Cancellations and changes this morning

[whole diary]

[TonyK]

No problems on what remains of the rail service from BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains) so far today.

[TaplowGreen]

Overrunning engineering works knocked out nearly all peak services from Burnham and Taplow this morning - if memory serves, the 0538, 0600, 0624, 0632, 0657 & 0727 from Taplow eastbound were cancelled, and the 0623 and 0654 westbound as well.............by that stage I had given up and got the Mrs to drive me to Slough.

Communication from GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) was useless and inconsistent - we were told at 0630 that the 0632 would be stopping - it sailed through on the fast line, repeatedly trains appeared as "on time" only to be cancelled about 2 mins before arrival. There were people at Taplow who had been waiting since 0530..........needless to say GWR refused to pay for taxis to either Maidenhead or Slough - they did advise that local buses would accept tickets, however this was pretty useless with all the short notice cancellations.

To cap it all, the ticket office opened late and the TVM^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine) was out of order, by the time I gave up (0700 ish) the queue was bigger than anything I've ever seen at Taplow.

[LiskeardRich]

From GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Twitter there was a jammed points issue as well as overrunning engineering works, or maybe the points jammed was the engineering work

[IndustryInsider]

From GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Twitter there was a jammed points issue as well as overrunning engineering works, or maybe the points jammed was the engineering work

Yes, the points were damaged by a track machine running through them around midnight and stretcher bars were damaged and had to be replaced.

[Sam290893]

From GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Twitter there was a jammed points issue as well as overrunning engineering works, or maybe the points jammed was the engineering work

From what I heard the points got damaged during engineering work. 

[eightf48544]

The problem with Taplow is that although it has 4 platforms, the main lines have been ballasted  too high in relation to the platforms. Thus it is deemed dangerous to stop trains and get people to climb on board hence the trains sail through. Most frustrating.

I can claim Grandfather rights to boarding HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) as  a few years back before central doorlocking there was a spate of failures of the ignal at teh end of Platform 2 Up Main. Quicjk nip over bridge and a fast run to Padd. 

Who runs the Tampers these days?

[Adelante_CCT]

The other problem is to many trains, with the problems over the past few days trains have not been stopping at Maidenhead either with the stoppers crossing over at Ruscombe, going as quickly as possible along the main lines, and then crossing back at Slough so as to not interfere (too much) with the HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train). It's not just the fellows of Taplow who are missing out

[TaplowGreen]

The other problem is to many trains, with the problems over the past few days trains have not been stopping at Maidenhead either with the stoppers crossing over at Ruscombe, going as quickly as possible along the main lines, and then crossing back at Slough so as to not interfere (too much) with the HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train). It's not just the fellows of Taplow who are missing out

......well after this morning's farce it gets worse for this "fellow" from Taplow who is stuck at Paddington with God knows how many others thanks to a signal failure at Southall.....nothing in or out.....what a basket case of a railway we have.

[phile]

Back on topic of cancellations due to non-availability of traincrew, seem to be ongoing this evening round Cheltenham/Swindon/Westbury routes.

[TaplowGreen]

Back on topic of cancellations due to non-availability of traincrew, seem to be ongoing this evening round Cheltenham/Swindon/Westbury routes.

  They're probably all stuck at Paddington!

[Sam290893]

Back on topic of cancellations due to non-availability of traincrew, seem to be ongoing this evening round Cheltenham/Swindon/Westbury routes.

  They're probably all stuck at Paddington!

This may have something to do with the major signal failure in the Southall area!

[phile]

Back on topic of cancellations due to non-availability of traincrew, seem to be ongoing this evening round Cheltenham/Swindon/Westbury routes.

  They're probably all stuck at Paddington!

This may have something to do with the major signal failure in the Southall area!

No.  They were published before the Signal failure.

[TaplowGreen]

A number of cancellations/alterations again this morning due to a "shortage of train drivers", looks like it's starting to bite.

[charles_uk]

Amongst today's cancellations was the 0710 Moreton-in-Marsh to Paddington sevice due to "shortage of train drivers". The third day running this service has not run along the Cotswold Line.

Whilst this might be an easy fix on paper, the problem is that this is an eight coach HST^▸ (High Speed Train) and, when it is cancelled, the following two coach turbo train has to pick up the displaced passengers. It's not been so bad this week due to school holidays but it can be a grim experience on such occasions.

[ChrisB]

The 0630 from Oxford was also a casualty....