Melksham Connections

[whole diary]

[Kim]

Another one....

http://instagram.com/p/aICBbRuBEH/

[grahame]

Another one....

http://instagram.com/p/aICBbRuBEH/

And causing a 7 minute delay ... I'm glad I'm not going for the 6 minute connection at Westbury this morning!

[Kim]

The connection from Trowbridge leaves after the one from Westbury. The whole 'service' makes no sense. The freight this morning was going in the Westbury direction, so it would have been worse had it been going the opposite way.

[bobm]

From what I can gather the freight was an engineering train which had been involved with the redoubling on the Swindon to Kemble project.  It moved from the work site to Swindon station but then got delayed while running round (moving the loco(s) from the front to the back to change direction) and left later than planned for Westbury thus holding things up on the single line.

[Kim]

This 6:44 6:47 business is beyond a joke now. Everyone travelling from Melksham to Trowbridge wants that train. Us pulling up as it is pulling out is becoming more and more common, yet we haven't caught one for a month now. It would have to be moved significantly to guarantee the connection, but we don't want it guaranteed, just something that gives us half a chance. I could really do with the 6:44 right now but that would cost me an extra ^5 in petrol a day just because FGW^▸ (First Great Western) fail to run an appropriate service.

[grahame]

This 6:44 6:47 business is beyond a joke now. Everyone travelling from Melksham to Trowbridge wants that train....

Not quite everyone ... some of us want a more reliable connection at Westbury into the 07:01 Paddington train - that's not "guaranteed", but it is already within the 5 minutes to make it an official connection.  Sometime it makes it, sometimes it doesn't ... and if it doesn't the next train out for Paddington is "change at Swindon" - the 07:04.   Via Melksham again.  But your desires and mine are the same here, and I would love to see the 06:38 from Melksham leaving at 06:30, 06:39 at Trowbridge and 06:48 into Westbury.   Carrying on - as at present - at 07:01.

However ...

* Platform availability at Westbury - NOT a problem; previous service leaves at 06:40
* Others on the train from Trowbridge - ouch; there are a few who join for Salisbury, and they won't like the alteration
* Others on the train from Swindon - very few indeed / not a problem
* Earlier path from Swindon (at 06:05) - probably not a problem
* Being available to leave Swindon at 06:05 ... ouch; it only arrives there at 06:06 and has to reverse
* Earlier path into Swindon? ... this is the 05:19 off Gloucester and makes a connection into the Paddington train at 06:11 - ouch as to run it earlier would increase journey times for Stroud Valley to london commuters.
* You ask for it to make a connection *sometimes* at least. Alas, human nature being what it is, people will the want it to always connect, so - ouch - a couple of minutes change would lead to more people trying to make the connection and have it fail, and more frustration with FGW^▸ (First Great Western) rather than less.

I even looked around and thought about moving the 06:44 few minutes later - and found another can of worms.

The real solution to your too-long day is a radical one - extra services from Westbury to Swindon at 07:34, 09:34, 11:34, 14:34, 16:34, 18:34 and 21:34 returning at 08:44, 10:44, 12:44, 15:44, 17:44, 20:14 and 22:44.  It would give you a commuter-time connection into Bristol from Chippenham, and / or a return train an hour earlier, giving you the choice of reducing your working day at either or both ends.  And it works for others too ... proper Swindon commutes with arrivals there at 07:48 and 08:18 in the morning peak, departures back in the afternoon / evening at 17:44 and 18:44, with 2 later trains at 90 minute intervals for people who have to work late.  It's a single unit with 75% utilisation during most of the day, and it fits snugly between the HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) on the Bristol and South Wales runs.    The exiting morning TransWilts service still starts the day, and the existing evening one fits into the pattern.     From 5 p.m. trains are off Swindon with intervals of 60, 90 and 150 minutes - an ideal gradual reduction for later passengers.

[grahame]

17:39 Cheltenham Spa to Southampton Central due 20:48 This train will be terminated at Gloucester.
This train will no longer call at Stonehouse, Stroud, Kemble, Swindon, Chippenham, Melksham, Trowbridge, Westbury, Dilton Marsh, Warminster, Salisbury, Romsey and Southampton Central.
This is due to a person hit by a train.

The cancellation is understandable (problem reported to be between Swindon and Chippenham, and with south Wales services diverted too, via Kemble, it seems like it's between Swindon and Royal Wootton Bassett), but logged here as it forms part of a picture / pattern of unreliability.

[grahame]

19:02   Southampton Central   Cancelled      First Great Western
19:14   Bristol Temple Meads   On time   1   First Great Western
19:44   Weston-super-Mare   On time   1   First Great Western

So Bristol services running OK then ...

[John R]

A fatality between Swindon and Wootton Bassett in the height of the rush hour (around 1700). I don't think it's fair to log it "as part of a picture/pattern of unreliability" of the Transwilts service.

I happened to be at Bristol Parkway at around 2020 when a passenger was laying into the ticket office staff, demanding to speak to a supervisor and, in my view, being totally unreasonable. I'm sure 99% of those caught up in tonight's problems were somewhat more philosophical as to their difficulty getting home.

[grahame]

A fatality between Swindon and Wootton Bassett in the height of the rush hour (around 1700). I don't think it's fair to log it "as part of a picture/pattern of unreliability" of the Transwilts service.

That's a very difficult 'call' indeed, John.

On journeys that are disrupted by a fatality, it is very much proper for the situation to be accepted that day as it is, with sympathy offered to all concerned, and the disruption accepted.   These are truly awful events, and make "I want to get home" shrink into a very minor matter indeed.

But - that's on the day.  And we shouldn't turn round an then accept the situation for the future.  There are hundreds of fatalities a year on the UK^▸ (United Kingdom)'s railways ... and they have a serious effect on performance.   

London to Melksham journeys are sometimes fine.   But sometimes they get effected by train breakdown at Ealing, loss of power in a carriage at Swindon, person hit by train at Southall, overrunning engineering at Reading, freight train stopped for extra checks at Trowbridge, deer on line at Thingley, lack of crew.   That all add up and all need to be considered in the general picture.   And the general picture in review must look at reducing the number of incidents of all types that happen quite often (and, goodness, we all want that for humane reasons too in "person hit by train") and reducing the effect of those incidents.   For this wider review, I don't think you can or should exclude one cause.

[bobm]

Some quotes from commuters affected by the fatality in both the article and the comments below it in the Swindon Advertiser

COMMUTERS faced rail chaos last night when a man died after being hit by a train in West Swindon.
 
The incident happened on the line near John Lewis at Home at around 5.10pm as a Reading to Bristol Temple Meads train struck the man, who has not been identified.
 
Emergency services, including Wiltshire Police, British Transport Police and South West Ambulance Service, attended, but the man was pronounced dead at the scene.
 
A spokesman for British Transport Police (BTP^▸ (British Transport Police)) last night said the incident was not being treated as suspicious.
 
She said: ^BTP were called to the Kingshill area of Swindon at around 5.10pm to reports a person had been struck by a train.
 
^Officers from BTP and Wiltshire Police, along with paramedics from South West Ambulance Service, attended the scene. The man was pronounced dead on arrival.
 
^It is currently being investigated as non-suspicious.^

Trains from Swindon station were either cancelled or delayed by up to 90 minutes, with First Great Western (FGW^▸ (First Great Western)) reporting major disruption in both directions, as commuters gathered on the platforms.
 
Stranded commuter Joe Collet, 31, a risk manager, said: ^m going to Gloucester and I^ve been here about 40 minutes. ^It^s a bit frustrating but these things happen. You just have to wait for the police to do what they have to do.^
 
Another, who asked not to be named, said: ^There were between 100 and 200 people all lined up on the platforms and there was a train stuck in the station. They told us they ordered coaches, but it was a long delay. I was waiting more than an hour.^
 
An FGW spokesman said the train had been damaged during the incident and was stranded on the line.
 
She said: ^We were working with Network Rail and BTP to get things moving as quickly as possible. There were no services from Swindon to Chippenham and there was a limited service from Swindon to Reading and London.
 
^Trains to South Wales had to be diverted through Gloucester, which added an hour to the journey.
 
^The train involved in the fatality was also damaged and was stranded on the line. We do not control the line during incidents such as this and BTP have to carry out their investigation.^
 

[grahame]

17:20 Westbury to Swindon due 18:04
This train will be cancelled.
This is due to an earlier train fault.

18:19 Swindon to Westbury due 19:05
This train will be cancelled.
This is due to an earlier train fault.

So that leaves the 19:35 Westbury to Swindon as today's only service in either direction.  Connection into Elstree and Borehamwood (my most common Sunday evening journey at present) at 23:24 rather then 20:41.   Lovely 

[grahame]

Real time trains shows some odd goings on at Westbury ... the 16:58 arrived from Cardiff on time, but didn't leave until 17:19 ... perhaps that's the train that had the "earlier fault" and the TransWilts unit was sent to Portsmouth.  I do hope it wasn't a 153 

[phile]

A 153 wouldn't have gone to Portsmouth anyway.   They are not permitted beyond Southampton.   An old debate, that one.

[JayMac]

What's changed since 1998?

http://railwayherald.com/imagingcentre/view/282515/PL