guard’s ‘safety critical skills’ are redundant. Arguments about it over the last few years in the face of the history of the DOO system have been unsatisfactory, and the reality that this is all about the RMT protecting guard bargaining power at all costs is gaining wider...

It is not a matter of a good versus evil in the DfT’s eyes - they simply want the best railway for the best price for the customers. The Northern franchise is the best ever since privatistion in terms of investment, but there is a modernisation requirement on Northern on how some trains are...