Overnight strandings - how should these be handled?

[Bletchleyite]

In light of the Lancaster thread I think aside from the RAIB speculative thread we should also consider how the railway could improve in cases like this.

A few suggestions:

1. Traincrew should have "voucher" books and stamps that they can issue to confirm that, up to sums stated on the piece of paper, the passenger in receipt of it is guaranteed to be paid for hotel accommodation or a taxi if they are in a position to obtain one themselves as many will be (and will prefer assuming they can be sure of getting it back).
2. Sufficient managers should be on call to ensure that within a short period of knowing of an issue they can be on site (with security assistance if required) to directly address the situation, even if it is simply to provide prompt and accurate communication.
3. Emergency plans should be in place to allow said managers access to keys to station buildings and the authority to keep them open overnight so people are not turfed out on the street, particularly not in major cities - this is a real risk of physical harm, be that from miscreants or hypothermia.
4. TOC apps and third party retail sites and the way these are interfaced with should be improved such that better communication can be given that way, as e.g. easyJet does to quite good effect. And traincrew mobile devices should be interfaced into the same thing.

As a whole - communicate better - but also consider that a Safeguarding duty not to dump people in city centres at night is almost as important as not to crash trains.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

This may seem an outrageous suggestion but in my haulage days I tried to arrange things so I was always overnight on a train not a station. So in a situation such as occurred try to keep people on trains. Warm, plenty of people about and relatively safe.

 

[Bletchleyite]

This may seem an outrageous suggestion but in my haulage days I tried to arrange things so I was always overnight on a train not a station. So in a situation such as occurred try to keep people on trains. Warm, plenty of people about and relatively safe.

Presumably the challenge with this is needing traincrew to be allowed to do so. However Caledonian Sleeper have been known to do it, and I think Deutsche Bahn have done before too.

 

[signed]

Rail passenger rights are a pity when compared to the air passenger rights.

In an ideal world, you would have (EU/UK/TR)261 apply to any mean of transport beit airlines, trains or coaches.

Sure, no compensation would be offered because it is Exceptional circumstances, but the part about reaching the destination would still be valid

There needs to be somewhat clear rules for those cases, like on the airline side

If there are no more onward coaches or taxis for a train this late, and no way to keep people in the train, there needs to be provisions for hotels and meals for the first train in the morning down.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I think the "if it reasonably can" clause needs removing from the NRCoT, such that any TOC that physically can assist is required to do so, for instance.

The wording should be stronger, e.g. "unless it cannot do so because there is no available hotel accommodation within a useful distance and no taxis of any kind are available". Similarly with ticket acceptance - the only grounds for refusal (even if they send the bill to the disrupted TOC) should be that to give the acceptance would result in trains being so busy that other passengers would be unable to board.

Another thought I've had on this is that there should be a form of non-optional insurance sold with train tickets which gives specific rights and has its own call centre etc. It's always better when rights are clearly spelled out.

 

[signed]

Deciders never want clear terms, especially in a commercial setting sadly

 

[Falcon1200]

If a reason that the trains severely delayed by the Lancaster incident could not run to destination was engineers possessions, only; ie Traincrew provision was not an issue, I believe that passenger safety should take precedence, and people should not be stranded at intermediate locations with little or no hope of either onward transport or safe accommodation. If the engineering work has to be rescheduled.... so be it.

Some years ago now, at Xmas/New Year time, there was a major blockage on the West Coast Main Line in Scotland to replace a bridge, and it had been impressed on all concerned that the job must start on time, otherwise it would overrun. Then, of course, severe weather intervened and the station roof at Preston was damaged by high winds, resulting in the last Euston-Glasgow service running several hours late. It was left to Control (me!) to tell Virgin that the train would have to terminate at Carlisle, however it proved utterly impossible for them to arrange either transport or accommodation for the passengers. Therefore, with the support of National Control in London, the possession was held off for the train to run through; Virgin assisted by diesel hauling the train from Carlisle, allowing the overhead line isolation and removal to start on time.

And the possession? Given up on time!

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Hopefully under GBR there will be no inter-TOC nonsense and route knowledge will come back. Ther must have been some way to attach a Thunderbird and drag the train over another route back to Preston. There are more hotels, options, waiting rooms etc at Preston.