Another fantastic day with Avanti

[GoneSouth]

Been like that for many years at some operators. I see no sign of that changing anytime soon.

Well it should! If the overtime ban has achieved anything this week it is an own goal. Now absolutely everyone knows that the railway doesn’t function without voluntary overtime, that has been made very clear by the chaos this week.

Primary outcome is to strengthen the government’s call for reform. Things have to change and reliance on voluntary working can’t continue, they are correct about that.

 

[exbrel]

And the “performance” fee on top doesn’t solely rate to train performance - in fact train performance is very much in the minority.

I understand that the full time union official has intervened in the case of the two drivers depots that have not agreed the new rosters and, subject to tweaks, the new rosters should be live in early January.

i watched the committee meeting on Dec 14th at Westminister, and the Avanti rep. said 6 of the 8 had agreed to the rosters, 2 were still talking they being Wolverhampton and Euston...

 

[Falcon1200]

06:30 Glasgow-Euston is cancelled
06:52 Edinburgh-Euston starts Preston
07:36 Glasgow-Euston is Cancelled
08:00 Glasgow-Euston starts Preston

I saw my daughter's friend off at Glasgow Central on the 0838 to Euston, which was at least running (and not surprisingly was very busy). However, despite having a reserved seat as shown on her ticket, the at-seat display did not show it so of course someone was already in her seat. How difficult is it to get basics like this right? At the end of the day however it mattered little as after departure the Train Manager announced that seat reservations no longer applied anyway.

Thankfully (for her but not for the railway industry) the friend is making the return journey by coach.

 

[Merle Haggard]

Rugby Station was notably shut from 2145 Thursday. Anything stopping was just for crew changes, passengers had to be locked on.

R.T.T. shows the trains booked to stop at Rugby with arrival and departure times but 'PASS' in the left hand column.

How did this work for Rugby passengers, do you know? Were they dumped off at Milton Keynes, or did the same apply there? To Euston? For the later trains, there doesn't seem to have been any return service, but they would not have had a valid ticket for that journey anyway. It must have been pretty frustrating for Avanti customers, to say the least.

 

[pokemonsuper9]

However, despite having a reserved seat as shown on her ticket, the at-seat display did not show it so of course someone was already in her seat. How difficult is it to get basics like this right? At the end of the day however it mattered little as after departure the Train Manager announced that seat reservations no longer applied anyway.

I have occasionally noticed reservations not showing up on displays
happened to me once at Euston but I was getting on the train along with the other ones who knew how to get the platform number early so I easily got my reservation.
I feel like it's a bit unfair to say reservations don't apply, considering people reserve seats and so they should get priority on them, removing reservations should only matter if reservations are checked like tickets are but people fill in empty reservations

 

[Carlisle]

C2C is such a small operation that to get it badly wrong would take considerable effort. It's even simpler than Merseyrail.

During the 1980s it was widely known as a very unreliable route, obviously the new signalling & fleet has since solved that .

 

[Falcon1200]

I feel like it's a bit unfair to say reservations don't apply, considering people reserve seats and so they should get priority on them, removing reservations should only matter if reservations are checked like tickets are but people fill in empty reservations

I agree, but presume the reason today was the cancellation of earlier services, leading to extremely heavy loadings with many people who had reserved seats, some on the cancelled train and some of course on the 0838 itself. Removing people from one's reserved seat is not always a simple or indeed safe process!

 

[185]

(In relation to the Rugby incident) Presumably because of the overtime ban?

Correct.

But Avanti blaming an overtime ban just doesn't cut it for major station having to be closed and locked up - that really should be dragging some of their (+/-500?) managers out of their houses to cover these 'staff shortage' gaps they already knew about.

TPE & FNW were censured for running on absolutely minimal station staff which ultimately went pear shaped.

 

[SteveM70]

Things have to change and reliance on voluntary working can’t continue

A more general question so apologies for going a bit off topic, but the DfT has known for donkeys years that the railway relies heavily on voluntary overtime and rest day working. Why didn't it make a resolution of this a condition in the many invitations to tender it issued for the various franchises over the years?

 

[BluePenguin]

Seatfrog seems to have a minimum bid of £35 on Avanti services whenever I’ve idly checked? Happy to be corrected of course!

Considering £10 upgrades on LNER are usually available, £35 feels too high as a starting bid. The food alone is not worth that price let alone the more comfortable seats

Unless you are seriously overweight and need extra space or really can’t sit next to someone, I can’t understand who is willing to pay that price. Although that is for another thread

Avanti clearly know their market well and will charge the maximum they can get away while providing very minimum level of service in return

 

[Bletchleyite]

It clearly makes no sense for Avanti to sell it for less than Standard Premium, which is where the £35 figure comes from.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

It clearly makes no sense for Avanti to sell it for less than Standard Premium, which is where the £35 figure comes from.

Indeed. If 'Standard Premium' is £25 for the comfier seating, then the £35 Avanti first class 'Seatfrog' upgrade is "just" £10 extra on top of that.

 

[43066]

I feel like Avanti are worried about losing the WCML, they said things would get better at timetable change and, well we know how that went.
Maybe they hope they can bluff their way into existence, we'll see in the coming months if things get better or Avanti are out (although it is somewhat worth mentioning people's thoughts on how could another operator do any better).

Basically they need to sort out their IR issues out via an acceptable-to-all-parties-offer, and the government are preventing that.

A more general question so apologies for going a bit off topic, but the DfT has known for donkeys years that the railway relies heavily on voluntary overtime and rest day working. Why didn't it make a resolution of this a condition in the many invitations to tender it issued for the various franchises over the years?

Because not relying on onetime would cost more money. Reliance on overtime will continue, mark my words….

 

[dk1]

I saw my daughter's friend off at Glasgow Central on the 0838 to Euston, which was at least running (and not surprisingly was very busy). However, despite having a reserved seat as shown on her ticket, the at-seat display did not show it so of course someone was already in her seat. How difficult is it to get basics like this right? At the end of the day however it mattered little as after departure the Train Manager announced that seat reservations no longer applied anyway.

Thankfully (for her but not for the railway industry) the friend is making the return journey by coach.

Pendolino seat reservations have been notoriously unreliable for years. It seems the same with many long distance operators making them a free for all during disruption. Personally I never reserve so doesn't affect me unless you get those ranting that it's their seat until corrected.

 

[Meyrick]

I find it bizarre that the Sunday service is reliant on staff saying they will do overtime, at least as I understand it for at least some operators.

For some operators and some grades. For example, a TOC I won’t name:

In the working week: Train Managers and Caterers
Not in the working week: Station staff and drivers

Some grades negotiated it in the working week, some did not.

However the general vibe from the union is that they want Sunday inside the working week because it results in more staff being hired (you can’t do it without either extending the working week or hiring more staff)

Most companies do not want it, as hiring more staff means more national insurance contributions, more pension contributions and more admin staff to manage the bigger work force.

Ultimately, relying on overtime is cheaper for a company than hiring enough staff. It just bites you in the butt when industrial relations break down

 

[jayah]

Well it should! If the overtime ban has achieved anything this week it is an own goal. Now absolutely everyone knows that the railway doesn’t function without voluntary overtime, that has been made very clear by the chaos this week.

Primary outcome is to strengthen the government’s call for reform. Things have to change and reliance on voluntary working can’t continue, they are correct about that.

The railway can't operate sustainably without overtime unless the 35hr week is scrapped or there are massive and permanent reductions in services.

The same can be said for Sundays which are by definition overtime if outside the working week.