Conductor Query

[M60lad]

Not sure if this is in the right place but here goes:

How often does it happen that conductors are given the wrong docket/information (or whatever it is) for the service their supposed to be working?

I only ask as I was out yesterday and caught 1N61 Heald Green-Blackpool North & Windermere (2x185s) and conductor was a friendly chap and was telling passengers to ignore the onboard displays as they were wrong and that infact the front train was indeed for Blackpool North but the rear set was for Barrow (not Windermere) it wasnt until just before Moses Gate he came back with the annoucement that due to a mistake by his control that he was given the wrong information and that the rear train (that he was in) was indeed the Windermere train and apologised for the inconvenience.

Gets even better though as the guy doing the seating reservations actually put the Windermere seating reservations in the front set despite conductor saying the front set was Blackpool North

 

[pompeyfan]

Mistakes do happen, and it's not unheard of for Short Term Planning diagrams to break either local agreements or rule book requirements.

 

[AlterEgo]

Only heard of it happening once or twice in five years.

 

[TheEdge]

How often does it happen that conductors are given the wrong docket/information (or whatever it is) for the service their supposed to be working?

On a daily basis.

No wait, I misread this, move along please.

 

[LowLevel]

It happens - I got a docket with the wrong station times on it once (and so did my driver!) so I left 3 stations up to 5 minutes early. I got a bit suspicious when I got to somewhere I could see a platform screen and and stayed there until control had given me the correct times over the phone to write down. Had to give mine and the driver's dockets in to the TCS on arrival back at my depot.

 

[swt class 450]

This sort of thing happens on Southern all the time. On trains that divide at Redhill and Haywards Heath and Horsham. They often switch the portions around and staff get mixed up with which portion is going where.

 

[Llanigraham]

Happens at Shrewsbury, too.

 

[Matt Taylor]

It's happened to me once in six years in a busy depot so it's quite rare, it's easier to take the wrong unit out of the depot to be honest.

 

[tsr]

This sort of thing happens on Southern all the time. On trains that divide at Redhill and Haywards Heath and Horsham. They often switch the portions around and staff get mixed up with which portion is going where.

That sort of thing is much worse with the sheer volume of split/attach workings which Southern have (obviously necessary due to limited capacity through East Croydon, but something which is especially inconvenient during any form of service disruption). However, any misinformation about those sorts of things is often due to short-notice changes for service recovery "on the day", rather than misprinting on diagrams. Obviously there are a handful of trains where there have also been semi-regular diagram problems, but it's a small proportion of the overall issues related to portion working.

Sometimes you just have to hope that the CIS at your starting station is correct, and play along with that idea unless it gets corrected in one way or another. Occasionally you do get emails coming through with the detail, but not all of them get sent to all the right people (eg. both conductors and platform staff, rather than just one or the other). Then you have the perennial problem that drivers can't access company email yet, which is due to be rectified this winter, but of course will only be any good when they're able to use a device...

As for sheer misinformation on printed diagrams, it certainly does happen, especially during STP schedules, as has been alluded to above. There are all sorts of different potential problems - not just with portions of trains, but also with pre-set PIS codes being wrong, through trains being shown as two separate workings, DOO(P) or conductor operation shown for the wrong types of trains, conductors being asked to work DOO ECS movements in the middle of the night for no apparent reason, automatic scheduling resulting in buses and taxis taking crew all round the houses when they could just use authorised walking routes or alternative trains... you name it! One of the most important issues is making sure everyone signs the route and traction, which is the biggest operational concern alongside checking that the booking on/off times and required breaks are correct. Any unusual changes should be highlighted to resourcing managers when the diagrams are issued, but sometimes it doesn't happen.