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

[whole diary]

[TonyK]

Lets hope it isn't really Groundhog day for you and the tv box blows up a second time....   

i know somebody who plays with that band. i strongly recommend them!

[TaplowGreen]

2312 Paddington - Reading & 0022 Paddington- Oxford cancelled tonight, "shortage of train crew" - really poor on a Friday night especially, two of the key LTV^▸ (London [and] Thames Valley) services for Friday night revellers.

[JayMac]

The regular normal for a Sunday again. Can't call it the 'new normal' any more.

20 cancellations so far. All due to lack of train crew.

[Timmer]

As at 7.30 99% of IC^▸ (Inter City) services running with just the 2026 WSM-PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) only getting as far BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains).

However...

Very poor service today on local services particularly Cardiff-Portsmouth which has many cancellations and services running short today. Best avoided if possible.

[TaplowGreen]

Strange isn't it?

Two weeks ago GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) told us the staff shortages were down to nice weather and Croatia v France - now it's raining and there's no football on, but still no staff?


Are they all huge Tour de France fans, or perhaps recovering from Hopwood's wedding celebrations?



 

08:18 Gatwick Airport to Reading due 09:38
09:20 Bristol Temple Meads to Worcester Shrub Hill due 10:51
11:38 Worcester Shrub Hill to Bristol Temple Meads due 13:09
13:23 Bristol Temple Meads to Severn Beach due 13:59
14:12 Severn Beach to Bristol Temple Meads due 14:54
15:47 Brighton to Bristol Temple Meads due 19:09
17:28 Bristol Temple Meads to Weston-Super-Mare due 18:01
17:56 St Erth to St Ives due 18:10
18:10 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour due 21:51
18:12 St Ives to St Erth due 18:25
18:30 St Erth to St Ives due 18:44
18:50 St Ives to St Erth due 19:03
19:08 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour due 22:52
19:30 St Erth to St Ives due 19:44
19:46 St Ives to Penzance due 20:09
21:18 Cardiff Central to Bristol Temple Meads due 22:21
22:01 Cheltenham Spa to Gloucester due 22:11
22:08 Portsmouth Harbour to Westbury due 23:59
22:27 Exmouth to Exeter St Davids due 22:59
09:08 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central due 12:41
10:08 Cardiff Central to Brighton due 14:49
13:08 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central due 16:42
13:08 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour due 16:52
14:08 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central due 17:43
14:27 Exmouth to Paignton due 15:50
14:37 Penzance to Bristol Temple Meads due 19:19
15:08 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central due 18:42
15:55 Paignton to Exmouth due 17:19
16:08 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour due 19:52
16:10 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central due 19:42
16:10 Weymouth to Bristol Temple Meads due 18:29
17:08 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central due 20:43
17:08 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour due 20:52
18:16 Weston-Super-Mare to Severn Beach due 19:29
19:08 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central due 22:45
20:08 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central due 23:41
20:26 Weston-Super-Mare to London Paddington due 23:03
20:41 Bristol Temple Meads to Cheltenham Spa due 21:47
20:53 Paignton to Exmouth due 22:21

[old original]

First weekend of the school holidays and after getting used to having Sundays off maybe reluctant to start working them again!!

[phile]

First weekend of the school holidays and after getting used to having Sundays off maybe reluctant to start working them again!!

If you notice, they are Regional trains rather than HSS^▸ (High Speed Services) today

[TaplowGreen]

.....so now we're getting mass cancellations during the week too....

16:56 London Paddington to Maidenhead due 17:36
17:32 West Ealing to Greenford due 17:44
17:42 Maidenhead to London Paddington due 18:27
17:47 Greenford to West Ealing due 17:58
18:02 West Ealing to Greenford due 18:14
18:22 Greenford to West Ealing due 18:33
18:42 London Paddington to Reading due 19:43
19:32 Reading to Gatwick Airport due 20:54
19:35 London Paddington to Didcot Parkway due 20:34
19:52 Reading to London Paddington due 20:46
21:00 Gatwick Airport to Reading due 22:21
23:34 Reading to Gatwick Airport due 01:07

[bobm]

Not sure if it’s still the case but the 21:00 to Reading and 23:34 return to Gatwick used to be crewed by Southern staff under an agreement with FGW^▸ (First Great Western)/GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway).

[didcotdean]

Not sure if it was due to staff availability or not, but the booking office at Didcot was closed this morning when I walked by. Queues in excess of a dozen deep for each of the ticket machines, snaking outside. One person there with a hand-held device. Twitter advising people to use the app ...

[YouKnowNothing]

Did I just see a 9 car train on the South Wales line to Swansea? Will this be the new normal? I thought the 10 car trains were going to be run on this line? Some one please enlighten me.

[CMRail]

Did I just see a 9 car train on the South Wales line to Swansea? Will this be the new normal? I thought the 10 car trains were going to be run on this line? Some one please enlighten me.

They can operate on all lines that the 5 and 10 cars can. In the new timetable, the majority of Bristol and South Wales services will be operated by 9 car trains. The five cars will run off peak trains to Cheltenham and Bedwyn and continues to operate Cotswolds services. The odd off peak service to Bristol may be a five car however no peak services will run less than 9 or 10 coaches.

The 9 cars were planned to operate Bristol and South Wales from the start, however they were made bi-mode and the 5 cars came first.

[YouKnowNothing]

interesting, so do the new 9 car trains provide more or the same number of seats as the old trains?

[IndustryInsider]

Over 20% more.  Walking inside from one end to the other gives you an idea just how bloody long they are!

[phile]

Getting back to talking about traincrews again, discussion seems to concentrate on drivers and guards but, according to peope's Tweets to GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway), it seems that there are many instances of catering crew not available even on a journey from Penzance to London on a Sunday.    GWR Journey Check tends not to show them even as there is a box for the info to be posted.