Broken & Late Ltd: Britain's Railways

[Lang Spoon]

ASLEF are on strike yet again for 4 days on the weekend after Easter, because despite recent rises they still don't believe train drivers are paid enough at £65,000 a year.

I'm all for these sorts of things normally, but this is just taking the fucking piss now, especially as I've just had to cancel several trains and make plans to drive and book hotels instead. Their sudden announcements of strikes is becoming almost a deliberately cruel tactic you'd expect from the far fucking right, not an allegedly sypathetic-to-the-public trade union.

If a union plans industrial action to avoid inconvenience to folk, then perhaps the strategy will be unsuccessful. Im sure you could maybe lower yourself to take the bus as well.

[diggedy derek]

It’s such a staggeringly responsible and important job, driving a train. Hard to imagine.

[Sporting]

It’s such a staggeringly responsible and important job, driving a train. Hard to imagine.

This is all true, and I don't begrudge them one cent of their salaries, but is it actually that difficult? My (retired) train driver friend told me the other day that in his opinion driving a car takes much more concentration and is potentially more dangerous than driving a train.

[ursus arctos]

There are elements similar to flying a plane, with long periods of routine puntuated by episodes of extremely high risk.

Not to mention that suicides almost never choose other types of conveyances.

[diggedy derek]

This is all true, and I don't begrudge them one cent of their salaries, but is it actually that difficult? My (retired) train driver friend told me the other day that in his opinion driving a car takes much more concentration and is potentially more dangerous than driving a train.

From playing my son’s train sim game on the Playstation, which strives to be fairly faithful, I’d say it’s a lot harder. If you have too much speed in a train, you are in deep trouble. If a road vehicle is going too fast, by and large you can get things back under control in just a few seconds.

Train driver has to think two or three steps ahead, constantly.

[Sporting]

Maybe I'm wrong, but train drivers can surely fix their speeds whereas for car drivers a sudden unwanted step on the gas...

Train driver has to think two or three steps ahead, constantly.

Depends on the sort of track/line you're on?

[ursus arctos]

One generally needs to keep one's hand on the throttle, and failing to do so will trigger some safety systems.

It isn't a "set it and forget" system.

That said, modern trains are massively easier to operate than their steam forebears

[Sporting]

I'll ask my friend - 35 years experience - when I see him again about these things.

[Paul S]

How difficult is train driving? It depends on aptitude. Modern trains require a skill set of the old typing pools of the 1970's. Back then if you wanted a letter typed you took it to a room full of 80-90% females who would then type it up for you. Typewriters required accuracy, concentration and not to think to much about it. Modern trains are the same and, whisper it quietly but today women make better train drivers then men.

How easy is it? It depends on your view. A mate of mine in the Midlands took a train drivers job but was taken out of the cab after six months as he kept on making mistakes. Another mate went from back offices to driving on the Underground and hates it as he is on his own all day in the dark and can't handle it.

Are train drivers worth £65k a year and 32 hours a week? Well, a lot of efficiencies in the industry have been from changing shift patterns, altering start times and getting flexibility. Trade unions have not unreasonably asked for these efficiencies to be passed onto drivers in the form of extra pay. But if you cut the working week to just 32 hours, which is less than 3 days work, you get problems.

Cut the working week and you need more drivers to cover rostas and this means a 15 minute frequentcy rail service starts to lose money. Having to use more drivers to drive freight trains makes them unprofitable and prices go up and the customers switch to road. Costs are very finely balanced and a lot of rail freight could disappear overnight.

Bus and coach drivers earn £25-27k basic a year and can be a much better and far more flexible service than the railways. Rail unions be very aware and think about what they demand.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

It's always worth a further look when Euston is trending on what's left of Twitter, and it seems to have descended into absolute chaos for a second consecutive day. I'm going to London on the late May bank holiday weekend and it's almost a relief that, due to engineering works, I'm having to come back from King's Cross instead. But I'm still relying on the WCML working in order to get there in the first place, and it feels like a gamble booking anything that involves Euston.

[Capybara]

It's always worth a further look when Euston is trending on what's left of Twitter, and it seems to have descended into absolute chaos for a second consecutive day. I'm going to London on the late May bank holiday weekend and it's almost a relief that, due to engineering works, I'm having to come back from King's Cross instead. But I'm still relying on the WCML working in order to get there in the first place, and it feels like a gamble booking anything that involves Euston.

King's Cross to Peterborough is not without its problems, but I see what you mean about the WCML.

There's also currently a big hole near Grange-over-Sands that could well stop me from completing the 91 this season even if the WCML is running.

[colchestersid]

I hardly ever get the train these days but a day out in London today and I didn't fancy driving to Stratford

Anyway, £102 for two adults and a child to travel from Colchester to London off peak

Extortionate as that seemed it was actually cheaper to buy tickets for three adults than it would have been to buy for two adults and a child

[JoeysToe]

I hardly ever get the train these days but a day out in London today and I didn't fancy driving to Stratford

Anyway, £102 for two adults and a child to travel from Colchester to London off peak

Extortionate as that seemed it was actually cheaper to buy tickets for three adults than it would have been to buy for two adults and a child

Train tickets are messed up. It was cheaper to buy 3 adult tickets because they qualify for groupsave, which child tickets don't count towards. So you saved 3 thirds of a full fare rather than 1 half.

You could have bought a railcard which would have dropped the price of a travelcard down to £78.45 for the three of you. The railcard would have cost £30 so you'd have been out of pocket unless / until you made another trip within 12 months.