It's only a couple of days since Comrade Putin said that the UK would pay for continuing to supply weapons and drones to Ukraine.IOf Mr Putin wanted us to suffer, he would have left XR running
If Putin wanted to make us suffer he would have left XC running normallyIt's only a couple of days since Comrade Putin said that the UK would pay for continuing to supply weapons and drones to Ukraine.
The disadvantage would be that a passenger diverting from XC wouldn't have the tube journey included (it was in the context of a hypothetical journey from Scotland to Cornwall). They could of course use a bank card (paying extra), but passengers unfamiliar with London might not be aware of that.
It was in the context of alternatives to XC, which obviously had no direct trains on Sunday.
I don't have a quote, but I remember the disruption information said ticket acceptance was in place for London Underground.
Oh, I hadn't seen that. Just a case of hoping the LU gateline staff are aware of it too then
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It was Sunday, they don't need to be aware of it now.Oh, I hadn't seen that. Just a case of hoping the LU gateline staff are aware of it too then
The idea is we were all meant to disperse and go to different locations >100 m away, rather than hang around the office building in the same location, so that we weren't all in the same evacuation point. Especially as this office building was next to a major London termini too. Anyway sorry this is probably veering off-topic now...
I know that. The phrase was from the point of view of someone making the hypothetical journey, either last Sunday or potentially on another occasion. But it was only a passing comment anyway.
it depends on how you see railways (which to my mind are an essential part of UK infrastructure for all people travelling long distances other than by car - pace road coaches - in a low-carbon way) and whether you think the state should be ensuring that it is reliable as a way to wean people out of cars?
3 versus 4 was an example, without seeing XC's contingency plans we might be talking about 118 versus 119. In any case the decision about whether to spend that money will have ultimately been driven by a decision by cost.
It would be so much better an option if GWR actually ran from Bristol TM to Birmingham New Street instead as well as to Worcester and Hereford and be given the chance to avoid London. Getting from the Underground to the platforms at St Pancras and Kings Cross is a nightmare. You walk miles or so it seems.
Yes, Virgin did, and had regular exercises utilising it. This was highlighted by Chris Gibb on Green Signals yesterday, also pointing out that having a contingency control centre should be part of the standard business continuity plan for any relevant business, not just the railways.
At the very least it would have been useful on Sunday if the hourly GW service terminating at Cheltenham could have been extended to Bromsgrove.
I would be very surprised if any GW drivers or guards have route knowledge to Bromsgrove.
That interview was a good insight into how things should be operated. Curious to know if XC just did away with the facility, and what their plan B was in the event of a major issue in with their control facility. Whatever it was it didn't work.
Worcester would have been doable but any extension beyond Cheltenham creates a problem resourcing with the return train from Cheltenham.
If there had been any spare GW crews then surely unemployed XC crews could have conducted them? Hand-written diagrams for them and the XC people would have sufficed...
Organised by XC control? You know, the people who were locked out of everything.
Maybe a couple of the best diagrammers in a nearby Starbucks with pencils and paper - and a laptop for email distribution and mobile phones for liaison with depots...
Who is going to issue them with the laptops and mobile phones on a Saturday night or Sunday morning, and ensure they've got all the relevant software loaded?
And without access to the server, they are not going to be in a position to identify any ‘spare’ crews.
to put together a skeleton hourly service, say between Bristol and York fitting in with what resources GWR and LNER could lend? Don't you think it's appalling that in modern Britain they just abandoned train services on that axis? I suppose that it being a Sunday might have made it more difficult to get something running, but all the crew and rolling stock was ready to go, and GWR and LNER might have had resources available.
Don't most people have company laptops and phones nowadays? and maybe you didn't see my comment
if you decide you are not going to run any trains, then by definition all the crew are spare!
What a tragedy. The railway I worked in had people who wanted it to succeed, and I bet a skeleton service could still have been manned.
But without access to computers, they will not know who is spare. The Traincrew controllers are centralised - they will not have visibility either.
