Just struggling to see the relevance of this post to the topic...it's not a thread opened to just have a moan about thameslink or southern.
And currently no proposals for TfL to take over the suburbans FYI.
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Thameslink and Southern
- Thread starter SammyJ
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Just struggling to see the relevance of this post to the topic...it's not a thread opened to just have a moan about thameslink or southern.
And currently no proposals for TfL to take over the suburbans FYI.
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At my place, the lady who's bright idea for that crap we currently wear got an award so you ain't too far from the truth! And no i won't say who they are cos they maybe trolling.
I think that incompetence with or couldn't-care-less attitudes to revenue collection are a bit more mainstream than a discussion on pullover sizes.
Let's wait ...
Getting back on topic, one thing I don't think has been mentioned is that, I presume, there will be a new website. The question is will it be a Southern branded version of the Thameslink Great Northern website, or will they just add Southern onto the existing franchise site? I am sure I read before the franchise started the idea was to have the ability to feed information that was only relevant to that brand as well as franchise wide information to the website of each brand. As far as I can tell that hasn't happened yet with Thameslink Great Northern.
Either way, I hope that the delays and cancellations and other information tabs in the live journey information will be available for Southern. That will be a welcome improvement. As will the ability to filter the upcoming engineering works by date.
Either way, I hope that the delays and cancellations and other information tabs in the live journey information will be available for Southern. That will be a welcome improvement. As will the ability to filter the upcoming engineering works by date.
Not sure there will be a new website!
I doubt there will as they are keeping it as 4 clearly separate brands. Separate staff, trains, Twitter feeds so I'd guess websites to.
Really? It is a lot easier to maintain one website with different skins for each of the brands than separate websites for ex FCC, Southern and Gatwick Express. That said, I couldn't find any reference to a website relaunch for Southern or Gatwick Express in the franchise agreement.
I did notice in the franchise agreement, under the heading new and improved point of sales channels, a requirement by 30 September 2015 to launch and operate an e-commerce ticket sales website and to have new ticket sales functionality in a dedicated app.
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There can still keep the branding separate with one website by using different urls. The url will determine how the website is branded, and through the content management system, the administrators can control what information users see depending on the brand (url) the user has accessed the website through. We already know there are different urls for each of the brands, although at the moment GN redirects to Thameslink.
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But they already have all the seperate URLs. In short, this lot are skint and they are not going to spend money on stuff they already have and don't need to spend money on!
Yes they do, and I tried to make that point.
And it is more cost effective to maintain one base website customised to each brand, enter the franchise wide information in one CMS instead of on to multiple websites and not duplicating communication duties across the various brands.
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Word on the street is that the new franchise is being run as separate business units so that it can be "easily" split up again once the London Bridge works are complete.
Therefore, I wouldn't expect any further integration than has already happened or been announced.
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
Therefore, I wouldn't expect any further integration than has already happened or been announced.
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.
It definitely makes sense to have one core site, skinned independently.
Not sure that's really worked thus far though, as you currently get redirected from GN to the Thameslink site (which is branded for both routes). And in terms of how Google saves things, the GN URL effectively doesn't exist or show up on a search.
So adding in another lot of brands will likely be a bit of a mess if they can't sort this out.
Not sure that's really worked thus far though, as you currently get redirected from GN to the Thameslink site (which is branded for both routes). And in terms of how Google saves things, the GN URL effectively doesn't exist or show up on a search.
So adding in another lot of brands will likely be a bit of a mess if they can't sort this out.
i actually think when the Thameslink/Great Northern website was created it has taken may elements from SOutherns site..... behind the scenes im not sure how together they are but certainly the ticket element of both websites is the same now.
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Hmmm, a lot of people tend to have this "theory" that the companies will be split up again.... not sure why they would amalgamate them just to split them up again. As far as im aware this franchise is together permanently.
Im pretty sure the branding issue is for geographical reasons as well as familiarity amongst passengers.. ie It would make no sense running an Ashford - Hastings service or a Brighton to Seaford services as "Thameslink". I guess it also means southern dont have to repaint trains and stations......
The Southern name has taken a hit recently though because of the London Bridge problems so it wouldnt surprise me if maybe they do change something in the not to distant future.
A more likely thing after the end of the franchise, rather than splitting the companies up again is Transport for London getting their hands on Southern metro services.
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Bearing in mind that it takes Southern over 5 months to fix a small error on their website and, even then, they make a mess of it, I don't see how Govia would ever have the necessary brain cells to think about condensing a number of sites into a single core site with brand skinning for each URL?
Southern lost a days ticket business recently because their website wouldn't accept payments. "Oh yes, we've had hundreds of calls about that but we think they (IT subcontractors?) have gone home, so you'd better use the trainline" !!!!
Even when it is broke, they don't/can't fix it, so there's zero chance of them doing anything else!
Southern lost a days ticket business recently because their website wouldn't accept payments. "Oh yes, we've had hundreds of calls about that but we think they (IT subcontractors?) have gone home, so you'd better use the trainline" !!!!
Even when it is broke, they don't/can't fix it, so there's zero chance of them doing anything else!
All those medicals cant be cheap
No they are not. But that is from their recruitment budget and was all planned for as part of the recruitment drive. Although medicals are one of the healer parts of recruiting drivers. Psychometrics are rather expensive.
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The only reason it was merged in the first place was to make it possible to sort the new Thameslink out. They tried merging in routes which combined 2 TOCs (southeastern and FCC) but that wasn't particularly easy. The only reason the FCC franchise was ever created (as opposed to TL & WAGN) was for the Thameslink project which was planned to be complete by now. Once the Thameslink services have been completed they can easily be lifted as a new franchise. The remaining southern, southeastern and GN services can all then be seperate franchises again as well.
This mega franchise is only a temporary thing and is purely here to try and make the final phase of Thameslink 2000 as easy as possible.
Agreed
The ITT required bidders to maximise efficiencies from combining the franchises but to avoid any actions that would make future splitting of the franchise prohibitively expensive to achieve. The ITT said that the department expects to discuss the future scope and size of the TSGN franchise, including possible remapping options, a minimum of 2 years before the end of the franchise.
Some southern staff are allowed to apply for TL jobs. I've heard the demand from some depots was so high they have had to put a temp suspension until later in the year.
Anyway, the big change happens after this weekend, and things are already happening, not all for the better. Rumors I've heard today will miff off a lot of Southern and Gatwick Express passengers, and make first class that little bit less worth it.
Anyway, the big change happens after this weekend, and things are already happening, not all for the better. Rumors I've heard today will miff off a lot of Southern and Gatwick Express passengers, and make first class that little bit less worth it.
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Would that be no more trolley/on board services ?
swt_passenger
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Won't a proportion of 'Southern' drivers transfer to 'Thameslink' when the relevant routes transfer in the build up to the full 2018 timetable? It would be completely illogical to do otherwise, surely?
I'm not confirming or denying anything. As I said rumors.
There's no catering on GN services anymore (and hasn't been for a very long time, fairly sure FCC removed it towards the start of the franchise) and pretty sure its a similar story on TL, so they would definitely be bringing it in line with the rest of GTR.
Some southern drivers are gonna learn class 700s.
Some Southern drivers have just come back from Germany after driving the 700 round in circles.
causton
Established Member
You would think so, but it's not that easy. The rules about transfers and redundancies are some of the oldest and most complex in the book, so the company will be keen to avoid that.
The union reps from both sides will hold talks with the company starting on day one, which will probably result with some kind of work-sharing agreement instead.
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Shame. Those catering staff were some of the friendliest people I've come across on the railway.
Is five days notice even legal? I thought there was a minimum notice period to close an entire workplace. Or are they just entitled to payment in lieu of notice?
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