Severn Beach Line; trains, performance, tickets and usage

[whole diary]

[TaplowGreen]

"New" trains...................no drivers 

Cancellations to services between Bristol Temple Meads and Severn Beach


Due to a shortage of train crew between Bristol Temple Meads and Severn Beach:
Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled. Disruption is expected until 18:00 09/07.
Customer Advice
Road replacement transport will operate in both directions.

[bobm]

From ITV Westcountry  (Videos in the link)

A passenger on the Severn Beach train line through Bristol says the service is so bad they're often left stranded.
Ashley Bridle told ITV News the vast majority of services he relies on end up delayed or even cancelled.
 
Great Western Rail have invested in a fleet of turbo trains.

Mr Bridle kept a week-long video journal documenting his experiences using the Severn Beach line.
He says some services were running 20 minutes late which affected later trains. He also says a service to Avonmouth was cancelled entirely.

Mr Bridle is looking for a job and relies on the train to get to the job centre. He says even a small delay can cause problems.
"I'm due to sign on at 12:20 and the train is arriving over 10 minutes late. Being late to sign on, I can only hope that they're sympathetic and do not sanction my money."
 
Great Western Rail say the upgrade has caused 'initial problems' that will soon be resolved.

The line runs from Bristol Temple Meads to Severn Beach, stopping at small stations along the way.

Some passengers claim that if the service is running late it will terminate at Avonmouth, forcing them to make their own way to Severn Beach.
 
Services along the line were upgraded earlier this month with the introduction of new turbo trains.
But Mr Bridle says services are less reliable since the changes.

"It's literally just made it a lot worse. We've been complaining for years because of late services and cancellations. For a couple of years it did get better but this is literally the worst we've ever seen it. It's never been this bad."
 
Passengers say they have faced delays and cancelled services on the line.

GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) said in a statement they attribute the delays to the new system but are expecting services on the line to improve soon.
"We're sorry some customers have experienced delays on Severn Beach lines as we replace older trains with a more modern fleet.
Although the improved reliability, performance and comfort of the trains themselves has been clear, changes to the way trains operate on the line have caused some initial problems. We are already seeing this improve, and expect to see a return to the usual high performance on the line very soon."

[ChrisB]

A pair I got yesterday were 10mins & 20mins late.

There's very little time allowed for turn around at Severn Beach (3mins yesterday), so 10min late arrival starts off the return being 7mins late if it left immediately, which of course it doesn't, so carries the outward delay back to BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains), picking up further delay as it returns.

[JayMac]

Timings that were perfectly fine for the Class 150s. The poor timekeeping is down to the Class 16x Turbos. GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) West are yet to get to grips with the 'new' trains.

Although it's probably best that teething troubles are confined to the Severn Beach Line. Better to resolve operational issues there than have problems across the west when further Turbos head to Bristol. Cold comfort for Severn Beach Line users though.

[ChrisB]

There appears to be a speed limit?

I don't know what the line speeds were under the 150s, but the turbo crawled along, having picked up a couple of mins delay after following a freight out of BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains). The fastest section was after Avonmouth towards Severn Beach.

Swarming with GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) staff on a learning exercise. Outnumbered those going to Severn Beach they did. Has the fare Anytime Return always been £3 or less?

[John R]

Timings that were perfectly fine for the Class 150s. The poor timekeeping is down to the Class 16x Turbos. GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) West are yet to get to grips with the 'new' trains.

Although it's probably best that teething troubles are confined to the Severn Beach Line. Better to resolve operational issues there than have problems across the west when further Turbos head to Bristol. Cold comfort for Severn Beach Line users though.

If these problems were foreseen ( and if not, why weren't they?) then maybe it would have been better to use the units on a double track route with reasonable turn around times, so that delays don't automatically compound. Eg the Weston to Bristol Parkway run.  Too late now though...

[grahame]

Timings that were perfectly fine for the Class 150s. The poor timekeeping is down to the Class 16x Turbos. GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) West are yet to get to grips with the 'new' trains.

Although it's probably best that teething troubles are confined to the Severn Beach Line. Better to resolve operational issues there than have problems across the west when further Turbos head to Bristol. Cold comfort for Severn Beach Line users though.

If these problems were foreseen ( and if not, why weren't they?) then maybe it would have been better to use the units on a double track route with reasonable turn around times, so that delays don't automatically compound. Eg the Weston to Bristol Parkway run.  Too late now though...

I've been filled in on much of the detail; around half a dozen separate issues were mentioned, each quite small in their own right, but they've added up / compounded.   One or two were foreseen, one or two were along the lines of "we'll have to see how that works out" and at least on related to delayed clearances at full speed.  Those that relate to how customers will behave would probably have needed a psychologist on the team to predict.   I seem to recall the Borders Railway running empty for training purposes for a considerable period - that would have been very unwelcome on "The Beach", and selecting another service in a bigger network pond would have lead to the waves from any delay spreading far wider.

In other words - no ideal first place in the west; sorry that SVB has had the teething problems which couldn't be totally anticipated.

[Adelante_CCT]

Generally longer turnaround times at Swindon and Westbury...... 

[TonyK]

Has the fare Anytime Return always been £3 or less?

Since 2009, when the service was improved. It's terrific value, and only £9.00 for a weekly ticket. It's a bit of an embarrassment - I think the service was only improved to prove that in wasn't viable, as Atkins had eyes on ripping it up for a guided busway. It didn't work out that way!

So now, we have:




Looking very smart at Lawrence Hill! Sorry, just the phone.

[TonyK]

Has the fare Anytime Return always been £3 or less?

Since 2009, when the service was improved. It's terrific value, and only £9.00 for a weekly ticket. It's a bit of an embarrassment - I think the service was only improved to prove that it wasn't viable, as Atkins had eyes on ripping it up for a guided busway. It didn't work out that way! It's too busy to get a fare from every passenger. If everyone paid, it would turn a profit.

So now, we have:

IMG_20170725_135030[/url]

IMG_20170725_135035[/url]

Looking very smart at Lawrence Hill! Sorry, just the phone.

[Kempis]

Most of my journeys on the Severn Beach line since the Turbos were introduced have been between 5 and 10 minutes late.

One train from Temple Meads was 30 minutes late and terminated at Clifton Down. I'd hope that, when that happens, passengers for stations beyond Clifton Down would be directed to the buses, also run by First Group, which leave from outside Clifton Down station, with rail tickets accepted: the 3 goes to Avonmouth via Shirehampton, and the 4 to Shirehampton via Sea Mills. I didn't hear any announcements, though.

But I've also had a few journeys, in each direction, which have been on time, so the 166s are evidently capable of keeping to the timetable. I'd wondered whether, having been built for express runs between Oxford and Paddington, their gearing was unsuited to the frequent station stops on the Severn Beach line.

There's some coverage of the poor timekeeping in the Bristol Post here: http://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/more-85-new-severn-beach-227090.

[Electric train]

But I've also had a few journeys, in each direction, which have been on time, so the 166s are evidently capable of keeping to the timetable. I'd wondered whether, having been built for express runs between Oxford and Paddington, their gearing was unsuited to the frequent station stops on the Severn Beach line.

The 165/6 kept to time on the frequent stoppers Padd to Reading, they were built as inner / outer suburban units

[stuving]

I wonder why the 166s were sent to Severn Beach anyway? In the pre-cascadean era the North Downs Line used to have 166s to Gatwick and 165s to Redhill. There's no difference in gearing (it's Chilterns 165s that are lower geared), but the interiors of 166s suit the airport run better (more luggage space, more seats for groups). Then earlier this year it was all 166s, until this month when we've had 165s on all the services I've seen.

[LiskeardRich]

From ITV Westcountry  (Videos in the link)

A passenger on the Severn Beach train line through Bristol says the service is so bad they're often left stranded.
Ashley Bridle told ITV News the vast majority of services he relies on end up delayed or even cancelled.
 
Great Western Rail have invested in a fleet of turbo trains.

Mr Bridle kept a week-long video journal documenting his experiences using the Severn Beach line.
He says some services were running 20 minutes late which affected later trains. He also says a service to Avonmouth was cancelled entirely.

Mr Bridle is looking for a job and relies on the train to get to the job centre. He says even a small delay can cause problems.
"I'm due to sign on at 12:20 and the train is arriving over 10 minutes late. Being late to sign on, I can only hope that they're sympathetic and do not sanction my money."
 
Great Western Rail say the upgrade has caused 'initial problems' that will soon be resolved.

The line runs from Bristol Temple Meads to Severn Beach, stopping at small stations along the way.

Some passengers claim that if the service is running late it will terminate at Avonmouth, forcing them to make their own way to Severn Beach.
 
Services along the line were upgraded earlier this month with the introduction of new turbo trains.
But Mr Bridle says services are less reliable since the changes.

"It's literally just made it a lot worse. We've been complaining for years because of late services and cancellations. For a couple of years it did get better but this is literally the worst we've ever seen it. It's never been this bad."
 
Passengers say they have faced delays and cancelled services on the line.

GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) said in a statement they attribute the delays to the new system but are expecting services on the line to improve soon.
"We're sorry some customers have experienced delays on Severn Beach lines as we replace older trains with a more modern fleet.
Although the improved reliability, performance and comfort of the trains themselves has been clear, changes to the way trains operate on the line have caused some initial problems. We are already seeing this improve, and expect to see a return to the usual high performance on the line very soon."

So he's become aware of the delays and unreliability, yet hasn't amended his travel plans to get an earlier service to sign on.

[grahame]

So he's become aware of the delays and unreliability, yet hasn't amended his travel plans to get an earlier service to sign on.

Were I a potential employer, I would be concerned that Mr Brindle hadn't found himself able to adjust his personal plans and invest an extra 40 minutes to ensure he was on time when it became clear to him there was a problem.  It could be that there are issues that prevented him from travelling earlier - for example having to drop off the little one at childcare, but if that were the case it would raise concerns about his taking this story to the media.

I'm very conscious that we don't invade passenger's personal space and issues here. However, by going to ITV Mr Brindle has put himself and his situation in the public domain.  Should he happen to read this, he is very welcome indeed to sign up, fill us in, comment ... as always with this sort of media thing, our story might not be complete.