Major changes to Network Rail proposed

[The Stationmaster]

22 hours ago, ess1uk said:

It is being pushed as Putting Passengers First.

notice that Freight  doesn’t appear to have a person in over all charge 

And seeing one name in those various links I don't doubt that he will continue 'putting passengers first' and take little or no notice of freight just as he did in one past role.   As ever on the railway some folk have a record of carrying their baggage with them and there are others around who know about it.

[Not Captain Kernow]

On ‎15‎/‎05‎/‎2019 at 10:46, The Stationmaster said:

I'm not so sure about that.  We went through several pretty hefty reorganisations on BR between the mid 1980s and 1994 and the trains kept running all the way through that upheaval of change.  but then just how much upheaval was there - don't forget that we were very well practiced at managing change by the late 1980s if not before and generally the interruption to work could be measured as no more than a day and often a lot less in most of the changes and reorganisations.  

 

I was involved with WR freight and departmental planning from 1986/87 tight through to the end of the Region in 1992 and then covering the same geographic area plus the former SR from 1992 to 1994,  during that period I reintegrated long term and short term planning including an office move of both to a new single location,  Carried out various minor changes virtually every year to both reduce costs and meet the aims of those who wished to go on redundancy, completely overhauled the way in which we produced and issued freight WTTs for the WR, moved to a different building with largely new IT kit and integrated diagrammers into the planning team as part of sectorisation, then did the same on the former SR area.  Through all of that we didn't lose the publication day or time of a single notice, all of our WTTs went out on time and everybody had a desk to sit at from Day 1 with a working computer (in most instances, we had occasional IT problems but none were serious).  

 

The main reasons for reorganisation are to meet changing needs, to cater for major organisational change (sectorisation in this case), and - obviously - if possible to save money.  Provided the essential work flows through that process and people remain motivated and settled in their work (if not their change of location) you are doing what is needed

 

As one of the people reintegrated by Mike I can confirm that it was all done with enthusiasm and the full support of all the staff involved, which is how it should be and how it does usually work when the boss knows what he is doing and has the respect of his staff!  It was only the offer of a very senior position at Thameslink that enticed me away from freight!

[Not Captain Kernow]

2 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

And seeing one name in those various links I don't doubt that he will continue 'putting passengers first' and take little or no notice of freight just as he did in one past role.   As ever on the railway some folk have a record of carrying their baggage with them and there are others around who know about it.

 

Andrew Haines was our Account Manager at Railtrack Southern Zone and we had many discussions about access planning issues!  I have no doubt he understands the issues as it was always clear when he was uncomfortable trying to present the Railtrack party line which he did not agree with!

[TheSignalEngineer]

On 15/05/2019 at 16:40, Captain Kernow said:

I'm so glad to be free of all this bolllocks now.

 

The one good thing about 'hot desking' in the last few years when I was working, was that it enabled me to work in offices closer to home, like the IMDM in Plymouth or Exeter (or in the back office in Exeter Panel), without having to trek all the way to Bristol (where I resolutely maintained my 'own' desk and resisted pressure from the 'Agility' Gestapo, almost until the end).

 

 

I wasn't a fan of hot desking, only using it when visiting project site offices. Over 20 years ago I had a fully functioning connection from my home to the company network to send and receive messages, circulate minutes and reports typed up on the train home etc. 

As far as my base location was concerned I maintained a personal desk, plan table, bookcase and locked cupboard right up to the day I retired.

[adb968008]

12 hours ago, TheSignalEngineer said:

I wasn't a fan of hot desking, only using it when visiting project site offices. Over 20 years ago I had a fully functioning connection from my home to the company network to send and receive messages, circulate minutes and reports typed up on the train home etc. 

As far as my base location was concerned I maintained a personal desk, plan table, bookcase and locked cupboard right up to the day I retired.

 

 

All my career Ive worked from home, a client site or an occasional hot desk..  The last time i had my own desk (aside of my home office) was at school when I was 16 (and that was a shared table) in the early 1990’s. I started my career in the US where remote working is quite normal in career industries.

When i moved to the UK I insisted on retaining this, knowing the UK was a very slow adopter (and still is) of this working model. All my employees have readily adopted this way of working and several have followed me to subsequent employment positions, so I must be doing something right.

 

my ethos has been this is our customer, this is their customer, this is what their customer needs, this is what your customer needs from us as a team and this is what I need from you, by this date.. how, when, where you do it is up to the individual, and I exist to facilitate it or handle issues that block it.

Ive had employees sit by a swimming pool in Thailand drinking cocktails whilst working, all whilst saving their personal vacation time for another day. Another moved to Israel for 6 weeks to spend time with family and worked from there, but my (our) delivery to ontime ratio was the best in my business unit and we all got our bonuses long term. The focus is on the deliverable, not the hours, it does work both ways, Weve had long overnights at weekends to get stuff done, so its not all fun.

 

Its not for everyone, especially those who need routine, but the benefits are clear. Though ive done this 20 years, Ive seen how traditional / conservative thinking  have made adoption slow in the UK, though now it has a name, adoption is faster.. but even though the UK is slow to adopt..Europes positively 20 years further behind.

 

Today is referred to as Agile and its a fad, i’d argue anyone running their own business is by default agile, but the relevance part to Network Rail is..

 

people will travel less, people will commute less, rush hour will start to reduce that peak. “Field” travel will be more adaptive. You dont need a desk to work and chose your own hours.

 

However Network rail reorgs, I hope it takes that to consideration, as its not just their own staff changing their working ways... Virgin trains seems to have recognised this when they dropped friday evening peak restrictions from London, I suspect a lot of senior rail managers choked on cigars with that proposal.

Edited May 19, 2019 by adb968008

[Mike Storey]

On 17/05/2019 at 20:33, ess1uk said:

It is being pushed as Putting Passengers First.

notice that Freight  doesn’t appear to have a person in over all charge 

 

The plan includes 13 "routes" (from 9 now, I think). One of those has, for many years, been dedicated to the Freight and National Passenger Operators, which IIRC, came under a specific Board director. It is not clear yet, from the new set-up, whether that will be the MD Route Services, or the System Operator, or the Group Director Network Services, but the principal has been long established, even in Railtrack days, when Freight had its own national Account Executive, a certain Robin Gisby.

 

 

[The Stationmaster]

20 hours ago, Not Captain Kernow said:

 

Andrew Haines was our Account Manager at Railtrack Southern Zone and we had many discussions about access planning issues!  I have no doubt he understands the issues as it was always clear when he was uncomfortable trying to present the Railtrack party line which he did not agree with!

I understand from one press report that it wasn't just one of his priorities but one of his first actions has been to increase (access) timetable planning staff.

[Captain Kernow]

6 hours ago, adb968008 said:

Today is referred to as Agile and its a fad, i’d argue anyone running their own business is by default agile, but the relevance part to Network Rail is..

 

people will travel less, people will commute less, rush hour will start to reduce that peak. “Field” travel will be more adaptive. You dont need a desk to work and chose your own hours.

 

Much as I liked 'hot desking', I liked working from home even more, for a while and once broadband had reached our part of Devon, did so quite a lot.

 

But there were numerous occasions when the benefits of 'networking' in the office were essential to getting the job done. A quick conversation with someone in the kitchen, making a coffee, often yielded quicker results than a plethora of e-mails and voicemails.

 

[Mike Storey]

13 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

I understand from one press report that it wasn't just one of his priorities but one of his first actions has been to increase (access) timetable planning staff.

 

I saw the first Transport Select Committee meeting that he attended, as CEO, and that was exactly what he told them, in a sideswipe at the DfT and ORR. Very deftly done, so that neither the DfT nor ORR could undo it, without taking the flak themselves. Andy is a smart operator, in more ways than one.

 

[ess1uk]

All new Regions / Routes have now been “stood up”.

settling in period before next tranche takes place

[Mike Storey]

I suspect the changes that Andy Haines is making, will become the default position for the outcome of the Williams Review. I cannot see any agreement on a SRA Mark 2.

 

It just remains to be seen as to whether the "alliancing", implicit in the change, will actually work.