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No, not really. And you really overestimate the power of drivers! My Depot recently had a roster change which we’re not happy but we still have to work it, and are doing so.

Drivers don’t reject rosters. Local Depot representatives reject rosters, usually because they break local agreements, are nigh on impossible to make work, or ignore rules on fatigue etc.

Drivers don’t fail route assessments. If they did questions would be asked about their abilities. Rest assured it can be almost impossible to go through the steps required to sign a route due to shortages of personnel at every turn. It’s a chronic problem which I have experienced at every...

I do get very frustrated by such drivers, especially in public. Not in their defence but just as an observation, there’s always a few slackers in every work place. And we all always know who they are, sadly. Most are not like this.

Things can be more complicated than they appear. One train may take multiple drivers to a location with many trains waiting for them. Or they may be on their way to a course, or to start route learning, or just be on the way home. Drivers travel on trains for a variety of reasons.

Rail is a public service, privately run. TOCs don’t have full freedom to set fares. They can’t withdraw unprofitable trains. Their profit margins are small. The fare structure to some extent is designed to encourage travel at particular times to avoid crowding and make better use of off peak...

Litter exists because people don’t take responsibility for clearing up their own mess, not because someone else didn’t take responsibility for clearing up after them.

For some reason, Dave, even though drivers have been on strike and lost money over this issue, they still seem to think we're making it up.

N No. It’s because the new roster will have been done on the basis that all drivers signed the required routes, and so drivers with BedPan knowledge may now not be rostered on, or rostered to a different route, whilst no driver is available for the BedPan work.

Fitting in more services is tricky with the congested nature of the SE network and the various conflicting junctions slowing everything down.

No, the infrastructure was there in time. The TOC did not get sufficient drivers either trained or qualified on the relevant rolling stock or routes in time. Because driver shifts work in such a way that a different set of drivers are working each weekend. You would need at least three weekends...

The usual bunch. Nothing will change. One whiff of the removal of a Dartford via Sidcup not calling at Mottingham like it’s done since 1672 and the local press and MPs will run scared and bury any attempt at an overhaul.

The original service pattern joined the Great Northern stoppers and the majority of Southern trains that go via the fasts from London Bridge to East Croydon, thus freeing terminating capacity at London Bridge and Kings Cross. Hence the East Grinsteads, peak only coastals, Horshams and Tattenham...

No. But I do know what it’s like to get off a tube at Victoria to see everything cancelled and troop along to Charing Cross to just miss the half hourly train and reflect that I’ve travelled from Cambridge to Kings Cross in the time that all this taken. Also there are no direct buses from...

But changing to the tube is ALWAYS less convenient unless it happens to be a same level interchange. I know, I’ve always lived in SE London. I’d love the Bakerloo line to takeover the Hayes line so I’d have a slower but direct journey to the West End and beyond. Of course if I need to get to...

That’s the problem. When front line staff do follow procedure they end up being abused. They have to grow a shell to survive. For example dispatch staff can’t start looking at an iPad to find train info whilst dispatching. If they do there will be a manager somewhere waiting to pounce. Even if...

But the point was to move stoppers out of termini to expand their capacity within existing confines. Where would the northbound services terminate now that L Bridge has been rescoped for this purpose? The problem at the moment is one of staff shortages in essence. If the timetable can’t be made...

I fear unions are less powerful than people believe. Can you imagine the reaction if exasperated platform staff went on strike? Who would sympathise? I wouldn’t want their job.

Every driver will have a "route card" - ie not literally a card anymore. But tech wise we still seem to be relying on various computer systems of varying ages and types that aren't necessarily integrated. And human intervention can override them. I've been asked to drive routes I don't sign and...

The public don't need softening up. Let's not open this can of worms again. If we were building the railway from scratch it would likely be driverless. If we were to build a brand new line end to end, I'd expect it to be driverless - like the DLR. Retro fitting the Victorian network is another...