Can any current/former Chiltern Railways drivers talk about whether they enjoy working for the company?

[Twotwo]

Southern at London Victoria use to have a night turn on Saturday finishing 7am and then back in 530am Monday.

Crazy, most of our Saturday night turns don't have a back end. And we go on lates after nights.

 

[whoosh]

As for Chiltern, I've heard many good things from the people who used to work there - though the RAIB report on the SPAD at Chalfont & Latimer does give an insight into some challenges experienced by the driver management team at Marylebone which I found quite surprising. It might be worth a read - it also provides some interesting insights into how Chiltern work over LUL routes.

I note with interest the sideways movement from Head of Drivers to Head of Future Operations since!

 

[12LDA28C]

I used to be a Marylebone based Driver back in what is considered the Golden years (Late 90's). Karen Harrison was one of about 5 female Marylebone drivers and a good friend and the 165 fleet were only about 5 years old and I was there when the 168/0 units came in and were a disaster from day 1.

A few years later I was Marylebone TCS alongside Jim Roberts and Pete Chart.

The job back then was good but ruined by the politics which it was difficult to avoid. The senior Management hadn't got a clue.
Arriva runs it now, so must be better. I knew Mike Bagshaw back then as he worked at Chiltern and was one of the few managers who actually knew what he was doing. I think he is MD now.

Mike Bagshaw is not Chiltern MD and I’m not sure you’ll find too many people agreeing that things have improved since Arriva took over.

No indeed it isn't but there's certainly better tocs out there for rostering

I’m not sure how you’re in a position to claim that if you haven’t worked for a variety of TOCs to be able to compare.

 

[Class2ldn]

Mike Bagshaw is not Chiltern MD and I’m not sure you’ll find too many people agreeing that things have improved since Arriva took over.



I’m not sure how you’re in a position to claim that if you haven’t worked for a variety of TOCs to be able to compare.

I worked for enough to compare thanks.
Like I said its not the worst but its certainly not the best.

 

[PLY2AYS]

I worked for enough to compare thanks.
Like I said its not the worst but its certainly not the best.

Out of curiosity, could you name some better TOCs and your reasons as to why they’re better than Chiltern? Always keen to learn Ts&Cs on other franchises.

 

[Samzino]

Mike Bagshaw is not Chiltern MD and I’m not sure you’ll find too many people agreeing that things have improved since Arriva took over.

I believe MB is talking about when Mike used to be commercial director at Chiltern back in 2002-2005 and now is a MD(not specifically at Chiltern but mentioning that's the level he has attained of recent, in reference to "I knew Mike Bagshaw back then as he worked at Chiltern and was one of the few managers who actually knew what he was doing.")

 

[Class2ldn]

Out of curiosity, could you name some better TOCs and your reasons as to why they’re better than Chiltern? Always keen to learn Ts&Cs on other franchises.

I've already named a couple previously, the problem with chiltern is they don't have a 4 day week, I believe banbury is based on a 4 day week hence the longer jobs to say marylebone.
They do have a 50% Saturday agreement but that normally means splitting the rest days so you'll have an odd Wednesday chucked in somewhere but its not consistent.
You can at least do permanent swaps at chiltern ie earlies or lates so on that respect it makes the changeovers on the weekends a bit easier.
Compare to say TL who have a true four day week, fixed rest days where you can plan years and years in advance.
The downside to TL is the because they swap over on the Wednesday Thursday rest days to earlies and the 3 shifts you can't do one permanent shift, you have to rotate with the roster but tbf nobody really seemed to mind because it was done so that before you're long weekend every 3rd week you'd always finish on an early and come back on a late to give you the maximum time off.
You're also always guaranteed at least 2 days off every week even if you work your Sunday and only 7 days in a row, unless you work your rest days.
Pros and cons to both and if you can get on a permanent swap at chiltern it probably makes life a lot easier.
The work content is a lot less at chiltern then a lot of other tocs as well so it all needs to be weighed up.

 

[baz962]

I've already named a couple previously, the problem with chiltern is they don't have a 4 day week, I believe banbury is based on a 4 day week hence the longer jobs to say marylebone.
They do have a 50% Saturday agreement but that normally means splitting the rest days so you'll have an odd Wednesday chucked in somewhere but its not consistent.
You can at least do permanent swaps at chiltern ie earlies or lates so on that respect it makes the changeovers on the weekends a bit easier.
Compare to say TL who have a true four day week, fixed rest days where you can plan years and years in advance.
The downside to TL is the because they swap over on the Wednesday Thursday rest days to earlies and the 3 shifts you can't do one permanent shift, you have to rotate with the roster but tbf nobody really seemed to mind because it was done so that before you're long weekend every 3rd week you'd always finish on an early and come back on a late to give you the maximum time off.
You're also always guaranteed at least 2 days off every week even if you work your Sunday and only 7 days in a row, unless you work your rest days.
Pros and cons to both and if you can get on a permanent swap at chiltern it probably makes life a lot easier.
The work content is a lot less at chiltern then a lot of other tocs as well so it all needs to be weighed up.

I thought at TL you did four days and new drivers also have to commit to 12 Sundays a year to make it 4.25 day week or is that not correct. As an aside we have a true four day week at EMR.

 

[Class2ldn]

New drivers do have to commit to 12, drivers before the last pay deal have to commit to 8 but you can give them away, normally enough grabbers to do them lol.
Also it's only 7 days notice to chuck in a Sunday at TL, 14 at Chiltern.
Its good to see the comparisons at TOCs, I mean for trainees it shouldn't really affect a decision on which company to start with, getting your key is the main aim , once you've got it then where you go is up to you.

 

[PLY2AYS]

Its good to see the comparisons at TOCs, I mean for trainees it shouldn't really affect a decision on which company to start with, getting your key is the main aim , once you've got it then where you go is up to you.

Very much agree, thanks for the insight! It’s always good to hear others’ opinions on TOCs, Ts&Cs and work content!

Appreciate you going to those lengths to outline the points you’ve made.

 

[12LDA28C]

I've already named a couple previously, the problem with chiltern is they don't have a 4 day week, I believe banbury is based on a 4 day week hence the longer jobs to say marylebone.
They do have a 50% Saturday agreement but that normally means splitting the rest days so you'll have an odd Wednesday chucked in somewhere but its not consistent.

Is the lack of four-day week at all Chiltern depots really a problem? Certainly at Aylesbury a 4-day week roster has been proposed more than once and been rejected by the drivers which suggests pretty strongly that they don't want it.

I'm sure you'll find the 50% Saturday RD agreement is much better than most TOCs and a major benefit for Chiltern drivers. 'An odd Wednesday' RD as a result is a small price to pay for working on average only every other Saturday (and rather less, once A/L is taken into account).

 

[Class2ldn]

Depends which way you look at it really, I get the argument about the Saturday off but is it worth it if you're working a lot of days in between and not getting adequate rest because of it, not so sure but everyone's different, some like it, some dont.
Not sure I'd want to work 10 days on the bounce for it

 

[baz962]

We work just over 30 Saturdays but with leave etc maybe high 20's. Only around 16 Sundays though and I put quite a few ad hoc in so around 5 or 6 a year

 

[craigybagel]

I thought at TL you did four days and new drivers also have to commit to 12 Sundays a year to make it 4.25 day week or is that not correct. As an aside we have a true four day week at EMR.

I've seen your 4 day roster though, it's a bit unpredictable. It's got some good groupings of time off together, but it's hard to predict.

Is the lack of four-day week at all Chiltern depots really a problem? Certainly at Aylesbury a 4-day week roster has been proposed more than once and been rejected by the drivers which suggests pretty strongly that they don't want it.

We have one large depot that still has drivers on a 5 day week. A few years ago, a small group of drivers got together and formed a small 4 day link for those who wanted to try it. The company were happy to agree up it given that every other depot is 4 day week. The rest of the drivers there were adamant they loved their 5 day week and would never change, despite the companies best efforts.

Over time, it's now the 4 day link that's the big one and the 5 day link that's small, as everyone who's gone over to 4 days has been raving about how great it is.

I'm sure you'll find the 50% Saturday RD agreement is much better than most TOCs and a major benefit for Chiltern drivers. 'An odd Wednesday' RD as a result is a small price to pay for working on average only every other Saturday (and rather less, once A/L is taken into account).

If this thread has shown one thing, it's that everybody has a very different personal definition of what makes a good link! At least we're in an industry where there's sometimes some degree of choice.

 

[baz962]

I've seen your 4 day roster though, it's a bit unpredictable. It's got some good groupings of time off together, but it's hard to predict.

We have one large depot that still has drivers on a 5 day week. A few years ago, a small group of drivers got together and formed a small 4 day link for those who wanted to try it. The company were happy to agree up it given that every other depot is 4 day week. The rest of the drivers there were adamant they loved their 5 day week and would never change, despite the companies best efforts.

Over time, it's now the 4 day link that's the big one and the 5 day link that's small, as everyone who's gone over to 4 days has been raving about how great it is.

If this thread has shown one thing, it's that everybody has a very different personal definition of what makes a good link! At least we're in an industry where there's sometimes some degree of choice.

Maybe it's just me but what does hard to predict mean. We don't predict , we just look at the roster.

 

[craigybagel]

Maybe it's just me but what does hard to predict mean. We don't predict , we just look at the roster.

A lot of us are used to a repeating pattern every 3 weeks with a 5 day Friday - Tuesday weekend. You can put it into your calendar years ahead, where so long as you don't change link position you'll always know what rest days you'll have.

 

[MB TCS]

Mike Bagshaw is not Chiltern MD and I’m not sure you’ll find too many people agreeing that things have improved since Arriva took over.



I’m not sure how you’re in a position to claim that if you haven’t worked for a variety of TOCs to be able to compare.

Every TOC was a different company, so its like comparing grapes and bananas, so any comparison anyone makes is invalid anyway.
Chiltern was mentioned in the thread, so I was giving my opinion based on the 15 years I worked there, after 10 years at British Rail prior to Chiltern.

 

[12LDA28C]

Every TOC was a different company, so its like comparing grapes and bananas, so any comparison anyone makes is invalid anyway.
Chiltern was mentioned in the thread, so I was giving my opinion based on the 15 years I worked there, after 10 years at British Rail prior to Chiltern.

Yes TOCs are different but this thread specifically asked drivers to share their views. With that in mind, a comparison can certainly be made with other TOCs regarding average length of driving turn, pay enhancements applicable, intensity of work, Roster details and Rest Day patterns, Leave arrangements, Ts & Cs and so on.