Beattock landslide and the Preston “hard border”
Following the serious landslide at Beattock, there has been a lot of indignation about Avanti terminating trains at Preston – many asking why the trains can't continue to Carlisle. As Stan Ridgway once commented in his 1986 hit Camouflage, 'things are never quite the way they seem'.
I've spoken with Avanti staff this morning. Their comments are not press office approved, so obviously can't name them, and what they said was very informative.
Euston drivers don't sign the route north of Preston and Glasgow drivers don't sign the route south of Preston. Preston drivers, however, do sign the whole route but at such short notice it's difficult to put diagrams in place where Preston drivers and train managers can take a train to Carlisle and then turn around to bring it back. The Preston crew changeover point was described by more than one member of Avanti staff as a “hard border”, where only catering crews pass through.
The use of 'triangular' diagrams by Avanti, to avoid drivers double tripping between Wolverhampton and Euston, adds another layer of complexity. According to one driver, the policy is in place at the behest of ASLEF. He said that, unlike on the Wolverhampton to Euston route, it was very difficult to double trip between Glasgow or Edinburgh to Preston. The worry was that double tripping between Wolverhampton and Euston could have potentially affected driver numbers at both Euston and Wolverhampton.
As a result Virgin subsequently introduced what became known as 'triangular’ working, comprising of one way 'fast' between Euston and Preston via the Trent valley and the other way 'slow' via the West Midlands. This came within the already agreed terms and conditions and only affected Euston, Wolverhampton and Preston depots and was not always welcomed by the drivers - a number at those depots said that they would have preferred double tripping. Another triangular diagram is Wolverhampton to Euston to Preston and back to Wolverhampton.
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