Impact of the Johnson Ministry on the UK Rail Industry

Beemax · 6 Aug 2019

Unless they have tight connections, I don’t think regular passengers are too bothered about being a minute or two late due to dwell times. What really bothers them, in my experience, and what probably contributes to the overall (un)reliability figures is the lack of resilience of some rail companies in the event of a major incident (a major infrastructure failure or a suicide) which may not be the fault of the train operator but can often affect operations for the rest of the day, even if the primary cause is cleared after an hour or so. Not pretending there are any easy answers, but these events are so frequent that you’d think some degree of contingency planning expertise would be built up over the years. At the very least, station staff should be able to tell passengers what is going on, rather than the other way round.

Sorry, going off topic, but I’m not sure what influence Boris or Mr Schnapps can have upon this (apart from a no-deal Brexit increasing the suicide rate)

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hooverboy · 6 Aug 2019

pt_mad said:
Aye but even if all Pacers ran right time they'd be widely slated.

sure, times change, people change, needs change. fact of life.

they saved a lot of lines from closure back in the day, yes they were basic, but they did a job.
nawadays they are not fast enough, not comfortable enough, worn out....they are due retirement for sure,

TOC's could have probably made more of an effort with comfort, but that is what you get when the franchise system as it is set up is not really competition at all, it is a regional monopoly......so best practice and customer focus go out of the window when it's a licence to print money.
in real competition you have to give a little bit extra to win the market share...might be better service, might be cheaper products.

hooverboy · 6 Aug 2019

Beemax said:
Unless they have tight connections, I don’t think regular passengers are too bothered about being a minute or two late due to dwell times. What really bothers them, in my experience, and what probably contributes to the overall (un)reliability figures is the lack of resilience of some rail companies in the event of a major incident (a major infrastructure failure or a suicide) which may not be the fault of the train operator but can often affect operations for the rest of the day, even if the primary cause is cleared after an hour or so. Not pretending there are any easy answers, but these events are so frequent that you’d think some degree of contingency planning expertise would be built up over the years. At the very least, station staff should be able to tell passengers what is going on, rather than the other way round.

Sorry, going off topic, but I’m not sure what influence Boris or Mr Schnapps can have upon this (apart from a no-deal Brexit increasing the suicide rate)

I'm waiting for the announcement ,
"we regret to inform you that the xx.xx to xxxxxx is delayed by approximately 8 minute, this is due to...the driver having diarrhoea"

not really quite so much detail required methinks.

Sleeperwaking · 6 Aug 2019

pt_mad said:
Worthy of a thread in its own right. Some long distance intercity services have stops of one minute, yet passengers queue up for two or three doors.

I was skim reading and read that as "... yet passengers queue up for two or three days". o_O

Anyway, I'm sure I've read somewhere about TOCs wanting to create an app for passengers that shows live train loading, so that passengers can wait at the right part of the platform to board one of the less rammed carriages. Although how that would work in reality remains to be seen.

edwin_m · 6 Aug 2019

Sleeperwaking said:
I was skim reading and read that as "... yet passengers queue up for two or three days". Anyway, I'm sure I've read somewhere about TOCs wanting to create an app for passengers that shows live train loading, so that passengers can wait at the right part of the platform to board one of the less rammed carriages. Although how that would work in reality remains to be seen.

Quite a few station indicators now show this information.

Dwell times should be reduced by reviewing door procedures so the doors can be opened without doing the check that the train is platformed. At stations where the variability of trains leads to a significant risk of one stopping in the wrong place, there could be an automatic system similar to SDO to ensure the full train is platformed before the doors can be released. Driver or even fully automatic release of doors would also help in situations where the conductor is involved in revenue or passenger care duties. The doors themselves could also be modified to open and close more quickly, closing in parallel with the hustle tone rather than mostly after it. This would also make it less likely that people would attempt to board or alight when the door close had been activated - there could be another sound such as a whistle to warn people to board quickly before door closure.

modernrail · 6 Aug 2019

I suspect it will be some sort of play on the equation:

New commitments = Commitments already made but now re-labled + Things that have annoyed the Minister personally over the years + (Things that play to marginal seats x sufficient feasibility reports to make it look like something might be happening) / amount of money available that hasn't already been spent on working out how to re-deploy fairground ghost trains and model railways to carry unicorn dust in the event of a no-deal Brexit.

The Ham · 17 Aug 2019

Djgr said:
Well yes, except Jeremy Corbyn does know something about railways, in that he subscribes to (or used to) a well-known fortnightly railway magazine (and also a bit more about the realities of broken Britain, outside the world of the 1%-ers)

I would suggest that people look up where they sit on the global rich list:

http://www.globalrichlist.com/

You'd have to be earning less than £25,500 a year to fall outside to the top 1% by income for the world. Whilst those on £33,000 or more are in the top 0.5% and those on £42,500 or more are in the top 0.25%.

As such many of us are, unknowingly, part of the 1% who impact the most on the way the economy of the world works.

It is why we should be taking a lead in ensuring that the predicts we buy and the services we use are the best for the planet, as where we lead the rest of the world follows.

Now to be clear this is on data from 2008, so by current pay it could be a bit different from this. However, even if wage inflation had an impact the world's poorest (lowest 50% earn less than £1,000 a year) would have to have seen significant wage growth to make much difference to the overall result.

As such Corbyn is just as much of the worldwide global elite as those who we see as rich in this country, or the USA.

dctraindriver · 17 Aug 2019

The Ham said:
I would suggest that people look up where they sit on the global rich list:

http://www.globalrichlist.com/

You'd have to be earning less than £25,500 a year to fall outside to the top 1% by income for the world. Whilst those on £33,000 or more are in the top 0.5% and those on £42,500 or more are in the top 0.25%.

As such many of us are, unknowingly, part of the 1% who impact the most on the way the economy of the world works.

It is why we should be taking a lead in ensuring that the predicts we buy and the services we use are the best for the planet, as where we lead the rest of the world follows.

Now to be clear this is on data from 2008, so by current pay it could be a bit different from this. However, even if wage inflation had an impact the world's poorest (lowest 50% earn less than £1,000 a year) would have to have seen significant wage growth to make much difference to the overall result.

As such Corbyn is just as much of the worldwide global elite as those who we see as rich in this country, or the USA.

Very commendable, however that doesn’t butter many parsnips when many are finding it a struggle living in expensive parts of the UK......

Camden · 17 Aug 2019

Given the things he and his mates comes out with, or don't, the weird prioritising, and flip flopping positions of convenience, I doubt that the well paid Islingtonite politician knows/cares as much about the realities of "broken Britain" as some suggest.

Maduro purports to be a man of the people too.

Class 170101 · 17 Aug 2019

hwl said:
One thing from the old NR report that has hardly seen any action is the importance of spreading people evenly along the train - this often means improving canopies so everyone does try to use a small number of doors at a station when it rains.

I agree with this comment and have seen it in action many times. It seemed bizarre at the time that when Stratford was being rebuilt for the Olympics that canopies weren't provided on all platforms.

Carlisle · 17 Aug 2019

Class 170101 said:
I agree with this comment and have seen it in action many times. It seemed bizarre at the time that when Stratford was being rebuilt for the Olympics that canopies weren't provided on all platforms.

Statistically London gets less rain than Paris etc, so maybe we should concentrate on all major stations in northern England, Scotland and N.I. first .

Class 170101 · 17 Aug 2019

Carlisle said:
Statistically London gets less rain than Paris etc, so maybe we should concentrate on all major stations in northern England, Scotland and N.I. first .

Possibly but how many trains are long enough to stand a significant distance outside one compared to parts of London?

Carlisle · 17 Aug 2019

Class 170101 said:
Possibly but how many trains are long enough to stand a significant distance outside one compared to parts of London?

All but the very major stations on the northern part of the ECML & WCML for starters

Edders23 · 17 Aug 2019

DarloRich said:
Impact: zero

I would agree Bojo the clown is full of hot air but no substance when push comes to shove the money won't be there

If we are playing fantasy rail project reinstatement though I would vote for......... ......................................................................................................................... the replacement bridge for Tallington level crossing it is desperately needed

Impact of the Johnson Ministry on the UK Rail Industry

Beemax

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hooverboy

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hooverboy

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Sleeperwaking

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edwin_m

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modernrail

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The Ham

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dctraindriver

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Camden

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Class 170101

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Carlisle

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Class 170101

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Carlisle

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Edders23

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