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Grand Central cancels plans to run London - Blackpool service

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185

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The railway rumour police will probably not like this one but I am hearing the operation is being abandoned and staff who were at Blackpool are being made redundant.... anyone heard any more?

Edit - 1852, confirmed, seen an email the union are passing around on WhatsApp.
 
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Scotrail314209

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The railway rumour police will probably not like this one but I am hearing the operation is being abandoned and staff who were at Blackpool are being made redundant.... anyone heard any more?

This would be completely pointless, considering they've got the refurbished stock all ready to go, near enough everything is ready, i'm sure it's just rumours.
 

HSTEd

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This would be completely pointless, considering they've got the refurbished stock all ready to go, near enough everything is ready, i'm sure it's just rumours.

Well do they have any chance in hell of making it work in the current conditions?

They can't furlough the staff and all the stock and everything sitting around is going to be costing them money.

They could easily bleed to death.
 

185

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They can't furlough the staff and all the stock and everything sitting around is going to be costing them money.

The bit I've just overheard was the staff were on furlough, but they've just been contacted regarding this decision.
 

HSTEd

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The bit I've just overheard was the staff were on furlough, but they've just been contacted regarding this decision.

Yes but furlough ends rather soon.
So the company is faced with a choice.
 

Bletchleyite

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Yes but furlough ends rather soon.
So the company is faced with a choice.

Of course, that choice doesn't have to involve scrapping it, it could involve making staff redundant but offering to re-employ them if/when it does start. Which is basically what would have happened everywhere had furlough not been a thing.
 

DoubleO

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It has been pulled unfortunately. Official confirmation this afternoon and staff had been contacted earlier today....
 

The Planner

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The railway rumour police will probably not like this one but I am hearing the operation is being abandoned and staff who were at Blackpool are being made redundant.... anyone heard any more?
Contradicts everything I have heard as whilst some staff are still furloughed there is plenty going on in the background. Maybe they are cutting their losses but it would be odd.
 

Iskra

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Sad to hear this news for the staff.

Shame too for the very smart looking rolling stock.
 

Huntergreed

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The amount of work, money and time that went into that - that’s so disappointing to hear.
 

TT-ONR-NRN

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How absolutely ridiculous. All the staff who will lose their jobs, all of the wasted money on the trains, all of the hype they created?!
 

C J Snarzell

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GC were recruiting for Blackpool staff pre-covid. Did any of the successful applicants ever start their new roles or were they simply kept waiting for employment that will never materialise?

CJ
 

ainsworth74

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For discussion on the possible future of the GC rolling stock please see this thread in Speculative Ideas.
 

mmh

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GC were recruiting for Blackpool staff pre-covid. Did any of the successful applicants ever start their new roles or were they simply kept waiting for employment that will never materialise?

CJ

Perhaps they just put them all in a "talent pool." A thoroughly distasteful recruitment method, but one that seems to have quickly become the way of choice for most franchised TOCs. Being open access, they wanted qualified drivers. The only good that could come of this is people refusing to go along with this practice.
 

AMD

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GC were recruiting for Blackpool staff pre-covid. Did any of the successful applicants ever start their new roles or were they simply kept waiting for employment that will never materialise?
Yes, I know of someone who left Northern to work for GC
 

Starmill

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People have suggested upthread that there are redundancies, and that staff have been on furlough. That would mean they'd been employed.
 

The Planner

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Has there actually been anything "official" yet, Twitter are denying it, though I suppose they would.
 

C J Snarzell

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Very tragic for those people who have been eager to get on the railway for a long time and found a job with GC. Its almost like a carpet being pulled from underneath.

CJ
 

Skimble19

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Has there actually been anything "official" yet, Twitter are denying it, though I suppose they would.
Was just thinking the same... not really sure the thread title should say “confirmed” until some kind of evidence or official confirmation is shown...

It will be a real shame if this is true. Hopefully just mothballing rather than scrapping..
 

Darandio

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Was just thinking the same... not really sure the thread title should say “confirmed” until some kind of evidence or official confirmation is shown...

It will be a real shame if this is true. Hopefully just mothballing rather than scrapping..

Feel free not to trust that the OP has seen the official email doing the rounds, having read and valued their input on here of the years, I do trust what they are saying to be true unfortunately.
 

Skimble19

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Feel free not to trust that the OP has seen the official email doing the rounds, having read and valued their input on here of the years, I do trust what they are saying to be true unfortunately.
It’s not a case of not trusting them, but as someone who works for a TOC that has had all kinds of things posted about it on the internet as “confirmed” that turned out to be inaccurate, I find it better to wait until seeing actual evidence.

I do agree it is unfortunate if it is correct though.
 

Journeyman

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How absolutely ridiculous. All the staff who will lose their jobs, all of the wasted money on the trains, all of the hype they created?!

Not ridiculous at all. Open Access is a huge risk anyway, and just because you've thrown money at something doesn't mean you should keep throwing money at it. Have you seen how empty trains are at the moment? There isn't a hope in hell of being able to fill enough seats to make this viable at the moment.
 

DorkingMain

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Multiple colleagues in the industry I have liked are all saying the same thing.

"Confirmed" and "official" are two different things - there are many things that are confirmed and never stated efficiently or quietly let down
 

Crossover

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GC were recruiting for Blackpool staff pre-covid. Did any of the successful applicants ever start their new roles or were they simply kept waiting for employment that will never materialise?

CJ
I believe some staff were transferred from other GC routes to work Blackpool (presumably as experienced GC crew)
 

HST43257

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Is there any public way to see the news other than the forum yet?
 

Tetchytyke

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How absolutely ridiculous. All the staff who will lose their jobs, all of the wasted money on the trains, all of the hype they created?!

Sunk cost fallacy. If they think they're going to lose loads of money, cutting their losses makes the most sense.

I'd agree that an anonymous source- and I have no reason to doubt the source- isn't "confirmed".
 

Ianno87

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Sunk cost fallacy. If they think they're going to lose loads of money, cutting their losses makes the most sense.

I'd agree that an anonymous source- and I have no reason to doubt the source- isn't "confirmed".

Presumably, the stock that's been done up will have some use to somebody, even if for charters or something.
 
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