Train GraphicClick on the map to explore geographics
 
I need help
FAQ
Emergency
About .
Travel & transport from BBC stories as at 21:15 28 Mar 2024
* Bus plunges off South Africa bridge, killing 45
- Easter getaways hit by travel disruption
- Where Baltimore bridge investigation goes now
- How do I renew my UK passport and what is the 10-year rule?
- Family anger at sentence on fatal crash driver, 19
- Easter travel warning as millions set to hit roads
Read about the forum [here].
Register [here] - it's free.
What do I gain from registering? [here]
 02/06/24 - Summer Timetable starts
17/08/24 - Bus to Imber
27/09/25 - 200 years of passenger trains

On this day
28th Mar (1992)
MOD Kineton tour, branch line society (*)

Train RunningCancelled
18:30 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour
18:36 London Paddington to Plymouth
19:33 London Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill
19:35 Exeter St Davids to London Paddington
19:59 Gatwick Airport to Reading
20:29 Gatwick Airport to Reading
20:54 Reading to Gatwick Airport
20:56 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington
21:16 Bedwyn to Newbury
21:30 Shalford to Reading
21:53 Newbury to Bedwyn
22:25 Bedwyn to Newbury
22:30 Gatwick Airport to Reading
22:47 Newbury to Bedwyn
Short Run
16:03 London Paddington to Penzance
17:03 London Paddington to Penzance
17:30 London Paddington to Taunton
17:36 London Paddington to Plymouth
18:03 London Paddington to Penzance
19:04 Paignton to London Paddington
20:03 London Paddington to Plymouth
20:11 Salisbury to Bristol Temple Meads
20:42 Bedwyn to London Paddington
21:04 London Paddington to Plymouth
23:04 Reading to Bedwyn
23:17 Bedwyn to Reading
Delayed
16:15 Penzance to London Paddington
Additional 17:26 Castle Cary to Penzance
19:04 London Paddington to Plymouth
21:30 Gatwick Airport to Reading
23:45 London Paddington to Penzance
PollsOpen and recent polls
Closed 2024-03-25 Easter Escape - to where?
Abbreviation pageAcronymns and abbreviations
Stn ComparatorStation Comparator
Rail newsNews Now - live rail news feed
Site Style 1 2 3 4
Next departures • Bristol Temple MeadsBath SpaChippenhamSwindonDidcot ParkwayReadingLondon PaddingtonMelksham
Exeter St DavidsTauntonWestburyTrowbridgeBristol ParkwayCardiff CentralOxfordCheltenham SpaBirmingham New Street
March 28, 2024, 21:28:13 *
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Forgotten your username or password? - get a reminder
Most recently liked subjects
[104] West Wiltshire Bus Changes April 2024
[103] would you like your own LIVE train station departure board?
[78] Infrastructure problems in Thames Valley causing disruption el...
[56] If not HS2 to Manchester, how will traffic be carried?
[41] Return of the BRUTE?
[25] Reversing Beeching - bring heritage and freight lines into the...
 
News: the Great Western Coffee Shop ... keeping you up to date with travel around the South West
 
   Home   Help Search Calendar Login Register  
Pages: 1 ... 41 42 [43] 44 45 ... 139
  Print  
Author Topic: Shortage of train crews on Great Western Railway since September 2017 - ongoing discussion  (Read 424474 times)
ray951
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 461


View Profile
« Reply #630 on: April 23, 2018, 22:16:51 »

There was chaos at Oxford tonight due to shortage of crew and train issues.
The 1707 to Reading was cancelled after we had boarded due to an issue with the train, this had a knock on effect with the 1716 to Bournemouth and the 1731 to Paddington both arriving late.
This was then compounded by  the 1731 arriving in P3 and no driver being available, the announcer said that the driver was arriving on the 1723 to Great Malvern which itself was 13 late. I then waited until 1755 but the driver still hadn't turned up and of course this meant that no trains could go towards Didcot as Platform 3  was blocked.
I then went and caught the bus home.
In the meantime the 1731 to Paddington was cancelled as well as the 1735 to Didcot.
The 1743  XC (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) to Guilford reversed in and out of P1.
The 1810 to Reading left at 1813 and was due to be formed of 2 coaches, and if that was the case then people must have been left on the platform.
The next train to Paddington was the 1806 which left at 1834.

This is the 2nd time in a week it has taken to me over 90 minutes to get home. It is also the 2nd time this year that I have had to resort to the bus, have never needed to in the last 9 years I have been commuting to Oxford.
Logged
TaplowGreen
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 7746



View Profile
« Reply #631 on: April 29, 2018, 16:19:56 »

Cancellations to services between Swansea and Carmarthen
Due to a shortage of train drivers between Swansea and Carmarthen:
Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled. Disruption is expected until 20:00 29/04.
Further Information
Owing to a shortage of train drivers there will be no GWR (Great Western Railway) train services between Swansea and Carmarthen, and return, operating today. Road transport will oprate instead.
Note that those train services on this route which are operated by Arriva Trains Wales are not affected and will operate as scheduled.
Logged
IndustryInsider
Data Manager
Hero Member
******
Posts: 10095


View Profile
« Reply #632 on: April 29, 2018, 16:45:18 »

A much better day all round for cancellations today, though of course holiday season doesn't start for a few weeks so I would expect things to be a little better now Easter is out of the way at weekends, but steadily worsening from June onwards until early September.
Logged

To view my GWML (Great Western Main Line) Electrification cab video 'before and after' video comparison, as well as other videos of the new layout at Reading and 'before and after' comparisons of the Cotswold Line Redoubling scheme, see: http://www.dailymotion.com/user/IndustryInsider/
TaplowGreen
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 7746



View Profile
« Reply #633 on: April 29, 2018, 17:25:27 »

A much better day all round for cancellations today, though of course holiday season doesn't start for a few weeks so I would expect things to be a little better now Easter is out of the way at weekends, but steadily worsening from June onwards until early September.

Bit better as you say but not really BBQ weather today!  Wink
Logged
IndustryInsider
Data Manager
Hero Member
******
Posts: 10095


View Profile
« Reply #634 on: April 29, 2018, 17:53:21 »

There was chaos at Oxford tonight due to shortage of crew and train issues.
The 1707 to Reading was cancelled after we had boarded due to an issue with the train, this had a knock on effect with the 1716 to Bournemouth and the 1731 to Paddington both arriving late.
This was then compounded by  the 1731 arriving in P3 and no driver being available, the announcer said that the driver was arriving on the 1723 to Great Malvern which itself was 13 late. I then waited until 1755 but the driver still hadn't turned up and of course this meant that no trains could go towards Didcot as Platform 3  was blocked.
I then went and caught the bus home.
In the meantime the 1731 to Paddington was cancelled as well as the 1735 to Didcot.
The 1743  XC (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) to Guilford reversed in and out of P1.
The 1810 to Reading left at 1813 and was due to be formed of 2 coaches, and if that was the case then people must have been left on the platform.
The next train to Paddington was the 1806 which left at 1834.

This is a classic case of stupid rostering of drivers.  At a key location like Oxford where one issue can rapidly cause chaos due to the inflexible layout you have the driver that brings the 17:31 in from Hereford being relieved by a driver who is due to arrive just minutes earlier on the 17:23 from Paddington as you state in your post.  So, any slight delay on that leaves the 17:31 in the platform without a driver, as it takes a good five minutes to walk from the end of the platform, over the bridge and to the other end of the other platform.  A remarkably similar set of circumstances occurred the week previous.

Added to that, the driver that brings the 17:31 in from Hereford is then due to work the 17:35 to Didcot, so if the 17:31 is late there's no way the 17:35 can be brought in to depart first unless you've got a spare driver hanging around.  However, the lack of an AOM (Area Operations Manager) at Oxford has meant the 17:35 set has been brought into the platform on several occasions with no driver to take it forward, so again you have a blocked platform until you can get it out of the way again.  Net result of GWR (Great Western Railway) looking shambolic again.

The good news, despite this complete lack of organisation and common sense rostering, is that come the end of the summer blockade the layout at Oxford will become much more flexible and finally allow departures towards the Didcot direction from Platform 4.  Also, after nearly a year without an AOM the post has just been restored, so the resolution of such issues should be much quicker and they should be less likely to happen in the first place.
Logged

To view my GWML (Great Western Main Line) Electrification cab video 'before and after' video comparison, as well as other videos of the new layout at Reading and 'before and after' comparisons of the Cotswold Line Redoubling scheme, see: http://www.dailymotion.com/user/IndustryInsider/
ray951
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 461


View Profile
« Reply #635 on: April 29, 2018, 21:05:49 »

Thanks for the update ii, and I don't think it is a case of looking shambolic it is shambolic.
Having said that let's hope the combination of the AOM and completion of the signalling upgrade will bring some much needed order to the chaos. Although obviously a change to the rostering could easily solve it.
Logged
CJB666
Sr. Member
****
Posts: 210


View Profile
« Reply #636 on: April 30, 2018, 09:20:22 »

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5672149/Pensioner-72-shames-Great-Western-Railway-finds-half-trains-late-cancelled.html

It's not Great, Western! Pensioner, 72, shames rail firm after he finds HALF of the trains that passed through his station are either late or cancelled

* Tim Brown kept a diary of a week's services scheduled at Worcester Shrub Hill
* He found 164 of the 379 scheduled GWR (Great Western Railway) services were either cancelled or late
* Mr Brown, who lost a leg in a car crash, said he was nervous about using GWR

By James Salmon Transport Editor For The Daily Mail

A rail enthusiast has found that almost half of daily rail services passing through his local station are cancelled or delayed.

Tim Brown kept a diary of a week’s services scheduled to terminate or pass through Worcester Shrub Hill station.

The 72-year-old found 164 of the 379 scheduled Great Western Railway services were either cancelled or more than ten minutes late.

Mr Brown, who lost one of his legs in a car crash when he was 18, said GWR’s service was so unreliable he was nervous about using it.

Tim Brown, 72, found that 164 of the 379 scheduled Great Western Railway services were either cancelled or more than ten minutes late

He said: ‘To put it politely, the service is absolutely awful. I’m disabled and do not want to be stuck on a train late at night.’

On Sunday, March 11, Mr Brown recorded that 20 out of 35 trains on the North Cotswold line were delayed or cancelled.

The following day, 30 of 59 trains were delayed or cancelled. Another nine missed out certain stops. On Tuesday March 13, 26 of 59 trains were delayed or cancelled, with one arriving at Worcester Shrub Hill 56 minutes late.

Nineteen were cancelled or delayed on the Wednesday, 32 on Thursday, and 24 on Friday. On the Saturday, 13 of 49 trains were late or cancelled.

Referring to the rail operator’s slogan – ‘more seats, more trains, more adventures’ – Mr Brown said: ‘If only this were true. I would like to sample the new trains but have yet to venture out for fear of being stranded a long way from my own bed somewhere on a truncated return working between Paddington and Worcester.’
Logged
devonexpress
Sr. Member
****
Posts: 294


View Profile
« Reply #637 on: April 30, 2018, 09:33:36 »

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5672149/Pensioner-72-shames-Great-Western-Railway-finds-half-trains-late-cancelled.html

It's not Great, Western! Pensioner, 72, shames rail firm after he finds HALF of the trains that passed through his station are either late or cancelled

* Tim Brown kept a diary of a week's services scheduled at Worcester Shrub Hill
* He found 164 of the 379 scheduled GWR (Great Western Railway) services were either cancelled or late
* Mr Brown, who lost a leg in a car crash, said he was nervous about using GWR

By James Salmon Transport Editor For The Daily Mail

A rail enthusiast has found that almost half of daily rail services passing through his local station are cancelled or delayed.

Tim Brown kept a diary of a week’s services scheduled to terminate or pass through Worcester Shrub Hill station.

The 72-year-old found 164 of the 379 scheduled Great Western Railway services were either cancelled or more than ten minutes late.

Mr Brown, who lost one of his legs in a car crash when he was 18, said GWR’s service was so unreliable he was nervous about using it.

Tim Brown, 72, found that 164 of the 379 scheduled Great Western Railway services were either cancelled or more than ten minutes late

He said: ‘To put it politely, the service is absolutely awful. I’m disabled and do not want to be stuck on a train late at night.’

On Sunday, March 11, Mr Brown recorded that 20 out of 35 trains on the North Cotswold line were delayed or cancelled.

The following day, 30 of 59 trains were delayed or cancelled. Another nine missed out certain stops. On Tuesday March 13, 26 of 59 trains were delayed or cancelled, with one arriving at Worcester Shrub Hill 56 minutes late.

Nineteen were cancelled or delayed on the Wednesday, 32 on Thursday, and 24 on Friday. On the Saturday, 13 of 49 trains were late or cancelled.

Referring to the rail operator’s slogan – ‘more seats, more trains, more adventures’ – Mr Brown said: ‘If only this were true. I would like to sample the new trains but have yet to venture out for fear of being stranded a long way from my own bed somewhere on a truncated return working between Paddington and Worcester.’


Whilst the service might be going through a bad patch due to the transition to new stock, why is the Daily Mail trying to break up the franchise with bad headlines, and seriously how much did this guy get paid to stand on a station, have his photo taken and say a load of stuff with no proof.

Yes i agree GWR's performance on many routes has been bad recently, on other routes its been mad for a long time, however that down to other reasons as well(old signalling, fatalities, vandalism, overcrowding).   When it comes down to it a lot of it is down to under funding by the government, who have let a lot of the issue carry on for 20 years, forcing GWR to keep 40 year old HST (High Speed Train)'s rather than purchase new rolling stock(something they did try with the 180 Adelante). Overall GWR have had to do as best as they can with old rolling stock, old and tired track & signalling.
Logged
SandTEngineer
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 3485


View Profile
« Reply #638 on: April 30, 2018, 09:44:08 »

Whilst the service might be going through a bad patch due to the transition to new stock, why is the Daily Mail trying to break up the franchise with bad headlines, and seriously how much did this guy get paid to stand on a station, have his photo taken and say a load of stuff with no proof.

Yes i agree GWR (Great Western Railway)'s performance on many routes has been bad recently, on other routes its been mad for a long time, however that down to other reasons as well(old signalling, fatalities, vandalism, overcrowding).   When it comes down to it a lot of it is down to under funding by the government, who have let a lot of the issue carry on for 20 years, forcing GWR to keep 40 year old HST (High Speed Train)'s rather than purchase new rolling stock(something they did try with the 180 Adelante). Overall GWR have had to do as best as they can with old rolling stock, old and tired track & signalling.

I'm going to have to challenge you on part of your last statement.  More than 70% of the signalling equipment on our area is less than 10 years old, with some less than 5 years old.  Its not age thats the problem, its how you look after it.  Having worked for 50% of my 50 year long career in S&T (Signalling and Telegraph) maintenance I can tell you its boring, repetitive, stuff.  It requires attention to detail and dedication.  Trouble is it doesn't score points in NR» (Network Rail - home page) because most managers there are only interested in the 'shiny new things'.  A bit of 'Back to Basics' is required to get on top of the problem.  Generally we are finding now that significant signalling failures are occuring almost daily, and I noted that new kit at Bristol failed the other day after only a week and a half in use!

...anyway, back to train crew shortages....
« Last Edit: April 30, 2018, 09:52:41 by SandTEngineer » Logged
broadgage
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 5398



View Profile
« Reply #639 on: April 30, 2018, 09:47:27 »

There are certainly failings, but it seems to me that the NEW signalling in the Reading area is a major source of delays, especially if it rains.
I think it has been reluctantly admitted that the NEW trains have yet to meet the hoped for standards of reliability.

So it may not be a case of old equipment.

I consider that the failure to engage, train, and retain sufficient staff to run the advertised service is entirely a GWR (Great Western Railway) problem.
Logged

A proper intercity train has a minimum of 8 coaches, gangwayed throughout, with first at one end, and a full sized buffet car between first and standard.
It has space for cycles, surfboards,luggage etc.
A 5 car DMU (Diesel Multiple Unit) is not a proper inter-city train. The 5+5 and 9 car DMUs are almost as bad.
Timmer
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 6293


View Profile
« Reply #640 on: April 30, 2018, 10:00:07 »

Well we've been wondering why the press hasn't been reporting on the issues facing GWR (Great Western Railway) passengers...well they are now!

I really wouldn't want to be travelling to the South West or South Wales this bank holiday weekend with the reduction of services to/from London due to work taking place at Slough. I think you are better to travel to Reading and change there for Waterloo. Yes takes longer but more chance of travelling in comfort.

All it takes for just a couple of the through to/from London trains to be cancelled owing to crew shortage for some unpleasant overcrowding or people being left behind at stations to occur.
Logged
TaplowGreen
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 7746



View Profile
« Reply #641 on: May 05, 2018, 06:28:23 »

.....welcome to the long weekend. Don't plan on travelling by rail.....


Cancellations to services between Swindon and London Paddington
Due to a shortage of train crew between Swindon and London Paddington fewer trains are able to run.
Train services running to and from these stations will be cancelled or diverted to and from Reading. London Paddington will not be served. Disruption is expected until 23:59 07/05.
Customer Advice
It has not been possible to resource sufficient additional road transport to operate between Reading and London due to other replacement road transport commitments. Therefore, the following advice stands for customers travelling to or from London:

Travel towards London Paddington:

A limited, non-stop train service will operate between Swindon and London Paddington. These will principally be services that originated in the West of England, Devon and Cornwall. These services are anticipated to be exceptionally busy; customers are strongly advised to only travel on these services if they already hold a reservation.

Train services originally advertised to operate South Wales - Swindon - London Paddington will be diverted from Swindon and terminate at Reading. They will not serve Oxford or London Paddington.

Upon arrival at Reading customers are advised to travel on the XX06 Reading to Basingstoke service; and change at Basingstoke for South Western Railways' XX30 or XX35 Basingstoke to London Waterloo services.

South Western Railway have kindly agreed to accept GWR (Great Western Railway) tickets for these journeys.

Due to rugby at Twickenham customers are strongly advised NOT to attempt to travel on direct South Western Railways services from Reading to London Waterloo.

---

Travel from London Paddington:

A limited; non-stop service will operate between London Paddington and Swindon. These services will principally go on to destinations in the West of England, Devon and Cornwall. These services are anticipated to be exceptionally busy; customers are strongly advised to only travel on these services if they already hold a reservation.

Train services originally advertised to operate London Paddington - Swindon - South Wales will be amended to start from Reading. There will be no direct services from London or Oxford to South Wales.

Customers travelling from London to South Wales are advised to make their way to London Waterloo and travel on the XX39 South Western Railways service from London Waterloo to Poole; change at Basingstoke for Great Western Railways' XX40 service from Basingstoke to Reading; and change at Reading for onward rail connections.

South Western Railway have kindly agreed to accept GWR tickets for these journeys.

Due to rugby at Twickenham customers are strongly advised NOT to attempt to travel on direct South Western Railways services from London Waterloo to Reading.

---
Additional Information
Due to high volumes of engineering works across the country; delays have been encountered in the Railway Industry producing timetables for this bank holiday weekend (Saturday 5th to Monday 7th May).

As a result, this has affected Great Western Railway's ability to prepare, plan and run many of the train services initially advertised to run over the weekend. Insufficient train crew are available to meet the demands of the timetable originally planned to run. It will also impact the quality of information available on some journey planners used by customers.

Customers travelling between Swindon and Reading, and Swindon and London Paddington on Saturday should only travel if absolutely necessary. Customers who decide not to travel on these routes will be eligible for a full refund of their fares; and should visit our refunds page for further details.
Logged
martyjon
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 1941


View Profile
« Reply #642 on: May 05, 2018, 07:10:21 »

Any regular traveller reading today's excuses on Journeycheck will think huh !

When do HSS (High Speed Services) services regularly change drivers at Swindon ?

Would it not have been better to state that due to insufficient drivers being available with the route knowledge to drive the services to Paddington (or Marylebone) planned to operate via Oxford will now operate to Reading where those services will terminate (and passengers for Paddington can chance their luck from there).
Logged
YouKnowNothing
Full Member
***
Posts: 72


View Profile Email
« Reply #643 on: May 05, 2018, 07:28:28 »

Will Mark Hopwood make an appearance
?
Logged
chuffed
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 1499


View Profile
« Reply #644 on: May 05, 2018, 07:36:07 »

Had planned to go to Didcot today with trainer leaving Temple Meads at 0940. The two following trains at 1040 and 1140 are cancelled. Don't fancy sharing a rammed train with pi55ed and pi55ed off rugby fans going to Twickenham who have had an early morning scramble for the ONLY train that will get them to the match in time. The 1642 return from Didcot is also cancelled. Leaving there at 1542 cuts the day short, while 1742 is rather a long time to wait after the 2 minutes of joy and discovery that is the rest of Didcot.

See how it looks on Monday.
Logged
Do you have something you would like to add to this thread, or would you like to raise a new question at the Coffee Shop? Please [register] (it is free) if you have not done so before, or login (at the top of this page) if you already have an account - we would love to read what you have to say!

You can find out more about how this forum works [here] - that will link you to a copy of the forum agreement that you can read before you join, and tell you very much more about how we operate. We are an independent forum, provided and run by customers of Great Western Railway, for customers of Great Western Railway and we welcome railway professionals as members too, in either a personal or official capacity. Views expressed in posts are not necessarily the views of the operators of the forum.

As well as posting messages onto existing threads, and starting new subjects, members can communicate with each other through personal messages if they wish. And once members have made a certain number of posts, they will automatically be admitted to the "frequent posters club", where subjects not-for-public-domain are discussed; anything from the occasional rant to meetups we may be having ...

 
Pages: 1 ... 41 42 [43] 44 45 ... 139
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF 1.1.2 | SMF © 2006-2007, Simple Machines LLC Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!
This forum is provided by customers of Great Western Railway (formerly First Great Western), and the views expressed are those of the individual posters concerned. Visit www.gwr.com for the official Great Western Railway website. Please contact the administrators of this site if you feel that the content provided by one of our posters contravenes our posting rules (email link to report). Forum hosted by Well House Consultants

Jump to top of pageJump to Forum Home Page