bramling
Veteran Member
I wouldn't use the word incompetence when it comes to some new drivers having problems with the doors - it wasn't an attack on them whatsoever. It's that there are some issues and workarounds that a newly trained driver may not know, or be able to rectify quick enough to avoid delays. The drivers on the TL side have had 700s a lot longer and know the ways to fix. It's no different than any other method of fault finding, with or without the help of fleet engineers.
Subsequent driver briefings/training, software tweaks and the like will have reduced such instances and may well be a reason why the trains are now performing better.
I was on another 717 today (after the morning peak) and couldn't help but notice people smiling when boarding, with some taking a second or two to look around the train and clearly looking quite excited to be on a new train.
I love the notion that being on a new train is exciting!
The excited looks normally drains away upon either sitting down or finding all the seats are taken...