If GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) are serious about improving catering, and if the Coffee Shop forum admins are willing, then IMHO^▸ (in my humble opinion) we need a new thread on the forum about catering issues.
Not for general likes, dislikes, suggestions and comments, but for SPECIFIC issues on a particular train.

Posts in that thread should be in a very specific format including
Date of travel.
Time of train.
Stations at which passenger boarded and alighted.
Where in the train the passenger was seated.
Nature of complaint or compliment.

Example of acceptable post
" on 01/10/2024 I travelled on the 18-03 departure from Paddington to Penzance.
  I was on the train from Paddington to Taunton, seated in coach B.
  A trolley service is advertised as being available throughout.
  At no point did a trolley pass my seat in a nearly two hour journey"

Posts on more general likes and dislikes should be moved to the existing "catering" thread.

A member of GWR management should monitor the thread and be invited to reply. Having viewed CCTV^▸ (Closed Circuit Tele Vision) if relevant.
Replies should address the SPECIFIC issue raised and NOT be of the generic "we are working hard to increase availability" type.

How about it ? GWR and coffe shop admin.

1 minute late from Bristol, 4 minutes late at Nailsea, 3 minutes late at Weston-super-mare ... and made up the three minutes thereafter - more or less on time beyond Taunton.

So I have to ask - "with IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train) running the Cardiff to Exeter services, would they be able to stop at some three to five extra stations and provide half hourly (or in one case hourly) services in the Bristol commuter area?"

All members and guests at the Coffee Shop are welcome, subject to the usual rules of politeness and staying on topic which we follow here.  You can read about those at http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/1761

Network Rail Western tweeted yesterday about a celebration on completion of that exit, which will now be mothballed until opening in 2026 once the University completes their new build.

From the Daily Mail


Do I vaguely remember that if you don't get a seat in first you can claim your fare back, whereas in standard class it's "tough"

Let's hope those that are working, but want to contribute, can structure their day so they can have an hour off during the session.

The fightback begins.....



Dear Member,

The Public Petition supporting funding for the Portishead line is now live and will be presented to Parliament in September by Sadik Al-Hassan, MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) for North Somerset.

The petition has to be created in a specific way and there are some changes that you need to know about as a result.

The most important is that the petition must have the original, handwritten signatures, names and addresses of the petitioners (photocopies and electronic signatures are not permitted). This means we need lots of people personally gathering signatures, which PRG will then collate and pass to our MP to take to Parliament.

We are inviting our members to collect as many signatories as they feel able to gather and then return the completed sheets to us. We quite understand if you are unable or unwilling to do this, but will appreciate as much help as we can get. We will also be out on the streets gathering signatures as well, in Pill this Saturday morning and in Portishead on various days. Thank you to all those who've offered to help with this.

There is also a rally at Temple Meads being planned by the Bristol Rail Campaign (formerly FOSBR^▸ (Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways)) at 7pm on Tuesday 27th August. More information on this will follow when we have it.

If you'd like to help by collecting signatures from your circle of friends, family and organisations, here's what you need to know:
You can find the petition and a briefing note explaining it here:  www.portisheadrailwaygroup.org/petition.html
Please print off as many copies as you need, but do not alter the petition form in any way.
If you are unable to print copies, let me know and we'll physically get you some.
The PRG Frequently Asked Questions document has been updated and can be found on the PRG website. This may help with any questions you need answered.
Please check that people only sign once, no matter how often they've seen the petition.
Please collect complete sheets of signatures if possible and minimise half filled sheets by stopping, or working with other PRG members to share and fill whole pages.
The closing date is Sunday 25th August (10 days time!) and you can either return sheets to me by post ASAP or drop-off (8 Little Halt, Portishead. BS20 8JQ) or to any PRG signature collector on Tuesday 27th Aug.
Tuesday August 27th is Petition Day! This will be our main public signature day and we're aiming to cover Portishead High St, Sainsbury, Waitrose, Kestrel Court, Folk Hall etc. We will then head for Bristol to collect more signatures at the Temple Meads rally.
Other public signing days like Pill can happen as well of course.
PRG will then collate all the signature sheets for Sadik Al-Hassan to present to Parliament at the earliest opportunity.
We'll send more details on the Bristol Rail Campaign rally and other public signing events when we have them. Please ask if you have questions.

The petition states:
‘… Reopening the Portishead branch line is necessary to reduce traffic on the congested roads between Portishead and Bristol; reducing such traffic would lead to lower CO2 emissions, thus benefitting the environment; and is needed to encourage investment and economic growth in Portishead and the greater Bristol area.
 
The petitioners therefore request the House of Commons to urge His Majesty’s Government to recognise the considerable work already performed to reopen the Portishead branch line; to recognise the public funding already invested in it; and to ensure that the necessary central government funding is provided to reopen the Portishead branch line’


Thanks for your support.

That was happening when it was open. 

Hmmm, I would have expected to see rather more cancellations had that been the case?

Sunday likely to be pretty bad, though to make themselves unavailable drivers have to give 5 days notice, so they would have had to have faith England were going to win last night!

As for how bad?  Perhaps someone can trawl back to the Euro 2020 final in 2021…I guess it will be quite similar to that?

Talking to a GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) member of staff just after midnight this morning, following the football 30 drivers had already gone sick.

Now shall we run a sweepstake for how many cancellations on Sunday?