Hey ho, suitably diverting hour, doesn't have 'it' that the Tube had though.
Yerman climbing in the gap between the old platform and the new piece really, really doesn't want to do that.
Wind get's hold of the crane's jib and he'll get squished, don't want to get caught on camera doing that sort of thing apart from anything else.
I'll see Sue Perkins doing her thing later.
I hope it's good I like Sue.
I have a friend who commutes into London and his season ticket costs him £600 a month - which means, after tax, he needs to earn over £10,000 a year just to pay for the train.
I have a friend who commutes into London and his season ticket costs him £600 a month - which means, after tax, he needs to earn over £10,000 a year just to pay for the train.
Something the Jobcentre don't give a damn about when they send you to a job miles away, not paying enough to cover the travel leave alone anything else!
I've lost my phone it's a white Nokia, have you had any handed in?
No,
Sorry actually it might be black?
We haven't got any of them either.
Actually it's not a Nokia it's a Samsung....
Great insight into the workings of the rail system. I have one question unanswered. If a freight train cut cables delaying trains amounting to £200,000 in fines for Network Rail, surely the owners or operators of the freight train would be duly liable?
If the badly fitted tailgate on my estate car rose up and smashed every set of traffic lights I passed under I would assume I would be liable for damage. That is of course assuming the freight vehicle is not operated by NR themselves. If this is the case then the maintenance team should be sacked.
I've lost my phone it's a white Nokia, have you had any handed in?
No,
Sorry actually it might be black?
We haven't got any of them either.
Actually it's not a Nokia it's a Samsung....
"Look! Just show me all your phones and I'll pick my one! I'll even tell you my number if you leave me alone with it for 5 minutes."
Great insight into the workings of the rail system. I have one question unanswered. If a freight train cut cables delaying trains amounting to £200,000 in fines for Network Rail, surely the owners or operators of the freight train would be duly liable?
If the badly fitted tailgate on my estate car rose up and smashed every set of traffic lights I passed under I would assume I would be liable for damage. That is of course assuming the freight vehicle is not operated by NR themselves. If this is the case then the maintenance team should be sacked.
The penalties do seem rather strange though they have obviously not explained in detail. We had a complicated system at work where we were allowed a certain number of hours each quarter but if you exceeded that then it could get expensive. The charge had some sort of scaling system depending on number of people affected so theoretically you did not have worry about a fault that would not affect many but had to pull out all the stops for one that did. There were clauses to exempt things outside our control like weather and if we could not get somewhere (usually because of ferries). None of us every understood it but you had to remember to make sure anything out of our control was noted.
Great insight into the workings of the rail system. I have one question unanswered. If a freight train cut cables delaying trains amounting to £200,000 in fines for Network Rail, surely the owners or operators of the freight train would be duly liable?
If the badly fitted tailgate on my estate car rose up and smashed every set of traffic lights I passed under I would assume I would be liable for damage. That is of course assuming the freight vehicle is not operated by NR themselves. If this is the case then the maintenance team should be sacked.
At the end of the day it all boils down to what the contracts between companies says.
I used to work at Eurotunnel (The operator of the actual tunnel) and if we held up the Eurostar train (different company nothing to do with Eurotunnel) they would change Eurotunnel £1000 a minute!
We did many times! But when we got things running again it was very much "Sod our customers! Get the Eurostar train through first as it's costing us."
Great insight into the workings of the rail system.
Well Im just watching the first episode (half way through), but so far I have to disagree. Its a pile of biased crap which is clearly only interested in making them all look like incompetent nutters rather than actually providing a real insight into how the railway works.
I have one question unanswered. If a freight train cut cables delaying trains amounting to £200,000 in fines for Network Rail, surely the owners or operators of the freight train would be duly liable?
Pretty much yes. Delay minuets are tracked to the original cause, the responsible company will have that penalty the the process of claims upon claims. But its important to remember that it works both ways. So if network rail causes delays to that freight company say, the following week, (which will happen), then the FOC will be compensated for that. So the amounts actually paid won't be as shown by the "documentary".
ETA. Oh yeah, except for the depiction of the managers, thats pretty much correct. Actually, based on my experience, these guys are a lot more competent then mine ever where!
Well Im just watching the first episode (half way through), but so far I have to disagree. Its a pile of biased crap which is clearly only interested in making them all look like incompetent nutters rather than actually providing a real insight into how the railway works.
Interesting -- I haven't watched any episodes other than last night's, but thought it was an impressive bit of propaganda from FGW. The only times we saw passengers being inconvenienced were when it was clearly not the fault of FGW, with barely any mention of the constant overcrowding and delays that happen every single day even when there's a "good service". Lots of clips of sympathetic staff and rude passengers, when I see the roles reversed just as often (especially at Reading station -- strangely I only recognised two members of staff despite using the station 5-6 days a week for the past 13 years).
The Cow Lane bit was quite interesting (and impressive), so I'll give them that. Clearly the station manager at Twyford is a legend. And I did have to laugh at the lass not charging the bloke for his misplaced laptop because "it's Christmas and he's an elderly gentleman". Presumably the TV cameras had nothing to do with it!
But meanwhile the 0734 from Reading West was late into Paddington for the 39th weekday out of 41 this year (and at least one carriage short, so painfully overcrowded). Le sigh...
Interesting -- I haven't watched any episodes other than last night's,
I have only watched the first episode (am catching up) and to be fair it did seem to even out a bit in the second half... although it really didn't seem to say much at all about anything significant.
I just didnt like the way the beginning showed passenger complaints but with no context given clearly to make the staff look bad. There was an interview with a driver in a cab and im suspicious by how frequent the AWS could heard. But anyway....ill watch part 2 now.
Great insight into the workings of the rail system. I have one question unanswered. If a freight train cut cables delaying trains amounting to £200,000 in fines for Network Rail, surely the owners or operators of the freight train would be duly liable? ....
There was talk of sending an investigator, presumably to check whether the cables had been interfered with or not fitted properly.
Interesting -- I haven't watched any episodes other than last night's, but thought it was an impressive bit of propaganda from FGW. The only times we saw passengers being inconvenienced were when it was clearly not the fault of FGW, with barely any mention of the constant overcrowding and delays that happen every single day even when there's a "good service". Lots of clips of sympathetic staff and rude passengers, when I see the roles reversed just as often (especially at Reading station -- strangely I only recognised two members of staff despite using the station 5-6 days a week for the past 13 years).
The Cow Lane bit was quite interesting (and impressive), so I'll give them that. Clearly the station manager at Twyford is a legend. And I did have to laugh at the lass not charging the bloke for his misplaced laptop because "it's Christmas and he's an elderly gentleman". Presumably the TV cameras had nothing to do with it!
But meanwhile the 0734 from Reading West was late into Paddington for the 39th weekday out of 41 this year (and at least one carriage short, so painfully overcrowded). Le sigh...
I saw lots of overcrowding, shot after shot of it, people been turned away because trains were full, standing in vestibules etc.
I don't know what you were watching.
In anycase this is really looking for the personalities at the sharp end of the day to day running of the service.
On that basis there are lots of things that aren't going to be covered.
When I was in Tech support, I'd send people stuff for free if I felt like it, that I 'should' have charged for.
Sent out hardware from 'my' stock, before receiving customers kit back, which I shouldn't have done.
Lost property woman, it could have been the cameras or it could have been the fact that she thought it was a bit 'cheeky' to charge full price for something she'd had less than 10 minutes and hadn't logged into the system yet.
Maybe if the camera wasn't there she wouldn't have charged at all, as it wasn't logged, who'd know.
I have to admit having now watched Episodes 1 & 2 overall I feel its it is much fairer than I initially said. Episode 2 reflected more closely my own experiences of life on the railways.
I wonder if perhaps London is just a more miserable and crappier place to work.
I liked the way they handled the boys death and showed the impacts from messing around on the track. I doubt anyone will take notice, but you never know.
Comments
Obviously the most interesting thing that has happened there in years.
Or Horsed around!
(Joke sponsored by Findus)
Hey ho, suitably diverting hour, doesn't have 'it' that the Tube had though.
Yerman climbing in the gap between the old platform and the new piece really, really doesn't want to do that.
Wind get's hold of the crane's jib and he'll get squished, don't want to get caught on camera doing that sort of thing apart from anything else.
I'll see Sue Perkins doing her thing later.
I hope it's good I like Sue.
I have a friend who commutes into London and his season ticket costs him £600 a month - which means, after tax, he needs to earn over £10,000 a year just to pay for the train.
Something the Jobcentre don't give a damn about when they send you to a job miles away, not paying enough to cover the travel leave alone anything else!
No,
Sorry actually it might be black?
We haven't got any of them either.
Actually it's not a Nokia it's a Samsung....
If the badly fitted tailgate on my estate car rose up and smashed every set of traffic lights I passed under I would assume I would be liable for damage. That is of course assuming the freight vehicle is not operated by NR themselves. If this is the case then the maintenance team should be sacked.
"Look! Just show me all your phones and I'll pick my one! I'll even tell you my number if you leave me alone with it for 5 minutes."
The penalties do seem rather strange though they have obviously not explained in detail. We had a complicated system at work where we were allowed a certain number of hours each quarter but if you exceeded that then it could get expensive. The charge had some sort of scaling system depending on number of people affected so theoretically you did not have worry about a fault that would not affect many but had to pull out all the stops for one that did. There were clauses to exempt things outside our control like weather and if we could not get somewhere (usually because of ferries). None of us every understood it but you had to remember to make sure anything out of our control was noted.
At the end of the day it all boils down to what the contracts between companies says.
I used to work at Eurotunnel (The operator of the actual tunnel) and if we held up the Eurostar train (different company nothing to do with Eurotunnel) they would change Eurotunnel £1000 a minute!
We did many times! But when we got things running again it was very much "Sod our customers! Get the Eurostar train through first as it's costing us."
Read elsewhere that he has been awarded with an MBE.
Well Im just watching the first episode (half way through), but so far I have to disagree. Its a pile of biased crap which is clearly only interested in making them all look like incompetent nutters rather than actually providing a real insight into how the railway works.
Pretty much yes. Delay minuets are tracked to the original cause, the responsible company will have that penalty the the process of claims upon claims. But its important to remember that it works both ways. So if network rail causes delays to that freight company say, the following week, (which will happen), then the FOC will be compensated for that. So the amounts actually paid won't be as shown by the "documentary".
ETA. Oh yeah, except for the depiction of the managers, thats pretty much correct. Actually, based on my experience, these guys are a lot more competent then mine ever where!
Bit off-topic, but where would you pass under traffic lights?
Interesting -- I haven't watched any episodes other than last night's, but thought it was an impressive bit of propaganda from FGW. The only times we saw passengers being inconvenienced were when it was clearly not the fault of FGW, with barely any mention of the constant overcrowding and delays that happen every single day even when there's a "good service". Lots of clips of sympathetic staff and rude passengers, when I see the roles reversed just as often (especially at Reading station -- strangely I only recognised two members of staff despite using the station 5-6 days a week for the past 13 years).
The Cow Lane bit was quite interesting (and impressive), so I'll give them that. Clearly the station manager at Twyford is a legend. And I did have to laugh at the lass not charging the bloke for his misplaced laptop because "it's Christmas and he's an elderly gentleman". Presumably the TV cameras had nothing to do with it!
But meanwhile the 0734 from Reading West was late into Paddington for the 39th weekday out of 41 this year (and at least one carriage short, so painfully overcrowded). Le sigh...
But Hayley was nice...the Man with the laptop only had to pay, £5.
Did like Norman at Twyford...:)
But Ben with the frozen Dog...:eek:
I have only watched the first episode (am catching up) and to be fair it did seem to even out a bit in the second half... although it really didn't seem to say much at all about anything significant.
I just didnt like the way the beginning showed passenger complaints but with no context given clearly to make the staff look bad. There was an interview with a driver in a cab and im suspicious by how frequent the AWS could heard. But anyway....ill watch part 2 now.
http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Your-journey/On-board/Food-and-drink/Travelling-Chef
Looks like a fry-up is about £8.50 - £7
Had to giggle though, under the "Food Provenance" section, I can't see Tesco listed as a supplier of cheese
There was talk of sending an investigator, presumably to check whether the cables had been interfered with or not fitted properly.
I saw lots of overcrowding, shot after shot of it, people been turned away because trains were full, standing in vestibules etc.
I don't know what you were watching.
In anycase this is really looking for the personalities at the sharp end of the day to day running of the service.
On that basis there are lots of things that aren't going to be covered.
When I was in Tech support, I'd send people stuff for free if I felt like it, that I 'should' have charged for.
Sent out hardware from 'my' stock, before receiving customers kit back, which I shouldn't have done.
Lost property woman, it could have been the cameras or it could have been the fact that she thought it was a bit 'cheeky' to charge full price for something she'd had less than 10 minutes and hadn't logged into the system yet.
Maybe if the camera wasn't there she wouldn't have charged at all, as it wasn't logged, who'd know.
I wonder if perhaps London is just a more miserable and crappier place to work.
I liked the way they handled the boys death and showed the impacts from messing around on the track. I doubt anyone will take notice, but you never know.
Looking forward to watching part 3.