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SWR Strike Action: Strikes every day in December except 1st, 12th, 25th & 26th

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DennisM

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https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/su...r.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sharebar

What do people think of the idea of passengers meeting both sides as part of talks? After all it's for benefit passengers that the services are run. Without passengers there would be no trains. I don't see why not, even if I don't agree everything SWR Watch say.

I remember a couple of years back the RMT and Southern representatives had a televised debate to try and resolve that dispute (with zero progress made), Southern defended themselves with the usual ‘no plans to remove’ and ‘we’ll roster someone on board’ and It was hosted by a clueless presenter with as much knowledge of the dispute as the average metro reader. Bigger and more organised groups have tried before such as the Association of British Commuters by holding protests, petitioning and even starting legal action against Southern and the DFT. I doubt a few passengers with good intentions and angry anonymous twitter users will make any difference here either.
 

Brissle Girl

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Southwestern are reporting that one in three rostered guards reported for work. Is this a realistic representation of support and how does it stack up with the RMT reports of the strike being rock solid? If it’s correct, how does it compare with previous strikes, and what could be inferred as to next time there needs to be a vote as to continuation of strike action?
 

TEW

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1 in 3 seems high to me. The RMT have not been struggling to continue getting new mandates in the ballots, as time has gone on the impression I get is that more not less staff are supporting their stance. The strike timetable offered this time seems less comprehensive than ever before, which would not suggest that the RMT are struggling for support.
 

infobleep

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1 in 3 seems high to me. The RMT have not been struggling to continue getting new mandates in the ballots, as time has gone on the impression I get is that more not less staff are supporting their stance. The strike timetable offered this time seems less comprehensive than ever before, which would not suggest that the RMT are struggling for support.
Of course if extra staff did report, they wouldn't necessarily be able to run extra trains due to rosters being agreed in advance. I guess if they ran more trains on Friday it might to point. Friday being far enough ahead, in my opinion, for them to run additional services.

However I still suspect support is high and when they next ballot, it will go for more strikes.
 

dk1

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I thought sympathic striking wasn't allowed. Would this be people suddenly being off sick?
During recent conductor disputes it has been common for drivers not to work rest days as a mark of solidarity & respect for their colleagues. Considering the railways often run on good will & overtime it will have an impact.
 

Carlisle

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. Bigger and more organised groups have tried before such as the Association of British Commuters by holding protests, petitioning and even starting legal action against Southern and the DFT. .
I’m no fan of franchising, the current government or the DFT but the Association of British Commuters were hardly an impartial rail users group dealing with available facts, rather an organisation that openly & unequivocally backed the RMTs position on almost everything at the time.
 
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dctraindriver

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Southwestern are reporting that one in three rostered guards reported for work. Is this a realistic representation of support and how does it stack up with the RMT reports of the strike being rock solid? If it’s correct, how does it compare with previous strikes, and what could be inferred as to next time there needs to be a vote as to continuation of strike action?
Don’t forget many of those 1 in 3 who turned up to work will also be new guards still within their 6 months probationary period, thus if they strike, they lose their job. The unions have advised them to work to ensure they keep their job so the report isn’t as black and white as may initially appear.....
 

infobleep

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This morning SWR Journey Check is still reporting the Planner on National Rail Enquiries is has some errors. I don't know if it still does however.

They have acknowledged two short formations on the Reading line and they have reported overcrowding on the 6:15 Portsmouth to Waterloo service. Hopefully other trains aren't so bad today.

Also there is no report in the live online departure systems I checked for the 6:43 between Portsmouth Harbour and Fratton. It only shows up from Fratton. Whether it started from Portsmouth Harbour I couldn't say.

Its possible more people will work from home today. There are trains departing late from Surbiton. More delayed than the 6:15 that was reported as overcrowded but no reason is given for their delay.
 

SWT_USER

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This morning SWR Journey Check is still reporting the Planner on National Rail Enquiries is has some errors. I don't know if it still does however.

They have acknowledged two short formations on the Reading line and they have reported overcrowding on the 6:15 Portsmouth to Waterloo service. Hopefully other trains aren't so bad today.

Also there is no report in the live online departure systems I checked for the 6:43 between Portsmouth Harbour and Fratton. It only shows up from Fratton. Whether it started from Portsmouth Harbour I couldn't say.

Its possible more people will work from home today. There are trains departing late from Surbiton. More delayed than the 6:15 that was reported as overcrowded but no reason is given for their delay.

No sign of that on the Windsor side. The pathetic hourly service from Windsor via Brentford was full and standing and leaving people behind by Isleworth.

Presumably it's more profitable for SWR to focus on getting day trippers to Ascot for a jolly than getting the commuters who have already paid in to work.
 

Goldfish62

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I’m no fan of franchising, the current government or the DFT but the Association of British Commuters were hardly an impartial rail users group dealing with available facts, rather an organisation that openly & unequivocally backed the RMTs position on almost everything at the time.
They're headbangers just like their counterparts Association of British Motorists.
 

Goldfish62

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No sign of that on the Windsor side. The pathetic hourly service from Windsor via Brentford was full and standing and leaving people behind by Isleworth.

Presumably it's more profitable for SWR to focus on getting day trippers to Ascot for a jolly than getting the commuters who have already paid in to work.
It's not hourly. It's half-hourly. As for Ascot, it's a matter of safety. The huge crowds are going to turn up anyway and they have to be moved.
 

TEW

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The Windsor service is only hourly in the morning peak.
 

SWT_USER

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It's not hourly. It's half-hourly. As for Ascot, it's a matter of safety. The huge crowds are going to turn up anyway and they have to be moved.

Trains from Ashford to Waterloo via Brentford at 07.06 and 08.06 - that is an hourly service for the morning peak (arrival in to London before 9am).

Just seen a 442 head in to Waterloo. Surprised they are running!
 

Goldfish62

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Trains from Ashford to Waterloo via Brentford at 07.06 and 08.06 - that is an hourly service for the morning peak (arrival in to London before 9am).

Just seen a 442 head in to Waterloo. Surprised they are running!
Apologies, I stand corrected. Half hourly from 0806 onwards.
 

3rd rail land

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This morning SWR Journey Check is still reporting the Planner on National Rail Enquiries is has some errors. I don't know if it still does however.
The train I intend to catch from Clapham Junction in the morning and back in the afternoon on the 21st is showing on both the SWR website and NRE so it seems NRE is reporting correct journey information.

I am braced for rather more busy trains than I am used to given the popularity of my destination with commuters. It's usually quite crowded on a normal day but I do tend to get a seat most of the time. At least my employer is letting me leave slightly earlier to catch an earlier train so I don't have to endure an extended journey home.
 
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Goldfish62

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Don’t forget many of those 1 in 3 who turned up to work will also be new guards still within their 6 months probationary period, thus if they strike, they lose their job. The unions have advised them to work to ensure they keep their job so the report isn’t as black and white as may initially appear.....
But why would anyone start a new job if they weren't content with the company's highly publicised plans for their role? I certainly wouldn't.
 

Bigfoot

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Just seen a 442 head in to Waterloo. Surprised they are running!

Platform train interface checks are being performed whilst the network is quieter to enable the 442s to use more than the 3 platforms at Waterloo that are currently allowed. (more detail found in the 442 thread).
 

akm

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Does anyone in the know happen to have access to the calling pattern and times of the additional services tomorrow during the strike on the direct. Information on the SWR website is very sparse.
I was interested in:

0615 PMH-WAT
0645 PMH-WAT

1805 WAT-PMH

The stock type (444/450) would also be appreciated should it be available.

Thanks in advance.

Yesterday the 0615 was 10 car 444, and extremely busy (standing from Haslemere). Today the 0643 (nb not 0645, despite published information) was 12 car 450, and busy though less so.

This morning SWR Journey Check is still reporting the Planner on National Rail Enquiries is has some errors. I don't know if it still does however.

They have acknowledged two short formations on the Reading line and they have reported overcrowding on the 6:15 Portsmouth to Waterloo service. Hopefully other trains aren't so bad today.

Also there is no report in the live online departure systems I checked for the 6:43 between Portsmouth Harbour and Fratton. It only shows up from Fratton. Whether it started from Portsmouth Harbour I couldn't say.

Its possible more people will work from home today. There are trains departing late from Surbiton. More delayed than the 6:15 that was reported as overcrowded but no reason is given for their delay.

The 0643 ex Portsmouth Harbour showed on the opentraintimes map as 1G18 initially, then changed to 1P18 at Fratton. Which might be why journeycheck et al were confused.
 

infobleep

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It's not hourly. It's half-hourly. As for Ascot, it's a matter of safety. The huge crowds are going to turn up anyway and they have to be moved.
How long are people having to queue to use the Ascot services this week?

Yesterday people were queue for 30+ minutes to get into Surbtion Station. How much queuing space is there at Ascot? I appricate the numbers going to Ascot by train must be far higher than those going from Surbtion to Waterloo in the morning.
 

infobleep

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There was an additions 8:07 today from Woking to Waterloo, stopping at Surbtion. Staff told passengers which platform to go to.

Then the train came through non stop. It was cancelled in National Rail Enquiries due to an operational incident.

Yesterday there was an ECs from Farnham to Waterloo, which passed through Woking at around this time. I don't know if todays train or yesterday's train had a guard on it. Maybe the driver wasn't given a diagram today to ran the train ECS to Woking and then Woking to London, with a stop at Surbtion.

The next train to Waterloo was the delayed 8:24 and to Surbtion the delayed 8:29.

I guess at least Surbtion passengers and station staff would have advanced warning.
 

SWT_USER

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How long are people having to queue to use the Ascot services this week?

Yesterday people were queue for 30+ minutes to get into Surbtion Station. How much queuing space is there at Ascot? I appricate the numbers going to Ascot by train must be far higher than those going from Surbtion to Waterloo in the morning.

Race goers will presumably have the same wait as they do every year as they are being provided with 4tph - as happens every year. SWR have decided to prioritise them ahead of normal commuters.
 

dctraindriver

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But why would anyone start a new job if they weren't content with the company's highly publicised plans for their role? I certainly wouldn't.
Obviously they’re not as smart as you....

Or maybe they put a little more thought into it than you and are looking beyond the next 5 years or so......Maybe as a stepping stone to another role within the company? Driver being one, surly other areas too.
 

Starmill

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It's not hourly. It's half-hourly. As for Ascot, it's a matter of safety. The huge crowds are going to turn up anyway and they have to be moved.
To be fair, they don't have to be. SWR could have chosen to simply withdraw all services from Ascot, locked the station up all day, and made it everyone else's problem.

Clearly, they've decided that this is the better way, though.
 

Carlisle

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Or maybe they put a little more thought into it than you and are looking beyond the next 5 years or so......Maybe as a stepping stone to another role within the company? Driver being one, surly other areas too.
Aren’t driver training courses nowadays intended for recruits with no previous experience in the sector, just an employer willing to submit you for the psychometric testing & the ability to score over certain percentages in it, plus an associated interview process
 
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infobleep

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Race goers will presumably have the same wait as they do every year as they are being provided with 4tph - as happens every year. SWR have decided to prioritise them ahead of normal commuters.
What is that wait though and would their wait with less services be more dangerous than the wait of Surbtion commuters? I'm not someone who travels from Surbtion to London so I don't have a vested interest in whose safer or more dangerous. Just interested.
 

infobleep

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I was on the 16 05 from Woking to Waterloo today. 8 can confirm this was a 455+455+456. So 10 carriages thus its possible to run 10 carriage services. Not that I expected any less.

SWT Help twitter feed didn't look too busy earlier so I asked them why were their four carriage services on the Guildford to Surbtion services yesterday. I didn't get a response.

As it was a response to another Tweet, I tried again, this time as a standalone Tweet, some time later. Still no response.

Do they have other work to do, beside answering people's tweets? I'd have thought if they didn't think it was something they can answer, they would direct me to their customer services. I did wait until I felt they would be less busy.

I was hoping it might be something they could quickly find the answer to. Although saying that, no one on here knows the answer. I could always try their forum next.

Whilst checking tweets, to see how busy they are, I read a Twitter user, @thimasdomon, couldn't board one of the hourly services today.
@SW_Help
Will there be more services to Guildford from Surbiton tomorrow? I wasn't even able to get on my train.
#SWRStrike
https://twitter.com/thimasdomon/status/1141241602922426373?s=19

SWR Help apologised saying there were less trains due to the strike. No mention of only four carriages running though. They might not know about this though. So I suggested this might be a reason why they weren't able to board. I then asked why there were four carriages runnin.

Twitter user, Passengers Union, in response, claimed they were told as many carriages would be run as the line allows.
This completely goes against what I was told by the scheduling/despatching managers, that as many carriages would be run as the line allows, @SW_Help care to give insight?
https://twitter.com/PassengersUnion/status/1141348682463404032?s=19

Of course if the crossover from platform 1 to the down slow cannot handle more than 4 carriages that would explain it. However I don't know if that is the case and if it isn't, what is the reason.

On a different note, they still haven't been able to remove the errors from the Journey Planner.
We have identified some incorrect service information on National Rail Enquiries journey planner, due to this we advise you to check our website with PDF timetables for train service details.
https://www.journeycheck.com/swr/?

How difficult is it to remove journey planner errors? Given they added all the additional services before Tuesday morning, I wouldn't have thought it would be really difficult. Unless the problem is locating them. That might be time consuming.
 
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Dave1987

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Considering the rest of the industry is just starting to heal the rifts this kind of thing causes internally I find it a bit heartbreaking to see this still happening in this industry years after amicable agreements have been reached elsewhere. There are certain contributors to this forum who are systematic of the modern management thinking who know the costs of everything but the value of nothing. It’s come back to bite some in the industry hard afterwards. I firmly believe that as an industry we should learn the value of people who feel valued and not just a number of an accountants spreadsheets. I really hope another amicable agreement can be reached and the industry can once again start to heal the damage stuff like this does.
 

dctraindriver

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Aren’t driver training courses nowadays intended for recruits with no previous experience in the sector, just an employer willing to submit you for the psychometric testing & the ability to score over certain percentages in it, plus an associated interview process
Open to both internal and external candidates......
 
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