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

[whole diary]

[simonw]

And this morning, the 0624 from Bristol Parkway to Penzance was cancelled (second time this week), only to appear at Bristol Temple Meads twenty minutes later (a nice announcement as I left my interstation taxi at Temple Meads).

Interestingly, a co-passenger confirmed that Bristol Depot where struggling to cope with their work load after a large amount of staff left GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) to work for Hitachi at Stoke Gifford.

[Timmer]

Might be a good idea for GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) to produce a special timetable for each school holiday seems they are unable to run the advertised service, that way everyone would at least have more confidence that their train would run.

[TaplowGreen]

Late evening LTV^▸ (London [and] Thames Valley) services decimated again - all cancelled due to lack of drivers.

22:01 Reading to London Paddington due 23:08
22:18 London Paddington to Oxford due 23:29
22:21 London Paddington to Bedwyn due 00:02
22:27 London Paddington to Reading due 23:45
23:12 London Paddington to Reading due 00:16
23:27 London Paddington to Didcot Parkway due 00:50

[Timmer]

Late evening LTV^▸ (London [and] Thames Valley) services decimated again - all cancelled due to lack of drivers.

22:01 Reading to London Paddington due 23:08
22:18 London Paddington to Oxford due 23:29
22:21 London Paddington to Bedwyn due 00:02
22:27 London Paddington to Reading due 23:45
23:12 London Paddington to Reading due 00:16
23:27 London Paddington to Didcot Parkway due 00:50

What are people who were due to travel on these trains expected to do?

[phile]

GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Twitter's cut and paste:-

 Sorry for the cancellations this evening. We do have staff on standby to cover to prevent these situations but sometimes we can't always get them to where they are needed to be in time, this therefore causes delays/cancellations.

[TaplowGreen]

..............I certainly wouldn't advise going via Waterloo..........

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/transport/waterloo-station-delays-south-western-railway-commuters-caught-up-in-huge-crowds-at-uk-s-busiest-hub-a3767951.html

[Surrey 455]

..............I certainly wouldn't advise going via Waterloo..........

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/transport/waterloo-station-delays-south-western-railway-commuters-caught-up-in-huge-crowds-at-uk-s-busiest-hub-a3767951.html

Too late. I turned my phone volume off whilst at work today and consequently missed the alert for journeycheck emails. Got home an hour and a half later than expected. Once I finish reading todays coffee shop posts I'm onto the Delay repay website for the second time this week.

[Thatcham Crossing]

22:21 London Paddington to Bedwyn due 00:02

So I wonder how the good people of Kintbury, Hungerford and Bedwyn got home last night?

(there is of course a later train for stations to Newbury, as long as that wasn't cancelled aswell )

[JayMac]

This thread, and many others on this forum, are a sad indictment of just how shit GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) has become as a train operator.

All the factors affecting rolling stock cascades, maintenance,  training, staffing levels, infrastructure improvements, haven't just crept up on GWR unannounced. They've been known about for years. GWR have failed spectacularly to plan effectively.

That is a failure of the senior management and directors at GWR and FirstGroup. Someone should be kicking their butts. The problem is the only potential butt kickers are the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about). For ideological reasons the current incumbents there won't do anything for fear of upsetting FirstGroup and scaring them away from rail franchising.

[Timmer]

That is a failure of the senior management and directors at GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) and FirstGroup. Someone should be kicking their butts. The problem is the only potential butt kickers are the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about). For ideological reasons the current incumbents there won't do anything for fear of upsetting FirstGroup and scaring them away from rail franchising.

Couple this with the great time First are having running the SW franchise. Stagecoach must think they dodged a bullet losing the SW franchise or they saw trouble coming and put in a low bid.

[JayMac]

I think Stagecoach did see the trouble ahead. They refused the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about)'s offer of a contract extension which meant the franchise re-tender was triggered earlier than HMG wished.

[Timmer]

I think Stagecoach did see the trouble ahead. They refused the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about)'s offer of a contract extension which meant the franchise re-tender was triggered earlier than HMG wished.

Exactly, so the writing was on the wall back then.

[a-driver]

This thread, and many others on this forum, are a sad indictment of just how shit GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) has become as a train operator.

All the factors affecting rolling stock cascades, maintenance,  training, staffing levels, infrastructure improvements, haven't just crept up on GWR unannounced. They've been known about for years. GWR have failed spectacularly to plan effectively.

That is a failure of the senior management and directors at GWR and FirstGroup. Someone should be kicking their butts. The problem is the only potential butt kickers are the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about). For ideological reasons the current incumbents there won't do anything for fear of upsetting FirstGroup and scaring them away from rail franchising.

To say that GWR are totally responsible for current situation is totally incorrect. 
The promised electrification work has been delayed and deferred...... responsible party, the DfT and NR^» (Network Rail - home page). 
The cascade of units away from the franchise was agreed by the DfT in the new franchise for Northern.  GWR were not even consulted by the DfT, the first they knew was in the franchise spec for Northern . 
Extensions were granted to the lease of the HST^▸ (High Speed Train)'s for as long as possible but ultimately work to the sets for ScotRail had been signed.
Staff who were working for Wabtec on the short HST sets for the West Country were poached by Hitachi which contributed to deadlines being missed
Staff working at GWR depots left because the company couldn't give assurances on their future employment.  Then the plans changed and it is now too late.
The request from GWR for additional units to cover was declined.  Chiltern were approached.  There are no other units available to lease.
The levels of staffing is specified by the DfT.  The level of staffing has been met.  The DfT/TFL^▸ (Transport for London) paid for GWR to recruit and train a specified number of drivers.  This was also met.
Just some of the reasons why the DfT can't kick the butt of GWR.  Nothing to do with scaring them off.  The DfT simply know who's at fault.
GWR threw money at us, and I think they still are, for drivers to become more flexible in regards to working new trains and training.

You can't train drivers on the new trains if you firstly haven't got the infrastructure to run the new trains.  You also can't train drivers if the manufacturer of the trains haven't handed them over to the train operator. 
There's in the region of 300 drivers, probably more than that, working on the Thames Valley routes alone.  You can't train all them overnight.  The whole electrification project has been completely mishandled by the DfT and NR and GWR have been left to pick up the pieces.

[TaplowGreen]

This thread, and many others on this forum, are a sad indictment of just how shit GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) has become as a train operator.

All the factors affecting rolling stock cascades, maintenance,  training, staffing levels, infrastructure improvements, haven't just crept up on GWR unannounced. They've been known about for years. GWR have failed spectacularly to plan effectively.

That is a failure of the senior management and directors at GWR and FirstGroup. Someone should be kicking their butts. The problem is the only potential butt kickers are the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about). For ideological reasons the current incumbents there won't do anything for fear of upsetting FirstGroup and scaring them away from rail franchising.

You can't train drivers on the new trains if you firstly haven't got the infrastructure to run the new trains.  You also can't train drivers if the manufacturer of the trains haven't handed them over to the train operator. 
There's in the region of 300 drivers, probably more than that, working on the Thames Valley routes alone.  You can't train all them overnight.  The whole electrification project has been completely mishandled by the DfT and NR^» (Network Rail - home page) and GWR have been left to pick up the pieces.

I'd suggest if that's your opinion that you discuss it with GWR, as their direct response to the question posed last night was as follows;

Customer: "Last month, 2 of your staff at RDG^‡(resolve) told me you didn’t have enough trained drivers to run the new electric trains. Is this not true (in which case you need to inform your staff)?"

GWR: "This is not true"

.............the "party line" seems almost as inconsistent as the train service.

[a-driver]

This thread, and many others on this forum, are a sad indictment of just how shit GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) has become as a train operator.

All the factors affecting rolling stock cascades, maintenance,  training, staffing levels, infrastructure improvements, haven't just crept up on GWR unannounced. They've been known about for years. GWR have failed spectacularly to plan effectively.

That is a failure of the senior management and directors at GWR and FirstGroup. Someone should be kicking their butts. The problem is the only potential butt kickers are the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about). For ideological reasons the current incumbents there won't do anything for fear of upsetting FirstGroup and scaring them away from rail franchising.

You can't train drivers on the new trains if you firstly haven't got the infrastructure to run the new trains.  You also can't train drivers if the manufacturer of the trains haven't handed them over to the train operator. 
There's in the region of 300 drivers, probably more than that, working on the Thames Valley routes alone.  You can't train all them overnight.  The whole electrification project has been completely mishandled by the DfT and NR^» (Network Rail - home page) and GWR have been left to pick up the pieces.

I'd suggest if that's your opinion that you discuss it with GWR, as their direct response to the question posed last night was as follows;

Customer: "Last month, 2 of your staff at RDG^‡(resolve) told me you didn’t have enough trained drivers to run the new electric trains. Is this not true (in which case you need to inform your staff)?"

GWR: "This is not true"

.............the "party line" seems almost as inconsistent as the train service.

I doubt very much that the Twitter team know exactly how much drivers are trained on a certain traction at each depot.  Ask them in terms of a % how many are trained!