Recent content by Duffer

The Hornbaekbanen is half-hourly for the majority of the day.

We used the Hornbaekbanen quite extensively when we stayed in North Zealand a few years ago. Even in late August i.e. outside of the Danish School Holiday period, it was standing room only on a number of occasions. I doubt a replacement bus service would be able to adequately cope with that...

Well, yes, I get exactly where you’re coming from and I believe that the starting point for negotiations in our case is usually the August RPI figure which, as you rightly say, in this case would have been a chunky double digit number. But, in this case, because the dispute was so drawn out and...

I think it varies from TOC to TOC depending on your pay anniversary. For us, we had an increase in October 2020 as the final year of a multi year deal. October 2021 to October 2022 was written off due to Covid, meaning our dispute started in October 2022. The rate of inflation from October 2022...

I heard one or two at our depot complain that the offer was below inflation since the expiry of our last pay deal which was technically correct but not relevant to the period that the dispute actually covered.

An OBS is not required at any stage when a train is on the Brighton Main Line, hence why it was able to run between Haywards Heath and Victoria. Away from the main line, a train can run without the OBS if the OBS has been displaced by late running, late notice illness, accidentally being left...

The vast majority of the extra overnight services were timetabled for the early hours of Sunday 6th - a date not covered by the overtime ban. The idea that drivers are being prevented from volunteering for these extra trains because of the overtime ban is a bit of a red herring. Re: the above...

If it’s of benefit to anyone, I was told last night that 313 212 won’t be seen in passenger service again. It’s final working was 2C71 2229 Seaford - Brighton followed by 5C71 2315 Brighton - Lovers Walk on 14/5/23.

The guard working the train still needs route knowledge regardless of the dispatch procedures. As pointed out, there’s quite a lot of the proposed tour itinerary where none of the current establishment of conductors hold competency. There’s also parts of the itinerary where non-corridor stock in...

Brighton are due to be playing at home on Sat 20th May so, unless it gets changed for TV coverage, the Seaford services are likely to be 377 workings on that day.

This is a proposed 5 year pay deal, the previous offer covered only 4 years, hence the higher overall percentage increase this time.

ASLEF = zero. Can't speak for RMT.

Given that ASLEF have already ended up with a hefty legal bill when they were accused of inducing Gatwick Express drivers to breach their contract, I can't imagine they'll want to repeat that experience anytime soon, especially if substantial damages were awarded.

The criteria for the DOO route and risk assessment is laid down by the RSSB. It is the TOC (in this case GTR/Southern) who are responsible for assessing the route as safe for DOO - this was the evidence given by Dr George Bearfield of the RSSB in one of the recent Transport Select Committee...

I'd imagine the number of reported camera faults has risen because more trains are now being driven DOO. A guard-operated train with a faulty camera isn't going to lead to the unit being withdrawn from service and won't be included in any statistics. In any case, faults being unable to be...