Many apologies if I’ve got this incorrect, but from many other Threads & Posts on staff shortages, am I correct in thinking that weekend working on the railway is voluntary?
This is not correct except for a handful of TOCs that have Sundays voluntary, and even then it is usually only for some of their groups of staff (eg one TOC has Sundays committed for most of its drivers, but voluntary for one group).
Having said that, even where there is an obligation to work Sundays, at most TOCs the obligation does not cover all the Sunday work that needs to be done, and there is still a reliance on volunteers on any given Sunday over and above those that are obliged. At some TOCs this applies to Saturdays too. This is all a legacy from when Sunday service were much less frequent, and in some cases didnt run at all.
This issue always crops up this time of year. Essentially, traincrew have other things to do at weekends in December - shopping, seeing their friends, family, etc… and so there are more people on leave (the quotas at weekends are usually full)
and there are fewer volunteers to cover the gaps.
There are various things TOCs can do to increase availability - postpone non-critical training, defer briefing days, rejig some diagrams, etc. But operators that have the most complex operations, and/or have had large amounts training will be most stretched. Add in the current industrial relations position (which varies locally), and heaving bank accounts due to 3 years’ backpay, et voila.
One answer (there are many answers of course) to the Sunday issue is to get it fully part of the working week, as it is already at many TOCs, but also to have sufficient commitment to cover all the work on Sundays. That will take 2-3 years. But that alone won’t solve all the issues about crew availaibility. Neither will recruitment, although that will have a role, obviously.
