Next Rail Strikes Announced.

I was on Hebden Bridge Station t'other week 'n the chalkboard had the days of the next strikes written up. As we passed I turned to Mrs Ewing and said 'City home games! They never strike when the Rags are at home'! At least the ticket checker fellah laughed.
The Beers gone up in that neck o’ the woods this last ten year or so
 
I only mentioned drivers, not others.

Drivers striking to save jobs in an organisation that folded in 2002. I was a bizarre point to make. Save Railtrack jobs...
I never mentioned railtrack.

The drivers are striking with their colleagues as all network rail staff are in the main.

Good on them, you can’t let monopolised industries shit on the working man.
 
I never mentioned railtrack.

The drivers are striking with their colleagues as all network rail staff are in the main.

Good on them, you can’t let monopolised industries shit on the working man.
The post I was referring to did before your dilettante rant.
 
Is it a full strike this Saturday? Looking on Trainline it still shows trains from Preston but also says it’s a strike on Saturday.
 
Network Rail are shedding jobs everywhere including their design and project management teams. Ultimately this stems from a decision to move Network Rail back towards what Railtrack was 20 plus years ago. We all know how that went regarding safety…

Ladbroke Grove
Southall
Potters Bar
Great Heck
Hatfield

To name a few.
 
Network Rail are shedding jobs everywhere including their design and project management teams. Ultimately this stems from a decision to move Network Rail back towards what Railtrack was 20 plus years ago. We all know how that went regarding safety…

Ladbroke Grove
Southall
Potters Bar
Great Heck
Hatfield

To name a few.
While agreeing with your general point, I don't think Great Heck should be in that list. It was an accident caused by a car driver falling asleep, the car rolling down an embankment and ending up derailing an express train, sending it into the path of a freight train. Apart from the clear negligence of the car driver, inadequate motorway barriers were also cited as a factor, nothing to do with rail safety.
 
While agreeing with your general point, I don't think Great Heck should be in that list. It was an accident caused by a car driver falling asleep, the car rolling down an embankment and ending up derailing an express train, sending it into the path of a freight train. Apart from the clear negligence of the car driver, inadequate motorway barriers were also cited as a factor, nothing to do with rail safety.
Part of any safe railway design is to ensure vehicle incursion isn't possible where roads are located nearby. This includes protecting the perimeter by use of obstacles and secure boundary fencing. The issue was due to poor integration and on that part both NR and Highways are culpable.
The design flaw had been there for some time, however as with all safe systems you dont stand still and say its been ok so far. It wasn't the first incident of vehicle incursion onto the railway, but it was the first to be struck by a high speed train. From a risk mitigation point of view the cost of preventing the incident by use of a suitable vehicle restraint system or obstacle was disproportionately small relative to the value per fatality. However at the time Railtrack and its infrastructure maintainers were focused on profit rather then ensuring the system was safe and updated.
Being able to identify and resolve these issues requires very detailed knowledge of the railway something that people who work day in day out on certain route sections know.
Getting rid of that knowledge via swathes of job cuts undoubtedly will make the railway less safe. Paying for that knowledge on safety critical infrastructure via the private sector isnt a cheaper option. Want a senior safety engineer? The going rate is about £150 per hour to a client. Signalling principles checker around £200 per hour.
 
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