Unscheduled stops

[racklam]

Last Friday this XC service http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/C72894/2016/09/23/advanced additionally stopped at Thirsk to cater for Grand Central passengers who were affected by the 19:18 ex-King's Cross being cancelled.

As XC do not usually stop at Thirsk, do drivers/guards need any additional route knowledge to be able to stop at a station not usually stopped at, but on a route they sign? Or will this be part of the route knowledge anyway?

 

[grumblingalong]

Last Friday this XC service http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/C72894/2016/09/23/advanced additionally stopped at Thirsk to cater for Grand Central passengers who were affected by the 19:18 ex-King's Cross being cancelled.

As XC do not usually stop at Thirsk, do drivers/guards need any additional route knowledge to be able to stop at a station not usually stopped at, but on a route they sign? Or will this be part of the route knowledge anyway?

If you sign the route you sign all the stations, they form part of the route knowledge. That's not to say that the crews may require some advice for specific dispatch issues and signal placements if the station is complex for whatever reason.

To stop most services however, all would be required is for the driver and guard to receive a special stop order from the previous station.

 

[1D53]

To stop most services however, all would be required is for the driver and guard to receive a special stop order from the previous station.

In this case you'd need to tell the Signaller too as Thirsk only has slow line platforms and the XC is booked on the fasts.

 

[bunnahabhain]

I've called at five stations that my TOC doesn't usually serve, the driver just pulled down to the S car stop board, where I was unsure of platform length I did local door operation at the front as I had moved any alighting passengers to that door and then on the platform had a good look for any starting signals. Generally you're expected to be able to stop at any station on all routes you sign, within reason (IE you'd not be expecting a 390 to call at Alsager!)

 

[bramling]

If you sign the route you sign all the stations, they form part of the route knowledge. That's not to say that the crews may require some advice for specific dispatch issues and signal placements if the station is complex for whatever reason.

Hollow laugh for passengers on a Middlesbrough to Newcastle train last week.

Due to a defective T&W Metro train ahead, the train sat in Seaburn platform for the best part of an hour. A woman asked if it would be possible for her to be let off so she could get the bus instead -- driver, guard and TOC control didn't seem to have a clue whether this was permissible or not, so after much deliberation they decided they wouldn't open the local door. The guard didn't seem to have a clue where she was, and openly admitted she didn't have a clue about the Metro stations along there.

Fortunately it wasn't a serious incident, as a radio call along the lines of "my train is derailed, the driver is incapacitated, and we're 100yds from one of the Metro thingies" wouldn't be impressive IMO.

 

[Tetchytyke]

A woman asked if it would be possible for her to be let off so she could get the bus instead -- driver, guard and TOC control didn't seem to have a clue whether this was permissible or not

There have been instances in the past of Northern trains stopping at the Metro stations (except Fellgate) when the Metro has been up the spout.

 

[BestWestern]

Hollow laugh for passengers on a Middlesbrough to Newcastle train last week.

Due to a defective T&W Metro train ahead, the train sat in Seaburn platform for the best part of an hour. A woman asked if it would be possible for her to be let off so she could get the bus instead -- driver, guard and TOC control didn't seem to have a clue whether this was permissible or not, so after much deliberation they decided they wouldn't open the local door. The guard didn't seem to have a clue where she was, and openly admitted she didn't have a clue about the Metro stations along there.

Fortunately it wasn't a serious incident, as a radio call along the lines of "my train is derailed, the driver is incapacitated, and we're 100yds from one of the Metro thingies" wouldn't be impressive IMO.

Not great, admittedly.

This nonsense of not letting people off if a train is sat in a platform is particularly tedious. Unless it's 1am and the station is locked, it's really rather difficult to see what the issue is. On a unit, assuming a Guard is provided, all that is required is to open a local door, allow the passenger off and then dispatch in the normal fashion once the signal clears.

 

[bramling]

Not great, admittedly.

This nonsense of not letting people off if a train is sat in a platform is particularly tedious. Unless it's 1am and the station is locked, it's really rather difficult to see what the issue is. On a unit, assuming a Guard is provided, all that is required is to open a local door, allow the passenger off and then dispatch in the normal fashion once the signal clears.

Agreed - especially as the station concerned used to be a mainline station.

To be fair, I can sympathise with the guard on the spur of the moment -- today's safety culture is such that if something goes wrong then it's her job on the line.

But the route knowledge for her and the driver should have told them clearly whether it was a "yes" or "no". If the train had needed to be detrained then it would have *had* to be a "yes" anyway. Worse when control couldn't produce a definitive answer either. The situation was also badly handled in that no real explanation was given as to why the door couldn't be opened.

 

[BestWestern]

There tend to be two approaches to this sort of thing now; there's the "can't do anything without asking Control" approach, and there's the "don't ask Control anything" approach!

 

[TEW]

Not great, admittedly.

This nonsense of not letting people off if a train is sat in a platform is particularly tedious. Unless it's 1am and the station is locked, it's really rather difficult to see what the issue is. On a unit, assuming a Guard is provided, all that is required is to open a local door, allow the passenger off and then dispatch in the normal fashion once the signal clears.

Luckily my TOC takes the very sensible approach that it is the guard's decision to release the doors in the train is making a prolonged unscheduled stop at a station. I would talk to the driver before I let people on/off though, always good for them to know what's going on!

 

[theblackwatch]

So different to the days when trains had slam doors and no form of CDL, when the passenger would just open the door themselves without bothering to ask a member of staff! (I digress, but more recently, I was in the Czech Republic and our train became stranded in the middle of nowhere after pulling the wires down and we were going nowhere for hours, some passengers took it upon themselves to open the windows to alight, and head across a field in the direction of the nearest bus stop.)

 

[voyagerdude220]

There tend to be two approaches to this sort of thing now; there's the "can't do anything without asking Control" approach, and there's the "don't ask Control anything" approach!

Oh wait, you may have a point...

 

[GatwickDepress]

So different to the days when trains had slam doors and no form of CDL, when the passenger would just open the door themselves without bothering to ask a member of staff! (I digress, but more recently, I was in the Czech Republic and our train became stranded in the middle of nowhere after pulling the wires down and we were going nowhere for hours, some passengers took it upon themselves to open the windows to alight, and head across a field in the direction of the nearest bus stop.)

To be honest, even in the days before CDL over here, you've got a better chance of the train moving off again than a rural bus turning up.