If the class 800s are to be introduced then that is good news for us. I was reading on another thread that if the government take on the ECML then it is quite possible they will not introduce the 800s on the ECML and that they will end up elsewhere. In fairness it seems that nearly every post in that other thread is opinion based anyway so take it with a pinch of salt.
We are just going to have to keep waiting until we get an update. Has anybody contacted virgin following this latest news?
There are two things, I think, to keep very clear:
- The trains are coming. No ifs, no buts; they're coming.
- They will need drivers.
Whilst I appreciate that it's an unsettling time, it's also an unsettling time for existing employees. And it must be particularly galling for those staff that Virgin Trains East Coast removed last year. They're not going to be getting those jobs back via a pre Virgin time machine.
As it stands, it would seem that there's far more security in future driver positions for the ECML than there would be from waiting lists at the vast majority of private companies. Whilst Virgin Trains East Coast is a private company, it was supposed to be doing the government's bidding and operating the (to all intents and purposes) government's new trains.
There will be lots of politics ahead, and lots of opinion, but whilst the government may have to weather the embarrassment of the public working out that shiny new trains are nothing to do with Virgin, they would almost certainly not be able to weather the storm of cancelling train orders, putting jobs at risk etc., etc.,
In the meantime though, if other train operating companies are recruiting, then why would ECML waitlisters not apply to those other TOCs? It may be worth remembering that further ahead in the future, ECML operators may move employee bases up and down their routes, so moving with them is always something that may have to be faced.