ELL staff

I'm sure they'd like to know too

As the line will be closed for some time, it's hard to see what the new operators would do with any 'inherited' staff......

That said, I'd like to think that the staff on the ELL will at least be given some form of choice over wether to stay with LUL or move into the new operating company.

As for the drivers of the ELL A stocks - they only drive them on the ELL..........and they do all the empty stock transfers to & from Neasden.

Yes, all drivers book on at New Cross. See below for answer to second part of question.

They have a depot at New Cross, but only for the very lightest of maintenance. All other maintenance is carried out by Neasden depot.

Based on a copy of old duties that I have (old, but very recent ):
on mondays to fridays, two return trips were scheduled - One return trip was around lunch time (NX-NN-NX), the second trip to Neasden was in the evening, with the driver travelling back to New Cross 'on the cushions'. A night driver got a taxi after close of service, from New Cross to Neasden, and brought a train back at the start of service.

On saturdays, there was one return trip in the early evening (NX-NN-NX).

On sundays, there was one return trip - overnight and worked by a night driver (NX-NN-NX).

I got a lift with an ELL train/op last week. He advised that they have been told what will happen to them as the line will close on dec. 22nd 2007.

He told me that the waiting lists for the other depots are being frozen i.e no more people will be added to the lists until the ELL drivers have been added to the lists for their preferred depots.

The t/op that I spoke to had put in a nomination for barking. I had thought that some of the guys at new cross might opt for the met as they would already be road trained on the A60s but neasden as a fair trek for most of them.

I would expect very few to go to Neasden. Drivers usually like depots close to home, and most like more time training so would prefer a different stock to make the most of the training time.

Good point Simon, also, will the station staff get the same benefits [staff travel, pay etc] as their LU cousins?

From what I understand, staff of the TOC's are quite poorly paid compared to LU staff. I know that southern's gateline staff get around £15k and first capital connects drivers get about £32k which I suppose is decent. Some of my friends are SA's at the ELL stations and they would rather stay with LU than risk losing any pay.

Good point. Hopefully, if any of the guys from the ELL go to the jubbly, the road training should be o.k.

Good idea. If they move to another depot, they could be possibly be brought in to cover the route from aldgate to harrow during any shortages.

Just a thought, does this practice occur on any other parts of the network?

Drivers have to be assesed every six months over routes they are qualified to work on, and have a stock refresher every twelve months.

Couple that with other regular training, annual leave, etc - it just wouldn't be practical or cost effective.

There has often been talk of having drivers qualified to work across the SSR - but the powers that be know it would be a lot of hassle for a small potential benefit.

Edit: Also, say you had these drivers all trained up and used them on an alternative line - who will then cover their rostered turn on their 'home' line? You'd need to have more drivers in reserve, which rather defeats the object.

Bit of a revival I know, but saw this and was surprised, indeed the ELL still features on T/Op nomination sheets (if you've just applied to be a driver) and also people are still being sent there to be trained! I met someone around three months ago who told me he was beginning T/Op training on the ELL!!!

Strange old world.