I believe recent ORR guidance says that further installation of CD/RA indicators should be considered, which should reduce that. However, I'm not sure what funding or permission is actually in place for GTR to do that, especially as it also requires third party involvement with contractors or NR, rather than just internal processes.
One of the things I've noticed is that stations which only had limited proportions of DOO services before the current expansion, such as Redhill, often have slower procedures relying on more limited equipment, such as a lack of "CD" indicators, meaning more staff - and more walking - is required. At stations with brand-new DOO(P) dispatch policies, such as East Grinstead, or those refurbished with DOO in mind, such as Blackfriars, additional staff may be provided whose role has been defined partly in line with how the station will perform with this method, or else the dispatch equipment (if newer) will be more relevant and/or the controls will be in places requiring the fewest people and least walking.
This may seem like stating the obvious but it's a crucial observation when looking at this sort of thing!
Some Southern routes still have a variety of dispatch methods for the same traction and service groups (two of these with the biggest impact on performance being East Croydon and Clapham Junction, but also Victoria, Redhill, London Bridge etc.). Mainly this relates to conductors working 377s with Southeastern vice Southern drivers; degraded working or special workings/diagrams; route knowledge retention; and a few routes not yet fully cleared for DOO.
This means that unless up-to-date train-by-train crewing advice is clearly available at each dispatch position (ie. not necessarily at the end of the platform where the staff are acting as a "Close Doors" indicators), there may be confusion amongst dispatchers.
Technology available to track crewing information is getting a bit better on the Southern network, but train information data is very variable, and ways of getting hold of the same can be generally archaic and inefficient. This is not a problem unique to GTR or Southern.
Unfortunately the confusion arising does add the need for scrutiny as to whether DOO can improve overall day-to-day performance, and whether it would have been better to simply recruit a few more conductors and convert the Metro to that mode of operation too (only a handful of DOO routes would actually have been completely new to at least some depots' conductor route knowledge), but there you are.
I quite agree.
Managers can check and would be checking they are present where they should be. There are also schemes being introduced which make sure that Control are aware if they can't make it to their booked trains, which is less obvious as the train can run without them. I've not seen any detail on any specific remedial procedures to actually get OBSs back onto their booked workings, though - which is not to say it's not out there, it's just not well-publicised, especially when Charles Horton went on record in the recent BBC debate as (essentially) saying that the OBS would be sent to rejoin their train part-way through its journey if they were displaced.
Three Bridges staff will only usually stay on Platform 5 if they have to dispatch several trains in quick succession. Not only does it relate to the numbers of staff available (which seems to sometimes be quite sparse there at the moment, but that's not a reflection on everyone's journeys, I'm sure), but it is also a very inhospitable place to wait in anything but the nicest of weathers. To be quite honest, I feel sorry for passengers who miss their trains and aren't aware there are warmer areas elsewhere on the station!
They have no requirements to act as a "guard" in line with the Rule Book, and it seems an OBS is viewed more as a member of customer service staff who happens to be allocated "on board" duties, rather than as part of some new type of crew working.
Drivers are to contact them in the event of certain scenarios, such as train faults, and must acknowledge them if they state they are onboard. Likewise OBSs must speak to the driver before leaving an origin station, or after boarding at an interchange, if they are "working" the train. But there are still many potential events which don't seem to have a specified course of action yet!
OBSs are "modestly" trained to stop trains in emergencies (the definition of which, from their point of view, seems vague) but I've not seen or heard about any answers relating to holding trains in incidents which won't be likely to affect the safe movement of the stock itself, such as ticketless passengers.
They will hold their train if the driver is not to complete the dispatch procedure due to a passenger needing assistance. This is the point of the whole, much-debated, policy about activating a local door and stepping onto the platform, something which has been published online elsewhere and I believe possibly on here.
As for Byelaws matters and ticketing conditions, it's important to remember that most OBSs are either ex-conductors or ex-revenue staff, so enforcement of these would have been mentioned in some way during their training. If they haven't been briefed otherwise, any powers they were trained to use might well have been carried over.
It's a very grey area. From a customer service and "troubleshooting" point of view they are much like a conductor. From the point of view of track safety, route knowledge emergencies and dispatch, the basic training is far less comprehensive, or in the case of dispatch, non-existent. Route knowledge doesn't really exist in the traditional format, but geographical awareness is based on prior experience of the network, whatever informal observations they get during shadowing, and paper documentation, rather than route learning, with its commitment of defined features to memory.
