Recent content by tofl

Any idea what "1st round" might consist of?

Yes indeed, that's the point I was trying to get at. Doubtless it would be abused/used incorrectly as things always are, but given that there are some people left in the world who think about their actions, clearly presenting these two options doesn't seem too hard and even if used only...

The other day I was on a train between Finsbury Park and St Pancras. We were already well into the tunnel, stopped on a red signal waiting for trains ahead to clear. The emergency alarm was activated by passengers because a lady had collapsed. It took a while for the passengers and the driver...

They seem better now, and an improvement on 313s from most points of view. Any problems I have had have been driver or network rather than train related. People now seem less inclined to crowd in the door areas, and are more willing to move down to use all the space. The SDO still confuses a...

If it's really the case that relying on overtime has financial benefits to the TOC, and it sounds plausible, then either the DFT needs to impose stiffer penalties for the kind of cancellations we sometimes see, or simply relax the requirements for weekend services so they are achievable. But I...

Well the driver recruitment and training program was meant to have completed in September. Not sure if that happened or not and not sure if the target number of drivers is sufficient to run the weekend/bank holiday service GN are contracted to run without relying on driver overtime. It seems...

I felt a drop on me the other day, only one mind you. Couldn't see anything obvious above me. I don't even think it was raining at the time. Could it be the air conditioning?

I have back problems and find window seats on the 700 and 717 uncomfortable because I can't put my feet down evenly, so I sit on the aisle seat usually. Prefer to do this with seats facing as it's easier for others to come past me to sit by the window. Doing that with airline style when the...

I emailed GA the other day asking about plans for new trains on the Hertford East line. After some pressing they said they were aiming for December 2020, but declined to share details of whether they'd be extending platforms to accommodate longer trains or simply running shorter services.

I asked a GTR person with whom I was corresponding what the plans were for delivering the full consultation timetable and she said it was still the intention and they are working on it but don't want to say a date until they know they can deliver it, not wanting to repeat the previous fiasco.

Winter timetable news: https://www.greatnorthernrail.com/travel-information/plan-your-journey/timetables "The entire Great Northern Metro timetable will be optimised for the performance of the new train fleet in May 2020." And here...

Well looking at Journey Check for Greater Anglia, it shows just three cancellations for the same period. Let's assume that the two companies operate a roughly equivalent number of services, how would one account for this significant difference. Assuming that the Great Northern cancellations...

My understanding was that in order to provide the full service, especially on weekends, the operator needs drivers to volunteer for overtime - they do not have enough contracted hours to do it. So I presume the logic is that drivers are less likely to volunteer for overtime in good weather.

Now they just need the drivers to drive them. Driver training apparently on track, so I am told.

I am not optimistic based on the track record. I don't know enough about other TOCs to say whether this staffing problem is easily solved or not given the constraints they have to work within, though I certainly cannot remember any cancellations on the line from Hertford East due to driver...