Bristol commuter train overcrowding - a summary of the current state of play

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Any of you BRISTOL commuters on Facebook?  What do you make of this summary?   You may spot my hand in the photo and text, and your help sharing around Facebook groups and friends would be appreciated. 

Bristol Commuters. There are far more passengers travelling home each evening from Bristol Temple Meads than there are seats for them on the trains they're catching. ...

[simonw]

This is close to the point I made six months ago, why should GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) release trains on time to other operators, when scheduled stock replacements have not happened.

The consequence of this policy is that GWR will lose capacity, and frequency of service will deteriorate.

Is this right? Surely the common sense solution is for GWR not to release stock until replacement stock have arrived, been serviced and staff trained for it.

[grahame]

This is close to the point I made six months ago, why should GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) release trains on time to other operators, when scheduled stock replacements have not happened.

Because the other operators have a contract for it which is starting and GWR do not.

Imagine you had a fortnight's holiday planned in the South West, and had hired a self catering holiday apartment in Hayle from 2nd to 9th September, and then booked a hotel in Seaton for the following week.  You got a phone call / email to tell you that the hotel in Seaton were very sorry, but a refurbishment was running late and they no longer had the room for you. Would you then say "I've nowhere to go" and stay on in Hayle?   You might well ask if the following week was available, but I suggest you would not try to stay on anyway if you were told there were people arriving the afternoon that you left.  If you did stay on, it would get very unpleasant, and the letting company would never trust you with one of their places ever again.

[stuving]

In the case of the HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) that are being cut up/down/whatever, there is also the company doing the modification work. They have all their workflow scheduled, and would not voluntarily change that, and even things that do not obviously involve paying more money would cost them extra.

[grahame]

The consequence of this policy is that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) will lose capacity, and frequency of service will deteriorate.

Not quite that dire ... the frequency's unlikey to be reduced, but you'll find diesel multiple units running as diesel single units

There has been some changes made to plans - hanging on to stock that was due to go off lease, but for which no new operator had been contracted - so 143s and some 153s will remain around a while.  But with these units due to go back for (?) storage or scrapping rather than on elsewhere, maintenance has been reduced so that there's now catching up to do with them continuing in service.

Is this right?

I think you've understood the situation, yes.   If you're asking "is this the right way to do things?" that's a very interesting discussion.

[John R]

There was serious consideration a year back to rehiring a loco and coaches set to cover the shortfall, but this didn't happen. Clearly either GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) doesn't  shout loud enough to DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) about the shortage of stock, or DfT considers the West of England isn't important enough to spend the additional money required.

[simonw]

The argument that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) failure to release stock inconveniences other operators, perhaps those with Pacers, is true, but the failure to release Turbo stock to the West is the route cause of this.

GWR is due to release a lot of stock over the next 12 months, what is the worse case scenario if GWR has to release stock and fails to receive operational Turbo stock in replacement?

[ChrisB]

See Graham's answer above yours...and in answer to John R...GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) are about to rebid for the franchise and won't want to be hammering on the DfTs^» (Department for Transport - about) door too heavily

[phile]

This is close to the point I made six months ago, why should GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) release trains on time to other operators, when scheduled stock replacements have not happened.

The consequence of this policy is that GWR will lose capacity, and frequency of service will deteriorate.

Is this right? Surely the common sense solution is for GWR not to release stock until replacement stock have arrived, been serviced and staff trained for it.

If the DFT^▸ (Department for Transport) say when they have to go, they have to go.    Regarding the HST^▸ (High Speed Train)  transfers to Abelio Scotrail, the Scottish end is run by Transport for|Scotland and not the DFT.  This means they have to be released at the agreed.

[simonw]

So, from all these answers, is it fair to assume that DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) has determined that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) will fail with its customers, with cancelled  services, short services, etc.

[ChrisB]

They caused this, so probably!