FCC : Another 'worse' Title

[Tom C]

I think this morning says a lot as to the problems FCC face and why they come last in these surveys.

This morning was no fault of FCCs. Network rails Hitchin flyover blockade over ran horribly delaying the first few trains on the GN by up to an hour leading to stock and crews out of position and lots of delays and cancellations through the morning.

FCCs twitter feed was full of rude and ill-informed accusations about how bad FCC is at planning engineering works, how lazy FCCs staff are not to have got the work done overnight etc.

Communication was actually as good as it could have been as quite simply they didn't know when they could start running trains again.

So through no fault of FCCs they have had another day of criticism wrongly aimed at them.

Exactly the same as the fatality at Hornsey last Thursday, with all 4 lines blocked out of Kings Cross and Moorgate for nearly 2 hours, services from Cambridge and Peterborough (two drivers depots, three if you include Kings Lynn) held back as every station had a train in the platform as far back as Welwyn Garden City you can imagine what happened when the lines eventually opened! You had drivers coming to the end of their turns who had to turn around in 12 hours so could physically could not drive anymore so they berthed stock where they could, meaning whole diagrams were cancelled, trains running up to 2 hours late with drivers passing to start a job, trains at Finsbury Park, Hitchin and Hertford North waiting for driving reliefs causing more job stops.

Our drivers were a credit that night, volunteers taking trains out of Finsbury Park to Moorgate and back to clear the platform and give us some time to try and get a relief, drivers at Cambridge taking trains to Lynn and back to give the Fen line a service, taking trains to berthing points to clear the running line.

People never see that side of the operation, if it wasn't for the goodwill of many of our drivers it would have simply grinded to a halt.

 

[455driver]

Our drivers were a credit that night,

People never see that side of the operation, if it wasn't for the goodwill of many of our drivers it would have simply grinded to a halt.

People are not interested in that though are they, all they see is a driver leaving the train not realising the driver is over hours etc and just assume the driver is being an awkward $£%.

Many a time I have gone well over my day to get passengers home (even to the point of watching the sunrise on my way home), do I get a thank you from any of them? Do I hell as like, its personal pride and helping the TCS out!

 

[W230]

People never see that side of the operation, if it wasn't for the goodwill of many of our drivers it would have simply grinded to a halt.

It all goes back to the fact that you simply can't please commuters.

As for Greater Anglia - I travel on them fairly regularly (all over the franchise area) and am generally impressed by the service they provide. They seem to be slowly cleaning and refurbishing units (been on some very shiny 150s around Norwich). I don't remember NXEA doing as much but I certainly have no complaints about GA - keep up the good work!

 

[ChiefPlanner]

People are not interested in that though are they, all they see is a driver leaving the train not realising the driver is over hours etc and just assume the driver is being an awkward $£%.

Many a time I have gone well over my day to get passengers home (even to the point of watching the sunrise on my way home), do I get a thank you from any of them? Do I hell as like, its personal pride and helping the TCS out!

I don't think people / passengers ever realise the complexity of getting out of an operating incident - let alone the rebalancing of stock overnight and the changes to train crew workings (done by the TCS's etc) ....

 

[The Box Photter]

I'm no defender of FCC (being one of its regular commuters); however, it seems that a lot of the time the problems ARE caused by infrastructure faults that are entirely outside its control. This is the fundamental flaw in the way the railways were carved up. I've had plenty of time to speak with FCC staff from platform dispatchers through RPIs and drivers all the way up to management over the last nine years I've commuted into London. Its clear that none of them want to deliver a poor service, but the customer-facing staff aren't really given enough information to pass on to passengers when things go twang.

Most passengers don't understand how the railway works and the issues of out of position stock/drivers. All they see are cancelled and delayed trains when they want to get to/from work.

I know a lot of money has been spent on upgrading the FCC Core infrastructure, but what passengers see are tired-looking trains (when did FCC last wash one of its 377s?) and demoralised staff. Your average passenger crush-loaded onto a St Albans - St Pancras class 319 has no way of noticing the new track or signalling that was put into place over the weekend, and frankly why should he?

There shouldn't be an "us & them" attitude between passengers and rail staff, but sometimes there is a general feeling that TOCs (and some staff) would be happier if they were left alone to run the trains without the bother of carrying passengers. Its a railway service and the emphasis should always be on the "service" part.

 

[W230]

Most passengers don't understand how the railway works and the issues of out of position stock/drivers. All they see are cancelled and delayed trains when they want to get to/from work.

I totally agree with your post - and I think many passengers don't care about how it runs, as long as it does - which is understandable although frustrating because they don't want to hear any explanation.

I was recently accosted by an unhappy passenger on my way to work on a TL service after he spotted the First logo on my uniform. He complained about the delays, high prices, crushing, length of trains...and all I could offer him in return was "yes, I know". He wasn't interested in an explanation and simply wanted to vent his anger.

What I have found since working on the railways is that commuters especially cannot be pleased. The services are just too intense and popular that something is bound to go wrong and when it does everyone gets angrier - I'm sure some of the commuters are going to boil over and go on a mad spree any day now! I'm used to the abuse (which seems quite mellow compared to my previous employment) but I can understand why platform staff get so frustrated and downbeat about dealing with passengers. I really don't think that platform staff get the same level abuse on IC/XC style services.

Interestingly, I always feel that during delays "we're all in it together" with the passengers, they definitely don't feel like that with the staff!