Great Western Coffee Shop

Hello All,

I am back using First Great Western after a 12 months commuting into London from Basingstoke on SWT.

To save a few quid I have stopped driving and parking at Basingstoke and now commute to Waterloo in the morning from Bramley via Basingstoke and home to Bramley via Paddington/Reading in the evenings (gets me home quicker !)

A couple of comments and a question:

1. Paddington feels much more civilised than Waterloo !
2. The downside is that the HST's (despite the refurb) feel so old and knackered compared to the much newer electric trains SWT are running ! I had also forgotten how crowded they are compared to SWT.

Anyway, my question is about connecting trains - I got the 1730 from Paddington last Friday which was about 10 mins late leaving. We never made up the time, in fact it got worse and we got to Reading at 1806, 1 minute before the Basingstoke train departed. Despite being in Coach A I missed the train as it departed bang on time (for once - that must be only the second time this year it has left bang on 1807) I asked the Train Despatch guy on platform 2 that given that the train timetabled to connect to the 1807 was delayed was there no scope to hold this train for the 30 or so people running towards it. He replied with a "dunno mate" !

Stood on the platform for 30 minutes, I was pondering if there was a proper policy on this ? 

Thanks
Anthony

The policy is generally to not hold up connecting trains unless it means you miss the last train of the day.  This is due to shortage of paths for trains on the British network and operators getting fined for late running services, so they want to keep to just one late running service not two.

Policy is not to hold trains unless as stated is the last connection of the night. Also "The Railway does not offer guaranteed connections".

Also you need to have allowed for the minimum advertised connection time which is 5 mins unless otherwise stated.
Reading is 7 mins.

Or in other specifically defined cases where the number of connecting passengers is very significant, or there is a large gap until the next service - for example the 16:20 Paddington to Oxford connecting into the 17:31 halts train to Worcester, or Cornish branch line services.  With the Basingstoke local service running every 30 minutes, plus additional trains to Reading West and Basingstoke itself, it's doubtful that a specific case could be made for that train.

That being said, if 30 or so people are running for a train and the despatcher can see them, it's pretty poor form to get the train on the move sometimes up to 30 seconds before the advertised departure time.  I've said before that the impression created is dreadful on the odd occasion that happens.

Also bear in mind that there's only a six minute turn around at Basingstoke and there'll be an XC service hot on it's heels too.