On board LNER 1S14 which is delayed between Doncaster & York (06/02)

[wilsontown]

I am referring to dragging otter in service trains around on the diversion - eg between York and Doncaster.

OK, but if you have one loco (or even two) that's not going to make much of a dent in the problem.

 

[800001]

OK, but if you have one loco (or even two) that's not going to make much of a dent in the problem.

But it's going to move some trains which will have 500+ passengers on board!
Every little helps. Saves dumping people onto platforms at York or Doncaster doesn't it?

 

[Seehof]

It would have saved us for being stranded on 1S14 for four and a half hours before we were “rescued” by the rescue train!

 

[Adrian1980uk]

But it's going to move some trains which will have 500+ passengers on board!
Every little helps. Saves dumping people onto platforms at York or Doncaster doesn't it?

This is the problem though, 500 + passengers per a train, it's very difficult to deal with that quantity of people.

Having said that, on the subject of handling disruption, there are good reasons why it seems worse, more trains and passengers to move and total risk aversion within the railway industry. Example of this 30 to 40 years ago passengers might be evacuated onto tracks, never likely now and if absolutely necessary then the tracks would be blocked for miles around.

 

[CarrotPie]

This is the problem though, 500 + passengers per a train, it's very difficult to deal with that quantity of people.

Eh? Not if you wang a Thunderbird on the front of that train and keep it moving. Or am I missing something?

 

[800001]

This is the problem though, 500 + passengers per a train, it's very difficult to deal with that quantity of people.

Having said that, on the subject of handling disruption, there are good reasons why it seems worse, more trains and passengers to move and total risk aversion within the railway industry. Example of this 30 to 40 years ago passengers might be evacuated onto tracks, never likely now and if absolutely necessary then the tracks would be blocked for miles around.

Not sure why you're implying?

By sticking a loco on and dragging a train you are proactively helping those 500+ customers!

 

[35B]

Eh? Not if you wang a Thunderbird on the front of that train and keep it moving. Or am I missing something?

You have to be able to move the incident train - if you're in a dewirement, that isn't always practical. It also won't help that the Thunderbird is 50 miles south of the incident, and therefore has to get around the train.

None of which gets around the issue that the incident itself needs to be dealt with faster.

 

[Seehof]

Luckily, there were only about 200 passengers on the 1S14 (Rescue train manager’s comment).
I think everybody agrees that it should have been dealt with quicker.

 

[Dr Hoo]

It isn't as simple as that, 40 years ago the railway had more staff available at stations than nowadays, be it on the platform or in the booking offices/TEBs, and fewer trains to deal with. Things like train despatch still have to go on in such cases.

At stations like York and Doncaster, there are many other TOC's trains feeding passengers into the system which don't stop doing so when the main line is closed, both those trains and their passengers have to be dealt with at the same time as the disrupted services and so on. Peterborough and Darlington have similar issues to a slightly lesser extent, and even Grantham and Newark do to a much lesser extent.

I am not suggesting for a moment that things are ‘simple’ but it is a basic management responsibility to ensure that current methods are appropriate for times of disruption as well as normal operation. It also needs staff with a customer focus ready to embrace modern technology in assisting passengers rather than simply seeing their tablet as a justification for an extra payment with no will to actually exploit it!

I have already noted that extra trains and increased disruption should logically require more staffing, whether in control, information or ‘platform’ roles.

‘Back in the day’ almost every intending passenger arriving at a station would interact with the booking clerk, barrier staff or both on arrival. Just the moment for a conversation along the lines of, “I see you’re heading for Waterloo. Unfortunately, because of a displaced conductor rail at New Milton all the trains are trapped on the Bournemouth side of it. You may well be delayed by a couple of hours. It may well be worth catching a local service to Fratton and then a train on the Portsmouth line”.

These days a passenger is likely to have their ticket on their phone, breeze through the barriers wearing headphones playing their favourite heavy metal track, oblivious to any screens (other than their phone) and then find themselves on the platform with a thousand other people all wondering where the trains have got to.

It’s hard to deal with that sort of environment.

 

[Mag_seven]

As yesterdays incident is now behind us we will draw this discussion to a close. If anyone wants to discuss how it could have been handled better then they are of course welcome to start a new thread in the Speculative section of the forum.