Rant - train conductors/guards
Comments
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Enterprise_1701C wrote: »Guards are not necessary for the safe despatch of trains, they want to put more staff in stations, station staff can easily despatch trains, it is only a secondary check anyway as the doors are now automatic (at least round our way) and incapable of closing with someone blocking them, there just needs to be a quick check to make sure there are no idiots around.
You obviously live in an area with mainly larger stations. Round our way over half the stations are either completely unmanned or just have a one-man booking office open at peak hours. It's much more cost effective to employ a single guard on the train than to employ even a single person for each station.0 -
Guards are needed when something goes wrong.
Comparing to the underground doesn't work because there have been many trap and drag type incidents on the tube that would have been avoided had there still been guards.0 -
This is true at larger stations, but most smaller stations are not staffed at all or have a booking office open for just a few hours a day.p00hsticks wrote: »You obviously live in an area with mainly larger stations. Round our way over half the stations are either completely unmanned or just have a one-man booking office open at peak hours. It's much more cost effective to employ a single guard on the train than to employ even a single person for each station.
Actually, where I live the station is totally unmanned and there is no form of building there. The trains are three carriages long so there is no problem for the driver to look behind him and see that it is clear.What is this life if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare0 -
i can never understand why guards say 'all tickets from ____" when doing ticket checks as if someone is trying to dodge paying then the guard would have no way of knowing.0
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Please note that smoking is not permitted anywhere on our trains, including the vestibule areas.
You must have a first class ticket to travel in the first class section.
If you see something suspicious, report it...
You must have a ticket before travelling on one of our trains...
This is the service for London Waterloo, calling at (list of twenty stations).
Passengers for Littleville must travel in the first 6 coaches of this 8 car train.
Please remember to take all your belongings with you when you leave the train.
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP!
And that's after travelling one stop!
Aaaargh!
See it, say it, sorted. Played out over the speakers at my rural local station on desert platform on a sunday evening...
On trains with catering you get all the above talk, then the 'customer host' feels they need a few words and starts listing off every single item on the menu. Yes we know hot drinks can include tea AND coffee and that mars bars are a type of chocolate.
Door opening chimes on the new IETs are deafening if you are standing next to them.
'Do not attemp to board the train when the doors are closing' - we are already on the train!
In seriousness, people filter out the constant barrage of announcements so now, when a real announcement is made that is important, people aren't paying attention. Alarm fatigue is a real thing.
It must also be a nightmare for non-native visitors/holidaymakers trying to listen out for stations/key information when it is hidden in a wall of superfluous speech.
Discussed at length here
https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/are-too-loud-and-too-many-prm-alarms-and-announcements-making-travellers-uptight.153545/0 -
This is true at larger stations, but most smaller stations are not staffed at all or have a booking office open for just a few hours a day.
Smaller stations usually have shorter trains. A driver on his own is perfectly capable of opening/closing the doors on a 2/3 carriage Sprinter, especially with the right equipment such as cctv or mirrors on the platform etc. Drivers control the doors on the underground which have far longer trains, and most tram systems.0 -
Not always. Round here trains are 10 coaches long and many stations are unmanned so the guard does the dispatch at each station. It's asking a lot of the driver to do this on their own.Smaller stations usually have shorter trains. A driver on his own is perfectly capable of opening/closing the doors on a 2/3 carriage Sprinter, especially with the right equipment such as cctv or mirrors on the platform etc. Drivers control the doors on the underground which have far longer trains, and most tram systems.0 -
It appears that a few posters on here have no idea what the train guards duties and responsibilities are. Checking tickets and announcements are at the very bottom of the list I looked at.
Perhaps in a while they will not be needed as we will need no trains. As all the commuters will have all been replaced by technology robots etc?The world is not ruined by the wickedness of the wicked, but by the weakness of the good. Napoleon0 -
As a disabled rail traveller and one who has to use an unmanned station, the guard is the one who gets me on and off the train...I'd be lost without them here!We made it! All three boys have graduated, it's been hard work but it shows there is a possibility of a chance of normal (ish) life after a diagnosis (or two) of ASD. It's not been the easiest route but I am so glad I ignored everything and everyone and did my own therapies with them.
Eldests' EDS diagnosis 4.5.10, mine 13.1.11 eekk - now having fun and games as a wheelchair user.0 -
My partner used to be a guard for the east coast mainline, he’s now a train driver.
During his career as a guard he has preformed CPR on babies and picked disabled passengers up who have falling over. He’s got off the train and confirmed that the train has hit a person by judging what type of flesh is sitting on the tracks. He’s disarmed a person with a hammer threatening to kill other passengers. He’s put out several fires started by passengers in the toilets. He has reported countless safety defects such as smashed windows at 125mph and wheel flats after passengers have just tweeted it. He once reported a child that was displaying strange behaviour, BTP apprehended the child and he later found out the child was meeting a man after being groomed, it was the intention of this man to rape this child. He helped 100’s of elderly passengers get from A to B safety, picked up them passengers off station platforms after inconsiderate passengers have knocked them over. He also had to walk into a make shift morgue after the kings cross bombings, a sight he will never forget.
It’s the passengers like you which he couldn’t stand. Sitting thier moaning about the prices, complaining about leaves on the tracks and annoyed your train is delayed because someone has thrown themselves in front of a train. Do us all a favour, by your ticket and get on with your life, if you have a heart attack on or near a train, a guard will be there for you.0
This discussion has been closed.
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