Delays and strikes on West Midlands Railway
Posted: 10:17 Wednesday 13th November 2019
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/topics/cv0yy ... nds-trains
Guards will be on strike on Saturdays in the run up to Christmas over plans to make local services 'driver only'. You would expect Dutch National Railways owned Abellio to think things out a little better; there are so many stations built on sharp curves such as Foregate Street where, with two way working platforms, the the driver is on the opposite side to his passengers and no line of sight because of said curve any way, even if using the 'normal side! Add in the fact that many travellers prefer to have a guard on the train for added safety and in the case of lone females and the old for a degree of protection from some of the nastier elements frequenting public transport.
For the life of me I cannot see why the heavily used 'dark side' services i.e. those via Stourbridge with 10 minute headway cannot support a second man. If you've ever used the Hereford to Birmingham service it is always rammed and in need of additional coaches so absolutely earns enough revenue for retention of the guard.
There is also the revenue protection side of railway operation, because not all stations have barriers and ticket checks at start and end of the journey. It would be interesting to know just how many fare dodgers travel between Worcester and Malvern and Worcester and Droitwich for example!
Guards will be on strike on Saturdays in the run up to Christmas over plans to make local services 'driver only'. You would expect Dutch National Railways owned Abellio to think things out a little better; there are so many stations built on sharp curves such as Foregate Street where, with two way working platforms, the the driver is on the opposite side to his passengers and no line of sight because of said curve any way, even if using the 'normal side! Add in the fact that many travellers prefer to have a guard on the train for added safety and in the case of lone females and the old for a degree of protection from some of the nastier elements frequenting public transport.
For the life of me I cannot see why the heavily used 'dark side' services i.e. those via Stourbridge with 10 minute headway cannot support a second man. If you've ever used the Hereford to Birmingham service it is always rammed and in need of additional coaches so absolutely earns enough revenue for retention of the guard.
There is also the revenue protection side of railway operation, because not all stations have barriers and ticket checks at start and end of the journey. It would be interesting to know just how many fare dodgers travel between Worcester and Malvern and Worcester and Droitwich for example!