Qn.5 for Mark Hopwood: Are the jobs of train guards secure?

[whole diary]

[Red Squirrel]

Are the jobs of train guards secure? Many other TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) seem to take advantage of the ability of newer fleets and therefore making staff redundant and people feeling unsafe.

[MarkHopwood]

Yes. We have given undertakings to the RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers) that remains our position.  Fundamentally though we want on board staff to focus on the customer and allow drivers to undertake the operational tasks where possible.

We value our Train Managers and Conductors who perform a variety of valuable roles on trains. It is of course important in any job in any industry to evolve and work flexibly in order to demonstrate a long-term and continuing value to customers and the company. We work closely with our on board staff to develop their skills and competencies, to help them improve the way they work, their effectiveness and efficiency and if that continues, we see the value of Train Managers and Conductors being an essential element of the train service.

[Celestial]

I gather you're looking at ways of speeding up station stops.  If you offered a guarantee of a second person on the train (safety trained), would driver operated doors achieve this, where possible (eg Severn Beach line).  I appreciate that the subject is very sensitive, hence why the guarantee of no dilution of the current second person role other than operation of the doors.

[CMRail]

Thank you very much for putting my question forward and I am more than happy  with the answer.

[MarkHopwood]

The driver already releases the doors on Turbo trains. We don’t have any plans to change dispatch methods at this point in time.