Grand Central Rail- 8 passenger seats closed off

[al78]

I don't know how you derive that - the picture shows at least one passenger seat empty and no-one standing. The question is; is the area closed off for the entirety of every journey, and when it IS packed, what is the reaction of passengers?

The picture shows one vacant space but otherwise very little of the train and its passengers. It is possible there were many people standing behind the photographer but no-one wanted to squeeze into a window seat involving asking someone to move. I frequently use trains where a number of people are standing but there are a small handful of vacant seats, so it could be the case that even if some standing passengers could find a seat, there would still be some standing passengers.

 

[TUC]

Some TOCs do not allow guards to enter the rear cab except in an emergency. Only drivers or those issues with 'rear can passes'.

Then how come conductors on TOCs like Northern spend large amounts of time in rear cabs? They're either suitable or they're not.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 7 Dec 2023 ==

The picture shows one vacant space but otherwise very little of the train and its passengers. It is possible there were many people standing behind the photographer but no-one wanted to squeeze into a window seat involving asking someone to move. I frequently use trains where a number of people are standing but there are a small handful of vacant seats, so it could be the case that even if some standing passengers could find a seat, there would still be some standing passengers.

Regardless of the photo, there are plenty of GC services that are full to standing.

The puzzling aspect is that, as some have pointed out, the cordoned off areas only appeared during Covid. If they are needed for staff breaks, what exactly was done before that time?