West Midlands Trains: Train crew unavailability

[wobman]

Some thoughts as a friend works on the railway.

Firstly - Abellio may have inherited the problems form London Midland, but their management have apparently done nothing to ensure or keep up the goodwill of the ground staff. Management do not seem to see traincrew as anything but assets and it shows. The Van Der Velde era left many deep scars.

Afterall, with many traincrew looking to leave, they must not be happy. And if they aren't happy, why would they go into a workplace that makes them unhappy extrawise?

What did Mr Van Der Velde do whilst there? He has a new home now and people are wondering what he will be doing there.

 

[AgentGemini]

What did Mr Van Der Velde do whilst there? He has a new home now and people are wondering what he will be doing there.

May I DM you? I am walking a fine line, as I am going on what I have been told by friends who experienced his regime.

 

[185]

Poor old Stan Cloudy Van der Transit left as a result of his (ex-Northern Rail) HR director's (imflammatory) actions - both got the push at the same time. Allegedly. So I'm told.

 

[AgentGemini]

Poor old Stan Cloudy Van der Transit left as a result of his (ex-Northern Rail) HR director's (imflammatory) actions - both got the push at the same time. Allegedly. So I'm told.

Van Der Velde was just as complicit as the Milk Thief was. They did both leave - when Abellio nearly got stripped of the franchise. However their legacy and ethos lives on.

 

[Clarence Yard]

His declaration (on a call with other Senior TOC/OG managers) to Pete Wilkinson that the service recast was going to produce the most reliable service the WCML had ever seen will long be remembered in the industry.

And employing the well known timetable “Guru” that habitually joins services together and produces over tight crew and stock diagrams, was another.

Not stunning.

 

[Jurg]

This was from this morning | NBH Community Rail Group

This was from this morning

www.facebook.com

A WMT spokesman on BBC CWR the other day indicated that the full timetable on Nuneaton to Leamington will be running at the end of January.

 

[Nova1]

This was from this morning | NBH Community Rail Group

This was from this morning

www.facebook.com

A WMT spokesman on BBC CWR the other day indicated that the full timetable on Nuneaton to Leamington will be running at the end of January.

I'll believe it when I see it...


(Departures from Henley-In-Arden shown, last Saturday 11th December)

Not sure why, but service seems to be a lot worse at weekends than during the week. Three trains in a row cancelled, then two trains in a row later in the evening is not great.

 

[AgentGemini]

His declaration (on a call with other Senior TOC/OG managers) to Pete Wilkinson that the service recast was going to produce the most reliable service the WCML had ever seen will long be remembered in the industry.

And employing the well known timetable “Guru” that habitually joins services together and produces over tight crew and stock diagrams, was another.

Not stunning.

Do you mean the May 2019 timetable recast that caused the Snow Hill lines to convulse, have seizures and essentially break down as they crammed trains into times that were lag time for more established services as well as create trains that were totally unnecessary (class example: 1845 dep BSW - LMS followed by an 1850 dep BSW - DDG?)

Who is the "guru" and is he still there? He seems to have struck recently for the 12/12 timetable change if seeing a friend's job sheet is anything to indicate.

 

[Kite159]

I'll believe it when I see it...

View attachment 107050
(Departures from Henley-In-Arden shown, last Saturday 11th December)

Not sure why, but service seems to be a lot worse at weekends than during the week. Three trains in a row cancelled, then two trains in a row later in the evening is not great.

And you know the first train after the gaps would have been a 2 coach unit.

The city centre car park operators must be loving it!

 

[Nova1]

And you know the first train after the gaps would have been a 2 coach unit.

The city centre car park operators must be loving it!

yes, my travel to college and back has been pretty miserable over the last couple weeks.

for some reason despite the 08:23 arrival into Stratford-Upon-Avon usually being very busy with college/school children after Shirley, it always seems to be one of the first to get short formed. With three carriages it is already mostly standing only, with two it is not fun!

the 16:26 from Stratford-Upon-Avon also seems to be one of the first to get cancelled in the afternoons (despite it carrying plenty of college and school kids home). It's getting pretty dull having to ask my lecturer if I can leave early because of the trains.

 

[ChrisHogan]

Do you mean the May 2019 timetable recast that caused the Snow Hill lines to convulse, have seizures and essentially break down as they crammed trains into times that were lag time for more established services as well as create trains that were totally unnecessary (class example: 1845 dep BSW - LMS followed by an 1850 dep BSW - DDG?)

Who is the "guru" and is he still there? He seems to have struck recently for the 12/12 timetable change if seeing a friend's job sheet is anything to indicate.

"GNK" was retired about 12 months ago I understand.

 

[diffident]

Obviously not to the extent of the Snow Hill lines, but I'm finding slowly but surely, the Cross City is getting it's fair share of cancellations too... I had two back to back cancelled off platform 12 at New Street heading towards University both not show up because of "lack of train crew" in the last few days.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Lots of cancellations from New St this evening, both WMT and Avanti.

 

[DorkingMain]

There are also particular issues around Saturday late turns being covered by voluntary Rest Day Working given the behaviour of some passengers.

General experience for both TOCs I've worked for was that early turns were much more popular than late turns anyway, and therefore a lot of the uncovered diagrams were always lates.

 

[diffident]

Lots of cancellations from New St this evening, both WMT and Avanti.

It doesn't breed confidence... I have to travel on Xmas eve (around 2pm so before the traditional early shut down), I'm going to do it by bus around the West Mids.

 

[Bletchleyite]

It doesn't breed confidence... I have to travel on Xmas eve (around 2pm so before the traditional early shut down), I'm going to do it by bus around the West Mids.

Not sure bus will be that much better. It is another "pingdemic" but this time with people actually having COVID.

 

[diffident]

Not sure bus will be that much better. It is another "pingdemic" but this time with people actually having COVID.

Given the recent XCity reliability, I'll take my chances with the bus!

 

[LowLevel]

I'll believe it when I see it...

View attachment 107050
(Departures from Henley-In-Arden shown, last Saturday 11th December)

Not sure why, but service seems to be a lot worse at weekends than during the week. Three trains in a row cancelled, then two trains in a row later in the evening is not great.

In the week you're more likely to get cover through people working their day off.

You get one weekend off in 3 which people are understandably reluctant to give up to working overtime.

 

[Moonshot]

In the week you're more likely to get cover through people working their day off.

You get one weekend off in 3 which people are understandably reluctant to give up to working overtime.

In a nutshell that's it. I myself am not prepared to work weekends overtime , the same as most of my colleagues.

 

[The Planner]

"GNK" was retired about 12 months ago I understand.

"was retired" they did suddenly disappear, I'll give you that. I believe RC is off very shortly too.

 

[wobman]

In a nutshell that's it. I myself am not prepared to work weekends overtime , the same as most of my colleagues.

I think people forget traincrew work most weekends and want time off after a busy week, most TOCs struggle to get rdw volunteers this time of year. That's coincided with high volumes of sickness due to covid and depots that are running below complement due to recruitment delays. As a result there's quite a few cancelled services on the network and I cant see things improving with covid rates rising

 

[Clarence Yard]

It takes time to undo any of his damage, especially if the train crew has been over-optimised. It usually means additional diagrams and rostering more crew which, in the current circumstances, may be very hard to do.