Railway strike.

[hstmatt]

Hello
Due to being off i wanna go out on the trains but are any companies going on strike or all they all on strike.I havnt heared anything.

 

[northwichcat]

Only Northern Ireland railways are affected by the public sector strikes this week.

 

[Robinson]

National Rail's website says minimal disruption on the trains/stations.

 

[Lampshade]

So privatisation did have a benefit hock:

 

[wintonian]

So privatisation did have a benefit hock:

No because there is bound to be some problem or other somewhere on the ECML.

 

[CosherB]

So privatisation did have a benefit hock:

Yes; others include new trains, vastly improved infrastucture, better staff attitudes (mostly), and a host of other good stuff. Haven't you noticed that rail now carries TWICE as many passengers since it was privatised?

 

[hstmatt]

I just heared that there will be a sunday service going on. I hope this isnt true am hopeing to speed the day at stafford but am only going to see the non stopers.I hope virgin ,xc,and london midland aswell as freight are going.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

How is a Class 90 a tag in this thread?

Anyway, TOCs are running a standard weekday service, so yes there will be freight, XC, VT, LM etc. even if it was a Sunday service there would still be non-stop trains!

 

[Robinson]

Yes; others include new trains

Including those 458s you're such a big fan of

 

[muug1982]

Is london underground operating a normal service as well?

 

[Yew]

Yes; others include new trains, vastly improved infrastucture, better staff attitudes (mostly), and a host of other good stuff. Haven't you noticed that rail now carries TWICE as many passengers since it was privatised?

Unless we could compare how BR would have coped in identical circumstances for the last 20 years, it is unfair and innaccurate to make comparisions like that.

 

[driver9000]

The mainline railways are not involved in Wednesdays strikes. As MattE2010 said - normal service will be operating.

If the mainline railways were involved you would have heard about it by now and National Rail et al would be advising of the mass cancellations.

EDIT: T&W Metro services are cancelled on Wednesday - http://www.nexus.org.uk/news/2011/public-sector-pension-dispute

 

[scotsman]

The railways are not involved in Wednesdays strikes. As MattE2010 said - normal service will be operating.

If the railways were involved you would have heard about it by now and National Rail et al would be advising of the mass cancellations.

EDIT: T&W Metro services are cancelled on Wednesday - http://www.nexus.org.uk/news/2011/public-sector-pension-dispute

The Glasgow Subway is also shut

 

[driver9000]

Thanks Scotsman, I must have missed that one when I did a check of the metro networks websites

I'll amend my original comment to add the word mainline.

 

[andylloyd]

Tyne & Wear metro is suspended along with the shields ferry...

 

[the sniper]

The mainline railways are not involved in Wednesdays strikes. As MattE2010 said - normal service will be operating.

If the mainline railways were involved you would have heard about it by now and National Rail et al would be advising of the mass cancellations.

If the RMT and ASLEF had been involved, it'd have made the striking of most other workers (i.e. Job Centre staff) look pretty insignificant. And I'm saying that as someone who isn't a member of either of them.

To those who know more on this subject than me, would I be right in saying that the complexities of the railway pension system and the power that the RMT & ASLEF hold are the main reasons why the railway pension scheme is pretty secure? Even a fight that is too big to pick?

 

[RichmondCommu]

Unless we could compare how BR would have coped in identical circumstances for the last 20 years, it is unfair and innaccurate to make comparisions like that.

BR customer service was quite frankly awful. Many years a go, a BR guard tried to prevent me from entering first class because I looked scruffy! After I showed him my valid first class ticket he just mumbled and marched off. This would never happen with the likes of Virgin and East Midlands Trains. That has nothing to do with money and everything to do with standards.

 

[Legzr1]

So privatisation did have a benefit hock:

If you consider adding a few more millions into the coffers of a few CEO's at the expense of the tax payer and the handing over of the vast majority of freight-by-rail to European concerns then,yes - massive benefits (to one or two).

BR,after years of under-investment would have been far,far worse apparently.

 

[Bald Rick]

If the RMT and ASLEF had been involved, it'd have made the striking of most other workers (i.e. Job Centre staff) look pretty insignificant. And I'm saying that as someone who isn't a member of either of them.

To those who know more on this subject than me, would I be right in saying that the complexities of the railway pension system and the power that the RMT & ASLEF hold are the main reasons why the railway pension scheme is pretty secure? Even a fight that is too big to pick?

The railway pension schemes are pretty well funded, principally because those of us who are in it and our employers have been paying significant chunks of our salary (in my case almost 12% by me, another 17% by my employer) in to it for the best part of a decade. The railway unions have been pretty pragmatic about the realities of the pension situation throughout, unlike the public service unions.

 

[northwichcat]

The Merseytravel owned Mersey Tunnels will be closed because of the strikes. I wonder if Merseyrail will be able to cope.

 

[Oswyntail]

BR customer service was quite frankly awful. Many years a go, a BR guard tried to prevent me from entering first class because I looked scruffy! After I showed him my valid first class ticket he just mumbled and marched off. This would never happen with the likes of Virgin and East Midlands Trains. That has nothing to do with money and everything to do with standards.

Ah, you must have missed the (approx) 17,000 threads about this sort of thing today. The simple truth is that there is no way we can legitimately say one way or another about how BR would have performed. Simply that more public money has been spent and we have a more modern and used rail system for it

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Just watched the BBC 0600 News. RMT members are on strike on the Metro in the North East as their pensions were transferred, but I missed most of this piece. Can anyone clarify?

Also, cable theft in the area was mentioned, as a footnote.

 

[Smudger105e]

The railway pension schemes are pretty well funded, principally because those of us who are in it and our employers have been paying significant chunks of our salary (in my case almost 12% by me, another 17% by my employer) in to it for the best part of a decade. The railway unions have been pretty pragmatic about the realities of the pension situation throughout, unlike the public service unions.

My section of the Joint Industry (Pension) Scheme is not in such a good state, and the Company are apparently negotiating with the Trades Unions as to how the shortfall can be addressed. And this after the Company took a pensions holiday for several years, and paid nothing into the scheme.