What do think about the Christmas closedown?

[WatcherZero]

My cousins came up from the South last Christmas and they couldnt understand why there were no trains into Manchester on Boxing Day so they could spend their Christmas earnings.

 

[blacknight]

What as changed since 60's & 70's is that shops are now opening more & more, I remember once that if Christmas Day fell on Saturday then shops would not reopen until following Wednesday so maybe the big retailers should be part funding cost of running a Boxing day service as they have created the demand.
Personally I would be more than happy to work Boxing Day & save a days holiday.

 

[radamfi]

• has plenty of multi-track sections
• has more bi-directional signalling

Surely these are good things and not an excuse for poorer GB performance?

• has significantly lower service frequencies

I don't think you can criticise NL, DE and CH for 'significantly lower service frequencies', especially NL where the MINIMUM frequency on all routes is hourly, 7 days a week, and where many routes have several trains per hour. From December, almost all stations in the west of the country will have a minimum 4tph service.

• thinks nothing of closing entire routes for a couple of hours during the day for routine maintenance

Who does this apart from France?

• doesn't have the same safety rules that we do.

Do NL and CH have a worse record on rail crashes than GB?

 

[cuccir]

I'm a little depressed by the large number of responses on threads such as this that presume ulterior motives: jealousy, religious belief in one way or the other, hyper-consumerism, anti- or pro- worker/union sentiment etc...

IMHO - I don't see the need for a service on the 25th, but I don't see why a service on the 26th couldn't make money. For one thing, there's a full programme of football matches on across England - probably more games than on a normal Saturday! One way to do it would simply be to plan - to look at shopping opening times, sports events and staff availability and then come up with an appropriate timetable which attempts, as much as possible, to cover predictable travel needs (so doesn't lose money) without forcing in staff who don't want to work. One way to achieve this would be to offer an extra day off in lieu rather than extra wages, so that people who want to chose their day off, rather than have 26th December forced on them, can do so.

 

[HORNIMANS]

As I work for a large supermarket Iagree that only essential services need to work. This does not include imo shops and transport. Take supermarkets we are open from 0600 on Monday until midnight on Saturday and 1000 till 1600 on Sundays The only days we are closed is Xmas day, Boxing day and Easter Sunday 3 whole days weare closed!!!! Shop staff like rail staff all have families and need their time off. Also volunteering for these days will eventially lead to compulsory working this has happened so many times in the past over Bank Holidays etc.

 

[WatcherZero]

My local supermarkets only closed from Midnight Christmas eve till 6am on Boxing day.

 

[merlodlliw]

BR cost cutting measure introduced sometime in the 1960s or 70s which should be revoked. It is absolutely ridiculous that public transport is non-existent on December 25 & 26, this also includes buses in most areas

Trains ran on Xmas day in the 50s & early 60s,I recall the TPO arriving in Rhyl at 0315 from Crewe with passenger carriages, the Royal Mail was delivered on Christmas Day,

I just hate the word Winterval, invented in Birmingham for the display at New St Station for PC, common sense has taken it back to Christmas.


Bob

 

[Zoe]

My local supermarkets only closed from Midnight Christmas eve till 6am on Boxing day.

By law they have to be closed on Christmas Day now. It used to be the case that they were only banned from opening on Christmas Day if it was on a Sunday.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Which is already the case for people who cannot drive.

If you cannot drive, unless you are prepared to take a taxi, or walk/cycle 30+ miles in winter, at most places in England and Wales and parts of Scotland, you are trapped in the same place from around 9-10pm on December 24 to 7-8am on December 27.

Even if you don't drive, you may well know someone that does drive though so you could ask them.

 

[OuterDistant]

I just hate the word Winterval, invented in Birmingham for the display at New St Station for PC, common sense has taken it back to Christmas.

Urban myth! It was actually an attempt to drum up trade either side of Christmas.

 

[tbtc]

Take Greater Manchester as an example.

Manchester United and Bolton both play home games in the Premier League, so thats around 100,000 fans attending those fixtures. Plus thousands of Manchester City fans heading down to West Bromwich. Plus the busiest day of the year in the shops...

Yet no trains.

 

[Zoe]

Do the football clubs provide any coaches for fans on Boxing Day?

 

[tbtc]

Do the football clubs provide any coaches for fans on Boxing Day?

I don't know.

The "shuttle" from Manchester Piccadilly to Old Trafford usually takes a large number of supporters to the games.

But if you can't get there by train then its only going to encourage more people to use coaches for other games too.

 

[radamfi]

There are nearly always coaches arranged for away fans for all matches, not just Boxing Day.

 

[WestCoast]

Yes, but then most of the rest of Europe:

• has plenty of multi-track sections
• has more bi-directional signalling
• has significantly lower service frequencies
• thinks nothing of closing entire routes for a couple of hours during the day for routine maintenance
• doesn't have the same safety rules that we do.

'Significantly lower service frequencies' is not always true at all. You've obviously never travelled in the Netherlands or the regional services in more densely populated areas of Switzerland and perhaps Germany. Yes, the long-distance trains (which have longer journeys than in the UK) may not run as often, but the regional routes are a different story. Closing entire routes for hours in the day doesn't happen much in those mentioned countries, perhaps in France though.

I'd still maintain it's a cultural thing and it's not those 'factors' which are preventing a service from running. Other countries in Europe don't place quite so much emphasis on the 25th.

 

[Zoe]

Other countries in Europe don't place quite so much emphasis on the 25th.

The United States though does and I believe that there is transport on Christmas Day in some of the cities there.

 

[gordonthemoron]

Christmas Day is dead boring, crap on the TV, next to nothing open, having to spend it with the family (I'm referring to UK not Germany although the shops are closed here too). So this year I'm going to the US

 

[jon0844]

I'm off to Vegas on Thursday so will be there for Thanksgiving. Hopefully some places will be doing some nice turkey roasts!

 

[Teaboy1]

What if all power workers were allowed to take Xmas & Boxing day off? Soon would get Joe Public up in arms ! We work .... so why dont rail workers?? Get off yer butts and do it, you are not above the rest of the utility workers who do work 24/7.

 

[WestCoast]

The United States though does and I believe that there is transport on Christmas Day in some of the cities there.

Not that public transport is of much use in many parts of the US, unless you include flying in that!

 

[rmt-driver]

Shopping is irrelevant when it comes to train services outside Britain. Sunday train services are much better in countries like NL, DE, CH etc. yet hardly any shops are open on Sundays in these countries. In fact, longer distance train services have virtually identical timetables 7 days a week, including Christmas Day.

WOOHOO Bully for them

TBH I am sick of hearing this same thing over and over every year...

if you think the rail services are so much better in NL, DE or WherEver... sod off and live there!!! This is what we offer... like it or lump it !!

 

[ole man]

What if all power workers were allowed to take Xmas & Boxing day off? Soon would get Joe Public up in arms ! We work .... so why dont rail workers?? Get off yer butts and do it, you are not above the rest of the utility workers who do work 24/7.

If you read my thread somewhere on here you will see that Infrastructure Workers do work all over Xmas, its only the TOC's who dont run services on these days, that decision must either lie at the door of the government or Network Rail.
So i hope your rant at railway workers stops at TOC staff only, and not at the railway worker who gives up his/her Xmas so services can run after all the TOC's have stuffed there massive fat cat belly's with turkey.

 

[marks87]

What if all power workers were allowed to take Xmas & Boxing day off? Soon would get Joe Public up in arms ! We work .... so why dont rail workers?? Get off yer butts and do it, you are not above the rest of the utility workers who do work 24/7.

Power is an essential service; rail transport is not.

I'm nowhere near being a traditionalist, but I do think it's pretty sad that people (within reason) can't stop just for one day.

 

[Zoe]

Power is an essential service; rail transport is not.

That is a debatable point.

 

[ole man]

That is a debatable point.

You wouldnt be able to heat your turkey if you had no power, or watch the xmas soaps

 

[Zoe]

You wouldnt be able to heat your turkey if you had no power, or watch the xmas soaps

I do neither. I wouldn't exactly call TV an essential service so why not shut down on all TV stations for a day?

 

[Minilad]

What if all power workers were allowed to take Xmas & Boxing day off? Soon would get Joe Public up in arms ! We work .... so why dont rail workers?? Get off yer butts and do it, you are not above the rest of the utility workers who do work 24/7.

I presume when you took the job you knew what you was signing up to. Just as when I took my job I knew what I was signing up for. If you feel hard done by having to work over Christmas then you can always come and get a cushy job on the Fat Cat railway where we just swan around laughing at everyone who has to work at Christmas

 

[SS4]

That is a debatable point.

It really isn't. Last I checked hospitals used electricity, on a more mundane topic so do streetlights and almost all forms of light

You wouldnt be able to heat your turkey if you had no power, or watch the xmas soaps

Gas cooker

 

[jon0844]

You wouldnt be able to heat your turkey if you had no power, or watch the xmas soaps

Don't go giving reasons to turn off the power on Xmas day.

 

[marks87]

That is a debatable point.

Well, OK, rail transport is perhaps essential for someone who happens to be standing on Rannoch Moor but for people in essential jobs, there is (generally speaking) other transport available, even if it is a taxi.

 

[ole man]

If we had no power over Xmas this forum wouldnt be able to run, now that would be a sad day!!