Drop in passenger numbers sees train services cut

[js1000]

I echo the comment regarding home working. No doubt after this all settles down home working will become more common. This will no doubt have a profound impact on the rail industry and probably result in falling passenger numbers for the first time since the 90s.

 

[Jamesrob637]

I echo the comment regarding home working. No doubt after this all settles down home working will become more common. This will no doubt have a profound impact on the rail industry and probably result in falling passenger numbers for the first time since the 90s.

Rail will possibly become leisure-orientated for a while if things recover over the summer and it proves a good one weather-wise. Incentive to get the TOCs to knock up loads of cheap Advance Singles for day trips and sports matches.

 

[johntea]

Northern have announced a few changes although not too much detail yet :-

https://www.northernrailway.co.uk/u...ch-19-there-will-be-a-number-of-cancellations

Says just Thursday but presumably this will be it going forward for a bit!

 

[Halish Railway]

Northern have announced a few changes although not too much detail yet :-

https://www.northernrailway.co.uk/u...ch-19-there-will-be-a-number-of-cancellations

Says just Thursday but presumably this will be it going forward for a bit!

Not too much going on in West Yorkshire - Surprising as many people that work in Leeds can work from home as it is a major financial centre.

 

[MDB1images]

TPE remove trains across East and West routes.

http://www.tpexpress.co.uk/travel-updates/corona-virus-travel-info

As a company, we are following the advice given to us by the Rail Delivery Group, NHS and Public Health England. As long as the advice that traveling on trains is safe, we will continue running services and getting our customers to where they need to be.

However due to a decrease in travel and the knock-on effect that the virus is having on the industry, there may be changes to our services and we are asking our customers to please check before they travel. The latest travel information can be found at: https://www.journeycheck.com/tpexpress/

 

[Revilo]

I echo the comment regarding home working. No doubt after this all settles down home working will become more common. This will no doubt have a profound impact on the rail industry and probably result in falling passenger numbers for the first time since the 90s.

Or people realise how frustrating and isolating working from home is and want to return to normal office working.

 

[Halish Railway]

TPE remove trains across East and West routes.

http://www.tpexpress.co.uk/travel-updates/corona-virus-travel-info

It seems like at lot (if not all) of the Nova 3 diagrams have been canned.

 

[JN114]

GWR have this evening dropped the 12 car 387s down to 8s to provide traincrew resilience with the attaching/detaching moves now not required as a consequence.

 

[FenMan]

Or people realise how frustrating and isolating working from home is and want to return to normal office working.

I worked from home for 10 years for practical reasons:-
(1) I was able to do it without lots of domestic "interruptions",
(2) I have a home office (separate room),
(3) My role involved working with people in a very wide spread of time zones (from California to Sydney), so working from a company office would have made the job impossible,
(4) Psychologically I could handle it.

Permanent working from home can work for people carrying out very particle roles, but is definitely not the right answer for most.

 

[WatcherZero]

I think we are facing the issue London politicians see empty trains and think the rest of the country must be working from home too. It doesn't work that way, most jobs outside London aren't office jobs.

 

[SuperNova]

It seems like at lot (if not all) of the Nova 3 diagrams have been canned.

Two Nova 3 diagrams have been cancelled. More down to staff availability.

 

[infobleep]

I don’t know what type of work you do, but regular home working is obviously only feasible for those who work in an office, but even then it doesn’t properly work as a concept. Bringing people together to share ideas, discuss their work, develop new answers to problems is very important. Working from home is very inefficient compared to getting people face to face, or in an environment where video conferencing can take place, such as 5 people in a Manchester office on a VC with 5 people in the Birmingham and London offices. These type of meetings work very well.

Looking at the train running, it is clear numbers are down as the regular minor delays are not occurring as much. The 18:55 Woking to Portsmouth departed on time this evening. That is the first time it's done so since the revised departure time came into force in January. It use to be 18:58 when it had more chance to be on time than. For completeness, it actually terminated at Fratton due to shortage of staff.

I'm not surprised by the drop in passengers. I had a team meeting on Tuesday. Everyone was present from home, save one who was on leave. Didn't need an office to do this but did need reliable good Internet, which not everyone in the UK has access to admittedly.

 

[cuccir]

Cancellations seemed a bit ad hoc yesterday in the North East (my last day of anticipated community); they look more systematic today, glancing at early services. Services notably quieter which wasn't really the case on Monday.

 

[E16 Cyclist]

I echo the comment regarding home working. No doubt after this all settles down home working will become more common. This will no doubt have a profound impact on the rail industry and probably result in falling passenger numbers for the first time since the 90s.

Once things calm down how productive people are working from home versus working in the office will come into play, there’s probably a reason why people have complained about their commute for years and yet still do it

 

[OFFDN]

There is some debate within the railway industry as to what contingency timetable to implement- each TOC/FOC seems to have a different view and for good reasons! DfT and RDG are not helping the situation either.

It’s looking as though a Sunday service 7 days a week will be implemented very soon though.

 

[yorkie]

Once things calm down how productive people are working from home versus working in the office will come into play, there’s probably a reason why people have complained about their commute for years and yet still do it

For remote working discussion please use the dedicated thread: https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/coronavirus-and-working-from-home.202305/#post-4492304 Thanks

 

[Mitchell Hurd]

Well it looks like a number of GWR IET's have been shortened to 5 coaches according to JourneyCheck and not due to a fault. The loadings must be sufficient now to require 5 coaches.

 

[ChrisC]

There is some debate within the railway industry as to what contingency timetable to implement- each TOC/FOC seems to have a different view and for good reasons! DfT and RDG are not helping the situation either.

It’s looking as though a Sunday service 7 days a week will be implemented very soon though.

A Sunday service is perhaps ok in London and the South East where there are a reasonable amount of trains on Sunday mornings. In other parts of the country there are many lines where there are very few trains before lunch time on Sundays, although many do have an adequate service later in the day. This would not be very suitable for essential workers to travel to and from work in the mornings.
This issue has also been raised concerning buses. Running a Sunday service is no use for those many routes outside major cities, even serving considerable sized populations, that do not have Sunday service.

 

[Killingworth]

Each route is different. Mine is Hope Valley, Sheffield to Manchester.

With present loadings 2 fast and a stopping service per hour are not needed. Truth is both fasts could be cancelled and the stopper could probably do the lot!

It's weird that only 2 weeks ago we were looking forward to 6 coach TPE services, maybe 3 cars from Northern, with improved stock on EMR.

 

[westv]

TOCs have suspended catering on their services.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Two Nova 3 diagrams have been cancelled. More down to staff availability.

Two WCML diagrams too (Manchester-Scotland).
Sensible reductions.

 

[infobleep]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-51948130

One of the biggest franchises in the country, South Western Railway, had to cancel services this morning.

Does anyone know if those cancellations yesterday were due to annual leave, illness or both? The 7:35 Guildford to Waterloo was cancelled today due to a member of train crew being taken ill but others just say staff shortages and it is towards the end of the financial year. I'm ssuming staff leave runs with the financial year - I cannot remember if it does.

As for a Sunday timetable, South Western Railway had a move to strengthen the services on some lines to match Saturday. Would they all be needed?

Some services run to different destinations on a Sunday, save for engineering works. For example Guildford to Ascot rather than Farnham. It would be interesting if they reverted to running to Ascot 7 days a week after all the publicity about the useful service to Farnham. However who who'd be using it even if it ran. School children of key workers might, if there is any school traffic on that route.

Woking to Virginia Water and beyond as opposed to Weybridge to Virginia Water and beyond is another. Children of key workers going to school night need to change trains.

I'm not sure if moving to an exact Sunday timetable is the answer but it could be a at starting point. There again nothing will be perfect and something is better than nothing.

 

[jon0844]

A Sunday service is perhaps ok in London and the South East where there are a reasonable amount of trains on Sunday mornings. In other parts of the country there are many lines where there are very few trains before lunch time on Sundays, although many do have an adequate service later in the day. This would not be very suitable for essential workers to travel to and from work in the mornings.
This issue has also been raised concerning buses. Running a Sunday service is no use for those many routes outside major cities, even serving considerable sized populations, that do not have Sunday service.

I'd go with a Sunday service being implemented but with the early and late trains for a weekday remaining for key workers.

 

[Meerkat]

Can anyone explain the choice of tube stations that have closed, and why the W&C is closed please?

 

[infobleep]

TOCs have suspended catering on their services.

This reminds me of a note on an insert in my April 1944 Bradshaw:

Note that all restaurant cars will be withdrawn on the G. W. R., L. M. & S., L. N. E. R., and S. R. on and from 5th April.

As seen in this photo.


What surprised me was that they hadn't been withdrawn sooner. I'm not surprised about today's announcement though.

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Can anyone explain the choice of tube stations that have closed, and why the W&C is closed please?

The W&C is operated by train crews off the Central Line - based at Leytonstone. Not working it allows the crews to be retained for overall main Central line services. In any case - commuting figures are unbelievable flat and alternative routes are available , albeit with a change enroute.

Stations - the smaller ones or lift ones. ? (I guess)

 

[iphone76]

Tfl Rail (East) moving to a Saturday service from Monday. Not sure about the west side but I'd imagine they'll be the same.

 

[BrianW]

Can anyone explain the choice of tube stations that have closed, and why the W&C is closed please?

I'm not an expert but ...
It looks like interchanges are open.
Some closures where there are other stations nearby, eg CharingX closed/ Embankment open
There are some apparent 'deserts' though, eg/Lancaster Gate/ Queensway/ Bayswater but walkable for many from Marble Arch/ Notting Hill Gate/ Paddington.
Some stations poorly used anyway (eg Regents Park?)
Lifts at Covent Garden- and very close to Leicester Square anyway.
I guess the overarching logic is fewer stations to lower 'fixed costs' and uphold Health and safety with fewer staff.
Possibility of course that some might not reopen?
Most 'suburban' stations still open, ie departure points for commuters further away from each other.
It looks like it makes sense.

 

[Mathew S]

Or people realise how frustrating and isolating working from home is and want to return to normal office working.

Bluntly, what people want is irrelevant. Every person who possibly can work from home and doesn't risks causing unnecessary deaths, it really is that simple.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Why close Mornington Crescent? I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue.
Somebody had to say it...