WEEKLY
TOGETHER
TAKING THE NORTH FURTHER | THURSDAY 2 NOVEMBER 2023
THE LEAF LOWDOWN It’s the time of year when it starts to get darker earlier and the leaves start to fall. As we know, leaves on the line may seem harmless but they can become a big obstacle for our trains. Steve Whitehead, Lead Driver Manager (East), explains why leaf fall is such an issue on the railway “The seemingly harmless leaves, when combined with rain and heavy trains moving at high speed, create a really slippery Teflon-like surface on the train tracks, similar to black ice on the road. “This poses significant difficulties for our skilled drivers, who must adapt their driving techniques and, at times, slow down to ensure passenger safety.” Our trains are equipped with some leaf-busting equipment to help us eliminate this autumnal enemy. One way we try to minimise the leaves effects is through railhead sanding technology, which applies a coarse gritty sand between the wheels and the rails when the trains need extra grip during braking and accelerating, to help prevent wheels either slipping or locking up. Our trains also have a wheel slide prevention system. This helps to control wheel slip under acceleration and when wheels lock-up and slide during braking, which is of great assistance when driving in slippery conditions. However, sometimes it is necessary for our drivers to reduce their speed to make sure our customers arrive at their destinations safely. If you want to read more about how as an industry we’re working to minimise the impact of autumn leaves, click here
MENTAL HEALTH AND MEN WEBINAR On Friday (3 Nov) Health Assured, our Employee Assistance Provider will be running a webinar focussing on male mental health. The webinar will discuss: • How to tackle stigma and attitudes in the workplace • Knowledge and awareness of common mental health issues • Practical advice and follow up support structures The webinar is taking place on Friday 3 November at 14:00 and you can access it here: https://events.teams.microsoft.com/event/1d456c05-414b-4889-a151454b3c8ed6e3@f6aec7ed-3b3a-4826-99e1-1b3134e6b856
OUR PERFORMANCE PERIOD 8 WEEK 2 Time to 3
Target 58.61%
ON OR ABOVE TARGET
64.96%
YES Target 94.82%
Time to 15
95.49%
YES
Cancellations 6.49%
NO
5.08 Target %
T3 and T15 performance have improved on the previous week and are above target. Cancellations are still below target and overall delay minutes are 7.49% above target. What held us back? The week was challenging with fleet performance causing some issues - specifically our Nova 2s on the Anglo Scottish route. The south route was severely disrupted by flooding in the Doncaster area over the weekend, resulting in trains terminating at Sheffield and Doncaster.
A BEARY SPECIAL JOURNEY Wednesday’s 15:35 service to Scarborough had a very important passenger on board. AB Bear, from the charity Bear Force, joined driver Scott Rathbone in the cab to raise awareness of young people’s mental health. Bear Force aims to get children talking, creating safe spaces where children can talk and be heard. The charity was founded by Richard Bland in memory of his son, Andrew, who died by suicide. Andrew was a volunteer photographer for the RAF and would take pictures of the bear in cockpits of planes for charity calendars, with it even joining Prince William when he was a pilot. The bear has now travelled on over 200 flights, in 80 types of aircraft, and now a train! AB Bear will be joining Scott on a few more journeys before going off on another flight. You can find out more about Bear Force at https://bearforce.org.uk
PETRIFYING PET CORNER
HOW YOU CELEBRATED HALLOWEEN
There were some amazing costumes this year but not just for humans!
The OBSM Team at York definitely got into the into the Halloween spirit this week, whilst looking absolutely spooktacular. They spent the day talking to customers and giving out some sweet treats, spreading some Halloween frights.
Conductors Caroline and Martin Latus-Josephs sent in their pet spider, Alfie, though it is a funny looking spider…
L to R:Rob Buxton OBSM, Ray Duke Conductor, Clare Moon OBSM, David Reed Conductor, Josh Cunnington OBSM, Kelly Williams OBSM, Paul Caress Conductor
LONG SERVICE MILESTONES FOR OCTOBER A big congratulations to the six colleagues who celebrated long service milestones in October:
GOING THE EXTRA MILE!
We’re always receiving great comments about our colleagues and the amazing work they do, here’s just a few we received last week:
5 years Benjamin Maloney, Driver Greg Marah, TRU Communications Manager Lilli Baranski, Campaigns and Promotions Manager Warren White, Conductor 10 years Don Coffey, Driver Ian Williams, Driver
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