Not understood why GTR needed to run a Saturday timetable. Do they have less people working from home than say SWR?
This sounded positive until I looked right below it!Northern, on their timetables page, are now referring to 'temporary timetable' rather than 'key workers timetable'.
Northern Timetables
I do hope the key workers are prepared to share their personal trains effective from 6 July.
Temporary timetable for key workers and essential journeys
This sounded positive until I looked right below it!
That is so annoying. Will Northern ever learn? But, despite that, I will continue to use the train.
On the GN side the Saturday timetable is pretty much the same as the weekday timetable. The only exceptions are a few extras in the peaks.
Northern, on their timetables page, are now referring to 'temporary timetable' rather than 'key workers timetable'.
Northern Timetables
I do hope the key workers are prepared to share their personal trains effective from 6 July.
So we now have the economy opening up on the 7th and a call by Government for something approaching normal timetabling, yet Northern, in splendid isolation is refusing to run a service for its ordinary customers, whilst large swathes of the network continue to be hobbled with unusable timetables.
I'm coming to the conclusion that "Northern Rail" as an entity needs to be dispanded and it's routes reintegrated with the rest of thew wider network.
That is rather difficult to believe. Before the virus the driver training situation had calmed down somewhat, and whilst admittedly on Sundays there were often lots of (pre-planned) cancellations, the Monday-Saturday service was generally OK.Northern have been particularly badly hit by the virus, and especially the cessation of driver training. I’m sure they are operating as many services as they can within the resources available.
Northern have been particularly badly hit by the virus, and especially the cessation of driver training. I’m sure they are operating as many services as they can within the resources available.
That is rather difficult to believe. Before the virus the driver training situation had calmed down somewhat, and whilst admittedly on Sundays there were often lots of (pre-planned) cancellations, the Monday-Saturday service was generally OK.
Take the line through Bentham. It was run with 158's before the lockdown. It's not getting new trains, so no training requirement there, yet it has one train from Leeds at about 7 in the morning, followed by one at 13:15
The so-called "workers trains" arrive in Lancaster at either 6:31 or 10:06, which doesn't strike me as particularly employment friendly.
I don't think the service on that line has ever been particularly anything-friendly. It's one of those "we'll do what we can be bothered" rural lines.
No. Shielding individuals from the 1st August IF they cannot work from home, and only as long as the workplace is COVID secure if not.Does this mean people who are shielding will be ok to go back to work from that date?
Quite. Even under the normal timetable the Lancaster arrivals are 0631 and 0913. Better, but not much!
That is an issue that needs to be looked into in more detail and not just accepted as "how it is". I wouldn't be surprised if higher staff absence is fundamentally due to poor industrial relations rather than Northern staff actually being worse afflicted with the virus or with things that put them in the (very) high risk category.Trouble is that drivers don’t stop leaving just because there’s a virus on, and when you can’t train their replacements ....
Also Northern had (and continue to have) more people off work with the virus and shielding than any other operator.
I don’t have the numbers (and wouldn’t post them if I could), but I’d be surprised if they weren’t several hundred drivers short (in terms of be8ng fully productive) across their Network.
A perfect example. I don’t know where that line is crewed from - presumably Skipton and Leeds. Presumably the drivers also operate other services. With a resource base limited below normal, the planners have to take the difficult call of which services to remove, and will aim to remove those that affect the fewest people. Or put another way, they will aim to run as many services, for as many passengers for the resources they have.
Re the training, it won’t all be traction conversion for new stock, indeed I’d be surprised if that was even half of it. It’s just as much about training new drivers, and getting route knowledge for each driver to become fully productive. Given that a significant number of drivers haven’t been near a train for nearly 4 months, many will have lost routes from their route card, and currently can’t get them back.
That is an issue that needs to be looked into in more detail and not just accepted as "how it is". I wouldn't be surprised if higher staff absence is fundamentally due to poor industrial relations rather than Northern staff actually being worse afflicted with the virus or with things that put them in the (very) high risk category.
I can fly from a UK airport abroad, but am I allowed to use public transport to get there?
Right now public transport can be used for essential journeys only, but we’re expecting this to change in around 2 weeks
On BBC Breakfast this morning a question was asked
...
Well if it has, the outcome of the review hasn't been made very public. It's that kind of transparency that is needed to regain public trust!I’m sure it has been looked in to - at length!
You can't ask train operators to make public details that most businesses would tell you to shove off about if you asked. You can of course make the public interest argument, but in that case it's a matter for the government. Of course, you can now get some details through freedom of information.Well if it has, the outcome of the review hasn't been made very public. It's that kind of transparency that is needed to regain public trust!
On BBC Breakfast this morning a question was asked
The response
...which had its service doubled a couple of years ago and a further train added since - which I agree would be better an hour earlier.I don't think the service on that line has ever been particularly anything-friendly. It's one of those "we'll do what we can be bothered" rural lines.
Presume you mean the temporary timetable? The regular one is pretty good.It's near useless for Leeds too.
Trouble is that drivers don’t stop leaving just because there’s a virus on, and when you can’t train their replacements ....
Also Northern had (and continue to have) more people off work with the virus and shielding than any other operator.
I don’t have the numbers (and wouldn’t post them if I could), but I’d be surprised if they weren’t several hundred drivers short (in terms of be8ng fully productive) across their Network.
A perfect example. I don’t know where that line is crewed from - presumably Skipton and Leeds. Presumably the drivers also operate other services. With a resource base limited below normal, the planners have to take the difficult call of which services to remove, and will aim to remove those that affect the fewest people. Or put another way, they will aim to run as many services, for as many passengers for the resources they have.
Re the training, it won’t all be traction conversion for new stock, indeed I’d be surprised if that was even half of it. It’s just as much about training new drivers, and getting route knowledge for each driver to become fully productive. Given that a significant number of drivers haven’t been near a train for nearly 4 months, many will have lost routes from their route card, and currently can’t get them back.
Presume you mean the temporary timetable?
Who answered that question? They are wrong.