SATS?

Busy stations have them. At the headwall of the platforms, there should be an S placed on the headwall boards, to denote that the SATS-person is on duty. Invaribly, the 'S' will still be there, on the headwall board, at 11pm on a Sunday....

Yep, SATS-person should be doing what you say and in theory, they should indeed keep the baton up until the train completely leaves the station... in practice, some do, some don't...

From a passengers point of view, it might seem odd that the SATS-person is holding the baton up for the whole time... but rules is rules.

On lines without in cab OPO CCTV they do use their common sense and lower the bat once the first car has gone!

There are no rules when it comes to SATS, I’ve never been able to find anything about them in the rulebook though if someone can guide me to the relevant page I’d be much obliged. SATS were just being introduced when I was about to go for TOp and the training I got was somewhat informal to say the least. My experience would suggest that not much has changed.

From my own empirical observation, what I see on my CCTV in the cab of a 92ts, everyone seems to do their own thing. Some raise the baton before I start to close the doors while others wait till the doors are closed before sticking it up.

Some put the arm straight up as I seem to remember is required while others just raise the baton to about shoulder height or to the side, pointing towards the front cab but usually away from the camera.

Some stand where we can see them (the clue being the platform CCTV markings) and others perform their duties in a place where we can only see them from the waist down thanks to overhanging signage or dot matrix describer.

In order to stop a train in an emergency the SATS should wave both hands above their head, they can do that without a baton and there is no instruction for what to do in the event of dropped baton.

One interesting point, I once waited to be given a clear signal by a SATS and was hauled up for delaying the service. It was spelt out to me in no uncertain terms that while the SATS are there to assist we do not have to wait for them to do their thing before leaving, especially if they are too busy chatting to a colleague to do their job……….

As for lowering the baton after the first car had left the platform that was actually brought in after a couple of months after SATS were introduced, can’t remember if we were told why, we usually aren’t.

Remember what you might think is common sense someone else might think is utterly stupid, it's all very subjective.

To see an expert SAT in operation, go to Holborn CL WB platform during the evening peak. Without doubt the best SAT ever, popular with the punters and staff. Throughout the years the routine has basically remained the same, but is modified every now and again. To facilitate the exit being further down the platform he now does an extra trolley dolly routine by waving his bat to point to aforementioned exit. Take earplugs to minimise hearing damage as he likes to have his Tannoy set to turbo, and last week, coupled with his *strep throat* we were treated to a a one million decibel gyrating dalek..................." THANK YOU FOR YER CO-OPERAYSHERN, MIND THE DOORS" ( on the word "doors" most of the train's windows implode ) "WHEN YER READY DRIVER".......................He then does his pull the chain, flush that loo routine..................A living legend................

I'd love to give him a makeover. A far too tight cardy n strides, winkle pickers and a silly little far-to-small pink plaid trilby worn at a rakish angle. Choreograph a chicken-dancing-on-a-hotplate routine and I swear, we'd have our very own *brilliant* Olly Murrs. For that, I'd forgive him him a raised bat against a red stick any day.................

To answer the original question.

There is a department within London Underground called "S&SD" or strategy and service development. I was told recently that this department alone employs around a thousand people in it's various disguises. For those who were around in the late 90's - around company plan - the same department had just a handful of people.

Anyway S&SD have been tasked to introduce the OSP (Operational Strategic Plan) - explained a little HERE.

Anyway basically the OSP "team" produces what is called a BNS - or business needs schematic. This is a nice colourful bar chart in which S&SD have given certain criteria that is needed for the business needs. The BNS is based on raw data i.e. number of people entering/ exiting the station, frequency of trains, number of tickets sold etc etc. There is no input into the BNS for local conditions, i.e. large number of platforms, staggered gatelines, lifts etc etc. So with SATS the timings and location are based soley on the number of trains and the customer numbers provided by the raw data. (There is no allowance for the type of nature of the platform) The raw data is then compared to the business needs as dictated by S&SD and you then either have a SATS duty or not.

An example of the BNS, S&SD and SATS

Great Portland Street has gained a 90 min SATS duty on the Westbound platform during the PM peak - although for local reasons it's not being done at present. However Baker Street has lost it's SATS duties on the Met and H&C platforms. The reason being that GPS have a higher volume of trains leaving from the one platform while Baker Streets (North/ Westbound) departures are spread over 4 platforms and thus no single platform triggers the target set by S&SD.

Should read my emails more often ;D