Does anyone know how Guards work on Greater Anglia trains these days. So much has changed since the withdrawal of the old stock and the introduction of the 720/745/755 and i have lost track of how it works these days.
From what i understand the 720/745/755 still have a guaranteed Guard onboard but they do not open or close doors or despatch the train. However from what i have heard they are still able to despatch the train if necessary such as if the DOO cameras are broken. So how do they maintain competency to despatch? Do they have to despatch a certain amount of trains per month or per year still? If so how is it decided when they will despatch? I presume otherwise they could go years without despatching presuming that no train they work has any issues?
Where are the Guard depots currently and what routes are required to have Guards onboard still? I presume it is just all 745 755 North of Cambridge and North Of Ipswich must have a Guard and all 720 East of Colchester and East of Manningtree must have a Guard with everything else DOO now? Or have i got it wrong? I think that the Braintree and Southminster branches used to require Guards on certain longer trains but i presume that has ended with the 720 being introduced?
Also i was having an interesting conversation with a Guard a few years ago before the 720/745/755 was introduced and he was saying that they have both "Conductors" and "Senior Conductors" who are the same role but just a different title. I think they were the only TOC to use both titles. Is this still the case?
Also he was saying that different Guards get different amounts of commission for ticket sales with some on 4% and some on 5% and some on 6% so it seems that a lot of Guards are on different conditions. I forget which Guards got which percentage. Is this also still the case?
Many thanks for the information.
From what i understand the 720/745/755 still have a guaranteed Guard onboard but they do not open or close doors or despatch the train. However from what i have heard they are still able to despatch the train if necessary such as if the DOO cameras are broken. So how do they maintain competency to despatch? Do they have to despatch a certain amount of trains per month or per year still? If so how is it decided when they will despatch? I presume otherwise they could go years without despatching presuming that no train they work has any issues?
Where are the Guard depots currently and what routes are required to have Guards onboard still? I presume it is just all 745 755 North of Cambridge and North Of Ipswich must have a Guard and all 720 East of Colchester and East of Manningtree must have a Guard with everything else DOO now? Or have i got it wrong? I think that the Braintree and Southminster branches used to require Guards on certain longer trains but i presume that has ended with the 720 being introduced?
Also i was having an interesting conversation with a Guard a few years ago before the 720/745/755 was introduced and he was saying that they have both "Conductors" and "Senior Conductors" who are the same role but just a different title. I think they were the only TOC to use both titles. Is this still the case?
Also he was saying that different Guards get different amounts of commission for ticket sales with some on 4% and some on 5% and some on 6% so it seems that a lot of Guards are on different conditions. I forget which Guards got which percentage. Is this also still the case?
Many thanks for the information.