Great Western Coffee Shop

Thoughts with all involved - never a good time for it but this is probably about the worst.


Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Slough


Due to a person being hit by a train between London Paddington and Slough all lines are blocked.
Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled or delayed. Disruption is expected until 20:00 28/06.

Langley is the location.

Very sad.

More than sad if itt was a tragic accident, a total inconvenience and deliberate act if not - I have dealt with too many of these incidents to feel sympathy.

And again showing up the total inadequacy of the customer information screens at Reading.  I was there at 2010 hrs - 2 hours after the incident.  Lots of people milling around on the Bridge. There was a PA announcement that the 2010 hrs stopper to Didcot Parkway was cancelled, but surely this should have been followed up by something like "passengers are advised that the next train for stations to Didcot will be at ...".  As it was the inadequate rolling over 2 page departure screens on the Bridge weren't even showing the next stopper at 2022 hrs because earlier trains were still showing.

Lack of information, lack of staff - an all too familiar picture at Reading station when things go wrong (though I accept that the staff have no way of accessing much more info than the passengers see).  But it was a good evening for Reading taxi drivers - Mrs GTBE and I got one back to Pangbourne in the absence of any information as to when the next train would be.

Can I suggest that the next time there is severe disruption at Reading that a member of the GWR management team goes along, stands on the Bridge, and puts himself (herself) in the position of a passenger trying to get somewhere.  Then back to the office to produce an improvement plan.  I'm happy to help.