Shortage of train crews on Great Western Railway - ongoing discussion

[whole diary]

[bobm]

Quite a few of these this morning - Christmas hols starting?


07:32 Maidenhead to London Paddington due 08:06 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train drivers.

Might be as a reaction to yesterday's problems - crews not able to fit their legal break between shifts in.

[Chris from Nailsea]

Oh dear, another subject line needs updating!

Thanks, ChrisB - now done! 

[hassaanhc]

In the morning the 2S10 0745 London Paddington to Hayes & Harlington and return 2S11 0818 Hayes & Harlington to London Paddington (0821 at Southall) were originally shown as cancelled due to a lack of traincrew, but were suddenly reinstated and appear to have run virtually to time. Losing that as well as the 0806 Heathrow Connect (due to a unit failure, not traincrew issues!) had me worried about being able to board my preferred service* (0831 non-stop to Paddington) but in the end there was no issue, and it was actually on time!

*A couple of weeks ago the 0836 Heathrow Connect was cancelled, and maybe another service that doesn't call at Southall, which meant I couldn't board the 0831 and had to wait until the 0847. The 0831 is a pretty empty 5-car DMU^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) (especially in Coach 4) which after Slough only calls at Southall and Paddington, and in January becomes the 0827 8-car EMU^▸ (Electric Multiple Unit) which will have also called at Langley, West Drayton, Hayes & Harlington and then afterwards Ealing Broadway having an Ealing Broadway call will guarantee a wedged service! Unless people get better at using the full length of the train

[grahame]

In the morning the 2S10 0745 London Paddington to Hayes & Harlington and return 2S11 0818 Hayes & Harlington to London Paddington (0821 at Southall) were originally shown as cancelled due to a lack of traincrew, but were suddenly reinstated and appear to have run virtually to time. Losing that as well as the 0806 Heathrow Connect (due to a unit failure, not traincrew issues!) had me worried about being able to board my preferred service* (0831 non-stop to Paddington) but in the end there was no issue, and it was actually on time!

The cancellation and re-instatement of trains is a concern to us on the TransWilts and something that's happened sufficient times on the TransWilts for it to move from "surprised" when it happens to "routine" or even "not again!!".  It's damaging for a train to be removed from the schedule and re-instated some hours later, as the cancellation is flagged up and people are put off their (day return) journeys when in the end both the trains wanted run ( hassaanhc - we only have a train every 2 hours here, so a gap means bus or taxi for part of the route and a massive slowing of end-to-end timing, even assuming you can persuade the "help" point operative to get in touch with GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) to make alternative arrangements!)

Shortage of crews ... "oh my goodness, we can't run this" may be overcome later by Brunhilda or Siegmund being persuaded to work an extra shift, or finding that the train on the other line where they were supposed to work is one of "more trains than usual requiring repair at the same time" and I certainly would support the re-instatement, but I wonder if at times the cancellations are announce too early?    There are other reinstatements too at the end of a series of cancellations where engineering works / repairs / recovery of broken trains finish early or are quicker than expected - they're more understandable as blocks of train have to be cancelled up to some estimated completion point.

With my maths background, I would like to see probabilities of running against trains in doubt, and indeed notes of when an update to the probability and how woolly the figure given is.   I suspect I'm in a tiny minority wanting that data which would be time-consuming to provide when the real job to be done is fixing the issue to run the trains.

Do the systems in place have guidance about the probability level at which a train is publicised as cancelled?    80% chance it won't run?  90%?   Or is it not that scientific?

[ChrisB]

The latter.

[IndustryInsider]

Brunhilda and Siegmund are two of the more militant drivers, you won’t get any favours out of them... 

[TaplowGreen]

......fantastic advice from GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway), whoever would have thought of this? 


04:00 Oxford to London Paddington due 05:50 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

Additional Information
Customers are advised to travel on the next available train service.

[Timmer]

Disappointed to see this evening’s service between Weymouth and Westbury affected by train crew issues and it’s not even the weekend.

Replacement buses will run in place of trains.

[IndustryInsider]

I would anticipate problems with crew shortages until the new year on all days of the week now, as large numbers of crew, quite often the maximum allowed at a given depot, will be taking leave each day.

[Surrey 455]

I would anticipate problems with crew shortages until the new year on all days of the week now, as large numbers of crew, quite often the maximum allowed at a given depot, will be taking leave each day.

I suspect these crew members are agency staff empoyed by Ryanair.

[TaplowGreen]

I would anticipate problems with crew shortages until the new year on all days of the week now, as large numbers of crew, quite often the maximum allowed at a given depot, will be taking leave each day.

I'm not surprised, given the inability of GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) to manage & maintain their workforce efficiently.  In the real World, the needs of the business & it's customers are the first consideration when approving Annual leave.

[ellendune]

I would anticipate problems with crew shortages until the new year on all days of the week now, as large numbers of crew, quite often the maximum allowed at a given depot, will be taking leave each day.

I'm not surprised, given the inability of GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) to manage & maintain their workforce efficiently.  In the real World, the needs of the business & it's customers are the first consideration when approving Annual leave.

Too often there is a simplistic assumption that when there is a problem you can expect staff to work their holiday. However we are in a period of labour shortage and particularly for skilled labour you cannot simply go out and employ skilled staff who are unemployed, staff know this and if their employers treat them badly they know they can take their valuable skills elsewhere.  Cancelling leave can therefore be counter productive as it can create more shortages.

Cancelling leave can also lead to tired staff who are more prone to illness, leading to absence and more staff shortages.

Training new drivers is expensive and takes time.  There is a therefore an inevitable lag time in responding to shortages, particularly where they are unexpected. What incentive does a company with short franchise (though just being expended) to spend money on training that their successor will benefit from not them.

The shortage at the moment is partly due to a short term peak in training brought about by the introduction of new and cascaded stock. The use of temporary replacement staff is not very practical fro train drivers.   

[broadgage]

Whilst I appreciate that recruiting and training drivers takes time, how long should GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) be given to address this issue ?
Weekend staff shortages have become the "new normal" and weekday services are now nearly as bad.

The need to train staff on new rolling stock should have been foreseen, surely, and not come as a surprise.

I would have more sympathy with GWR if some exceptional event had left them short of staff, but I can not accept that weekends, weekdays, December, the long planned arrival of new trains, and the like are exceptional.
And as for "not wanting to train staff for a potential new TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company)" Well I am afraid that this of one of the entirely foreseeable hazards of running a business on a fixed term franchise basis, that MIGHT or might not be extended.

I forgive many sins of GWR, because I so enjoy the Pullman restaurants,  these are IMO^▸ (in my opinion) far superior to the catering facilities offered by any other UK^▸ (United Kingdom) TOC. There is however a lot more to running a TOC than entertaining me with smoked salmon, red wine, fillet steak, cheese board  and port !

The ROUTINE failure to recruit and retain enough drivers and other front line staff to reliably operate the advertised services is in my view a lack of basic competence.

[PhilWakely]

I would anticipate problems with crew shortages until the new year on all days of the week now, as large numbers of crew, quite often the maximum allowed at a given depot, will be taking leave each day.

I'm not surprised, given the inability of GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) to manage & maintain their workforce efficiently.  In the real World, the needs of the business & it's customers are the first consideration when approving Annual leave.

Throughout the year, I guess there have been instances of 'Leave Declined' for various reasons and now it is a case of 'Use all of your leave before the end of the year or lose it'

[ellendune]

Whilst I appreciate that recruiting and training drivers takes time, how long should GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) be given to address this issue ?

How long does it take to train a driver?

The need to train staff on new rolling stock should have been foreseen, surely, and not come as a surprise.

I would have more sympathy with GWR if some exceptional event had left them short of staff, but I can not accept that weekends, weekdays, December, the long planned arrival of new trains, and the like are exceptional.

Have the delays in delivery meant that training is being carried out over a shorter timescale? 

And as for "not wanting to train staff for a potential new TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company)" Well I am afraid that this of one of the entirely foreseeable hazards of running a business on a fixed term franchise basis, that MIGHT or might not be extended.

Yes - as you say made worse by a series of short term extensions so the TOC only ever has a maximum couple of years to get a return on their investment in training. As I understand it GWR did do a large driver recruitment at the start of this extension and those driver may now be in post.  Perhaps DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) needs to build something into the franchise agreement on handing on sufficient staff. 

They negotiate the price so hard that they should not be surprised if a TOC only delivers the minimum in the agreement.

The DfT is therefore to blame for this as well.

The ROUTINE failure to recruit and retain enough drivers and other front line staff to reliably operate the advertised services is in my view a lack of basic competence.

Failure to recruit possibly - but see above about the agreement.

Failure to retain - now that is more difficult.

We are thankfully not in a society (yet) where people are forced to stay in a particular job therefore an employer is not wholly in control of staff retention.  In times of when opportunities for alternative employment are poor the employer can get away with a lot.  In times where there are plenty of opportunities for alternative employment the employer must go out of their way to ensure that they make their employees want to stay.

What I have heard employment practices in the rail industry (though perhaps better than the bus industry) does not fill me with confidence that TOC s understand this. 

These jobs inevitably involve unsocial hours so other things have to balance that.  Those who are demanding that GWR change their staff terms on weekend working should bear this in mind. That might mean that the TOC may have to pay significantly more for their staff - which again comes back to money and DfT demanding a best deal for the treasury rather than the passenger.