Shortage of train crews on Great Western Railway since September 2017 - ongoing discussion

[whole diary]

[TaplowGreen]

Good to see a very low number of cancellations/alterations due to crew shortage today (I said nothing this morning, didn't want to tempt fate!) 

[JayMac]

Less good over at SWR^» (South Western Railway - about)...

Changes to West of England services this weekend 
We're sorry but due to an ongoing shortage of traincrew, we will be making some changes to West of England line services this Saturday (2nd October).
Engineering works may also affect your journey – for more information on this visit: https://www.southwesternrailway.com/plan-my-journey/planned-improvements/engineering-work-weekly-summary
A summary of the changes this Saturday is below:
   •   Salisbury to London Waterloo stopping services will terminate at Basingstoke – customers will need to change at Basingstoke for onward services to Woking, Clapham Junction and Waterloo
   •   London Waterloo to Salisbury services will start at Basingstoke. Customers travelling from Waterloo, Clapham Junction and Woking will need to catch an earlier service and change at Basingstoke
   •   SWR services between Salisbury and Bristol will not run. Customers will need to use connecting GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) services via a change at Salisbury. If you have an Advance ticket, you will be able to travel on GWR services on this route. If you can, try to travel close to your original booked time.
   •   Customers to / from Warminster and Westbury may be able to use the Salisbury – Yeovil via Westbury services which will continue to run.
   •   SWR services to Yeovil Pen Mill / Yeovil Junction via Westbury will run as normal.
   •   SWR services between London Waterloo and Exeter will run as normal.

[grahame]

Less good over at SWR^» (South Western Railway - about)...

Changes to West of England services this weekend 
We're sorry but due to an ongoing shortage of traincrew, we will be making some changes to West of England line services this Saturday (2nd October)

Of course, if I were in charge of saving money at SWR, running reduced services west of Salisbury and east of Basingstoke , and knowing I had been told to remove services north of Westbury in 10 weeks time, I wouldn't be too worried about having enough staff right up to that date.   Especially if the risk had been taken out of of the franchise and my company would not be penalised, and I wasn't too worried about my passengers

[Timmer]

Good to see a very low number of cancellations/alterations due to crew shortage today (I said nothing this morning, didn't want to tempt fate!) 

Indeed, a much better day.

However, for Pewsey, Westbury and Castle Cary customers a far from satisfactory service later in the day with both the 16.36 and 19.04 Paddington to Castle Cary services both cancelled. With WoE fast services being diverted via Bristol, there was no option to have the 17.04 call at these stations to take those passengers from the cancelled 16.36.

Sad to say this was expected after previous times the line between Castle Cary and Taunton has been closed, the Paddington to Castle Cary services have suffered from traincrew related cancellations. Okay, so probably not affecting many passengers. But if you are one of them, you won’t be very pleased.

Just for tidiness, the return journey off the 16.36, the 18.52 Castle Cary to Paddington was also cancelled.

[grahame]

Good to see a very low number of cancellations/alterations due to crew shortage today (I said nothing this morning, didn't want to tempt fate!) 

Indeed, a much better day.

Only 23.5% cancelled at Melksham ... 3 lack of crew, 1 lack of working train; 13 trains ran.

[Timmer]

A few cancellations, mainly in the SW both local and Intercity services. Of particular note between Penzance and Plymouth there might be some busy trains.

Also, two successive cancellations between Bristol and London at lunchtime leaving a two hour gap. Big deal you may say. Let’s not forget South Wales-London services are not calling at Bristol Parkway this weekend.

Swindon-Paddington shuttles running again, one of which will part cover the cancelled 12.30 Bristol-Paddington.

[Timmer]

Update:
13.00 Bristol-Paddington reinstated.

SW semi fasts one by one are being cancelled however.

[TaplowGreen]

Update:
13.00 Bristol-Paddington reinstated.

SW semi fasts one by one are being cancelled however.

Yes seems to be deteriorating. Pal was at Penzance earlier & there were some very unhappy (would be) travellers who'd been given no meaningful explanation.

[Timmer]

Yes seems to be deteriorating. Pal was at Penzance earlier & there were some very unhappy (would be) travellers who'd been given no meaningful explanation.

I’m not surprised there are some unhappy people with a five hour gap between direct services to London from Cornwall.

[ChrisB]

An extra train left PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) for SWI^» (Swindon - next trains) at 1700

[Timmer]

Good to see some services, namely the 16:36 to Plymouth, 17:00 to Bristol from Paddington and the 17:46 Plymouth to Paddington were reinstated as the afternoon went on.

[PhilWakely]

PNZ, PLY^» (Plymouth - next trains), PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains), NTA^» (Newton Abbott - next trains)
Apparently, anecdotal evidence suggests that Trainline contact their customers if a train is advised as cancelled - and this happens even if the train is only 'part cancelled', but not directly affecting their customer's journey [for instance, if a PNZ to PAD service is cancelled between PNZ and PLY only, a  customer joining at NTA is still contacted advising that their train has been cancelled].

If this is the case, what should happen if the customer rearranges their plans and turns up for 'the next available service' only to find that their original train has actually been and gone? Assuming they had an Advance ticket, should they lose their money or should they be allowed to catch the next available service without charge?

[TaplowGreen]

PNZ, PLY^» (Plymouth - next trains), PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains), NTA^» (Newton Abbott - next trains)
Apparently, anecdotal evidence suggests that Trainline contact their customers if a train is advised as cancelled - and this happens even if the train is only 'part cancelled', but not directly affecting their customer's journey [for instance, if a PNZ to PAD service is cancelled between PNZ and PLY only, a  customer joining at NTA is still contacted advising that their train has been cancelled].

If this is the case, what should happen if the customer rearranges their plans and turns up for 'the next available service' only to find that their original train has actually been and gone? Assuming they had an Advance ticket, should they lose their money or should they be allowed to catch the next available service without charge?

I guess it really depends how much you care about your customers and the future of your business.

If you do, and want to demonstrate empathy for their situation given that the train they'd booked had been amended and (for reasons outside of their control) they'd been given incomplete information by their ticket vendor through no fault of their own, it's the latter option, together with an apology for delay/inconvenience.

If you want to fold arms, be a jobsworth and rely on a rulebook to back you up, it's the former option, but bear in mind that next time they'll probably take the car, and tell all their friends about the way they were treated too.

If the railways are sincere about improving customer service/experience and attracting leisure travellers, I think the answer is obvious - GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) can have the discussion with Trainline themselves - and perhaps develop their own capability to keep customers informed on their trains, particularly given the lottery that long distance weekend travel has become.

(By "you" I don't mean you personally of course!!!) 

[PhilWakely]

(By "you" I don't mean you personally of course!!!) 

A fence not taken 

[Timmer]

Wow, all SW semifasts cancelled today. The fasts stopping at Pewsey, Westbury and Castle Cary to compensate but NOT Newbury which has been discussed on previous pages of this thread.

The services that are running today between the SW and London today could be very busy with people returning to London after the half term break.

Planning to travel by train over the Christmas period, but this past half term holiday week, which has seen SW services cancelled because of traincrew shortages, hasn’t filled me with confidence.