ASLEF strike 1st Sept and alternative transport

[MrJeeves]

I'd hazard a guess that few TOCs, nor RDG, have issued any sort of staff briefing regarding the PRO, nor on Condition 28 of the NRCoT.

RDG have, I believe, as have DfT. Has been uncovered before via FOI to OLR. Will try and find the source again.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 21 Aug 2023 ==

Here it is: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/article_16_of_regulation_1371200

I've got a similar request in at Southeastern at the moment: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/information_regarding_article_16

It's infeasible to quote the LNER one as it's at least 50 documents.

 

[iamterry]

Who could have predicated that the furniture ombudsman might not be actually equipped to deliver an effective service for railway complaints...

On previous ASLEF strike days LNER have run a skeleton service between London and Edinburgh but only two or three trains at most and I wouldn't be surprised if you need to change at Peterborough as well. You may want to check the LNER strike page: https://www.lner.co.uk/travel-information/Industrial-action/ for more information. Looks like they've confirmed the timetable for 26 August which shows that a journey to Edinburgh from Stevenage would be doable with a change at Peterborough.

Indeed I'm now changing at Peterborough for our journey up. However, it's the hassle I had (re)booking my seats + bike booking for the 26th due to half of the new timetabled trains not having any availability when I did it is making me concerned about missing the 'window' for when the 1st of September trains opens - I'm regularly refreshing the industrial action page on LNERs website to try to hopefully catch it before they send the emails out.

It's rare that when I make this journey that I can get a direct train between Berwick and Stevenage - usually I have to changed at either Peterborough or York). When travelling with a bike this significantly complicated the process.... (And don't get me started on how often the LNER booking engine misbehaves when I try to save money and include my actual destination rather than Stevenage...)

 

[thedbdiboy]

There appears to be little doubt that the DfT is ignoring the potential implications of the PRO in terms of what should arguably be offered. But I wouldn't be in any doubt, if anyone prods hard enough or manages to trouble the courts in a way that this needs to be taken seriously, that the PRO will be changed to remove what in practice would be an unfeasible liability if accepted at a large scale. In a post-Brexit environment it is inertia that retains the EU wording.
It should be remembered that in mainland Europe there is none of the interavailabilty between operators that exists in GB so the PRO does a lot more heavy lifting there.

 

[island]

There appears to be little doubt that the DfT is ignoring the potential implications of the PRO in terms of what should arguably be offered. But I wouldn't be in any doubt, if anyone prods hard enough or manages to trouble the courts in a way that this needs to be taken seriously, that the PRO will be changed to remove what in practice would be an unfeasible liability if accepted at a large scale. In a post-Brexit environment it is inertia that retains the EU wording.
It should be remembered that in mainland Europe there is none of the interavailabilty between operators that exists in GB so the PRO does a lot more heavy lifting there.

Indeed. People need to be careful what they wish for.