Great Western Coffee Shop

Well.. Having worked most of the night, and being allowed a couple of hours sleep.. I decided to get the (later than I planned) 11.37 Maidenhead to Paddington to work.. It was one of the few (hourly) fastish trains timetabled...

But it was cancelled.. I ended up on the 11.12 which was running very late, stopped everywhere and was, as expected in the circumstances, crammed full of people..

And all I wanted to do was get to work! I felt quite ill by the time I got to Paddington...

Oh, and despite the fact it was a quietish train day, we got dumped on platform 14 anyway.. why do they keep doing this? Those platforms should be for emergencies only... There were other empty platforms today. I didn't want a 5 minute walk with hundreds of other people just to get to Paddington when I was already late..

Thank you to the train driver for all his annoucements though.. and keeping us well informed..

Bear in mind there was a broken down train which threw the whole of Reading - Paddington into chaos (again)

I'm sure there was also a perfectly good reason why that platform was used   :)

Well if there is a good reason I'd like to hear it! I've lost count of the number of times over the past few years when I've been dumped in 13 or 14 at off-peak times whilst 9, 10, 11 & 12 were all completely empty. It happens time and time again!  >:(

Platforms 13 and 14 are only used by Turbo operated services.

Platform 12 is primarily for the Heathrow Connect except in peak when is sometimes used by Turbo operated services.

Platforms 1-5 and 8-11 can be used by Turbo and HST/Adelante

During times of disruption it is better to put a turbo on 13/14 so a HST can possibly use some of the other platforms.

Also the fact Platform 14 could have been the booked platform anyway, e.g. the train you came in on could have been going back out to Greenford?

The driver has no control, I don't think Slough IECC are overly bothered that some punters have to walk further either.

So even though FGW tell us that local services are not less important than HST's... they are?

I could just about understand it if it was a busy rush hour, but it wasn't! Half the platforms were empty, and I am sure they stayed that way...  I am fed up with having an extra 5 minutes added to my (usually) delayed train by having to walk the rest of the way. I know of no other London mainline stations where two platforms are further away from the main station than leicester square tube is to covent garden tube.. As someone else on here said a while back, it's like another station. And should be treated as such!

Maybe the people in charge of putting trains on platform 13/14 (when there is no apparent good reason) should be made to do this journey every day then!

Its not FGW saying that.

Railways work by classing trains and by using headcodes.

A headcode is basically the identity of the train seen at the signal box and through various other railway systems.

A headcode is a 4 digit/letter code, 1A05 for example, in this case the 0640 Bristol - Paddington.

The first number is how important the train is. 1 stands for an express passenger train such as an HST. 2 would be a local surburban service such as the stopping turbo you are on. As a result your train is less important to the signal box and a class '1' train would get priority over a junction/platform.

The second letter in the headcode is the destination, 'A' referring to London, and the last two letters are the individual identity.

Hope that clears up why local commuter trains are often not given the same priority as high speed trains, regardless of FGWs view on it. At the end of the day Slough IECC (the signal box) make the decision as to which train goes in front of you, which platform etc etc

More on yesterday's events (link below.)
http://www.maidenhead-advertiser.co.uk/news_article.php?section=5&category=89&story=5208

Didn't think to mention that it WASN'T a FGW train that broke down did they?

A class 2 train is a "normal" passenger train whilst a class 1 is an "express" passenger or mail train, don't mean to be a smart arse but i'm bored.  :D

Do you mind? That's my excuse! (http://www.takeforum.com/forum/images/smiles/cy.gif)

Well it is Christmas  ;D

Well unless FGW were misquoted, they hadn't mentioned it wasn't one of their trains either.. I guess the Maidenhead advertiser were just reporting what they'd been told?

I quote from the article...
"A spokesman for the company said: "There were problems this morning with broken down services at Hayes and Harlington."

Usual lack of information then!

All FGW had to do was say....

"A spokesman for the company said: "There were problems this morning with broken down XYZ services at Hayes and Harlington."