Is it just today they are striking,or is it Sunday as well travelling to Burnley tomorrow,any info will help ..cheers

How can you tell if they are striking or not?

Got a txt saying my journey could be affected but it said Sat not Sun...have I missed something?

Steve1956 wrote:Got a txt saying my journey could be affected but it said Sat not Sun...have I missed something?

The train, possibly, if they are on strike!

Northern Rail are on strike every Saturday between now and Xmas. You should be ok tomorrow.

Dont you just love those two carriages stinking of p!ss and stale ale carrying its cargo of northern powerhouse folk to a minimum paid job....

Strikes on saturdays but there are also engineering works affecting various parts of the Burnley - Blackburn route on sundays between now and Xmas. Rail replacement buses either to Hebden Bridge or Accrington - or both

I'd love the public to boycott Northern Rail for a week just to put an end to all this nonsense.

Yes there are issues that need resolving around the conductors but striking every week isn't the way to resolve it.

jlup1980 wrote:I'd love the public to boycott Northern Rail for a week just to put an end to all this nonsense.

Yes there are issues that need resolving around the conductors but striking every week isn't the way to resolve it.

What do you suggest? They are going to lose their jobs. Should they just accept it?

Instead of putting out all the customers they could run the service as normal and not charge anyone for using it. A double whammy...no income and fuel still being used. Customers get to where they want. The company loses a lot more money. Win win for the strikers. Although to be fair there isn't much difference in quality even when it is running. If this was happening in the south-east they would have been stripped of it a long while ago. Northern powerhouse my ****.



https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018 ... es-okayama" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Pearcey wrote:What do you suggest? They are going to lose their jobs. Should they just accept it?

Of course not but there must be a better way than striking all the time. Until last month I worked in Manchester City centre and although the trains didn't make me leave my job, I was really pleased on my last day knowing I wouldn't have to put up with the shoddy service and the constant strikes. It's beyond a joke.

It reminds me of Blackadder Goes Forth...

Melchett: Good man. Now, Field Marshal Haig has formulated a brilliant new tactical plan to ensure final victory in the field. [they gather around a model of the battlefield]

Blackadder: Now, would this brilliant plan involve us climbing out of our trenches and walking slowly towards the enemy sir?

Darling: How can you possibly know that Blackadder? It's classified information.

Blackadder: It's the same plan that we used last time, and the seventeen times before that.

Melchett: E-E-Exactly! And that is what so brilliant about it! We will catch the watchful Hun totally off guard! Doing precisely what we have done eighteen times before is exactly the last thing they'll expect us to do this time!

... in other words, change the bloody record and stop making Joe public suffer on week days and weekends. I can tell you with certainty that each strike lessens the commuters support of them and in my opinion it waters down the whole debate. It's at the stage now that nobody really cares about it. It's become so commonplace it's lost all it's impact.

What do you suggest then?

jlup1980 wrote:I'd love the public to boycott Northern Rail for a week just to put an end to all this nonsense.

Yes there are issues that need resolving around the conductors but striking every week isn't the way to resolve it.

There are a significant number of drunkards and idiots using Northern Line trains or loitering in the train stations hence conductors are a welcome addition to security on trains and in stations.
Northern Rail are a company with an appalling record when it comes to offering a service and with employee relations. They should have had their licence revoked years ago. E Mail Andy Burnham, Manchester Mayor who has been campaigning for an effective service for the last couple of years.

Steve1956 wrote:Is it just today they are striking,or is it Sunday as well travelling to Burnley tomorrow,any info will help ..cheers

No strike on Sunday. But there are 'planned cancellations' * and engineering works. Where are you travelling from?

*staff are refusing to work on rest days (e.g Sundays as part of the dispute)

What! Union workers going on strike and still providing a pish poor service. Well I never....

box_of_frogs wrote:What! Union workers going on strike and still providing a pish poor service. Well I never....

Spoken like a true military man. These guards aren’t providing a poor service, the company are. They don’t have to take being treated poorly on the chin like you do. They are fighting to keep their jobs and their bosses care very little. Striking puts those bosses under immense pressure. Good on em I say.

Transpennine wrote:No strike on Sunday. But there are 'planned cancellations' * and engineering works. Where are you travelling from?

*staff are refusing to work on rest days (e.g Sundays as part of the dispute)

Edinburgh to Preston then on to Burnley

There was a t3 possession on the east Lancs lines last night but I'm fairly sure it's back open now. Lancs/yorks lines are definitely open so you will at least be able to get to tod via manchester victoria

Steve1956 wrote:Edinburgh to Preston then on to Burnley

Replacement busses from Preston to Burnley. Make sure you get the bus to Manchester road rather than Central. That 'only' takes an hour, opposed to an hour and half to Central.
There are trains from 4.30 onwards from Preston depending what time you arrive there from Edinburgh..

Pearcey wrote:Spoken like a true military man. These guards aren’t providing a poor service, the company are. They don’t have to take being treated poorly on the chin like you do. They are fighting to keep their jobs and their bosses care very little. Striking puts those bosses under immense pressure. Good on em I say.

True!

Transpennine wrote:Replacement busses from Preston to Burnley. Make sure you get the bus to Manchester road rather than Central. That 'only' takes an hour, opposed to an hour and half to Central.
There are trains from 4.30 onwards from Preston depending what time you arrive there from Edinburgh..

Cheers pal should be ok then not leaving Edinburgh till oneish

tim_noone wrote:Dont you just love those two carriages stinking of p!ss and stale ale carrying its cargo of northern powerhouse folk to a minimum paid job....

That line between Preston and Nelson takes twice as long as with a car. How can that be right? It is filthy and noisy too. It looks like it hasn't been modernised since the 1970's. It is already a bloody joke as it is. The last few months though have been insult to injury. Trains cancelled with no advance warning, replacement bus services the norm. Every second train not running some days. I keep hearing about this so called Northern Powerhouse but even the most basic infrastructure is missing to make it work and I can not see any efforts being made to change it. If we are going to have privatised railways, at least the owners should have an obligation to get it working properly and face genuine consequences if they don't.

Transpennine wrote:Replacement busses from Preston to Burnley. Make sure you get the bus to Manchester road rather than Central. That 'only' takes an hour, opposed to an hour and half to Central.
There are trains from 4.30 onwards from Preston depending what time you arrive there from Edinburgh..

You were spot on with your information mate...thanks.

Pearcey wrote:What do you suggest then?

I missed this the other day, sorry.

My suggestion would be for the conductors to get on with their jobs in such a way that they become indispensable in the minds of the public. They should be doing everything they can to provide the absolute best service possible in a bid to gain the publics support and push all blame for every single thing that goes wrong directly onto the operator.

If the public threatens to boycott the railways because of the threat of conductors losing their jobs then the threat will quickly disappear. I know it sounds basic but it could just work. It'll certainly work more than the constant striking. You can't make a point if you aren't seen.

At the moment the RMT is playing into Northern hands in my opinion. The phrase "give them enough rope" springs to mind and by that I mean the public just wants an end to the dispute now. It's been impacting their commute for what feels like years and they've had enough... to the stage where many won't care how this resolves itself. It's now impacting Christmas shopping at weekends which is a bigger deal than many will realise. Do you think shoppers care why the strike is happening?! They just want to get into Manchester or Leeds for a day out and a few glasses of prosecco. The public support will win or lose this for them and at the moment they're losing it. They need to get out there and get the public 100% in their court.

Pearcey wrote:What do you suggest? They are going to lose their jobs. Should they just accept it?

Yes! I've been made redundant a few times. Just go and get another job. Why should a company continue to employ someone they don't believe is required?

Steve1956 wrote:You were spot on with your information mate...thanks.

No problem, you're welcome.