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Thameslink Services / Timetable from 18 May 2019

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sefton

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Any links to these tweets?

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Val3ntine

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Oh wow talk about hard evidence eh hahaha.
Hopefully the name’s an obvious give away that it’s most likely not really a train driver but just a troll, no sane person including a train driver would post that on their company’s twitter thread. It is funny though lol.
 

gingerheid

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A lot of groups of drivers have very indiscreet conversations on trains.

It is unfortunate that industrial relations are at a point where many take great delight in using, or finding, opportunities to cause disruption. It's hard to wonder how we will get away from that.
 

ComUtoR

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People take 'sickies' Shock ! Horror ! The end is coming !!
 

bramling

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A lot of groups of drivers have very indiscreet conversations on trains.

It is unfortunate that industrial relations are at a point where many take great delight in using, or finding, opportunities to cause disruption. It's hard to wonder how we will get away from that.

Yes unfortunately it's *very* common to find groups of GTR staff travelling pass very openly slagging off the company or gloating about how awkward they've been over something. If they're going to carry one like that then they could at least have the decency to do it in the confines of the messroom.
 

arb

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But out performed its SRTs...which are dependent on lots of things like the driver, the loading of the train, the railhead conditions, etc. etc. Can't be judged on one favourable run alone.

I don't know what SRT means, but I guess from context it's referring to travel time between stations?

If so, yes, it took 11.5 minutes to get from Ely to Cambridge North rather than the timetabled 12. So if it had taken 12, it could still have taken 2, rather than 2.5, waiting at Cambridge, and still been within the dwell times you quoted.

Then I become puzzled as to how these times are worked out. The train I quoted took 23 minutes from departing Cambridge to passing through (not calling at) Hitchin, against a timetabled 24.5. But I can find other trains, e.g. here, which are timetabled as only 23.5 minutes between Cambridge and Hitchin. Why the difference? There's no stops in either case, and no allowances shown. So we can in theory get 12+4+23.5 minutes travel time from Ely to Hitchin, plus 1+1.5 dwell times, which is 42 minutes from Ely to Hitchin. Which is exactly the amount of time my originally quoted train took, albeit as 11.5+4+23 travel time and 1+2.5 dwell time.

I'm not disputing that this has no margin for error - I'm just trying to understand why timetabling it like so would be against the rules?
 

OwenB

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Yes unfortunately it's *very* common to find groups of GTR staff travelling pass very openly slagging off the company or gloating about how awkward they've been over something. If they're going to carry one like that then they could at least have the decency to do it in the confines of the messroom.
I would presume drivers are getting sick and tired of being blamed by commuters of 'throwing sickies', when they're either on rest day or otherwise following their contracted hours. Also frustrating must be the Twitter team not really in a hurry to correct this notion.
 

BRX

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I would presume drivers are getting sick and tired of being blamed by commuters of 'throwing sickies', when they're either on rest day or otherwise following their contracted hours. Also frustrating must be the Twitter team not really in a hurry to correct this notion.
They'll not help themselves or their colleagues by having such conversations in earshot of passengers though!
 

choochoochoo

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They'll not help themselves or their colleagues by having such conversations in earshot of passengers though!

Although it's strange how some passengers are able to earwig a conversation but then somehow claim they didn't hear a PA.
 

Aictos

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If you check his profile fully you'll see he/she openly admits it was actually a rest day, and nothing more than a wind up..

Still not very professional, I know one former social media manager who would take a very very dim view of that and would actually take strong action against said Tweeter regardless if it was a windup or not!
 

jon0844

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Although it's strange how some passengers are able to earwig a conversation but then somehow claim they didn't hear a PA.

Some driver conversations are pretty loud, as if they want to be heard! Jump in the back of a 700 from Finsbury Park at the right time and it can be near full of staff (not just drivers but revenue, platform etc) due to changes in shift.
 

gingerheid

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Although it's strange how some passengers are able to earwig a conversation but then somehow claim they didn't hear a PA.

I mean, at a rough guess, it's probably because there's more than one passenger and they don't have uniform hearing?

And the conversations are *really* not discreet. More like excitable gaggle of teenagers in school playground, or the lads in the pub after the match...
 

bramling

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I mean, at a rough guess, it's probably because there's more than one passenger and they don't have uniform hearing?

And the conversations are *really* not discreet. More like excitable gaggle of teenagers in school playground, or the lads in the pub after the match...

The train really shouldn't be treated as an extension of the train crew messroom. It's indicative of weak management and staff lacking respect for the job / company.

It’s something which doesn’t do anyone any favours. It’s irritating for passengers, and it doesn’t do train staff any good for the wider populace to form the opinion that it’s filled by people who haven’t moved on from school days, when in reality it’s a skilled and respected safety-critical job which should command a level of respect.
 
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43074

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I don't know what SRT means, but I guess from context it's referring to travel time between stations?

If so, yes, it took 11.5 minutes to get from Ely to Cambridge North rather than the timetabled 12. So if it had taken 12, it could still have taken 2, rather than 2.5, waiting at Cambridge, and still been within the dwell times you quoted.

Then I become puzzled as to how these times are worked out. The train I quoted took 23 minutes from departing Cambridge to passing through (not calling at) Hitchin, against a timetabled 24.5. But I can find other trains, e.g. here, which are timetabled as only 23.5 minutes between Cambridge and Hitchin. Why the difference? There's no stops in either case, and no allowances shown. So we can in theory get 12+4+23.5 minutes travel time from Ely to Hitchin, plus 1+1.5 dwell times, which is 42 minutes from Ely to Hitchin. Which is exactly the amount of time my originally quoted train took, albeit as 11.5+4+23 travel time and 1+2.5 dwell time.

In the instance you quote the Timetable Planning Rules require an additional minute being applied depending which platform the train departs from at Cambridge, that is applied as 'adjustment time' which takes account of things like slow crossovers and the like, but unlike the other allowances (pathing, performance and engineering) doesn't show on schedules on Realtime or Open Train Times, and is only visible to the planner. Without seeing the schedule I would suggest that would account for the discrepancy between a train taking 23.5 and 24.5 minutes in your example.

SRT stands for Sectional Running Time, which as you rightly surmise is the point to point timing for a given traction type; timing points, the locations which appear on each schedule, can include junctions, stations, signals, depots and level crossings.
 
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