Hello. So I'm at Herne Hill.
Thameslink and Herne Hill Station is just behind me.
A few days ago, GTR and Thameslink got in touch to say,
"during the current situation, Geoff,
would you like to come and see
what we're doing to clean our trains and our stations?"
And I said "yes, where's it happening?"
And they said, "St Albans and Bedford".
I said, "can I get a Thameslink train there?"
And they went, "of course you can".
So I did.
(bright music)
So I've got the train at the invite, thanks as always,
of GTR and Thameslink, to see some cleaning take place.
And then, after we're done here,
we're going to go and see some trains being cleaned.
I want to conduct... Do you like it?
I want to conduct an interview,
but I'm going to step out of the station
so that I can remove my face covering.
And over here, there's a gentleman called Allen Howe,
who's basically the Contracts Manager.
He's in charge of all the cleaning staff
and all the cleaning teams here on Thameslink.
I hear you're doing more cleaning than ever before?
We certainly are.
We've deployed teams across the entire network,
doing enhanced cleans of our staff and stations
across the entire Southern and Northern network.
Once every 21 days, we apply a product called Zoono,
which, by using electrostatics, adheres to surfaces
better than other products,
giving a latent efficacy of around 30 days.
We reapply the product every 21 days
to make sure that we're optimising it's performance.
Right, are we're going back inside?
Okay.
So mask on?
Mask on.
(bright music)
So currently the guys are using dry steam,
which is superheated steam, to prevent aerosolization.
It's vacuumed back into the system
and that stops any bacteria being spread
by the cleaning process.
(bright music)
So every single part of the station's being cleaned.
So this area here by the ticket hall,
the outer ticket hall, onto the platforms,
into the waiting rooms,
is that gonna take all day, several hours?
So this lady is doing a manual application
of a 24-hour viruscide onto all surfaces,
which we use as the pre-clean to applying the Zoono,
to ensure that we've got the best possible outcome
for the Zoono applications.
(bright music)
It's a little bit Ghostbusters
with the backpack on, isn't it?
But what's in the backpack?
So the backpack contains the Zoono chemical,
which is being applied in a mist.
We use an electrostatic wand,
which makes the chemical adhere better to the surface
and for longer.
(people chattering)
I've switched to my iPhone.
Right.
The reason you find is that
there's a gentleman here called Darrin,
he's got an ATP swab machine.
I can't pronounce what ATP stands for,
so it's on-screen there,
but basically how clean is a surface?
So we're going to do an amazing comparison.
So you going to swab my camera surface?
Yes, sure.
Do it right now. (laughing)
No don't do the lens.
Oh, not the lens.
Do round the handle. Yeah.
Do a bit of swabbing on there.
And then what?
You insert that into the mach...
Yeah, you do it
for around about 10 seconds before.
And if you do just here.
Right.
Takes 15 seconds to read.
That's all right.
Seven.
Seven?
Yes, which, which is- Is that-
Have you just used hand sanitizer?
I did just use hand sanitizer.
That's why, oh.
So my hand-sanitized hands have been all over my camera
and they've cleaned, okay. (laughing)
So weirdly, I should've not sanitise my hands.
(bright music)
So as the cleaning continues here as an St. Albans,
we also realised that earlier,
the reason why I'm clean and my camera's clean
is 'cause when they were misting the stairs,
I actually got caught in some of the mist.
So the mist has sprayed over me and we're all clean.
(Geoff laughing)
Which is a good thing,
but we've got to go catch a train
and go to Bedford.
(bright music)
Yeah, we're back on the train heading north,
just left Flitwick, heading for Bedford
because it's not just the stations
that are going to get deep-cleaned, the trains as well.
So we're heading for Bedford Carriage Sidings
to check out the cleaning that's going on there.
(bright music)
(gate beeping)
(gate squeaking)
So the high-vis is on.
The safety shoes are on.
We're going to walk across some tracks.
We're going to go to one of the trains.
They've actually closed off some of the roads
so that we can walk out here safely
and board one of the trains.
Bonus fact is that there's two parts
to the depo sidings here.
There's a bit where only 12-car trains can fit
and then the bit where we're in,
were only 8-car trains can fit.
There's a lady called Janine who is...
There's buckets and spray.
You look like you're about to do some serious cleaning.
Yeah. (both laughing)
So it's a three-step process, Geoff.
The first one where we're using an interior cleaner,
which has got a biological agent in it,
an active enzyme that kills any bacteria
that may be on the surfaces.
Then we'll sanitise the surface
with a hard surface sanitizer.
And then when that product is dry,
we will then apply the Zoono
to all the high contact points on the train.
So it gives our customers the reassurance
that anything that they're likely to come into contact with
whilst they're travelling on our services
have been treated with this viruscide.
And also, another fact which I like, you were telling me.
So traditionally, most of your cleaning is done at night.
So how many staff do you have here during the day
and how many do you have working here overnight?
So, during the day I have five cleaners
because I have a limited number of trains
actually coming in out of service,
but overnight it can be anything up to 35, 40 people
because the majority of the fleet
is not running around overnight.
We're cleaning with the viruscide,
every high contact point on the train.
So that will include the grab handles for the customers,
these little handles on the top of the seats,
the trinket tables and the fixed tables in first class,
and particularly any door buttons or vestibule bars
that passengers are going to come into contact with.
A lot of people forget
that you are a 24-hour railway, aren't you?
Absolutely, yes.
So what happens at night is if there are trains
that are not going into a cleaning depot overnight,
then we will have our partners from Churchill's
attend to those units on the platforms,
in the stations themselves.
So at Bedford and places like that,
where they'll see a turnaround clean
where they're literally getting rid of all the nasty things
that people leave behind.
Like what? (laughing)
No, don't answer that, I don't want to know.
Okay.
I don't want to know.
I do want to know.
Tell me off camera what nasty things people leave behind.
All right.
(bright music)
So you can see from my day
that GTR and Thameslink are sanitising their surfaces
on their trains and at their stations
and if I were travelling on their services right now,
that would make me feel much happier about travelling safely,
but we'll get to that in a minute.
Because I also asked about staff
and I spoke to the lovely Steve Lemmon,
who's GTR's Director of Engineering,
and he showed me an app which they have on their phone,
and what that does,
is that enables drivers or train operations,
when they book on to start their shift,
they can literally type in the unit number
and see when that train, and the cab, and all the controls
that they have to touch and use every day was last cleaned
and that gives them great peace of mind as well.
And that's a brilliant thing
that they're doing for the staff.
And that brings us to where we are today,
until now, it had been essential travel only,
but the messaging from the DFT
and the Rail Delivery Group is changing,
and it's now "Let's travel safely this summer",
which you may have already seen communicated this week.
And that is what the government want you to do,
travel safely, back on more buses, and trains,
and public transport.
So I hope everything you've seen in today's video
gives you the confidence to go ahead and do that.
So thanks to Allen, and Darrin, and Janine, and Steve,
and to GTR Thameslink for having me along today
and showing me what they're doing
to make travel safer for all of us.
(bright music)