tsr
Established Member
I'm not saying it will solve everything, by any means, but GTR have been restructuring certain aspects of Control so that there is special focus on just the points you mention - there are dedicated roles which only involve managing the interaction of the Core stations (and selected other major ones, such as Victoria) with the wider remit of the train operator's Control and similar functions from the likes of NR. In the last few weeks the rollout of a new command structure has begun in earnest, though that's actually not quite as impressive in my eyes (time will tell if my hunch is right).
Control also do have access to more than just "a few telephones" now, and whilst there are still awkward occasions where you just cannot get through to them, they seem to be able to act a bit more quickly on what you're telling them. I've had to arrange a few fairly interesting things recently which were very much out of the ordinary, which would have been met with the telephone equivalent of a blank face only 6 months ago, but which can now be communicated and acted on relatively well.
NR still have a bit to do to catch up, as their incident control process has positives and negatives which are in an unfortunate position of stark opposition - a lot of the time they broadcast reams of data without actually being able to cope with the overriding operational procedures which the crew on the ground know should be happening. As and when that is done, hopefully both TOC and NR Controls will be in a better position to help.
What continues to worry me are three things: the continued instability which is almost culturally embedded in the mainline operations south of the Core, including in morale and therefore willingness to think laterally to solve problems; new things cropping up with the 700s which shouldn't be happening at all, such as the DOO camera failures of recent days; and the sheer complexity of the route map, which will not always be understood well by the people under the most pressure and having to communicate to customers on the ground (few people will understand their Rainhams as well as their Littlehamptons!).
For example, suppose the staff at Station X on the south BML are disgruntled and less enthusiastic about trying to help the passenger flows at a station. A northbound train becomes 3 minutes late, loses a path, becomes 5, 10, 15 or 20 late. By this time it is having to skip stops and the stop order is urgently issued by someone in the ROC. Unknown to them, a driver from somewhere in darkest Kent needs to travel "pass" to one of the stations which has just been omitted. A train is therefore left in an awkward place. This causes a ripple effect and the driver feels under pressure to reduce dwell times. His train then gets a route like the one at Blackfriars the other day - not to the wrong place, per se, but to an impractical one, perhaps caused by an unfamiliar 9xxx headcode. Said route is taken and a Brighton service goes via Elephant & Castle. Passengers pull egresses at Tulse Hill. It's a 700 and the brakes then don't release when the situation is dealt with...
How does this work when half the railway in the South-East of England is trying to squeeze through Farringdon? It's anyone's guess, and I'll quite possibly be caught in the crossfire. Do wish us all luck.
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