Exasperated

One post on here in March...  There's been plenty to write about, so why no words?  The answer is simple - Hardly a day has gone past without a problem, and the daily exchanges on Twitter have been draining...

The cancellations caused by the lack of an overtime agreement between London Midland and the train drivers has been the biggest problem, but we've also had one problem after another on the West Coast Main Line. 

Back in January we were told that ASLEF and London Midland couldn't reach agreement on a number of issues, the main one being on driver training for some new rolling stock up in the Midlands.  In the absence of a deal, the Overtime Agreement between the two parties wasn't renewed in January and drivers wouldn't be working on their rest days.  It looks like no one is now calling this train crew problem an 'industrial dispute'.  It hasn't been coordinated by ASLEF apparently, individual drivers have taken the decision not to work on their rest days.  Hmmm...

Through March the impact of the driver shortage on a day to day basis has increased.  There has been more planned cancellations of the morning and evening peak trains, and where there was sickness or unexpected operational problems further trains haven't run.  Sunday travel has to all intents and purposes been a 'no go'.  

The London Midland/ASLEF problems don't end with the overtime issue.  The strike over harmonisation of two sets of driver contracts that was originally planned for 23 December but which was cancelled due to legal action by the employers looks to be back on again.  ASLEF had the injunction overturned and the union is now reballoting its members.  On top of this, Twitter messages were flashing between @londonmidland and train crew last Friday.  Details remain unclear, but it looks to be something to do with Northampton and Bletchley depots, and a writ prepared by London Midland before, and issued immediately after a meeting on 1 April.

Overall, the relationship between London Midland and ASLEF appears to be at an all time low.

Now for the other problem...  It seems that we've had infrastructure problems on the WCML practically every working day in March.  We've had signalling problems, points failures, overhead line issues and more.  Some days we've had one problem in the morning and another in the afternoon.  Network Rail have a vast amount to answer for.

So what is being done about all this?  Well, if you use Twitter then the comms have been pretty good.  @londonmidland has kept us well informed and apologies every time there's a problem have been forthcoming.  The rail operator has also avoided the temptation to stick to the Ts&Cs of the Delay Repay arrangement and pay compensation only for unplanned cancellations.  That's the good bit.  The bad bit has been that there are few, if any signs, of any action to resolve the problems.  The drivers are still in short supply and we are still getting problems on the line  :-(


Oops, I nearly forgot - One good thing did happen in March.  On Monday 14th the 1751 finally got the extra 4 carriages back so it is now a 12-car train again.  The carriages should never have been taken away in the first place, but London Midland did show that they listen and have the flexibility to make up for an error by correcting the mistake.