Sort of interesting but not sure what it actually brings to this discussion, the franchise is different to most.
He does like a good whinge though
Let’s be clear, the Thameslink fleet is being replaced with new class 700 trains?—?incidently I should add that these ‘state of the art’ trains that Mr Grayling talks about have no wifi, no power sockets and not even any tables!
State of the art commuter trains that were procured by.. the DFT and not fit for the modern world of business.
On a line at capacity priority one needs to be getting people form A to B. If you can do that and provide tables and power great. If that would mean more trains, less people per train then ticket prices will go up.
Guard training takes around 3 months and includes safety critical training (staff allowed on to the track, can isolate power, can evacuate a train) and route knowledge?—?the new OBS role has none of this.
To be clear again, a job (not a specific role) has been guaranteed until the end of ‘franchise’, because staff are contracted to GTR and GTR can’t guarantee anything beyond that.
I wonder what will happen at franchise end?
What really matters here are the risk assesments and the procedures for emergency that are in place. Do they provide a greater or lesser risk to the passengers on the train or not. Can somebody with the 3 month training do any of the things they are trained to do in the evironment they are working in.
Nobody can promise anything after the end of the franchise, somebody may come along with a full driverless solution requiring only cleaners etc. They may choose to train OBS to do more or less or anything else.
The key point about driver operated doors is if the level of risk has changed from the current position (person on train determining if the doors are safe to be closed and move the train away to a different person on the train determining if the doors are closed and safe to move.) If the risk level has increased then it is an issue, if there are mitigaing steps that can reduce the risk they should be implemented.
If you are a wheelchair user and you need to either board or alight at an unmanned station the second member of staff is pretty essential for operating the ramps.
GTR say that the OBS is not mandatory for a service to run, in fact their latest maps appearing on trains tell people to book in advance.
At this stage they are not proposing to remove the member of staff from the train, here is the main problem the union are going after the what might happen and trying to use safety to justify it. It’s entirley sensible to book ahead if you need extra assistance where possible as it means the person on the train is expecting to need to use ramps etc. and where you expect to be on the paltform.
