Why don't the TOCs, or perhaps Railtrack, have their own fleet of buses operated by people who know the area.Sure, the issue with Northern RRBs is that often they just get what they're given. I used to commute on the Buxton line and there was a proper motley collection that turned out whenever the line was shut.
We nearly got stuck on a lane near Dove Holes station with a bus that was significantly oversized for the job.
Railtrack stopped existing in 2002. Network Rail do not run trains so RRBs are out of the question. If you were a TOC and with different levels of disruption every weekend, how many buses do you need? What are you doing with buses etc when they arent needed? How do you know if local drivers are available as they surely work for other bus operators?Why don't the TOCs, or perhaps Railtrack, have their own fleet of buses operated by people who know the area.
High Peak buses have no difficulty running services around this area. To get to Chinley station you need a small single decker. Not the RRB I saw stuck there last week: a 100 seater coach more suited to motorway cruising than negotiating the Peak lanes
Don't TOCs put this out to tender and then it's up to that company to rustle up buses as needed? Curiously Arriva had it for Northern, certainly until recently. Thus we may get a driver and coach from Kendal or Stoke to replace a train in the Peak District, using their own satnav because they've never been there before and haven't been given more than rudimentary route assistance.Railtrack stopped existing in 2002. Network Rail do not run trains so RRBs are out of the question. If you were a TOC and with different levels of disruption every weekend, how many buses do you need? What are you doing with buses etc when they arent needed? How do you know if local drivers are available as they surely work for other bus operators?
Why don't the TOCs, or perhaps Railtrack, have their own fleet of buses operated by people who know the area.
High Peak buses have no difficulty running services around this area. To get to Chinley station you need a small single decker. Not the RRB I saw stuck there last week: a 100 seater coach more suited to motorway cruising than negotiating the Peak lanes
Don't TOCs put this out to tender and then it's up to that company to rustle up buses as needed? Curiously Arriva had it for Northern, certainly until recently. Thus we may get a driver and coach from Kendal or Stoke to replace a train in the Peak District, using their own satnav because they've never been there before and haven't been given more than rudimentary route assistance.
If Andrews or another local firm have capacity, both coaches and drivers, and accept the terms offered all tends to go well.
Probably because there are diversionary routes they aren’t busting a gut to fix it, if the landslip had been east of Chinley then they would move heaven and earth (!!!) to fix it …!Autumn - ouch. Thank goodness there are diversionary routes !
Because, as another member said, they won't pay enough for most existing operators to bother running RRBs - let alone them buying a fleet of buses.Why don't the TOCs, or perhaps Railtrack, have their own fleet of buses operated by people who know the area.
High Peak buses have no difficulty running services around this area. To get to Chinley station you need a small single decker. Not the RRB I saw stuck there last week: a 100 seater coach more suited to motorway cruising than negotiating the Peak lanes
Network Rail pay TOCs a fixed rate for bus replacement as part of Schedule 4. Its the agreed compensation mechanism for the industry.Because, as another member said, they won't pay enough for most existing operators to bother running RRBs - let alone them buying a fleet of buses.
Certainly, but the rail replacement contractors the TOCs use still offer a poor rate.Network Rail pay TOCs a fixed rate for bus replacement as part of Schedule 4. Its the agreed compensation mechanism for the industry.
Doesn't cover the cost of some blocks unfortunately.Network Rail pay TOCs a fixed rate for bus replacement as part of Schedule 4. Its the agreed compensation mechanism for the industry.
They can claim over and above if they believe and can prove that is the case.Doesn't cover the cost of some blocks unfortunately.
Quite. I would have thought that the New Mills incident would be 'Sustained Planned Disruption' in Schedule 4 of Northern's Track Access Agreement, which is surely based on 'negotiation' rather than the formulaic bus costs under the arrangements for typical short pre-planned works.They can claim over and above if they believe and can prove that is the case.
Yes, it's closed till the Autumn as posts above.Does anyone know if this closure is still ongoing today?
Yes.Does anyone know if this closure is still ongoing today?
Until the autumn at least. I'll nip into the drop in meeting on Thursday to see what's the plan.Yes.
Until 4 June according to Northern but probably later according to posts above.
When I went to the event, I spoke to the NR chap who was in charge of the cilvil engineering side of the project, and he told me there was likely to be a 4 to 6 week total blockade, probably in June/July. This would be so they could use engineering trains to supply some of the 50,000 tons worth of stone that will be required. Plus they would be able to use larger earthmoving equipment, without having to worry about keeping away from a live running line.
There seems to have been a points failure this afternoon in the Hazel Grove area, all trains stopped for about an hour.
With diverted passenger and freight traffic across the chord the extra traffic can't be welcome.
Think I'm right in saying that EMR have tweeted a few times about the incident today (Sunday) (most recently at 5.09 p.m.) suggesting that affected travellers should get their Delay Repay claims in. Link as follows...Naturally there's no Northern Twitter assistance since 14:00 today either
#EMRUpdate If you have been delayed by the points failure between Sheffield and Stockport today, you may be entitled to delay repay compensation. You can find more details here: https://eastmidlandsrailway.co.uk/help-manage/manage/make-a-delay-repay-claim.
We are sorry for any inconvenience this has caused.
I went past the worksite yesterday (sunday), all appeared to be closed for the day.
far cry from my days in the civil engineers dept when we moved heaven and earth to reopen a (effectively) closed line. The cost of compensation to TOCs and FOCs, replacement busses, loss of passengers, not to say inconvenience to those hardy souls still using the trains, must surely outweigh the premium wages for sunday or night working.
I passed on Redhouse Lane so I couldn't see the actual track, but the site gates were locked, all plant was stationary and no workers cars or vans were about.It was total bus substitution to New Mills yesterday so surely some preparatory work at least was going on?