Rail replacement bus services

[railwaytrack]

Can anyone explain how rail replacement buses work?

I always thought it would just be large companies with plenty of buses that would be given contracts to operate them. But on lots of occasions there have been small independent bus operators that have just one vehicle out in a big rail replacement operation. This has very much surprised me that the train companies would be interested in a small company that can only provide one vehicle instead using operators that have large amount of vehicles available. Additionally on a few occasions i have seen preserved buses out in use on rail replacement services. This has really surprised me that preserved buses would be used and makes me wonder if they just accept any small company or person with a bus.

So out of interest what is the process for running rail replacement buses? Can anyone or any bus operator simply just apply to the train company to run rail replacement buses? Does the train company advertise for bus operators before any engineering works happen? Or do bus operators sign up and get added to a list and then get contacted every time they need rail replacement buses?

I would be curious to know more about the logistics and operations of rail replacement buses and how they work and how the operators get chosen?

 

[306024]

There will be variations on how different TOCs do this but in principle the whole timetable plan will be worked out by the TOC train planners. The bus timetable is then given to whoever in the TOC is responsible for bus procurement. They will specify how many buses / coaches are needed for each trip, based on commercial knowledge of the loadings.

Each TOC will have a list of approved bus suppliers, you can’t just have any old company lobby for the work. Safety alone dictates that. They may chose just one supplier if they have sufficient suitable vehicles, or multiple operators, or contract with a lead supplier who will sub contract with other approved suppliers. That’s sometimes where the unusual vehicles appear from.

Quality v Cost is a consideration when choosing the operator and type of vehicle, as are the driving regulations for different vehicles. Geographical considerations are important too. Low bridges, narrow station entrances, country lanes etc all affect what vehicles can be used, as do accessibility regulations. The bus supplier will schedule the vehicles and drivers duties, and usually supply bus controllers on the day where the TOC doesn’t have their own.

There’s quite a bit more to it, and as said there will be different approaches, but as one of my earliest jobs was planning rail replacement services that’s the basic process.

 

[Flange Squeal]

While some TOCs have/had in-house teams, many parent groups now have their own subsidiary who arranges vehicles for events, rail replacement, etc. First have ‘First Travel Solutions’ (formerly First Rail Support), Abellio have Abellio Rail Replacement, Arriva have ‘Arriva Road Transport Services’, and so on. If you click these links, you’ll find most have a part somewhere on the website where interested operators can apply to become one of their suppliers, subject to meeting each one’s criteria.

Depending on the size and scale of a closure, particularly on the mainlines and suburban routes around London and other large cities, it’s unlikely one operator may even be able to provide enough resource. TfL I believe contract out to someone like Ensignbus, Sullivan Buses and the like, who may if needed subcontract individual diagrams out to other trusted operators to fill in gaps they can’t cover. Im not sure that happens so much with the above organisations though?

Smaller, more flexible operators may also be able to offer things more cost effectively than big groups (some shift lengths they’ll do with one driver probably fall well out of scope of some of the big group’s trade union agreements on shifts, for example, so would require two drivers). Then there’s the availability of suitable vehicles, drivers, where operators are geographically in relation to the works that adds dead mileage on top of the actual work and additional fuel/driver costs, etc.

The more operators they have on their books, the better chance of getting short notice vehicles when something happens outside of engineering work scenarios and buses are required ASAP too. For example a line blocked due to signalling meltdown, landslip, failed train, etc. If a train company put all their eggs in one basket, they might get one or two buses if they’re lucky, as drivers due at work will be doing whatever their normal work is. Maybe a spare driver or supervisor with licence about who could attend. But with a large list of suppliers, they will probably be able to get one or two vehicles from a few different suppliers at short notice, vastly increasing the numbers of vehicles they can get in place in an emergency.

 

[carlberry]

There are two different types of rail replacement, the pre-planned ones for engineering and the last minute ones because of, usually, outside events. I suspect the processes around the last minute ones are more open to getting any operator with anything that moves at the time and, equally, the rates available may reflect this. A lot of the operators that do rail replacement work, especially around London, have a number of vehicles that people might classify as 'preserved' (or are even described as such) however as long as they're still tested and maintained as a PSV then they're able to be used and that helps justify their retention. They tend to be used as the 'crowd shifters' with other vehicles available to cover the need for accessibility as, I believe, rail replacement work still allows flexibility for this.

 

[Qwerty133]

There are two different types of rail replacement, the pre-planned ones for engineering and the last minute ones because of, usually, outside events. I suspect the processes around the last minute ones are more open to getting any operator with anything that moves at the time and, equally, the rates available may reflect this. A lot of the operators that do rail replacement work, especially around London, have a number of vehicles that people might classify as 'preserved' (or are even described as such) however as long as they're still tested and maintained as a PSV then they're able to be used and that helps justify their retention. They tend to be used as the 'crowd shifters' with other vehicles available to cover the need for accessibility as, I believe, rail replacement work still allows flexibility for this.

On the accesibility side of things we are also now beginning to see the preservation of buses that were built or subsequently modified to comply with the current regulations so it won't be long until the majority of semi-preserved buses that remain on the edge of operational fleets will be in complience with the requirements.

 

[Jim Jehosofat]

There used to be a company that had a coach parked at Ely station. Quite frequently the station staff would ring George the driver and he would be there in less than ten minutes and the coach on the road towards Norwich in around 15 minutes. I also think that at one time I managed a trip in every taxi that used Ely station. Good old Central Trains!

 

[busken]

Possibly it works the same way as in road haulage. A company will have a contract with the rail operator to provide a bus service, and will then call in vehicles from other companies if required ie. sub contracting. Rail operator only deals with, and pays the first company who then pays all the others.