To think this spineless government will give in to grabby train drivers

I work for a private charity.

5% pension
25 days annual leave
No bonus
No healthcare
No salary rise for 8 years

Yet if we all went on strike no-one would get GCSEs or A Levels.

Think of the pilots flying planes for 10 hours a day. Train drivers are a joke. It’s not all of them - I knew one who hated the unions and was embarrassed. He was happy with his salary and his working hours meant he could be a handy man around that (which he enjoyed). The unions tend to be run by overly aggressive egos.

But my nephew required 3 years training. He’s only just qualified.

Why are there so many thread titles these days that (regardless of the actual content) sound like someone typing one handed in the Daily Mail comments section whilst mumbling angrily in Cyrillic?

They're (potentially) cutting off key transit for five days BECAUSE the government didn't give in to them. And it's really not long at all as far as strikes go; in many places they stretch on for months. There'll be alternative transport available.

I can't tell if you're agreeing with me - which your comment itself does - or if you're construing that I don't get the idea of unions?!

I work for a PLC
38 days holiday
7+7% pension
STIP/ LTIP
40% bonus
car allowance to salary sacrifice a premium car for personal use
Private health care
++++

private companies vary massively.

Which newer tube trains don’t have ATO capacity?

Who gets fatigued from a 35 hour a week job?

😂😂 Slightly different..

Well said

I have an ex who is ( still is ) a train driver. He used to boast how much money he was earning , how much power they had.
Yes they can work anti social hours but my goodness he knew every scam going, whole shifts off for a single GP appointment , paid days off for everyday stress like having a plumber round, not working a minute extra if it meant he wasn’t back at his ‘ signing on ‘ depot on the dot or before his shift finished. Spending hours relaxing in the rest quarters when on spare ( on reserve) and then leaving early as soon as it became apparent he couldn’t be asked to drive as again it would take him over his shift. I came to know a lot of his colleagues too and they were mostly the same.
Obviously my views have been influenced by what he used to tell me . And I’m sure equally that is not true of most train drivers.
But it did leave me with a bad impression that they were a spoilt militant bunch.

No one moans about the city workers raking in millions for themselves do they. Why are they seen as more deserving than the train drivers who get them to their jobs every morning. Pay everyone a decent wage.

But how many people are fatigued by a 35 hour week?

DLR is purpose built but still has a driver on it!

It absolutely is not, in all new trains. There are certain lines like Northern city and thameslink that support ECTS. But we are no where near ATO for most of the network. Even in Europe where ECTS has been around a lot longer do not have ATO in use other than metro’s and in Czech where they never really had a railway so they got huge funding to build a digital railway. And their driverless trains only
launched in certain areas this year.

You really should try DRIVING a train, there's so much more to it than pushing a button! As for 'no skill required' you are totally wrong.

We also have the technology in schools that means we no longer need a teacher in the classroom. Just like with the tube, it doesn’t mean its a good idea.

Exactly this!

come on Op….explain how these drivers are ‘grabby’?

theres a lot more to it than that

you sound very rude though

the idea that TFL would keep on expensive unionised drivers if they didn’t need them is insane 😂 that alone tells you how much they’re needed

Some technical clarifications:

the DLR is not driverless in the sense that people mean. They cannot operate without a train captain, and although the captain can give the start command from any location on the train, the train will not depart without him confirming the depart. This could probably be automated, however the system that the DLR uses is called Transmission Based Train Control (TBTC) signalling. This works by the the train continually communicating with the signalling system.

While for all normal operations this could be automated, the moment the train fails to communicate with the system (for a variety of reasons) it goes “non-communicating”. This can only be resolved by the -driver- sorry train captain on board manually taking over control of the train movements and moving outside of signalled protection (this is a potentially dangerous procedure and has strict protocols to protect it).

The Northern Line, the Jubilee Line, the Met line, the Hammersmith and City and the District line all use this same signalling system.

The Victoria line uses a variation called “Distance to Go-Radio”. It has differences but the fundamental similarity is the same. In the event the train stops communicating with the signalling system, it cannot be moved without manual control.

The DLR is not “unsafe” because it’s driverless. It has a driver. They’re just called a train captain instead.

Totally agree with you on this (and not a train driver or married to one!). If anyone is interested, there are lots of driver training videos available on YouTube. It is far from an easy job; and drivers also have to adhere to strict rules around drinking alcohol, like airline pilots - their responsibilities don't begin and end with their shift.

Funny how they managed to be during Covid to get hospital workers and other key workers to their workplace. How would they get there otherwise? Pretty key id say