Great Western Coffee Shop

Since the introduction of the new timetable there has been a massive deterioration in the timely anouncement of platforms at Paddington, especially for the Pad-Mai-Twy-Read-stopping service to Didcot semi-fasts that I have to catch. Previously it was common for the platform to be announced 15 minutes or more before departure, enabling me to routinely arrive in plenty of time and bag myself a decent seat before the train filled up. Now it is generally 5 minutes or even less before departure that a platform is announced, leading to a regular stampede for the gates (and the gatelines having to be opened in order not to delay departure). You can't even rely on it being the "usual" platform either - the other night they had to make an announcement telling passengers that the train would NOT be leaving from Platform 10 after everyone had congregated at the gateline and many had already passed through the gates in anticipation. The train eventually left from Platform 3 leading to an even worse stampede than usual.

I am assuming that the reason is the tighter turnaround times at Paddington so there are no free platforms for the carriages to sit in - but it is one more thing to hate about the new timetable!

I've noticed this as well on the 17.08 Bedwyn service. As discussed elsewhere its often delayed and that does seem  to mean much shorter announcements. I did wonder the other day with a 2 minute call (in theory) what I would do if I was less mobile. Its made worse at the Hammersmith and City end with the very limited number of gates and often only one GWR staff member to switch directions or help people whose tickets don't work.

I've also seen less of the cleaning staff recently which made me think if cleaning and tidying the carriages is also being affected by the new timetable.

Agreed - example 47 of why the new timetable is worse than what we had before.

The problem is particularly bad when boarding at platform 12 where you have to walk halfway to Ealing before boarding and that’s before you get involved in ‘front 8 carriages only’ restrictions.

I’ve seen less mobile passengers get left behind on those services. A 3 minute sprint is not possible for all passengers.

In my (recent) experience RTT (other similar apps are presumably available) still displays the correct platform number significantly earlier than it appears on the passenger information boards.

It's not infallible though in my experience, especially when things are changed around, as it seems to assume the scheduled platform.  Using the OTT track diagram is more reliable, as the train reporting number is a given.

I’ve also noticed trains coming in from North Pole still full of rubbish - so on a short turnaround you then also have the cleaning crew to contend with.

Fridays 1550 to Great Malvern came in late and was dirty plus the reservations (and carriage numbers) didn’t come on until after we’d left Paddington - so lots of confused people.

Why oh why can’t the empty stock be cleaned before leaving Paddington, or even when stabled for part of the day??? It makes everyone’s life miserable, especially the cleaning crew who have to battle through boarding passengers

It does appear that Hitachi are still struggling to operate that depot effectively. The previous scheduled transfer into Paddington last Friday - 5H35, to form 1H35, 1545 to WSM - was cancelled "due to a problem at the depot (MU)". (Code MU is no more specific than "Depot operating problem".)

I fear that the modern way of designing depots (and many other things too) is all about "efficiency", and has forgotten the value of flexibility. These do not go together, quite the opposite - they usually trade off against each other. And safety and staff welfare concerns have complicated this area of design. It's all very well to put in cleaners' access to just enough sidings to work if every train comes and goes exactly as planned (and every cleaner, too) - but the world ain't like that (GWR's bit of it especially so). I imagine that moving trains between sidings is dictated by gong into and out of the maintenance sheds, and doing it for cleaning alone is at times impossible. Big Chinese puzzle!

In January 2018 Hitachi applied to build some extra facilities for train cleaners and cleaning (to the Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation, replacing the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham as local planning authority). I don't think this was partly for the class 802 fleet, since trains for the West of England service were already stabled at North Pole. The class 800/1 fleet has expanded a little since originally planned, but I suspect the main issue is that the original design assumptions were just to idealised.

The issue is that trains can only now be cleaned at sidings where there is an access platform, and the stuff involved can be carted back and forth between those siding and storage and disposal buildings. The application is for this:

The application was approved in March 2018, but by June 2019 (the newest satellite picture i can see) little had been done, other than the removal of two sheds from where the building is to go. Only two tracks have visible access platforms at that date.

Yes, I was on that one too. Platform 1 for that appeared on the boards at the same time as Platform 5 for another IET, with predictable scrum on the concourse as everyone barged past each other. First class at the wrong end, too, which isn't a massive deal with a 5-carriage service but inevitably means no-one observes the quiet carriage.