ORR Inquiry into May 2018 timetable disruption

[whole diary]

[grahame]

ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about) inquiry into May 2018 timetable disruption

You will be aware of ORR’s inquiry into the failure to introduce an effective new timetable in May 2018, and the subsequent disruption to the rail network. ORR is conducting the inquiry independently, at the request of the Secretary of State, in accordance with our duties under Section 51 of the Railways Act 2005.

The inquiry’s terms of reference are enclosed, which outline its structure and scope.

Purpose
ORR Inquiry into May 2018 timetable disruption Terms of Reference
The inquiry will:
i. Identify factors that contributed to the failure to develop and implement an effective operational timetable in May 2018;
ii. draw conclusions about the management of operational risks created by major timetable changes, based on evidence about the causes and consequences of the disruption in May 2018, and its subsequent management; and
iii. where appropriate, make recommendations to the industry and government in advance of future major network changes for the benefit of passengers, other users and railway staff.

I applaud the examination of what happened in May so as to avoid the same disruptions we are still seeing from the May changes.   In particular, I am fearful of changes in January 2019 on the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) network;  we are already experiencing levels of performance that are way down on what they were, and I've seen suggestions that the January timetable changes (which "MUST" happen at the start of January - excuse given for all the weekday B&H^▸ (Berks and Hants - railway line from Reading to Taunton via Westbury) blockages) may in fact slip.   Preparations seem to be very much later in the day than the industry norm, and resources so stretched that a too-flimsy job is being done to inform potential passengers in good time.

I have copied a letter requesting evidence and the terms of enquiry which are circulating, and from which the above are quoted, at

http://gwr.passenger.chat/orr_1.pdf

http://gwr.passenger.chat/orr_2.pdf

The Inquiry in its first phase will include

Evidence gathering from passengers, passenger representative groups including Transport Focus, the rail industry and government regarding:

So I post this here to pass on to passengers who may have been effected in Northern or Southern, or who want to make points / add in wider evidence.

Interestingly, this letter came to me via an indirect source and I wonder how widely passengers or passenger groups are aware of the call for evidence.   Clearly, with a stated aim of "Evidence gathering from passengers" the enquiry will welcome publicity to ensure it widely reaches passengers.

[stuving]

Interestingly, this letter came to me via an indirect source and I wonder how widely passengers or passenger groups are aware of the call for evidence.   Clearly, with a stated aim of "Evidence gathering from passengers" the enquiry will welcome publicity to ensure it widely reaches passengers.

I'm not so sure. This inquiry needs to know how many passengers were affected and how much, down to the lower levels of disruption. Media reporting, and self-reporting, can only tell you about a few extreme cases which - while still relevant - are meaningless without some statistical basis. So they need to keep control of the sampling of reports themselves, presumably by going out and asking people, as their primary source of passenger data.