RMT dispute on Merseyrail

[PR1Berske]

Latest strike called for Saturday 3rd March the day Liverpool are at home to Newcastle the strike coincides with northern rail

East Midlands trains are going to be busy between Liverpool and Manchester, then!

 

[LowLevel]

I think the most important thing is what level of staffing will there be and what level of training and refreshers staff will get, opposed to will there be a guard who will close the doors at every station. There was an incident at Manchester Piccadilly platform 13 or 14 where a wheelchair passenger got injured because a guard didn't perform the procedure of off loading correctly, if someone's not trained properly or forgets what to do then it's a safety issue whether they are a guard or contracted security personnel.

Apart from the initial furore in the press nothing else was heard about that incident was it. I wonder why (actually, I don't wonder, I know why). Always be wary of taking such incidents at face value.

 

[northwichcat]

East Midlands trains are going to be busy between Liverpool and Manchester, then!

Why? The direct Newcastle-Liverpool services are operated by TPE, while most Liverpool-Manchester passengers use the TPE and EMT services on a normal day. Some Liverpool passengers even arrive in time for the Northern semi-fast via Newton-le-Willows but wait for the following TPE service.

 

[Kite159]

East Midlands trains are going to be busy between Liverpool and Manchester, then!

I was thinking the direct TPE services from Newcastle to Liverpool will be busier, as well as the Scarborough - Liverpool services from York. Hopefully TPE will see fit to put on some double units.

The football buses diverted to Lime Street rather than Sandhills to cater for the fans?

 

[northwichcat]

Apart from the initial furore in the press nothing else was heard about that incident was it. I wonder why (actually, I don't wonder, I know why). Always be wary of taking such incidents at face value.

A lot of the people who go to the press appear to have already contacted the TOC involved and not received a satisfactory response or have waited a long while and had no response at all. It might have been a prompter or better response from EMT would have kept the matter internal. Unless you personally know the guard you can't say it was a 'non issue', for all you know the guard might have been disciplined internally for not following correct procedures.

 

[LowLevel]

A lot of the people who go to the press appear to have already contacted the TOC involved and not received a satisfactory response or have waited a long while and had no response at all. It might have been a prompter or better response from EMT would have kept the matter internal. Unless you personally know the guard you can't say it was a 'non issue', for all you know the guard might have been disciplined internally for not following correct procedures.

As my other posts have probably suggested over the years I've been a guard myself for a while now and yes, I do know the guard in question (no, it wasn't me, and no, as far as I recall he wasn't disciplined over the incident though as you would expect it was of course investigated). I don't know the ins and outs of what the man claimed regarding the CCTV but all EMT trains except the HSTs are fitted throughout so the managers would have had a perfectly good view of what was occurring.

 

[greyman42]

I was thinking the direct TPE services from Newcastle to Liverpool will be busier, as well as the Scarborough - Liverpool services from York. Hopefully TPE will see fit to put on some double units.

The football buses diverted to Lime Street rather than Sandhills to cater for the fans?

They never see fit to double up on other occasions when it's busy so I doubt they will on this one.

 

[northwichcat]

As my other posts have probably suggested over the years I've been a guard myself for a while now and yes, I do know the guard in question (no, it wasn't me, and no, as far as I recall he wasn't disciplined over the incident though as you would expect it was of course investigated). I don't know the ins and outs of what the man claimed regarding the CCTV but all EMT trains except the HSTs are fitted throughout so the managers would have had a perfectly good view of what was occurring.

In any case 99% of the time it's not appropriate for the TOC to tell the media the outcome of an internal investigation, so very few people actually know exactly what happened.

 

[northwichcat]

Regarding the strike and the Liverpool game I think the biggest issue will be getting football fans from the city centre to the ground. If Merseyrail aren't running services to Sandhills then whoever runs Soccerbus now will have spare vehicles and normal routes between the city centre and the Anfield area will be very busy.

I notice the RMT are now pointing the figure at Theresa May for the strikes.

 

[footprints]

I suppose that may be a way to get the blue half of the city on the union's side.

But might it just possibly alienate the other half?

No doubt racegoers will be next to be targeted when strike action is called to coincide with two or three days of the Grand National festival. Can't imagine they'll only strike on the Saturday this year.

 

[ivanhoe]

Regarding the strike and the Liverpool game I think the biggest issue will be getting football fans from the city centre to the ground. If Merseyrail aren't running services to Sandhills then whoever runs Soccerbus now will have spare vehicles and normal routes between the city centre and the Anfield area will be very busy.

I notice the RMT are now pointing the figure at Theresa May for the strikes.

Most fans who use public transport from City Centre to Ground will use the Stagecoach buses from St Johns Lane. It’s quicker than using Merseyrail plus soccerbus in my experience.

 

[6Gman]

No doubt racegoers will be next to be targeted when strike action is called to coincide with two or three days of the Grand National festival. Can't imagine they'll only strike on the Saturday this year.

Probably.

Will cause me inconvenience but fully support the need to retain safety-trained onboard staff so will just have to keep smiling!

 

[Bletchleyite]

It didn’t really inconvenience racegoers. They got a better almost dedicated service than usual.

 

[greyman42]

How so ?

 

[prod_pep]

It didn’t really inconvenience racegoers. They got a better almost dedicated service than usual.

Hardly. Any racegoer who would have used other Merseyrail lines to reach their destination would have been considerably inconvenienced. For example, the Southport trains are mainly 6 cars on the Saturday in normal practice and even these leave people behind at times, such are the loadings. The skeleton service on other lines (only 5 departures to Southport in the evening and nothing at all to some other outposts) obviously was a major inconvenience.

Nor was the dedicated Aintree service better. The 7.5 minute interval during the busy periods is normal throughout the Grand National event.

 

[footprints]

It didn’t really inconvenience racegoers. They got a better almost dedicated service than usual.

Striking on Ladies Day (or both Thursday and Friday) this year would cause Merseyrail a much bigger headache I imagine. Hard to see how they could offer much of a commuter service while running a sufficiently robust shuttle to/from Aintree.

 

[PR1Berske]

Probably.

Will cause me inconvenience but fully support the need to retain safety-trained onboard staff so will just have to keep smiling!

Not to rake over old coals, but for bow long are you willing to smile?

 

[Ianigsy]

Regarding the strike and the Liverpool game I think the biggest issue will be getting football fans from the city centre to the ground. If Merseyrail aren't running services to Sandhills then whoever runs Soccerbus now will have spare vehicles and normal routes between the city centre and the Anfield area will be very busy.

As has been pointed out, fans from the local area will have plenty of service buses to choose from (my dad's preferred route to Anfield was always the Sheil Road Circular) while any Geordies arriving by train will probably just take a taxi from Lime Street. I doubt many visiting fans use the Soccerbus - to use it after arriving at Lime Street, you have to take a Wirral Line train to Central then a Northern Line train to Sandhills.

If there's a group of you it's probably easier and no more expensive to get a taxi and most of the cab drivers in Liverpool can probably fit in at least two return trips between Anfield and the city centre either side of a game.

 

[Andyh82]

Are they really specifically targeting the Liverpool Newcastle game, because don’t either Liverpool or Everton host big premier league games every other week?

If it was either club vs either Manchester club that would surely be more obvious.

 

[Carlisle]

Are they really specifically targeting the Liverpool Newcastle game, because don’t either Liverpool or Everton host big premier league games every other week?

If it was either club vs either Manchester club that would surely be more obvious.

As stated earlier, the strike date’s probably more about keeping the dispute rolling than targeting of a particular event.

 

[fowler9]

As has been pointed out, fans from the local area will have plenty of service buses to choose from (my dad's preferred route to Anfield was always the Sheil Road Circular) while any Geordies arriving by train will probably just take a taxi from Lime Street. I doubt many visiting fans use the Soccerbus - to use it after arriving at Lime Street, you have to take a Wirral Line train to Central then a Northern Line train to Sandhills.

If there's a group of you it's probably easier and no more expensive to get a taxi and most of the cab drivers in Liverpool can probably fit in at least two return trips between Anfield and the city centre either side of a game.

I doubt they would get a train to Central and then one to Sandhills to get the Soccerbus when you can cross the road outside Lime Street down to St Johns Lane (5 mins max) and join the big queue of buses that goes from there direct to the ground. There are also cabs that go from there who will accept individuals willing to share the fare with strangers. Not much difference in price from the bus.

 

[AntoniC]

Or if your a wool like me and my dad , on a non strike day its Southport to Sandhills change Sandhills for the Soccerbus (return), on a strike day drive to Sandhills & park (loads of free spaces round the station) Soccerbus (return) and the cost to both us is ..... £nothing because he has a pensioners pass and I have an annual allzones Trio.
I still support the strikes !

 

[AntoniC]

Double post

 

[AntoniC]

Triple post

 

[AlterEgo]

I work on the railway.
I speak to other grades and listen to what they say and what's happening in the real world.
And it's not what a small minority of people who live in internet forum lala land say.
That's MY evidence, take it of leave it but I really don't care

The travelling public do not, by and large, give a toss.

It’s almost humorous for you to claim to know exactly what’s happening “in the real world” by talking to the mess room bubble.

The real world is a lot bigger and more diverse than a mess room.

Even this forum is a lot bigger and more diverse than a mess room.

 

[northwichcat]

As has been pointed out, fans from the local area will have plenty of service buses to choose from (my dad's preferred route to Anfield was always the Sheil Road Circular) while any Geordies arriving by train will probably just take a taxi from Lime Street. I doubt many visiting fans use the Soccerbus - to use it after arriving at Lime Street, you have to take a Wirral Line train to Central then a Northern Line train to Sandhills.

If there's a group of you it's probably easier and no more expensive to get a taxi and most of the cab drivers in Liverpool can probably fit in at least two return trips between Anfield and the city centre either side of a game.

The question isn't whether there are alternative bus services, the question is whether the alternative bus services will have enough capacity.

 

[danbarnstall]

Are they really specifically targeting the Liverpool Newcastle game, because don’t either Liverpool or Everton host big premier league games every other week?

If it was either club vs either Manchester club that would surely be more obvious.

I don’t think it’s specifically to target the football.

I’m a daily commuter who last strike was hit 3 times in a week. I support the strikes but that was a tough week, I work until mid evening so the 7pm finish of services hit me hard. Maybe this weekend strike is to give commuters like myself a break?.

 

[northwichcat]

I’m a daily commuter who last strike was hit 3 times in a week. I support the strikes but that was a tough week, I work until mid evening so the 7pm finish of services hit me hard. Maybe this weekend strike is to give commuters like myself a break?.

I think a Saturday strike will hit revenue more. Most regular commuters have season tickets and they only get refunds if they can't travel, not if they have to leave home 60 minutes earlier and get home 30 minutes later due to a revised timetable. On Saturday most people travel on return tickets so if the reduced timetable puts them off travelling then the TOC doesn't get the revenue.

 

[Ianigsy]

The question isn't whether there are alternative bus services, the question is whether the alternative bus services will have enough capacity.

I meant to add that along with several hundred other Kopites, my dad's preferred way back into Liverpool was completely different- walk down to Scotland Road and pick a bus up there.

 

[fowler9]

I meant to add that along with several hundred other Kopites, my dad's preferred way back into Liverpool was completely different- walk down to Scotland Road and pick a bus up there.

Good shout. Once after the game I walked all the way down to Bank hall to get a train to Seaforth where a friend was living at the time. Much quicker than waiting for the crowds and traffic to clear so the Soccerbus could get through. (This plan is of course completely useless with there being a strike on).

 

[PR1Berske]

Spotted at Chester station today