Shortage of train crews on Great Western Railway - ongoing discussion

[whole diary]

[Electric train]

Thanks ET for making that available.

Yes, the staff have been made aware of the RIRG for a while, and some of the likely content, but that's the first official document I've seen.

Sobering stuff...but it's been coming.

Perhaps this is worthy of its own topic if the moderators agree?

The rather bullish comments from government and the RDG^‡(resolve) have provoked the obvious response from the RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers).

RMT calls for halt to planned cuts as rail minister predicts a full return to normal train passenger numbers.

RAIL UNION RMT has called for a reversal of planned cuts across Network Rail, TFL^▸ (Transport for London) and the train operating companies after the rail minister said today that the Government are expecting passenger numbers to return to pre-COVID levels as the economy gets back into gear.

General Secretary Mick Lynch said;

"With the rail minister saying today that passenger use is predicted to fully return to pre-COVID levels there is absolutely no need for the government or the employers to be pressing for service and job cuts across the train operators, TFL and Network Rail.

"Instead the government should be promoting the railways and the growth of public transport use while at the same time securing green jobs in a new, low carbon economy. No employers or politicians should be using Covid as a smokescreen for cuts on the national railway and Transport for London."

And there's a campaign brochure too.

There was further reporting today that Network Rail has been canvassing office staff for a voluntary redundancy scheme. Avoiding the existing arrangements has produced more union hostility (though not so far from TSSA^» (Transport Salaried Staffs' Association - about)).

And yes, discussions on a number of threads have converged on this subject (or this subject is spread over several thread, if you prefer).

The process at the moment if for Executive leaders to actively encourage people to leave the railway through a 'special voluntary severance scheme' unlike normal redundancies the job is not necessarily being made redundant, that is it can be advertised and filled when the person leave.

The Unions have question many of the railway companies what is the future structure, the answer is they will review the structure once they know who is leaving !!!!!!

The cash being offered has yet to have its tax status confirmed the words used by the RIRG are woolly to say the least and not that generous

[Timmer]

Not a good start to the day for those traveling between London - Chippenham and Bath.

https://www.journeycheck.com/greatwesternrailway/

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Bath Spa

Due to a shortage of train crew between London Paddington and Bath Spa fewer trains are able to run.
Train services running to and from these stations will be cancelled. Disruption is expected until 09:00 20/08.

Customer Advice
Replacement road transport services are conveying passengers between Swindon and Bath Spa via Chippenham in both directions until further notice.

South Western Railway are conveying passengers between London Waterloo and Exeter St Davids in both directions until further notice.

Underground services are conveying passengers via any reasonable route until further notice.

Additional Information
Customers are advised to catch the next service towards Swindon where replacement buses will be in place calling at Chippenham and Bath Spa.

[TaplowGreen]

Now pushed out to 1000 with more cancellations listed.

[TaplowGreen]

Now pushed out to 1000 with more cancellations listed.

And now 1100 - bit puzzling this - GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) website is still warning that "due to a significant number of our team having to self isolate we have had to make changes to our timetable"- as of Monday, those who are double jabbed have no need to self isolate - do GWR staff have an issue with vaccine hesitancy, or is the chap who updates the website on holiday?

...........or are there too many staff on holiday to run the service?

[bobm]

You would have thought the situation would have eased.   However one factor may be that while those double jabbed no longer have to isolate if they are negative there may be a delay in getting a test.  Is a lateral flow test sufficient for GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)'s purposes or will they want a PCR one?

[ChrisB]

You still have to self-isolate if you are pinged owing to being in close proximity (for 15 minutes or so) - it's only the venue check-ins ping that the new rules apply to.

[didcotdean]

Another odd one: 12:20 London Paddington to Oxford due 13:14 will no longer call at Slough.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

[stuving]

You still have to self-isolate if you are pinged owing to being in close proximity (for 15 minutes or so) - it's only the venue check-ins ping that the new rules apply to.

Well, what the main advice page says is:

You should also self-isolate straight away if:

    you've tested positive for COVID-19 – this means you have the virus
    someone you live with has symptoms or tested positive (unless you are not required to self-isolate – check below if this applies to you)
    you've been told to self-isolate following contact with someone who tested positive – find out what to do if you're told to self-isolate by NHS Test and Trace or the NHS COVID-19 app

The same message occurs in the next two pages reached  by links frorm there. But the more detailed explanation (not instructions) says:

Exemptions from self-isolation for contacts

You are not required to self-isolate if you are notified you have had close contact with someone with COVID-19 and any of the following apply:

    you are fully vaccinated
    you are below the age of 18 years and 6 months
    you have taken part in or are currently part of an approved COVID-19 vaccine trial
    you are not able to get vaccinated for medical reasons

You are fully vaccinated 14 days after your final dose of an MHRA-approved vaccine that was administered in the United Kingdom. This is to allow for an antibody response to develop. If you were fully vaccinated at the time you had close contact with a positive case, you will not be required to self-isolate.

NHS Test and Trace will contact you to:

    let you know that you have been identified as a contact
    check whether you are legally required to self-isolate
    provide you with advice

[bobm]

I have to say my only interaction with Test & Trace was not good.

Having phoned me his first question was “What’s your phone number please”

He then proceeded to call me “mate” during the rest of the call.

[IndustryInsider]

Another odd one: 12:20 London Paddington to Oxford due 13:14 will no longer call at Slough.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

Stop taken out due to a late start.  Looks like a driver wasn’t available at the booked departure time.

[TaplowGreen]

Looks like another meltdown day, all cancelled, a lot of short running too......given the relaxation in isolation rules, I'd be very interested in the explanation - once again, a big leisure travel day, but you can't rely on the trains to get you there;

05:40 Penzance to Exeter St Davids due 08:52
06:01 Westbury to Portsmouth Harbour due 07:54
07:22 Liskeard to Looe due 07:53
07:32 London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads due 09:05
07:55 Looe to Liskeard due 08:23
08:15 Penzance to London Paddington due 13:29
08:28 London Paddington to Cheltenham Spa due 10:28
09:04 Plymouth to Paignton due 10:09
09:04 London Paddington to Penzance due 14:14
09:27 Exeter St Davids to Penzance due 12:34
09:28 London Paddington to Cheltenham Spa due 11:28
10:02 London Paddington to Bath Spa due 11:25
10:04 Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington due 11:37
10:15 Bristol Temple Meads to Taunton due 11:05
10:28 London Paddington to Cheltenham Spa due 12:28
10:59 Cheltenham Spa to London Paddington due 12:59
11:04 Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington due 12:37
11:23 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central due 14:53
11:28 London Paddington to Cheltenham Spa due 13:28
11:32 Taunton to Bristol Temple Meads due 12:25
11:43 Bath Spa to London Paddington due 13:06
11:59 Cheltenham Spa to London Paddington due 13:59
12:02 London Paddington to Bath Spa due 13:25
12:04 Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington due 13:37
12:43 Bath Spa to London Paddington due 14:07
12:59 Cheltenham Spa to London Paddington due 14:59
13:15 Bristol Temple Meads to Weston-Super-Mare due 13:35
13:43 Bath Spa to London Paddington due 15:07
13:59 Cheltenham Spa to London Paddington due 15:59
14:04 Weston-Super-Mare to Bristol Temple Meads due 14:23
15:04 Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington due 16:35
15:14 Exeter Central to Barnstaple due 16:26
15:15 Bristol Temple Meads to Weston-Super-Mare due 15:41
15:23 Swansea to London Paddington due 18:11
15:30 London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads due 17:12
15:39 Swansea to Carmarthen due 16:22
16:39 Barnstaple to Exeter Central due 17:57
16:40 Paignton to Exmouth due 18:22
17:04 Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington due 18:37
17:13 Bristol Temple Meads to Weston-Super-Mare due 17:41
17:28 London Paddington to Cheltenham Spa due 19:30
17:32 London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads due 19:05
17:36 Barnstaple to Exeter Central due 18:57
17:50 Paignton to Exmouth due 19:21
17:58 Exeter St Davids to Plymouth due 19:07
18:04 Weston-Super-Mare to Bristol Temple Meads due 18:24
18:48 London Paddington to Swansea due 21:33
18:59 Cheltenham Spa to London Paddington due 20:59
19:02 London Paddington to Bath Spa due 20:25
19:04 London Paddington to Plymouth due 22:37
19:12 Bristol Temple Meads to Weston-Super-Mare due 19:40
19:17 Exeter Central to Barnstaple due 20:34
19:26 Swansea to London Paddington due 22:15
19:48 London Paddington to Swansea due 22:45
20:02 Cheltenham Spa to London Paddington due 22:00
20:04 Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington due 21:36
20:08 Weston-Super-Mare to Bristol Temple Meads due 20:43
20:22 Swansea to Bristol Parkway due 21:50
20:40 Barnstaple to Exeter St Davids due 21:50
21:40 Taunton to London Paddington due 00:30
22:30 London Paddington to Bristol Parkway due 23:50
23:30 London Paddington to Bristol Parkway due 01:00

[Timmer]

Homing in on the list above:
London - Bath
London - Bristol
London - Cheltenham

Are the routes mainly affected today with some large gaps in service, 4 hours in the case of Bath-London. I’m sure buses will be laid on. Let’s hope we see some reinstatements later. Could be wrong, but it looks to me like it’s London based train crew availability that’s the issue.

Surprise of the day, all the London - Paignton trains appear to be running! As are most London - SW services.

[Electric train]

It is not just the pingdemic and self isolation that is causing a challenge

Many of the 'frontline' staff and indeed many of background staff have work right through the Covid lockdowns often covering for staff that were off sick and have not taken much in the way of holiday in that time.

Like everyone else railway staff are taking a holiday with their families.  The senior management are acutely aware of the work pressure staff have been under and that allowing staff holiday during school holiday time is essential, the consequence is staff resourcing at the moment is stretched and services will suffer.

The high risk of saying that staff should be force to take holidays to suit the travelling public is you end up with high levels of absenteeism over which there is no managerial control; I am sure management will have worked with their teams to manage holidays but with only a 6 week school holiday it does not leave much room to manoeuvre

[ChrisB]

For which I for one do have much sympathy. Holiday accruement possibly carried over from last year in the pandemic circumstances may need taking this year too. Even though I have a RDG^‡(resolve)/BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains) trip arranged today.

[Timmer]

Surprise of the day, all the London - Paignton trains appear to be running!

Well not quite:

08:35 London Paddington to Paignton due 12:05 will be started from Exeter St Davids.
It will no longer call at London Paddington, Reading, Newbury, Pewsey, Westbury, Castle Cary, Taunton and Tiverton Parkway.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

The 09:04 covering Pewsey, Westbury and Castle Cary stops.