Scotrail closed

Off topic but related to the last couple of posts, Kenya Railways have just announced that they are urgently seeking to employ ticket collectors on the commuter services. There are automatic ticket gates at Nairobi Station and the two new stations, Soykimau and Imara Daima, but most of the other stations are completely open and it's a real scrum, with packed coaches and people hanging off the train, so I imagine KR is losing a lot of revenue from passengers not paying.

Railways to hire ticket attendants

johnthefireman wrote:Off topic but related to the last couple of posts, Kenya Railways have just announced that they are urgently seeking to employ ticket collectors on the commuter services. There are automatic ticket gates at Nairobi Station and the two new stations, Soykimau and Imara Daima, but most of the other stations are completely open and it's a real scrum, with packed coaches and people hanging off the train, so I imagine KR is losing a lot of revenue from passengers not paying.

Railways to hire ticket attendants

Not a job I can imagine doing. Collecting money from ticketless travellers strikes me as dangerous. But in countries like Kenya this a serious problem. I can remember travelling by bus in Kampala Uganda and there were several ticket collectors on a double decker in Kampala. I imagine they have the same problems in South Africa. On Underground stations in London and New York the automatic platform entry gates are harder to evade - but they would be expensive in Africa, where stations are seldom enclosed enough.

In Britain the forecast suggests another Snow event at the end of the week. It's too soon to estimate how damaging it might be. For the last few days the weather has been Springlike - not even frosty at night.

A link on here I posted shows a video of ticket collecting on the Nepal railway before it closed. These frontline staff seemed to be treated like shite , by customers and management alike.

David Benton wrote:A link on here I posted shows a video of ticket collecting on the Nepal railway before it closed. These frontline staff seemed to be treated like * , by customers and management alike.

That situation was seen on the tv series about the Nepal railway. It would take a certain type of person to do that job.

From articles I see in the UK media, it seems that being a ticket inspector in Britain is also a dangerous job. They are regularly abused, spat at and physically assaulted.

Seems the current UK jargon for a ticket inspector is "Revenue Protection". Rail enthusiasts often refer to them as "grippers", I think as a reference to the days when they had little punches which they used to punch a hole in the ticket; on many long distance trains they will still carry a little punch which prints the date and a code number on the ticket instead of punching a hole.

Reminds me of the "Young ones" episode , where they all hide in the toilet of the train to avoid the ticket collector.
It is kinda funny how many people would not consider shoplifting or stealing , yet think nothing of not paying for a rail or bus journey .

David Benton wrote:A link on here I posted shows a video of ticket collecting on the Nepal railway before it closed. These frontline staff seemed to be treated like * , by customers and management alike.

Yes, they were featured in the tv series about that railway. It was interesting how the barely clothed "pilgrims" seemed to think they were entitled to travel for nothing because of their holiness.

johnthefireman wrote:Yes. In recent years the commuter network has expanded, with two new stations, Soykimau and Imara Daima, which I think were the first new stations built in Kenya for half a century or so. They are both close to the Mombasa Road serving the suburb of South C and attempting to provide a "park and ride" facility to reduce the commuter traffic coming in to the city from that direction. Soykimau also serves the new Standard Gauge Railway station, linking it to the old Nairobi Station in the city centre.

Could people from Mombasa change there to reach the more convenient 'Old Nairobi' station?

Yes, Soykimau Station is right next to the new SGR Nairobi Station in South C. I don't know about the frequency of the commuter trains, though. On most commuter routes there are only one or two trains in the morning peak hour and the same in the evening, with nothing during the day or at weekends. Hopefully the Soykimau to Nairobi train would be more frequent, or at least would offer a service that connects with the SGR arrival and departure, but I'm not sure.

johnthefireman wrote:Yes, Soykimau Station is right next to the new SGR Nairobi Station in South C. I don't know about the frequency of the commuter trains, though. On most commuter routes there are only one or two trains in the morning peak hour and the same in the evening, with nothing during the day or at weekends. Hopefully the Soykimau to Nairobi train would be more frequent, or at least would offer a service that connects with the SGR arrival and departure, but I'm not sure.

I remember arriving in Brisbane on the train from Sydney. The standard gauge station was outside the city but there was a Cape Gauge station nearby. I think I took the other train to the city centre. I believe that since then the Standard Gauge trains now reach the city centre.