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 18/05/24 - BRTA Westbury
22/05/24 - WWRUG / TransWilts update
02/06/24 - Summer Timetable starts
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On this day
2nd May (1999)
Last special train to Weymouth Quay (*)

Train RunningCancelled
17:54 Cardiff Central to London Paddington
17:59 Cardiff Central to Penzance
Short Run
15:28 Weymouth to Gloucester
16:18 London Paddington to Swansea
16:23 Swansea to London Paddington
16:48 London Paddington to Swansea
17:11 Taunton to Cardiff Central
17:18 London Paddington to Swansea
18:18 London Paddington to Swansea
18:23 Swansea to London Paddington
18:29 Gatwick Airport to Reading
18:48 London Paddington to Swansea
18:59 Cardiff Central to Penzance
19:18 London Paddington to Swansea
19:33 London Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill
19:48 London Paddington to Swansea
19:56 Cardiff Central to Taunton
21:45 Penzance to London Paddington
Delayed
15:15 Plymouth to London Paddington
15:30 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour
15:48 London Paddington to Carmarthen
16:15 Penzance to London Paddington
16:19 Carmarthen to London Paddington
16:23 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central
17:48 London Paddington to Carmarthen
An additional train service has been planned to operate as shown 18:22 Bristol Temple Meads to Portsmouth Harbour
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16  All across the Great Western territory / Across the West / Re: Infrastructure problems in Thames Valley causing disruption elsewhere - ongoing, since Oct 2014 on: April 10, 2024, 19:22:12
Newbury to Bedwyn isn't in the Thames Valley, which is the title of this thread.

I think it would definitely be better suited in the London to Kennet Valley board:  http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?board=8.0
17  All across the Great Western territory / Active travel: Cyclists and walkers, including how the railways deal with them / Re: Difficult to argue with e-bike/scooter rules? on: April 09, 2024, 15:57:22
They have to be banned unless regulation-use batteries are used, simple.
Registration maybe required as someone will die otherwise from use of unregulated battery explosion

These batteries are invariably imported from places of doubtful reputation. The makers will apply whatever approval marks or certificates that are required for the intended market. including CE marking, UL listed, or any other standard.

Better regulation and clearer laws will no doubt help - the current free-for-all cannot continue. 

If you pass laws that make JustEat and the like directly responsible for ensuring their riders use proper equipment (perhaps by supplying it, or offering incentive schemes through approved retailers) and don't break the law then that will help enormously IMHO (in my humble opinion).  Forcing them to provide proper contracts of employment rather than treating them as contractors and letting them get on with sourcing their own bikes and (lack of) equipment will also help.  Being paid per delivery only encourages them to buy unsuitable equipment and ride it irresponsibly.

It might end up making their businesses unviable which is tough.
18  All across the Great Western territory / Active travel: Cyclists and walkers, including how the railways deal with them / Re: Difficult to argue with e-bike/scooter rules? on: April 08, 2024, 20:13:26
The likes of Just Eat and Deliveroo need coming down on hard as their riders routinely use illegally modified e-bikes without helmets and lights at far too high speeds.

The likes of Just Eat and Deliveroo will just say not our problem, they "employ" a person to deliver stuff, the means by which that that person achieves the delivery is that persons

That’s quite right, which is why I said they need coming down on hard - with new employment laws if necessary.  That sort of thing is easy now we’ve left the EU» (European Union - about) isn’t it?!  Roll Eyes  I don’t blame the riders themselves on bit.
19  All across the Great Western territory / Active travel: Cyclists and walkers, including how the railways deal with them / Re: Difficult to argue with e-bike/scooter rules? on: April 08, 2024, 13:41:28
The likes of Just Eat and Deliveroo need coming down on hard as their riders routinely use illegally modified e-bikes without helmets and lights at far too high speeds.
20  Journey by Journey / TransWilts line / Re: 2024 - Service update and amendment log, Swindon <-> Westbury on: April 06, 2024, 12:31:15
It would most likely have been a driver manager who was allocated to work it, so they wouldn't be an ASLEF» (Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen - about) member.
21  All across the Great Western territory / The Wider Picture in the United Kingdom / Re: Short railway journeys: now disproportionately expensive? on: April 05, 2024, 21:43:37
The Reading to Reading West fare offers great value when you consider the chances of being mugged if you tackle it on foot!  Cheesy
22  All across the Great Western territory / Across the West / Re: Infrastructure problems in Thames Valley causing disruption elsewhere - ongoing, since Oct 2014 on: April 04, 2024, 13:14:49
Where are The Railway Children and a white flag made from a petticoat when you need them?!?

Probably on strike  Smiley

More likely sat indoors glued to their phones watching YouTube or TikTok videos.

All joking aside though, that does indeed look like the same incident.  So now you all know what an emergency stop looks like...not quite in time on this occasion - though probably the best the driver could have done!

And to think the future is in driverless trains...  Undecided
23  All across the Great Western territory / The Wider Picture Overseas / Re: SBB and ÖBB to expand Nightjet services on: April 03, 2024, 12:39:30
A review of the new Nightjet offering between Hamburg and Vienna:

https://www.cntraveller.com/article/we-travelled-on-europes-new-sleeper-train-heres-what-we-think?utm_source=pocket-newtab-en-gb
24  All across the Great Western territory / Looking forward - after Coronavirus to 2045 / Re: "We can’t get from A to B in Britain and it might just be the Government’s ..." on: April 02, 2024, 12:53:48
Rather than the 2% figure which will be difficult to shift much as it's generally not possible to do the school run or pop to the shops on the train, the 8% of total mileage by rail is the interesting one to me (I think it's 8.65% to be exact).

As a percentage it is only just over 1% below the pre-covid peak of 9.92%.  Higher than as recent as 2010.  Way higher than the mid-90s when it was just over 5%, but looking further back to pre-Beeching it was up at 17% back in the 1950s.

Interesting that it is so high against a backdrop of covid recovery and a lack of commuters and business travelers, no doubt bouyed by new infrastructure such as the Elizabeth Line.  Encouraging stuff!

Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/482670/tsgb0101.xls

25  All across the Great Western territory / Across the West / Re: Infrastructure problems in Thames Valley causing disruption elsewhere - ongoing, since Oct 2014 on: March 31, 2024, 10:43:44
A possession to undertake maintenance work on a series of points in the Paddington throat area.  Possession covers line 1-4 and Platforms 1-9 inclusive at Paddington.  Access to North Pole depot is also affected.
26  Journey by Journey / TransWilts line / Re: 2024 - Service update and amendment log, Swindon <-> Westbury on: March 30, 2024, 05:31:31
Thanks, II for that insight into the complexity of staff rostering.

I guess that calling it a planning error could be justified as the late running of the inbound train from Paddington would have been predictable from about 13:15. Time sufficient to organise a taxi for the crew?

However, the recent posts of the thread have been to draw attention to the reasons given to the public and their less-than-credible nature sometimes. Communication of delays has for a long time been something flagged for "must do better".

Please don't take this as personal criticism. I value your input to the forum.

I quite agree, and no personal criticism taken - it’s nice to have the opportunity to help explain sometimes.

To be fair to GWR (Great Western Railway) the level of detail in explaining disruption in layman’s terms has become much better over the last year or so.  As a forum our collective knowledge is better than most of the passengers that GWR provides for, and I think we need to remember that when deciding what the best way of explaining a delay is that is sufficient for most people to understand.  That being said, there are examples when I think they have got that balance wrong.

The TM(resolve) yesterday booked on duty to travel on that train so I don’t know how long a taxi might take to St. Erth but it might not have been in time for the train that ended up being cancelled anyway?  It’s also quite possible that nobody realised it might be an issue due to the general levels of disruption and a small team trying to oversee it all from within control.

Local supervisors in days gone by would have been more likely to notice it.

When things go wrong, there are several things that now make it worse: 
  • The aforementioned lack of local supervisors.
  • The slow erosion of route knowledge that a-driver mentioned.
  • And the stupid rostering of staff in the last few years meaning small efficiency gains that result in multiple unnecessary changes of crew enroute.  Looks fine on paper, but in reality makes managing disruption far harder.
27  Journey by Journey / TransWilts line / Re: 2024 - Service update and amendment log, Swindon <-> Westbury on: March 29, 2024, 17:39:00
I'm shocked...............I'm sure you wouldn't wish to suggest that GWR (Great Western Railway) would be anything other than 100% honest with their valued and respected customers?  Wink

Journeycheck/greatwesternrailway:
Quote
17:03 St Ives to St Erth due 17:14 will be cancelled.
This is due to heavy rain flooding the railway.

One service each way lost due to flooding? Or would you rather believe RTT» (Real Time Trains - website):
Quote
This service was cancelled due to a planning error (TA).

Depends how far you want to trace back a delay?

The TM(resolve) for that round trip from St. Erth to St. Ives travels on 1A96, the 16:15 from Penzance which was 32 minutes late arriving at St. Erth, so if it had run it would have been with at least a 10 minute delay. 

The 16:15 from Penzance was delayed by late arrival of the inward working from London, which was delayed by the flooding.
28  All across the Great Western territory / Across the West / Re: Infrastructure problems in Thames Valley causing disruption elsewhere - ongoing, since Oct 2014 on: March 29, 2024, 05:29:27
Double skinned windows that are designed to shatter into small pieces and with an anti-vandalism laminate are pretty resilient thankfully.  Looks like that one behaved as designed under quite an impact.
29  Journey by Journey / Cross Country services / Re: CrossCountry upgrade will see 25% more rail seats on: March 26, 2024, 14:10:09
Think these acquisitions is more about increasing capacity on existing services than the introduction of additional services.

I believe they are wanting to introduce the daily Cardiff<>Edinburgh service, refill the gaps in the Stansted service, and, from May 2025, restore the hourly Reading<>Newcastle’s only a few of which run now.
30  All across the Great Western territory / Smoke and Mirrors / Re: Notification of different standards - Bedwyn and Melksham on: March 25, 2024, 15:18:40
Yes - sort of.  But the extra track is (or has been) routinely used to harbour freight trains for significant periods, so would not be available for passenger trains.  I understand that with a change in the freight operator, there may have been changes in the use of Westbury yard, and if that's the case perhaps - just perhaps - the option to extend the platform out to the remaining line might be back on the table.   I do recall that when a train split the points to the west (knocking out platforms 1, 2 and 3) that a limited non-stop service was provided via the back line, so it may already be signalled for passenger trains.

It's currently a PF (Penalty Fare) (Permissive Freight) line, so that excludes any passenger trains except by special arrangement (such as the case you mention).  There's also a tight radius at the western end which means Class 158s (and 153s, not that there are any of those in the area anymore) are barred at that end.
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