Great Western Coffee Shop

I have been warned that - in (any) Community Rail role with TransWilts - it is not my/our job to patch up operational issues. That's for volunteers in any role, or indeed for other members of the TransWilts team not in the employ of the train operator or their subcontractors.  The dictat comes from ACoRP, and I can understad it.

1. Our team is not trained on any operational or safety issues, and indeed may not have the knoweldge needed.

2. Our team does not have the backup / access to second level resources.

3. Our team members may not have the communication skills needed, and may not have any desirable security clearances

4. If we help resovle a mess because we're around, all we're doing is providing a safety net on that occasion and not helping to resolve the issues long term - we're actually hindering by hiding the real issue behind our help

5. We are taking the role of a paid railway employee

And having said all those things, if someone asks me for help using the TVM at an unstaffed station, or what to do when they have been dropped off and there and the last train of the day has been cancelled or the connection into it has been missed, I will help people work the system. And - talking "system", I will report back on systemic issues to GWR or others when I see operational system shortcomings such that things could be so much better for the passenger, often at so little cost and effort.

So - what can I report back from today, with engineering works closing the line from Chippengham to Swindon

* A generic schematic at Melksham, showing the bus and rail routes today. Far better that the nothing we have had in the past, but a timetabl would have been nice.  No full poster needed - just an A4 sheet on an insert on the generic poster.

* A 40 minute wait at Chippenham for the ongoing bus to Swindon - remarkable piece of needless delay when the train is normally every 30 minutes.

* Also a 40 minute wait at Chippenham for the ongoing train to Bristol - again remarkable when the train is normally 8 to 10 carriages every 30 minutes.  Today it was 3 carriages every hour - that's just 1/6 of the service.  And heaving - I could not get through to count, but I reccon some 330 to 350 on a 3 car class 158.

* From Chippenham for London - bus to Didcot or Reading, or train double back at Bath Spa. How silly not to stop the express at Trowbridge to provide a Chippenham to London connection.

* I went over the bridge to get a coffee while I waited at Chippenham.   Directed away from the cafe by rail staff / pretty silly having to go out of one gate line then back in the other to reach the counter.

* A lack of audible announcements for Bath / Bristol ("opposite platform to normal" wouldhelp convince people).  I don't think anyone was waiting on the normal platform for the Bristol train and actually missed it when it reversed on the other side of the island.

* Cancellation at Bath this evening of the 19:07 Weston Super Mare train and an anouncement that the "next direct train is 20:26" ... would have been nice for passengers to tell them that thay could suffer far less delay by changing at Bristol.

All easy things to adjust and solve ... but is seems that the system once again is intent on meeting the specification of the franchise rather than the needs and comfort of the passengers.  And very hard for me to resist saying to people waiting for a train at the wrong platform "that's the Bristol train standing there ...." but then I'm not supposed to do that ... ACoRP says so ...

Edit to correct typo that altered meaning

You may be discouraged from doing that as a CRP person but anyone with any knowledge of the rail system will always offer assistance to those who need it.  I do quite often.

Indeed, Roger ... and having due considerations for the reasons why not to assist when around, plus the "because we say so" reason of the dictat, I balance that against the passenger's situation.   Where staff are around, it can be just a question of passing customers on.

And in reality, wearing a TransWilts T shirt and my name, it's not unusual to get chatting or to be asked rather than taking any formal step to help.