Cross Country Manchester route knowledge

Something I’ve always wondered is why Cross Country drivers at Manchester have such a pruned route knowledge. They could at least have Birmingham-Bristol + diversions added to the card in my opinion. I’m sure there’s a reason why they can’t so any help would be appreciated.

Full list of XC can be found here:


I presume they have enough drivers from other depots to cover that route.

Manchester Drivers sign Birmingham to Reading. Birmingham to Bristol is already covered by Derby, New St, Bristol & Plymouth.

Zerothebrake! said:

Manchester Drivers sign Birmingham to Reading. Birmingham to Bristol is already covered by Derby, New St, Bristol & Plymouth.

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I reckon Manchester to Reading is a pretty decent run in terms of route knowledge.

I'm not sure of the year, I'm guessing it was the late noughties that Manchester got a regular hourly service to Bristol with some extensions to Plymouth and Paignton, and trains from the north east got an hourly service to Reading. Prior to that the Manchester trains mostly went to Reading / Poole and North East trains to Bristol and beyond.

When these changes were made it was probably deemed too costly to send the whole depot route learning to Bristol, especially as they would only be able to get one trip in each day, probably in the same way Derby drivers didn't sign to Reading.

Derby drivers can take Manchester trains from Birmingham to Bristol and Manchester drivers can take Newcastle trains from Birmingham to Reading, so there's no real benefit to the company for them to sign both routes.

JDAWC said:

Something I’ve always wondered is why Cross Country drivers at Manchester have such a pruned route knowledge. They could at least have Birmingham-Bristol + diversions added to the card in my opinion. I’m sure there’s a reason why they can’t so any help would be appreciated.

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There’s not enough work for them to be able to share it amongst the other depots.
The company would never pay for the extra routes days that would be required to maintain the route knowledge.