Cross Country Cancellations - Emergency Timetable

[duffield]

So, the first weekday of the restored timetable arrives.

Nottingham to Cardiff services terminating at Birmingham:
!!07,1307,1507

Cardiff to Nottingham services starting from Birmingham:
1445,1645,1845

All due to "a shortage of train crew"

So basically on this route, pretty much the same sort of situation as before the emergency timetable was instituted in order to train more drivers...

Anyone seen any comments from XC management yet as to how well their plan has worked?

 

[Trainman40083]

So, the first weekday of the restored timetable arrives.

Nottingham to Cardiff services terminating at Birmingham:
!!07,1307,1507

Cardiff to Nottingham services starting from Birmingham:
1445,1645,1845

All due to "a shortage of train crew"

So basically on this route, pretty much the same sort of situation as before the emergency timetable was instituted in order to train more drivers...

Anyone seen any comments from XC management yet as to how well their plan has worked?

Louise Haigh will not be happy. She wasn't happy about the emergency timetable, but begrudgingly gave authorisation.

 

[vicbury]

Louise Haigh will not be happy. She wasn't happy about the emergency timetable, but begrudgingly gave authorisation.

What percentage of planned services are cancelled or curtailed today? The overall situation seems better than before the emergency timetable.

 

[duffield]

What percentage of planned services are cancelled or curtailed today? The overall situation seems better than before the emergency timetable.

It seems fairly typical of a "good day" from before the emergency timetable, with most services running - except between Birmingham to Cardiff, which always gets canned first and as far as I can tell has hardly ever had both a full *and* reliable timetable for years.

 

[Wilts Wanderer]

It seems fairly typical of a "good day" from before the emergency timetable, with most services running - except between Birmingham to Cardiff, which always gets canned first and as far as I can tell has hardly ever had both a full *and* reliable timetable for years.

Why is Birmingham-Cardiff such a problematic route?

 

[Trainman40083]

Why is Birmingham-Cardiff such a problematic route?

Maybe it isn't, but there are potential alternative services to access most of the stations it calls at.

 

[duffield]

Why is Birmingham-Cardiff such a problematic route?

It's one of only two XC routes which run with class 170 Turbostars, and the other one is Birmingham->Leicester->Peterborough->Cambridge->Stanstead. XC runs the only services on the Birmingham->Leicester->Peterborough section of that route, whereas there are other XC and TfW services (and the alternative XC/GWR route) for Birmingham->Cardiff, so the assumption is the Leicester service always takes priority. The Nottingham->Derby section of Nottingham->Birmingham often gets chopped during disruption as well since there are alternative EMR services as far as Derby.

 

[HamworthyGoods]

Why is Birmingham-Cardiff such a problematic route?

It isn’t but it is sacrificed to reduce cancellations on the Birmingham to Bristol route, if there’s a train uncovered between Birmingham and Bristol generally a Cardiff service is sacrificed instead.

 

[1D54]

Maybe it isn't, but there are potential alternative services to access most of the stations it calls at.

It is and has been for far too long, as for potential alternative services to most of the services it calls at, well the final destination being Cardiff which can't be accessed without a change to another TOC at Parkway. Dreadful way to treat paying passengers.

 

[duffield]

A whole bunch of cancellations and - particularly - truncations today due to "a shortage of train drivers", this time extending beyond the usual Nottingham to Cardiff route, e.g. some Bristol to Manchester services not running between Bristol and Birmingham. So far the effect of the extra drivers being trained during the emergency timetable does not seem to be materialising.

 

[boyaloud]

Thanks for the reply - I have asked XC again so will see if answer is still the same! Ridiculous that the last trains between two major cities is so early.

Try living in Stoke. Last one Brum to Stoke is 22:01 daily. Last Manchester to stoke is at 21:46 on Saturday!

 

[WAB]

A whole bunch of cancellations and - particularly - truncations today due to "a shortage of train drivers", this time extending beyond the usual Nottingham to Cardiff route, e.g. some Bristol to Manchester services not running between Bristol and Birmingham. So far the effect of the extra drivers being trained during the emergency timetable does not seem to be materialising.

I think it's fair to say that XC have been a little too keen to reinstate the full timetable, perhaps under pressure from Whitehall? XC has been on the naughty step with them due to the emergency timetable and general poor performance.

 

[vicbury]

I think it's fair to say that XC have been a little too keen to reinstate the full timetable, perhaps under pressure from Whitehall? XC has been on the naughty step with them due to the emergency timetable and general poor performance.

They've actually looked half decent today and yesterday, with almost no cancellations and few curtailed services. I know two days isn't a long term trend but long may it continue!

 

[Bald Rick]

I think it's fair to say that XC have been a little too keen to reinstate the full timetable, perhaps under pressure from Whitehall? XC has been on the naughty step with them due to the emergency timetable and general poor performance.

They agreed on the reinstatement date 4 months ago.

 

[Harpo]

They've actually looked half decent today and yesterday, with almost no cancellations and few curtailed services. I know two days isn't a long term trend but long may it continue!

The weekend will be an interesting test.

 

[dk1]

The weekend will be an interesting test.

Back pay this week for RMT.

 

[185]

Should there be a later Birmingham-Manchester, still missing from before the pandemic? Currently I only see their 2201, with their later train still missing.

 

[Jamesrob637]

Back pay this week for RMT.

Will that motivate staff to go to work?

 

[duffield]

They've actually looked half decent today and yesterday, with almost no cancellations and few curtailed services. I know two days isn't a long term trend but long may it continue!

Interestingly, there are few truncations today on the Nottingham-Cardiff route due to "a shortage of train conductors" instead of the usual "shortage of train drivers". Did they train extra drivers only to find out they don't have enough other train crew?

Anyhow, I guess we really need a few weeks worth of the reinstated timetable to compare with the last few weeks before the emergency timetable.

 

[Trainman40083]

They agreed on the reinstatement date 4 months ago.

One wonders if the XC plan, that they committed to, was robust and deliverable.

 

[WAB]

Will that motivate staff to go to work?

The opposite, in fact. They'll be less willing to chase rest day working which is one of the ways in which gaps are filled.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 14 Nov 2024 ==

They agreed on the reinstatement date 4 months ago.

But that doesn't mean that they weren't under pressure to honour that agreement.

 

[dk1]

Will that motivate staff to go to work?

I’d very much doubt it for the majority. Was just saying it’s another reason for cancellations to be expected.

 

[Bald Rick]

The opposite, in fact. They'll be less willing to chase rest day working which is one of the ways in which gaps are filled.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 14 Nov 2024 ==


But that doesn't mean that they weren't under pressure to honour that agreement.

Of course they were under pressure to honour it! For all 4 months!

 

[duffield]

It's looking a lot better today according to journey check. One cancellation - due to a train fault. One truncation due to "a shortage of conductors". And that's it. No cancellations or truncations whatsoever listed for the Nottingham to Cardiff route!

But of course we now wait to see what effect the backpay issue discussed above might have...

 

[STINT47]

I was planning a visit from my home in Nottingham to Birmingham tomorrow but on checking the Cross Country website they have an alert saying that services this weekend will be subject to disruption.

It goes on to say

Saturday 16 November​

Services between Birmingham New Street - Nottingham (both directions)​

From 17.00 on Saturday 16 November services between Birmingham New Street and Nottingham are subject to short notice cancellations, services that are running are expected to be extremely busy.


I think I'll give my day out a miss as getting home looks like it could be more hassle than it's worth.

 

[duffield]

I was planning a visit from my home in Nottingham to Birmingham tomorrow but on checking the Cross Country website they have an alert saying that services this weekend will be subject to disruption.

It goes on to say

Saturday 16 November​

Services between Birmingham New Street - Nottingham (both directions)​

From 17.00 on Saturday 16 November services between Birmingham New Street and Nottingham are subject to short notice cancellations, services that are running are expected to be extremely busy.


I think I'll give my day out a miss as getting home looks like it could be more hassle than it's worth.

Not a single word of apology on that page.

Link to page quoted above:

Travel Information | CrossCountry Trains

www.crosscountrytrains.co.uk

Sunday sounds like a disaster area:

Sunday 17 November​

Services between Nottingham - Birmingham New Street - Cardiff (both directions)​

On Sunday 17 November we are anticipating a high number of cancellations on services between Nottingham - Birmingham New Street - Cardiff, services that are running are expected to be extremely busy.

Sundays are typically terrible on XC on what passes for a good day.

I'm glad my day out from Nottingham is on EMR (and not on a shared XC route where EMR might get dumped on).

In fact, if you're still looking for a replacement day out you could do what I'm doing and head for Loughborough and the Great Central Railway. They've got an end of season gala on with an intensive timetable of steam, DMUs, and goods trains with a real ale bar at Quorn. There's even a heritage bus service from Loughbrough (Midland) to Loughborough Central. I'm off in an hour.

 

[Envoy]

Rugby match in Cardiff on Sunday.

 

[Harpo]

They’re not alone, just late. GWR & Northern have had ‘doom on Sunday 17/11’ warnings on NRES for a couple of days.

 

[Goldfish62]

They’re not alone, just late. GWR & Northern have had ‘doom on Sunday 17/11’ warnings on NRES for a couple of days.

Sundays have been horrendous on GWR for several weeks now, but they somehow manage to escape media attention.

 

[1D54]

Sundays have been horrendous on GWR for several weeks now, but they somehow manage to escape media attention.

Maybe because they operate a generally decent service Mon - Sat they get a free pass for the Sunday horror shows?