Service meltdown - advice is to use other means to travel

[whole diary]

[John R]

I've posted a comment on the article, but whether it will get through moderation remains to be seen!

[NickB]

Likewise, I've contributed my thoughts too.
To my mind this is further demonstration of a 'head in sand' approach to service provision.  If GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) and 'the rail industry' think that Mark Hopwood and his company's provision is anything other than contemptuous then there is no chance of them changing their behaviour.

[BandHcommuter]

Thought I might just leave this here !
http://www.railmagazine.com/news/network/national-rail-awards-2017-mark-hopwood-managing-director-great-western-railway-wins-outstanding-personal-contribution-senior-management.

The rail industry seems to shower itself with plaudits with a whole range of annual awards (e.g. Rail Staff Awards, National Rail Awards, Rail Industry Innovation, Golden Spanners Golden Whistles etc.). In the main, these seem to be inward looking rather than being representative of passenger experience. It may well be that the MD of GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) has made the best of a bad situation and it could have been a whole lot worse, but that's not what passengers currently see.

[Henry]

 I wonder who came second ?

[Timmer]

I wonder who came second ?

MD of Southern Rail?

[TaplowGreen]

I wonder who came second ?

MD of Southern Rail?

Thomas the Tank Engine.......after a recount he just edged out Coco the Clown.

[Timmer]

Likewise, I've contributed my thoughts too.
To my mind this is further demonstration of a 'head in sand' approach to service provision.  If GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) and 'the rail industry' think that Mark Hopwood and his company's provision is anything other than contemptuous then there is no chance of them changing their behaviour.

It's quite clear that there is a heck of a lot of delusion in the Rail industry with the thinking that they provide a good service and yes there are times that they do.

No one would deny that First have been up against it with the GW^▸ (Great Western) franchise with many things out of their control. What I struggle with is the things that are within their control, such as providing adequate crew to provide the advertised timetable, that is unacceptable.

[NickB]

Blimey - Rail Magazine posted my comments.

[SandTEngineer]

Well said, Sir

[John R]

Curiously my comments weren't, although I don't think they were in any way (tone or content) more controversial than Nick's. Indeed, they were very similar, and it's good to see that a different view of GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)'s performance has been noted.

[grahame]

Here we go again?

18:39 Westbury to Swindon due 19:22
18:39 Westbury to Swindon due 19:22 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train drivers.

19:53 Swindon to Westbury due 20:36
19:53 Swindon to Westbury due 20:36 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train drivers.

Two out of 5 cancellations in GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) area on the TransWilts - that's 40% of the pain on "our" line, and it's last service of the day gone in each direction - have a great day out and finish it with an experience of rail replacement transport you hadn't bargained for.

We have had a reply from the top to our letter asking some serious questions.  The answers are good ones, though to questions that are subtly different to the ones we asked. 

Real answer, I guess, is it will take time to put right. I did have some conversations in Derby looking to get indications of timescales and feel better informed now - but the answers really too woolly to take any form of certainty in my mind.

[grahame]

Two out of 5 cancellations in GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) area on the TransWilts - that's 40% of the pain on "our" line ...

OK - it's much better now. Up to 13 cancellations and still only 2 on TransWilts - down from 40% of the cancellations to just 15%. Feeling much less picked on!

For those who don't know me, please read dark humour into this.  It is utterly poor practise to cancel trains because you haven't got enough people to drive them on more than very rare occasions indeed.   And it's a travesty of statistical analysis to suggest things are getting better for us because there are more cancellations being added elsewhere.

[Timmer]

[sigh]After a relatively good service running last Sunday normal service has been resumed but with HSS^▸ (High Speed Services) joining in the fun too.

[ChrisB]

Graham - they are likely to pick least affected by number of overall pax on depots with shortages, and affected connections etc. so its no surprise yours get culled when Westbury are short? Most Westbury drivers are surely on long(er) distance services that will have far more effect on pax than short Westbury/Swindons that can be covered by taxis when necessary.

Think of the effect cancelking say, two trips to Portsmouth/Southampton or Weymouth would cause

[TaplowGreen]

Shortage of drivers but no shortage of cows!

Cancellations to services between Swindon and Bristol Parkway


Due to cattle on the railway between Swindon and Bristol Parkway all lines are blocked.
Train services running through these stations may be cancelled or delayed. Disruption is expected until 11:30 08/10.