Railway on My Doorstep The Railway: Keeping Britain on Track

Britain's railway...

OVER TANNOY: 'We are sorry to announce that the 18...'

..the oldest and one of the busiest in the world.

-Thank you. Thank you.

-Just slow down! Slow down!

Surely this is illegal, to be packed in like this!

A huge network under constant pressure.

Absolutely mental today.

-No driver.

-No driver?

Come on, guys! Look for the driver and guard!

Where anything and everything...

SHOUTS ORDER

..can mean delay and chaos for thousands.

Backs against the wall.

He's got a suicidal female on board.

Train now 90 late, owing to hitting a pheasant.

I've heard everything now.

Filmed over a year across the nation...

-That one, fella?

-That one. There's a seat next to t'banana.

..we go behind the scenes of an industry

we all love to complain about...

Do you want a hand?

So...oh, no. That's £323.50.

Oi! Right, right, right!

..with the railway people determined to keep Britain moving.

To infinity and beyond!

Into battle.

HORN BLARES

This programme contains strong language.

All the way down! Come on!

Every inch counts!

-And yous all look gorgeous!

-Thank you.

They're phenomenal. I've seen some lovely Christian Louboutins today.

I've been a bit jealous of them, to be honest.

I love Christian Louboutins.

Ladies' Day at Aintree Racecourse...

Feel lucky today?

..and the railways of Merseyside are awash with colour.

I can't pronounce that top one.

"Absolutely Fantastic"? That'll do me.

Absolutely Fantastic.

For this one day every year,

Merseyrail's 59 electric trains take the strain of 50,000 race-goers.

-TANNOY:

-Welcome to Aintree. Welcome to Aintree.

Please have your tickets ready for inspection in order to leave the station.

Have your tickets in your hand for a speedy exit.

Speedy exit from the station guaranteed

with your tickets in your hand.

All of them guarded smoothly through

by the voice of station announcer Chris Bowden-Smith.

They think it's a mirror, and we have a lot of fun

where they adjust their hair and adjust their lipstick

whilst looking into the window, because they think it's a mirror.

They are particularly nice.

But I'm afraid it's rather lost on me because I'm gay.

I'm looking at the men.

And if there's a problem with the trains, I can slip in a mad word,

like, "The trains are late due to choffspotification",

and nobody will have any idea what it means, but it sounds convincing.

I'm sorry. I'll have to take that from you. You can't drink.

-TANNOY:

-We hope you have a great time today, but would like to remind you

that no alcohol can be consumed on the Merseyrail Network.

If we consider you to be unfit to travel later,

we may refuse you access to our network for a return journey.

Move all the way down, please!

Right to the end of the platform, please!

We don't allow drunks on the railway. It's a no-go situation.

Come on, all the way down. Squidge, squidge, squidge.

'A young girl died just a few months ago.

'She fell between the train and the platform,'

and that's not something we ever want to happen again to anybody.

All right, calm down! Don't push! You'll get on!

On days like this, you can feel the pressure.

You've got a lot of people's safety in your care.

They're your passengers.

You've got to look after them and look out for them.

-You're wonderful.

-Thank you.

Guys, if you just speed it up a bit! Left or right for Liverpool!

Go either way, left or right!

Passengers must remain behind the yellow lines at all times

until the train has come to a complete stand.

'Please do not cross the yellow line until the train has stopped.'

I end up, after all this time, feeling a little bit like a robot.

As long as it sounds convincing, that's the important part.

It's got to get across as sincere.

I wouldn't want it to sound like I was being completely false.

So, if you can fake sincerity, you've got it made.

150 miles away in south Wales,

Mobile Operations Manager Joel Morris is trackside near Bargoed.

Seem to have made a mess in here, don't they?

They've broken in and cut every bit of cable that's in here.

Quite a lot of damage, as you can see.

Joel's part of Network Rail's Incident Response Team

in the Welsh Valleys. He's checking out damage by vandals

to this newly installed telecommunications box.

They must have forced their way in through the door first,

and just ripped out everything that was of value.

Copper is nearly £3,000 a ton.

I should imagine that's the incentive.

Even though there's lots of power going through these cables,

they'll risk it for the outcome, for the money.

The air-conditioning unit has been taken as well.

Everything of value.

It's 70, 80, £100,000, I should imagine,

to redo this all out again.

Decades of industrial decline

have led to high levels of deprivation

and crime in the Valleys,

and with more than a million pounds lost

to opportunist thieves and criminal gangs every year,

the railway is one of the biggest victims.

But trains are crucial to the region's revival.

Does anybody want to mention the mighty Manchester United?

No, no? You don't want to mention...?

Do you want to mention the mighty Manchester?

Yeah.

Roll in again. Number 20 coming up.

THEY SPEAK WELSH

Five years ago, the Ebbw Valley didn't even have a railway.

The line was cut in the 1960s.

We're late. A minute late. Not good.

But now the area has been thrown a lifeline -

an hourly service that connects passengers

from more than ten communities to jobs in Cardiff.

-Return, yeah?

-Yeah.

When we first came up here on the route, and were going through the stations,

and they're like watching you,

and they can't believe they've seen a train,

cos it's been 40-odd years since they've had a train, you know?

Lovely. Thanks very much.

Train conductor David Williams has worked the line since it reopened.

-Morning, fellas.

-Morning. All right? Aye.

'A lot of these people know me on here.'

-Lovely. Thank you both. Good morning!

-Morning.

You could walk through that door and make or break someone's day.

You can go through there with a foul mood,

and they're in a bad mood then.

-All right, lovely. Thanks a lot. Hello!

-Hello there.

-All right, buddy?

-That was down the seats.

Whereabouts was it?

On the floor, in the seat quite close to the second door, yeah.

Right. Better hand that in at Cardiff.

Valley life, you see it all.

There was a lovely lady down Romsey,

who used to sunbathe topless out the back.

That was very nice.

But again, you only get a passing glimpse. You're not there forever.

You can't put the emergency brake in and just stop the train.

See the state on certain people's back gardens.

I'm not kidding you, honestly.

I thought my back garden was bad,

but I've seen the state on some of them.

The return of the railway has had a huge impact on the local economy.

In Ebbw Vale, new hospitals and schools have been built

and the hourly trains now carry 55,000 passengers a month,

more than double expectations.

When I was working in Cardiff,

driving back and forwards cost £200 a month.

So, from that aspect, it's a lot cheaper than what that is.

To be fair, it's a lot less stressful,

than driving to Cardiff. Yeah.

There we go.

We need a trolley dolly, someone serving food.

THEY LAUGH

They're just lovely, lovely, down-to-earth people

and no problems when it comes to paying.

They're just really nice, good, solid people.

Ladies and gentlemen, good morning.

'Your next station stop will be Cardiff Central,

'where this service will terminate.'

There we go. See a lot of smiling faces coming off now.

As well as taking care of 1.3 billion passengers every year,

the railway has a responsibility to five million people

who live next to its tracks.

In the Midlands, trains pass over and through city life,

across one of the biggest stretches of urban railway in the UK.

You put a call in recently regarding a wall

or an issue with loose unsafe bricks on a wall on the railway,

to Network Rail.

Maintenance manager Alan Edge has a tough job

keeping trackside neighbours happy.

-Mr Cozier.

-Yeah, thank you. Bless you.

-Mr Shepherd.

Thank you very much.

I deal with fencing, fly-tipping,

issues with trees overhanging people's gardens.

Vandalism.

I've had people ring up and they've wanted

to spread their relatives' ashes on the railway line.

You name it, we get them all. So it's never a dull day for me.

Have you got all the gloves, Ian, please?

Have you got all the gear?

Fly-tipping is a constant problem,

and today's task is to remove rubbish

from this railway bridge in Handsworth.

The people come from all over the place and dump their rubbish there.

-All over the city, I think.

-Yeah.

-Well, we'll do the best we can, yeah?

OK, then.

OK. As you can see on the side of the wall,

there's a lot of fly-tipping that's been chucked over the fence,

and our intention today is to remove that.

But the most important thing is we do it safely, OK?

So, if you see anything like a needle or anything like that, you stop the job immediately.

Say "needle", step away, OK?

Pull.

Yeah.

This is the line from Soho to Perry Barr.

It's quite a heavily used route.

I mean, if people can see that,

they'd have a pretty dim view of Network Rail.

What we've got to be mindful of in this area is,

it's a known drug-use area, so we do find a lot of sort of,

you know, drug paraphernalia, if you like.

That is a wretched stench.

Alan and his team are responsible

for 300 miles of land next to the track,

and the theft of vital signalling cables is a major headache.

They've stripped the wire out, and by taking the sheathing off

it increases the cost of the copper.

They rob it off the track, which is why we have track problems,

and they've just lobbed it over the fence.

Look at that needle in it and all. There we go.

That's the hazards that we face

when we're out doing this sort of stuff.

Network Rail spends two and a half million pounds every year

on clearing rubbish that's been dumped on the railways.

It's not just about the track, it's the whole railway.

We need to maintain all of that, and that's what we do.

But it's like painting the Forth Road Bridge.

"Test all tools are working prior to accessing the track."

Done. Ha-ha-ha!

The tracks near RAF Cosford

are another problem area for Alan and his colleague Daz.

-OK, look out!

-Clear!

-Thank you.

We've got a sports field here, and there's quite a lot of signage,

er...telling people to not let their dogs foul the area.

They are going to the trouble of bagging it all up.

Unfortunately, they're discarding it on the railway,

throwing it up the bank. Quite a good throwing arm.

Quite impressive, until you have to go and pick it up.

You've got to love this job, man. I love my job.

Ha-ha! What do you reckon, Daz?

Our guys have got to work on the track,

and they're going to be working in and around this sort of stuff.

That's not good. It's got to be sorted.

Of course, the annoying thing is

you'll never find out who's doing this.

And I wouldn't mind betting

that the dog walking community are a bit of a close-knit thing

and they'll defend themselves.

We'd rather be doing other things, keeping the trains moving.

That's our main job.

It's frustrating. It's a piddly job, isn't it?

That smells nice, Darrell.

Ugh.

Have your tickets and passes, please. Thank you very much.

-Did you bring mine?

-Er...

You've got to purchase your ticket before you get on the train, OK?

You can't get on our network... you can't just jump on a train

and purchase your ticket on the train, right?

There's posters all on every station.

As well as restricting alcohol on the network,

Merseyrail apply a zero tolerance policy towards fare evasion.

Do I really look as if I need jump on the train?

You don't put a ticket machine on that side of the..

-Don't need to, sir, cos it's signposted.

-It's not signposted.

-I'll take £1.50...

-When was the last time you couldn't get on a train

-and buy a ticket?

-Nine years ago.

This is crap.

Here, I'll tell you what. I'll pay the fine. I don't want to write in.

OK. The full fine's £20, love.

-There's 20 quid.

-OK. Do you want to sign there, love?

-Not really.

-OK, thank you.

-A load of shite.

Last year they handed out 15,000 penalties and prosecutions

to passengers travelling without tickets.

Everyone gets treated the same way, and fairly.

There's no discrimination against anybody.

It doesn't matter if you're wearing a tracksuit or a suit.

-You get treated the same way.

-Everyone's the same, yeah.

-Yeah.

At Merseyside's Ellesmere Port station, some passengers

are claiming that the station's ticket machine isn't working.

Your machines aren't working.

Why don't you go and get a proper lady to stand there

and write tickets out instead of a fucking shitty machine?

Do you want to stop your language?

-We're recording you.

-You're calling us liars.

-I'm not calling you liars.

The lady knows I've got a procedure to follow

and I'm following the procedure.

Are you fucking walking with me? Come on.

-Get your hands off me.

-Leave the station, please. Leave the station.

Stay away from my bird! Get your fucking off hands off her now!

-Yous are saying it's working?

-Yeah.

-Yeah?

-I've found out it's working.

-That's what the appeal process is, my love.

-Full of fucking crap!

-There's your fucking money.

-Listen, am I swearing?

-Cos you're stressing me out, that's why.

-You paying the full fare?

-No, I'm paying the cheap fare.

-The £1.50? OK. Sound.

But if you just calm down we'll get it done quicker, won't we?

The last 15 years, I've only ever had confrontational jobs.

Yeah? I've only ever worked in security firms.

I've only ever done door work, door supervisor work.

And I don't mind a bit of confrontation every now and then,

because I feel like, I'm not the biggest fella in the world

so my mouth generally has to be my biggest asset,

do you know what I mean? Talk my way out of it,

or bluff my way out of it. One of the two.

It's not that I don't pay.

Yeah, no, and I'm not disputing that you don't, my love.

Unfortunately, though, I have to issue you a penalty fare notice.

There's an appeal process. 'I've got a little four-year-old girl'

at the moment, and I've got another one on the way.

You had to walk past a ticket machine to get onto the station.

I will penalty-fare people with kids. I don't enjoy it.

If they genuinely haven't got the money to pay, I can understand that,

but if I don't do my job, I'll end up not having a job.

-Where are you travelling to?

-Birkenhead.

Keira worked as a mental health nurse

before she joined the railways.

Just sign there for me, sweetheart, please.

-So, this is going to cover you to Birkenhead Central.

-OK.

OK. No need to get upset. There you go. All right.

Some people will put waterworks on to see if you've got a heart or not,

and then other people are just genuinely upset.

You have to weigh each situation up as it comes. Everyone's different.

You get told every different story.

Basically, I was running late for the train so I had to peg it down...

'My job is to be as sympathetic as I can

'but also get the job done, make it look fair.'

Cos some people just do lie, just to try and get off of it,

and that's not fair on the passengers that pay.

Address check, please?

I've had a gentleman that his dad's died

every day for nearly six months, so...

and he cries, but he can't die every day, can he?

Each year, more than 600 million passengers

use London's 357 stations,

and at the heart of the capital's network stands King's Cross,

gateway to destinations across England and Scotland.

All right, as quick as you like!

HE BLOWS WHISTLE

Late afternoon, and staff on the East Coast route

to Leeds and Edinburgh are limbering up for another evening rush hour...

..but 20 miles north, there's a problem.

A drunk trespasser has jumped on to the tracks at Welwyn North station

and is heading towards tunnels at the end of the platforms.

We've got the person, they're just checking the tunnels at the moment.

There's a problem with the tunnels. They're checking the tunnels.

For King's Cross control room, it's the worst possible news.

A trespasser's walking to the Welwyn tunnel.

Obviously, we don't want somebody hit so all lines

are stopped at the moment until they say it's all clear.

It's our peak-time trains that we're concerned about now.

The 17:00, 17:03, 17:30 are all stuck north of the area.

It's already 25 past 4, so we need

those trains heading towards King's Cross very quickly.

-TANNOY:

-..to Leeds has been cancelled.

We apologise for the inconvenience...

As well as delaying trains arriving into London, trains can't leave,

and the 16:30, which is now full and ready to depart,

has just been cancelled.

In relation to your question,

it should be possible to catch another service with that ticket.

Once this train's left, we're going to inform all the train guards

for all the other services, to let them know what's happened here.

Hopefully, they should allow all these other tickets to be voided.

I don't like... I don't like the word "hopefully".

Neil, they've given us an all-clear on one of the tunnels,

but the person's been reported.

They may have entered another tunnel,

so there's a DTEM down at the moment checking the area.

There are 28 million incidents of railway trespass every year,

resulting in 15 days' worth of train delays.

When a train doesn't run, like we've just cancelled one,

I have to seek permission for a train to stop additionally,

so we can get people home a bit quicker.

Anyway, they've agreed that I can add two stops extra on the 17:03,

and basically I have to write out a bit of paper

that gives the driver permission to stop at these extra stops.

At the moment, these trains I have here are subject to delays.

-What if it's cancelled?

-If it's cancelled,

they'll allow you on one train before and one train after.

You know, we have to recognise the fact that people come for a train

and when it gets cancelled, it means that they're going to be

half an hour late home.

So, if we can make that any better for them, we will do.

...86.

Yes, OK. All right, great, thank you.

An hour later, news finally comes through

that rail staff in Welwyn have located their man -

sound asleep by the tracks in one of the tunnels.

The stops are already on,

so as soon as you're ready to board, let us know.

That's an additional stop order. Can you make sure that the driver gets that, please?

-All...all lines are open again on the main line, all right?

-Thank you.

After more than 2,500 minutes of delay to 168 train journeys,

evening rush hour can begin.

TANNOY: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.

Due to a earlier trespass incident in the Welwyn area,

this service will call additionally at Grantham and Retford.

HE BLOWS WHISTLE

There are 6,500 level crossings on the rail network -

barriers designed to keep cars and pedestrians

safe from high-speed trains.

In the last ten years they've been the scene of 200 vehicle collisions

and more than 80 deaths.

And in 2012,

Network Rail was fined £1 million for health and safety breaches

after the death of two schoolgirls at a level crossing in Essex.

As a result, they've embarked on a major drive to reduce the risks.

The safest form of level crossing is a level crossing that's closed.

If you're putting a person in front of a train, it's a risky business,

so the safer we can make that by closing it or building a bridge,

the better.

Where bridges can't be built, crossings are being modernised,

and here at Mitcham in South London,

new road barriers have been installed.

VEHICLE SOUNDS HORN

But one thing the technology can't change

is the behaviour of the public.

Here we go.

And that one's just jumped straight through the lights.

They could potentially be looking at a prosecution

for careless and inconsiderate driving.

Chris Shepherd, of the British Transport Police,

monitors the crossing from a surveillance van.

Someone's running across when the lights are flashing,

so you've got people that obviously know they shouldn't be doing it,

because they're running across purposefully.

And there we go, the cyclist as well.

You get people jumping the light, weaving round the barriers,

you get people trying to scoot underneath the barriers.

We've had people lifting pushchairs over.

Actually, that could have been a really nasty incident.

If they'd mistimed that,

it's quite easy that they could have potentially been hit by a train.

Next in line for modernisation

is the causeway crossing in the Oxfordshire village of Steventon.

At full speed, they're anything up to 125 miles an hour through here.

You don't want to be in contact with any trains going that speed.

-Hello, Dolly.

-All right?

-Yeah, very well, thank you.

At the moment, Alan Wadley manages the crossing from his box,

making sure it's clear of vehicles and people

before he lowers the barriers so that trains can pass.

But in two months' time, Alan and the crossing box

will be replaced by CCTV.

Staff will monitor and operate the crossing

from a control centre 30 miles away.

Network Rail argue this will reduce the risk of error

and improve crossing safety.

Right, Ethan?

But the Steventon villagers aren't convinced.

I use it all the time with small children, who can sneak out there.

It would be nice to know that there was somebody in the box

kind of looking over us.

I just want to make sure it continues to be safe...

-Train.

-Train, that's right!

The signalman just gives us that...that comfort,

that we don't think we'll be able to rely on somebody, you know,

viewing a television screen from 30 miles up the road in Swindon.

DOG BARKS

I think she wants you to throw a stick.

Goodbye.

No, you're not going to make it. Ah, you're not going to make it!

The signalman would have seen what she was doing,

known exactly where the train was,

and if necessary could have stopped it.

We're all set in our ways, and we like our village the way it is,

and to have an organisation as big as Network Rail

just come in and upheave everything,

it's united the village in a...a common cause.

There's nothing like having a common enemy.

CHATTER

BLOWS WHISTLE

-Are you getting on or getting off?

-Yeah, Phil! Come on, quick.

Right, inside now, lads.

BLOWS WHISTLE

It's the weekend in Wales, but there's no respite for the railways.

Exits to the right, please, guys.

Today the usual throng of commuters

has been replaced by 65,000 rugby fans,

heading to an international match in Cardiff.

Thank you very much.

It's a bit hectic, as you can see. It's...it's a busy day.

Thank you very much.

As well as regular staff, an army of volunteers have been drafted in,

along with every train available.

OK, folks. Er...welcome to the one o'clock brief.

Inward services, we've had 1,700 Newports,

1,200 Ebbw Vales, 1,400 Londons, 1,200 off the Midlands.

To co-ordinate getting tens of thousands of fans

across Wales and from England,

train managers, station staff and the British Transport Police

have set up a control centre for the day at Cardiff station.

-That's it, end of the match.

-That's it, game over.

First of all, radio, just to say the game has now finished

and we're in full event operation. Thank you.

-Anyone waiting?

-Next, please.

-Next, please.

There you go. Thanks a lot.

-Thank you very much.

-Next, please.

-27, Swansea. Hitchers team.

-600.

16.32, Pompey four-car.

400.

So, we allocate 100 persons per car,

so a Paddington service, we know is a high-speed train,

takes 600 people so we can call 600 people from the queue

so that we're not overloading the platform and making it unsafe.

We've got 200 west Wales platform 4.

Can you release the west Wales queue, 2-0-0 to platform 4? Over.

Please confirm, West Wales 2-0-0, platform 4.

Swansea!

...200 Bristol, platform 1, please.

Can you release the Bristol queue?

-OVER TANNOY:

-Go to platform 1.

Platform 1, please.

We don't know the platform. We're right on the water!

SHOUTING

There's a bit more space down that end, right down the front.

Hello, signaller Cardiff. CMC at Cardiff Central.

We're now ready to go on platform 2B from 1 Whiskey 29 for Manchester

and we're also good to go, please, on platform 3

with One Bravo Four Zero for Swansea as well, please.

BLOWS WHISTLE

MARCHING BAND PLAYS

Southport, Merseyside.

And for the last six hours thousands have been attending

the town's annual Orange Lodge parade...

..the biggest Protestant parade in England.

Arrests for violence and criminal damage happen every year,

and as the crowds head back to Liverpool from Southport station,

they're proving to be a handful

for rail staff and the British Transport Police.

-Try not to rub it, though.

-Don't rub your head.

-Don't rub it.

He slipped and missed his footing

and he's fell headfirst onto the platform.

WHISTLE BLOWS

Oh, man! I want to go home!

All the boys are waiting for me there, aren't yous?

CHANTING: Hello! Hello!

How many fingers?

Er...22!

Can you have your tickets and passes ready? Cheers, love.

-Ticket and passes, please!

-Thank you very much.

To relieve pressure on the station,

Merseyrail's Revenue Protection team have set up shop at the entrance

in order to check tickets, confiscate alcohol,

and turn away excessively drunk passengers.

Four cans of beer in the baby's trolley.

-I forgot they were there. Sorry.

-It's all right. See you later. Ta-ra.

MUSIC PLAYS

Have you had a bit to drink today, my love? Have you had a bit to drink today, my love?

Yeah. All right. No problem. What I'm going to do is,

I'm not going to refuse you travel, all right?

But go and grab yourselves a coffee

and come back in a little while, all right?

-What?

-If he puts his shirt on, is he all right?

-Put my top on, you mean?

-No, no.

Go and sober up a little bit and come back in a bit.

Oh, behave will you? I don't need...I don't need lectures.

I'm not here to lecture, my love.

I'm merely asking you to come back and sober up a little bit.

25-year-old Kat McGrowety drove prison vans

before she joined Merseyrail.

I'm going to have to ask you to go and get yourselves a strong coffee

-and then come back in about half an hour.

-I'm all right.

-OK, no problem.

-You are, but...

-Yeah.

-...I can't allow him to travel...

-Yeah.

-...in the state that he is, unfortunately.

-All right.

What I'm going to ask you to do, my love, is, I'm just going to go and ask you to sober up for a few...

-You're having a laugh, aren't you?

-No.

Oh, my God. I've come here to enjoy myself.

And it looks like you have really enjoyed yourself today, but...

I have, and I want to get home.

So, I'm asking you to go and sober yourself up.

Tempers flaring.

You know, they've had a bit to drink. It's not them, is it?

It's just the situation. It's not personal.

They're just having a go at you for the uniform. They want to get home, and...

Let it all go over your head. Water off a duck's back.

That's all you can do. Don't take it too personally.

MUSIC PLAYING

Go and have a sit outside there on the bench.

Go and get yourself a brew.

Go and get a coffee or something, please, come on.

-You can understand my point of view, love.

-SHOUTING

-I want to get home.

-I know. I know you think you're all right, honey.

-That's your opinion, love.

-Ah!

I've got a duty of care for you, all right?

Four times today I've stopped you.

Tickets, please.

-Have you had a bit to drink today?

-I have.

-Just a bit.

-Honestly, just a bit.

-Just a smidge.

-Just a little bit.

-All right, love.

People want to talk to you when they're drunk, but they're not...

They might be talking to you, but they're not listening to you.

-I'm getting on the train.

-Just a bit unsteady, just a bit.

In a couple of hours when people are more intoxicated

they're going to be more hard work.

It's going to get worse before it gets better.

In the Valleys, Arriva Trains Wales

is looking to the next generation of train conductors to work the lines.

Lovely. Thank you very much. Thank you. Yeah, big time.

Excuse me.

Obviously, this is going to be your office.

As part of their four-month training course,

Lucas, Holly and Alex are at Canton Depot for some practical tuition.

-The doors should be closing.

-That's a great start.

HOLLY LAUGHS

A broken door.

The Ebbw Valley line and stations might be new,

but the trains are almost 30 years old.

Bear with me for two seconds.

Ah!

Fucking typical! None of this bastard thing is working.

THEY CHEER AND CHUCKLE

That's what I'm talking about.

-So, do you want to have a go at the doors?

-OK.

-Excellent.

1,600 applicants applied for just nine places on the course.

Six years ago, I came from Slovakia,

I came for two weeks' holiday and decided to stay.

-Try and squeeze on in.

-'I find Welsh people always welcoming.'

So, I do feel like a big part of the family when I'm with Welsh people.

Guards' heater. OK. It literally is slow, off or fast, OK?

-Where's the air conditioning?

-The air conditioning is...

Is there air conditioning? I thought it was just

boiling hot or freezing cold.

-Just like that, OK? Air conditioning off.

-Open the window.

-Air conditioning on.

You do kind of transfer from being a passenger

to almost being a trainspotter.

A bit like, "Oh, that's 142 units! Oh, that's 150!"

and telling your friends and family

all about the railway, what you learn.

So, yeah, I would say becoming a railman pretty quickly.

Into its locking device.

Let go. Good.

The new recruits learn emergency procedures,

like how to manually operate points in the event of track failures.

That's going to be hard. If you don't want to do it, I'll do it.

-I can't.

-Leave it, leave it, leave it.

For 25-year-old Valley girl Holly Fly, it's a huge life change.

I did an art degree. Took a gap year to have a baby.

Went back, finished it. Started looking for jobs straight after.

You know, I think a lot of people that I speak to who aren't employed,

it's really hard at the minute so I feel really lucky and happy.

Just given the release. Thank you very much. Bye.

My mum thinks it's brilliant. She calls me Thomas the Tank.

SHE LAUGHS

MARCHING BAND PLAYING

CROWD SHOUTING

CROWD CHANTING

5pm in Southport, and the Orange Lodge parade is finally over.

CROWD SHOUTING

To prevent overcrowding on the platforms,

the 2,000 stragglers wanting to get home are being held back

and released in stages.

95% of them don't even know what they're marching for.

It's just a big piss-up, isn't it?

RAISED VOICES

Get ready. Here we go, here we go. I hope they've all got tickets.

RAISED VOICES

THEY SING

-Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Shut up, you!

-Yeah? What have I done?

-Look, shut up! Shut up, you!

-Hey, hey, hey, hey!

I've done nothing wrong.

-You're arseholes!

-Right, you're going with me now.

-Ah, you're arseholes!

-Watch, careful!

-Shut up!

-You need a ticket, darling.

-I've got a fucking ticket!

-Excuse me.

-Yeah, don't you fuck with me.

My son's a fucking sergeant at Liverpool.

Well, you ain't travelling. You don't swear at me, pal. Ta-ra.

CROWD SHOUTING

All right, girls. Thanks very much. Move on.

-I'm so sorry.

-Do you want a tissue?

-I'm so sorry.

All right, love.

Sorry.

Hand gel!

I tell you what, Jeremy Kyle must have no audience today.

I know. Yeah, they're all here!

WHISTLE BLOWS

I've only been in the job just over 12 months.

I still come into work with a smile on my face.

Ask me in another 25 years what I feel about the job,

but up to now, yeah, I do enjoy it.

PHONE RINGS

RINGING

-'Hello?'

-Mr Gibbs?

-'Yes.'

Hello, it's Alan Edge speaking, from Network Rail.

You've put a call through to our national helpline

regarding something you want us to help you out with

-in the Gorsebrook area of Wolverhampton, is that correct?

-'That's right, yeah.'

Alan Edge has been contacted by the son of a former railway worker,

who wants to retrieve his father's ashes

that were buried by the side of the tracks.

'There should be a plaque on the wall and a circle of stones,

'and they should be under the circle of stones.'

Right, OK. When were they put there, do you know?

'Well, 18 years ago now, probably.'

-That's excellent. Thank you very much, Mr Gibbs.

-'Thank you. Bye.'

-Thank you. Bye-bye.

We have had requests before, but mainly to distribute ashes on the railway

of former railwaymen who've passed away.

Erm...we've never had to sort of recover any before.

I didn't know what to put in the job description.

So, I've had to put down, "recovering railway artefacts" -

probably not the right description

but it's the best one I could think of.

Although it's not something that's affecting the running of the trains,

Mr Gibbs wants the ashes retrieved

so that they can be buried next to his mother, who's critically ill.

It's quite an important issue to Mr Gibbs,

so it's quite crucial we try and sort of help him out if we can.

We're supposed to be neighbourly,

and this is the sort of neighbourly thing to do.

Right. Let's have a look at the picture.

Oh.

Oh.

They're there. Oh, dear.

We can see from the picture.

There's the...the plaque.

The ashes should be in this area here.

Unfortunately, there's a new troughing route been installed

and hopefully they're deep enough so that they haven't been disturbed

by the work that's been carried on here.

Right, let's get to it.

It's a special tool we use quite a lot on the railway.

It's called a piece of wood.

I think I've found them. Something sounds hollow.

-There.

-Yeah.

Oh, it's Roman vintage. Er...India tonic water.

Quinine, apparently. Good for you.

I'm determined to find it. I just...

I'm hoping it's still in one piece, to be perfectly honest with you.

In Steventon, the switch from a level crossing box

to CCTV is well under way.

LOW CHATTER

But villagers facing the inevitable are digging their heels in

over the look of their new crossing,

and they've invited a team from Network Rail

to come and hear their grievances.

The mechanism for this used to be behind

and to the left of that warning sign.

So, it's moved...that's probably about four or five feet over,

-which has...has dramatically affected this view.

-OK.

You know, now you're looking at the grey mechanism. ALARM BLARING

As you can see, we've got a floodlight

more akin to an international football stadium,

and totally out of place.

A lot of the arguments have been arguments of aesthetics

and those arguments would not exist

if the measures that we'd taken weren't there for safety reasons.

So, for example, we've got fencing that has to be there

because it prevents reflective glare

and it prevents shadows being cast on the CCTV area,

but people don't like the appearance of that fencing.

But if we didn't have that standard, then it wouldn't be safe.

You could actually look at

relocating the warning trespass sign so that's not on a pole.

Oh, yeah, yeah. Absolutely, yeah. Absolutely, yeah.

People don't like losing their crossing-keeper.

People feel reassured by the presence of a man

who's operating the level crossing for them.

They think that it's safer, rightly or...

Well, wrongly, as actually is the case,

and therefore any changes we make

are going to be met with that kind of criticism,

just as they would be if...

You know, if somebody tried to do something to the school or the pub.

Not every resident has come to the meeting.

Dolly Rivers has lived in the village all her life,

and her concerns about the level crossing

have nothing to do with safety or aesthetics.

It's nice to have somebody to say hello to when you go over.

They're always there to, you know, have a word with you,

make you feel a bit better.

'It's never been without a man in the box,

'from year to year from the old days up to now.

'It won't be the same, will it?'

I don't see why they should take them away from us.

Despite his best efforts,

Alan's been unable to locate Mr Gibbs' ashes.

Sorry, Stanley, we tried our best.

PHONE RINGING

-Mr Gibbs?

-'Hello.'

-It's Alan Edge.

-'Oh, hello, Alan.'

There has been quite a lot of work gone on on the railway in that area

over the last few years, I suppose, erm...

-'Yeah.'

-..but unfortunately I've been unable to find anything.

'Are the stones still there?'

The stones weren't there at all, no.

'OK, I appreciate everything you've tried anyway.'

-OK, Mr Gibbs. Well, thank you very much.

-'You're welcome.'

-Thank... 'Thanks for everything.'

-No worries. Thank you very much.

-'Thank you. Bye.'

-Bye-bye. Bye-bye.

PHONE BEEPS

Oh, I wish I'd have given him some better news.

Ah, never mind. At least we tried. What more can we do?

HORN BLARES

Think exactly what you need to tell the customers.

-Why don't you announce for customers to ensure to take with them...

-OK.

-all their personal luggage...

-OK.

-..and belongings

and mind the gap between the trains and the platform edge.

-As you alight.

-Yes, as you alight.

-OVER TANNOY:

-'Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.

'Our next station stop will be Cardiff Central.

'Could all passengers please, um...

ensure that they've got their... Oh!'

-Oh, no!

-Alex!

That was fine to the halfway stage, then.

'Please make sure you've got all your bags with you. Bye!'

LAUGHTER

-No.

-Not very good that, Alex, at all. Not professional.

Good morning, this is your Arriva Trains Wales service,

calling at Cathays, Queen Street and final destination Cardiff.

Please take care as you... train, minding the gap between...

SHE LAUGHS ..the train and the platform.

Erm...

That wasn't very good, was it?

It's hard to know what you're going to say.

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.

Welcome on board Arriva Trains service.

The next station will be Cardiff Central.

-OVER TANNOY:

-'Please change for any main line. Thank you.'

THEY CHEER

That was very good.

To think you've done it for the very, very first time,

you've done pretty well, really.

But you need to put a bit more thought into what

you're going to tell customers on board the train, don't you?

-Try and avoid laughing and things like that.

-Yeah.

We'll all do mistakes, but if you start making an announcement

and you feel you've done an error,

stop, pause and think.

Redo it again.

In just a few more weeks,

the new recruits will be working on the Valley railways for real.

You'll be fine, but just do the job by the book.

That's all we're asking of you.

Just do the job by the book

and you'll be fine, no problems at all.

'This is what keeps me feeling young.

'Working with young people has definitely made me feel really...'

Oh, not getting old, if you know what I mean.

I'm going to miss some, obviously,

but, as a trainer, one lot goes,

I'm looking forward then to the next lot, if you know what I mean.

And that's what we need, future generations,

to keep the railway infrastructure going

within areas like the Valleys and south Wales.

King's Cross station, London.

-I'm booked on the 11 o'clock? So, it's going to be approximately 11?

-Yeah.

Everything's late coming in, so it's going to be late going out.

That's why you've got all the delays.

We haven't got a platform for it yet, cos it's not in the station,

so we're waiting for it to come in to the station at the minute,

it's just outside here.

After a Bank Holiday weekend, hundreds of passengers

are travelling back up to the northeast and Scotland...

Any indication of how long that is going to be?

..but dangerously high winds are playing havoc

with the East Coast main line.

We're waiting, as I said, for the 10.35. A half-hour out.

Don't know what we're using yet.

The problem we've got today is that a lot of our trains from up north are running severely late,

which means that we've had to use trains from the depot

that we wouldn't normally have used.

So now we haven't got anything left in the depot,

we are now having to wait for all these late trains to come in.

Where's the nearest one? Potters Bar, FO7.

'We've only got to lose one train'

and then we play catch-up from then onwards all the time.

At the top here, train One Yankee Zero Eight, which was due here 9:32,

is running 101 minutes late.

Red denotes anything over ten minutes,

yellow between five minutes late and ten minutes late,

and green means on time.

So, I will definitely get there today, but with delay?

At some point. I can't tell you what time, but at some point you will.

-OK.

-OK, I apologise.

-What was you booked on?

-The half twelve one, so I could get...

-Right.

Wait till near enough the time, but one comes in, just get on it anyway.

-Excuse me...

-Just say I told you.

If I'm on the train that's cancelled, 11:05...

-Yeah, get any one. Where are you going to?

-To Doncaster.

Right, get any one you can, right, once it comes up.

I don't think it's worth cancelling that as yet.

Hi. I just sent you an email. We've got advice for passengers.

Can you get Derek to announce it, please?

Brilliant. Thank you. Bye-bye.

With the regular timetable abandoned,

it's the job of 28-year-old station manager Katie Frost

to explain to passengers what's going on.

-On the hour and half past.

-The 9:30...

-To Newcastle.

-To Newcastle.

-Yeah, calling where?

-And... I don't know that yet.

-Graham is writing the train plan now.

-OK.

-And the 35 to Leeds.

-OK.

Obviously, because we don't know the stopping patterns,

we can't make that much detail,

but can you make an announcement saying,

"Please be advised, trains will be leaving King's Cross.

"You will be able to travel."

-Brilliant, thank you.

-No worries.

Right, East Coast, with the 11.30...

I'm going to break the blue vest out. Go on the concourse

and see how much abuse I get from passengers.

Hopefully, it won't be too bad. They all seem in reasonably high spirits.

This is information for passengers travelling with East Coast train services this morning.

TANNOY: 'Network Rail and East Coast would like to severely apologise

'for the delays and disruption you are facing today...'

It is from the heart when I say it.

I don't... You know, I do mean I'm sorry.

I've got to get home, I travel to Peterborough,

so the apology applies to myself as well.

Unfortunately, I've just got to stay here and work through it.

OK, what happens tomorrow?

You can use your ticket tomorrow if you don't need to travel today.

Will there be seats?

-You'll get your seat tomorrow, yeah. OK?

-OK. Thank you.

I've come to find out a bit more about what's happening in Edinburgh.

The weather in Scotland has gone from bad to worse.

Passengers travelling north of Newcastle

are advised to travel tomorrow.

-Tickets will be valid tomorrow.

-Right.

With high winds threatening to bring the roof off Edinburgh Station,

it's forced to close.

All train movements north of Newcastle have been stopped.

-Have they given any estimate on this?

-It's going to last all day.

-Right.

Anybody going to Edinburgh,

the trains are only going as far as Newcastle this morning.

If you don't need to travel, travel tomorrow. Your tickets are valid.

So it's not going to run today.

I would suggest your best bet is to go home, come tomorrow.

I think you should give people a refund of money.

I can take you to see the Grand Central representative.

I think there's refund forms, if I take you over.

-Do you want to get another ticket?

-I'll take you over.

Take one of these, right? You're not going to get a three-course meal

but they'll give you something back.

-You want to go to the Tower of London now?

-Yeah.

I want to go Tower of London, mate. Take me with you.

We've run out of catering crew now. We've run out of drivers.

They're all stuck up north at the moment

so we've got serious problems today.

-You've no idea how long?

-No.

We really are in not too good a state at the moment.

-Definitely no chance of making it to Scotland?

-No.

-Could I make it to Durham?

-No, you're only going as far as Newcastle.

-So, you couldn't go the extra stop to Durham?

-Just for you? Course we can.

-TANNOY:

-'..being suspended beyond Newcastle.'

OK, love.

Check your ticket, please.

-Who do you support?

-Rangers, but they're fucked.

-Not doing well, are they?

-Oh, you're kidding.

-Any scars or tattoos?

-Yeah.

-You've got plen.. Bloody hell.

-Stabbing wounds.

-Where do we start?

-Stabbing wounds a lot.

-Stabbing wounds?

-Bullet wounds.

-Bullet wounds? Have you had a hard life?

-Yeah.

-What's this one here? This one.

-Mum.

-Mum. Mum, right hand.

-Tracey on my willy.

-Tracey on your willy.

-Yes.

-And if I hadn't stopped you today...

-I walk past.

-...how would you have paid?

-You'd have walked past?

-Yeah.

-At least you're honest, mate.

At Birkenhead Central station on Merseyside

it's a busy but cordial morning

for Revenue Protection staff John and Aaron.

What's happened?

Who was it?

As long as you're all right, mate, I'll give you a bell in a bit.

-All right, mate, see you in a bit. Ta-ra, mate.

-Is he OK?

-Yeah.

Just covered in spit.

-What did the lad look like?

-He said he'd never seen him before.

-He's got off now though, so..

-Disgusting, isn't it?

At a nearby station, a colleague's been spat at

after stopping a traveller without a ticket.

We all have a spit kit, unfortunately,

DNA saliva recovery kit.

A glove,

your little swab,

and your bag to put it in,

and then pass it over to the police,

and then they will, erm...do a test to see if they're on the database.

You can catch all kinds off it,

especially if it goes in your eyeball.

-I'd definitely rather be punched than spat at.

-Yeah.

It's just the way it is. It's life, isn't it? Unfortunately.

As well as spit kits, Revenue staff are fitted with body cameras.

They come in handy if an assault takes place.

This was an incident from last year at Liverpool South Parkway.

One of our stations. A young couple travelling on child tickets.

'You can't travel...'

He's just not listening to anything I say to him.

I mean, he gets quite irate, quite aggressive.

He gets right up in my face. I've got nowhere to go, with the barriers behind me.

He comes...comes for me, as it were, and my colleague gets in the way.

But his girlfriend, who hadn't said a word up to that point,

suddenly, er...turns out to be like a Muhammad Ali

and connects with two right hooks to my jaw, so...

so, bang. Bang.

-'Who the fuck do you think you are?'

-'Who the fuck are you pushing?'

So, I mean, it's quite admirable Stand By Your Man kind of stuff,

but they're both completely in the wrong.

SHOUTING

We issue, on a personal basis probably, you know,

about 1,500 fines, individual fines a year I probably issue.

If this happens maybe ten times then, you know, it's been a good year,

I would say.

-TANNOY:

-'We would like to thank you for your continued patience

'and your continued understanding...'

-Straight down to platform 2.

-Thank you.

-Platform 2.

-TANNOY:

-'..the situation we are facing today.'

Please note, passengers travelling stations to Newcastle,

the train boarding on platform 0, platform 0,

is the 13:00 East Coast service for Newcastle.

The delayed trains into King's Cross start to arrive.

It's just come in literally only five minutes ago,

so we've just been working hard to turn it around quickly,

clean it, de-stock it and get it away.

And despite Scotland being off-limits,

the job of clearing the backlog of Bank Holiday passengers

heading for the Northeast begins.

As soon as we know, it will be announced on the main...

-Is this going to Leeds, mate?

-We're going to start sending them out soon.

As soon as we've got drivers and guards for those trains, they'll be announced

and the station will be cleared probably in about two trains.

As soon as the train's announced, you'll be able to jump on it with that ticket.

Just get on any train to where you're going.

-Any train to Newark?

-Yeah, that's no problem.

-Yes, you will be able to.

-Is that all right?

-Yeah, that's no problem.

-Thank you.

WHISTLE BLOWS

Right, next plan.

-Coffee, tea. What about it?

-White, two sugars.

Right, I'm cracking on. I'm going to Information.

1am, at Canton train depot in Cardiff.

Arriva cleaners Andrew and Lynne

are about to start on the first of 35 trains

they'll need to finish before their shift ends at 7.

You'll be surprised what you do find under the seats,

and you think "My word, if that's how they treat their home, I dread to think",

because this is for public use

so they should have a bit more respect.

You have your faeces on the toilet, on the floor.

In here you can have people's dirty pants, where they've taken them off.

Tampax, we've had on the floor. There's all sorts.

This is a paper mask, OK?

Obviously, we have to use this if there's any sick on the set.

This is a paper suit that will go all over my clothes.

Obviously, it's to stop all the sick going onto my clothes.

And, obviously, this is my goggles for...

to stop the sick splashing into my face.

When you're thinking about it,

I think about the children that could be sat on the trains

and, you know, when people have got their nice clothes on

so, you do the best job you can for the customers, you know.

I've been doing this now for...

I think it'll be my ninth year this year.

I really do enjoy the job that I do,

and that's what gets me through cleaning the sick

and it gets me through the night, you know.

When you see a train, and it comes in really bad,

and then it's going out in the morning,

and it looks very good, very clean,

you've just got a bit of pride in yourself.

Let's just go and see what's expected in the toilet.

Thanks to the reintroduction of the Ebbw Vale line,

the Welsh Valley railways are thriving once again,

and for the last four weeks,

Lucas Secal has been looking after thousands of passengers

that use them every day.

That's great. Thank you very much. There we go. Thank you very much.

'I haven't had a day when I didn't enjoy myself, actually.'

That's great. Thank you.

'In the month I've been out on my own, every day is different.'

-Thank you.

-That's all right.

BABY CRIES

That's amazing.

'If somebody had said to me this time last year, "You're going to work on the railway",

I'd laugh, I would laugh with them,

I'd go, "No way, that's not me at all."

-Hello.

-You all right?

I can't think of anything else I would want to do.

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. This is your Cardiff Central service.

We will shortly be arriving at Cardiff Central, where this train will terminate.

TANNOY: 'Thank you.'

I'm slowly becoming a Welsh person.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd