Staffing on the Stourbridge Town line.

[Gathursty]

I tried the Stourbridge Town line for the first time yesterday to have a go on the Parry People Mover. I thought that having a conductor on the train was a bit too much (given it's a 3 minute journey) but my question is what is the shift diagram for people working this line? It must drive you potty if you do it 5 days a week.

Mods - Not sure which is the appropriate sub-forum for this!

 

[6Gman]

I tried the Stourbridge Town line for the first time yesterday to have a go on the Parry People Mover. I thought that having a conductor on the train was a bit too much (given it's a 3 minute journey) but my question is what is the shift diagram for people working this line? It must drive you potty if you do it 5 days a week.

Mods - Not sure which is the appropriate sub-forum for this!

I used to do the diagrams for the branch and, yes, staff could do 3 hours at a time (God knows how many individual journeys).

But even more tedious was the work we had to do at Bank Holidays where odd 'main line' trains didn't run, and the relevant connection would then be cancelled. BUT the return was usually still needed, so it was simply a case of converting the unit diagram (and the driver's diagram and the guard's diagram!) to show a Class 5 EDMU instead of a Class 2!

I sincerely hope that the staff on the ground ignored it and just ran as normal!

 

[dvboy]

I think it's crazy too given the number of times they've bothered to check my tickets.

0.

 

[Qwerty133]

I tried the Stourbridge Town line for the first time yesterday to have a go on the Parry People Mover. I thought that having a conductor on the train was a bit too much (given it's a 3 minute journey) but my question is what is the shift diagram for people working this line? It must drive you potty if you do it 5 days a week.

Mods - Not sure which is the appropriate sub-forum for this!

its ran by a separate company on behalf of london midland IIRC so presumably has its own drivers.

 

[telstarbox]

Are you sure about that?

 

[SS4]

I think it's crazy too given the number of times they've bothered to check my tickets.

0.

I've done it twice and had my ticket checked twice, once on a Daytripper and once on a Great Escape

 

[transportphoto]

its ran by a separate company on behalf of london midland IIRC so presumably has its own drivers.

Are you sure about that?

It's operated by Pre Metro Operations Ltd subcontracted from LM.

TP

 

[50010 Monarch]

Is it true that the staff on the Stourbridge Parry People Mover cannot actually issue tickets?

 

[transportphoto]

Is it true that the staff on the Stourbridge Parry People Mover cannot actually issue tickets?

It is true. Both 'Junction and 'Town are staffed stations though.

TP

 

[Searle]

I've always wondered what would happen if they got a train load of people with no tickets. Would they make them do three trips on it until they had written out all the penalty fares/UPFNs?

 

[Mojo]

I think someone said that the PMOL staff that operate this service are multi-skilled in that they can either act as driver or guard. Is this true?

 

[transportphoto]

I think someone said that the PMOL staff that operate this service are multi-skilled in that they can either act as driver or guard. Is this true?

In the few journeys I've made on the line, I've seen the swap happen twice IIRC, so yes, I believe this to be true.

TP

 

[Searle]

I think someone said that the PMOL staff that operate this service are multi-skilled in that they can either act as driver or guard. Is this true?

Yep, I've seen them swap around a couple of times

 

[Goatboy]

I'm not entirely sure I understand why such a tiny little unit requires a guard anyway?

If a bus doesn't need a guard why does a Parry People Mover? It would seem a massive waste of money for such a tiny little vehicle with a single door to be crewed by 2!

 

[edwin_m]

I doubt the Parry vehicle has anything that the railway would accept as a "deadman" control, so if the driver was incapacitated it is quite likely to carry on until it hit the stops at the end of the line. This could be quite serious as it's (quite intentionally) not built to any sort of railway structural standard either.

If there is a second member of staff then they have a good chance of stopping the vehicle before this happens. And the costs are still less than the previous situation where the service was operated by a class 153, also requiring two crew members probably paid rather more than these are. Not to mention that the 153 would cost a lot more in fuel and its annual leasing cost is probably not far off the price for outright purchase of a Parry vehicle. So even with this apparently excessive staffing it is still saving London Midland quite a lot of money.

 

[Searle]

Considering there are no ticket gates at either the Junction or Town, and you can easily see that there's not a guard before boarding, I think fare evasion would be incredibly high if there wasn't one

 

[dooton]

I doubt the Parry vehicle has anything that the railway would accept as a "deadman" control, so if the driver was incapacitated it is quite likely to carry on until it hit the stops at the end of the line. This could be quite serious as it's (quite intentionally) not built to any sort of railway structural standard either.

If there is a second member of staff then they have a good chance of stopping the vehicle before this happens. And the costs are still less than the previous situation where the service was operated by a class 153, also requiring two crew members probably paid rather more than these are. Not to mention that the 153 would cost a lot more in fuel and its annual leasing cost is probably not far off the price for outright purchase of a Parry vehicle. So even with this apparently excessive staffing it is still saving London Midland quite a lot of money.

There are emergency stop buttons on the ceiling, with instructions for passengers. I'm not against the dual crew, especially for security reasons later on at night. Reassuring to have a friend/colleague next to you if things go south.

 

[edwin_m]

The emergency stop buttons would probably be the quickest means for the conductor to stop the vehicle if they became aware the driver was incapacitated. However it's not the same thing as having a system that does this automatically if the driver fails to respond. I can't be sure but from dealings with Parrys some years ago I would expect them not to try to provide this sort of system to comply with railway standards.

I'm not trying to suggest that this is the wrong approach for Stourbridge. The idea of ultra-light rail is to get rid of some of the expensive systems and standards which are probably not appropriate on the routes it is intended for.

 

[gordonthemoron]

is there a timetable? can't find one on the LM website

 

[David Burrows]

is there a timetable? can't find one on the LM website

Below is the link to the page on th eNR website

http://www.networkrail.co.uk/browse documents/eNRT/Dec12/timetables/Table 072.pdf

 

[sprinterguy]

I think it's crazy too given the number of times they've bothered to check my tickets.

0.

That's unusual, as I have had reason to use the Stourbridge Town shuttle several times and I have had my ticket/pass checked each and every time.

 

[Lockwood]

This could be quite serious as it's (quite intentionally) not built to any sort of railway structural standard either.

How did it get type approval/ORR approval/whatever box ticked to run?

 

[Lrd]

How did it get type approval/ORR approval/whatever box ticked to run?

They are locked in on the branch and not permitted on to the mainline so they must have exemptions to allow them to run.

 

[tbtc]

the costs are still less than the previous situation where the service was operated by a class 153, also requiring two crew members probably paid rather more than these are. Not to mention that the 153 would cost a lot more in fuel and its annual leasing cost is probably not far off the price for outright purchase of a Parry vehicle. So even with this apparently excessive staffing it is still saving London Midland quite a lot of money.

Except that it requires two trains so that there's a spare (that is dedicated to the Stourbridge line).

When the branch was 153 operated, there was presumably only one DMU allocated to it each day, so it was more efficient use of stock.

 

[edwin_m]

But even with two trains it's still a lot cheaper than the 153. The leasing costs they have saved so far should have paid for both vehicles and the little maintenance shed too.

 

[BlythPower]

Is Thursday still the changeover day for the two PPMs?

 

[Mutant Lemming]

I tried the Stourbridge Town line for the first time yesterday to have a go on the Parry People Mover. I thought that having a conductor on the train was a bit too much (given it's a 3 minute journey) but my question is what is the shift diagram for people working this line? It must drive you potty if you do it 5 days a week.

Mods - Not sure which is the appropriate sub-forum for this!

I doubt it could be as tedious as the Aldwych shuttle was.

 

[dooton]

Is Thursday still the changeover day for the two PPMs?

Sundays according to their twitter account.

 

[aylesbury]

According to a newspaper report the Parry company is in financial trouble affecting development of vehicle carrying 142 passengers.