I have used an e ticket once before and it worked just fine on the barriers however wasn’t inspected on train. I use the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Touch to travel on a weekly pass now and it’s quite convenient.

I’m sure if you are trotting along the Stroud Valleys or the Cotswold Line and you struggle to get signal the Ticket Examiner/Train Manager would be understanding.

I am sure you are aware about the deployment of 5 car vehicles after the December TT. It’s not my place to comment whether it will work out or not, however you would think that after a year of it being postponed it will be in ship shape.

I can see that in the next 30 years that we will have the IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train) more being ordered for further frequency improvements. Ultimately, if you want to deliver some of the stuff in the Western Route Study then you are going to need more units.

Thanks for clarifying that. I have spent a lot of time looking at the times between Cheltenham and Worcester and Paddington. A few are beating their promised times which is good.

This is the 18:50 on a Saturday evening post December, scheduled a 12 minute hold at Worcestershire Parkway..
https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/L97618/2019/12/21

I’m only 23! God knows when I will end up working until! 

Generally this weekend 10 car units have been down to just one Customer Host in the set. The agreement is that the Train Manager must operate from the rear 5 coaches and a competent member of staff who can perform evacuations are in the front 5 carriages. This can be a “Customer Host Lead”.

Somebody has taken it to them to make a parody GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) account and reply to the complaints instead..
https://twitter.com/Custome08903108

Good luck to all the front line staff out there today dealing with the ever so patient and understanding general public...

Apparently some staff aren’t being invited to BBQs, including the Union Rep. RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers) to issue a statement shortly 

There needs to be an improvement for those travelling with a monthly or annual season ticket - a discount trigger doesn’t cut it. Spending thousands a year to save a little bit off the next purchase isn’t exactly a good system.

Enjoying a 3 day weekend of not travelling about!

Looks like another one for journey check then! 

In all seriousness, this has happened before one Sunday last year but haven’t seen it since..

At the moment, since introduction of the IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train) I am lead to believe that Train Managers are being pushed to focus more on revenue - they no longer release the doors nor need to manually operate Selective Door Operation. Obviously,  Train Managers can’t be monitored at all times to see if they are doing revenue inspections however there will still be the odd few who don’t really bother, just close the doors and let the automatic announcements roll.

If GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) ever choose to get rid of the safety critical guard then I would be shocked if they don’t come back in the format of “On Board Supervisor” or something like that. Making so many people redundant won’t go down well..

I have recently been travelling to Oxford on a monthly basis, and the first thing I noticed is that it takes the exact same time to travel to London as it does Oxford. Example: I board the 10:51 Gloucester-Paddington. The service arrives into Didcot Parkway at 12:03. I then have a 27 minute connection before a trip on a shuttle towards Oxford that takes 15 minutes. In the time from when I left Didcot, if I remained on the 10:51 to Paddington then I would be there at the same time I alight at Oxford. Journey time: 1 hour 53 minutes.

In the December 2019 timetable change, services from South Wales no longer stop at Didcot Parkway (bar a few services) meaning that a passenger travelling from Cardiff to Oxford will have to change at Swindon, and then again at Didcot. Example: A passenger boards the 0755 Cardiff-Paddington. The service arrives at Swindon at 08:51. Connect onto the 09:00 Worcester-Paddington service arriving into Didcot Parkway at 09:15. 22 minute waiting time before the 09:37 to Oxford arriving into Oxford at 09:52.  Journey time: 1 hour 57 minutes.

In the next 10 years it would be nice to see a practical solution for services towards Oxford, and see something like a Swindon to Oxford non-stop service. Saying that, capacity along the Swindon-Didcot and Didcot-Oxford stretch is pushed as it is..

According to a member of RailForums (some) staff have been issued with a copy of the new timetables alongside the allocations for them. Apparently, some services are running with 5 instead of 9/10 on services which should really have them..