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Author Topic: Service meltdown - advice is to use other means to travel  (Read 35567 times)
Adelante_CCT
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« Reply #60 on: September 13, 2017, 15:18:00 »

Quote
15:18 Swindon to Westbury due 16:06 will be cancelled.
This is due to a fault on this train.

Well at least the 15:12 wasn't cancelled  Wink
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grahame
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« Reply #61 on: September 13, 2017, 16:04:06 »

Quote
15:18 Swindon to Westbury due 16:06 will be cancelled.
This is due to a fault on this train.

Well at least the 15:12 wasn't cancelled  Wink

There is a sore point indeed with that timing difference ... at 15:12, it connects at Westbury for commuters travelling onward to Warminster, Salisbury and beyond - that's a five minute connection and quite a number of people using it. At 15:18, it has pathing minutes added too and people have to sit in the train at Bradford Junction and watch the train they normally connect with go ahead of them, then wait for the train at hour later at Westbury.   That is, of course, on days when there are enough staff and working trains to actually run it!
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TaplowGreen
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« Reply #62 on: September 13, 2017, 20:14:01 »

..............can't even buy a ticket! ("more TVMs (Ticket Vending Machine) than usual in need of repair"?)  Roll Eyes


Acton Main Line: Ticket Office Closure

Burnham: Ticket Vending Machine problem

Castle Bar Park: Ticket Office Closure

Castle Cary: Ticket Office Closure

Crowthorne: Ticket Vending Machine problem

Crowthorne: Ticket Office Closure

Exeter St Davids: Ticket Vending Machine problem

Maidenhead: Ticket Vending Machine problem

Melksham: Ticket Vending Machine problem

Pewsey: Ticket Vending Machine problem

Stroud: Ticket Vending Machine problem

Taplow: Ticket Office Closure

Taplow: Ticket Vending Machine problem

Tiverton Parkway: Ticket Vending Machine problem
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John R
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« Reply #63 on: September 13, 2017, 21:22:40 »

Can't even blame the ticket office closures on training staff how to use the new rolling stock...
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grahame
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« Reply #64 on: September 14, 2017, 15:19:21 »

Quote
15:18 Swindon to Westbury due 16:06
15:18 Swindon to Westbury due 16:06 will be cancelled.
This is due to a fault on this train.
Last Updated:14/09/2017 15:07
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grahame
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« Reply #65 on: September 14, 2017, 16:09:55 »

Quote
16:21 Westbury to Swindon due 17:06
16:21 Westbury to Swindon due 17:06 will be cancelled.
This is due to a fault on this train.
Last Updated:14/09/2017 15:25
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grahame
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« Reply #66 on: September 14, 2017, 16:45:36 »

Quote
17:44 Swindon to Westbury due 18:28
17:44 Swindon to Westbury due 18:28 will be cancelled.
This is due to a fault on this train.

18:32 Westbury to Swindon due 19:23
18:32 Westbury to Swindon due 19:23 will be cancelled.
This is due to a fault on this train.

I'm going back through my notes and will tell you about the last 100 services that were supposed to run later this evening.   Easy arithmetic to work out percentages if we take a sample of 100, and enough of a sample to show a trend!
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grahame
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« Reply #67 on: September 14, 2017, 19:31:23 »

Quote
17:44 Swindon to Westbury due 18:28
17:44 Swindon to Westbury due 18:28 will be cancelled.
This is due to a fault on this train.

18:32 Westbury to Swindon due 19:23
18:32 Westbury to Swindon due 19:23 will be cancelled.
This is due to a fault on this train.

I'm going back through my notes and will tell you about the last 100 services that were supposed to run later this evening.   Easy arithmetic to work out percentages if we take a sample of 100, and enough of a sample to show a trend!


And ...

Quote
20:06 Swindon to Westbury due 20:49
20:06 Swindon to Westbury due 20:49 will be cancelled.
This is due to a fault on this train.

That's
4 journeys cancellations on Saturday
8 on Sunday
All ran Monday
All ran Tuesday
3 cancelled Wednesday
5 cancelled Thursday

There should have been 101 journeys ... 12 cancelled due to lack of GWR (Great Western Railway) staff, 8 cancelled due to GWR not providing a working train ... 20% cancellations, 80% ran.  How on earth we're supposed to even maintain passenger levels, let alone continue to grow them, I don't know.    TransWilts forecasts are based on a reliable service.  That's at least 98% running - or a tenth of the cancellations we're seeing at the moment.
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bobm
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« Reply #68 on: September 14, 2017, 20:07:10 »

Dispiriting doesn't even come into it.

Even more annoying is there's no mention on Journeycheck of what alternative arrangements (if any) are in place. Remember the 20:06 is the last train of the day so I assume it is a taxi from Chippenham. I have no way of telling but I hope announcements were made on the 19:00 from Paddington (the official connection into the 20:06) to stay on the train past Swindon and alight at Chippenham.  If not passengers may have got off and gone to platform 2 at Swindon to discover no train. They'd then have to walk back to platform 4 and wait for the next train to Chippenham at 20:30 and hope taxis were still available for Melksham when they got there.

We are privileged within the TransWilts to have some high level contacts within GWR (Great Western Railway) but even we are struggling to get answers.
« Last Edit: September 15, 2017, 05:27:55 by bobm » Logged
grahame
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« Reply #69 on: September 15, 2017, 08:46:53 »

Dispiriting doesn't even come into it.

Indeed.

It was a massive and painful decision to start this thread on a public board when services melted down again last Saturday with a further 4 cancelled journeys out of 16.   However,  our train operator is failing to provide the service it's contracted to provide - missing reliability targets ten fold (up to 2% cancellation can be stood, but not 20%) and letting down customers to the extent that many won't be customers and longer.   And customers let down by a business take a very long time to come back, and spend a lot of time telling their friends, relatives and colleagues all about that letdown even for years after (and if) the issues are fixed.

Passengers cannot travel on promises.  Yes, they can travel on replacement transport when provided. But that's taken up to an hour to provide, and an hour late to work or an hour late home, or a missed connection for which plenty of time had been allowed into an infrequent ongoing piece of public transport, all have serious consequences ... "you're late again - do you want this job", "the children have already gone to bed" or "sorry - your flight has closed".

I do believe that the immediate cause of the majority of cancellations and short runnings of journeys that should be staffed from the Westbury depot is (as declared) a shortage of qualified staff available to run or complete those journeys, and that the shortage is being caused at least in a part by staff being taken off operating current passenger trains in order for them to be trained about the cascaded ones they'll be driving soon.  And I understand that if they're not trained prior to the trains being changed over, we'll end up with a (demoralised) staff team in early 2018, trains sitting in sidings, and a shambles like the early months of 2007 where First's then-team had screwed up so badly that there were official penalties, talk of loss of franchise, and cancellation rates on the TransWilts  (just for example) where our wafer thin service was cancelled more often than it ran.    Yes - we want to avoid that situation again.

"Dispiriting doesn't even come into it."    Indeed. But simply criticising isn't a positive solution.   Saying things are "unacceptable" is like trying to call the bluff of GWR (Great Western Railway) and their suppliers;  we really have little choice but to accept that there's a problem.   Involving MPs (Member of Parliament), Transport Focus, the DfT» (Department for Transport - about), the local council who are the passenger transport authority may add pressure onto the train operator, but it won't "magic" a supply of more staff.

Suggestions?   Yes - I have some. 

1. A thinning out until Christmas of some services that are followed by another in 30 minutes or less (yes, that does drop TransWilts services, but in a controlled way), one or two extra stops on faster trains to ensure that the 30 minute change threshold isn't broken.  Released stock from those suspended trains to be used to strengthen remaining service, and to ensure that hot spares are available where they're supposed to be.

2. Consideration of use of LHCS (Locomotive Hauled Coaching Stock) (Locomotive hauled coaching stock) - perhaps 2 sets; not only to fill gaps, but also to provide motive power for which there are more drivers available.  Yeah - I know we all thought we had seen the last loco hauled scheduled service to Weymouth!

3. A realistic assessment of what can be delivered reliably through the autumn, rather than the public having to find out when they wake up on Saturday morning for a day trip what time the first train runs - is it 09:02 (as scheduled), or 13:02 (as it was last Saturday)?

4. A really good gesture for the New Year that says "sorry - we know we messed you about - here you are to help get things back on a positive growth track for all of us".   My TransWilts hat suggests ... * Two car all day; * early service on Sunday to start back at Warminster and carry on to Swindon (that latter in draft already); * final train of day to be an extra late turn - planned into staff rotas so affordable rather than as a clunky add-on, sorting out late Bristol and Bath to Chippenham and Swindon requirements in the process; * 17:36 ex Swindon extended to Frome, 07:32 from Westbury started back at Frome (daily stock swap at Westbury at 18:20); * 15:12 (or whatever time it runs) to continue to connect with the 16:01 (ish) Portsmouth Harbour train at Westbury.



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John R
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« Reply #70 on: September 16, 2017, 09:03:48 »

Four more cancellations today currently showing, and no prizes for guessing which service is affected by all of them...
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bobm
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« Reply #71 on: September 16, 2017, 09:10:30 »

For the record the services affected are:

16:33 Westbury to Swindon
17:36 Swindon to Westbury
18:32 Westbury to Swindon
19:36 Swindon to Westbury

All due to a lack of guards.
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TaplowGreen
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« Reply #72 on: September 16, 2017, 09:13:11 »

Deep breaths Graham!!!

Once again down to lack of personnel...............this was the picture on LTV (London [and] Thames Valley) yesterday (Friday afternoon peak), all cancelled,all down to "shortage of train crew" -  there is clearly a serious resourcing problem within GWR (Great Western Railway), which is not being adequately managed - the reason for the shortage was (of course) not revealed to those who asked them - these are all "new" 387 services so I cannot imagine it would be because they were away training for something else.

16:02 Maidenhead to London Paddington due 16:49
16:09 London Paddington to Maidenhead due 16:42
16:42 London Paddington to Maidenhead due 17:13
16:58 London Paddington to Maidenhead due 17:44
17:05 Maidenhead to London Paddington due 17:46
17:14 London Paddington to Maidenhead due 18:05
17:18 London Paddington to Hayes & Harlington due 17:40
17:42 London Paddington to Maidenhead due 18:13
17:48 Hayes & Harlington to London Paddington due 18:10
17:57 London Paddington to Maidenhead due 18:43
18:07 Maidenhead to London Paddington due 18:43
18:10 London Paddington to Maidenhead due 18:48
18:18 Maidenhead to London Paddington due 18:59
18:42 London Paddington to Maidenhead due 19:14
18:57 London Paddington to Maidenhead due 19:44
19:12 London Paddington to Maidenhead due 19:53
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grahame
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« Reply #73 on: September 16, 2017, 09:23:47 »

Four more cancellations today currently showing, and no prizes for guessing which service is affected by all of them...

Effect best illustrated on the special poster relating to today's engineering works (we really don't mind pre-announced changes) ...







Noting the text - "Trains WILL run" ...
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ChrisB
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« Reply #74 on: September 16, 2017, 12:19:53 »

Are crews starting to defect to Crossrail? They'll need a lot of staff & I understand the benefits are better...
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