New South Western franchise: Awarded to First/MTR

[LowLevel]

Indeed. The cost of the management time in devising emergency timetables and covering work with contingency guards who in turn are unable to do their day job must be immense.

That's it in a nutshell. Despite appearing to have little effect following Greater Anglia's little faux pas with their 'contingency guards' being improperly trained and dropping some clangers the ORR made it clear that people undertaking these duties are not permitted to sit in the back cab getting on with their day job on a laptop and come out to do the doors. Consequently a lot of management time is lost at great expense and with little impact to the passengers to boot.

 

[Goldfish62]

That's it in a nutshell. Despite appearing to have little effect following Greater Anglia's little faux pas with their 'contingency guards' being improperly trained and dropping some clangers the ORR made it clear that people undertaking these duties are not permitted to sit in the back cab getting on with their day job on a laptop and come out to do the doors. Consequently a lot of management time is lost at great expense and with little impact to the passengers to boot.

Which is actually the perfect way an industrial dispute should run. Hit the employer, not its customers.

 

[SWT_USER]

Can passengers claim delay repay against the original timetable during strike action? I seem to recall they could during the southern debacle.

 

[Goldfish62]

Can passengers claim delay repay against the original timetable during strike action? I seem to recall they could during the southern debacle.

No. It's against the revised published timetable.

 

[Helvellyn]

Can passengers claim delay repay against the original timetable during strike action? I seem to recall they could during the southern debacle.

No, any delay repay claims will have to be against the revised timetable they publish in advance.

 

[Adsy125]

No, any delay repay claims will have to be against the revised timetable they publish in advance.

What if you buy your ticket to the unrevised timetable before the revised one is published, surely they can't change the criteria for Delay Repay after you've already bought your ticket?

 

[Goldfish62]

What if you buy your ticket to the unrevised timetable before the revised one is published, surely they can't change the criteria for Delay Repay after you've already bought your ticket?

You'd have to query that with SWR. What they have said previously is that if you buy an advance ticket either travel on the day at a time close to the booked time, or at the same time on the day either side. Or get a free refund.

 

[GWRtom]

And yet again passengers between Wey-Poole, will get the short end of the stick.

 

[Domh245]

Probe launched into SWR and NR performance

An independent review into South Western Railway’s (SWR) performance has been commissioned by the government.

Transport secretary, Chris Grayling, has written a letter to MPs, in which he said that he has been “very disappointed” with the performance of SWR in recent months and that he was aware that local MPs had been “frustrated” by the issues experienced by passengers.

In December 2017, SWR was one of three train operators singled out for its poor or declining performance, with recognition that 72% of its delays were attributable to Network Rail.

Network Rail’s contribution to the delays was recognised by Grayling, who said that whilst there has been some good progress in the operator’s performance in recent weeks, overall it “has simply not been good enough.”

He said that he is “determined” to see a long-term sustained improvement in performance across the route.

As such, he has commissioned the review of both SWR and Network Rail “to ensure all possible steps are being taken to improve performance and the passenger experience.”

The review will be independently chaired by Sir Michael Holden, who has over 40 years’ experience in railway operations.

A SWR spokesperson said: “Performance has not been at the level we want, or expect, to deliver and we are determined to put that right.

“Our task now is to ensure this additional £5 million investment can bring the biggest benefit and help deliver our passengers a railway they can rely on.”

Winchester MP Steve Brine has welcomed the news, saying: “I have made no secret of the fact I am very disappointed by the opening months of the SWR franchise, and I know my constituents very much share that view.

“The operator has had some bad luck to start its tenure including a politically motivated strike which is beyond its control but it's right we hold them to account at this stage.”

He explained that the SWR Franchise Agreement has provisions to incentivise SWR to improve their own performance and work jointly with Network Rai, with the operator required to invest additional sums into initiatives to address causes of poor performance.

“As a result, SWR have committed to investing around £5m in performance improvement initiatives in 2018-19 and I know that Mr Grayling and us MPs will be closely monitoring progress,” he added.

A Network Rail spokesperson added: “Performance hasn’t been good enough and, working with South Western Railway, we’re determined to improve it.

“That’s why we’re investing more than £2 billion up to 2024 to give passengers on one of the busiest and most congested parts of the UK’s rail network more reliable journeys.

“But we’re not complacent and we welcome this independent review. We are already working closely with Sir Michael Holden as he starts his work."

The review is expected to be completed this summer.

I wonder how much of this is just down to SWR being the local franchise of the Transport Secretary, or just because it runs through a lot of conservative seats. Either way, it'll no doubt lay most of the blame at Network Rail's feet.

Edit: Just to add that I've been perusing Michael Holden's twitter, and he's said that he'll be looking as far back as 2010, which is when "a downward trend first became apparent".

 

[cjmillsnun]

Whilst NR is undoubtedly to blame for the crisis right at the beginning of the SWR franchise, I feel that other delays would likely have been dealt with better by the SWT upper management. We would also be unlikely to be looking at strikes.

 

[Domh245]

Whilst NR is undoubtedly to blame for the crisis right at the beginning of the SWR franchise, I feel that other delays would likely have been dealt with better by the SWT upper management. We would also be unlikely to be looking at strikes.

I'd been under the impression that most of the problems facing the franchise have been infrastructure failures. SWR may well have handled the problems badly and there could be room for improvement on that front, but other than the strikes they've really not been responsible for any of the problems they've faced.

 

[Matt Taylor]

he's said that he'll be looking as far back as 2010, which is when "a downward trend first became apparent".

Oh dear, that's when I became a guard!

 

[The Ham]

Oh dear, that's when I became a guard!

We'll it looks like we've found the problem, there's no need to investigate further...

It looks like all those who were blaming NR need to apologise, who's going to go first?!?

 

[The Ham]

(Just for clarification, my previous post is not a serious post)

 

[Goldfish62]

Whilst NR is undoubtedly to blame for the crisis right at the beginning of the SWR franchise, I feel that other delays would likely have been dealt with better by the SWT upper management. We would also be unlikely to be looking at strikes.

Not sure about that. My experience was that SWT were generally appalling at recovering from disruption.

Re strikes, how on earth do you know? SWT had its fair share during its early days when it was implementing changes to working practices.

I would add that SWT nearly lost its franchise soon after taking over due to thinking it could run the railways like a bargain basement bus company.

 

[hwl]

Probe launched into SWR and NR performance



I wonder how much of this is just down to SWR being the local franchise of the Transport Secretary, or just because it runs through a lot of conservative seats. Either way, it'll no doubt lay most of the blame at Network Rail's feet.

Edit: Just to add that I've been perusing Michael Holden's twitter, and he's said that he'll be looking as far back as 2010, which is when "a downward trend first became apparent".

Hmm 2010 the first full year of CP4 when ORR's inadequate allocation of maintenance spend starts to become apparent.
[Any correlation with Gibb report and more maintenance spend requirement is completely co-incidental]

 

[hwl]

Not sure about that. My experience was that SWT were generally appalling at recovering from disruption.

Yep reactionary delay is a big problem on SWR but not as bad as GTR/Southern (the overall reactionary delay winners). A big issue is that the stock* isn't designed to suit the passenger levels now using it so the narrow door way on 455s etc really limit recover chances once thing have gone wrong because the dwell times are too large.

* ditto platforms and steps at Waterloo Vauxhall and Clapham Jn which have been some what addressed recently.

I suspect infra spend like Woking flyover will be on the solutions list to aid recovery as well as CR being the longer term solution.

The Rolling stock zoo and refurb/upgrade programmes will also see some daylight exposed on them.

NR investment in things like mobile flash butt welding equipment** which will see a much bigger role out soon which show work in progress.

** i.e. weld and stress during original possession not 2 weeks later after clamped fisheplates and TSRs...

 

[TEW]

Yep reactionary delay is a big problem on SWR but not as bad as GTR/Southern (the overall reactionary delay winners). A big issue is that the stock* isn't designed to suit the passenger levels now using it so the narrow door way on 455s etc really limit recover chances once thing have gone wrong because the dwell times are too large.

* ditto platforms and steps at Waterloo Vauxhall and Clapham Jn which have been some what addressed recently.

In my experience is the large gap and step at Clapham Junction and Vauxhall that poses the biggest impediment to speeding up dwell times, and also the narrowness of some of the platforms. (Most apparent on Platform 7 at Vauxhall and Platform 11 at Clapham Junction.) I still remain very sceptical that SWR will be able to achieve the proposed dwell time reductions in the December 2020 timetable given the constraints of the infrastructure.

 

[zoneking]

Do all metro trains have to stop at Vauxhall? (They never used to). Would removing this stop improve performance?

 

[TEW]

Vauxhall is far too popular a stop to skip. You would probably create more issues than you would solve by skipping it.

 

[hwl]

In my experience is the large gap and step at Clapham Junction and Vauxhall that poses the biggest impediment to speeding up dwell times, and also the narrowness of some of the platforms. (Most apparent on Platform 7 at Vauxhall and Platform 11 at Clapham Junction.) I still remain very sceptical that SWR will be able to achieve the proposed dwell time reductions in the December 2020 timetable given the constraints of the infrastructure.

Indeed I've never understood why the track at the country end of the SWML platforms couldn't be lowered to reduce the vertical gap

 

[TEW]

The franchise agreement did include a requirement for SWR to fund some work to reduce the gap and step at Clapham Junction and Vauxhall, as well as to install extra canopies to encourage passengers to spread along the platform. It will be interesting to see how much difference it makes.

 

[hwl]

Do all metro trains have to stop at Vauxhall? (They never used to). Would removing this stop improve performance?

Vauxhall added 2 million extra users in year based on the last ORR data and is the 21st busiest station in GB. Similar usage levels to Cannon Street, East Croydon and a bit busier than Gatwick and Wimbledon

 

[theironroad]

Vauxhall added 2 million extra users in year based on the last ORR data and is the 21st busiest station in GB. Similar usage levels to Cannon Street, East Croydon and a bit busier than Gatwick and Wimbledon

It's probably onky going to get busier with the thousands of flats being built in the area and massive redevelopment and new buildings including the recently opened US Embassy. Vauxhall is also a great connection to the Victoria line for kings cross/stp and euston etc.

 

[southern442]

I might get shot down by the common sense mafia before I've even posted this, but would there be any benefit of introducing mainline stops at Vauxhall? I appreciate this would complicate pathings and increase journey times, plus obviously there would be questions about how well-suited the current infrastructure is, but it seems to me like the demand would exist for something like this. An example would be commuters from the south-west changing at CLJ to head to Victoria could just use the Victoria Line at Vauxhall? (Again, obviously space and capacity are finite).

 

[3141]

Since some of them at least can change at Clapham Junction to get to Victoria, I see little point in stopping at Vauxhall so they can do the same thing.

 

[southern442]

Since some of them at least can change at Clapham Junction to get to Victoria, I see little point in stopping at Vauxhall so they can do the same thing.

I would imagine the transfer is slightly quicker at Vauxhall though. And plus, many Victoria passengers travel onwards through the Victoria Line which could be done at Vauxhall and would cut out the middle man by relieving pressure at Clapham. However that wasn't the only point, the fact that Vauxhall is becoming a very busy and popular destination of its own would warrant some stopping services in my opinion.

 

[swt_passenger]

I might get shot down by the common sense mafia before I've even posted this, but would there be any benefit of introducing mainline stops at Vauxhall? I appreciate this would complicate pathings and increase journey times, plus obviously there would be questions about how well-suited the current infrastructure is, but it seems to me like the demand would exist for something like this. An example would be commuters from the south-west changing at CLJ to head to Victoria could just use the Victoria Line at Vauxhall? (Again, obviously space and capacity are finite).

Not possible for exactly the same reasons they are reducing stops at Clapham Junction even further than now. Fast line frequencies are too high in the peaks to add stops. Vauxhall is capacity constrained anyway, with narrow platforms and staircases. I think it’s a complete non-starter.

 

[southern442]

Not possible for exactly the same reasons they are reducing stops at Clapham Junction even further than now. Fast line frequencies are too high in the peaks to add stops. Vauxhall is capacity constrained anyway, with narrow platforms and staircases. I think it’s a complete non-starter.

Yeah that seems fair enough, I guess it's a nice idea until it meets real life

 

[theironroad]

Mainline stops at Vauxhall would be great for some passengers but I'm realistic that it won't happen as it would just comp!icate an already packed timetable approaching / leaving Waterloo.