Long story short.....the guard's role is being changed from being safety critical to just a dogsbody. So the the train can now run legitimately whether they're onboard or not. In time they will disappear completely. The plan which is no secret is to vastly reduce the number of railstaff inline with the McNulty report which was commisioned by the Tory government.
Ultimately there will be few, if any booking office staff, platform staff or on-train staff.
I have a nightmare in which the only person you will ever see on station property will be a solitary school-leaver, who is cheery and very clever with the Ipad that the company has given him, but is a bit lacking in railway knowledge. If you ask him a question, he'll Google it for you.
I hope I'm wrong.
BW