Engineering possessions

[telstarbox]

When working in a possession, how do the engineering staff get to site? Do they always walk along the track from the nearest station or road access point or are they ever "dropped off" by a train in passenger service?

 

[pdeaves]

When working in a possession, how do the engineering staff get to site? Do they always walk along the track from the nearest station or road access point or are they ever "dropped off" by a train in passenger service?

Usually they drive to the appropriate access point. It's very rare to be dropped off from a passenger train (not least because the line will likely be closed to allow the work to take place!).

 

[najaB]

They could also do the NR version of Arriving Awesome...

 

[GB]

Usually they drive to the appropriate access point. It's very rare to be dropped off from a passenger train (not least because the line will likely be closed to allow the work to take place!).

It's is quite rare but can happen. I was on a job a couple of years ago and the worksite had the main lines under possession and electric lines open to traffic. Instead of walking two miles up the track to the worksite I just hopped on a metro service and got off at the nearest station which just happened to be within spitting distance of where I needed to be.

But in general, go to the main site access and sign in and either walk or drive yourself to where you need to go. A lot of sites also have dedicated minibus transport so you don't have to worry about finding somewhere to park.

 

[lincolnshire]

When working in a possession, how do the engineering staff get to site? Do they always walk along the track from the nearest station or road access point or are they ever "dropped off" by a train in passenger service?

They would need at train ticket to travel on the train and it would cost full price too.

As trains are nothing to do with Network Rail , they just run on there tracks.

Also there would be all the H & S crap about getting off the train etc, the days of hitch a lift on a train and getting off at site have gone now.

I did once get off the train I was travelling home on with my cycle and repaired the bridge and then finished off cycling home the rest of the way. Them days have gone and to never return.

 

[tsr]

They would need at train ticket to travel on the train and it would cost full price too.

As trains are nothing to do with Network Rail , they just run on there tracks.

Also there would be all the H & S crap about getting off the train etc, the days of hitch a lift on a train and getting off at site have gone now.

I did once get off the train I was travelling home on with my cycle and repaired the bridge and then finished off cycling home the rest of the way. Them days have gone and to never return.

Local Network Rail teams regularly travel by train in my area and I can't say I've ever heard of them being charged for travel... so long as it's connected with their duties, there is basically an unspoken rule that they can travel anywhere they need to.

For pilotmen, p-way examining track defects, S&T looking for causes of equipment problems and so on, use of train cabs and alighting at intermediate points between stations or access points is also a fairly regular occurrence. There remains a substantial amount of goodwill on the railway when it comes to helping out the frontline workforce in ways like this.

As for cycling, now that probably isn't done much...

 

[Darbs]

When I worked on the PWay we would mainly walk from the access! A rare treat was a 360 with a man cage. But very cold in winter! I used to use trains to travel to faults. So much quicker than driving, especially in Friday afternoon holiday traffic. If it was something simple like a TSR board misssing I would ask the driver to stop, jump out and fix it and jump back on. Minimal delay to trains and a quick fault fix. Could usually get a free coffee after form the buffet! But yes technically we should have a valid ticket to travel on the train, bit usually common sense prevails! Much better than trudging up the track on a dark wet night after being called out of bed! So glad I work indoors now!

 

[furnessvale]

They would need at train ticket to travel on the train and it would cost full price too.

As trains are nothing to do with Network Rail , they just run on there tracks.

Also there would be all the H & S crap about getting off the train etc, the days of hitch a lift on a train and getting off at site have gone now.

I did once get off the train I was travelling home on with my cycle and repaired the bridge and then finished off cycling home the rest of the way. Them days have gone and to never return.

Happy days of visiting the nearest signal box and finding a passing light engine (often steam) to either take you to site or back.

 

[Ploughman]

For us on relay work it was usually park up at the access point and walk to the site.
With all your own kit including levels, tripods, lasers and gauges dependant on what you were doing.
Usually managed to get the heavy gear into a digger bucket or on a trailer.
A very rare treat was some form of shuttle with a manrider or road rail crewbus last used by me in Morley tunnel a number of years back.

 

[CdBrux]

Whilst travelling on Friday evening just south of Rotterdam I noticed on an adjacent line, or possibly lines, a couple of engineering trains, brightly lit and with people clearly working on the lines. Would this happen in UK?

 

[Darbs]

Yes we will quite often work with adjacent lines open to traffic. Especially at large stations where it's not possible to shut it all down. (Even though they should as there is lots of work to be done!)

 

[Ships]

Even with a cab pass you're technically supposed to have a valid ticket. To get to renewals sites or where we've been surveying I've always had to walk, I've always wanted to use a gator but never had the chance. The best shifts were with the tamper as you'd meet it at an acces, get on, ride to the work site, do your bit and hop off. When I first started I had a misunderstanding with one of the techs and ended up being left the Dore side of Totley whilst the tamper trundled to the other end.

 

[Darbs]

Gator?! Brings back memories of patrolling box to st Anne's on one every Saturday night, bloody freezing!

 

[alxndr]

Drive to the nearest access and walk. Generally access points are within reasonable walking distance, although everything seems twice as far on ballast, and you always seem to be going somewhere in the middle of nowhere. It's where someone's upset a grumpy neighbour and got us banned that there's issues. Sometimes we'll split up, with two walking through and a third driving around to the next access to save walking there and back, depending on the job.

Big jobs sometimes have man mover RRVs, but us S&T are never lucky enough for that.

 

[Trog]

Myself and a colleague once went to a site with a particularly grumpy PWSS, who could not be bothered to wait for a couple of minutes while we marked up, and had his driver take him back to his office. Leaving the two of us with a three mile walk down the WCML to the nearest station in a blizzard, including walking through a tunnel when we did not have any lights.