Shortage of train crews on Great Western Railway - ongoing discussion

[whole diary]

[TaplowGreen]

Is it just me or do I find ...

we are working with our trade unions, colleagues and the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) to look at potential solutions,

... to be woolly and noncommittal.  One might have preferred "to solve this issue" rather that merely to "look at potential solutions" which does not include any plan or promise to actually fix the acknowledged problems.

Good of GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) to finally fess up and admit they’ve got a problem, one that’s not going away and is getting worse not better which doesn’t fill you with any confidence that it’s going to be fixed any time soon.

Very true, and a perfect example of being damned with faint praise.

Message for now is......if you need to travel reliably on a Sunday, use your car.

[a-driver]

Make Sunday’s double or even triple time.

Very simple.

[John D]

Unless I am mistaken, as part of the management contract with DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) it specifies minimum number of trains, and frequency on each route each day.

How on earth did they agree to that, if there was no clause to be able to employ enough staff to operate the minimum number of trains.  Unless the legal team were asleep, or they just hoped to wing it with voluntary overtime, doesn't seem logical.

Of course if need volunteers then have to accept might need to pay double or triple time to get sufficient staff volunteering.

[TaplowGreen]

Make Sunday’s double or even triple time.

Very simple.

Indeed. Make (train driver) poverty history.

[grahame]

Welcome to the forum, John

Unless I am mistaken, as part of the management contract with DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) it specifies minimum number of trains, and frequency on each route each day.

How on earth did they agree to that, if there was no clause to be able to employ enough staff to operate the minimum number of trains.  Unless the legal team were asleep, or they just hoped to wing it with voluntary overtime, doesn't seem logical.

I believe you are correct on the contract, though there are complexities of "ifs" and 'buts" in there - for example if something goes wrong with the railway infrastructure and it's not available, or if a bird strike on a certain size of bird puts a train out of action.

I think - a personal view that they were too optimistic / hopeful. I do note that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) are not alone in these issues.

Of course if need volunteers then have to accept might need to pay double or triple time to get sufficient staff volunteering.

Having just had a pay rise which has included significant backdated sums, money is not so much of a carrot as one would normally expect ...

[eightonedee]

How on earth did they agree to that, if there was no clause to be able to employ enough staff to operate the minimum number of trains.  Unless the legal team were asleep, or they just hoped to wing it with voluntary overtime, doesn't seem logical.

It may be that DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) insisted on this, leaving no choice other than to walk away or accept.

[Wizard]

Drivers will always take the money. If double or triple pay is offered more will volunteer to come in.

The problem with reducing the timetable is that the number of drivers who have to come in each week is zero. Those that do are all volunteering. You will also find that some drivers are more keen to come in than others, and if the ‘keen shift’ are all early Monday they obviously can’t work Sunday afternoon/evening (12 hours rest required between shifts), whereas the following week it could be a lot better when they have a late shift on the Monday.

[Wizard]

Make Sunday’s double or even triple time.

Very simple.

Indeed. Make (train driver) poverty history.

Well no, obviously the problem is now that drivers are so much not in poverty that they don’t need to work overtime to bump up tho salary. Would you work an extra optional day each week if you didn’t have to?

The only long term answer is to put Sundays inside the normal working week. I don’t think anybody will be paying for the 14% increase in drivers to cover it any time soon.

[a-driver]

Make Sunday’s double or even triple time.

Very simple.

Indeed. Make (train driver) poverty history.

Well no, obviously the problem is now that drivers are so much not in poverty that they don’t need to work overtime to bump up tho salary. Would you work an extra optional day each week if you didn’t have to?

The only long term answer is to put Sundays inside the normal working week. I don’t think anybody will be paying for the 14% increase in drivers to cover it any time soon.

Long term is obviously getting Sunday’s into the working week. There’s plenty drivers still working Rest Days during the week, you just need to make Sunday’s more appealing than a weekday either financially or another incentive…. Work two Sunday’s a month for an extra weekday leave day.

[IndustryInsider]

Long term is obviously getting Sunday’s into the working week. There’s plenty drivers still working Rest Days during the week, you just need to make Sunday’s more appealing than a weekday either financially or another incentive…. Work two Sunday’s a month for an extra weekday leave day.

I like that idea in principle.  Keep it restricted to Monday-Thursday.

[grahame]

Just to confirm this is NOT just a GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) issue ... From the Manchester Evening News

Northern is running no services between Victoria and Chester, or Piccadilly and Stoke-on-Trent, with no rail replacement buses planned for either route. In a post on X this morning (Saturday), a Northern spokesperson urged would-be passengers 'do not travel' on those routes.

Meanwhile, services between Victoria and Southport, and Wigan and Preston via Euxton Balshaw Lane, will have rail replacement buses operating instead. On these services, Northern is advising customers to 'avoid travelling if you can as capacity will be limited'.

A number of routes will also run at reduced frequency, with gaps of more than two hours in the timetable tomorrow. They include services between Manchester and Liverpool via Newton-le-Willows and Warrington Central, Manchester and Crewe, and Bolton and Stalybridge.

[Timmer]

Just to confirm this is NOT just a GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) issue ... From the Manchester Evening News

And just goes to show that Nationalisation won’t change a thing. You only have to look north to see why.

[Timmer]

Like a vidi printer at full time, tomorrow’s cancellations and short runnings are beginning to appear on Journeycheck.

[Trowres]

Just to confirm this is NOT just a GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) issue ...

On the other hand, a look at the running at East Croydon last Sunday... or Charing Cross... revealed a service with hardly any cancellations (and nearly all trains running to time).

Northern and GWR seem to be the worst for staff shortages.

Going back to the GWR quote:

You may be aware that we are reliant on volunteer overtime from our drivers and other on-board crew when it comes to working on Sundays. This isn’t a case of not having enough drivers, guards and other colleagues employed, but rather the terms and conditions contained in their contracts means we are reliant on a number of colleagues volunteering to work overtime to cover our timetable on Sundays.

We've had (as usual) a significant number of cancellations and short-workings today (Saturday); there have also been a few during the week, I believe. Are these due to a completely different issue? The GWR message doesn't give the full story...

[TaplowGreen]

Just to confirm this is NOT just a GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) issue ... From the Manchester Evening News

And just goes to show that Nationalisation won’t change a thing. You only have to look north to see why.

Yeah but Labour Government, Louise Haigh,Hendy, "shadow" GBR^▸ (Great British Railways), no strings pay awards, etc etc.....