https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/23/keep-uk-trains-running-at-christmas-and-save-engineering-works-for-january-say-campaigners

In message <um97i7$2id23$2@dont-email.me>, at 12:18:15 on Sun, 24 Dec
2023, Coffee <martin.coffee@round-midnight.org.uk> remarked:

>https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/23/keep-uk-trains-running-at-
>christmas-and-save-engineering-works-for-january-say-campaigners

I know Xmas/Boxing Day is good for doing engineering work because almost
no trains are scheduled to run, however it's a burden on the Orange Army
and when you've had weekend bustitutions three weeks out of four for
months since the summer (Fen Line, because of Cambridge South), you
begin to wonder if those two extra days will make that much of a
difference.

Meanwhile you have key workers in (eg) ,the NHS who can't get to see
their family because the last train on Xmas Eve leaves before their
day-shift finishes. That might be solved by a skeleton service right up
until midnight, and I don't believe those three or four hours on Xmas
Eve evening are vital for the engineering works.
--
Roland Perry

On 24/12/2023 13:16, Roland Perry wrote:
> I know Xmas/Boxing Day is good for doing engineering work because almost
> no trains are scheduled to run, however it's a burden on the Orange Army
> and when you've had weekend bustitutions three weeks out of four for
> months since the summer (Fen Line, because of Cambridge South), you
> begin to wonder if those two extra days will make that much of a
> difference.
>
> Meanwhile you have key workers in (eg) ,the NHS who can't get to see
> their family because the last train on Xmas Eve leaves before their
> day-shift finishes. That might be solved by a skeleton service right up
> until midnight, and I don't believe those three or four hours on Xmas
> Eve evening are vital for the engineering works.

I think you will find that most places manage by juggling around shifts.
I worked Christmas Day or New Year's Day (sometimes both) most of my
working life. We tended to swap shifts around, usually people will let
those with young children have Christmas Day off. Though some prefer to
be working especially if single with no family.

Someone once told me that (in those days) it was a miracle that any
programmes managed to go out on Christmas Day evening as many were
p###ed once the Queen's Speech had finished.

Some other countries manage to keep essential services running through
holidays. Not sure if true but I read a few years ago that the
Norwegian ferry company runs right through the holiday (and around the
clock) unlike Calmac. Do other countries have railway services that do
not stop for holidays?

JMB99 <mb@nospam.net> wrote:
>
> Some other countries manage to keep essential services running through
> holidays. Not sure if true but I read a few years ago that the
> Norwegian ferry company runs right through the holiday (and around the
> clock) unlike Calmac. Do other countries have railway services that do
> not stop for holidays?
>
>
Not a Railway service but Red Funnel Ferries ran two return trips
Southampton -Cowes this morning
with vehicle ferries.
Nothing ran on the Wightlink routes.

GH

According to JMB99 <mb@nospam.net>:
>Do other countries have railway services that do not stop for holidays?

I am in Bonn DE, visiting relatives. On Christmas, transit runs on a
Sunday schedule, so we took the train to Aachen. On the way up we
changed at Cologne Hbf, on the way back, the train took us to one
Cologne station where we took the U bahn (an underground tram line) to
another station to catch the train to Bonn.

All of the trains were well used and ran close to schedule. There are
lots of ongoing works with trains truncated or rerouted and
bustituted, but no more this week than any other.

The main schedule change I saw was that yesterday, Christmas Eve,
most things stopped in the afternoon so there was very little
service last night. But tonight it's a regular Sunday schedule.

--
Regards,
John Levine, johnl@taugh.com, Primary Perpetrator of "The Internet for Dummies",
Please consider the environment before reading this e-mail. https://jl.ly

On 26/12/23 03:37, JMB99 wrote:
>  Do other countries have railway services that do
> not stop for holidays?

Yes - and we used them to get to family Christmas lunch on the other
side of the city. All trains and buses running to Sunday/Public holiday
timetable. While our trip was entirely suburban train, they were pretty
well all on time and well patronised.

One of the city tram routes suffered an overhead failure which took over
4 hours to fix. The breakdown crew were on call not on standby, so they
had to all come from home, collect their kit from the depot and go out
to the incident site. Apparently it was over an hour before the
breakdown crew got there.
The overhead fell over a major intersection so many bus routes were
interrupted too.

On the way home I made a detour to look at the broken tramway (next to
the main intercity railway station) and the regular intercity trains
were there with a large number of people with bags waiting to board the
overnight trains.

Shutting down the railway for Christmas seems to be peculiarly British
thing.

In message <umcb3l$33i70$1@dont-email.me>, at 16:37:10 on Mon, 25 Dec
2023, JMB99 <mb@nospam.net> remarked:
>On 24/12/2023 13:16, Roland Perry wrote:

>> I know Xmas/Boxing Day is good for doing engineering work because
>>almost no trains are scheduled to run, however it's a burden on the
>>Orange Army and when you've had weekend bustitutions three weeks out
>>of four for months since the summer (Fen Line, because of Cambridge
>>South), you begin to wonder if those two extra days will make that
>>much of a difference.

>> Meanwhile you have key workers in (eg) ,the NHS who can't get to see
>>their family because the last train on Xmas Eve leaves before their
>> day-shift finishes. That might be solved by a skeleton service right
>>up until midnight, and I don't believe those three or four hours on
>>Xmas Eve evening are vital for the engineering works.
>
>I think you will find that most places manage by juggling around
>shifts. I worked Christmas Day or New Year's Day (sometimes both) most
>of my working life. We tended to swap shifts around, usually people
>will let those with young children have Christmas Day off. Though some
>prefer to be working especially if single with no family.

It gets conflated. Management think that single people with no kids
should be more prepared to accept things like Xmas shifts, but in
practice Xmas is the only period they especially want to go enjoy some
time with their siblings/parents and extended families.

Thus they especially *don't* want to be lumbered with awkward shifts.
Especially ones which finish late afternoon on Xmas Eve, when they've
missed the last train.

>Someone once told me that (in those days) it was a miracle that any
>programmes managed to go out on Christmas Day evening as many were
>p###ed once the Queen's Speech had finished.
>
>Some other countries manage to keep essential services running through
>holidays. Not sure if true but I read a few years ago that the
>Norwegian ferry company runs right through the holiday (and around the
>clock) unlike Calmac. Do other countries have railway services that do
>not stop for holidays?

Airlines keep flying, not least because there's not enough space to
easily park the planes on the ground instead. I've never flown very
close to Xmas, but I have flown in the USA on Halloween, and they made
it a party experience.

Thanksgiving is especially asymmetrical, because it's when the majority
of USA-ians want to be at home with family (more so than their Xmas) and
yet to achieve it, requires lots of last minute travel, which requires
people in the travel industry to be working.
--
Roland Perry

On 26/12/2023 07:43, Roland Perry wrote:
> It gets conflated. Management think that single people with no kids
> should be more prepared to accept things like Xmas shifts, but in
> practice Xmas is the only period they especially want to go enjoy some
> time with their siblings/parents and extended families.
>
> Thus they especially *don't* want to be lumbered with awkward shifts.
> Especially ones which finish late afternoon on Xmas Eve, when they've
> missed the last train.

We never found any problems in sorting out the shifts, or course
sometimes you had to work when you would prefer to be off but that can
happen at any time.

We were a small base with only a handful of people.

Christmas Day was usually quiet though I have had to go out on jobs -
one year some people had to charter a boat to get one site - the police
gave them a lift up the hill and collected them later.

On 26/12/2023 01:17, Matthew Geier wrote:
> On 26/12/23 03:37, JMB99 wrote:
>>   Do other countries have railway services that do not stop for holidays?
>
> Yes - and we used them to get to family Christmas lunch on the other
> side of the city. All trains and buses running to Sunday/Public holiday
> timetable. While our trip was entirely suburban train, they were pretty
> well all on time and well patronised.
>
> One of the city tram routes suffered an overhead failure which took over
> 4 hours to fix. The breakdown crew were on call not on standby, so they
> had to all come from home, collect their kit from the depot and go out
> to the incident site. Apparently it was over an hour before the
> breakdown crew got there.
> The overhead fell over a major intersection so many bus routes were
> interrupted too.
>
> On the way home I made a detour to look at the broken tramway (next to
> the main intercity railway station) and the regular intercity trains
> were there with a large number of people with bags waiting to board the
> overnight trains.
>
> Shutting down the railway for Christmas seems to be peculiarly British
> thing.
>
>
It's so engrained to stay put on Christmas Day in the UK that even if we
had public transport it wouldn't be used.

In message <ume31g$3duhn$1@dont-email.me>, at 08:31:45 on Tue, 26 Dec
2023, JMB99 <mb@nospam.net> remarked:
>On 26/12/2023 07:43, Roland Perry wrote:

>> It gets conflated. Management think that single people with no kids
>>should be more prepared to accept things like Xmas shifts, but in
>>practice Xmas is the only period they especially want to go enjoy some
>>time with their siblings/parents and extended families.

>> Thus they especially *don't* want to be lumbered with awkward
>>shifts. Especially ones which finish late afternoon on Xmas Eve, when
>>they've missed the last train.
>
>We never found any problems in sorting out the shifts, or course
>sometimes you had to work when you would prefer to be off but that can
>happen at any time.
>
>We were a small base with only a handful of people.
>
>Christmas Day was usually quiet though I have had to go out on jobs -
>one year some people had to charter a boat to get one site - the police
>gave them a lift up the hill and collected them later.

Depends on the job. I think A&E is busy because GPs are shut, and people
get drunk and fall over.
--
Roland Perry

In message <umeb4i$3ev5c$1@dont-email.me>, at 10:49:54 on Tue, 26 Dec
2023, Coffee <martin.coffee@round-midnight.org.uk> remarked:
>On 26/12/2023 01:17, Matthew Geier wrote:
>> On 26/12/23 03:37, JMB99 wrote:
>>>   Do other countries have railway services that do not stop for holidays?

>> Yes - and we used them to get to family Christmas lunch on the other
>>side of the city. All trains and buses running to Sunday/Public
>>holiday timetable. While our trip was entirely suburban train, they
>>were pretty well all on time and well patronised.

>> One of the city tram routes suffered an overhead failure which took
>>over 4 hours to fix. The breakdown crew were on call not on standby,
>>so they had to all come from home, collect their kit from the depot
>>and go out to the incident site. Apparently it was over an hour
>>before the breakdown crew got there.

>> The overhead fell over a major intersection so many bus routes were
>>interrupted too.

>> On the way home I made a detour to look at the broken tramway (next
>>to the main intercity railway station) and the regular intercity
>>trains were there with a large number of people with bags waiting to
>>board the overnight trains.

>> Shutting down the railway for Christmas seems to be peculiarly
>>British thing.
>>
>It's so engrained to stay put on Christmas Day in the UK that even if
>we had public transport it wouldn't be used.

It is and it isn't. Lots of married couples kids travel so they can
timeshare between both sets of parents. Although even with a Sunday
train service that wouldn't work for a lot of them.
--
Roland Perry

Am 25.12.2023 um 17:37 schrieb JMB99:
> Do other countries have railway services that do
> not stop for holidays?

Germany is mostly doing Sunday services on the holidays, with a few
exeptions. This year, we've had massive problems with trains being
cancelled spontaneously due to drivers on sick leave.

On Tue, 26 Dec 2023 12:17:02 +1100, Matthew Geier
<matthew@sleeper.apana.org.au> wrote:

>On 26/12/23 03:37, JMB99 wrote:
>>  Do other countries have railway services that do
>> not stop for holidays?
>
>Yes - and we used them to get to family Christmas lunch on the other
>side of the city. All trains and buses running to Sunday/Public holiday
>timetable. While our trip was entirely suburban train, they were pretty
>well all on time and well patronised.
>
>One of the city tram routes suffered an overhead failure which took over
>4 hours to fix. The breakdown crew were on call not on standby, so they
>had to all come from home, collect their kit from the depot and go out
>to the incident site. Apparently it was over an hour before the
>breakdown crew got there.
>The overhead fell over a major intersection so many bus routes were
>interrupted too.
>
>On the way home I made a detour to look at the broken tramway (next to
>the main intercity railway station) and the regular intercity trains
>were there with a large number of people with bags waiting to board the
>overnight trains.
>
>Shutting down the railway for Christmas seems to be peculiarly British
>thing.
>
Until around the end of the 1970s it was just a peculiarly English
(and Welsh?) thing.

Op 30-12-2023 om 19:20 schreef Rolf Mantel:
> Am 25.12.2023 um 17:37 schrieb JMB99:
>> Do other countries have railway services that do not stop for holidays?
>
> Germany is mostly doing Sunday services on the holidays, with a few
> exeptions. This year, we've had massive problems with trains being
> cancelled spontaneously due to drivers on sick leave.
>

In the Netherlands on Christmas days (25 & 26 Dec) trains do a Sunday
service.
This year Dec 24 was a Sunday.

On Dec 31 all trains and other public transport stop around 8 o'çlock in
the evening until the start of the "sunday service" at Jan 1st.

Rink

On 8/1/24 03:46, Rink wrote:

>
> On Dec 31 all trains and other public transport stop around 8 o'çlock in
> the evening until the start of the "sunday service" at Jan 1st.

In my home city, NYE is a big thing and they don't want people to drive
into the city and cause massive congestion and then drive home some what
drunk.

So mid afternoon on the 31st the railway (and some but not all buses)
shift to what is effectively a peak hour time table for the next 12
hours - i.e. all night they run a near peak level service. It's also the
only day of the year the railway operates a 24hr service - normally
services stop approx 1am. On the 1st they keep running, and at some
point in the early hours shifting over to the standard Sunday/Public
holiday diagrams.

One major route has a pause at 9pm and again at midnight as they launch
fireworks off the bridge and the safety people put a stop to trains
running across the bridge during the actual fireworks event.

The previous week (Christmas to New Year) trains run to an 'enhanced'
weekend table even on the 'week days' (Many businesses take the week off
anyway) to ensure they have enough 'rested' crews to run the intensive
NYE service.

According to Matthew Geier <matthew@sleeper.apana.org.au>:
>On 8/1/24 03:46, Rink wrote:
>
>>
>> On Dec 31 all trains and other public transport stop around 8 o'çlock in
>> the evening until the start of the "sunday service" at Jan 1st.
>
>In my home city, NYE is a big thing and they don't want people to drive
>into the city and cause massive congestion and then drive home some what
>drunk.

In Boston (the one in the US) they have a NYE festival called First
Night all over the downtown. Transit is all free after 8 PM and
service is extended until after midnight so people can get home.
They've been doing this for decades.

In Philadalphia on 12/31 transit ran on a weekday schedule, with extra
late night service on subway (underground) and regional rail.

In New York the subway runs 24h and most commuter lines run past
midnight every day. They had extra late night service on the many
subway lines that serve Times Square for tha large crowds that come to
celebrate the midnight "ball drop."

The UK is looking, well, a bit stodgy here.

--
Regards,
John Levine, johnl@taugh.com, Primary Perpetrator of "The Internet for Dummies",
Please consider the environment before reading this e-mail. https://jl.ly