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Disruption at Middlesbrough 16/9/19

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Kingspanner

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So this morning services between Middlesbrough and Whitby/Saltburn/Darlington/Newcastle were disrupted because Middlesbrough station was not unlocked by TPE staff until 0650 leaving Northern traincrew out of position.
Northern are going to blame TPE and tell us that onward road transport has been provided and Delay/Repay etc etc.
But my question is, how can Northern leave themselves so exposed to failure by another company?
 
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westcoaster

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Could be something as simple as the key holder being ill, you then have to await another qualified person to arrive. (Other staff may not be key holders or trained to open up).
 
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ExRes

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Kingspanner said:
So this morning services between Middlesbrough and Whitby/Saltburn/Darlington/Newcastle were disrupted because Middlesbrough station was not unlocked by TPE staff until 0650 leaving Northern traincrew out of position.
Northern are going to blame TPE and tell us that onward road transport has been provided and Delay/Repay etc etc.
But my question is, how can Northern leave themselves so exposed to failure by another company?
Click to expand...

Middlesbrough station is managed by TPE, what do you suggest Northern do?
 
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Kingspanner

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ComUtoR said:
There what is ?
Click to expand...
The lame excuse. No disrespect to @westcoaster, but not having enough keyholders and/or trained staff to be able to open a medium sized station on time just isn't good enough. This one is within the TOCs control and they need to be robust.
Companies need to cooperate in their disaster planning, and a single point failure like "the keyholder has gone sick", can't be allowed.
 
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Bantamzen

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Kingspanner said:
The lame excuse. No disrespect to @westcoaster, but not having enough keyholders and/or trained staff to be able to open a medium sized station on time just isn't good enough. This one is within the TOCs control and they need to be robust.
Companies need to cooperate in their disaster planning, and a single point failure like "the keyholder has gone sick", can't be allowed.
Click to expand...

Contingency planning is a absolute must this is true, but every contingency plan needs a trigger point. We are entering speculation mode now, but what if the keyholder was indeed sick & had slept in as a result, thereby unable to make contact to allow the contingency plan to kick in before the required opening time? I'm not saying this is the case here, but it can & does happen. It may well be that the next nearest keyholder was some distance away, and so there could well be a period between the rostered keyholder ringing in to the replacement one arriving. How do you as building owner know to trigger a contingency plan, when you are unaware that an issue is arising?
 
westcoaster

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Kingspanner said:
The lame excuse. No disrespect to @westcoaster, but not having enough keyholders and/or trained staff to be able to open a medium sized station on time just isn't good enough. This one is within the TOCs control and they need to be robust.
Companies need to cooperate in their disaster planning, and a single point failure like "the keyholder has gone sick", can't be allowed.
Click to expand...
But it happens, a keyholder comes with responsibility. The next available keyholder might live an hour away.
Also not 100 % as ive never been there, does Middlesbrough have a minimum safe manning in place, as its underground.
 
Darandio

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westcoaster said:
But it happens, a keyholder comes with responsibility. The next available keyholder might live an hour away.
Also not 100 % as ive never been there, does Middlesbrough have a minimum safe manning in place, as its underground.
Click to expand...

Middlesbrough underground? o_O
 
Spartacus

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Two key holders sick. If you have too many key holders, especially in this day and age, you begin to have issues regarding security concerns.
 
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