How does shortage of train crew cause missing stops on routes

[Jamiescott1]

The 2300 from Oxford to Paddington will no longer be calling at intermediate stations twyford, maidenhead and Slough due to lack of train crew.
It will however still run its full route from Oxford to Paddington.
How does a lack of train crew cause the train missing stops. Aren't the trains doo at these stations?

 

[Mitchell Hurd]

The 2300 from Oxford to Paddington will no longer be calling at intermediate stations twyford, maidenhead and Slough due to lack of train crew.
It will however still run its full route from Oxford to Paddington.
How does a lack of train crew cause the train missing stops. Aren't the trains doo at these stations?

Might be due to insufficient station staff typically.

 

[NSE]

You tend to find with Railway that there’s often ‘a bit more to it’ than the explanation they give. But it could be that they can’t dispatch from the station without a crew member (don’t know the DOO operation on that route so couldn’t say in that case, but it’s a plausible story) and so skip those stations, it could be that it’s actually a station staff shortage and so they can’t stop due to there being no one to safely dispatch or it could be earlier delays have misplaced crew and so they want to get a driver/guard/OBS etc back quicker. It could be many reasons.

 

[800301]

The 2300 from Oxford to Paddington will no longer be calling at intermediate stations twyford, maidenhead and Slough due to lack of train crew.
It will however still run its full route from Oxford to Paddington.
How does a lack of train crew cause the train missing stops. Aren't the trains doo at these stations?

An IET can only serve stations with dispatch staff when it is operating DOO, there was no Train Manager for the service so therefor could not be dispatched from Twyford or Maidenhead, not sure why it wouldn’t serve Slough as Slough is mandatory dispatch at all times and all trains

 

[cslusarc]

Is there really a shortage of guards and on platform dispatch staff at GWR?

 

[Horizon22]

Is there really a shortage of guards and on platform dispatch staff at GWR?

From time to time yes, especially on night shifts. The poor morale for overtime extends to more than just drivers.

The delay reason "shortage of station staff" may not have been input correctly in this instance. With potentially no TM and/or station staff this will be the issue and maybe both applied.

 

[dk1]

Is there really a shortage of guards and on platform dispatch staff at GWR?

Being a Saturday evening too there are going to be less options for staff cover.

 

[island]

Would it be possible that the driver was coming close to maximum hours (due to overtime ban or otherwise) and eliminating the calls might have kept them within same?

 

[Roger1973]

I think that 'staff shortage' means 'we don't have anyone to do X duty today' rather than 'we have long term vacant / unfilled posts' - and too many people being off sick and not enough people being available / willing to work rest day or overtime on one particular day can easily cause the former.

I think there was a thread a while ago about reluctance of railway staff to work rest days on Saturdays as a full weekend off is relatively rare in rotas / rosters so people tend to make plans in advance for that weekend. I've certainly encountered similar on the buses.

 

[Javelin_55]

It looks like this train was severely delayed approaching Reading (possibly due to crew issues with another service) and the skipped stops were simply to make up time (which didn't seem to work in this case)

The gap in service from these stations in theory can be plugged by Crossrail as well, albeit with a longer journey time.