Rail Professional opinion Katie Silvester, Editor


Can the railways rise to Olympic challenge?


driver’s union Aslef is claiming that there will be ‘travel chaos’ during the Games and ‘massive delays’, as the rail and underground networks struggle to cope with an estimated three million additional passengers. In reality, the railway industry has been planning for the Olympics for years,


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with extensive work done around Stratford in preparation. King’s Cross station has been increased in size to cope with the anticipated crowds and high speed trains are to run to the Olympic Park especially for the event – to mention just a couple of the schemes that have been carried out to cope with the influx of visitors. An additional 4,000 services will run during the Games, with services starting and finishing later in the day. The Tube will run an hour later each day. Londoners are preparing for the onslaught of visitors by booking holiday over the period or making plans to work from home. Many regular commuters will be avoiding their usual journeys on at least some days over the period of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Businesses in London were encouraged to undertake a ‘stress test’ on 8 and 9 May, during the School Games, which used Olympic venues. Companies were asked to try out any alternative arrangements for employees that they may be planning to use during the Games, then to report back any issues using a confidential survey. A TfL website www.getaheadofthegames.com warns Londoners where congestion hotspots will be, so they can take steps to avoid them. Unfortunately, though, prebookings of tickets for the Games period have been disappointingly low, mainly because of the stranglehold over the use of the word ‘Olympics’ in marketing material for any company that is not an official sponsor. Tocs that would have liked to promote their special services during the Games have found it hard to do so. Despite all the planning, there are concerns, too, about how easy London’s


transport system is for foreign visitors to use. It will be a shame if thousands of visitors find themselves faced with fines because they genuinely misunderstood some of the finer points of our Conditions of Carriage. It’s usual in most countries to have a requirement that a ticket must be bought before boarding a train. But, in Britain, it’s OK to do it at some stations – and pay the conductor on the train – but not at other stations (see Train of thought, pages 12-13: ‘This is no way to treat tourists’). Is this difference clear to visitors who are unfamiliar with our systems? And what about off-peak tickets that have certain conditions attached to them, which are not explained on the ticket? They are not usually explained at the ticket office either, unless you ask. Nevertheless, most Tocs require passengers to pay the entire fare again, rather than ‘top up’ the difference between the ticket they have and the ticket they should have. This practice ought to be suspended during the Games. It would be nice to think that visitors to our country will


be impressed the UK’s public transport and the helpfulness of the staff they encounter – not returning home moaning about jobsworth characters they encountered who were only interested in trying to fine them.


PAGE 6 MAY/JUNE 2012


s the Olympics draw ever closer and the rail industry prepares to put all its Olympic planning into action, warnings are coming that London’s transport system will be overwhelmed, despite all the work that has gone in ahead of time. Train


News in brief


Funding for stations announced


Scotland is to get £30m-worth of funding to improve facilities at stations – and, possibly, to build new stations. Scottish transport minister Keith Brown announced the funding during a visit to Alloa station.


Staff development recognised


A scheme by London Overground (Lorol) to bring in nearly 200 new drivers, then develop and monitor their competence, has been given formal recognition. Lorol has become the only organisation in the UK to achieve certification of its management processes by an inspection body accredited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service.


Dornoch bridge campaign


Railfuture Scotland is campaigning for a new rail link over Dornoch Firth. The bridge would shorten the journey time from Caithness to Inverness by 45 minutes, as well as boosting the local economy, the pressure group argues.


Ticket office closures set to be approved


The government is planning to close hundreds of small ticket offices, following recommendations in the McNulty report, the union TSSA claims. TSSA says that it has seen DfT emails discussing how an application from London Midland to close ticket offices is about to be approved and that others are expected to follow.


Female managers launch pay claim


More than 30 female middle managers at Network Rail are claiming back-pay after a survey by TSSA found that women at the company are earning, on average, £4,500 a year less than male counterparts. Network Rail said it would work with TSSA to review its systems.


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