What would the RoSCos do if they didn't receive that guarantee?

Does it have signs warning of high vaultage?

Does that mean pilots to provide the route knowledge via Bristol?

Thanks, II for that insight into the complexity of staff rostering.

I guess that calling it a planning error could be justified as the late running of the inbound train from Paddington would have been predictable from about 13:15. Time sufficient to organise a taxi for the crew?

However, the recent posts of the thread have been to draw attention to the reasons given to the public and their less-than-credible nature sometimes. Communication of delays has for a long time been something flagged for "must do better".

Please don't take this as personal criticism. I value your input to the forum.

Journeycheck/greatwesternrailway:

One service each way lost due to flooding? Or would you rather believe RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website):

gwr.com is currently offering only the via Bath fare, except for the 18:37 WSB^» (Westbury - next trains)-SWI^» (Swindon - next trains) which presumably is the only train after the current time that hasn't (yet?) been cancelled.

Checking on nationalrail, it says the 18:37 has been cancelled. Journeycheck/greatwesternrailway agrees.

 

The Paddington-Plymouth, 1C89, cleared the Melksham single line by 18:14, at which time the Swindon-Westbury train hadn't passed Thingley Junction. The single line remained clear for quite some time after this, so the train could have used its proper route and deposited passengers requiring Melksham at the proper location. Instead it (2M30) delayed the following 1C24 Padd-Bristol at Bathampton, albeit only for four minutes.

A hard call for Control when there was not much time to sort out many simultaneous problems. Sorting out the capacity problems can be done at a much more leisurely pace, can't it. 

If there's any worry that the DMU^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) engines would not start after a 30 minute break, or that the lights would go out, or that the air would leak away... then it makes me wonder whether it's the design or the maintenance of the trains that  leaves a bit to be desired.

Now onto RingGo:
 
Don't bother with https://myringgo.co.uk/howitworks, as it starts with "Create an account" and appears to be dealing with the app method of payment.

I couldn't see anything intended as an explanation of the pay-by-phoning method (its as if they don't want you to use it  ). So, I went to the site's T&C section. https://myringgo.co.uk/static/onlineterms. It isn't clear if these terms apply to all transactions or just interactions via the website (only the URL has the "online" qualifier. Anyway...



(Spoiler: the link works but it does not include relevant instructions for all "tools" including telephone access).




So, it appears that you have to pay extra ( 10p at the moment ) to ensure that you have successfully paid for parking... or is there a final stage in the voice payment process that tells you? Obviously Grahame didn't get that far, so does anyone else on the forum know how a successful RingGo telephone payment ends?

The addition of charge for confirming the transaction reminded me of current moves to outlaw "Drip pricing" - see . Perhaps RingGo wouldn't be affected as their hidden fee is "optional"... maybe some words to MPs^▸ (Member of Parliament) during the progession of the bill would be useful? I'd argue that getting a receipt isn't optional.

I think my main line of attack on this one, though, would be SWR^» (South Western Railway - about). This is the organisation that has made a decision to offload car park payment onto organisations with a distinctly unhelpful approach.

Let's have a trawl through what's available, starting with South Western Railway:

https://www.southwesternrailway.com/travelling-with-us/at-the-station/car-parking


SWR^» (South Western Railway - about)'s T&C at https://www.southwesternrailway.com/-/media/files/travelling-with-us/at-the-station/conditions-of-parking-motor-vehicles-and-bicycles/conditions-of-parking-motor-vehicles-and-bicycles-december-2022.pdf


On the  SWR website, no mention of APCOA^▸ (Car parking company used at GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) - controlled stations in the area) that I could see.

It seems worth pointing out that the inconsistencies highlighted in the foregoing table could be remedied without changing the system of fares currently in place.

I have to say that I disagree with several of the recommendations in the summary report, including:

From the Rail Delivery Group's Routeing Guide frontpage:

My question:

Is the new incarnation of the National Rail Journey Planner fit for the above purpose?

Journey planners are still showing bus services to Swindon on today, Sunday 7th. Trains to Bristol and South Wales are supposed to be diverted via Pewsey. Journeycheck predicts disruption of services via Pewsey until end of 7th.

Anybody know what's being planned?

Quoting GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Journeycheck:

You would not guess from this message that services on the Birmingham-Bristol-Exeter axis have continued running, as have trains on the Taunton-Cardiff route. Severn Beach branch has suffered nothing worse than a 19 minute delay.

Thanks for providing a very useful resource :-)

It does appear that patronage held up for longer around the major regional cities than it did in London or in smaller towns more isolated from the big hubs.

Looking in more detail at the graphs, there seem to be many in a form /^--- , where rapid growth in the first decade of the century plateaued in the second. Where the growth slowed or ended seems to vary; in Wiltshire it's 2015-2017 while in Cornwall it tends to be somewhat earlier. A similar demand curve is seen on the Welsh Marches Line and in many other places.

Some places like Gt Yarmouth have a radically different trendline - were there service reductions or problems over several years?

For the mainstream, there could be a number of reasons why growth slowed. In no particular order, I'd suggest:

• Changes to business and commuting due to technology
• Patronage reaching capacity, leading to a decline in quality
• Cumulative effect of austerity vs. RPI^▸ (Revenue Protection Inspector (or Retail Price Index, depending on the context))+ fare increases
• The delayed effect of a reduction in the number of improvements being implemented
• Entering a period where "improvements" caused disruption during construction or where commissioning went awry.