GWR ask passengers to arrive 15 mins before departure

[gwrcommuter]

I have been in contact with GWR as one guard decided to close the doors 1 min 30 secs before departures (much more than 40 seconds they advertise!), and the customer support gave this reason:

We do ask that customers arrive 15 minuets before their intended journey as the doors can be closed during this time. This is due to ensuring that all the health and safety procedures have been carried out before departure.

To me it seems ridiculous to ask passengers to arrive 15 mins early!

Thankfully, I haven't seen it, but does anyone have any ideas what health and safety procedures require train doors to be closed 15 mins before departure?

 

[Djgr]

I have been in contact with GWR as one guard decided to close the doors 1 min 30 secs before departures (much more than 40 seconds they advertise!), and the customer support gave this reason:



To me it seems ridiculous to ask passengers to arrive 15 mins early!

Thankfully, I haven't seen it, but does anyone have any ideas what health and safety procedures require train doors to be closed 15 mins before departure?

Usual customer services guff

 

[Suraggu]

I have been in contact with GWR as one guard decided to close the doors 1 min 30 secs before departures (much more than 40 seconds they advertise!), and the customer support gave this reason:



To me it seems ridiculous to ask passengers to arrive 15 mins early!

Thankfully, I haven't seen it, but does anyone have any ideas what health and safety procedures require train doors to be closed 15 mins before departure?

I think you are reading this completely wrong.

I know on the network there was regular notices written in timetables etc about asking travellers to be at the station 15 mins before travel, this has been around since I can remember.

The TOC may not have been entirely correct in their response to yourself but they not closing the doors 15 mins before departure.

 

[Brush 4]

You edited out the GWR reply, which states...

We do ask that customers arrive 15 minutes before their intended journey as the doors can be closed during this time. This is due to ensuring that all the health and safety procedures have been carried out before departure.

So the question remains, what health and safety procedures?

 

[Deafdoggie]

Does that mean all minimum connection times are at least 15 minutes? Or does the 15 minute rule only apply to the origin station?

 

[Darandio]

You edited out the GWR reply, which states...

They didn't edit out anything. When quoting the original post any intermediate quotations are removed.

 

[Watershed]

What a load of tripe.

At certain stations (usually the larger London termini), access to the platform is locked up to 2 mins before departure, and the train can leave as soon as everyone is boarded.

And generally across the network, the dispatch procedure for trains (particularly "intercity" type ones) is typically started up to 30-40 seconds before the advertised departure time.

In my view, trains should be advertised to depart at the latest time you can board them, but the above is established industry practice and seems unlikely to change.

But 15 mins? Sorry, no.

 

[dosxuk]

In my view, trains should be advertised to depart at the latest time you can board them, but the above is established industry practice and seems unlikely to change.

But then everyone on the train will complain that it always departs 2 minutes late.

Nobody expects to be able to board planes or boats up to the listed departure time, so I don't understand why a minority think they should with trains.

 

[yorkie]

It is not unknown for customer services staff to make up any old nonsense. There are insufficient safeguards in place to ensure communications are of an acceptable and adequate standard and this happens at multiple TOCs.

Nothing much surprises me any more; I've lowered my expectations accordingly.

 

[Taunton]

I know on the network there was regular notices written in timetables etc about asking travellers to be at the station 15 mins before travel, this has been around since I can remember.

I confess to being a longstanding timetable buff, and knowing a bit about trains as well. I have never seen anywhere (apart from Eurostar) any such mention of getting there 15 minutes before.

 

[James James]

Nobody expects to be able to board planes or boats up to the listed departure time, so I don't understand why a minority think they should with trains.

Actually, in most of the world passengers do expect to be able to board up until time of departure. The extreme example is of course Japan where they apologise when the train goes 20s early. The UK is the outlier, and not in a good way (along with many other factors which make train travel in the UK a pain compared to elsewhere).

Also that analogy is a bit silly given that planes and boats tend to be used for longer journeys, and also given that... the boats local to me let you board up until listed departure time.

 

[AndyY]

This kind of attitude is sadly so commonly observed amongst railway staff. Fare paying passengers (sorry I mean, customers) are such an inconvenience to them running the service.
Which is why I avoid train travel unless absolutely necessary.

 

[Coolzac]

I think the practice of locking doors 2 minutes early for long distance trains and 1 minute early for local trains is fair enough to ensure a punctual railway. And there are a lot of instances I've seen guards let in people through their door when the train is about to depart.

But as others have said, 15 minutes is insanity, and its very poor customer communication. I've never seen/heard it before in any communications thankfully.

There are a lot of instances where railway staff seem to love coming up with their own rules. In this instance it's somewhat harmless but in other cases its incredibly frustrating and inconvenient for customers.

 

[SteveM70]

Maybe GWR could point out where this nugget of information is on their website?

 

[Mag_seven]

I have never seen anywhere (apart from Eurostar) any such mention of getting there 15 minutes before.

Neither have I in years of reading timetables, travelling on BR etc

 

[davetheguard]

What a load of tripe.

It is not unknown for customer services staff to make up any old nonsense

Totally agree with both of these responses.

I've always thought that people in Customer Services should be given some training (no pun intended) in how railways operate, and how ticketing systems work. But I don't think that happens, so they have no real railway experience to draw on, and they're left to make something up that they think will answer the complaint. But I don't think they're deliberate lies; just cock up rather than conspiracy as usual.

Meanwhile, in the real world, fortunately trains don't have to wait 15 minutes at each station with the doors shut while health & safety procedures are carried out. If that were indeed the case, there would have to be a major rewriting of the timetables and a huge increase in journey times!

 

[Caaardiff]

Not sure why everyone is getting their hair off. It's just a poorly worded response, not factual.
Any TOC or travel company would advise people to give themselves plenty of time to make their train. 15mins for rail probably alleviates delays at car parks, ticket barriers or delays en route.
Airlines advise to be at the airport 2 hours before departure. Check in will close a lot later than that usually 30-40mins before departures. Gates will close later than the advertised time. But many still flap about getting to the Airport 2 hours before.

It's just to get people moving so they make their train.
The health and safety procedures bit has just been poorly used alongside the 15mins.

 

[Oxfordblues]

I usually arrive at Oxford station about 15 minutes before departure if only to buy a paper at WH Smith and check for the latest issues of gricers' magazines, get a coffee and croissant from AMT, then queue for the ticket gates and finally scrutinise the live track diagram on Platform 3 before heading for my train. It would take longer if I had to buy a ticket.

 

[Ianno87]

What a load of tripe.

At certain stations (usually the larger London termini), access to the platform is locked up to 2 mins before departure, and the train can leave as soon as everyone is boarded.

And generally across the network, the dispatch procedure for trains (particularly "intercity" type ones) is typically started up to 30-40 seconds before the advertised departure time.

In my view, trains should be advertised to depart at the latest time you can board them, but the above is established industry practice and seems unlikely to change.

But 15 mins? Sorry, no.

If everybody turned up exactly 2 minutes before, there'd be a problem.

 

[Falcon1200]

I have never seen anywhere (apart from Eurostar) any such mention of getting there 15 minutes before.

Neither have I also.

I usually arrive at Oxford station about 15 minutes before departure if only to buy a paper at WH Smith and check for the latest issues of gricers' magazines, get a coffee and croissant from AMT, then queue for the ticket gates and finally scrutinise the live track diagram on Platform 3 before heading for my train.

So do I, but on occasion when my bus has had a particularly good run (which does happen occasionally, even in Oxford) I have stepped off, got through the barriers and joined an earlier train than intended at Platform 3 just before the doors closed. Nobody from GWR has told me off (so far !)

 

[allaction]

Interesting info which I will keep in mind for my next visit to Coombe Junction.

 

[43066]

Not sure why everyone is getting their hair off. It's just a poorly worded response, not factual.
Any TOC or travel company would advise people to give themselves plenty of time to make their train. 15mins for rail probably alleviates delays at car parks, ticket barriers or delays en route.

Indeed. This was no doubt intended to be something along the lines of: “we advise customers to arrive around 15 minutes before departure, to allow plenty of time to board your train and find your seats. Train doors will be locked up to [2 minutes/30 seconds whatever] before departure time to ensure your journey starts on time”. Etc.

Nothing really to see here, the response was probably written by the work experience boy/girl!

 

[tspaul26]

Nothing really to see here, the response was probably written by the work experience boy/girl!

I wouldn’t be so sure of that given some of the garbage that comes across my desk for legal review.

This particular response looks like it might have been created by splicing together two standard ‘lines to take’: one dealing with the recommended time to arrive before departure and the other intended to respond to comments about ‘doors locked before departure time’.

 

[Suraggu]

Neither have I in years of reading timetables, travelling on BR etc

I am genuinely surprised by this, as my memory is rather accurate but hey ho.

There was mention of being at the station 15 mins before departure on railway literature many moons ago (back in one's youth).

 

[Mcr Warrior]

There was mention of being at the station 15 mins before departure on railway literature many moons ago (back in one's youth).

Was that in the days when local time / midday, didn't necessarily coincide with Greenwich Mean Time?

 

[Suraggu]

Was that in the days when local time / midday, didn't necessarily coincide with Greenwich Mean Time?

Dead

 

[PeterC]

But as others have said, 15 minutes is insanity, and its very poor customer communication. I've never seen/heard it before in any communications thankfully.

Not in the UK but Amtrak say 30 minutes on their website.

15 minutes seems perfectly reasonable allowance at a large station to get from forecourt to platform with luggage. I wouldn't expect to be waiting on the atform that early.

 

[Taunton]

This is all reminiscent of some airports which display in the departure area "Gate closing", so you hurry along to find that the incoming aircraft hasn't even parked yet.

What happens with this sort of message nonsense from operators is people find it's obviously wrong, do their own thing, and then take the same attitude to everything else as well.

 

[Grumpy Git]

What happens with this sort of message nonsense from operators is people find it's obviously wrong, do their own thing, and then take the same attitude to everything else as well.

As a regular air traveller I wish the operators would just treat people as grown-ups when things go awry. Some of the obvious guff I've been fed over the past 30 years beggars belief.

 

[Horizon22]

This sounds like usual customer service nonsense. I can tell you that operationally this simply doesn't happen.