DBS Job Losses

[Nobby (John)]

Just heard that 900 people are going to be made redundant by DBS, this is roughly 30% of the workforce.

I understand it is currently breaking on news networks☹️

[Nobby (John)]

It is now on Sky News app.

[petethemole]

Now on the news site under Business http://news.sky.com/story/rail-firm-db-cargo-plans-to-cut-900-uk-jobs-in-market-shift-10622119

[russ p]

Spoke to a DBS driver who said all traincrew are going to have to apply for about a third less posts than currently exist.

Absolutely terrible

[Talltim]

And typically of this type of thing, some staff affected found out through web forums before the company told them.

[Rivercider]

Since I took redundancy from EWS in 2007 I only rarely meet former colleagues when travelling by train,

each time they tell of more people I knew having retired or left to join other train companies.

 

I missed the cameraderie of the railway, but not the constant reorganisation and redundancies.

When I took redundancy it was a kind of relief as, after 30 years, I had seen the end coming for some time,

and my personal circumstances have worked out quite well.

I do feel for those people affected by the obvious uncertainty,

 

cheers

[PhilH]

Sadly this comes as no surprise. We work with DBC steam crews from all round the country and when you talk to them about their day job, no matter where they're based, it's been all doom and gloom for quite a while now.

[beast66606]

DBS statement

 

https://uk.dbcargo.com/rail-uk-en/News_Media/news/12527340/2016-10-17_Media_Statement.html

[locoholic]

Seems a shame when, as DBS says in its statement, the roads are choked with lorries.

[woodenhead]

Seems a shame when, as DBS says in its statement, the roads are choked with lorries.

Coal has been on the decline but that decline was rather hastened by Government policy earlier this year.

 

When you travel about there are sidings all over full of redundant hopper wagons of DB and Freightliner.

 

Getting more traffic onto the railways is going to require more than the freight companies effort - it requires political will as well and it isn't going to happen overnight unlike the loss of the coal fired power stations which shut with immense haste.

[Ron Ron Ron]

On the BBC News web site.....

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-37688481

 

 

.

[beast66606]

On the BBC News web site.....

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-37688481

 

 

.

 

Wrong link Ron - youve got a circular link back to this thread even though the text says bbc etc.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-37688481

[Talltim]

And typically of this type of thing, some staff affected found out through web forums before the company told them.

I don't work for them, the 'Supportive's need to go to Brian Daniels of this forum, and all the other staff

[bescotbeast]

Since I took redundancy from EWS in 2007 I only rarely meet former colleagues when travelling by train,

each time they tell of more people I knew having retired or left to join other train companies.

 

I missed the cameraderie of the railway, but not the constant reorganisation and redundancies.

When I took redundancy it was a kind of relief as, after 30 years, I had seen the end coming for some time,

and my personal circumstances have worked out quite well.

I do feel for those people affected by the obvious uncertainty,

 

cheers

I was involved in the great EWS shake up of 2007 as well Kevin, I worked in Coal Control in the "bouncy castle" at Doncaster. All of the control was under one roof and it worked fairly ok, if I needed to speak with another controller I simply walked across to their desk and sorted the issue out. 

We then had the shake up where,  where it would all be split up and scattered to the four winds, we were told in meetings that EWS "wasn't being got ready to sell" and that we'd have to apply for our posts. I lived in Derby and it was a 50 minute drive to Doncaster, the Coal Control moved to Knottingley which was too far for me, I tried and failed to get a job with Construction control at Toton and so was moved to the TOPS desk which I didn't enjoy.

I knew that this wouldn't be the end of shuffling and reorganising the company and said this to the wife, I then started looking and applying for other jobs which led me to getting the job down here with Southern.

One or two people that I used to work with would keep me up to date with EWS and then it's "sale" to DBS, they weren't all that happy and I'm glad I took the decision to leave.

 

Simon

[The Stationmaster]

Sadly this comes as no surprise. We work with DBC steam crews from all round the country and when you talk to them about their day job, no matter where they're based, it's been all doom and gloom for quite a while now.

 

Regrettably exactly so - the bottom has dropped out of the coal market although biomass is creeping up (but nowhere near enough to replace coal of course) and steel is also in the doldrums so it is inevitable that the business will trim its resources and resources obviously includes people so unfortunately it feeds through to a human effect.

 

None of this is new of course - the railway freight business has been in a state of, generally, contraction for as long as I can remember due to changes in traffic patterns and the decline of traditional industries hardly balanced by far smaller growth (from a railway viewpoint) in other markets.  Of the three marshalling yards where I worked over the years one is under a 'traincare depot', another is under a couple of housing estates, while a small rump of the third survives and the rest of it has reverted to sand dunes.  Gone with them are the large numbers of staff who worked at them or who worked trains to & from them.  In a couple of months I'll be attending the Christmas dinner of our former regional freight planning team - virtually all of us who are there left freight planning under redundancy - including me plus a number who I made redundant as I cut back staff numbers nibbling a bit more out every successive year - that's the way it was in BR days.

 

Obviously the effect on individuals is never going to be good for everybody and in fact it's usually going to be bad for far more than those who benefit.  'Slimming down' has been inevitable since Day 1 in the bits of BR which later became EWS leaving me more than glad that back in 1994 after being slotted into a job in one of the initial three freight companies I was given, and grabbed, an opportunity to go elsewhere and leave freight for ever.  My best wishes and understanding are extended to all those who are under threat from this latest change.

[Classsix T]

In the wider theme of things, are the assembled of the opinion a drop in the value of the £ might be a blessing for what's left of the British steel industry, and subsequently a pick-up in rail freight carriage?

 

Personally it seems the smaller (leaner) FOC's, to my uneducated eyes, seem to be winning traffic that DB Cargo are either unable or unwilling to garner. Either that or there has been a rather misplaced reliance on the bulk flow contracts that have now dried up. A finger waves in the general direction of Management and Marketing...

 

As is always the case, the little people have to suffer the consequences, my sympathies are with them.

 

C6T.

[PhilH]

An inconsequential point in the grand scheme of things but I wonder if this will have an effect on mainline steam trips.

 

I do know that some of the lads we work with were fearful for the future, couple that with the fact that DBC were stretched on occasion to provide crews, so perhaps it will.

[APOLLO]

Since I took redundancy from EWS in 2007 I only rarely meet former colleagues when travelling by train,

each time they tell of more people I knew having retired or left to join other train companies.

 

I missed the cameraderie of the railway, but not the constant reorganisation and redundancies.

When I took redundancy it was a kind of relief as, after 30 years, I had seen the end coming for some time,

and my personal circumstances have worked out quite well.

I do feel for those people affected by the obvious uncertainty,

 

cheers

 

I can say exactly the same of the gas industry I spent more than 40 happy years in.

 

Sad world of work these days.

 

Brit15

[TheSignalEngineer]

I think this has been on the cards for some time. Two years ago I was working on an infrastructure project where one of the things I was looking at was the effect of future traffic changes. Talking to the various players at the time there was a serious fear within the industry that DBS was in serious difficulties.

[4630]

. 

[The Stationmaster]

In the wider theme of things, are the assembled of the opinion a drop in the value of the £ might be a blessing for what's left of the British steel industry, and subsequently a pick-up in rail freight carriage?

 

Personally it seems the smaller (leaner) FOC's, to my uneducated eyes, seem to be winning traffic that DB Cargo are either unable or unwilling to garner. Either that or there has been a rather misplaced reliance on the bulk flow contracts that have now dried up. A finger waves in the general direction of Management and Marketing...

 

As is always the case, the little people have to suffer the consequences, my sympathies are with them.

 

C6T.

 

Steel is a difficult one with so much of the stuff clogging up world markets and significant dumping allegedly going on.  And don't forget it's made using imported raw materials which will be costing more.

 

I think your second point is very relevant and reflects in a  different way my earlier comment about 'the inevitable slimming down' that has taken place in that bit of BR which became EWS/DBS and the fact that its business share in some base market areas (including coal) was hit by the smaller, nimbler, concerns stepping into the market.  Mind you I must say that I do have some reservations about some basic safety related matters in some of the smaller concerns and a belief that in some cases they have sailed far closer to the wind than prudence would suggest and that has reduced their operating costs albeit not necessarily by a significant amount. 

 

Regrettably the RMT is probably too dumb to take up that point beyond the statement so far made by Mick Cash (which in itself contains some basic inaccuracy anyway) so alas i don't see that area really coming to attention.  Certainly applying a bit of independent audit to one such company a few years ago revealed to me certain shortcomings which a properly organised concern ought not to be tolerating however as some people might know I do ride certain hobby horses so others might regard some of my views as somewhat on the extreme side.

[Classsix T]

I wasn't going to go down that particular alley Mike, I see your point but I think we've said enough on the WCRC thread.

 

I did say some time ago in a Group mag Editorial that the then emerging FOC's buying up second hand traction possibly had an advantage over the then EWS traction policy.

They've got a small varied fleet, cheap to buy but possibly of questionable reliability. But the kicker is they own them as an asset.

Is it still the case DB Cargo lease the 66s? A large fleet with undeniable reliability and, as long as you allox them to the right jobs, a capable prime mover. But you still have to pay the lessor if the work dries up..? Hmmm.

 

C6T.

[4630]

. 

[Talltim]

The 66s can of course be easily moved to mainland Europe if there is the work for them, as some already have

[bescotbeast]

I can say exactly the same of the gas industry I spent more than 40 happy years in.

 

Sad world of work these days.

 

Brit15

My dad worked for The Gas Board, then British Gas for many years before he took retirement in 1997 ( I think), in many ways it was like the railway with great a camaraderie, he worked from Stone depot, then Stafford before getting a transfer to Longton.  When we were kids my mum used to do her shopping in Longton town center before taking my brother and myself to the Gas depot, we'd chat to my dad if he was there, or his mates if he wasn't.We'd run about the yard where all the vans, plastic pipes, sand etc would be stored, happy days.

Once privatisation came along, things started to change until the point came when my dad could take redundancy.