Northern Trains Ltd

[knutstransport]

RE: Northern Trains Ltd

(12/07/2020 21:05)mikestone Wrote:  From 20th July additional trains will run from Blackpool South and Ormskirk to Preston, Blackpool North-MIA and Bridlington-Hull. I'd have thought the ECS workings between Blackpool and Preston for the Leeds service would have become passenger trains, but this appears not to be the case.
PDFs on website, but not in RTT yet.

Scarborough services also enhanced the other side of the Pennines so looks like they are prioritising extra capacity on services to the coast (and connecting services) for the school summer holidays, which won't necessarily go down well with commuters who still can't get their usual train to and from work or on other lines used by tourists such as the South Lakes, the lines to/from Chester and Southport.

[mikestone]

RE: Northern Trains Ltd
There are no extra Scarborough trains, as I posted the additional trains run to/from Bridlington.

[knutstransport]

RE: Northern Trains Ltd
So apparently Northern have staffing issues with Manchester based drivers and they don't expect to be able to resolve them for around 2 months, which is why they didn't follow the government guidance about reinstating most/all services at the beginning of July. Buxton drivers do sign the Blackpool route which might be one reason why that route isn't as badly affected as others.

[iMarkeh]

RE: Northern Trains Ltd

(15/07/2020 16:16)knutstransport Wrote:  So apparently Northern have staffing issues with Manchester based drivers and they don't expect to be able to resolve them for around 2 months, which is why they didn't follow the government guidance about reinstating most/all services at the beginning of July. Buxton drivers do sign the Blackpool route which might be one reason why that route isn't as badly affected as others.

Interesting. Did they furlough drivers and therefore drivers lost their route/unit knowledge so when they got brought back, they had to be added in to be retrained?

[wirralbus]

RE: Northern Trains Ltd

(17/07/2020 17:44)iMarkeh Wrote:  Interesting. Did they furlough drivers and therefore drivers lost their route/unit knowledge so when they got brought back, they had to be added in to be retrained?

As far as i can gather no one on the railway got furloughed , unlike TfL , what has happened is that there may have been drivers that have been on the shielded list , who may have lost there route competency and will have to have route and traction refresh.

Something similar caused chaos when the Blackpool North - Preston line reopened after overrunning electrification work , remember that , it caused Northern untold reputational damage which they never recoverd from.

[knutstransport]

RE: Northern Trains Ltd

(17/07/2020 19:49)wirralbus Wrote:  As far as i can gather no one on the railway got furloughed , unlike TfL , what has happened is that there may have been drivers that have been on the shielded list , who may have lost there route competency and will have to have route and traction refresh.

Something similar caused chaos when the Blackpool North - Preston line reopened after overrunning electrification work , remember that , it caused Northern untold reputational damage which they never recoverd from.

I think the problem with the current 'temporary timetable' on many routes is Northern haven't really thought outside the box. They should be looking at part services on routes where demand is higher on one section than an other and asking other operators if they can make calls at certain stations (like they did when the RMT strikes were on.)

For instance, with a slight timetabling tweak they could terminate some Manchester-Stoke services at Macclesfield to free up crews, while retaining an hourly service on the busiest section and ask XC to call at Congleton.

They could also terminate some Manchester-Altrincham-Chester services at Greenbank as a way of trying to reinstate an hourly service for the busiest stations.

Perhaps some Buxton services could run to/from Hazel Grove only using EMUs freed up by not running as many services to Stoke, which would free up some DMUs for other routes as well as requiring fewer crews?

They could look in to using an excursion operator to provide some peak time crowd busters on routes where pathing and platform lengths wouldn't be an issue.

They could look at using more replacement buses on Sundays so that crews who are working Sunday services are instead available at weekday peak times.

[knutstransport]

RE: Northern Trains Ltd

(17/07/2020 19:49)wirralbus Wrote:  Something similar caused chaos when the Blackpool North - Preston line reopened after overrunning electrification work , remember that , it caused Northern untold reputational damage which they never recoverd from.

If what's posted on another forum is true the chaos we saw in the 1990s when ASLEF members refused to work overtime and services didn't run for months until new drivers were trained up is nothing in comparison to what we are about to see. It's likely to be December before all services are reinstated, while the promised September uplift will not be in time for the schools restarting and will not include reinstating the last train on most routes. And to make matters worse DfT have apparently said Northern will not be required to provide replacement services in lieu of missing trains!

[ant17612]

RE: Northern Trains Ltd

(17/07/2020 19:49)wirralbus Wrote:  As far as i can gather no one on the railway got furloughed , unlike TfL , what has happened is that there may have been drivers that have been on the shielded list , who may have lost there route competency and will have to have route and traction refresh.

Something similar caused chaos when the Blackpool North - Preston line reopened after overrunning electrification work , remember that , it caused Northern untold reputational damage which they never recoverd from.

Northern did furlough numerous members of train crew including those with UHC. Having been off for around 3 months they have lost all traction and route knowledge which takes at least 2 months to regain. It is mostly Piccadilly & Victoria crew depots with the odd shortages at Blackpool and Blackburn.

[ant17612]

RE: Northern Trains Ltd

(18/07/2020 08:31)knutstransport Wrote:  I think the problem with the current 'temporary timetable' on many routes is Northern haven't really thought outside the box. They should be looking at part services on routes where demand is higher on one section than an other and asking other operators if they can make calls at certain stations (like they did when the RMT strikes were on.)

For instance, with a slight timetabling tweak they could terminate some Manchester-Stoke services at Macclesfield to free up crews, while retaining an hourly service on the busiest section and ask XC to call at Congleton.

They could also terminate some Manchester-Altrincham-Chester services at Greenbank as a way of trying to reinstate an hourly service for the busiest stations.

Perhaps some Buxton services could run to/from Hazel Grove only using EMUs freed up by not running as many services to Stoke, which would free up some DMUs for other routes as well as requiring fewer crews?

They could look in to using an excursion operator to provide some peak time crowd busters on routes where pathing and platform lengths wouldn't be an issue.

They could look at using more replacement buses on Sundays so that crews who are working Sunday services are instead available at weekday peak times.

Piccadilly > Chester and other routes using similar timetables are staying 2 hourly as units have to be doubled up and there's not enough to run an hourly service.

[knutstransport]

RE: Northern Trains Ltd

(22/07/2020 20:14)ant17612 Wrote:  Piccadilly > Chester and other routes using similar timetables are staying 2 hourly as units have to be doubled up and there's not enough to run an hourly service.

On the Mid-Cheshire they are running one morning peak service to Stockport/Manchester with 4 carriages instead of 5 services and in the Chester direction it's one service with 4 carriages instead of 4 services. I don't know how that is supposed to aid social distancing!

The most similar lines to the Mid-Cheshire in terms of usage levels and usual traction are the Buxton and Southport routes which are at least keeping at least an hourly service - the Buxton line pretty much has the same number of services as it did when Arriva took over the franchise. Two of the 150s which Northern received from GWR were to allow for Mid-Cheshire enhancements but they didn't get used for extra services or even extra capacity on existing services!