Southern Rail STRIKE details

[happypig]

Brighton station. In the Argus today. I have also seen a few FB posts and tweets (shown to me by others, I loathe social media and all who sail in her) saying that a movement to not show tickets and to basically blank and ignore the Southern Staff at all times is gathering momentum.

As an aside I see some cancer sufferers are unable to get to medical appointments due bto the selfishness of the drivers and guards. Hang your heads in shame.

You mean selfishness like this : http://www.eastbourneherald.co.uk/n...cerned-over-son-s-kidney-transplant-1-7737526
“As the Branch Secretary of East Sussex Coastway RMT Union, I will give you this assurance that if your son has to go to hospital when we are on strike, and there is no other way you can get to London, I or one of my members will take you."

Yeah, self serving wankers, eh ?

 

[Geestar]

I left at the right time...sounds awful!

Sent from my SM-A510F using Tapatalk

 

[The Clamp]

You mean selfishness like this : http://www.eastbourneherald.co.uk/n...cerned-over-son-s-kidney-transplant-1-7737526
“As the Branch Secretary of East Sussex Coastway RMT Union, I will give you this assurance that if your son has to go to hospital when we are on strike, and there is no other way you can get to London, I or one of my members will take you."

Yeah, self serving wankers, eh ?

Haha! Lip service. Going to do that for all the cancer patients are they? What a load of crap. I imagine they will be able to point out another way they could have got to London and avoid the inevitable backlash when they don't deliver on yet another promise. As I said, useless, selfish, tossers.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...south-east-giving-treatment-london-hospitals/

 

[happypig]

This just popped up on my Facebook :
"For anyone wondering about the southern rail strikes. Here is what a driver of a driver-only train can see in rainy conditions while he decides if it's safe to close the doors."

 

[The Clamp]

This just popped up on my Facebook :
"For anyone wondering about the southern rail strikes. Here is what a driver of a driver-only train can see in rainy conditions while he decides if it's safe to close the doors."

Not really a problem though as the thousands of On Board Supervisors Southern have hired will check for them. A FACT, FACT that strike supporters neglect to factor in to their already piss weak defense.

 

[Psychobilly freakout]

My wife sent an email on the 14th Dec to Chris Grayling and copied in Caroline Lucas

Dear Mr Grayling MP,

What are you going to do about the absolute fiasco that is the Brighton to London mainline (Southern trains)? I am a regular commuter and am feeling completely abandoned by all involved. It is crushing my soul! I have spend so much time on trains which are very late and dangerously packed to the point that I struggle to breathe! And I have to pay £5244 per year for this!

This ongoing dispute is causing 500,000 people pain and misery every single day. Our livelihoods, our jobs, our children and families, our health and wellbeing are seriously under threat and have been for almost one year.

When will the government do something about it? I certainly hope it happens before someone dies from being accidentally pushed off a platform, for example, in the dangerous overcrowding we face everyday.

Stop blaming someone else and resolve this matter urgently!

Why not at least consider the Mayor of London's proposal before you dismiss it? Party politics should be put to one side when so many people are suffering.

Can you please tell me what you intend to do about this?

Thank you, Mrs Freakout





Only Caroline replied obviously on the 16th December

Dear Mrs Freakout

Thank you for copying me in to your email below. I know that many of my constituents are experiencing severe distress as a result of the chaos on the railways and that this situation is no less than a crisis for many people in my constituency.

My key aim at the moment is to get the Government to step in and resolve this crisis by being openly involved in the industrial dispute, in the hope that this will break the current stalemate. I say ‘openly’ because the Government is already involved in the dispute: it gave the management contract for our rail services to Southern’s parent company GTR and so has the power to both hold its contractor to account and to take the contract back.

Last week in Parliament I escalated pressure through what’s known as an Urgent Question, a difficult to secure mechanism which required the Rail Minister to come to the House of Commons and be held accountable for the rail debacle.

This got cross party support from other MPs and the full debate can be found here:

https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commo...ribution-7179D156-091A-4A55-A761-76901081AF47

A video clip is here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b087l6dq/questions-and-statements-live-southern-rail-question

As I said on Wednesday in Parliament to the Prime Minister, I really do not think that Ministers have any idea of the pain that passengers and businesses in Brighton and beyond are suffering. I will keep up the pressure on all involved, and especially the Government, to get a grip. This may not be immediate enough to address the frustration and stress of the delays and cancellations; nor does it re-instate the time lost with family and friends due to the rail chaos; nor does it make a difference if you have to explain, once again, why you haven’t made it to work or to a meeting on time. However, I can assure you that this is an absolute priority for me as your MP and I will continue to press for a resolution at every opportunity.

Best wishes
Caroline

In one of the links above Union leaders have even described the action as “carrying on Fidel’s work.”

Where can you go with that.

 

[bhanutz]

My wife sent an email on the 14th Dec to Chris Grayling and copied in Caroline Lucas

Dear Mr Grayling MP,

What are you going to do about the absolute fiasco that is the Brighton to London mainline (Southern trains)? I am a regular commuter and am feeling completely abandoned by all involved. It is crushing my soul! I have spend so much time on trains which are very late and dangerously packed to the point that I struggle to breathe! And I have to pay £5244 per year for this!

This ongoing dispute is causing 500,000 people pain and misery every single day. Our livelihoods, our jobs, our children and families, our health and wellbeing are seriously under threat and have been for almost one year.

When will the government do something about it? I certainly hope it happens before someone dies from being accidentally pushed off a platform, for example, in the dangerous overcrowding we face everyday.

Stop blaming someone else and resolve this matter urgently!

Why not at least consider the Mayor of London's proposal before you dismiss it? Party politics should be put to one side when so many people are suffering.

Can you please tell me what you intend to do about this?

Thank you, Mrs Freakout





Only Caroline replied obviously on the 16th December

Dear Mrs Freakout

Thank you for copying me in to your email below. I know that many of my constituents are experiencing severe distress as a result of the chaos on the railways and that this situation is no less than a crisis for many people in my constituency.

My key aim at the moment is to get the Government to step in and resolve this crisis by being openly involved in the industrial dispute, in the hope that this will break the current stalemate. I say ‘openly’ because the Government is already involved in the dispute: it gave the management contract for our rail services to Southern’s parent company GTR and so has the power to both hold its contractor to account and to take the contract back.

Last week in Parliament I escalated pressure through what’s known as an Urgent Question, a difficult to secure mechanism which required the Rail Minister to come to the House of Commons and be held accountable for the rail debacle.

This got cross party support from other MPs and the full debate can be found here:

https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commo...ribution-7179D156-091A-4A55-A761-76901081AF47

A video clip is here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b087l6dq/questions-and-statements-live-southern-rail-question

As I said on Wednesday in Parliament to the Prime Minister, I really do not think that Ministers have any idea of the pain that passengers and businesses in Brighton and beyond are suffering. I will keep up the pressure on all involved, and especially the Government, to get a grip. This may not be immediate enough to address the frustration and stress of the delays and cancellations; nor does it re-instate the time lost with family and friends due to the rail chaos; nor does it make a difference if you have to explain, once again, why you haven’t made it to work or to a meeting on time. However, I can assure you that this is an absolute priority for me as your MP and I will continue to press for a resolution at every opportunity.

Best wishes
Caroline

In one of the links above Union leaders have even described the action as “carrying on Fidel’s work.”

Where can you go with that.

Caroline won't want to upset the RMT!

 

[albionite]

Trains are a mess balcombe tunnel has had a collapse, but southern are blaming trains cancelled on industrial action.

http://talkradio.co.uk/opinion/dont...ore-complicated-you-think#l0QszKjE8KkpEgBZ.01


https://mobile.twitter.com/imajsaclaimant/status/809883932434935809

 

[beorhthelm]

You mean selfishness like this : http://www.eastbourneherald.co.uk/n...cerned-over-son-s-kidney-transplant-1-7737526
“As the Branch Secretary of East Sussex Coastway RMT Union, I will give you this assurance that if your son has to go to hospital when we are on strike, and there is no other way you can get to London, I or one of my members will take you."

Yeah, self serving wankers, eh ?

thats oh so noble of them. will they extend the offer to every person wanting to get to london for medical reasons? how about those to see relatives at Christmas, maybe once a year visits? maybe they can run a coach service, or if theres enough people, arrange a train...

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

thats oh so noble of them. will they extend the offer to every person wanting to get to london for medical reasons? how about those to see relatives at Christmas, maybe once a year visits? maybe they can run a coach service, or if theres enough people, arrange a train...

They've said they'll help people with genuine medical issues. I think this is fair enough.

 

[The Clamp]

They've said they'll help people with genuine medical issues.

They have said a lot of things.

 

[The Clamp]

This made me chuckle. What would happen if Elvis re-appeared on the Didcot Parkway track and startled the driver.


From Rail magazine:


Experienced drivers bear out this safety concern. Without seeking either a positive or a negative view, RAIL asked drivers to anonymously express their feelings about DOO.

One speculated on what might happen if a driver was killed or incapacitated on a busy main line service, perhaps by an object coming through the windscreen and impaling him before he has the chance to hit the all-important emergency red button in the cab.

While the train would come to a halt following the automatic intervention of the Driver’s Safety Device, the train might sit stationary, packed full of hot and angry passengers receiving no information as to why the train had stopped.

“It won’t take long before somebody pulls an emergency door release and people spill out onto the track, only to be mown down by passing trains that haven’t been alerted because all the signaller has deduced is that a service has been a long time in section,” said our correspondent.

Full article here:

http://www.railmagazine.com/trains/current-trains/the-pros-and-cons-of-driver-only-operation

 

[Yoda]

This made me chuckle. What would happen if Elvis re-appeared on the Didcot Parkway track and startled the driver.


From Rail magazine:


Experienced drivers bear out this safety concern. Without seeking either a positive or a negative view, RAIL asked drivers to anonymously express their feelings about DOO.

One speculated on what might happen if a driver was killed or incapacitated on a busy main line service, perhaps by an object coming through the windscreen and impaling him before he has the chance to hit the all-important emergency red button in the cab.

While the train would come to a halt following the automatic intervention of the Driver’s Safety Device, the train might sit stationary, packed full of hot and angry passengers receiving no information as to why the train had stopped.

“It won’t take long before somebody pulls an emergency door release and people spill out onto the track, only to be mown down by passing trains that haven’t been alerted because all the signaller has deduced is that a service has been a long time in section,” said our correspondent.

Full article here:

http://www.railmagazine.com/trains/current-trains/the-pros-and-cons-of-driver-only-operation

You might laugh at that suggestion, but a driver has died this year on a DOO passenger service near Barking. Poor guy had a Heart Attack and subsequently died due to it take nearly 40 minutes to get medical attention to him. The biggest delay, was trying to find out what was wrong. 'If' there had been a Guard/OBS/Whatever on the service, that would've been vastly reduced and he may have survived due someone being able to give him CPR much, much quicker and getting the paramedics to him much, much quicker.

 

[Billy the Fish]

This just popped up on my Facebook :
"For anyone wondering about the southern rail strikes. Here is what a driver of a driver-only train can see in rainy conditions while he decides if it's safe to close the doors."

That's not actually what the driver can see. Take a photo of any screen with your camera and the quality is worse than what you can see with your actual eyes, this is just worthless propaganda.

 

[Deadly Danson]

That's not actually what the driver can see. Take a photo of any screen with your camera and the quality is worse than what you can see with your actual eyes, this is just worthless propaganda.

Utter nonsense. Actually in many cases the picture we have is much worse.

 

[Billy the Fish]

“It won’t take long before somebody pulls an emergency door release and people spill out onto the track, only to be mown down by passing trains that haven’t been alerted because all the signaller has deduced is that a service has been a long time in section,” said our correspondent.

Full article here:

http://www.railmagazine.com/trains/current-trains/the-pros-and-cons-of-driver-only-operation

You see the argument about people walking out onto the tracks because the train has stopped. Does anyone actually believe that a trainload of people would just get off a train and start wondering around on the tracks?

It's absolute nonsense, nobody would do that anymore than they would walk onto the opposite side of a motorway because their side was closed. Most of these safety arguments seem to assume that everyone using the railway is a lemming that wants to dive under the train as it's leaving the platform or get out and touch the live rail because the train has stopped.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Does anyone actually believe that a trainload of people would just get off a train and start wondering around on the tracks?

They would. And they have done. Stop a train just outside a station for an unreasonable amount of time with no information and people will do exactly that.

 

[Deadly Danson]

You see the argument about people walking out onto the tracks because the train has stopped. Does anyone actually believe that a trainload of people would just get off a train and start wondering around on the tracks?

It's absolute nonsense, nobody would do that anymore than they would walk onto the opposite side of a motorway because their side was closed. Most of these safety arguments seem to assume that everyone using the railway is a lemming that wants to dive under the train as it's leaving the platform or get out and touch the live rail because the train has stopped.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukn...force-their-way-out-of-broken-down-train.html oh really? Never ever underestimate what passengers will do.

 

[happypig]

That's not actually what the driver can see. Take a photo of any screen with your camera and the quality is worse than what you can see with your actual eyes, this is just worthless propaganda.

I took a photo of a screen with a camera. I agree the quality is slightly worse but not much. In my photo the webcam image is still clear.
So I would challenge your assertion that it's "worthless propaganda".

 

[Billy the Fish]

Utter nonsense. Actually in many cases the picture we have is much worse.

It's not nonsense, the pixels on a TV screen refresh from top to bottom very quickly meaning that a photo is not an accurate representation of what you can see with your eyes and you get that squiggly line effect.

If your eyesight is worse than a photo of a TV screen then you shouldn't be driving a train and need urgent medical help!