2023 - Train update and amendment log - Swindon <-> Westbury

[whole diary]

[grahame]

This is due to forecasted severe weather.

An interesting reason ... Open Train Times shows the line open (i.e. not closed) and there are a plethora of issues elsewhere in the South West, but looking around and out it looks much calmer than it did last night.   Trains running London - Bristol without much of a reported issue, and Cardiff - Portsmouth at least north of Salisbury, and there are issues between Newbury and Westbury.

It is correct for the rail industry to err on the side of caution on safety and on stranding people grounds, but I do look and see them perhaps resource limited today, and as we have seen so often concentrating resources on main lines and turning us into a fair weather railway - and the weather is far more often less than fair these days.   "Severe weather" means they don't have to provide alternative transport, I believe - is that also the case if the severe weather is just predicted, and is elsewhere meaning that they have culled the local trains to provide an open route for other services??

To add - I got home, by car, after midnight - more to follow; I was out there at the worst of the storm which is now subsided. 

[TaplowGreen]

07:45 Westbury to Swindon due 08:32
07:45 Westbury to Swindon due 08:32 will be cancelled.
This is due to forecasted severe weather.

08:45 Swindon to Westbury due 09:26
08:45 Swindon to Westbury due 09:26 will be cancelled.
This is due to forecasted severe weather.

09:46 Westbury to Swindon due 10:34
09:46 Westbury to Swindon due 10:34 will be cancelled.
This is due to forecasted severe weather.

11:05 Swindon to Westbury due 11:47
11:05 Swindon to Westbury due 11:47 will be cancelled.
This is due to forecasted severe weather.

12:17 Westbury to Swindon due 12:59
12:17 Westbury to Swindon due 12:59 will be cancelled.
This is due to forecasted severe weather.

13:15 Swindon to Westbury due 13:57
13:15 Swindon to Westbury due 13:57 will be cancelled.
This is due to forecasted severe weather.

14:19 Westbury to Swindon due 15:01
14:19 Westbury to Swindon due 15:01 will be cancelled.
This is due to forecasted severe weather.

15:14 Swindon to Westbury due 15:59
15:14 Swindon to Westbury due 15:59 will be cancelled.
This is due to severe weather.

16:23 Westbury to Swindon due 17:08
16:23 Westbury to Swindon due 17:08 will be cancelled.
This is due to severe weather.

17:36 Swindon to Westbury due 18:20
17:36 Swindon to Westbury due 18:20 will be cancelled.
This is due to severe weather.

18:37 Westbury to Swindon due 19:21
18:37 Westbury to Swindon due 19:21 will be cancelled.
This is due to severe weather.

20:06 Westbury to Cheltenham Spa due 22:05
20:06 Westbury to Cheltenham Spa due 22:05 will be cancelled.
This is due to severe weather.

20:13 Swindon to Westbury due 20:58
20:13 Swindon to Westbury due 20:58 will be cancelled.
This is due to severe weather.

21:16 Westbury to Swindon due 21:58
21:16 Westbury to Swindon due 21:58 will be cancelled.
This is due to severe weather.

22:30 Swindon to Westbury due 23:11
22:30 Swindon to Westbury due 23:11 will be cancelled.
This is due to severe weather.


Further Information
Please do not travel - No transport will be provided.

[IndustryInsider]

That might come as a bit of a shock to those on board the 12:17 Westbury to Swidon, which is just approaching Melksham on time!

[TaplowGreen]

That might come as a bit of a shock to those on board the 12:17 Westbury to Swidon, which is just approaching Melksham on time!

Must be the rail replacement train?

[IndustryInsider]

That might come as a bit of a shock to those on board the 12:17 Westbury to Swidon, which is just approaching Melksham on time!

Must be the rail replacement train?

I presume you're booked for another gig tonight, so Melksham had to resort to Rich Hall? 

[grahame]

"No transport will be provided" but the x34 bus (Chippenham - Melksham - Trowbridge) is running normally



Here in Wiltshire, there are buses - but on many routes (such ar the x34) only until 5 p.m., taking three times longer than the trains,  not calling at railway stations to connect, and not accepting rail tickets even if the trains are cancelled.

First question last night at the Campaign for Better Transport even in London, was on integration of buses and trains.  Not me asking ... a common problem.

[ChrisB]

One of the first problems that needs agreement - does the train timetable change with a bus timing change, or vice-versa?

There are more pax using the bus services than ever want to connect with a train, so buses should get priority in timetable changes?

[grahame]

One of the first problems that needs agreement - does the train timetable change with a bus timing change, or vice-versa?

There are more pax using the bus services than ever want to connect with a train, so buses should get priority in timetable changes?

No actually it doesn't always need synchronising Chris.   The x34 is slow, but from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Monday to Friday it is as frequent as every half hour. So while you are looking at only a proportion of customer transferring, you don't need to fine-tune it.  I would agree that it does with the last bus at half past five ...

Remove a fence panel and level the ground from Melksham Station to Foundry Close, and you have x34 but stops closer to the station, run all x34s in Chippenham via the College, and put the services on the station departure boards and you are getting somewhere. Planning for new homes at Melksham Up Station Yard does I believe include the developers doing that groundwork as part of the local infrastructure provision. 

[bobm]

There is now a tree down on the single line near Melksham.

[grahame]

There is now a tree down on the single line near Melksham.

Ah!  And the cyclical part of me thought someone had see comments here and - oops - added a BLOK on Open Train times!

[TaplowGreen]

This particular branch is now closed......but will reopen at 7, for all those cancelled trains to stop? Who knows?

Cancellations to services at Melksham
Due to a tree blocking the railway at Melksham all lines are blocked.
Train services running through this station will be cancelled. Disruption is expected until 19:00 02/11.

Customer Advice
Due to a tree blocking the railway at Melksham, the branch line is currently suspended and is unlikely to be back in opeartion this afternoon.

[ChrisB]

There is now a tree down on the single line near Melksham.

Ah!  And the cyclical part of me thought someone had see comments here and - oops - added a BLOK on Open Train times!

Per chance, do you mean cynical? Or do you tend to go round in circles?

[grahame]

There is now a tree down on the single line near Melksham.

Ah!  And the cyclical part of me thought someone had see comments here and - oops - added a BLOK on Open Train times!

Per chance, do you mean cynical? Or do you tend to go round in circles?

I meant "cynical" and partially blame autocorrect.  I also blame m own tiredness and lack of concentration today.

[grahame]

And ... re-opened.  A freight train passed a while ago and as I write a train has just called at Melksham on its way on time up to Swindon.      The 07:21 to get people to Swindon in the morning ran, though the 08:02 did not. It looks like the 17:36 home from Swindon is not back on - it has disappeared from the cancellation list and the train to provide the service is that one that's just called on its way up.

[TaplowGreen]

And ... re-opened.  A freight train passed a while ago and as I write a train has just called at Melksham on its way on time up to Swindon.      The 07:21 to get people to Swindon in the morning ran, though the 08:02 did not. It looks like the 17:36 home from Swindon is not back on - it has disappeared from the cancellation list and the train to provide the service is that one that's just called on its way up.

A recovery which would put Lazarus to shame - however I wonder how many people changed their plans based on the "wipeout" advertised on Journeyplanner earlier - seems to be getting less and less reliable.

https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/live-trains/departures/melksham/