Jobs to go at South West Trains (From Your Local Guardian)

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Jobs to go at South West Trains

7:20am Saturday 7th February 2009 in Kingston By Dan Menhinnitt

Jobs to go at South West Trains

Staff West Trains (SWT) staff are bracing themselves for job losses after the company announced a wave of cuts.

SWT - which runs trains from London Waterloo to west and southwest London - revealed on Wednesday it was to axe 180 jobs including some ticket office and station staff, as well as ticket inspectors.

This follows an announcement last month that 480 management, administration and other roles would go after an “efficiency” review That figures includes 118 ticket offices job losses announced last June that are being reviewed in the wake of the opening hours changes.

A SWT statement said drivers, guards and frontline fleet maintenance staff would not be affected and it would continue to operate the same number of train services.

“South West Trains is managing its cost base to ensure it is operating as efficiently as it can in view of reduced passenger growth and an increasingly challenging economic climate,” continued the statement.

“The company will continue to review its operation and take any further steps required to ensure it has a secure business for the long term.”

A SWT spokesman said it was consulting with staff on the job cuts and could not comment on what parts of the network would see staff reductions.

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Comments(4)

momentum says...
3:33pm Sat 7 Feb 09

We need London Overground to take over tracks and stations on the Hounslow Loop and Kingston Loop lines.

The stations would be manned all the time they are open. They would be locked up at night so there would be less vandalism.

London Overground maintain their stations and much better than private francise operators who only think of the short term.

There would also be more services and a more frequent off-peak service

If

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Phillip Taylor says...
4:35pm Sat 7 Feb 09

The manpower cuts mean less secure stations and a lower quality of service for the travelling public.

The terrorists will be rubbing their nasty hands in glee and yet we still have to pay more for the service which has actually improved recently. It's now downhill all the way!

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Harry_ says...
11:05am Sun 8 Feb 09

"A SWT spokesman said it was consulting with staff on the job cuts and could not comment on what parts of the network would see staff reductions"

Who reckons that it will be exactly the same staff members that they were hoping to get rid of by closing ticket offices for long periods of time? They should be watched like hawks and warned in advance that if they try it on they'll have their franchise removed

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Fred1 says...
12:39pm Sun 8 Feb 09

I don't know why momentum thinks that stations would be better in the hands of London Overground than South West Trains. The stations with the highest staffing levels tend to be those which are on long distance routes, as you'd expect; and in South West Trains' case, that means the South Western Main Line that connects London to Weymouth via Southampton. It just doesn't make sense to put lots of staff in stations on local routes that are only used by a comparatively small number of people.

Especially routes that struggle to outpace local buses. The number 65 bus is often a quicker way of getting between Kingston and Richmond than the loop line. And you're not going to change that without costly infrastructure upgrades that are more properly the responsibility of Network Rail.

I don't see why ticket prices on popular routes should subsidise excessive staffing at stations that are off the beaten track.

But more to the point, I can't see any evidence of high staffing levels at stations like Willesden Junction or West Hampstead.

My point is, unless you've got compelling reasons to think that you could do a better job of running the trains and the stations, I think we should cut them some slack.

Jobs to go at South West Trains (From Your Local Guardian)

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