Stupidity

[Matthais-mouse]

Howdy folks, well ive just arrived home from work and have witnessed the most stupid thing on the railways so far for me personally.
Anywho what happened was, the train from hull to beverley operated by northern rail arrived at hull 15 minutes late, not much of a big deal, than 1 minute later the scarborough train arrived, anyway a couple of minutes later the scarborough train departs, causing the beverley train to leave even later.
Now the big deal for me is why on earth did northern still send their beverley train when they could have moved the passengers from one train to the other, sent them on their way than kept the 158 at hull saving money on fuel and paying staff for a pointless journey to beverley than straight back to hull.

2 things,
Has anyone else experienced stuff like this?
and am i just being a fussy booger?

[Flying Pig]

Originally Posted by Matthais-mouse

Now the big deal for me is why on earth did northern still send their beverley train when they could have moved the passengers from one train to the other, sent them on their way than kept the 158 at hull saving money on fuel and paying staff for a pointless journey to beverley than straight back to hull.

At a guess, the usual reason is that not sending the Beverly train would constitute a cancellation which would;

a) Affect their PPM (Peak Performance Measurement), which is the yardstick by which franchises are judged.

b) Incur a fine, which might have been larger than the cost of running the service.

c) They would be paying their staff for agreed hours anyway, so that is not a consideration.

PS - I DO NOT condone this nonsense, but those of us who work on the railway know that we have to dance to the tune that ignorant and stupid politicians and civil servants call.

Hope this helps, FP

[Matthais-mouse]

ah I see now, didnt know they got fines for not running services. I think the thread was said more out of my anger for being home late a 'frustrating' day at work.

Maybe things will change in the future perhaps.

[Flying Pig]

Originally Posted by Matthais-mouse

ah I see now, didnt know they got fines for not running services. I think the thread was said more out of my anger for being home late a 'frustrating' day at work.

Maybe things will change in the future perhaps.

There's certainly a lot of silly things on the railway to make you angry.

I never cease to be annoyed by the matter of 'Regulation' - whereby the signaller is forced to stop several 'on-time' trains, to allow a late running train to pass.

Immediately this causes half a dozen trains to be made late instead of just one, and then the whole railway spirals out of control. When you get to your destination you're 10 minutes down, and the arrivals board is showing everything red.

Because the Government makes these decisions, the signallers are prevented from using their experience and better judgement to get the trains running most efficiently, and must just do it "by the book" and run them in order, thus worsening the delay.

So yes, I understand your anger. We feel it too.

Best wishes,

FP

[LesG]

Because the Government makes these decisions, the signallers are prevented from using their experience and better judgement to get the trains running most efficiently, and must just do it "by the book" and run them in order, thus worsening the delay.

Not strictly true, the govt has no input into how a train is signalled. Before a signaller can signal a late running train( 0r even an early running in the case of freight ), he has to call is area control and they will make the decision.

Les

[Flying Pig]

Originally Posted by LesG

Not strictly true, the govt has no input into how a train is signalled. Before a signaller can signal a late running train( 0r even an early running in the case of freight ), he has to call is area control and they will make the decision.

Hi Les, hope the world of freight is treating you ok.

Your experiences are slightly different from mine. On the Midland Mainline I've (politely) asked the Signaller why I've been stood at a junction signal waiting for a late running train. His answer was that the NR edict said that within this panel any class 1 train would take priority over a stopper provided it was less than 10 minutes outside its pathway. He is not allowed to make sensible decisions to reduce delay - government (ie DfT) policy has decided that Delay Attribution is the way to go.....And at the end of the month, all the TOCs, their accountants and solicitors and NR sit down together and thrash out who's responsible for what delays.

Nice work for accountants, rubbish news for passengers.

Hence my previous comments

Best wishes,

FP

[Bobjork]

In sweden it is decided that a train running on time have priority over a late running service, unless the late train isn't a steel slab train.
Delays etc they don't need to pay fine for unless they are running for the county service (commuter trains etc). However, if the delay is nottheir fault (no power in overhead lines, signal failure or track failure, they don't have to pay.
For national trains (Veolia, SJ, SJ Norrlandståg, Tågkompaniet etc) there isn't any fine, but they may have to refund the passenger up to 100% of the ticket prize. And hopefully demand that money from the one responsible for the delay as 80% of the delays for SJ is due to bad infrastructure (owned by Trafikverket, a government agency)