Recent content by WAB

Yes, and I’d argue that having to revert to control for instructions in normal circumstances means that in emergencies, they aren’t going to be familiar or confident enough with independently making these sorts of decisions.

When the guards were abolished on LU, I'm sure it was justified by the presence of sufficient staff at stations. Since then, the number of station staff has been reduced considerably including the number of more experienced supervisors. If I'm reading it correctly, the RAIB report says there...

Something that strikes me from your post and the RAIB report is the need for everything to be run via control, which would not have been the case in the past. If we are wanting to live in that world, both on the Tube and the big railway, then control needs to be resourced such that even when...

He is making valid points, though, and I'm not sure it's particularly loaded. The SNP have been selling themselves as the progressive choice for Scotland, and that is not compatible with the Deputy FM being strongly conservative.

When whichever planners are available run out of time, it gets bumped to control. Some TOCs are worse than others.

That'll give you loads of time.

I haven't got the base timetable file to hand, but I suspect that splitting the Carlisle to Morpeth service at Newcastle would be doable (just about). You'd need to think about how you're going to platform the trains to/from Carlisle, particularly if you have to cross the throat. Again, I can't...

Which routes are you proposing? Taking the example of Manchester, most of those proposed to be incorporated in the Bee Network are not self-contained on their routes, and definitely are not self-contained operationally. Even the north-eastern services, which I always hold up to be the easiest to...

The questions I'd ask are: Did having multiple regions run these services deliver a punctual, efficient and customer-focused service? Does the railway now have the culture, knowledge and structures in place for joint running, given that such services have been minimal for the last 40 years and...

And there’s no point in NYCC going around stripping contracts given how few operators are willing to take on service bus work in the area - take away Transdev, Reliance and EYMS and you’re not left with many options in the entire county.

So, given the example of the Eastern region, you'd propose the following divisions? LNE division for the ECML to the border as well as off to Leeds TLGN Anglia East Midlands Yorkshire North-East In which case, the XC regional service group would be jointly-run by the Anglia, LNE, East Midlands...

But that’s not the issue. Right from the start, the OP said they presented valid train tickets. Therefore booking clerks can win by simply doing their job in compliance with the rules…

This sounds awfully like sectorisation to me. In what way? As far as train planning goes, I imagine a residuary group of planners at MK would be responsible for coordinating the timetable on a national level.

Yes, I know a couple of NR directors who came from the driving grades, but you do need to have the educational background and the right positions for a driver's skillset to open up at the right time.

Many of whom will still want jobs on the railway and will need to prove themselves?