Automatic barriers at York station.

[Bryan]

And to gain access from the platform end - cross the track to the gate to the carpark you will need to comply with RIMINI submission.
Then are you a COSS or IWA as just holding a PTS does not entitle you to be on the track without authority.
Not forgetting the requirement to be dressed in full orange as well as Boots and hardhat.
This location is not to my knowledge an approved walking route.
A statement was issued a number of years ago prohibiting this practice as a lot of staff heading for Leeman Rd used to do this regularly.

RIMINI - System of gaining authorisation for any one or group to be trackside. Must be in place for every occaision, If I have to do it ( 3 times today) so must you .
COSS - Controller of site safety
IWA - Individual working alone

[hq1hitchin]

And to gain access from the platform end - cross the track to the gate to the carpark you will need to comply with RIMINI submission.
Then are you a COSS or IWA as just holding a PTS does not entitle you to be on the track without authority.
Not forgetting the requirement to be dressed in full orange as well as Boots and hardhat.
This location is not to my knowledge an approved walking route.
A statement was issued a number of years ago prohibiting this practice as a lot of staff heading for Leeman Rd used to do this regularly.

RIMINI - System of gaining authorisation for any one or group to be trackside. Must be in place for every occaision, If I have to do it ( 3 times today) so must you .
COSS - Controller of site safety
IWA - Individual working alone

RIMINI = Rail Infrastrucure Maintenance Is Nigh Impossible

[Eden Blyth]

According to the "Railway Magazine" NXEC are now having a re-think about putting the barriers in at York.I think they have been taken by surprise at the amount of bad press this stupid idea has brought them.

But sadly, and - I think - unusualy shortsightedly, for what is normally a sensible magazine, they are running a "Save the Platform Ticket" campaign.

WHAT?!!

I find it very sad indeed that the editor is asking the TOC's to create a new, unregulated ticket, in the fond hope that it will be reasonably priced, and remain so. Phrases about turkeys and Christmas and voting come to mind!

I think a bit of reality is needed here, and quickly.

An automatic ticket gate can never be as perceptive as a human being, be they checking tickets on a platform or on a train. We are looking at yet another step in the great march backwards of railway logic.

Cynical? Me?

[Ferrybridge Flyer]

PTS,RIMINI? blinking flip-i just want to take photos from the platform-not the track! That would be akin to taking shots of wagons from the outside lane of the M62!

[cjhe]

I understand that they are still pursing the planning application. It would be much better to check the tickets on the trains, providing helpful on train staff

chris

[hq1hitchin]

I understand that they are still pursuing the planning application. It would be much better to check the tickets on the trains, providing helpful on train staff

chris

Anyone object to having ticket barrier staff - you can actually see the York ones in 'This is York' - is that too old railway ? Or do you just object to walking onto a station platform unchallenged?

[Ferrybridge Flyer]

All i want is common sense.I love the whole atmosphere of York station,and just want to carry on enjoying it,without making anyone's job harder.I am willing to follow the advice of station staff as well.I just dont want to be suspected of terrorism whilst taking part in a hobby i enjoy so much.I am no danger to anyone(unless i've eaten spicy food!)-just let me be.

[silver fox]

http://www.thepress.co.uk/news/4361682. ... on/?ref=mr from todays press.
I notice from the report thay want to remove the signal from the outer concourse!
I know there were ticket barriers in the 80's, they were there in the 60's and [acording to the BTF 'This is York' it was one old penny for a platform ticket, and the station master welcomed it as they were the furtre of rail workers..station master? Oh National Express is his name now!

[Ferrybridge Flyer]

No,they have a different name,but i'll keep it to myself for now.

[PinzaC55]

The ticket barriers at York are long overdue.I worked for 5 years on the Underground at Paddington and on Arriva Trains at York and fare evasion is huge, especially in the rush hour.Whether you supported privatisation or not (I didn't) NXEC are a private company and need to protect their revenue.Complaints about this are as irrelevant as complaints about BR erecting overhead wires or removing the centre roads - it was regrettable but the station is not a museum.

[Ferrybridge Flyer]

Sorry Pinza,you are missing the point here.Access to and from the NRM,Grand Centrals turn-up-and pay,and Photography access for the Scarboro' specials.These people want to stop all this.The constant hammering of railfans has to stop.Yes,i want to feel safe on our stations,but i dont want to feel i am in a George Orwell novel.And besides,the way Nafex keep treating their passengers,their trains will soon be running empty.No need to worry about fare-dodging then!

[52A]

I was a station manager at Newcastle when barriers were abolished, that was a mistake then and it still is. There was an immediate increase in fares evasion, vandalism, drunks using the place as a doss house and worse and other ne’er do wells wandering about day and night. Stations are private property and not public shelters for use when everything else is closed down around the city. I never had any problems with train spotters or enthusiasts provided they behaved in a sensible manner, which most did. The worst so called enthusiasts I used to frequently come into contact with were at Doncaster when I used to attend meetings there. They were a most ignorant, foul mouthed bunch of cretins who should have been thrown out and not allowed back, I hope they have improved. I do not know if there is an intention to bar enthusiasts from York or if there will be platform tickets made available, I sincerely hope that sensible arrangements are made. Grand Central will have to amend their methods of working, but that is life in today’s wonderful privatised railway and if you think that Nafex treat their passengers badly you should see the way they treat their staff. There are alternative means of access to NRM if this cannot somehow be resolved. Closed stations are not new, it is open stations that are.

[hq1hitchin]

Closed stations are not new, it is open stations that are.

Mixed emotions here, 52A. As a lad I was always hanging around platform ends in Home Counties stations with only the authority of a platform ticket - price 1d and valid for an hour, train travel even then being too expensive for me to go much further afield than a 15 mile radius of home. Sometimes the ticket collectors would admit you to the station, sometimes they wouldn't. Generally we behaved ourselves and - for instance - the staff at Tring (open access there!) were very kind to us. The bug must have bitten hard as I came straight onto the railways when I left skule. Fast forwarding some years, I found myself as Asst Station Manager at 'Junction X' and was mighty glad we had a strong ticket barrier to keep the deadbeats, chancers and no good boyos off the station, especially early on a Sunday morn when the clubs tipped out but the refreshment rooms were always open. Trainspotters were a mixed bag - yeah, they did sometimes cause trouble but there was also one night when our of ours fell under a departing train unseen except by some adult gricers who put in a 999 call and saved a precious minute or two. BR only went in for 'open stations' because they were skint and then the bright young things at the time of privatisation thought they could collect all the fares on the train. Unfortunately, they didn't reckon on Joe Public as, for instance, at the time I finished there was a well known QC who never seemed to have one when I saw his ticket checked by the guard coming through the train after leaving W'loo -even if SWT were supposed to have a 'penalty fare' scheme (never saw it implemented myself). Expect the twister now has to have a ticket to get through the ATGs. Afraid that station platforms are basically there for people to travel by train, not a public viewing point. Sorry for such a long post, but suggest that anyone who finds this sooo boring should stick to model railways, not the real thing

[Bullhead]

I'm wholeheartedly with Pinza, 52A and Hitchin. Railway stations exist first and foremost as part of a business (I believe that the Stephensons would agree) - not to allow people to wallow in nostalgia, though if the latter can be accommodated without damaging the former then I suppose that's all well and good.

[PinzaC55]

If you view my Flickr pages you will see that nobody liked taking photos more than I did. However, the ONLY reason BR got rid of barrier staff was to "save" the money of employing them.As I said NXEC are a business and they need to make a profit. If I was to take you (as an enthusiast ) out on the trains to show you the true nature of fare evasion, you would change your mind very quickly.I hope the rail companies are cross referencing their database of fare dodgers with the names of people complaining about the barriers in The York Press.