Great Western Coffee Shop

This phrase:

"Due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time..."

Leaving aside the issue with starting a sentence with "Due to", please could there be an industry move to use this phrase only when appropriate.

About the only time it should apply is if there genuinely is an unforeseen fleet-wide issue (and these do arise, though hopefully this will never be 'Fuel contamination' again). For the rest, the phrase is misinformation, because, doesn't it mask the fact that the TOC in question does not have sufficient trains to offer resilience in covering the advertised timetable?

Mark

I'm all for accuracy and honesty in these matters.....imagine the explanation that would have to be provided for "shortage of train crew", especially on Sundays in the summer months!  :)

ToC's well in reality the DfT will have sufficient rolling stock to operate the timetable with capacity to allow for maintenance and a % of failures.  It would be un reasonable to have 100% spare just in case!  The travelling public just would not want to bare the cost of excessive over capacity.

There will be times when a fleet has a major issue that for safety reason or as in the case of SWR contamination stock is taken out of use.  Most of the things that take rolling stock out of use on a large scale would also impact on the spare stock 

Agreed, but given the position that say GWR is now in, the 'More trains than usual needing repair' line is eventually going to wear thin (ner than it already has...)

Mark

How long were the works to repair the IET cracking going to take? Are they not still in the middle of doing that?

Cancellations to services between Penzance and Plymouth

Due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time between Penzance and Plymouth fewer trains are able to run.

Train services running to and from these stations will be cancelled or delayed. Disruption is expected until 09:30 10/06.

Following on from that

Due to torrential rain in Penzance, 5 out of 6 IET sets on Long Rock have become waterlogged and have failed.

Since IETs were specified to survive Dawlish it is a concern that heavy rain can kill them.

Agree it's a great concern,however the amount of water when traveling along is vastly different to being left parked up in a heavy downpour,which will pool and search out any weaknesses in sealing of joints.

Numerous cancellations/alterations today

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Oxford

Due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time between London Paddington and Oxford fewer trains are able to run on some lines.

Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled. Disruption is expected until the end of the day

From another forum, quote from GWR.

"Currently we are seeing too many short notice short forms (e.g. five car IETs instead of ten cars). We have a train plan that allows for 13 IET sets to be out at any one time for maintenance, repair and regular required examinations. At the moment there are 19 sets out. This is a combination of higher than expected sets needing repair due to damage and vandalism and too many sets being out for heavy maintenance at the same time. We have spoken to Hitachi about this and the need for better planning."

Yes, I've been following the thread where you got this quote from with great interest. It doesn't make for good reading at all.