Use of trains by those in the rail industry

[roundhouse]

 

How many of you on here that work in the rail industry travel on them outside work duties either on free travel passes reduced rate passes (for those ex BR employees) and paid travel?

 

It's not meant to be a trick question but I know a fair few in the industry that do not use the trains outside of their work duties and the odd one or two that will refuse to do so because of the unreliability even when we do make many weekend trips paying the non rail employee reduced fares (I do also understand that post privatisation some employees do not get the same reduced or 'free' taxable benefits of cheap rail travel I various forms so it's not about this why I ask) or can't afford to go away.

 

 

I am just curious if this is fairly common or just isolated incidents.

 

I was going to post this under another thread but think it is worthy of its own post.

 

Please try to keep it factual rather than emotional as it is a genuine interest otherwise I see this being locked.

[uax6]

I love travelling by train, although the only times i do now is for work purposes (which work out as about 8 times a year). Having joined NR I don't qualify for priv rate travel, even though without me coming to work no trains will run.....

 

Outside of work the family travels about twice a year on the train.....

 

Andy G

[roundhouse]

I used to use mine all the time

add in a bit of "not really allowed ish " 1st class travel and probably about £10k per annum

There is one person I know that is no longer is in the rail industry that still has his free travel and is very similar to your position

[96701]

I only work for the railway because I love travelling on trains. Work or pleasure makes no difference, just the sheer enjoyment of sitting on a train watching the world go by, chatting to other people, sleeping, reading, playing games, listening to podcasts or music, or reading................. bliss!

[Eggesford box]

I used to use it a lot but changes in domestic circumstances with very little actual leisure time (as opposed to work and a whole raft of domestic chores) coupled with less interest in the current scene mean I make little use of them. Perhaps the odd trip out with the family and the annual wedding anniversary jaunt with the missus. Sometimes she uses the passes to take the kids out when I am at work (another aspect). As a 'safeguarded' ex BR now NR employee I pay tax on them (The TOCs charge NR for them) so it probably costs me more, given my few journeys. than it would if I did not have 'free' travel! I do not intend to give them up though as the kids, being dependants, will be able to make more use of them as they get older and I intend to make more use of them when I have more free time and during retirement. Mind you I always have the suspicion that somewhere along the line 'they' will find a way of abolishing the provision of free and reduced rate travel for us poor old ex BR employees on NR.

[Rivercider]

I have always used my priv facilities a lot. My dad was on BR so I have always been entitled to priv facilities.

For the first seven years after I joined BR from college I could not drive so all but three of my photographic trips of the early 1980s were by train then on foot.

As well as using the train for work I travelled into Bristol in the evenings once a week to play skittles in the BRSA club, until it closed.

 

Now I use it for about 15 trips a season to Exeter for football., as well as 8 or 9 exhibitions. 

Me and Mrs Rivercider try to take three or four short breaks a year usually in various places in the west country and we use the train where we can.

When we stay at Dawlish Warren (her sisters caravan) we use the train almost every day for trips along the coast, and from observing other passengers

we are not alone in using BR passes for that purpose.

 

I do remember one BR colleague from the early 1980s who steadfastly refused to ever travel by train, for work or not, we had some lively 'discussions' back in those days!

 

Keeping my passes was something (as well as the pension) that kept me going during a fairly dark time towards the end of my career before the final inevitable redundancy,

 

cheers

[Kris]

My ex's father used his pass a lot even once he'd left the industry. 

[Chris116]

I work for London Underground and volunteer on the Mid Hants and Severn Valley Railways. Use the train to go everywhere although the only fare reductions I get are on TfL services and the ability to find cheap advance tickets. Currently on my way to Keighley for the KWVR.

[Rugd1022]

I love my footplate job but avoid travelling by train wherever possible, it's bad enough traveling 'pass' when I'm on duty with the hassle we sometimes get at platform barriers when staff give us grief over our official company passes or even doubt the authenticity of our railway uniform. Even paying punters look down on us sometimes, when you've stepped off a dirty smelly 66 and plonked yourself in the vestibule of a Pendolino to get back to your Booking On Point eighty miles away sometimes the looks they give you are downright disgusting. Sad to say it but nine times out of ten I'd rather go by car!

 

Edit : not everyone who works on the railway gets priv travel by the way...!

[Oldddudders]

Despite living in Froggy France, I still make some use of my entitlement earned in 38 years of my former employment. So I am able to get a 50% reduction on tickets here in France - and most of the rest of Europe - and on Eurostar. And, on arrival at St Pancras, almost every train in the National Network is open to me free of charge, as are the London Underground and London Buses. I certainly revel in this as a marvellous freebie. And, yes, I'm in first class, thus seldom occupying a seat wanted by a paying passenger.

 

OTOH, when we lived in the UK, holidays would generally involve a car, because arriving by train in rural Cornwall, or the best bits of Scotland, simply leaves you high and dry for exploring further. Public transport is a bit thin in such places.

 

In my day - I joined BR in 1966 - the travel facilities were certainly regarded, like the pension scheme, as "makeweights" for the rather modest salary/wage scales. Nearly 50 years later my choice of career looks as good now as it did then.

[Welchester]

In my day - I joined BR in 1966 - the travel facilities were certainly regarded, like the pension scheme, as "makeweights" for the rather modest salary/wage scales. Nearly 50 years later my choice of career looks as good now as it did then.

 

It was a very generous scheme; although I've never worked for the railway, as a child of a BR (ex-GWR) employee I kept (first-class) privilege travel facilities until I was nearly 26 (in full-time education - irredeemably thick!)

[woodenhead]

Out of curiosity, what are the rules for getting to and from your booking on point, can you use any service or are there restrictions on who will carry you. Is it a gentlemen's agreement or is there some sort of cross charging between companies?

[russ p]

Freight company duty pass

 

I don't have staff travel,I would be useful sometimes but I'm no fan of rail travel these days. Even in BR days when I had my full complement of boxes and trains were interesting I struggled to use them all

[brian daniels]

I seldom use my passes these days as the only trains down Oxford way are Voyagers and FGW HST's of which the Voyagers seats do your legs in and the less said about the interiors of the FGW HST's the better! I do use my European travel though. Back in the good old loco hauled days I used more boxes than you got, if you know what I mean 

[phil-b259]

For personal purposes I only use the train when going to London or Brighton city centre. I have done York by train a couple of times but the car makes it far easier to visit places like the NYMR when in the area.

 

For travel to work I use the car even though the train would be possible.

 

When I started my railway career I got NOTHING in the way of travel assistance whatsoever so got into the habit of using the car to and from work. Since then the season ticket loan scheme has come into being and it is now pretty generous. I am however too used to the flexibility and convenience of the car to make me go for it.

[Oldddudders]

woodenhead, on 10 Jan 2015 - 14:20, said:

Out of curiosity, what are the rules for getting to and from your booking on point, can you use any service or are there restrictions on who will carry you. Is it a gentlemen's agreement or is there some sort of cross charging between companies?

I have half an answer to that, others will have more up-to-date info.

 

In BR days, you were entitled to a certain free mileage between your place of work and your residential station. If your journey exceeded that distance, you were provided with a Privilege Season Ticket for the extra mileage - the costs being taken out of your wages over a calendar year. The TOCs can do as they choose, I think, for their own employees, but I am not sure who pays what if you travel daily on another company's train.

 

But there are deals. When I went part-time in 2003, my former entitlement under the 1993 Act to use my all-stations pass over any part of the railway for residential travel ceased. I travelled about 50 miles each way daily on South East Trains, and my employer, part of National Express, had a reciprocal agreement with that company to exchange a limited number of passes. One became mine for the last 18 months of my career.

[The Stationmaster]

I use mine whenever possible - I much prefer the train for long journeys, even if it means occasional car hire for a short holiday or what have you at the other end, and I also use the train whenever convenient for shorter distance journeys as it saves the hassle of parking in, for example, Reading.  Like Ian I also have free travel on LUL, trains and 'buses, which I obviously use whenever in London although if transitting with luggage and Mrs Stationmaster we tend to take a taxi only using the UndergrounD if not so encumbered.

 

All just as well I suppose as I still love train travel, especially long distance trips, so think nothing of popping down to Camborne to visit Kernow models - the trains rides are part of the day out.  And I know that some other retired folk travel a lot more than I do, usually taking at least one day trip every week in the nicer parts of the year.

 

In my entire 34 years on the big railway I only had 7 years when I didn't travel to work daily by train (but for much of that time I was travelling weekly instead) and odd delays and upsets aside I always found the journey to work either interesting - with something to see outside the window, or convivial through travelling with colleagues plus if I wanted it gave the opportunity to read, do a crossword, or sometimes even to do some work.  Oh and 14 years of the daily commuting was into London, with an onward trip on the UndergrounD for half of them.

[mjkerr]

I worked for InterCity East Coast, based at Edinburgh, between 1992 and 1995
I had a pass that allowed me travel (in uniform or warrant) between :
Aberdeen - Inverness
Aberdeen - Edinburgh
Aberdeen - Glasgow Central (yes that was how it was printed)
Edinburgh - Glasgow Central  

As I lived in Aberdeen I had to sign on for some of my duties by phone!
This meant I could cover the early morning duties or sickness at short notice
Quite often this would be the 09:15 Aberdeen - Plymouth
The Aberdeen based conductor had to sign on before 08:20
If he had not done so, then the conductor from the 09:55 Aberdeen - Kings Cross would be bumped on to that service and once I had been contacted a taxi would be sent for me, and I would then work the Kings Cross service
I would then travel back from Edinburgh to Aberdeen on pass
 

edit :
I was entitled to six free journeys per year (issued by way of warrant)

 

Each summer I would then travel the entire route of the 09:15 Aberdeen - Plymouth
I would book my seats in Aberdeen, but only permitted reserved seats in Standard
I was then handed seat reservations in First Class
When I pointed to this I was advised there was an option in the system which allowed this

Ironically, it was just as well as quite often I gave a hand at some point en-route

On my final trip it was a disaster, after the leading power car failed and followed shortly afterwards by the rear power car

There was already a diversion which was going to add one hour, but by the time we reached Birmingham the train was four hours late, and the station staff had no idea what train it was when it arrived!

[johnw1]

I have work in the rail industry for forty years. I retained my "BR" travel facilities and I also have a company car. I would travel by choice by train when ever possible especially for work purposes. My company not unreasonably expect me to use my company car for work related journeys (my travel facilities are for private use and not company business) except for visits to central London or where the train is the cheapest option. However using the car these days for business is a nightmare of delay and disruption (and from a safety point of view far more risky). The following is typical of travel by car for business. I had to be in the outskirts of Coventry for a meeting commencing at 09:00. I live 52 miles away and the journey would be via the A52, M1, M69, A45 or A52, M1, M42, A45. Over 90% of the journey is either motorway or dual carriage way road. I hate being late for anything so I left just before 07:00 and therefore required to average 27mph. I choose the M42 option and arrived at my destination at 09:40!!!!!!!! My average speed being an impressive 19.5mph.

 

I made eight business related road journeys in December 2014 and five were significantly delayed, in contrast I made six business related rail journeys and all were on time.

 

I use my travel facilities when ever suitable for leisure travel

[stadman]

infrequent leisure traveller. To Exhibitions (Coventry, Swanley) and airports for holidays, maybe the odd day out as well.

[MikeHunter]

As a teenager and then student I benetted from my Dad working for Sealink, then part of BR. Used to use my full allocation of free passes, including going to the Bristol Model Railway exhibition, all the way from Harwich, mainly to sample the newly introduced HST. Saw one of the best layouts ever too, Castle Rackrent - amazing Irish broad gauge in 0, pictures in the model railway press didn't do it justice. Loved the train journey. HSTs were great when new. Very comfortable, but then I was travelling first class.

[The Stationmaster]

I have half an answer to that, others will have more up-to-date info.

 

In BR days, you were entitled to a certain free mileage between your place of work and your residential station. If your journey exceeded that distance, you were provided with a Privilege Season Ticket for the extra mileage - the costs being taken out of your wages over a calendar year. The TOCs can do as they choose, I think, for their own employees, but I am not sure who pays what if you travel daily on another company's train.

 

But there are deals. When I went part-time in 2003, my former entitlement under the 1993 Act to use my all-stations pass over any part of the railway for residential travel ceased. I travelled about 50 miles each way daily on South East Trains, and my employer, part of National Express, had a reciprocal agreement with that company to exchange a limited number of passes. One became mine for the last 18 months of my career.

12 miles free if working in the 'London area'  (which extended about 8-10 miles from the relevant London terminus Greater London Council area ) and 8 miies free if you worked outside London plus any additional distance beyond those at Privilege Season Ticket rate - thus back in the late 1960s my annual season ticket to work had only 2 miles chargeable, at quarter fare, and came to the princely sum of £2/14/0.  I then got a job in London on promotion and the cost of my season increased dramatically so I only bought it quarterly from then on!

 

Arrangements now are basically down to reciprocal agreements for free/privilege travel other than for protected staff who retain their BR entitlement but there is a catch as people who work for other than passenger operating companies have to pay tax as their employer has to now pay for their travel facilities - it's one reason why I very happily jumped ship from a freight company back in 1994!  I think most if not all passenger operators offer travel facilities to their own staff and I believe some are quite generous with free passes for travel to work while at least one (GNER) was at one time very generous with the extent to which staff travel was available in 1st Class accommodation even including (their) traincrew when travelling on duty.

 

The reciprocal arrangements do produce some oddities - for example Eurostar have an agreement with LUL which allows their staff free travel on the UndergrounD to/from work plus off duty Priv Travel in exchange for which LUL staff get Priv Travel on Eurostar.  But on the other side of that coin rather oddly Eurostar staff get nothing additional from the standard ATOC arrangements on SNCF.

[PaulRhB]

I've only recently got any and it's limited to SWT only. As we are in the first Alliance they gave it to the NR Wessex staff and it's tax free as we are officially attached to SWT. Great for popping out to Exeter, London or Eastleigh modelshop which I'd never have bothered with by car or paying for the train. Being able to stay over or have a really nice meal using the saved money. Shame we aren't eligible for the continental discounts but something is better than nothing however long it lasts. As the boss doesn't drive it's a rare chance to sit back and enjoy the view

[Captain Kernow]

Apart from travelling to and from the office, I only rarely make off-duty type trips, but this is really due to other factors. I would never willingly give the priv travel up though, almost no matter what the grown ups offered.

[5944]

I use my pass to commute to work most days, except Sundays (either days or nights) when I have to drive. My pass also allows free travel on other Govia services (LM, Southern, South Eastern), plus East Coast at weekends and bank holidays, so that sees a fair amount of use. I've had a FIP card for many years for travelling in Europe, and normally use at least one set of boxes in Europe each year too. I had a quick count up the other month, and if I actually had to pay to travel, or couldn't buy priv rate tickets, I'd have to find an extra £6000 a year!