Weather disruption caused in 2014, and how to prevent it happening again - ongoing discussion

[whole diary]

[johoare]

Thanks Insider. It'll be good to see if it happens as per that plan tonight. Last night the 19.30 ended up being cancelled and the 19.48 to Hereford I think (it's usually Worcester Shrub hill) ran even tho it was showing as cancelled on NR^» (Network Rail - home page) site.. Makes it more fun I guess 

[Western Enterprise]

Summary of additional stops in HST^▸ (High Speed Train)'s.

1C20 1530 Paddington to Weston; calls additionally at Maidenhead
1C22 1630 Paddington to Weston; calls additionally at Maidenhead
1C24 1730 Paddington to Weston; calls additionally at Maidenhead
1C26 1830 Paddington to Weston; calls additionally at Maidenhead
1C28 1930 Paddington to Weston; calls additionally at Maidenhead.

1W07 1722 Paddington to Hereford, calls additionally at Slough
1W08 1822 Paddington to Hereford, calls additionally at Slough
1W09 1922 Paddington to Hereford, calls Slough

1B51 1545 London Paddington to Swansea; calls additionally at Twyford
1B59 1645 London Paddington to Swansea, calls additionally at Twyford
1B69 1745 London Paddington to Swansea, calls additionally at Twyford
1B79 1845 London Paddington to Swansea, calls additionally at Twyford
1C96 1945 Paddington to Exeter; calls additionally at Twyford.

1C86 1506 Paddington to Exeter St Davids; calls additionally at Slough and Maidenhead
1C87 1606 Paddington to Exeter St Davids; calls additionally at Slough and Maidenhead
1C89 1703 Paddington to Exeter St Davids; calls additionally at Slough, Maidenhead,
Hungerford, Pewsey, Westbury and Castle Cary.
1C92 1803 Paddington to Exeter; calls additionally at Slough, Maidenhead, Newbury,
Hungerford, Bedwyn and Pewsey
1C95 1903 Paddington to Exeter; calls additionally at Slough and Maidenhead

1A87 1458 Exeter to Paddington; calls additionally at Slough
1A89 1600 Exeter to Paddington; calls additionally at Slough
1A91 1700 Exeter to Paddington; calls additionally at Slough
1A92 1800 Exeter to Paddington; calls additionally at Slough

1A22 1500 Bristol TM^‡(resolve) to Paddington; calls additionally at Twyford and Maidenhead.
1A24 1600 Bristol TM to Paddington; calls additionally at Twyford and Maidenhead.
1A26 1700 Bristol TM to Paddington; calls additionally at Twyford and Maidenhead.
1A28 1800 Bristol TM to Paddington; calls additionally at Twyford and Maidenhead.

Thanks Insider - thats great news.
It will be good news if they can get some sort of regular rota going, given that this might continue for some days/ weeks / months.

Thanks for your description of the block working past Maidenhead.
I did see a red light in middle of the track on the down main this morning and a red flag in the middle of the up main. Technology heh?!
In both cases a man with a orange high vis was giving orders to drivers.
Cheers.

[Network SouthEast]

Blimey - I thought demarcation disputes went out with British Leyland!!! 

It's not really practical for drivers to do customer service facing duties in times of disruption. I'll explain why.

1. Drivers being in the same place (i.e. the messroom) means that when the AOM needs to give a driver a train to drive all they have to do is step out of their office and call them over. The driver can be given relevant information about the train and can then make their way to their train. If the driver was on the concourse, then they'd have to be summoned over the PA^▸ (Public Address), but the downside of that is that getting an announcement out takes probably half a minute from requesting it and of course the driver has to be able to hear it. If they are listening to a passenger they might miss it. Then they would have to go to the AOMs office without being stopped by any passengers and then collect their train diagram, and then walk to their train.

2. 'Hidden 18' as it is known regulates when drivers must have breaks and how long they can continuously be working for. This means that whatever time is spent on the concourse then the amount of time they can then spend driving is correspondingly reduced.

3. Drivers aren't issued with BlackBerrys/PDAs etc... so have no meaningful way of looking up live information to answer queries that passengers may have. They have no knowledge of things like ticketing arrangements. So they probably wouldn't be much use anyway.

Also, I imagine that being on the platform is a stressful experience for the staff there. Train companies regularly expect their drivers to be in a calm state of mind at work. This is because there is strong evidence from the RSSB^▸ (Rail Safety and Standards Board) that stressed drivers are more likely to make mistakes.

[Network SouthEast]

I did see a red light in middle of the track on the down main this morning and a red flag in the middle of the up main. Technology heh?!
In both cases a man with a orange high vis was giving orders to drivers.
Cheers.

That person is the Handsignaller.

There is also a protective detonator attached to one of the rails whilst the danger flag/lamp is shown. If you look carefully you'll see a metal disc on the top of one of the rails.

[Tim]

Blimey - I thought demarcation disputes went out with British Leyland!!! 

It's not really practical for drivers to do customer service facing duties in times of disruption. I'll explain why.

1. Drivers being in the same place (i.e. the messroom) means that when the AOM needs to give a driver a train to drive all they have to do is step out of their office and call them over. The driver can be given relevant information about the train and can then make their way to their train. If the driver was on the concourse, then they'd have to be summoned over the PA^▸ (Public Address), but the downside of that is that getting an announcement out takes probably half a minute from requesting it and of course the driver has to be able to hear it. If they are listening to a passenger they might miss it. Then they would have to go to the AOMs office without being stopped by any passengers and then collect their train diagram, and then walk to their train.

2. 'Hidden 18' as it is known regulates when drivers must have breaks and how long they can continuously be working for. This means that whatever time is spent on the concourse then the amount of time they can then spend driving is correspondingly reduced.

3. Drivers aren't issued with BlackBerrys/PDAs etc... so have no meaningful way of looking up live information to answer queries that passengers may have. They have no knowledge of things like ticketing arrangements. So they probably wouldn't be much use anyway.

Also, I imagine that being on the platform is a stressful experience for the staff there. Train companies regularly expect their drivers to be in a calm state of mind at work. This is because there is strong evidence from the RSSB^▸ (Rail Safety and Standards Board) that stressed drivers are more likely to make mistakes.

You have to remember also that these are not normal circumstance.  In normal circumstances the number of drivers available in the right place is likely to be low. 

[ChrisB]

I think the point that is being made is that a train plan at the moment has a lot fewer trains that require a lot fewer drivers. The drivers not rostered *for the whole turn* can easily be assigned elsewhere as they won't be needed for driving.

PDAs etc can always be loaned. They will be to other staff volunteering. And 2 doesn't apply if not driving. voila!

[Network SouthEast]

I think the point that is being made is that a train plan at the moment has a lot fewer trains that require a lot fewer drivers. The drivers not rostered *for the whole turn* can easily be assigned elsewhere as they won't be needed for driving.

At the moment that is a brave gamble to decide that. I'm not aware of any drivers that have done absolutely no driving at all during a turn in recent days.

PDAs etc can always be loaned. They will be to other staff volunteering. And 2 doesn't apply if not driving. voila!

Chris, do you know something about Hidden 18 that the rest of the industry does not then? Any time "working" counts towards a drivers hours, be that driving or some other task. If a driver spent four hours on the concourse they are clearly not then going to be able to spend six hours driving as well.

[Tim]

The current situation seems perfectly sensible at the moment.  Risking drivers running out of hours or being distracted and crashing doesn't seem worth it.  I'm not convinced that they would be that useful in customer service roles anyway without experience and training.

If the requirement for drivers drops for weeks on end then some re-assigning of tasks might be sensible, but at the moment the risks and costs strike me as outweighing the benefits of re-assigning drivers in anything but very occasional and exceptional circumstances.  The case for doing it for guards might be slightly stronger but still fraught with difficulties.   

[BBM]

Thanks Insider. It'll be good to see if it happens as per that plan tonight. Last night the 19.30 ended up being cancelled and the 19.48 to Hereford I think (it's usually Worcester Shrub hill) ran even tho it was showing as cancelled on NR^» (Network Rail - home page) site.. Makes it more fun I guess 

The 1645 to Swansea made its planned additional stop at Twyford which had a very eerie atmosphere at about 1740 tonight - hardly anyone waiting for trains and more coaches than cars in Car Park 1!

[broadgage]

Here's a question that we've been discussing in the office today and I'm hoping someone on here can answer...........in times such as these with only 20% or so of trains running, what do all the "spare" train drivers do?

Are they temporarily redeployed in Customer Service or similar roles, or is it just a case of waiting around for a train that they can drive?

Thanks

I suspect that a fair few end up waiting around for a train to drive, but not nearly as many as the reduction in the service would suggest.
Remember that a 20% service will need a lot more than 20% of the drivers since journey times are not only extended but very variable.
A driver rostered to make say 3 return trips might only manage one in a shift. That admitedly simplified example suggests 60% of drivers for a 20% service.
Some drivers might not be able to get to work on time, or even at all due to flooded roads, or other TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) services not being available to convey them to work.

[BBM]

There's just been a report on BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) South Today about the Maidenhead issue saying that signals would be 'removed' as a short-term solution, but as the Environment Agency reckon it'll take 2 months for the waters to subside then NR^» (Network Rail - home page) would have to completely close the line for some time to replace the signalling equipment. Mark Hopwood was then interviewed - he confirmed that after this weekend there would be 'one long signalling section' to allow trains to run faster but he wouldn't comment on the line closure possibility, indeed he seemed to me to be suggesting that it might be doubtful it would have to happen.

[broadgage]

There's just been a report on BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) South Today about the Maidenhead issue saying that signals would be 'removed' as a short-term solution, but as the Environment Agency reckon it'll take 2 months for the waters to subside then NR^» (Network Rail - home page) would have to completely close the line for some time to replace the signalling equipment. Mark Hopwood was then interviewed - he confirmed that after this weekend there would be 'one long signalling section' to allow trains to run faster but he wouldn't comment on the line closure possibility, indeed he seemed to me to be suggesting that it might be doubtful it would have to happen.

I rather doubt that signals would be physicly removed, unless unsafe.
I could forsee signals being taken out of use and covered up.
That would allow trains to run safely, protected by signals each side of those out of use, but the long signal sections would limit the frequeny of the service.

[Electric train]

That would allow trains to run safely, protected by signals each side of those out of use, but the long signal sections would limit the frequeny of the service.

Has to provide greater frequency than the current Hand Signalling.

[patch38]

Gosh, we are having fun tonight: 1C25 (18:00 from PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)) was 40 minutes late at Reading because of the signalling issues and has now "hit a bag of ballast" just beyond Didcot. Quite how a bag of ballast ended up on the track boggles the mind! I wonder how big a bag of ballast?

Edit: 10 mins for an external visual inspection - apparently no damage.

[JayMac]

Attached to this post is the full train plan, for services affected by problems at Maidenhead, for Friday 14th February.