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EMT crew(e) depot

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Deafdoggie

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Two of the three EMT Crewe-Derby trains start and end each day at Crewe. Does EMT therefore have a small crew base there? Or are they taxied from Derby? or lodge at Crewe? If they are taxied, is this the longest regular taxi journey for staff, and if not what is? Equally, if lodged, is this one of the closest lodgings to depot? And if not, what is? Finally, if a small depot, is this the smallest? Just two trains a day.
 
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Deafdoggie

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That is quite some journey each day! Do driver and guard taxi together off each service? So, two taxis in each morning, and two back out each night?
 

Loop & Link

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Not EMT, but Northern taxi a Lime St driver - Liverpool-Blackpool to work one of the first Blackpool-Liverpool services (not at the moment, obviously) that’s 56 miles and booked to take around 1hr45.
 

43055

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That is quite some journey each day! Do driver and guard taxi together off each service? So, two taxis in each morning, and two back out each night?
Yes both get the same taxi. Typically the 1942 is a Nottingham crew and 2042 is Derby and the 0658 in the morning is Derby but I am not sure about the 0607.
 

DanTrain

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Would it not be easier for EMT to roster a driver/guard with a car to drive to Crewe (be paid accordingly) and then return there at the end of their shift. This could of course be co-ordinated to take the other crew member too. Or would that actually cost more than a taxi?
 

Loop & Link

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Sounds good on paper, don’t think the driver/guard will be happy about having to collect their car from Crewe and have to drive it 50 or so miles back to Derby or wherever they live though, and the end of their shift, unless it’s part of their working hours on the docket! Bit of a waste when the docket ends in Derby, they would have to pass back to Crewe just to collect their car to go back to Derby!

And also don’t forget there’s a reason TOC’s have a minimum distance/travelling time policy, to/from place of work.

So 1-2 hours drive before maybe 9-10 hours of safety critical duties is impractical.
 
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Edgeley

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I was once waiting for a Stagecoach bus in Manchester at a mid-route location and after the bus pulled in was surprised to see the driver packing up to leave the bus even though it was full of passengers. A car in Stagecoach livery then pulled up in front and the respective drivers swapped vehicles. Is there scope for TOC cars I wonder?
 
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Dieseldriver

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Would it not be easier for EMT to roster a driver/guard with a car to drive to Crewe (be paid accordingly) and then return there at the end of their shift. This could of course be co-ordinated to take the other crew member too. Or would that actually cost more than a taxi?
What if they don't have a car driving licence?
 

sd0733

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From Crewe we have taxis to Northampton on a daily basis as well as weekend one to Rugby.
The taxi drivers do a lot of rail Crewe work and regularly visit holyhead, Preston and Derby/Nottingham
 

AndrewE

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And we keep being told that Franchises/TOCs/Privatisation are so much more efficient than the old railway!
 

Deafdoggie

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From Crewe we have taxis to Northampton on a daily basis as well as weekend one to Rugby.
The taxi drivers do a lot of rail Crewe work and regularly visit holyhead, Preston and Derby/Nottingham

How long is a taxi ride to Northampton? I’m guessing it’s early morning? Is there one back at night?
 

AndrewE

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Did the old railway not do that, at least post Sectorisation?
If it did, then that's an argument against that bit of beggar-my-neighbour departmentalisation too... Down with management accounting and business unit bottom lines, I say!
 

EE Andy b1

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VWC taxi crews to Holyhead

Yes Virgin West Coast Drivers from Manchester Piccadilly & Liverpool Lime Street get taxis from and to Holyhead every day,
2 hours 30 minutes, about 120 miles each way!!
 
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AndrewE

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Barking mad. All to achieve the famous private-sector "efficiency" (and stripping secure properly-paid employment out of remote provincial towns in the process.)
 

TEW

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XC taxi crews daily between Plymouth and Penzance AFAIK. That is a fair distance and time. Two Voyager units stable overnight on Long Rock depot, but XC do not have crew based at Penzance.
 

craigybagel

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You sure ? There is a Depot at Holyhead. VWC taxi crews to Holyhead

I don't think there are any regular booked moves like that (although there is at present a Holyhead - Llandudno Junction taxi for a guard most nights) but knowing how much cross depot working goes on it really wouldn't surprise me.

Shrewsbury guards are taxied every weekday morning to Crewe, despite their being a depot at Crewe. This is because they are needed to prep the North Wales LHCS set and then work it to Chester, as Crewe guards don't sign it. They will pass close by to two Crewe guards and one driver travelling as passengers in the opposite direction to Shrewsbury to start their day there. Such is railway logic....
 

craigybagel

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From Crewe we have taxis to Northampton on a daily basis as well as weekend one to Rugby.
The taxi drivers do a lot of rail Crewe work and regularly visit holyhead, Preston and Derby/Nottingham

Not to mention Warrington, Shrewsbury, Manchester, Liverpool and even Willesden! The railway contract in Crewe is a very lucrative one - which might explain why in my experience railway taxis from there are a lot more reliable then they are from other locations. And why at least one of the regular drivers is a retired train driver....
 

Deafdoggie

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Barking mad. All to achieve the famous private-sector "efficiency" (and stripping secure properly-paid employment out of remote provincial towns in the process.)

I think we can rest assured the accountants have worked out that this is the cheapest way! BR used to do more lodging turns, but these have tended to go to taxis more these days instead. So it isn't really a new thing. It is creating a lot of work for local taxi firms.
 

dk1

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And we keep being told that Franchises/TOCs/Privatisation are so much more efficient than the old railway!

I was traincrew roster clerk back in BR days & we used taxis willy nilly in the same way we still do today. It's just one of those things on the railway.
 

sd0733

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How long is a taxi ride to Northampton? I’m guessing it’s early morning? Is there one back at night?

Booked 2 hours. Yes it's booked to depart 03:17 on a Monday to Friday, 03:55 And 04:10 Saturday and 07:15 Sunday. No any evening jobs are passenger back
 

PHILIPE

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What must have been the longest taxi ride that I remember was in the early days of privatisation when there was a taxi early hours from Derby to Newcastle. At the outset VXC didn't have Depots at Newcastle or Leeds.
 

Deafdoggie

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From Crewe we have taxis to Northampton on a daily basis as well as weekend one to Rugby.
The taxi drivers do a lot of rail Crewe work and regularly visit holyhead, Preston and Derby/Nottingham

Just out of interest, do Crewe guards go beyond Birmingham at all? And will this change in the Dec timetable change?
 

sd0733

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Just out of interest, do Crewe guards go beyond Birmingham at all? And will this change in the Dec timetable change?

Not anymore no, we used to sign via Cov but not now.
Second question not sure yet what's happening in Dec
 

High Dyke

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Would it not be easier for EMT to roster a driver/guard with a car to drive to Crewe (be paid accordingly) and then return there at the end of their shift. This could of course be co-ordinated to take the other crew member too. Or would that actually cost more than a taxi?

What if they don't have a car driving licence?
There would also be the question of Business insurance for the car driver, an add-on to their own policy. I doubt the employer would fork out for all those affected when a taxi contract is probably cheaper.
 

AndrewE

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I think we can rest assured the accountants have worked out that this is the cheapest way! BR used to do more lodging turns, but these have tended to go to taxis more these days instead. So it isn't really a new thing. It is creating a lot of work for local taxi firms.
My understanding was that BR had got rid of lodging turns (apart from sleeping-car attendants) and they were only reintroduced after privatisation. I'm certain there were none when I was Traincrew Programming (as it was called then) at Crewe in the late 1970s.
What BR did have was single depots that had appropriate traction and route knowledge and the flexibilty to reallocate crews between different train services as needed. If it still couldn't be made to work a conductor driver or guard would be requested for the bit of track that the originating depot couldn't cover.
 
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