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Caledonian Sleeper

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R

RailUK Forums

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2 Jan 2009
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So having made passengers 11 hours late they've then dumped them in the Glasgow Suburbs and said make your own way into Glasgow???
 

mde

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17 Nov 2016
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CS should really be working on a plan to get them to Glasgow Airport and then on to Heathrow to be honest.
Offer that as a choice perhaps, but, plane won't work for everyone (and some guests might not have the necessary documentation on their person).

In any case, it seems reasonably unlikely sufficient arrangements could have been made to get people to the airport in enough time for the 12:10 BA1483 to Heathrow - but, assuming seats were available, the 14:15 BA1487 could have been an option. The costs for some passengers extra luggage would have certainly put a strain on the Serco credit card mind you. ;)
 

theironroad

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So having made passengers 11 hours late they've then dumped them in the Glasgow Suburbs and said make your own way into Glasgow???

I wonder how many people were dumped atDalmuir eventually?

Didn't this fail near Corrour?, so any passengers waiting last night at any station south of Corrour (if it got to Corrour) would have been stranded all night.

It may well still be light at 0100 and at least it's been reasonably warm,.but finding last-minute beds near those stations would be challenging to say the least. I suppose the campers could set up on the platform ,but all seems pretty sure tbh.

Anyone know when the assisting loco arrived on scene ? Were there further issues ? Seems to have taken a longtime.
 

stantheman

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17 Nov 2017
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Wonder what happened to unfortunate passengers waiting for last nights southbound at Corrour , Rannoch .
 

stantheman

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I wonder how many people were dumped atDalmuir eventually?

Didn't this fail near Corrour?, so any passengers waiting last night at any station south of Corrour (if it got to Corrour) would have been stranded all night.

It may well still be light at 0100 and at least it's been reasonably warm,.but finding last-minute beds near those stations would be challenging to say the least. I suppose the campers could set up on the platform ,but all seems pretty sure tbh.

Anyone know when the assisting loco arrived on scene ? Were there further issues ? Seems to have taken a longtime.
Seems to have failed at Fersit tunnel
 

Dr Hoo

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Apologies if I have missed it ‘up thread’ but could somebody provide a quick summary of how the sleeper staff actually work?

I am imagining (1) ‘Sleeping Car Attendants’, who will actually check in passengers on the platform and then (whilst the train is running) be on duty to respond to calls, fire alarms, etc. in the sleeping cars and bring some passengers refreshments in the morning. (2) Lounge/buffet staff whose main role is ‘catering’ rather than looking after the actual sleeping cars, and (3) a ‘Train Manager’ who is largely an operational ‘guard’ in terms of despatch, liaison with the driver, contacting control and disseminating information within the train, probably via the other staff (other than in the seated coaches) I am not clear if the Train Manager has any direct authority over other on-board staff, e.g. in instructing them to lock vehicles out of use because of defective lighting, for instance. Is the Train Manager expected to perform any direct customer service roles if things get ‘busy’?

This may be all wrong. I also get that with portion working there may be distinct ‘teams’ over the sections where trains are running in combined formations.

It would be great to have a concise explanation from somebody who actually knows.
 

MadCommuter

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4 Oct 2010
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I don't know what CS control consists of, but resources must be limited through the night to deal with these issues. Even getting a suitable coach and driver that is adequately rested at the drop of a hat must be challenging. Last night there was at least 3 separate issues than needed resolving, I don't envy the person(s) in control.
 

Deafdoggie

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I don't know what CS control consists of, but resources must be limited through the night to deal with these issues. Even getting a suitable coach and driver that is adequately rested at the drop of a hat must be challenging. Last night there was at least 3 separate issues than needed resolving, I don't envy the person(s) in control.

Scottish schools are on holiday now, so there are probably more drivers and coaches freed up now at that end. The Southbound driver last night was told to stay in London till Sunday night "Just in case" whose instruction that was I do not know, either CS not being confident the stock would be fixed and possibly not being able to source a coach in London, or the coach company being confident it will not be fixed, and being able to charge for the return trip too!
 

Mathew S

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I don't know what CS control consists of, but resources must be limited through the night to deal with these issues. Even getting a suitable coach and driver that is adequately rested at the drop of a hat must be challenging. Last night there was at least 3 separate issues than needed resolving, I don't envy the person(s) in control.
Indeed. Looking on from afar it does have that feel of a tiny organisation struggling with more than it can really cope with.
 

PaxVobiscum

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I’m sure that failures on the various locos plus the unreliability of the ageing Mk2/3 sets would be keeping them busy enough without the MK5s throwing España in the works this summer.
 

WHL Spotter

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13 Mar 2019
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Scottish schools are on holiday now, so there are probably more drivers and coaches freed up now at that end. The Southbound driver last night was told to stay in London till Sunday night "Just in case" whose instruction that was I do not know, either CS not being confident the stock would be fixed and possibly not being able to source a coach in London, or the coach company being confident it will not be fixed, and being able to charge for the return trip too!
Abellio Rail Replacement organise the coaches for Serco, but trying to get a coach at 23:00 on a Friday night will be really hard given the location of the Fort William Breakdown
 

InOban

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12 Mar 2017
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Shiel buses are the local operator and are regular providers to Abellio.
Since the northbound ScotRail service had reached Corrour and had to return to Crianlarich it could collect any passengers from there, Rannoch and Bridge of Orchy.
 

Chrism20

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27 Feb 2013
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Scottish schools are on holiday now, so there are probably more drivers and coaches freed up now at that end. The Southbound driver last night was told to stay in London till Sunday night "Just in case" whose instruction that was I do not know, either CS not being confident the stock would be fixed and possibly not being able to source a coach in London, or the coach company being confident it will not be fixed, and being able to charge for the return trip too!

The coach driver we had southbound last night/this morning said he does a lot of rail replacement for the various TOCs operating out of central and that an agreement is in place for adhoc emergencies and that he was out the door and on his way to central within half an hour of the shout.

That then begs the question as to why when coaches were being talked about at approx 10:45pm it took till 1:25am for the first one to transpire.

I know they were trying to fix the fault but realistically how long do they try for considering that the stock had been in the platform since around 9pm.


One thing to note from looking back through twitter it should be pointed out that the person “aggressively” telling people to go back to the concourse was NOT CS staff, it was a member of the ScotRail gateline staff seemed to be getting a little agitated for some reason.

There was a Kilmarnock service went out whilst everyone was hanging about in that area but this didn’t happen until after that had departed.

There was also one CS passenger who kept trying to wander up the platform and a BTP officer had to tell him three times to get back, on the third occasion he was told in no uncertain terms to shift.

Overall the CS staff (3 in total) on the ground were overwhelmed but handled well, there were several passengers though that were quite in the crews face and I’d say they actually made the situation worse for the crew and fellow passengers.
 

DelW

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Abellio Rail Replacement organise the coaches for Serco, but trying to get a coach at 23:00 on a Friday night will be really hard given the location of the Fort William Breakdown
Though the coach driver staying in London "just in case" (post 3041) was driving the replacement for the cancelled up Glasgow, not the failed up Fort William, for whose pax bus was not an option.
It is becoming difficult to keep track of which failure is which.
 

Chrism20

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27 Feb 2013
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I’ve just had an email from Transport Focus on behalf of CS and Transport Scotland with one of their questionnaires.

Are these sent out at random? I’ve had the questionnaires before but don’t ever recall receiving one by email.
 

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