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  I worked for a brief stint as a RO2S for TransPennine Express in the North of England. I had so much fun dealing with Northern Rail and their pieces of scrap with wheels that they call trains.
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May 11, 2012 07:45
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TinTower posted:As much as it is to rag on Serco, that one isn't their fault. We'll perpetually have 20-year old trains because we're not London. TransPennine manage to have a fleet that was built within the last decade 
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May 11, 2012 22:28
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I can't help but think that some sort of leaflet or piece of information needs to be prominently displayed that says "Move down the carriage when you board a busy service". Saw a TPE train yesterday that was completely ram packed full in carriage B but carriages A and C were pretty much empty. Seems silly for everyone to be crowding round in the same carriage...
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May 14, 2012 21:44
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notaspy posted:Has anyone else seen white fences partitioning stations in London? Does anyone know what they are for? Construction work? Separating football fans?
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Jun 18, 2012 13:05
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notaspy posted:They seem to be permanent, I'm guessing they are there to help with a two-tier infrastructure or something like that. Maybe they're there for revenue protection purposes then?
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Jun 18, 2012 15:13
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kingturnip posted:Spotted this on the BBC News website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18644343 This is mad! I had no idea these existed but I can't say I'm surprised. The Northern Rail PR person is cute.
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Jul 5, 2012 13:51
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thehustler posted:Apparently Preston to Manchester is getting electrified by 2016, which is great. Does anybody know if the Preston to Blackpool bit is being done also? It isn't electrified already?? That's mad
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Jul 18, 2012 15:28
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The train I was on ran over a goat the other day and yesterday another train hit a cow and had to be cancelled due to damage. Farmers need to sort their fences out!
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Jul 22, 2012 17:06
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Lord of the Llamas posted:£64.50 for a single from Kings Cross to Grantham (just over one hour). Are you loving kidding me? :dahnsahf: £1.80 for a pint of Carlsberg in my local. £4.50 in London
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Aug 12, 2012 02:17
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Looks like First Group are getting the West Coast Mainline franchise. Wonder what units they're going to be using.
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Aug 13, 2012 20:43
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I think TPE do a really good job of training their staff and they've got a corporate culture revolving around good customer service.
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Aug 15, 2012 03:16
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TinTower posted:TPE could be run by the devil himself and I would still take that over a Northern Pacer. When I worked as a station supervisor, I heard so many stories of pacers and sprinters literally falling to pieces. Like, I'm talking entire engine blocks falling onto the track and the conductor watching as it slowly disappears off into the distance. Also funny incident at a NW station involving a 156 a fortnight or so ago. Some lout climbed into the cabin while the unit was sat empty on a station and starting tooting the horn. He broke the horn. Cue the 156 making a 20 mile trip to the next station at like 5mph due to having no horn. Luckily it coupled up with another unit there.
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Aug 15, 2012 04:40
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Install Gentoo posted:How are jobs and stuff handled when one franchise is being passed from one company to a new one? If you're a conductor on Company A and Company B buys out the franchise you're in, do they shuffle you to Company A in another franchise area (if A has one) or does B have to hire you, or do you just get fired? I was talking to a conductor about this the other day and he told me that drivers, conductors and platform staff are all moved to the new company, so the Virgin employees will become part of FirstGroup. Managers stay with their current company so they'd have to move or find new jobs. Now, to make sure everything is hunky dorey (different companies have different pay scales, benefits, bonuses, etc) there is a period of "Harmonsation" which starts with drivers. They all sit down and hash out what they want their new contracts and conditions to be, in theory they pick out the best conditions from both companies. Then conductors do it, followed by platform staff. It's advantageous to keep the current staff because nobody at FirstGroup will be certified in the WCML route, so they'd have to learn it. They've also never worked a Pendolino or Voyager so they would have to be trained up on that too. Basically, all that will change for the staff is they'll be wearing new uniforms and they might get paid more money, or have better holidays. I haven't talked to anyone who has been negative about the harmonisation process, so I guess it's a good opportunity to improve working conditions. The new company wouldn't want to piss off it's new employees from the get go, so it's likely they'll concede to pay more money or give more holidays, etc. I recently read that RMT are gearing up for some hot debates because FirstGroup are stripping out the on-board catering for WCML, which will lead up to 800~ lost jobs. Catering staff are not part of the harmonisation process so they don't get a say in anything. Hezzy fucked around with this message at 20:36 on Aug 15, 2012 |
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Aug 15, 2012 20:33
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Mahmoud Ahmadinejad posted:Virgin Trains staff respond to news about their new overlords being First you can tell he's a driver because his arse is super flat
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Aug 17, 2012 18:34
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"Virgin deny that the airline move is in response to that decision." Yes it's just a major coincidence that this is announced a few days after the decision to take the WCML off of Virgin was made Looking forward to seeing how cheap the flights are!!
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Aug 21, 2012 06:52
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Also regarding stuff on the tracks, there's a national police service dedicated to the railway and they will always attempt to prosecute trespassers.
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Sep 5, 2012 20:25
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Jonnty posted:As far as I know the British Transport Police are state "owned" for want of a better word, but funded by the train companies. Yes, they are one of two "special" police forces along with the Civil Nuclear Constabulary. They're held accountable by "stakeholders". They have a police authority (one of the many boards the police in the UK are held accountable to) consisting of representatives from each Train Operating Company. I think something like 95% of the funding comes from the TOCs, so BTP is quite a wealthy force and has all the best equipment.
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Sep 6, 2012 12:35
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mrpwase posted:
They're punishing Virgin for being uppity by taking away the profit they'll make between now and December.
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Sep 9, 2012 15:09
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2211647/Moment-dozy-freight-train-driver-took-quick-snooze-wheel-caught-camera.html :dailymail:
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Oct 2, 2012 18:46
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coffeetable posted:What're the chances actual corruption will be uncovered when people start investigating this? 0%
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Oct 3, 2012 07:21
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I think Northern has the potential to be a really good TOC, it's just a shame about their rolling stock
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Oct 5, 2012 16:49
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Cerv posted:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-21410006 Haha that is simply amazing. The railway infrastructure in the country grinding to a halt because one man got stuck in a toilet. Britain!
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Feb 12, 2013 15:25
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I've heard all kinds of weird and wonderful stories from signallers. Like the game where they have to knock one out before a train travels between two points
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Feb 14, 2013 12:39
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I've tried to get drivers on spare to move units and they generally act as if it is the biggest inconvenience in the world. It's a pain in the arse and was consistently a problem for me, it wasn't just limited to one person. They're literally sitting around doing nothing and getting paid for it. Their whole purpose is being on standby in the event that a train needs to be moved or a driver needs replacing.
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Mar 19, 2013 23:11
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Bozza posted:Well it is. What sort of trains were you trying to get moved? Where from and to where? Was it diagramed? Who had you authorised this with (control/signallers)? 156 / 153 units usually. From the platform down to the sidings (with very low traffic). Wasn't diagrammed, but was requested by their TOC's control and OK'd with signaller. Their control did this a lot, usually to refuel, rewater or take a unit out of service because it was broken. Not sure why they couldn't contact their drivers directly but they always used to contact us and let us sort it out. kingturnip posted:I tend to set my clock by the time on the station departure board, to try to avoid this sort of situation. Remember that it is a "departure time". The train can be pulling out of the station at the specified time.
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Mar 21, 2013 08:26
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Jonnty posted:I'm not entirely sure about the full role of spare drivers but if the TOC is routinely using spare drivers when there's no disruption and nobody off sick or whatever then it probably means they're employing too few drivers and the spare has every right to be annoyed. The sidings are right next to the station. Usually we have 1 or 2 units belonging to that TOC spare in the sidings and they switch them out. Basically the driver who brings a broken unit / unit needing fuelling into the station goes home and the unit is left sitting there taking up a valuable platform. Then control either forgot to tell the driver to put it back down the sidings before he left, or changed their minds at the last minute about what they wanted to do with it. So that means I have to get someone on spare to move the train down the sidings. That's exactly why they're spare (apart from filling in when drivers don't show up) and it really isn't a massive fuss, literally takes 15 minutes at the most and then they can go back to being paid to sit around doing whatever they want!
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Mar 21, 2013 21:02
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Jonnty posted:So they're being made to do it because control is slightly incompetent (or doesn't want to pay another driver for a few extra minutes when they can just use the spare driver instead?) Yeah, but to be fair to their control they've got about a 50 second window from when the train pulls in where they can phone their driver to inform him of the change. Then he / she books off and their mobile is switched off. They should really diagram to account for fuel but I guess that requires effort or something. Why do it when they can lean on other TOCs to act as their messenger boys and lean on their spares to move stuff around?
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Mar 21, 2013 21:08
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Jonnty posted:And that's why the spares would be reluctant to move the trains - to avoid setting a precedent like that. It's part of their job as a spare to move units when requested. There's no precedent, it's in their contract
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Mar 21, 2013 21:27
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Bit off topic but here's a twitter account that may provide everyone with a few laughs: https://twitter.com/TlfTravelAlerts
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Jun 1, 2013 11:41
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Don't suppose any of you would know of some sort of railway equipment that helps carrying heavy loads down tracks? A stretcher or trolley that sits on the running rails would be awesome. I've looked around on the internet but they all seem over the top, the loads carried would only be about 250kg at most. Ideally it'd be compact enough to fit in the back of a vehicle and light enough to be carried by one person, or two at a push.Lofty132 posted:Authorities claiming the derailed Nuclear Flask Train at Barrow had empty flasks anyway, I would have thought the police would have sufficed rather than the army in that case? I didn't notice any of the Army there? Initial response was only a couple of units of police, there wasn't really anything going on at all! I don't even think CNC bothered to show up, it was BTP and Cumbria Olewithmilk posted:I was at a train station passenger lounge and decided to charge my phone for 10 minutes on one of the numerous spare plug sockets in the place. I was just getting up for my train and some guy sat next to me and asked if I'd gotten permission to use it. I told him no and, long story short, he said he was going to report me for "theft of electricity". I invited him to do so and gave him my name and partial address. I got on my train, saw that the guy had moved into the chair I was sitting in and was on his phone, inspecting the plug socket. I'm doing big laughs at the image of the police chuckling at him down the phone but I also am mad at myself for getting wound up and giving him my name. Am I danger of getting a visits from the British Transport Police or should I carry on laughing? Abstracting electricity is an offence, however it must be dishonestly used, or dishonestly caused to be wasted or diverted. You can't steal electricity. You're fine, because nothing you did was dishonest. Presumably you didn't have to rip any locks off of the sockets or anything like that. In those kinds of circumstances, don't ever give your name and address to anyone other than a police officer! Rail staff only have the power to request your name and address under the railway byelaws. Even then they are required to inform you which byelaw is being enforced, and must produce identification upon request that will show the name of their employer and a means to identify the person (I.E a photograph). It is handy reading the byelaws; according to them you could theoretically be forcibly ejected from a railway station for jumping a queue
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Oct 15, 2013 23:34
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Virgin are doing some sort of November first class seat sale. It kinda just sounds like they're advertising advance tickets but all covered in glitter and such
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Nov 10, 2013 06:18
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Does anyone know a place I can look up unit numbers based off of headcodes? It's for work and I'd rather not ring up control rooms every time I needed them! I don't have access to TRUST or TOPS
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Nov 21, 2013 03:01
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Jonnty posted:Also, is a guy who takes security tapes home to wipe them an actual thing anywhere? I'm not sure about the system the underground uses but all of the modern CCTV I have come across have Digital Video Recorders that automatically overwrites old footage on a rolling basis
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Jan 7, 2014 14:32
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tentish klown posted:I was on the train home from work last night, fairly late (I believe it was the 9:10 from Farringdon to Kentish Town), and got on the front carriage. Sat down, then looked around. There were two other people in the carriage with me, one guy with his face covered - hood, bandana across his face - who looked a bit like a protestor and was acting kinda shifty, and another normal looking guy. The face-covered guy then spent the next two stops scratching his signs into the windows, and graffing all the bits of the train that weren't window. The normal guy got off at St Pancras. Train terminated at Kentish Town, where I got off and told the lady at the station exactly what had happened, who walked off to 'let the boys know'. In future you can text 61016 which is the British Transport Police. You can also email 61016@btp.pnn.police.uk. They're usually pretty snappy in their response, if you let them know quick enough they quite often meet trains in and apprehend the person They might benefit from a statement from you seeing as you've seen the guy doing it, if you're willing call 0800 40 50 40 which is the non-emergency number for their control room. http://www.btp.police.uk/we_get_the_message/how_to_use_the_text_number.aspx Mahmoud Ahmadinejad posted:http://news.stv.tv/tayside/259407-andrew-davidson-tried-to-have-sex-with-drinks-trolley-on-board-train/ http://www.lep.co.uk/news/help-us-catch-train-pervert-1-6300100 quote:Police hunting a man who exposed himself to two women on a train in Chorley have released a CCTV image. Why do trains attract these kinds of people Hezzy fucked around with this message at 03:48 on Jan 18, 2014 |
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Jan 18, 2014 03:42
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tentish klown posted:by the time HS2 is complete it'll be both faster AND cheaper to fly from Newcastle/Manchester/Leeds than it will be to get the train. It already is Train from Manchester Piccadilly (MAN) to London St Pancreas International (STP) on an off peak single ticket - £81.70 2h30m Eurostar to Paris - £140 2h25m TOTAL - £221.70 4h55m Flight from Manchester Airport to Charles de Gaulle - £76 1h40m Based on prices from 24th Feb 2014
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Feb 23, 2014 04:19
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Lead out in cuffs posted:Except that the flight time is only measured from the moment the doors close to the moment they open, and fails to account for: getting from Manchester proper to the airport, checking in, going through security, boarding and waiting on the tarmac, deboarding, collecting luggage (if you brought any), and getting from Charles De Gaulle into Paris proper. How long do you reckon all of that takes? I'd estimate at least 3-4 hours, plus some extra costs for transit tickets / taxi fares. The time to get to the airport or train station will most likely be similar. I do agree that checking in and going through security would take longer, but it is a lot cheaper and a lot faster than taking a train. Even if boarding and unboarding took 2 hours you'd still be at 3 hours or so total as opposed to FIVE hours. And you'd be at least £100 better off. Plus you could argue that planes are more reliable than trains. Planes aren't really subject to signalling failures, suicidal persons and cascading delays like trains are. Hezzy fucked around with this message at 04:55 on Feb 23, 2014 |
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Feb 23, 2014 04:52
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When in doubt, buy before you board. Especially if you're getting on a Northern Rail service, they've really been clamping down on it recently. If you do board a train before you buy a ticket, you are technically committing a Byelaw 18 offence and leave yourself open to prosecution; 18. Ticketless travel in non-compulsory ticket areas (1) In any area not designated as a compulsory ticket area, no person shall enter any train for the purpose of travelling on the railway unless he has with him a valid ticket entitling him to travel. (2) A person shall hand over his ticket for inspection and verification of validity when asked to do so by an authorised person. (3) No person shall be in breach of Byelaw 18(1) or 18(2) if: (i) there were no facilities in working order for the issue or validation of any ticket at the time when, and the station where, he began his journey; or (ii) there was a notice at the station where he began his journey permitting journeys to be started without a valid ticket; or (iii) an authorised person gave him permission to travel without a valid ticket. Hezzy fucked around with this message at 05:22 on Mar 22, 2014 |
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Mar 22, 2014 05:19
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Metrication posted:Why are they exempt? Are there no ticket machines or something? Yeah basically, no means at the station in order to buy tickets. Either there's no machine, ticket office or the machine is broken / ticket office closed. Northern Rail covers a lot of very rural / small stations at which there is probably no electricity, let alone a ticket machine!
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Mar 22, 2014 12:50
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Bozza posted:If you deal with the actual operational rail staff, they are 1000x more reasonable and understanding than the other bastards who are nearly universally little Hitler's. Probably because they usually get commission on the tickets they sell
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Mar 25, 2014 13:35
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Seaside Loafer posted:I give up, you guys sound like the jobsworth nazis who while having their union rights caned for a business that shouldnt be in private ownership in the first place are still happy to loving enforce the letter of the law as opposed to the spirit of the law. Hahah what even
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Apr 18, 2014 20:23
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