Mark spent the morning being given a tour of Fenchurch Street Station by C2C’s Managing Director, Mr Julian Drury, after which he climbed on board a train and rode in the cab out to the signalling centre based in Upminster, which is run jointly by C2C and Network Rail, and from which the whole line is run.
Following the visit to the signalling centre, Mark then boarded a second train, again in the cab, and was taken out to Southend Central Station, before walking with Julian Drury down the High Street to Southend Victoria Station where he visited the company’s training centre and took the opportunity to discuss the role of train drivers with C2C’s training team.
Being a train driver is still a very popular occupation, and C2C (who are part of the National Express Group), receive over a 100 applications for every vacancy advertised. It takes around three years to qualify from first joining the company to qualifying as a train driver and being given the responsibility to drive a train of over 500 passengers.
Commenting on his visit Mark Francois said:
‘While the bulk of my constituents who commute into London do so on the Southend Victoria to Liverpool Street line, a number commute via the C2C line instead, and so I was very pleased to spend a whole morning with the company to see how they operate. When I was a commuter in the 80’s and 90’s, the line was known as the “misery line” but the service has improved out of all recognition since then; C2C has air conditioned trains and is now one of the most punctual rail lines in the entire country. I had a very interesting visit to C2C and I am hoping to do something similar on the Liverpool Street to Southend Victoria line in the future.”