Your Northern 63

issue63

Your

Your

3

Rosie's marathons

SLaivye Say

8

Allerton opening

j u n e 2 012

15

Your questions answered

YOUR COVER STAR David Butterworth, Station Supervisor at bradford interchange

16

Getting on at Northern

and much more...

your sneak peek

regular news and views on everything northern

upfront j u n e 2 0 12

Dear colleague, It’s been a great month.

Fresh off the back of our franchise being extended until April 2014, we’ve delivered performance levels to be proud of.

T

hat included our best ever week day performance on 3 May when 97.28% of our trains arrived on time. It was a fantastic result, and more importantly, is part of a continuing trend of improving performance.

It has been everyone’s attention to detail that has helped to deliver this, whether it is ensuring we have the right trains and resources in the correct place, making sure we hit right time

departures, working with our colleagues at Network Rail to reduce infrastructure delays or effectively managing recovery when incidents do occur. We can never be complacent over performance and we still have a long way to go but our recent results show that we’re all up for the challenge! Thank you.

It was another important day on 10 May when we welcomed Theresa Villiers, Minister of State for Transport and guests from Network Rail, for the official opening of Allerton traincare depot. We had an urgent need for Allerton to be ready in time for the additional carriages arriving in December 2011 as a result of the Government’s rolling stock programme.

Theresa Villiers was very positive about the joined up approach with Network Rail and acknowledged the achievement of opening the depot in just six months.

theresa villiers at the allerton depot

I’m proud of the whole team who reached this goal largely through teamwork, a shared determination and a willingness to look at new ways of working.

Thanks as ever.

Ian Bevan Managing Director

performance dashboard customer service

� In the past month

� Presentation

fleet

our target

90.4 90.7

90

� Fleet reliability (miles per casualty) MONTH

service

89 88 87

% 86

7,500

8,000

� Days availability

A P R M AY

A P R M AY

TRAIN

STATION

MONTH

82

� In the past year

7,200 miles

MILES / CASUALTY 7,000

86.3 86.0

85 84

7,623 miles

MPC MPC MAA

APRIL MAY DAYS 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

safety � Failures to call and SPADs

� Customer ACCIDENTS

� Employee

worse than target

2 / june

FAILURES TO CALL

ASSAULTS

0 on target

better than target

1

2

SPADS

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10 11 12 13 14

you! it’s all a bout

The Fellsman steam train | Rosie's marathons | London 2012

Olympic station

special

offer

T

he Fellsman steam train and its picturesque route featured on the ITV series ‘The Dales’ recently.

Now you can have the chance to experience the delightful scenery and atmosphere at a discounted rate.

Statesman Rail, which runs The Fellsman along the Settle-Carlisle line, is giving Northern colleagues the chance to buy two tickets for the price of one this summer.

What’s more, this special offer applies to the Statesman Rail Day Tours as well as The Fellsman, and the person who travels for free doesn’t have to be a Northern colleague.

To benefit from this offer, phone 0845 310 2458 or 0845 310 2489 and quote your Northern ID number when booking the tickets.

You’ll need to produce your Northern employee/spouse ID card when using the tickets too.

If you want to know more about the steam train experience or the rail tours, visit statesmanrail.com

Rosie and her husband paul

Rosie’s marathons Sometimes one marathon just doesn’t seem enough.

T

wo years ago Rosie Jones, Train Service Controller at Manchester, received some devastating news. Two weeks before their wedding, Paul, who’s now her husband, was diagnosed with stage four bowel cancer.

He was told that without treatment he’d only have And well done two months to live. After aggressive chemotherapy to Ian Fra ncis, Peop Developm le and a major operation, Paul still needs strong ent Busine ss Partner, who also medication to fight secondary tumours. ran this ye ar’s Lond marathon on in 4 hours 2 Rosie explained: “People often avoid talking 6 mins an says, “Tha d nks to my about bowel cancer as it can be embarrassing. colleague and North s e rn for donati It’s known as the silent killer because it’s often ng over £1,070 fo r Asthma very advanced before people see their doctor.

UK, which will train 1 0 commu I want to do something about this problem, by nity nurses to h elp educ supporting ‘Beating Bowel Cancer’ which actively a te Asthma su promotes awareness. fferers.”

“After watching what Paul goes through every day, I’ve decided to run four marathons because one doesn’t seem like enough”.

Rosie completed the London marathon, her first one, in April and will run one a season for the rest of the year:

� Greater Anglia Abellio, one of our parent companies, won the Greater Anglia (GA) franchise earlier this year, and because Stratford’s on their network, they’re going to be responsible for the rail service to and from the main London 2012 Olympic station.

With the eyes of the world soon to be on them, the GA team is looking at how it can learn best practice from what its sister companies do.

Last month we invited them to Northern and shared our ideas on leadership development, diversity, safety, franchise agreement, communications and Human Resources. The meetings went really well, and we’re proud to have helped GA with their plans for a successful Olympic and Paralympic Games.

• summer – L ancaster castle marathon • autumn – Preston guild marathon • winter – M anchester Piccadilly station (on a treadmill!).

If you’d like to help Rosie make a difference, you can make a donation on her Just Giving page at justgiving.com/ Rosie4Marathons And have a look on the Beating Bowel Cancer website beatingbowelcancer.org. You never know, you could help save a life. june / 3

talking customer

Thanks to you!

Your Northern Stars for April are...

Claire Close, conductor, Middlesbrough When Claire spotted an older customer showing signs of dementia when he boarded her train at Whitby, she acted quickly. Reassuring the man, she got the assistance of an off duty policewoman to help claire keep him safe until he could be met at Middlesbrough. Her quick thinking showed that we care and kept our customer out of potential danger.

Les Nicholson Jnr, conductor, Phil White, driver, Hull

and

You may well recognise these names – Les and Phil were featured in the last issue of Your Northern after dealing with a fallen tree on the line near Brough. After liaising with the signaller and Control, they got the emergency toolbox and set about removing the tree themselves, making the line safe for other services to run on time.

Les

Matthew Stead, conductor, Skipton

ers ely letters our custom Here's a few of the lov they're delighted with have sent in because them... the service you've given

Re : Care during disruption

LETTER

I was in Harrogate this morning when a train had broken down between Horsforth and Leeds. I was really impressed by the way the station staff were around all the time and offering as much information as they could.

A special mention for the conductor on the train from Harrogate. As we pulled into York he apologised for the disruption and then said something like, "on a personal note, I would like to thank you all for the grace and good humour you have shown". His words were appreciated so much. The people on the train were mainly good-natured, possibly because they had been kept informed and also because the delay wasn't overly long, but it could have been much worse, and I for one very much appreciated the conductor's words. writes Miss A W

Re: Kindness

PHIL

Matthew demonstrated empathy towards a deaf customer who he discovered had mistakenly got on the Leeds to Morecambe train, when his family expected him at Crossflatts. His sister’s understandable worry was matthew completely eased when Matthew contacted her and made sure the customer got on a train to be met by her at Keighley. The customer arrived in a cheerful state due to the way Matthew had reassured him.

Highly commended Northern Stars: � J onathan Mountain, Bradford Interchange � Graham Fox, conductor, Buxton The £25 voucher prize draw winner, chosen at random for nominating a colleague, was John Ryan, Manchester Control

“A big thank you to the driver and crew of the train I travelled on from Poulton-le-Fylde to Preston on Wednesday 18 April. Not only were they helpful to all of us when the train was delayed because of a broken rail outside Preston, but they were extremely attentive to me when I began to feel unwell. I cannot thank them enough for their kindness and compassion.” Miss M H writes

Re : Empathy “I travelled from Harrington to St Bees return and I just wanted to say how impressed I was with the service I received. I was travelling alone with my four month old daughter in a pram and I had been concerned about how I’d manage the journey alone. Your staff assisted me on both parts of my journey and were extremely helpful and kind, helping me on and off the train and directing me to appropriate seating.

Their help made my journey an easy one and I will definitely be using this service again.”

Writes Mrs A F

4 / june

STAR

DEBT

e conrouirm net work

busters

Since 1 April this year we’ve successfully convicted 147 people and here are a handful of stories about the successes we’ve had in the past month...

Abuse doesn’t pay When Mr C travelled without a ticket he made it worse by using abusive language, offending customers and employees alike. He was fined in his absence at Magistrates court: £350 for no ticket, £350 for the abuse, £115 costs plus £2.05 for the ticket. £817.05 worse off – .05 we bet he’ll buy the ticket next time!

fined £817

fine5d .40

Ticket fraud

After travelling with an altered ticket, we sent Ms S a letter. And another.

And another. When her claim that she’d received no letter didn’t work, she changed tactics, disputing what had happened. We let her know that as she’d apparently experienced problems with her post, a summons would be sent special delivery. The summons was duly signed for but she did not attend court. She was fined £385.40 in her absence, including compensation for the ticket price – £5.40.

£38

stories

from the

Hello again

fined

£615

We’d seen Ms G in court twice before.

This third time was for travelling with an out of date ticket. Her pretence that she “must have lost” today’s ticket didn’t hold sway. And when Magistrates were made aware of her previous convictions, she received a higher fine of £500, plus £115 costs and as ever – the cost of the ticket.

All that to evade a £4.90 fare!

British Transport Police

A rea n ort h & east

Jail for cable thief A Darlington man who tried to steal over 200m of railway cable (worth about £2,000) from the Darlington to Bishop Auckland line – despite already being on police bail – has been jailed for 12 months.

Detective Sergeant Nigel Ashworth of BTP’s dedicated cable team said, “We’re clamping down on metal thieves and with our increased use of technology and specialist operations in key hotspots, we’re arresting and prosecuting more metal thieves than ever before."

A rea w est

No place for abuse When a female passenger shouted abuse to our employee and customers in a Bolton waiting room, BTP stepped in. She’s since been found guilty of racially aggravated public disorder and fined £195.

june / 5

fighting crime

fightin

northernnewsround our

C U S T O M E R s

et for the Great Yorkshire Show tick ount disc

10 -12 July, Harrogate

As well as celebrating rural life, the Great Yorkshire Show also offers the region’s best food and drink, miles of shopping, music from the Yorkshire Volunteers Band and breath-taking displays from the Ukrainian Cossacks and the Red Devils.

We’ve negotiated you a £2 discount off the advance ticket prices e.g. get a family ticket for two adults and O P E R A T I O N A L

Winning safety partnership Our safety record is consistently improving and we’re incredibly proud to have won the ‘Worker Involvement in Safety and Health Award’ for 2012 from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA).

three children for £50 (compared to £52 advance and £60 on the gate).

To buy tickets, call 0113 881 4604

by Monday 9 July, or pop into Specialised Sales at Leeds city station.

(Specialised Sales is open Monday – Friday 9am – 5pm. Tickets must be collected from Specialised Sales at Leeds city station by Monday 9 July.

Tickets are valid for any one day of the show. For more information about the show, visit greatyorkshireshow.co.uk

Judges explained we’d won our award in recognition of the way we work in partnership with our trade unions to make Northern a safe place to work.

O T H E R

N E W S . . .

Station quality We’ve improved the way we present our stations so much that even our customers are commenting on it. Our Mystery Shop audits tell us how well we’re doing, and last month 17 stations achieved the fantastic ‘pass plus’ level, which is the highest number of stations we’ve ever had at this score.

Customers are also noticing and commenting on our helpful and polite ticket office colleagues and on our informative public address announcements.

It’s great news to know that we’re delivering the improvements our customers want.

6 / june

O T H E R

N E W S . . .

Cleaner trains on track Our new wash plant trial at Sheffield is working really well and customers are benefiting from cleaner trains. As a result Allerton, Newton Heath and Holbeck will have their train washing facilities upgraded in the next few weeks, meaning that even more customers will enjoy cleaner trains.

our

p eo p le

O T H E R

Returning to work Simon Crabtree, Outstations Production Manager West, has been working with Blackpool and Fylde College to help train the long-term unemployed wanting to return to work.

With Simon’s help, they’ve been working towards nationally recognised qualifications and many of them have successfully applied for Train Presentation vacancies with us.

SWAG is Northern’s Security Workplace Action Group, which was formed to develop, implement and monitor initiatives to reduce the number and effect of assaults on our people.

Martyn Guiver chairs the group.

Other members are: Louise Shearer, Phil Cook, David Wilkinson, Michelle Rodgers, Georgia Cook, Chris Smith, Garry Keyworth, Billy Mawson, Emma Hind and Chris Mackenzie.

Pop along to one of the SWAG roadshows to find out more, complete a quick questionnaire and show your support: 20 September Sheffield 27 November Liverpool

soc i ety

Smaller footprint Our 2011 carbon footprint has now been calculated and we’re delighted to say that for the fifth year in a row we’ve managed to reduce it.

This is a wonderful achievement: back in 2010 we had a carbon footprint of 193g CO2e/pkm and last year we got it down to 157g CO2e/pkm. It shows that together we really are reducing the impact we have on our environment.

O T H E R

N E W S . . .

Community Ambassador praise We’re delighted that independent market research has reinforced our belief that our Community Ambassador scheme benefits both the local community and Northern.

The report outlined that community leaders had only praise for our scheme and for Northern: they explained that the scheme had been introduced at a time when it was most needed – when there were cuts in local authority support and services.

Training feedback Our commitment to learning and development continues apace, with six Being Northern training courses running every week.

Station managers are co-delivering these courses and we’ve been getting lots of feedback.

If you need to find out when your course is, please speak to your line manager.

Three peaks challenge Marc McPake, Production Team Leader from Heaton Depot, has certainly set himself a tough challenge in his attempt to raise money for children in Newcastle.

To complete the ‘three peaks challenge’ he has to climb the three highest peaks in the UK within 24 hours.

Marc wants to raise as much money as possible for the ‘Cash for Kids’ Newcastle charity.

He’s already committed £250 of his own money and wants to raise a minimum of £750 for this worthy cause. If you’d like to make a donation, visit www.justgiving.com/marc-mcpake C O M M E R C I A L

Friends of Northern We’re treating some of our stakeholders to a day out at four thank you events this summer at:

Eddie Fisher Project Manager, said, “83% of those who attend our ‘accessibility trips’ say they’re now finding it easier to use trains and over half of them are now using the train independently. Plus our Ambassadors account for a 7% growth in rail usage at our targeted locations, so this scheme really does benefit our community and our business.

• Keighley and Worth Valley railway • Heritage event at Edge Hill, near Liverpool • Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway • Midland Railway Centre at Butterley.

These events are really important for us because they give us an opportunity to show how much we value and appreciate the support given to Northern. june / 7

northern newsround

Northern SWAGger

N E W S . . .

We were very proud on 10 May. It was the day that Ian Bevan welcomed Theresa Villiers, Minister for Transport and Jo Kaye, Network Rail’s Route Managing Director, to officially open Allerton Train Care Depot.

8 / june

T

he grand opening included a tour of the depot, speeches from Ian Bevan, Theresa Villiers and Jo Kaye and the unveiling of an official plaque to commemorate the opening.

The need for another Northern depot came when we received 60 additional carriages from the Department for Transport (DfT)’s rolling stock programme. This gave

our customers much needed extra seats on our busiest services and gave us the challenge of finding somewhere to maintain them as our existing maintenance depots at Newton Heath, Heaton and Neville Hill were already full. And we needed it fast!

Step in Allerton depot in Liverpool.

This historic depot had been closed years before and had become derelict.

Together with Network Rail, the DfT and

The to-do list was significant, from interior decor to driver training:

 introduce new office facilities  revamp the stores  reinstate the wheel lathe  install a new carriage wash plant  install side pits  train a new maintenance team  ensure mainline and depot drivers were competent to drive onto and round the depot.

Ian Bevan told the guests, “We’re thrilled with the results and happy to be helping strengthen our skilled workforce in the local community with 46 new jobs.

I’m proud of the whole team who reached this goal largely through teamwork, a shared determination and a willingness to look at new ways of working.”

Praise for the team Theresa Villiers MP recognised the team’s efforts: "Allerton Depot is an exceptional example of what can be achieved when rail industry partners work together to realise a common goal."

Jo Kaye, Network Rail’s Route Managing Director, added that, “it’s really good to see a rail asset that has lain dormant for a number of years brought back into operational use to help meet the ever growing demand for rail travel.”

Future We’re not leaving it there! Allerton is already having an impact on the reliability and cleanliness of our west based trains and we haven’t even seen its full potential yet. We are planning a few developments to facilities at Allerton between now and the end of August including: • installing an engine drop pit to help make engine changes easier and • commissioning an under frame cleaning facility.

More teamwork is essential to make all this happen. Merseytravel are funding some of the additional changes as they recognise the huge benefit this will give to communities and rail services in the North West.

Later in the year, we’ll follow up in Your Northern about what difference Allerton depot is making to our performance.

Green dep ot

The team w ent to grea t lengths to make the d epot as en vironmenta lly sound as p ossible: • recycling old concre te walkways • an exterio r washer w hich recyc up to 80% les of the wate r it uses • a 5,000 litre rain-wa ter recyclin g tank • energy-e fficient ligh ting and radian t heaters.

Efficiency Merseytravel, we found a way to fund the work needed to turn Allerton into a 21st century maintenance facility supporting the West based fleet.

A team of people from Northern and Network Rail, worked round the clock to get the depot operational within six months – much faster than the usual timescales for such a huge project.

ifferently and By thinking d her: working toget and nificant time • we saved sig e th g er-lappin money by ov k or w n nstructio design and co rton from a • we took Alle in a modern tra derelict site to facility maintenance ths. on within six m

june / 9

Allerton opening

Theresa Villiers, ian bevan and jo kaye at the official Allerton Depot opening

your tell us and s ie stor h 0 wor t get £1 pping of sho ers! vouch

Nort h er n

day

out

Cab ride We’ve had a really challenging end to the month.

F

irstly, our Leeds North West routes were closed during evening peak due to flooding, with the disruption lasting for the rest of the night. The following day we suffered a partial derailment of a Class 142 due to a landslide near Retford. Fortunately no-one was seriously injured and I’d like to thank all colleagues who helped at both the incidents.

Even with the issues I’ve mentioned, we still delivered excellent performance.

Our Public Performance Measure (PPM) score was 94.0%; a full one and a half percentage points better than this time last year. This means our PPM Moving Annual Average (MAA) now sits at a record all-time high of 92.2%, meaning that over the past 12 months over 922 in every 1,000 trains have arrived at their destinations on time for our customers.

� Service Quality (SQ) I’m delighted with the SQ score of 92.9% for the way we present our stations: once again we beat our target of 89.9%. However, our train SQ score was 87% and although this is above target, the detail behind the scores shows that we still need to focus on internal and external train cleanliness.

Richard Allan, Area Director North & East 10 / j u n e

In previous editions of Your Northern, we’ve told you about the fantastic work done by colleagues of the late Steve Pilmer in raising thousands of pounds for the Brain Tumour Research charity.

At its last fundraising event, Steve’s eldest son won the opportunity to travel in a train cab. We thought we’d make it a truly family affair and invited Steve’s other son and his three grandsons to the Northern day out too.

Accompanied by Leeds Driver Adam Sykes, Driver Team Manager John Taylor and Lynne Lumb, Conductor from Leeds, the five children boarded our Brighouse service from Leeds. During the day they all had the opportunity to ride in the cab and experience what their father and grandfather did whilst at work.

Adam has been the driving force behind the fundraising events in memory of Steve, and he explained: “It’s been a privilege to see Steve’s relatives enjoy the day so much.

For our part, we’d like to thank everyone who helped to make the day very special for these five wonderful children.”

w i n n er

Great Scott!

Newcastle driver Scott Gaunt was a worthy winner at the Serco Global Pulse Awards held in May at the Grosvenor Hotel in London.

Scott received his accolade to a standing ovation when the audience heard about his ‘truly selfless act of courage’ which saw him stop his train and save the life of someone he’d spotted on the opposite track. The Pulse award was presented by Chris Hyman, Chief Executive of our parent company Serco Group plc. Scott (left) was in good company with other winning colleagues from as far away as Australia, India, Iraq and Hawaii.

Louise Cheeseman Operations Delivery Manager for Tyne, Tees & Wear said, “Scott has been an inspiration to us all and the team are very proud of him.” Congratulations Scott, for a well deserved award.

scott (left) receives his award

careers

adv i ce

We helped hundreds of people at the Harrogate jobs fair last month.

Jill Fenton and Neil Gaines from the Recruitment team, together with Colette Fowler, Public Affairs Manager, gave advice on career planning, application tips, interview skills and CV writing.

People attending the event were impressed that the Northern team was able to advise on all aspects of job hunting and were surprised by the range of roles we recruit for.

Jill explained: “We were invited to attend the fair by Andrew Jones MP, who’d organised the event.

� AVAILABILITY

colette fowler and jill fenton

Almost 1,000 people attended which gave us a fantastic opportunity to raise Northern’s profile of as a local employer. We really enjoyed changing people’s perceptions about Northern and the rail industry.

Last month we invited Kieran Preston, Director-General of West Yorkshire PTE, and Cllr James Lewis, Chair of West Yorkshire Integrated Transport Authority, to our Neville Hill depot.

During the visit Stuart Draper, Engineering Director, and Richard Allan, Area Director North & East, shared details of all the work we’re doing to improve availability for our customers.

i n vestme n t

Tees Valley investment Tees Valley Unlimited, one of our key partners, has won a £4.5m bid to improve station facilities in the Tees Valley region including a new station to serve James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough, which is planned to open during the final months of our franchise in spring 2014.

There will also be improvements to 11 existing stations (Allens West; Billingham, Gypsy Lane, Longbeck, Marske, Marton, Nunthorpe, Redcar Central, Redcar East, South Bank and Stockton) covering:

engineers at neville hill

� DERBY GAME SAFETY • customer information screens • new seating and waiting shelters • public address systems • car park developments and accessibility improvements.

Tees Valley Unlimited managing director, Stephen Catchpole, said “[this] will help us realise one of our priority transport ambitions to improve passenger facilities, enhance our existing rail network and support the economic regeneration of the area by increasing the mobility of workers and the accessibility of key sites”.

We’ve met with Nexus, BTP, Metro and Newcastle and Sunderland football clubs to review how we look after their supporters during derby games. Together, we’re aiming to reduce anti-social behaviour and will introduce any new arrangements by the start of next season.

We’re told some works should start in 2012, meaning we will see tangible benefits for our customers this year. j u n e / 11

area north & east

Harrogate jobs fair

your tell us and s ie stor h 0 wor t get £1 pping of sho ers! vouch

olym p i c

a n d

p aralym p i c

celebrat i o n s

Running man The running man has arrived at Heaton Chapel station.

Last month we had record levels of rainfall across the Area and huge snowdrifts at Brinnington Summit.

Y

et, despite the best efforts of the British weather to affect our train services, our performance was better than the previous month and better than this time last year. Manchester and Liverpool (ML) achieved a Public Performance Measure (PPM) of 94.2%, which was one full percentage point up on twelve months ago.

Meanwhile, Lancashire and Cumbria (LC) delivered a PPM of 92.7%, a two percentage point improvement on this time last year. Our customers are the winners though, because more trains are getting them to their destinations on time.

The Friends of Heaton Chapel Station (FOHCS) group was set up last year, and its burning desire was to clean up the wall on the northbound platform. To celebrate the upcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games, they arranged a display of artwork to be put up at the station ready for the Olympic Torch passing through in June.

The artwork makes a huge difference to the station and we’re grateful to FOHCS for their enthusiasm.

Despite the short timescale, the display was designed and ready within a few weeks.

It depicts the running man travelling through ‘the Heatons’ before arriving at Heaton Chapel alongside the old ‘pink’ wall and waiting for his train.

Theo McLauchlan, Station Manager added, “The artwork makes a huge difference to the station and we’re grateful to FOHCS for their enthusiasm.”

� Service Quality (SQ) I’m delighted that our station presentation was better than the previous month, with ML stations scoring 89.4% whilst LC stations achieved 90.1%. Our train presentation fared well too: the Area SQ score went up to 85.7%. We still need to do more, though, so we recently spent a really useful day with the Allerton depot team to understand how we can jointly improve our SQ scores even further.

Lee Wasnidge, Area Director West 12 / j u n e

olym p i c

T O R C H

Carrying a torch It's not your eyes – this picture is blurry!

That's because it was taken at speed aboard one of our mid-Cheshire trains when the Olympic torch bearer was returning from their official run!

That's our Conductor Becky Styles, from Manchester Piccadilly with them.

samples of the artwork

area west

� CLEANING UP the artwork is unveiled

J U B I L E E

We had a number of clean-up days at stations across the Area and the first took place at Plumley station.

Here we worked with the local Parish Council to tidy up embankments and prepare for flower beds to be built.

� IN MEMORY Following the sad death of Peter Moore, the founder and chairman of Ribble Valley Rail, a plaque was unveiled at Blackburn station to commemorate all the hard work Peter put into developing the Clitheroe line.

The Queen visits us again Not long after her visit to Manchester Victoria station, we were treated again to an appearance from Her Majesty when she popped by at Burnley Manchester Road on her Jubilee tour.

Station Manager Wayne Smith said “Meeting Her Majesty the Queen, Prince Phillip and the Prince of Wales is a once in a life time experience that I will never forget.”

family members unveil a commemorative plaque for peter moore

j u n e / 13

ngineering and depot

Reliability continues to improve and our latest Miles per Casualty (MPC) figure of 7,623 is up again on this time last year.

This means our annual average (MAA) is 7,200 against a target of 6,990. Our availability was just above target too, despite having four trains out of service.

However, this will become more and more challenging for us, so as a result we’ll be managing our planned modifications on a day-to-day basis to make sure that we have enough trains available for our customers.

Stuart Draper, Engineering Director

� HANDOVER We’re delighted that the underframe cleaning bay at Allerton has been handed over to us.

Along with the side pit construction, this means we can now complete B exams at the depot.

� NO SMOKING After a report that a train had smoke in the saloon, we investigated what had gone wrong. The problem was caused by defective wiring to a heater motor and we’re checking the rest of the Class 150 fleet to make sure they don’t suffer the same problem.

14 / j u n e

news

The main areas we’re looking at to continue driving our reliability figures up are: • our Class 323s, whose MPC has improved a bit since last period and is now just over 10,000 •o ur Class 150s which suffered from door and air system problems.

One of our long term stopped units returned to service which was good to see. However we still have four units undergoing repair that will be out of service for some time: two suffered final drive failures and two hit objects on the track.

Service Quality (SQM) came in at 86.03%.

We continue to focus on low scoring units and on heavy cleans. We are also talking with Alstom to ensure they are targeting lower scoring 323 units and common problem areas.

Heaton and North District From John Alexander, District Maintenance Manager North Over 30 of the team from Heaton and York took part in the annual Jeff Anson memorial golf day, which has been held for the last few years following the sad loss of our friend and colleague through cancer. A big thank you to Ronnie Hall, one of Jeff’s close friends and colleagues, for organising a great day out. The cold, blustery conditions couldn’t spoil the day, but they did damage a few score cards!

Other members of the team completed their sixth annual depot cycle ride, this year cycling from Morecombe to Bridlington: 179 miles over three days.

I know from experience how hard these rides are but with the team’s banter and camaraderie got them through it. The team are supported each year by Dave Walker in the support vehicle: from refreshments to emergency repairs and even helping some people up a few of the higher hills this year! Well done to the team and we’re already looking forward to next year’s excursion.

Neville Hill and East District From Julia Wraithmell, District Maintenance Manager East Some of our colleagues at Neville Hill recently asked if we could support the local inter-depot golf tournament in 2012. I’m really pleased to say yes we can! And we’ll be introducing a trophy in memory of Mujeeb Khan, who sadly passed away on Christmas Day last year. Not only do I wish the District East team lots of luck on winning the overall inter depot competition, I also look forward to joining Mrs Khan to present the best Neville Hill player of 2012 with our new Northern Rail, Mujeeb Khan Memorial trophy – who will be our first winner?!

Newton Heath and West District From Dave Allen, District Maintenance Manager West We’re having a real focus on reducing repeat failures in traffic.

This has involved the depot inspectors analysing, interrogating and fully root causing the faults. The pressure can be intense in engineering to deliver units to service, so this exercise is not always the easiest, but we know it’s important for our customers.

And after six weeks, we are really starting to see some results. It’s early days but we have exciting figures to report soon with a view to rolling this out to the other districts.

Watch this space!

Your

Say Q A

Q

I keep applying for promotion but get knocked back, I’m not even getting an interview. Why? I have been a Conductor for years so I should be automatically considered for driving.

Caroline Wilson, Recruitment Manager, responds:

“It’s great that you want to further your career at Northern and we encourage you to keep trying.

It’s difficult for us to comment on particular circumstances without knowing all the details but here are a few things to consider: • all internal roles with us attract a high number of applications from internal people, particularly driving jobs. We can receive up to 50 applications for one role so a robust and detailed short listing process takes place to identify who to interview • all applications are dealt with in a consistent manner with careful consideration given to the application form • although we do value people for the commitment and loyalty they’ve

Your want to

Say Say Live Your

• if you have applied and have not been successful in gaining an interview always ask for feedback on your application, this can help you to understand where you can improve/develop in the future • take into account the feedback and advice given, consider what can you do to perform better next time.”

A

Thanks for your concern about this. It’s something we’ve been working on.

Adam Cousins, Control Communications Manager explains: “We’ve just had a software upgrade to the announcement systems in the West Yorkshire area, funded by the Network Rail renewals scheme.

Alongside that, we arranged an upgrade of the timetable management delivery software, meaning we now get daily timetable updates to display and can announce engineering work and alternative transport.

Unfortunately, the contracted company installed the software to update against the Public Timetable instead of the Have a look at the Working Timetable. That means the feature on page 16 for tips on two systems don’t match up and the furthering your career at Northern. screens and announcements are giving For example, there is a training misleading information as a result. workshop called ‘Get on at work’ The good news is that we have which you can ask your got a short term fix in place and a manager to put you onto. permanent fix will be up and running in July.”

What would you like to ask us this month?

issue63

have...

shown to the organisation and their role, being in one role for a number of years does not automatically qualify you for promotion. Promotion is based on suitability, attitude, skills and experience all of which should be demonstrated at all stages in the recruitment process

I appreciate that there has been investment/improvement in the station information screens and tannoy announcements over recent months. However, when my train is standing at some platforms (Pudsey, Burnley, Garforth, Elsecar etc), the screens/announcements are saying “train approaching” or “delayed by two mins” etc. Can these misleading inaccuracies be looked into please?

Fill this slip in and send it back to us in the freepost envelope provided.

It would help us answer your question if we know which area you work in, so please tick one of the boxes below:

area north & east

area west

central services

engineering

j u n e / 15

n O g n i t Get rn? xt move at Northe e n r u yo t u o b a g Are you thinkin lp you prepare: e h ld u o c ry o st ’s Lorna Name: Lorna Whitfield Started at Norther n: 25/3/10, as Train Presentation Operative (TPO) Promoted: 13/3/12, to Conductor

whole year. I felt off applying for a enough and also like I wasn’t good my position as TPO started to wonder if me. Now looking was going against wasn’t the case – back I realise this feedback at I wish I’d got some nk I put enough the time. I don’t thi o my initial int thought and time did apply again I application. When n und the applicatio earlier this year, I fo to d I was kept up process positive an s through it all.” res date with my prog

e: Previous experienc ss for 18 months “I was an air hoste r an administrator fo before becoming like I’ve found the 8 years. Now I feel right role for me.”

Why Norther n? work for Northern.

“I really wanted to ommended it Someone I know rec ny to work for so I as a good compa role. That gave applied for a TPO ing in what the me a good ground olves.” railway industry inv ent: Career developm e for a Conductor rol ply “I wanted to ap ng lpi and about, he so I could get out The first time I tly. customers direc ake it. It put me applied, I didn’t m

Did you know..?

• since January 2011, 20 TPOs have been promoted inside Northern – that’s about 11% and an average rate for internal promotions each year • the ‘Get on at work’ course came about following a previous employee survey, when you said you wanted more support with developing your career at Northern.

if my I started to wonder s going position as TPO wa king against me. Now loo back I realise this wasn't the case.

Thinking of your next move at Northern?

Caroline Wilson, Recruitment Manager, shares her top tips:

Lorna’s advice is spot on and with more internal competition than ever for roles, then give yourself the best chance…

•d o your homework. Find out as much as you can about the role and what’s involved before deciding whether it’s right for you. Try to speak to the recruiting manager

• invest time and effort when ng like?

What was the traini completing your application form. trainers are “Ver y intense but the This is your first opportunity to shine! d have given very supportive an Remem ber you want to stand out t I can do it. me confidence tha job e • brush up on your skills and put your weeks on-th I’ve just had three er ind best foot forward. If you have a m y m e sid training along which ) tor specific uc career move in mind, nd Co ed (an experienc tions, era op speak or to your manager about do like s covered dutie ch. at sp attendi de ng in the ‘Get on at work’ tra d an retail checks t.” en ssm course se run by our training team as t las y Then I had m • and if you’re not successful first a Conductor?

How’s it going as so ’s ere time around, always get feedback Th it!

“I’m really enjoying I n tha on your performance at interview e rol much more to the it nk thi to to help you improve for next time. ed us realised before. I a it’s t Bu Each applica ts! tion is reviewed on its was just selling ticke g kin loo merits, so I’m it doesn’t – matter if you’ve lot more in depth been unsuccessful in the past. and ty fe sa the to d ar forw Just make sure you learn from it, or responsibilities customer service et m t even jus better, do your homework first! e of the role. And I’v r, ge na Ma my Conductor Team !” so I’m ready to go make t have a go. And ! Don’t give up, jus ing try p ee ” “K e. e: t tim Lorna’s advic u don’t make it firs back if like me, yo sure you get feed

Thanks for taking the time to read this issue of Your Northern.

Please D E C Erecycle M B E R me / 16