Great Western Coffee Shop

New year, new thread ... please help me log anything you spot.  Sad to be restarting this story but reliability - especially to late cancellations - is key to the success of a service.  People need to be able to rely on the train.



For the last two days, they have terminated the 05:17 at Melksham and restarted it back from there in the 07:04 timings. Why on earth can't they do that this morning?

Not on JourneyCheck (yet?) but from http://www.mrug.org.uk/live.html

Full list ... so far? ...

 It always surprises me when engineering works are done to such a tight schedule. Given that we have had no service for a couple of weeks, and this day is possibly that last weekday 'holiday of the Christmas break for many people (not all I know), it would have made sense to schedule the restart this weekend. The signalling fault found is exactly why the testing is done. If testing then you should expect issues, and assign time to resolve.

But you've got Project Managers who don't have a clue about what they are "supposed" to be managing, so are we supprised, not.  In my days of delivering the engineering side of such projects there were quite of few instances of 'overruns' but we had 'real' contingency plans that had to work or you were shown the proverbrial door....

The 2 trains that pass through Melksham at 12-something on the way to Swindon (my commute) were also cancelled, as is the 14:40 (13:10 from Frome).

I'd already decided to work from home after the 07:49 Melksham train was cancelled, and at least this time they announced it was cancelled before I'd run to the station, so it could have been worse. Just saved £9.90 £10.20.

To add to the misery

GWR reporting that the station is closed all day, with normal service resuming tomorrow - with today's tickets being valid tomorrow as well.

I have seen the mention of tickets being valid tomorrow on various emails - but it isn't mentioned on the GWR website, which is where most people would probably look.

https://www.gwr.com/travel-updates/live-network-updates/disruption-information (https://www.gwr.com/travel-updates/live-network-updates/disruption-information)

They're sure about that are they?  As I recall it was 4 a.m., then 6 a.m., then 10 a.m., then ... I lost track ...

Latest I have heard is no trains today but a full service from first thing tomorrow however with buses on standby.

Just to complete the record.

The 20:08 Swindon to Westbury was also cancelled.

Found it!, thanks graham, By the way no trains tomorrow, so a day in bed.

Does the lack of posts in the last week mean that the first full working week of 2019 was trouble free? Reading back a few pages of history it would seem that would be a welcome new year's gift, and hopefully a sign of better things to come?

There have been no issues that have made Journey check single last weekend.   Having said that, on SUNDAY trains were terminated at Chippenham (planned) and passengers for Swindon had to wait there up to 80 minutes for the onward train.

But, generally, good news this week. A few trains a few minutes late. 

I have been asked to provide a log of late running, etc, at the end of each month to TransWilts and that's being generated at http://www.mrug.org.uk/record.html - a quick look back every few days though Real Time Trains will give me missing background data.   Frankly, unless a keyconnection misses such as the Sunday morning one at Westbury for Weymouth, or coming back from Bristol the 17:49 into the TransWilts train at Trowbridge, a few minutes delay really don't matter.

Breaking news ... broken freight on single line via Melksham ... summoning help and single line closed in the meantime!

Starting to show on Melksham Rail User Group dynamic record at http://www.mrug.org.uk/record.html and out live running feed at http://www.mrug.org.uk/live.html

See attachment ....

And sorted??

Someone had too much for breakfast this morning.

Is this at Westbury? Well I said they should of installed better points, those looked old fashioned. When they relaid the tracks in Oxford they used the ones, that I thought they always install now.

Most likely just teething troubles.  We may be very frustrated at all that relaxin without a fourth track alongside the empty platform face (or at least a stub for it) at the same time, but I rather suspect they'll have put the right stuff in - indeed if anything they may have over-engineered.

Yes I felt that this relaying of Westbury was a waste of money. When network rail could of spent the money on schemes to relieve congestion, like in Gloucester they could of installed two new signals to allow bi-directional working on the lines to Barnwood from Horton road Junction. This should of been done in the 80.s when plat 4 was brought into use. Now due to this, crosscountry do not stop many of their trains due to long reversal times.

Westbury should of been done, when they could close the station for 7 weeks and relayed the tracks from end to end and replaced the signalling on to TVSC(LIKE THEY DID IN OXFORD) or somewhere, and brought in the unused platform, everyone would be happy, even graham as they would of two tracked the Melksham line as well. I think I need to work for NR then it would get done.

The points failure was at Hawkeridge Junction. These points weren't replaced in the Westbury blockade.

The 05:17 from Gloucester (06:36 Melksham) has terminated at Salisbury due to a broken windscreen.

 

18:32 Westbury to Swindon service will be diverted via Bathampton owing to the delay to the inbound working, meaning it has lost its path on the single line.

Indeed ...


Very interesting that the under-reason is the loss of the path ... not the continued presence of said animals!

18:32 Westbury to Swindon due 19:21


18:32 Westbury to Swindon due 19:21 will be diverted between Trowbridge and Chippenham.
It will no longer call at Melksham.
It will be starting late from Westbury.
This is due to animals on the railway.

Realtimetrains (which still thinks it's going via Melksham) is currently predicting it will arrive at Thingley at exactly the same time as the train heading towards Westbury.  So that's a bit disappointing, as a delay of a couple of minutes on the southbound service would seem preferable to a cancellation at Melksham on the northbound?

On some days (but not Wednedays) there's a freight path over the single line from Thingley to Bradford between these two trains - surely the diversion isn't being done for the freight that is (?) Monday, Thursday, Friday only.

Just noticed ... there's the MTuThO service I knew about and another WFO one which did run tonight and was on the single line ...

Unfortunately for the intending passengers of Melksham, the Wootton Bassett aggregate trip ran today. The schedule for this train is already a problem as the following Cheltenham to Southampton service is booked onto the single line before the aggregate train has passed Bradford Junction.

Guess it ran again today  ;D ;D


Been experimenting with an automated log at http://www.mrug.org.uk/record.html and it comfirms that "Train 2000" as we call in if often delayed through Melksham.   As it sits for 9 minutes at Westbury in the schedule, time is usually made up ... just checked today, and 10 minutes late at Trowbridge was rescued to one minute late at Dilton Marsh!

Recenttraintimes.co.uk seems to do much the same thing, and I quite like the way the figures are presented. So it's quite easy to tell that in the third full week of services this year there has only been the one (animal related) cancellation on a weekday so far.  That seems quite a good record out of, what, 200 odd journeys so far?

All six round trips of the shuttle - one return morning trip, one lunchtime trip and one evening trip will have loos.

It (RecentTimeTrains) is an excellent site but did not quite provide what was specified to me, so I am gathering data in a different way. Paradoxically, I could have done with a few more cancellations as well as the skip call purely for testing purposes.

P.S. 07:33 to Swindon left at 07:39 from the same platform that the 06:48 from Bristol had just terminated at  ;D ;D

I'm sure GWR would have obliged if you had asked them nicely.

I hope the toilets at Melksham station are in good working order, Graham, as Journey Check states that the unit today is toiletless and that station toilets should be used :) :)

 ;D ;D

I wonder if arrangement are being made to have the loos at Trowbridge remain open once the staff go off duty ...

In all seriousness, lack of loos on the train is very minor compared to complete lack of trains.

Distance is a factor here, I've seen instances of toiletless trains betwen Cardiff and Portsmouth.

As we recently discovered, Melksham is the home of the earth closet......if anywhere can cope, Melksham can...........Graham- bring your shovel just in case! 🙂

Does this mean it's running via some other route than BOA to Thingley or cancelled completely? If its a forecast weather issue, is the weather at MKM likely to be worse than elsewhere on the route?

The trains concerned will be reversing at Bathampton.

Limited investment / maintenance in pointwork that's able to function reliably in severe weather at the end of the single line means that Network Rail close the line through Melksham as a precaution at times.  Of course proper solution would be to provide proper robust infrastructure like they do in most other places (there are some loops and crossovers out of use too when the weather gets bad, but I don't know of any other complete lines!)

Or station watchmen at Thingley and Bradford Junctions to "babysit" the points.

The Met Office is currently predicting no snow in Melksham until around 9pm, so it seems a bit premature to close the line by 7.30. I expect it will still be closed tomorrow after the 1cm of "heavy snow" has fallen too.  >:(

I see the 19:32 from Westbury has been removed from the list of amended services.   I assume that means it will now run through Melksham - although positive confirmation of that rather than just removing any reference to it would be better in my opinion.

20:08 ex Swindon now running booked route too.

Also the return trip and the 19:32 Westbury to Cheltenham Spa via Swindon

All aboard the cross legged express! 😣

My heart missed a beat when a great fat sponge just came up on our map at the top of these pages between Westbury and Swindon a few minutes ago ... however, the day's shuttle train at 2 cars rather than 3 is fine for this year.

Traffic is growing again and a 153 (1 car) turning up (as was regular this time last year) when it had just, supposedly, been replaced would be an issue on 4 of the services. Talking of which ... the first train was replaced by a bus in Sunday - engineering pre-planned - and I understand the bus was full and standing. Shows the importance of the Sunday morning train.

Whole "Melksham Flyer" diagram today (all dozen journeys, I think)


Needs two carriages on this diagram in 2019 - so this is much more of a technical / reporting issue than a problem on the line.

Well, the 153s are going soon.

Lots of disruption this evening.  PHBT at Theale so B&H shut since about 1740 and West Country services diverted via Melksham.  Oh for that double track or Dynamic Loop......

As I write four down services qued up at Chippenham.

PHBT??

Expanded in this evening's Melksham calling log

Above log line was a forecast ... now modified to


And on journey check

Heart-stopping moment when I saw a thick blue line on our cancellation map - HOWEVER - turnout to be a load of these which we can cope with


Having said which,  the first train last Sunday was replaced by a bus (planed ahead) and was reported FULL AND STANDING.   With the Melksham Rail User Group ( http://www.mrug.org.uk ) increasing its marketing this year, and with TransWilts upping its paid CRO position by 50% this year too, and with much more reliable trains ... we probably will have to start worrying about 2 car v 3 car in the foreseeable future.

No problem south of Swindon .. as a peak service from Cheltenham Spa / Gloucester up the Stroud Valley, it's likely to be bursting for the first half hour to hour of it's journey.

Lots like this ...


Even the 17:36 will cope for a few months ... just a year ago it was still a 153 from time to time and whilst traffic has grown we won't burst a 2 car turbo until the autumn  ;D

Today the 17:36 was a class 158.

There was a 3 car 158 on Tuesday on the 10:02 from Melksham ... and another 3 car 158 in the bay when we got to Swindon on the Cheltenham Spa layovers.   To run 5 cars on Cardiff / Portsmouth, you can't mix 15x and 16x - so I suspect that as 2 car 165s have become available to bolster those services, the 3 car 166s have had to join them and the 158s displaced onto TransWilts, Stroud Valley, etc

I think the 3 Car 158s are only working on the route while the Whiteball Tunnel block is on as the displaced ones are working to and from the West of England, the block preventing their access West..

Not a problem until about Kemble ... will get a bit tight as far as Gloucester.

Just two cancellations reported in the entire GWR area ...

Journey Check now saying that passengers from Swindon can travel to Chippenham for taxis but no advice for anybody travelling from the Trowbridge direction or for joining at Melksham

There were some other cancellations this morning including Exeter to Penzance and return but later re-instated

Better than nowt!

Advise for the 18:45 Westbury to Swindon will be "wait of next train".   This is one of those times when the TransWilts is like London buses - nothing for ages then two close together ... wait is 45 minutes which is not good, but would you believe shorter than the time it can take to get a rail replacement taxi at Trowbridge.

Catching the 20:17 off Melksham to Trowbridge?  Joined up thinking would be to advise people to wait for the incoming taxi(s) from Chippenham to take them on, as that's a call which drops off more than it picks up.  Joined up doesn't always seem to happen though!

From GWR Twitter - Family at Melksham trying to get to Trowbrige and Help Point at Melksham not connecting and when it did eventually, were told nothing could be done.    GWR advise catch train ex Westbury to Chippenham, thence train to Bath and change again for Trowbridge.    Depart Melksham 1957, arrive Trowbridge 2130.   
GWR Control not authorising taxi following passenger request, saying this journey by train would be the safest bet by the time a taxi could get there.

Jeeze!

Well - I could get them a taxi in 10 minutes. Problem is that local taxi firms do not want GWR accounts because they have to wait for payment.

To be fair, knowing how long it takes to get a GW authorised taxi here, they probably would get their sooner via Chippenham and Bath Spa.

Best solution still the one I mentioned earlier to have an ex-Chippenham (passengers for Melksham) taxi instructed to pick up people for Trowbridge at Melksham.   Probably not in the call centre script!

11:47 Westbury to Swindon not calling at Melksham because of a points problem.

Neither is the next one ...


Some things don't change (and I'm guessing that includes certain points!)

So Melksham to Swindon gap from 10:02 to 14:40 (and that's making an assumption)

No reverse on the points at Bradford Junction.   

I’m heading to Westbury.  Hopefully at least one of the return workings will operate - even if it does miss Melksham.

Passengers FOR Melksham from Westbury or Trowbridge were able to travel on the diverted 12:20 and then double back from Chippenham on the 12:49 ex Swindon.

Problems tonight after a freight train failed at Thingley East. 

The 17:41 from Cheltenham (18:48 from Swindon) was trapped behind it at Chippenham and was sent back to Wootton Bassett junction to cross over to the up line to get past it and gain the single line. Currently running an hour late.

Meanwhile the 19:32 from Westbury is going via Bathampton, so missing Melksham.

20:08 from Swindon also went via Bathampton missing Melksham.

Rescue loco on the way to move the striken freight train.

So that's 4 lost out of 18 today - 22% cancellations at Melksham, with another one an hour late.  Considerable  sympathy for GWR as two were probably attributable to Network Rail and the other two or three to a freight operator, but really the rail industry as a whole doesn't come up smelling of roses.

Very frustrating after no reported cancellations for a month up to last Sunday.

My log shows Melksham misses on 6th and 7th ... http://www.mrug.org.uk/record.html ... not sure if they were cancellations all the way through.

I was going by the, usually, accurate log on this thread.

(https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/280px-harveytotherescue53_6811.png)

I suspect the thread is around the 95% accurate rate (not a bad stat if you compare it to trains on time) which is remarkable as it's generated in a way that it requires an asynchronous action from members here to generate it.

A simile.   It's rather like someone saying "keep coming back to my web site and you'll find what you're looking for there when we publish it" rather than "we'll send you an email / phone you when the data's available".

Concerns at missing the odd "happening", especially last minute things (arguably the most irritating to passengers) which don't make JourneyCheck (etc), and the addition of  live departure board for Melksham (buses and trains at or near the station - http://www.mrug.org.uk/live.html ) have a allowed us the Melksham Rail User Group site to  generate an automatic log at http://www.mrug.org.uk/record.html .  That's still "keep coming back" mode, but it's now automated ... we have a visual egg timer that's set every time the page is visited by a real user, and if no-one's been there for 10 minutes the server checks the status to keep a perpetual log.

There were problems this morning with the 8.22 WSB-SWI which sat at Trowbridge for 25 minutes causing me to miss my London connection at Bath. I was on the train behind it.

It then got held at Bradford Junction. Journeycheck was saying traincrew issues. I also noticed Network Rail staff were at Bradford Junction so there may have been issues there as well.

Shame delay repay doesn’t start until April 1st  >:(

The 06:30 Cardiff to Portsmouth was very late - 35 minutes late at Bath Spa and 64 minutes late by Trowbridge.  The Swindon train left (according to Real Time Trains) a minute after the Portsmouth train arrived (08:58, 08:59), so it is possible that the Swindon train had to wait for someone with route knowledge.    There was a Paddington to Penzance train on the TransWilts - passed through Melksham at 09:02, so that would have cause a further few minutes hold at Bradford Junction.   Real time trains shows no time for the 08:22 ex Westbury at Melksham, and neither does http://www.mrug.org.uk/record.html - I suspect it ran up to Batheaston and reversed after all that.   The extra 10 minutes of delay when it re-appears at Thingley, 47 minutes late, provides further evidence to confirm that.

Yes the 08:22 did skip Melksham.

Line closed between Swindon and Didcot / emergency services dealing with an incident near the railway.

Congestion almost certainly due to this diversion:


Roll on a capacity increase ...

My understanding is that the incident is between Swindon and Didcot (near Uffington), not on the TransWilts, but ...

According to BBC Wiltshire it seems to be a problem at Dilton Marsh rather than an issue with the train.

Safety issue with the platform according to Journey Check, lasting for rest of service

Seems to be both platforms.  A service from Portsmouth Harbour not calling either.

Might it be problem with station lighting?

Understand it is the coping stones at the platform edge. May be closed over the weekend too.

Journeycheck shows all service that should have called not doing so today. In both directions, I note. Initially noted on the (extended) TransWilts services so posted on this board, is now more general to I have started a separate thread at http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=21259 .

Provided it connects at Westbury, no problem me thinks.

Return train back from Southampton to Westbury cancelled completely

So taking the path of the 21:20 cancelled train off Southampton.  Makes sense.

Delays this morning. 0704 WSB to CNM 27 minutes late and delayed the 0733 WSB to SWI by  10 to 15 minutes

Youve got to hand it to those Melksham Hub planners. The scheme has only just got through the Town Council, and already a ticket office is available  ;D

Indeed.  I was on it.

Bus ride, or changing at Westbury?

I am in something of a dilemma when the through Southampton trains - 06:36 and 19:15 at Melksham - have issues south of Westbury - to post under "TransWilts" or not.  These trains provide for two flows, both with a significant proportion of the passengers:

a) Passengers to Westbury changing there for onward journeys

b) Passengers travelling across Westbury

(for completeness, add flows from Swindon / Chippenham / Melksham to Trowbridge / Westbury as final rail destinations, and from Melksham to the Bristol area - change at Trowbridge)

These trains would be much more saleable and popular across Westbury if there were also through trains in the other direction!

On a photographic assignment at Warminster and Dilton Marsh.

Gave up on the plan and got the 07:04 back to Swindon!

 ;)

No other cancellations showing on JourneyCheck on GWR services as I write, though.

No information for passengers including Melksham passengers going to Weymouth on this Lovely day.

Rail Replacement buses Frome to Yeovil Pen Mill today. Replacing junction at Witham and presumably work between Castle Cary and Yeovil

Those dreaded blue lines on the map again ...



Not a massive problem ... darned site better than yesterday with the first southbound service not running until after 2 O'Clock in the afternoon!

All cancelled - broken down train.

16:32 Westbury to Swindon due 17:22

17:36 Swindon to Westbury due 18:20

18:32 Westbury to Swindon due 19:22

19:36 Swindon to Westbury due 20:20

Thanks for logging - I'm not here to do so.    ;D ;D

And again. Is this "pull a total service rather than reduce a five car on Cardiff - Portsmouth to three"?

Fine weather, bank holiday weekend ... trains are busy.    Just back from Melksham Station; getting very hard to count, but between 15 and 18 off the 18:48 arrival from Westbury / Trowbridge, with about 9 joining.

Engineering diversions through Melksham this weekend ... with almost a day's notice of the two cancellation above, should be plenty of time to order special stops on 1A80 and 1C85 at the intermediate TransWilts stations, shouldn't there?

And more ...



So that's a 31% cancellation rate (just 69% of trains running) tomorrow ...  at nearly 24 hours advanced notice, isn't there time to call in a standby?  Not exactly as if someone's failed to turn up for work, is it??

Not just on the Transwilts. Cardiff-Portsmouth affected also. Well it is a Bank Holiday weekend after all.

Yep - note that's been added ... also



So that's 46% cancelled ... any news of other trains on the line stopping to fill the gaps?

One round trip re-instated.

16:35 ex-Westbury and 17:23 ex-Swindon will now run.

Thank goodness ... "better late than never" ... I was at the station for the previous train up to Swindon ... 15 people waiting on the platform (I think 3 or 4 were just seeing people off) and 5 got off ... so even on the middle day of a bank holiday, middle of the day ... the traffic is there!

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/mkm_20190505_01.jpg)

Not on Journeycheck yet but the first service to Swindon is still sitting at Westbury while an engineering train is on the single line. 

The train should have left at 08:20.

EDIT: Train just left nearly 20 minutes late.

Always eventful ...


Lack of a loo isn't usually a problem on a 45 minute journey.  As this is over 2 hours, it could be become a wee problem!

Reminds me of the thread that we've got about 165 and 166 units being good for the shorter journeys ... but anyone headed all the way from Weymouth to Swindon might prefer the facilities of a 158 which (darn it) was designed for these middle distance journeys!

Really not a problem ... report from a user at Melksham Station suggests information board may have just been saying "delayed" due to the concerned nature of the text;  as often, the problem seems to be expanded rather than mitigated by what comes on customer information.

No problem provided it makes the Weymouth connection at Westbury

Should do - the TransWilts service has gone ahead of the Weymouth at Bradford Junction.  Those in the know could make a same platform change at Trowbridge.

Phew!    After the 10:10 from Westbury, there isn't another Weymouth train until 14:25, and there have been some very unfortunate near misses (of the connection) in the past. 

Some excellent work by the signallers at Westbury Panel.   The TransWilts allowed to go first even though it incurred a couple of minutes delay to the Weymouth service.

In the past I think the Weymouth used to go from Platform 1 at Westbury.  It is now booked from 2 with the TransWilts coming in on 3 - thus saving the chase down and up the stairs to make the connection.

No mention what passengers south of Swindon do....

Some very odd alternatives for the 21:22 Southampton to Westbury too

17:41 now partially re-instated.  Will run between Cheltenham and Westbury.

That sorts out the majority of issues ... 85 minute gaps and goodness knows what in through journey changes reduced to 40 minute delays southbound.  Northbound, the only significant delay (other than the odd unusual journey)  is for passengers to Warminster connecting from the London to Salisbury train - assuming there wasn't a rearrangement of the connections a couple of weeks back.

Hope people known it's re-instated.

This is an important get-to-work train for an admittedly not massive number of people.  It is no longer the "joke" train it was prior to 2013.

Next train is not for nearly three hours (06:52 then 09:41 into Westbury)

Alternatives - some very common flows on this train these days in addition to Melksham issues: 
06:16 from Swindon, change at Bath Spa, 07:35 into Westbury - 43 minutes late
07:28 to 08:10 Trowbridge to Salisbury (change Westbury) rather than 06:46 direct - over 30 minutes late
06:46 Trowbridge to Reading arrive 08:07 (change Westbury) now arrive 08:46, 39 minutes late
06:46 Trowbridge to Southampton Central arrive 08:09 now arrive 09:04, 55 minutes late

Doubly frustrating for anyone coming from Gloucester or Golden Valley line stations hoping to head south of Swindon - and a few do.

This week the Gloucester to Swindon leg is replaced by buses.   There is a "fast" one leaving Gloucester at 04:57 going direct to Swindon and another leaving even earlier at 04:17 calling at Stonehouse, Stroud and Kemble.  Both arrive at Swindon just before six - but with no onward connection today.

Are some of the knock-on delays being caused by the failed freight at Bathampton?

and


OK - fair enough on getting my money (or some of it) back but how do I get to Melksham??

12:49 partially re-instated - starts from Westbury to go to Frome, so the 14:10 from Frome will run to Swindon as booked.

That's a relief - I'm on the return leg of that (15:34 ex Chippenham) into Melksham.   Had me worried for a few!

May have been yesterday ... no such excuse available today.


The one train GWR choose to cancel (according to journey check) over their entire area.    Haven't "bothered" to post alternative arrangements ... and don't appear to be rushed off their feet.      See yesterday's post (3 or 4 messages up in this thread for just how much cancellation on the TransWilts mucks up commute-to-work flows.

Signalling has failed on the single line.  Pilotman now travelling aboard each train between Trowbridge and Chippenham.

The 12:20 Westbury to Swindon service will divert via Bathampton Junction. Congestion on the line now compounded by 1A79, which has reversed at Heywood Road Junction and is diverting via Melksham because of a cow being struck by a train at Urchfont. 6M40 freight is waiting to follow 1A79 (which is waiting for 2M08 to clear the single line) with 2M10 and 7B12 waiting to follow those up the single line as well.

It might have been sensible to send 1A79 up to Bathampton to keep the single line flowing. It would probably been quicker for 1A79 as well. Trains are now stacked from Bradford Junction back towards Westbury.

So that's the third cancellation of the day so far at Melksham ... seeing other post made in parallel and the animal on the line isn't even on the TransWilts.   Needs to have a significant capacity increase as it's become a pinch point.

I couldn't agree more. There are already times of the day when the line is worked to capacity. There are only limited margins to accommodate short notice diversions. As well as being an important route in its own right, it is also the key diversionary route for main line trains (passenger and freight) when there are problems anywhere between Westbury and Reading. The current capacity issues see the local service being made to give way in order to accommodate main line services, either being cancelled or sent via Bathampton.

Excellent ... approve of this one!

[9 minutes late off Swindon]

Or as described in Cornwall Live (https://www.cornwalllive.com/news/delays-after-train-hits-cow-2947889) ...


"A South West train service due to pass through the South West" .... love it!

I despair for the generation of journalists that followed me. 

I think you are being a little generous calling them journalists...more like click bait merchants.

Instructive to see what can be done:

9 late off Swindon. 6 late into Gloucester ... and just 1 late into Cheltenham Spa.
60 minutes (exactly) taken rather than 68 (scheduled) - saving around 13%

I am not advocating slashing timetable schedules - I would far rather have trains running to time than shaving a few minutes in theory and having the whole thing becoming a bit ropey in practise. Indeed, we are seeing decent performance on the current timetable from the IETs and I hope that quicker schedules from December won't result in a drop in performance against timetable.

Also to consider / comment on - on schedules, the timetable cannot know on a day by day basis which trains and at which stations passenger loading / unloading will take longer than usual.

07:01 gone from Westbury ... next train Westbury to Warminster and Saliisbury - 07:40, or 08:05 to Romsey and Southampton Central.

07:36 Salisbury to Southampton gone - next train 07:50.

LONG gap at Dilton Marsh

Grahame, was the customer, note the singular use of the word, you ?

I'm looking for the context of the question ... are you looking at the hold at Swindon last night?    No, not me, I was simply reporting on a feed. 

I suspect the singular word was really for multiple customers, as in a shortening of "customer flow".  There are usually quite a number of people connecting off London expresses to the local trains on the Stroud Valley line and I would expect the connection would have been held for dozens of people.  Swindon actually has an authorised "delay train to make connection" list telling staff how long they can hold each Gloucester / Cheltenham Spa local to wait for passengers from London / Reading / Didcot.

Not good

GWR seem to have real trouble providing this train for a variety of reasons ... and it's one that people have come to rely on ... looks like Billy and me will be driving to the Great Global Greyhound Walk (https://www.greatglobalgreyhoundwalk.co.uk/uk-walk-schedule/) in Monkton Park, just a few hundred yards from Chippenham Station.  Pity really - both myself and the organiser of the local walk (and our hounds) are keen users of the TransWilts trains, as are our hounds ...

Noting Bobm posted in parallel to me ... and that three more services have been added to the list. Special treatment for the TransWilts again at the moment - nothing else showing cancelled across GWR land ...

Not that it matters much to those left without a train - but the cause of all four cancellations was down to the lack of a driver rather than a guard.

As usual, no advice from GWR as to what passengers should do.   I can remember back in BR times "We apologise that the xxxx from here to there is cancelled.   Passengers should catch xxxxxxx (whatever) "

Could have been a bit embarrassing ... "The 08:20 is cancelled. As the 10:30 is also cancelled, the next train to Melksham will be at 12:36".  Realistically, alternatives would have been provided if asked for, but by not offering the train company probably helps to suppress demand for what's going to be an inferior service from them, and which would cost them quite a bit to provide.  I am explaining, not condoning!

Up train from Frome cancelled from Westbury to Swindon too??

Yep

I think the fault with the signalling system may have been the major axle counter system failure at Bristol TM which stopped the job for a good two hours.  When I looked at OTT maps during that failure a number of Porstsmouth-Cardiff trains were being held in the platforms at Westbury so perhaps there was no space for the TRANSWILTS service (or shortage of train crew due to the disruption).

and

Previous train cancelled - although busy, the 07:04 Westbury to Swindon is followed by this 07:33 so people are only 30 minutes late.  A (further) three minute delay is just a shrug of the shoulders and with 90 mph stock on a 75mpt timed services (assuming a 16x or 158) time should be made up.

Just to note the 07:36 from London Paddington to Cheltenham Spa has also been cancelled in addition to the 07:04 from Westbury so that’s s big gap on the Golden Valley Line.

Very odd. The axle counters on platforms 1 & 2 at Swindon have failed which prevents any trains leaving those platforms and heading for Wootton Bassett Junction.

The incoming service on the TransWilts from Frome was crossed to the Down Main at Wootton Bassett junction and arrived on platform 4 just before 15:10.  Unfortunately it couldn’t stay there until 15:19 because of a service to Cardiff due in at 15:14.  So the 15:19 TW service set off at 15:15 to head to Chippenham.  Officially it was cancelled at Swindon but I wonder if anyone waiting for the train was allowed to board. 

Not sure if they were cancelled (and then re-instated) because of the signalling problems at Swindon or the fire alarms going off at Westbury Panel causing the signallers to be evacuated for a short while.

Westbury panel issue.   They also diverted the 15:03 PAD tp PNZ via MKM ... 7 minute delay to the 16:37 MKM to SWI which I am now on.

1519 definitely left Swindon with some passengers on board

7 O'Clock in the morning and ...



At 10 hours notice, GWR really should be able to find a stand by driver from the considerable number they employ.   

Difficult call at what point to announce a cancellation - it really mucks people about who are planning day trips if the service can be re-instated and the cancellation can be turned into a "false alarm", and yet if people go out for the day not realising there may be. problem getting home ...

Personal view would be to:
a) provide a statistical feed  - "20% chance not running" or "80% not running" together with "we'll  know better at 10 a.m." Some may argue about the extra effort to get this data out, but the planners already know it anyway.  Some may argue that Jo Public may not understand the estimates.
b) At 10 hours notice, plenty of time to have a standby rail replacement bus in place and to publish its times.  This is the busiest train of the day ... and theres a long gap after it ....

I'll admit that when I see a blue streak on the map at the top of the forum in a certain place, I roll my eyes and think "what this time".  This time - not a problem  ;D

Knock on ...

..and a knock on to the knock on.

The 08:00 London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads was four minutes late at Swindon but lost another four minutes after catching up the TransWilts service before Thingley Junction.

Yeah ... the Swindon to Westbury train was formed of 150243 which has a top speed of 75 mph, even though the units supposed to be on these diagrams now are 165s with a top speed of 90 mph.  The 150 is perfectly adequate for the job (happy to have them) and even made up most of the time after Melksham. Really makes one wonder how the timetable will perform when ripples from those little events such as overhead problems ... or wheelchair passengers taking longer to load,  more than usual passenger flows, police called to deal with passengers knock the schedule - examples, you'll note, that are not really of GWR origin.

Signaller was short of options with 08:53 off Swindon.

There was a late running train to Cheltenham in Platform 3 needing to cross in front of the bay.   There was a service from South Wales waiting at Rushey Platt for the Cheltenham to leave, with the unit from Gloucester via Bristol behind it (which needed the bay the TW unit was sat in).

Meanwhile there was a service to South Wales and the 08:00 from London queuing for Platform 4.

So after the Cheltenham left, the service from South Wales was signalled into Platform 3 as the service to Swansea departed from Platform 4.   Then the TW was let out in front of the Bristol to free the bay for the other unit waiting outside. 

The 08:53 left nine minutes late.

Err ... GWR should know passenger flows and rough numbers and be able to get alternatives in place in good time - not waiting until people get to the station and press the help point button before suitable road transport is sourced.    Waiting until people call in before pressing the green button - even if it has been primed - is NOT "as quickly as possible".

What a surprise - not.

Busiest train of the day ...

Surely it should be the duty of the TOC to take responsibility for the passengers and not expect them to go chasing for info regarding their travel arrangements and provide the facility at the booked time of the train..   I regularly see requests from GWR in the event of cancellations on Cornish Branches for passengers to use the Help Points and to tell them how many are there are and their travel. details.

Yes - I agree. In theory - but I have a degree of sympathy for train operators and for the environment at the financial and environmental cost of running around number > 1 of replacement vehicles carrying fresh air to and from stations that would have offered little or no traffic anyway.

Some West Country branches are primarily end to end ... with some intermediate station calls made only on request.   Divide the number of passenger journeys to or from the station in a year by the number of trains timetabled to call if required, and you'll get a figure of just 1 or 2.  And in those cases, although the principle may be wrong, the pragmatic approach is to run replacement on demand.   I suspect end to end for every such line the  traffic is far, far higher - the stations in question being characterised in normal service by busy trains calling but hardly anyone getting on or off.

Where an average usage per train in not just 1 or 2 journeys, but much higher - different guidelines should apply.  They should apply to the termini of the West Country branches, and they should apply to certain intermediate stations such as Crediton (around 6 journeys per average train), Falmouth Town (around 10 journeys per average train) and Melksham (around 14 journeys per average train).  In those cases, as soon as there's a probability of the station loosing its service an alternative should be put in place.

Cost of providing alternative transport makes your TOC weep?   Maybe - and the solution is to fix the underlying problems where things keep going wrong.   4 out of 18 lost today at Melksham - that's a 22% cancellation rate.  How do you cut the cost of rail replacements?   Reduce the cancellation rate to under 5%, then you'll have cut your rail replacement costs to less than a quarter, AND you will have a lot more happy customers - happy because they'll have been able to use the train service they [morally] contacted for when they planned their day or booked their ticket.

With the problems today being caused by signal problems there should be no cost to the TOC as NR would have to pick up the tab

aka the taxpayer.

Wonder if that means a Westbury crew need a lift home.  They could offer taxi seats to displaced passengers. 

That would have worked a few years ago - now you need a coach with more than 8 seats.

Well .... we had the First bus in the Melksham Carnival parade and managed to work out lifts etc to get everyone from out of town home soon after the parade finished ... I'm just cooling down and will see if I got any decent pictures in the process of handing out a LOT of leaflets!

Thought of you in the heat.  Headed west to Wales although signalling problems meant a change of destination.

These won't run next Sunday either as it is rail replacement all day on July 7th.

I hope GWR are pleased with themselves after we handed out a thousand leaflets yesterday at the Melksham Carnival telling people about (amongst other things) the great Weymouth trips on Sundays.

GWR don't seem too bothered ...

Me:

Reply:

I followed up "Thank you Celia.  What should people who have planned a day trip to Weymouth leaving at 09:47 do.  Don't you provide road alternatives?".  Celia cut and pasted her previous "answer" back ... oh dear.

There are times like this that it's very difficult to be the candid friend.

As if proof were needed about the issues these cancellations cause...

(http://www.mbob.co.uk/rforum/mkm3006.png)

Does Celia even work for GWR?

Being ‘out of hours’ isn’t the Twitter feed manned by National Rail staff in India?

GWR usually provide a more detailed response during normal ‘opening’ hours.

It’s done from Swindon/Plymouth all the time I believe, just someone between 00:00-06:00 normally does multiple things.

Slightly irksome that four successive cancellations are called "delays".   

She's representing GWR and at a time that they're very much open for business. Whether she's an employee or working for them on contract really isn't important to passengers.  I do suspect she may have had rather more incoming tweets than she had time to properly investigate prior to answering this morning. And I do feel she's offered operational comments from the railway's viewpoint and not practical solutions to how customers can now make their journeys.


And I note that the train she offered as an alternative to Weymouth actually runs ... the other way to Swindon!

The messages on Journeycheck have been updated to include...

Oh no it won't ... scheduled at 12:52 maybe but


We'll forgive passenger disturbance - outside GWR's control.  Lack of all morning service because they don't have enough staff 5 years into the service  is very, very hard to forgive.

The first "up" train of the day 16 late at Melksham in the end.   Held to let the London train it should have connected with at Swindon through ahead of it, 21 late into Swindon - so it arrived there after it was due to start on the journey back.   As a result ...

...and just to round off the day.  The later services ran with a unit lacking a working toilet. 

And to round off the month, a summary of performance for the last 28 days (I have chosen that rather than 30 days to get an equal number of each day of the week, and to have same period length as the railway)

Melksham stats - trains scheduled to call but not calling at Melksham. Compiled from the running log at http://www.mrug.org.uk/record.html on the Melksham Rail User Group web site which is compiled from Tiger feeds.

day   lost   reason given
30   4   A shortage of train crew
29   1   A fault on this train
27   2   A shortage of train crew
27   1   no reason given, 13:55
25   4   a fault with the signalling system
22   2   A shortage of train crew
19   1   A fault on this train
14   2   a fault with the signalling system
10   2   A fault on this train
9   4   A shortage of train crew
6   1   Animals on the railway earlier today
6   1   a fault with the signalling system
6   1   A shortage of train crew
6   2   no raason given, 09:18 and 11:12
5   2   a broken down train
5   1   A shortage of train crew

31 cancellations in 28 days over 16 different incidents
Trains (or planned replacement buses) scheduled 476
Cancellation rate 6.5%

14   A shortage of train crew
7   A signalling fault
6   A train fault
3   Reason not logged (at least 2 are congestion, train ran but via Bathampton rather than Melksham)
1   Animals on the railway

Note - the stats are kind - i.e. could be worse
* "23   13   Bus   " Recording systems do not log running of planned rail replacement buses.
* Cancellation that are notified but then trains re-instated loose confidence and business but are not logged
* Delays not analysed in detail; worst was 22 minutes , most just a few minutes. 283 trains "On Time".

---

Comment - if GWR had its own house in order (enough crews and trains that routinely worked when out in service), two thirds of the problem would be cured.  We do get train faults on other operator's trains, but in June I believe none of the cancellations were due to freights "sitting down".

grahame, your 1st July summary of the previous four weeks said that no delays/cancellations to TW services were due to freights 'sitting down'.

You tempted fate by saying that. This morning's cancellation was for precisely that reason.

At the risk of becoming too much of a "Crayonista", I do wonder why the mid-afternoon TransWilts diagram, leaving a gaping hole in services, was the one to be canned.  A quick comb through Real Time Trains and informed by a bit of local knowledge, suggests that the 13:29 off Swindon, 14:10 into Westbury, could have turned around and left at 14:24, picking up the path of the 14:10 ex Frome to Swindon - service re-instated.

The 13:29 ex Swindon, though, does not sit idle at Westbury and the following alternatives would be lost:
14:38 Westbury to Bristol Parkway (but there's another train 14 minutes later)
15:44 Bristol Parkway to Bath Spa (but there's another train 12 to 14 minutes later)
16:45 Bath Spa to Bristol Parkway (but there's another train 10 earlier and one 16 later)
17:44 Bristol Parkway to Westbury (but there's another train 13 minutes later).
Not quite that simple - a slightly different stopping pattern and a couple of special stop notices needed, and in the case of the 15:44 passengers from Parkway a need to change at Temple Meads as the alternative train comes from Cardiff.

As a TransWilts user, we usually just shrug off delays of quarter of an hour - seems a bit harsh to run nothing on our line just so that others don't have a delay we would shrug off!

It's a pretty awful day all round to be honest with this morning's major signalling problems, more this afternoon & broken down trains.  I think everyone is feeling the pain, I know I was! 🙂

You make some perfectly reasonable suggestions but the railways lack agility......fragility however they have by the bucketload!

The 16:21 from Westbury and 17:36 from Swindon have been reinstated.

The 16:21 will leave late due to waiting for a unit from an incoming service to form the train.

Edit to add: 16:21 eventually left 19 minutes late.

Been distributing leaflets and encouraging people to use the train at the Semington Village Fete.  Then I get home to ...



This should be so rare that I am surprised.  Sadly, I am not surprised.

This might be worse than cancellations
Passenger anger as trains miss last stops to Rugeley
(https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-48887425?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/england&link_location=live-reporting-story)

Trains subsequently revised to run to and from Chippenham.
Manual announcements at Swindon telling people to catch the Taunton train and change.
Automatic announcements saying the next direct service is 21:06.

Yes - after the 17:36 cancelled ("due to a planning error" says Real Time Trains), the 19:36 started from Chippenham - the 18:32 from Westbury to Swindon running three quarters of an hour late so wouldn't have had the time to do the complete trip

Ironically, Bradshaw - after you posted that yesterday the 18:32 Westbury to Swindon left Westbury at 19:18 and was terminated at Chippenham at 19:52 - that was 52 minutes late.  The return journey started form Chippenham at 19:56 - 3 minutes late from there. 

Most passengers for the train FROM Swindon would have caught it - they were being directed to the 19:30 train from there which left on time, to change at Chippenham; only those who arrived at Swindon Station in the final 5 minutes would have been diappoited - next train to Melksham, Trowbridge and Westbury not until 21:06.

Passengers TO Swindon would have had a wait of around 50 minutes at Chippenham as the late running train from Westbury followed the Swindon and London express into the only platform practically available at that time and the next one wasn't for an hour by that time of the evening.

"If only there was a bay platform at Chippenham" ... but there isn't any longer.  And in the circumstances of the train being 45 minutes late of Westbury, the decision made and what was done were the best that could be achieved. The major Swindon flow on that train would be FROM Swindon not TO Swindon, and (in theory at least) passengers from Westbury and Trowbridge to Chippenham and Swindon would have been re-directed to the 18:46 Cheltenham Spa train, change at Bath Spa and with ticket acceptable for "via Melksham" journeys in place to allow that.

Having said that the best that could be achieved was achieved, we should also look back at the root cause of the problems with one round trip cancelled and the next 50 minutes late in the "up" direction.  Journey check told us lack of train crew for the first trip, and real time trains told us "planning error".  The delay and curtailment was due to "problem under investigation" and it remains under investigation this morning.  Reading what we are told and seeing how it can all fit, I suspect that the was a crew shortage because no crew was rostered for the journeys in the first place!   Sounds like an own goal ...

---

Right. Hednesford and Rugeley.

The train from Birmingham to Rugeley (Trent Valley) runs every 30 minutes, with a 5 minute turn around at
Rugeley (TV).  At the May timetable change, this has become a through train from London (Euston) and knock on delays have meant that Birmingham departures have become less reliable.  Where a train has been (significantly ?) late on its way towards Rugeley it has been turned around 2 stops short at Hednesford.   There was an example yesterday morning where the train was 20 minutes late and it turned round at Hednesford, picking up the return journey on time, but "dumping" passengers wanting Rugeley Town or Rugeley Trent Valley there at Hednesford.  Reason given - getting the inbound train back on time, dumping a few for the greater good of the many on the ongoing diagram.

Sound harsh and unfair?   Yes - except that on a 30 minute service, if you turn around one train because it's 20 late to get back on timetable, you only impose an extra 10 minute delay on the "dumped" passengers.  My first thought looking at this was "have buses and taxis ready to mitigate" but there would have been no point - by the time people transferred, it would have been slower waiting for the next train.

Incoming passengers from Rugeley?  If the delayed train has carried on its full trip they would still have been 15 minutes late even on an "instant" turn around ... so an extra 15 minutes - well, on the TransWilts we would just shrug our shoulders unless a connection was lost at Westbury. Buses and taxis at the time the train was due would not have helped for they would have taken longer than the train and missed the ongoing rail link at Hednesford.

The reason this issue has come up in Staffordshire is the joining of the London - Birmingham and Birmingham - Rugeley services which has coupled together two sets of reliability issues on a new timetable that's just bedding in.

Regarding post on Hednesford turnarounds.

A few years ago now, in the time of Alison Forster as MD, FGW had a timetable with a few minutes turnarounds at journeys ends and it didn't work, don't these big corporations EVER LEARN ?

Holding the 19:30 departure by 6 minutes would have been have made it better

The Great Malvern to Westbury and beyond seem to have a 20 min turn around on arrival at GMV. Even so a number regularly get turned around at Worcester due to late running. This puts pressure on shortening the circuit, say to Gloucester for these services, or even to Parkway.
However, if one builds in too great a turn around then inefficiencies in utilisation of stock and crews start to appear. It is a difficult balance.
With the arrival of the new franchise the Liverpool to Norwich service has been cut into two sections at Nottingham. This is seen as increasing punctuality but at the cost of through journeys for customers.
To what extent are these events being a response to the TOC punctuality requirements?

This turn round time results from the ecs travelling to Malvern Wells to cross over to the right road, a move which takes 10 minutes on its own

Indeed, and for this year (only) where you have trains capable of achieving better than the timetable, it should have made that time up.   Real Time Trains shows the 19:30 from Swindon to Taunton having longer-than-schedued stops in Chippenham, in Bath Spa and at Bristol Temple Meads as it waited for its timetabled departure.

It's a hugely difficult balance to strike.   

Looking back to the summer 1999 timetable, trains from Weymouth only ran as far as Bristol, except for the final service of the day which ran to Swansea on Fridays, Cardiff on Monday to Thursday during the school holidays (joining with a train from Portsmouth at Westbury), and just to Westbury on summer Mondays to Thursdays outside the school holidays.   The extension up to Worcester was added to make for better turn around times at Bristol on Weymouth and on Worcester trains, and I think the further extension to Malvern was added when both Wales and West and Central were National Express franchises and the service level needed was, again, one train more efficient using the Wales and West unit rather than the Central one.

Once the services which historically were not linked come together, how much extra traffic is generated?   I don't know but unscientific observation suggests that most people change at Bristol Temple Meads.  There is no requirement for the service to be joined ( http://gwr.passenger.chat/gwr_slc3b.pdf ) (my bolding of the word "may")


and indeed there is no requirement for them to be joined at Westbury


In the case of Westbury, there is a considerable volume of "through hub" traffic, and splitting the route there would be much more than an operational matter - it would matter to passengers and should matter to the Community Rail Partnership(s) for the line.

It's not unknown to have a late running Weymouth to Malvern train terminate at Bristol Temple Meads, and an extra train started from there to complete the journey and get the diagram back on time. Through passengers are undoubtedly inconvenienced, though I wouldn't like to put numbers on them;  with a change to a Cross Country service, anyone from the Weymouth line to Bristol Parkway or Cheltenham Spa has a fallback train, and passengers for Filton Abbey Wood can probably get a Cardiff train quite soon.

Other splits talked about in the past include all Cross Country services at Birmingham New Street ... now that so much of the really long distance traffic has been lost to air ...

It seems there may be caution creeping in on Teeside - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-48901117


and the reasoning ...

Expanding one of those ...

16:21 Westbury to Swindon due 17:03
16:21 Westbury to Swindon due 17:03 was terminated at Chippenham.
It will no longer call at Swindon.
This is due to a fault on this train.

Not surprised at this - I was on that train up until Melksham and it was definitely limping, if that's the right word. It took it at least three attempts to pull away from Melksham, and there's no slope to speak of heading north.

Well let's hope they get it sorted out before anybody starts asking awkward questions in Melksham this afternoon  ;D

The 1036 ex-Swindon left at 1120, 44 late. I wonder how far it will get?

Bathampton Junction is the answer, it just departed from there at 12:05 heading for Westbury.

For the record, the 13:32 Westbury to Swindon and the 14:36 Swindon to Westbury services were cancelled as well

This has also affected services between Bath and Swindon with a number of London-Bristol-London services diverted via Badminton between Bristol and Swindon:

Sad to report the rest of the day’s service via Melksham have now been cancelled or diverted:


The following currently shown as cancelled with the others being diverted:

Ta for the update. The 15:14 Westbury to Swindon and the 15:22 Swindon to Warminster services are running via Bathampton for crew and diagramming purposes as these services are used to swap over the units on the Golden Valley services. All of the other services are out and back workings from Westbury and have been cancelled.  :(

Might see some re-instatements.   The axle counters were fixed just after 16:30.

Was this 'inside information' you had, as I'd not noticed anything written on Journey Check, etc?
Just curious, nothing more  ;)

Friends in higher places than me....  ;)

…………...people still rely on Journeycheck?  :D :D :D :D :D :D

It is now...

Looks like the final cancellation is ... only the busiest train of the day!

Units across the network are dropping like flies in the warm weather. Melksham loses the following three services;

16:21 Westbury to Swindon.
17:36 Swindon to Westbury.
17:45 Cheltenham Spa to Southampton Central.

Only the busiest train of the day at 17:36 !!

And they really should be proactive for busy trains and not wait for people to call in for replacement!

Replacement should, as you say, be on site at the train time.    How long is it going to take to provide if no arrangements are put in place until passengers call.   

A LONG time ... I have spend unpleasant hours with no feedback to tell me how much longer.

17:45 ex-Cheltenham was reinstated to start from Swindon.

And it can be done ...

Thanks for letting us know ... not a problem at all!

Down train that forms this has had to wait around Bruton for the line to be available.  Let's watch the diagram for the day and see how the time's made up.


Real Time trains for Dorchester West currently suggesting the 10:29 to Weymouth at 11:25, and the 11:18 to Swindon being on time.   Which as it's the same train ...

Why posting on TransWilts?   A faint whiff that the train might be turned around early somewhere. Dorchester West (hold the 11:24 at Dorchester South for 10 minutes and let people run across?) seems unlikely and would probably test the train crew under passenger pressure.  Sadly, looks ripe for TransWilts disruption though a carefully timed turnaround at Chippenham might make sense.

BUT

Thanks for that update, bobm ... looks like "they" may have recovered as best as possible in the circumstances.  Passenger already painfully late into Dorchester West dropped back to the train that was "just" (in Heart of Wessex terms) behind to complete their trip into Weymouth, and the train they were decanted off starting back - though still late - towards Westbury.   Breaking that into two services at Westbury, so that the Swindon service could leave on time. 

I have no data, but I suspect passenger numbers through Westbury on this train are not huge - so looks very much line the best of a bad job.  Once the down train was an hourly late of Castle Cary, it's hard to see a better solution and I'm glad there was stock and crew at Westbury available to do what they have done.

I suspect, although I don't know for certain, that there is a crew change at Westbury for that service so it was *only* a case of finding a spare unit - but we know how hard that has been at times.  In this case the unit from the incoming 11:28 from Swindon was pressed into service rather than going to the sidings.  The unit from Weymouth will then go to the sidings when it arrives.

The 11:47 Westbury to Swindon service is currently sat on the single line at Thingley Junction because of multiple axle counter failures in the Chippenham area. It will eventually terminate at Chippenham.

Might be another case of not trusting Journeycheck then for the return working....

That's different! I would hazard a guess that it was originally intended to terminate at Chippenham and immediately vacate the station (to allow reversible working) by heading to Melksham to wait for the scheduled departure time of the return working.

RTT shows the 1147 ex-Westbury as RT departure from Melksham, 73 late at Thingley and 84 late into Chippenham at 1336

The return working to Frome set off from Chippenham at 1355, 84 late

So whilst a service was provided, any poor sod who had got on at Melksham just to go to Chippenham was sitting on that train from 1202 to 1336.

Similarly, any poor sod who was expecting a train at Melksham at 1313 to take them to Trowbridge, Westbury or Frome, was sitting on the platform until 1406.

Another couple of no-good advertisements for the service...

The 14:10 Frome to Swindon and 15:19 Swindon to Westbury services are cancelled as well.

Ouch!

The only positive was that the 13:25 departure from Swindon to Chippenham (which actually departed at 13:28) connected with the waiting Trans-Wilts service at Chippenham, which was delayed to the extent that it was effectively running in the place of the 13:29 Swindon to Westbury service.

Indeed, but a great advertisement for the X34 bus service.

The 1832 Westbury to Swindon and 2008 Swindon to Westbury services are cancelled owing to the crew being displaced by a broken down freight train between Salisbury and Westbury.

Edit; beaten to it by Graham!  :)

You provided the extra data though, thank you.

"Only" 9 minutes late at Melksham

And repeating yesterday ...

Some time put on it now ... and the next train later too.



I was asked / answering earlier in a limited board (the "Transport Scholars" one) as to whether trains ever called at Melksham and no-one got on or off.   It's very rare indeed - but it may happen with the 07:33 from Westbury this morning as the 07:04 is so late it'll be carrying all the passengers for both trains.

I have summarised the log (this thread) for July and current data at http://www.mrug.org.uk/record.html ...

Of a total of 530 timetabled train services (data at Melksham)
298 - ran on time
174 - ran delayed by less than 10 minutes
34 - trains cancelled
15 - buses (planned / scheduled engineering) - no idea of their timekeeping at Melksham
11 - ran but seriously late (52, 46, 40, 27, 25, 24, 23, 14, 14, 13 and 11 minutes late)
Note - adds up to 532 as 2 extra buses ran (15 buses for 13 trains on 7th July)

Cancellation reasons:
7 - a fault on this train
2 - a broken down train
6 - a shortage of train crew
15 - a fault with the signalling system
2 - a fault with the signalling system earlier today
2 - more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time

At least 5 trains failed to call at all booked stations. Possibly not a complete list - autolog does not cover this
2 terminated at Chippenham
1 which should have been from Weymouth started at Westbury
1 to Weymouth skipped Frome
1 started from Chippenham rather than Swindon

Cancellations and delays (by day of week)
Monday      6 cancelled   3 very late
Tuesday      3 cancelled   2 very late
Wednesday   2 cancelled   4 very late
Thursday   2 cancelled   1 very late
Friday      4 cancelled   0 very late
Saturday   11 cancelled   1 very late
Sunday      6 cancelled   0 very late   13 replaced by buses
Note - 1st 3 days of month had no problems - so this can be read as either a last 28 day or last 31 day log

Longest delays -

124 minutes (12:03 to Swindon on 29th - got stuck at Thingley and terminated at Chippenham at 13:36, 84 minutes late. Connection did not reach Swindon until 14:36 - 124 minutes after it was due!)

7th July / Bus from Swindon to Chippenham, 10 minutes late from Swindon, passed bus to Trowbridge as it went up the hill to the station on Chippenham and connecting passengers had option of waiting 2 hours for next bus or carrying on, by bus, to Bath for a train for Trowbridge. Passenger on bus from Swindon reported that the bus leaving for Trowbridge that they passed looked empty.  Around lunch time?

---

Note - the extra northbound bus on Sunday 7th July really appreciated as it provides cover both for people who need to leave earlier when it's a bus (slower) to get to work on time, and also those who really cannot leave until the normal train time.

Edited to correct spellings

First of a new month.   First cancellation at Melksham of the month ...

Now partially re-instated - starts from Westbury.

Excellent ... a step in the right direction.  And there was me being a miserable git and waiting for the cancellation of the 13:30-ish Swindon to Weymouth.

But its not a cancellation is it?

RTT showing RT Melksham, 3L Bradford Jcn, 21L Trowbridge and 23L at Frome

Return working currently RT at Chippenham and has been reported RT all the way.

Correct - thread is "cancellation and amendments log" - with backup data such as that just above being one of the sources used to help the Melksham Rail User Group report back to TransWilts on the performance from a Melksham perspective.   See Reply No. 293 for the (1st August) report

The example above is a relatively minor one - "only" 22 minutes - though anyone making connections to the Waterloo or Taunton train would have been having kittens!   Looking on Real Time Trains, the Waterloo was stuck behind anyway, and the Taunton connection made by less than 4 minutes.

Can't use the "Sunday is voluntary" reason as it's a Tuesday!   But good to see road replacement transport is in place - a step in the right direction.  Now - please - tell people at Melksham via the help point screen that the bus or taxis will be along.   I'm not at the station - finger crossed that the common sense of putting something appropriate and informative on the display will happen.

A train of multiple parts - in other words people are getting on and off along the way - so I wouldn't expect this to be a major issue even if it's three hours end to end.

Fingers crossed you're right Graham - and legs.

If it sticks to Diagram it will be carrying some desperate passengers on the 1730 from Weymouth

It was swapped for a 166 at Bristol TM on its way back from Southampton and sent to the naughty step at SPM.

Relief

4 O'Clock in the morning and journey checks already reporting


Thank you for the good notice.  But pretty poor show that - with how many drivers - GWR can't find a single driver for a contracted service at 14 hours notice.

When expanded, both reports of the form

Plenty of time to arrange alternative transport, especially as the 2006 is the last Melksham service of the day

OK - Thank you  ;D ;D ... logged as an "amendment" and in no way a problem


Edit to add

Logged, I note, at 06:46. 

* I hope alternatives can be arranged at 12 hours notice

* I have a meeting in Bristol .. arrivals back gap into Melksham from 15:45 to 18:48. No mention of any alternative ... will probably not arrive back in Melksham on public transport ... therefore (knock on) won't leave on public transport in the first place.

Depressing.  People use this train.  Not only for days out but also to get to work.  Real social need.  The lack of one (just possibly two) people mucks up the day for dozens ...

Speechless ...

Afraid you are going to be struck dumb now Graham... two more

Missed two

For the record - from our disruption map a few minutes ago

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/mkm_can_20190818.jpg)

Looks like TransWilts disproportionatly picked on again ... I think there may be one or two afternoon trips left.

As I write / a couple of Cardiff - Portsmouths came up.  One late start from Cardiff due to overrunning engineering and one that's only running part route (not starting from Portsmouth) again for crew reasons. I make it at least three crews down.  So it's not "just" someone calling in sick, then!

Gunnislake Branch hit again too.

Two round trips cancelled so far.

An endemic problem and this is exactly the sort of thing I was referring to yesterday Graham in my post replying to you on ensuring crew availability when the new timetable comes in.

It's all very well blowing trumpets about extra services, capacity etc,but putting train times in a timetable if you don't ensure that you have the personnel to crew them becomes rather futile.

GWR seem to have a real issue with basic workforce management, and it's now moving from being a "Sunday problem" to one which goes on throughout the week.

Totally agree with you.   

As our survey said ... reliability, reliability, reliability.

It happens to be a Sunday today ... but it is not just Sunday problem.  Indeed my July log for our local CRP analysed by day of the week for July showed up problems in just the one month on every day of the week, and there whilst Sunday wasn't good, within statistical bounds of the same it was no worse than other days.

On Friday I had a meeting (with GWR) in Bristol.   I drove out of Melksham and back in because of the train I expected to catch back, and the following one, both being cancelled - fortunately ahead of time.   I did not fancy a two hour wait or standing around waiting for replacement transport.  And if I take that view ...

Then we know we have a problem.

No comfort for those north of Westbury but the 11:00 from Weymouth will now run as far as Westbury with the return starting back from there too.

That is now the whole day's service between Swindon and Westbury (and return) cancelled.

I think that's now every single service gone.

From my mailbox:


Clearly out of date - next train 07:20 tomorrow.

Twitter exchange on alternative arrangements


I'm noting "to their destinations" ... which is a rather bigger and better offer for passengers headed for a day out in Weymouth than might have been expected.


Edit to add ...   Sadly, Journey check somewhat contradicts, as it suggests that the taxis will only be ordered on demand (and you need to know to demand).   Extraordinary for a station which has passenger getting on to virtually every train

So how long before GWR management are making comments again that they are disappointed at the continued slow growth in passenger numbers (as I think you commented has happened before Grahame).

I don't think we have seen any answers yet from the questions that Mark wasn't able to answer on the 5th, including the one on cancellations due to staff shortages.  Maybe those preparing a response could have today's debacle drawn to their attention for particular comment?

Are there any penalties in the franchise letting / agreement from a financial aspect regarding cancelled trains.

Are there any GWR / union agreements in force to allow stand by / call in payments to be made to staff who volunteer to 'stand by' on rostered days off even though their attendance may not be required.

The recent power outage has prompted the energy regulator to threaten NG with a huge fine in the form of  a percentage of their annual something.

Thats wrong, why should the company 'pay the price' of the people at the tops decisions, i.e. lack of / stifling investment.

Company Law should include for penalties for directors whos actions cause distress to others, whoever they are, customers or shareholders.

Take the case of Woolworths, their £800 million deficit didn't occur overnight, it was building up for years.

Take the case of Carillion, their deficit was increasing after the first set of accounts were published. I have long believed that bankruptcy occurred when bills couldn't be paid when they became due, yet didn't Carillion put back their payment terms from 30 to 60 days, then 90 days, etc. I have not seen reports of many directors of any company compulsory wound up taken to task and losing their million £ mansions to recompense suppliers for their losses, the Pension Fall Back Fund (or whatever they're called) and the Insolvency Service who have to pick up the bill for redundancy payments for failed companies. Philip Green is the only one widely reported but he got off lightly, has he still got his 3 in number multi million £ yachts and his villa in Monte Carlo to prove a point ?

Rant over and whilst starting off as a reply to the thread title strayed a bit off '2019 - Transwilts cancellations and amendments log', sorry.

 

I would characterise it currently as "disappointed but totally understanding" from GWR and indeed comment has been as to how it earth passenger numbers haven't done worse over the last couple of years.  The big danger comes not initial from the GWR team who, however, really should be able to provide the staff ... but rather from the various third parties who give them and their associates direction / support.   

Organisations such as the Department for Transport, the Western Gateway sub National Transport Body, the LEP and Wiltshire Council - all of which have fare wider interests than just train services across 297 stations - will see the stats and the end of the meteoric growth without realising it's because of serious supply problems rather than a peaking of demand.


Correct.   The questions were delayed (at the Coffee Shop end) prior to being forwarded and unfortunately for us (but not for him - I hope he is enjoying and recharging batteries) Mark is on leave.    I don't know what the remaining questions were - rather I stood back to allow me to actually ask a question;  reading between the lines, you asked one staff shortages, Celestial.

I think you're conflating a number of issues but as I understand it (II please keep me honest!), despite the railways being a 7 day business, in their Ts & Cs GWR drivers do not have Sunday as part of the "working week" so can opt out of working them, if they do work them they are regarded as overtime but as train drivers are now extremely highly paid (relatively speaking given the nature of the job) the overtime rates are not particularly attractive.

This has been an issue for several years now with Sunday services regularly decimated.and you do get the impression that GWR have placed it at the bottom of the "difficult to deal with" pile, as the Unions will no doubt see it as an opportunity to screw more money out of the employer for the bruvvers to bring them in line with every other 7 day operation in the country.

Meanwhile, customers suffer and have to stuff themselves onto whichever (if any) massively overcrowded services are still running.

Try a Penzance - Paddington on a Sunday afternoon when 50% of the service is cancelled (it's bad enough when they all run!), the A38 will seem like paradise.

It's increasingly however becoming an issue in the working week too, which on many levels is more worrying.

Ultimately it's basic workforce management, which the likes of Hopwood and those at the top should be across and resolving. It's the sort of thing Directors get paid 6 figure salaries for.

No, mine was to do with battery trains greening the Cornish branches. But I think TaplowGreen suggested that a question had been asked on the subject.

I asked if a question on crew shortages had been put forward by anyone, if memory serves, Graham wasn't sure.

If one had been, I'd be amazed if it didn't make the cut for the "live" event, but then again I'm not privy to the others which were put forward or the criteria used to select them.

Now a Twitter reply:-

I'm sorry to hear there isn't enough staff. Surely it can't be cheaper running taxis back and forth opposed to hiring people? Can you confirm that the taxi service will be running all throughout the day? Even the 8pm return back to Trowbridge? Thank you.

GWR Help
@GWRHelp
Replying to
@CalveIsEpic
The taxi service will run between the affected stations only but this will continue for services that are understaffed in the evening. Please keep an eye on our journey checker to see whether this service will be affected. - Michaela

GWR have set up a new driver's grade which includes Sundays as part of the working week.  All new recruits go into that grade.  Existing drivers have been offered incentives to join the grade (and therefore have Sundays in their contracts).

Some have taken up the offer but others, particularly those near the end of their service, have opted to remain with their current conditions.  This is particularly the case at Plymouth and Penzance depots apparently.

I am not sure what arrangements are being made for guards/train managers.

That's encouraging, though sounds as though it could take a very long term for a large enough number of drivers to be on the new grade for it to make a difference.  Do you know whether those drivers would (or could) be allocated more than their fair share of Sundays as this would solve the problem sooner.  But if the union agreement insists that they only get allocated the number that they would if all drivers were on the new grade (and I can see why that could have been a point of discussion), then it will still take a long time. (Hope that question makes sense!)

As for guards, there is currently work going into Conductors and Train Managers being brought into a grade of On Board Train Manager. Currently TMs work HSS services and Conductors work shorter journeys, but whether this will go through depends on whether Train Managers vote for it as they currently earn about 6k more than Conductors.

All former 'West' and 'Thames Valley' drivers are now in the 'GWR Driver' grade. 'High Speed' drivers (no commitment to work Sundays) have the option of transferring to the new grade or remaining ringfenced until the grade is redundant through natural wastage. For the 'GWR Drivers' Sunday working is however still not in the working week but has 'Committed Sundays' which are still worked as overtime but with the understanding that the overtime will be worked. This normally averages out at 1 Sunday every three weeks. The problem is that unlike a weekday where two thirds of the  grade will be rostered on duty, Sunday will only see one third of the grade rostered on. Extra Sunday services on most routes has put this model under strain. If several of those rostered on are on annual leave, you already have a shortage of crew with volunteers required to maintain the service level. The problem is exacerbated during school holidays with minimal volunteers.

Excellent summary by RA.  I’ll add to it if I may. 

Very few HSS drivers have taken the option of transferring to the GWR driver grade.  As there becomes less and HSS drivers through natural wastage it might reach a tipping point where the rest will follow.  Also, next year, pay parity is achieved - currently GWR ones earn thousands less than HSS ones.

Finally, with all drivers, no sick pay is paid if they don’t come in for their committed Sunday shifts.  The extra money has been traditionally enough to get enough volunteers in.  Higher basic wages mean less people are inclined to volunteer at the sane time as more trains are needed to run.  Come December’s timetable and pay increases next year, that is only likely to get worse.

I really can’t see how Sunday can be effectively resourced, summer time especially, with all the additional trains in the new timetable unless Sunday shifts are brought into the working week. 

Even if all drivers are on the GWR grade committed Sunday deal - note that most cancellations today were on services crewed by former West grade drivers, all of which are now GWR grade drivers and therefore have committed Sundays.

The detail of driver shifts and Sunday staffing makes for very, very interesting reading and I may well see if I can re-arrange some of the posts into a separate thread "Across the West" as they apply so widely.

I am struck by a number of thoughts ...

a) The problems with reliability based on staff shortage - though with a bias towards Sundays - have been far from Sundays Only.

b) We were told last year that the problem was because so may staff were having to take time away from revenue earning duties to learn the new trains.  How much was that really the case now that it seems that many of the problems may be the working week?    Has just half a problem been cured?

c) I used to run a business with someone on call at least 24x7 and Sunday being the busiest day of the week. We had occasional issues - but never did we have no-one available to do a contracted job (provide a clean hotel room and check people in).  We did not have the issues of geography or long training programmes, granted ... but one of key things was to take on people who wanted to work the days / hours we needed work done.  There ARE people who love working early mornings, and there are people who love every Wednesday off ... I wonder if the railways have any drivers / conductors / train managers who's optional  "Sundays" are perhaps Tuesdays or Thursdays??

I think the difference is Graham, especially in respect of your point (c), the likes of us have to deal with competition, and have a culture of customer service excellence both by inclination, conscience and necessity, simply because if we didn't, there are plenty who do and would be happy to take our Clients/customers and business off our hands. We also (thankfully) don't have workforces represented by Unions who are willing to initiate industrial action at the drop of a hat on a spurious premise.

Before anyone starts on the latter point, as a Company Director and Manager at various levels I have worked in highly unionised environments, but always with cooperation and pragmatism rather than guns pointed at heads. I greatly value their role in society and the workplace.

On the railways, (excepting occasional pockets of excellence) you have a culture which has changed little since 1975, enhanced by powerful trade Unions stuck around the same era, where the customer is treated as an inconvenience expected to put up with whatever they get and be grateful for it, weak management unable or unwilling to come up with a solution, all wrapped up in a monopoly with no competition.

That is largely why, year after year, we have to put up with this atrocious service.

Very succinct. Regarding the last line, even though the franchising model is currently under scrutiny, I get the impression that the continual awarding of 'Direct Award' franchise renewals instead of full blown competitions means that incumbant operators have little incentive to address issues as they know that they will be retaining the keys anyway.

Pulling every so slightly back on topic ... here is today's Melksham log


19:57 is re-instated ... of course, that's an important train because it also serves Swindon to Gloucester and Cheltenham  ;D ;D.  I would expect a poor loading - little return traffic from people who hoped to go out earlier in the day, with others put off because it was flagged as cancelled online for quite a number of hours.

Now - I don't know if they were short of drivers, or conductors, or both.   But assuming it was just one of the two, that's 2 members of staff down leading to the disruption / loss of between 600 and 800 journeys - perhaps 400 to 500 different individual.  Not very clever PR, not clever for the economy of the area, but seeing as the fares aren't all that high and it costs a lot to run a train, probably no great financial impact.  The irony is that I expect that at least two road drivers earned themselves a nice wage / income today.

Yes, there is. I tried to makes sense of it before (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=16230.msg182942#msg182942), with limited success. It's roughly as follows:

The performance figures used for calculating bonus and penalty payments are minutes delay and cancellations. Each has a payment based on it, scaled from the difference between the annual average and a target, range limited between a cap and a floor. That difference is multiplied by a sum of money, which is not blanked out in the contract as most other actual amounts are. So far so logical - though they've done it "floor over cap", for some reason.

"Cancellations" is (subject to confirmation*) the total cancellations plus half the part-cancellations, excepting certain exceptions, as a percentage. I can't find any figures for this metric (or minutes delay). ORR track PPM and CASL, while GWR publish punctuality and reliability percentages (as in II's graphs (http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=16825.msg271082#msg271082)). Obviously these are related, but exactly how is unclear.

This year's target for cancellations is 0.44%, and the floor is 0.55%. The actual, I'm sure, is way higher than that. In fact, I suspect it's higher than the default level in the contract - that is currently 1.1%, having jumped up from 0.72% in August 2018 (the target and floor didn't step up). The contract allows DfT a lot of discretion in how they react to that kind of thing - in GWR's case they set up the "Western Route Supervisory Board", and may claim that's all they need to do.

The upshot is that GWR are paying the full extra amount, and the actual cancellations rate won't matter until it gets down much lower. The payment per percent is higher because CASL is above target (how would it not be?) - and is £11,737,325, uprated by RPI from 2015. Since the number it multiples is only 0.11, the final amount is roughly £1.44M.

* If anyone wants to check up on this in the updated franchise agreement (contract) (https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjtsobcnI3kAhUUXRUIHaBQCQ4QFjAAegQIARAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fassets.publishing.service.gov.uk%2Fgovernment%2Fuploads%2Fsystem%2Fuploads%2Fattachment_data%2Ffile%2F40452%2Ffgw-franchise-agreement.pdf&usg=AOvVaw3zezH2OTWssY2o3q8E-UOY), it's all in schedule 7.1 from page 380 on.

Simples.  ;)

Translated into summary terms ... current cancellation rates are so high that penalties are "off the scale" - at a maximum beyond which there are no further financial penalties for doing even worse, and so high that even reducing them significantly is not going to reduce the penalties. Have I read that right??

The reputational cost is huge - with each train crew GWR are short of on a shift, around 200 to 250 different people having their plans disrupted - many significantly where there isn't simply another train along within 30 or 60 minutes.   

and another two ...

And while I'm in this thread ...

Getting worse ...

... and the only seven in GWR land. 

I notice the 17:36 isn’t cancelled yet despite the inward working not running.  I wonder if someone has a plan for that. 

I wondered that too.

Interesting to note the far better directions being put up on Journeyheck (though this is treating the symptoms and not providing a cure).    But the suggested alternative puts people an hour and nine minutes late into Swindon!

Rail replacement buses operating between Chippenham and Westbury now appearing on Journeycheck.

Gone now ...


Alternative suggestion puts people 43 minutes late into Trowbridge and Westbury.  So misses Frome and Weymouth connections ... Weymouth arrival back from 20:10 to 23:13.   Passengers for Warminster and beyond ... stay on the train on which they arrive at Westbury.

So let me get this straight...

Sunday 18th August - 13 trains booked to call at Melksham, 12 cancelled and one ran.

Monday 19th August - they've got no crew for the afternoon trains so nothing stops at Melksham (7 cancellations) between 1314 and 1915 (the Cheltenham to Southampton is on its way as I type). Then presumably nothing for the rest of the day.

How long do GWR think they can get away with this fiasco of a service before passengers start to vote with their feet?

Surely it has got to the stage where top management should be issuing a public apology together with details of what is being done to address the problem

Some years ago the GW Area Operations Manager ( basically a Train Crew Supervisor type job in old speak ) was cut out at Westbury ( along with I think the posts at Cardiff  and Oxford at roughly the same time)  with all day to day Traincrew  and Unit provision centred on the remote GW Swindon Control office.

The same short sighted Management action had happened at Exeter St D some years before, when the post title was not that of an AOM.
The result was an increase  in train cancellations and disruptions to passengers on mainly local services ...due 'Traincrew shortages'.
The remedy was to reinstate a post (of 2 shifts) ) to be known (as now) as the Exeter  Area Operations Manager. There was an immediate reduction, to almost nil, of trains being cancelled due to traincrew shortages.
Drivers and guards, particularly those killing time in the mess room, find it far more difficult to refuse a request face to face from someone they know in the adjacent office, to work other than their rostered turn and possibly extra hours., compared to a remote phone call 'from Swindon'. It is often that simple to avoid a train being cancelled.

Further local responsibility and decision making has rightly been devolved from Swindon Control to these AOM posts; which are usually occupied by experienced career railwaymen with a Traincrew background.

Journey Check tonight at 20.45. Can one presume this will continue all week?

Tue, 20 August 15:00 Frome to Warminster due 15:21
Tue, 20 August 16:21 Westbury to Swindon due 17:03
Tue, 20 August 17:36 Swindon to Westbury due 18:18
Tue, 20 August 18:32 Westbury to Swindon due 19:21
Tue, 20 August 19:49 Bristol Temple Meads to Frome due 20:49
Tue, 20 August 20:08 Swindon to Westbury due 20:49

Two more added

12:20 ex Westbury and 13:29 ex Swindon.

I was only idly musing this morning - would questions be asked in Parliament if GWR pulled the same stunt day after day on the Slough or Henley branches?

No, make no presumption about it being all week.  The issue has been noticed.

No, questions would not be being asked in parliament - it's not sitting at present, and even the Marlow branch isn't worth a recall of all the MPs

Maidenhead-Marlow & Twyford- Henley services being cancelled en masse this afternoon/evening-same reasons- so were it not for the recess you may get the chance to find out.

It really is a shower of the proverbial all round.

GWR have tweeted in response to a punter that this situation is likely to last all week

All now reinstated.  A driver has obviously been found.  I think those lot originally listed are all on the same shift.

Here is the link to that Twitter feed

https://twitter.com/gwrhelp/status/1163753152094584833?s=21

For the record, the tweet says


Always wise to check, and of course there is no magic driver tree at Westbury ... but the issue may, or may not, continue.

……..tomorrow's cancellations already starting to be listed;

Wed, 21 August 16:21 Westbury to Swindon due 17:03

Wed, 21 August 17:36 Swindon to Westbury due 18:18

Quoting in full the current cancellations right across the GWR area.  It seems we have a very localised shortage ...


And the 18:48 from Swindon via Westbury is cut short there ... not a TransWilts cancellation.

The 18:32 Westbury to Swindon and 20:08 Swindon to Westbury services have been added to the list.

Oh dear ... thanks for the alert.

Unfortunately it comes down to the fact that Westbury-Swindon services are easiest to cancel. I believe most are crewed in a round trip which makes things a whole lot easier to get rid of. When it comes to HSS cancellations it comes down to Cheltenham because it is mainly crewed by Reading and Paddington who do a round trip on it, where as Bristol crews tend to take it back to Stoke Gifford at Cheltenham.

Duty Cards and Schedules do amaze me!

BBC Wiltshire on the TransWilts reliability this evening - around 18:10

I think you were remarkably kind in your comments about GWR.  I was wondering why you didn't say the number of cancellations in the last few days, but I suppose that would have scared off even more passengers.  I think you could have made more about the line being singled out when other lines with a more frequent service have been left untouched.

It’s always hard to know how many facts to include particularly on radio.  Unlike television you can’t put a slide up for people to take in.  With just sound you get one chance to absorb the detail. 

I think tonight got the message across without going into the finest detail which would only interest a small minority of the audience.  A minority who already know how bad things are!

Thank you;  the situation has gotten beyond the stage of just sitting and accepting "these things happen".  The (radio) message is "this is not right and it needs to be sorted.  It is significantly disrupting journeys at the moment."  

Behind the immediate public profile, from Melksham and from the Community Rail Partnership, the "critical" in the "critical friend" approach the groups take has been far stronger.   We are not looking for platitudes, we are looking for real action - not for impractical perfection, but just for cancellations and delays that have an effect on a par with the rest of the GWR area.    

We can ask, cajole, persuade, put a case, suggest, help.  But we have no power to demand or enforce. Going deeper with the "critical" in public would reduce our abilities to persuade, to influence, to help - even though it might feel good (and it would have felt good for a few minutes) to let off steam.

Here we go again



It was pointed out to me last night that TfL have lots of train crews in training and refresh but not doing much else as they wait for the completion of CrossRail.  And the question was asked "could not some of them be seconded to Westbury ...". 

Route and Traction knowledge.

Correct.   But if they're sitting in London being less than productive, aren't they some of the way there already with all the other aspects of the job?

Whilst I must be sympathetic to users of the Transwilts line, I must ask the question, "Is this a backlash of the policy of banning parents from taking school aged children out of school to go on the annual family holiday in term time." ? ? ? ?

Eh?  ???

I would be very surprised if a significant number of GWR's drivers and train managers had habitually taken their children out of school during term to go on a a family holiday, and have now changed that habit to the extent that they're taking annual holidays while the schools are out, and doing so above and beyond the needs of their employer.

A prudent employer with a mission critical operational role / contract should ensure that he adjusts the level and mix of his team to take account of such social change, which I suspect is a very minor element when compared to staff sickness, general holiday requests, training, working hour agreements and rules, and staff quitting.  And a prudent employer with a mission critical contract should routinely making robust plans that will allow him to maintain his contract even if all of those elements swing 'against' him at the same time.  I am not convinced that GWR have these robust plans as we seem to have limped from one crisis to the next with training, Sundays, sickness ... 

I know one young GWR driver who habitually took his main holiday at end of September / beginning of October, planning his marriage and honeymoon for same time and continued to do so after offspring arrived but now eldest is at primary school cannot do so.

Received overnight from Paul Johnson and Sophie Martin at TransWilts. 


"Graham I am sure your MRUG users will want to know the situation, it will be useful to keep a common approach. I hope the bus service operates as planned, let me know if it doesn't.".   So  - please let me know of any bus issues or pass them on to Paul or Sophie directly.  It would be a help to copy me / comment here if you go direct, so we have common knowledge.

I suspect we're looking at more than one driver ... but then ONE driver is all we need. Now massive disuprtion 5 days out of the last six ... at 750 journeys per day, that's one driver short effecting 3,750 journeys. 

As a picture paints a thousand words ...

Trains operating in blue and cancelled / bustituted in orange

How it SHOULD look (just a teeny tiny bit of orange at the top)
(http://www.wellho.net/pix/isblue.jpg)

How it DOES look
(http://www.wellho.net/pix/shouldbeblue.jpg)

Facebook link (https://www.facebook.com/TransWilts/posts/2044898795610152) to Press release (https://transwilts.org/2019/08/22/statement-on-transwilts-services-21st-august-2019/) on TransWilts site (https://transwilts.org) now added

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/pjatmkm.jpg)

I'd rather not have any direct contact with Paul or Sophie thank you, but by all means mention that on Tuesday afternoon this week the coach driver replacing the 16.21 Westbury to Swindon service picked up me and just two other people at Westbury; picked up and dropped off nobody at Trowbridge; picked up nobody at Melksham (however I did get off there), and told us that (a) he would be going no further than Chippenham and (b) when he replaced the earlier 14.24 service had precisely "no passengers at all so wasn't sure what the point of him wasting his time was really"

Not really an issue, but if anything it shows that news of the cancellations was getting out there as fewer people than usual were travelling - I use both these services several times a week and there are usually at least double figures getting on and off at every station.

There's an issue when a new / changed service comes in - even an emergency one - making sure people know about it. On the TransWilts, where passengers are a pretty hardy and self sufficient bunch well used to making their own pans during disruption, information needs to be out there.

It probably is a good idea to 'cut me in' ... as the TransWilts Facebook page now says it's on annual leave until 2nd September.

But no overhead line equipment installed as yet?   ;D ;D

Blimey, even Jeremy Corbyn is getting involved! 🙂

Seen visiting a farm in Cumbria yesterday and wearing Wellington boots thus gaining the new name of "Compo" as well as "Steptoe"

I confess to smiling at this .. and having been called "Jesus" and "Gerry Adams" to my face, and goodness knows what behind my back I was amused personally too.   However ... please bear in mind that although I may be amused at such things, the gentleman in the picture (Paul Johnson, Chair of TransWilts) may not be, and as such postings along these lines could be seen as outside our forum guidelines of "no personal attacks".

For the record: http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/BBCWilts21Aug19.mp3

The 17:36 ran last night ... first time in a week.

From GWR high management to me this morning "I agree, restoring the service as a train is the priority and ..."

I see they've deigned to run the service today then...

As was said yesterday, the wider public are picking up on this shambles. I have been trying to organise a lunchtime drink in Chippenham with my ex-boss who lives in Trowbridge (we are both retired now). When we were organising it is was his idea to come up to Chippenham by train to avoid the hazards of drink driving.

He has picked up on the cancellations and is currently wary of confirming a date because of them, and he's never used the line before.

If this were still the 1960s we would be hearing the grumble:"they're running the line down with the intention of closing it." I would like to be a lot more certain that that isn't actually what's going on...

Drifting off topic I see we have similar histories  ;D

I gave up wearing a beard in the early 80s because I looked too much like Gerry Adams, and whilst at Bath Road in the early 70s somebody gave me the nickname of "John the Baptist"

I grew a beard once & was compared to Jeremy Beadle. I've been clean shaven ever since.

Still much more than it should be BUT not the "worst ones" to loose ... in fact probably about the 4th out of 6 or seven.

Not sure on buses yet ... BUT could be much worse.  It's the first round trip that is far more critical! Will update my Facebook post.

Ah - here we go ... four out of the five "get you home" trains lost ...


Last southbound train - 15:28 from Swindon
Last northbound trains - 14:35 and 19:41 from Westbury.

Nothing on Journey Check about alternative arrangements - just an offer of delay repay which is really useful for "Stranded in Swindon".  With all the trains in various places cancelled due to lack of crew - it's meltdown Sunday - what a pity they can't match a train without a crew to a crew without a train!

Bus replacement for the 17:52 and 19:53 under Other Train Service Updates

Have to know where to look / what question to ask!!

One heck of a bus - able to match the train times.  I do believe First to school buses ...

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/hotrodbus.jpg)

Agreed.  I only looked because someone pointed me to it.

Understood. Accepted. No complaint.    In amongst all the cancellations that I might rent on about, there are those occasional circumstances where a delay - or cancellation should the train be pulled - are totally understandable.

What do forum members make of this one currently on JourneyCheck ;-


Newbury: No dispatch staff at Newbury until the end of service. Please self dispatch.

No dispatch staff at Newbury until the end of service.

Please self dispatch.

The remaining line says: Last Updated:26/08/2019 14:08   and it's still not been spotted!

With no slam-door trains calling at many stations now, the role of the "dispatch staff" has perhaps tilted.  No longer does the train manager have to walk his entire (or platformed section) train at each stop to check the doors, so when there's no-one around on "dispatch duty" delays are not as long as they used to be.

But there is a grown modern role for on-platform staff to assist passengers who's numbers have doubled in the last 20 years, including but not limited to those with mobility issues, helping with information, being on hand to answer journey questions especially at times of disruption to services which are (!) far more common than they should be.


 ;D :D

Depressing ... across the whole GWR area just 3 cancellations reported


and when you add to that


You realise they're just one driver (or train manager) down.  An interesting priority choice to cancel the peak train on a line that has no other service for 2 hours in one direction and just over an hour in the other, followed by the final train of the day on their secondary main line.    Were it a "one off", understandable.  But cancelled more days than it ran last week ... I wonder how many passengers will be left if and when it's reliable again.

Perhaps a good week to take off? - https://twitter.com/TransWiltsCIC/status/1164527026973396992

Plus

For today (27th August 2019) ... bus replaces 16:21 Westbury to Swindon train and 17:36 Swindon to Westbury train as follows.

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/bus_20190827.jpg)

Passengers from Swindon to Melksham who would normally catch the 17:36 (arrive Melksham 18:02) should catch the next Swindon to Chippenham train (that's 18:00) and change onto the bus at Chippenham - it's timed to connect and then get you into Melksham at 18:40.

MUCH better information on Journey Check - thank you GWR



This is a massive step up fro previous provision and information but never the less, it should be a train.
* A train at 16:21 from Westbury would arrive Swindon at 17:03, not the 17:40 alternative provided today
* A train at 17:36 from Swindon would arrive Westbury at 18:18, not the 19:10 alternative provided today.
Informed suggestion is that this will be another difficult week. Here's hoping that its sorted out for next week.

Inconvenient, but no worse.   To my knowledge the replacement buses haven't had any toilet facilities at all.

I will admit to seeing a big "Oh NO" when a blue blotch turned up on our train running map, but delight to treat this as something of a false alarm.

I guess it's an illustration of the appalling level of service from GWR recently, and the low level of current expectations, that "only" a lack of toilet facilities for disabled people on its services is a source of delight.

It is, in fact, a lack of toilet facilities for all passengers on this 2 car set as it only has one, accessible, toilet. Cross-legged day today

Yes, the new Universal Access Toilets are a little better than before, but still failing far too often.  The toilet itself is usually ok, but the door mechanism is subject to failure. 

Someone told me that plastic components had been used in parts of the runner mechanism that should really have been made of metal!

As I've said before replacement transport should be there at train time.  How long is it going to take to obtain and get there if GWR only start trying to source it at train time.

In this case journey check is wrong.  The train stops at Melksham.  It is those travelling from Swindon and beyond TO Melksham who are affected

Indeed.   The "up" train was 47 minutes late Melksham ... and terminated Chippenham ... making the return trip only 8 minutes late - "a fault with the signalling system".

Not a serious problem ... until we have some wider infrastructure, these things will happen.

Much as we hate cancellations, they will happen "occasionally" and when they do, the provision of good information and alternatives is important.  I'm not able to be on the ground at Melksham Station at all today, but I must commend GWR on much improved on-line information and indeed alternative provision southbound.

Passenger :

But I have to be at my workplace no later than 08.45 to open up the town centre shop that I am keyholder of to let my staff in and prep the store for the days trading. What do I do.

JourneyCheck should include a statement indicating passenger use a local taxi, get a receipt and submit with rail ticket for a full refund.

I've been in a vaguely similar situation on two occasions, both when everything melted down at Reading. On both occasions I jumped in a cab, got home, and sent receipts in to FGW (as was) with an explanation, roughly £40 each time. They paid up without question.

What you could do of course is mention consequential loss, incurred as a result of you being unable to open your shop and trade due to them not providing the advertised service......they may well see paying a taxi fare as the lesser of two evils.

Not sure what's going on here ....


Totally agree on consequential loss - all very well GWR repaying and providing an alternative within an hour, but for a service that serially breaks its timetable and performance metric, they get of very lighty and have a real negative effect of their customer base and personally on their customers.

Cancelled - shortage of train crew - another Sunday of dismal service across the region.

18:45 Westbury to Swindon due 19:27

19:54 Swindon to Westbury due 20:35

I’m on it. 

Lots of clear announcements at both Westbury and Trowbridge with staff walking through the train.

The signalling fault was an axle counter failure at Thingley East Junction.

Also this one.  The onward journey from Westbury used the set off the Great Malvern to Westbury service

17:41 Cheltenham Spa to Southampton Central due 20:44 will be started from Westbury.
It will no longer call at Cheltenham Spa, Gloucester, Stonehouse, Stroud, Kemble, Swindon, Chippenham, Melksham and Trowbridge.
This is due to a fault on this train.

All cancelled today - no crew.

10:30 Westbury to Swindon due 11:14
11:28 Swindon to Westbury due 12:08
16:52 Westbury to Swindon due 17:41
17:52 Swindon to Westbury due 18:34
18:45 Westbury to Swindon due 19:27
19:53 Swindon to Westbury due 20:34

For the future record, these appear to be the ONLY services staffed from Westbury that are cancelled. Bottom of the pile again??  46% cancellation.

So that's 4 out of 18 cancelled so far today - 77% service running, versus 95% plus which would seem to be a low target.  And reliability is what passengers want above everyone else ...

Under investigation ?     You only have to look at another part of Journey Check to see that it was due to "Ambulance services attending".   

From RTT https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/C22878/2019/09/16/advanced:

Yeah ... you try from a ship bobbing about on the sea  :D ;D - thanks for the extra update.   That cause is a forgiven one then ... and that's why we would be happy with 98% running and not demand 100%.   77% is pretty pathetic though ... perhaps a bad day but, remind me, weren't there cancellations yesterday too?

Is this becoming almost daily?


No other cancellations at all reported on GWR ... the reporting of alternatives is a step better that used to be, but recommended passengers arrival in Westbury 74 minutes delayed on what should a 41 minute journey is rather sad! 

The Passenger Information has now changed , the only info is for Passengers at unstaffed stations to use Help Point etc.,

If they arrive at Swindon slightly early passengers for Trowbridge and Westbury could catch the 2000 service to Bath which connects into a Portsmouth service arriving 2054 & 2100 respectively. Much better

Agreed - if you realise ahead of time, can manage that, and can “blag” acceptance of a “via Melksham” ticket on a train other than the recommended one. If you’re arriving super off peak off the 19:12 from paddington, or rushing from work for the 20:08 as at least one person does ... the 20:00 doesn’t work.

Already ... for 19th ...

And for 20th

18:32 and 20:08 have just been re-instated.

As of 0815 it seems that all have been reinstated according to Journey Check

Thank you - yes - relieved.   Still a characteristic slash on our top-of-page map but something of a none-event now; 3 cars in place of 2 on one of the trips  ;D ;D

That's the main commuter train - 07:49 at Melksham to(wards) Swindon.  Next train 10:02 at Melksham, population around 25,000.

Melksham 08:03 (v 07:49 for the train replaced), 08:23 (v 07:59) at Chippenham, 09:02 (v 08:15) into Swindon - slight chance of Swindon arrival at 08:40 if a 2 minutes 'connection' is made from bus to train at Chippenham. Noting that bus is allowed only standard bus times (no extra added for peak loadings, peak traffic or road work in Melksham), that 2 minute connection is optimistic (also not tracked via online systems)

Replaces 08:53 train from Swindon, due Westbury 09:41.   Connection leave Swindon 09:01 (bus sensibly timed to leave Chippenham after that train has arrived there)

Well ... that's a new way of making up time. 

10:58 off Swindon (11 late), 11:19 at Melksham (7 late) ... will look at Westbury a bit later and see how it did.

Not very good if you want to travel from Chippenham to Melksham or Melksham to Trowbridge

That must be one of the most absurd stop skipping I have seen in a long time.  Why on earth would GWR do that?

Glad it's not just me scratching my head.   It reduced lateness of 11 minutes off Swindon to 4 minutes at Westbury, and meant that the connection at Westbury into the Yeovil to Waterloo train worked.   

However, keeping that connection from Swindon and Melksham (only) to Salisbury was probably less important (by an order of magnitude) than Chippenham - Melksham, Chippenham - Trowbridge, Chippenham - Westbury, Swindon - Trowbridge and Melksham - Trowbridge journeys.  Swindon - Chippenham and Trowbridge - Westbury there are plenty of other trains.

Generous(ish) turn around at Westbury of the "Melksham Flyer" on that run - more than enough time even if 11 late all the way.  No conflicting moves on the single track so the Chippenham skip doesn't look like it was done to clear the single line in tie for a freight train.

Hindsight from an armchair is marvellous stuff.   Doing it the way it was done, more than half the stops were covered (so I don't think it counts as a cancellation), and calling at Melksham means it doesn't show up as a failure at Melksham in my MRUG logs  ;)

I took it on myself to Tweet GWR and asked about advice for passengers in respect of the 1832 and was told to catch the 1932.   I have now asked about the 2008 ex Swindon and waiting reply also pointing out that road transport has been sourced on recent occasions

A train has 'clipped' a member of the public stood on Melksham platform, with the driver unfit to continue.  Replacement driver being taxied to move the train.

Thanks for following up with that.  I'm hoping that "clipped" may indicate a better outcome than we see too often in "person hit by train".  Hoping person involved and driver are / will be OK.

Explains following ...

Hello, just thought I'd pop by... I regularly travel from Chippenham to Trowbridge for work and have found this forum useful over the past few months. I got the 16:27 home from Trowbridge tonight, the guard said someone was indeed hit by the train at Melksham but they were unhurt. I understand the driver of one of the following transwilts services had to remove the stricken train.

Thank you for that and welcome to the forum.

Seems the person involved declined hospital treatment but the driver was understandably shaken up.