Stay at home Sunday

[whole diary]

[Timmer]

Unlike previous Sundays, because today’s timetable has been ‘rewritten’ trains scheduled to run have been removed from the system so sites like Realtime Trains aren’t showing them as would normally be the case with ‘cancelled’ showing next to the listed train making it harder to see what’s run and what hasn’t.

[grahame]

Facilities on the 10:30 London Paddington to Swansea due 13:48.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.
Will be formed of 5 coaches instead of 10. Service full and standing

Lots of "full and standing"s today.   And that's after the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) publicity machine has tried to turn their potential customers away too!

[grahame]

Can anyone help me with the source of data? Network Rail API or open source?

Can someone do a comparison of today against the last 4 Sunday’s to see the difference in planned trains. It seems to me that today just seems like a normal GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Sunday service.

Or let me know where I can get the data?

Recent time trains may help - http://www.recenttraintimes.co.uk

Unlike previous Sundays, because today’s timetable has been ‘rewritten’ trains scheduled to run have been removed from the system so sites like Realtime Trains aren’t showing them as would normally be the case with ‘cancelled’ showing next to the listed train making it harder to see what’s run and what hasn’t.

Thanks Timmer. 

YouKnowNothing - that is an important caveat to my previous post.

[Timmer]

I’m sure there are a few that have either put off or cancelled their journeys today Graham, but I suspect the vast majority have little choice but to travel today for various reasons.

[TaplowGreen]

I’m sure there are a few that have either put off or cancelled their journeys today Graham, but I suspect the vast majority have little choice but to travel today for various reasons.

Very good point.

It's one thing to turn up to work late on Monday  morning because GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)'s usual service has fallen over, but being unable to get back because the entire timetable collapsed on the previous day is a completely different matter. GWR suggesting that people postpone their travel until tomorrow is totally impractical......are they laying on extra early trains from Penzance/Plymouth to London tomorrow morning?.......Thought not.

There'll be a lot of bosses who'd find the excuse unbelievable and suspecting that people not turning up to work is due to sunny weather and the World Cup final........sound familiar? 😉

[Timmer]

The last direct train from London to Penzance, the 1457, will now start at Exeter. 

[IndustryInsider]

I’m sure there are a few that have either put off or cancelled their journeys today Graham, but I suspect the vast majority have little choice but to travel today for various reasons.

Absolutely agree (and with TG’s follow up comment), though even if only a few are persuaded that does make the situation slightly more manageable for GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) and slightly more bearable for passengers that are travelling.  I believe Tesco have used the appropriate slogan...

[TaplowGreen]

I’m sure there are a few that have either put off or cancelled their journeys today Graham, but I suspect the vast majority have little choice but to travel today for various reasons.

Absolutely agree (and with TG’s follow up comment), though even if only a few are persuaded that does make the situation slightly more manageable for GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) and slightly more bearable for passengers that are travelling.  I believe Tesco have used the appropriate slogan...

Given Timmer's last comment re: the cancellation of the last direct service from Paddington to Penzance, many people will be left with no choice.......I suspect there'll be a lot of taxi drivers putting down deposits on Aston Martins as a result of today's chaos, with GWR picking up much of the cost.

[phile]

Facilities on the 10:30 London Paddington to Swansea due 13:48.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.
Will be formed of 5 coaches instead of 10. Service full and standing

Lots of "full and standing"s today.   And that's after the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) publicity machine has tried to turn their potential customers away too!

Several others that are running on the route have been 5 vice 10, even consecutive trains.

[a-driver]

This won’t be happening for much longer, LTV^▸ (London [and] Thames Valley) and West crews have agreed new terms & conditions which will see Sunday’s as part of the working week, something that has been discussed for a long while.  HSS^▸ (High Speed Services) crews will soon follow.

I don’t think that’s the case, they’ve agreed to ‘harmonisation’ which includes a commitment to working rostered Sundays unless cover can be found, but Sundays are not yet in the working week.

It certainly isn’t the case.  Sunday’s in the working week hasn’t been agreed by any drivers yet and will be 2021 at the earliest which can’t be described as ‘soon’ in anyones language!

One of your union reps thinks otherwise.... I can’t remember his exact words when it comes to Sunday’s but there’s been changes, it may have not been necessarily in the working week but some sort of commitments to work them which is why HSS drivers aren’t signing up to it.

[TonyK]

cross Country have shown some signs of sympathy with the weekend's shenanigans. I dumped Mrs FT, N! at TVP tonight, having checked that her (cheaper, faster, and more conveniently timed) XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) train was still running. She had a seat reserved in Carriage D. The CIS^▸ (Customer Information System) at the station said that it was a train of 9 carriages, with First Class in coaches 1 and 9, which I don't recall seeing in the alphabet. When it arrived, the train was a 5-car and 4-car, with the 5-car helpfully locked out of use.

[IndustryInsider]

It certainly isn’t the case.  Sunday’s in the working week hasn’t been agreed by any drivers yet and will be 2021 at the earliest which can’t be described as ‘soon’ in anyones language!

One of your union reps thinks otherwise.... I can’t remember his exact words when it comes to Sunday’s but there’s been changes, it may have not been necessarily in the working week but some sort of commitments to work them which is why HSS^▸ (High Speed Services) drivers aren’t signing up to it.

Well, I would suggest the exact words are key, given there’s a world of difference between an agreement for Sunday’s in the working week, as you confidently claimed in your post earlier, and just committing to work Sunday’s if cover can’t be found.

What has been agreed (as part of the harmonisation deal) is that LTV^▸ (London [and] Thames Valley) and West crews (under the new description of GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Driver) will work their rostered Sunday’s unless cover can be found - many of whom have to do that already, and that existing HSS drivers (where the cause of the vast majority of the Sunday shortages lie) are ring-fenced unless they choose to take the new GWR Driver grade which LTV and West drivers have agreed to.  Not many will.  All new drivers will now be working under the new GWR drivers agreements.

The situation regarding Sunday’s in the working week will, for all drivers, as previously stated, not change until at least 2021.

[grahame]

It's Monday!    Back to normal in most places ... except ...

This morning's cancellations and next trains

05:28 Worcester Shrub Hill to London Paddington due 08:06
   - next train 06:01 - 33 minutes later

06:20 London Paddington to Oxford due 07:24
   - next train 07:20 - 60 minutes later

06:48 Bristol Temple Meads to Westbury due 07:35
   - next train 07:34 - 36 minutes later

07:21 Westbury to Swindon due 08:05
   - next train 19:32 - 732 minutes later

07:40 Oxford to London Paddington due 08:38
   - next train 08:40 - 60 minutes later

07:59 Swansea to London Paddington due 11:00
   - next train 08:29 - 30 minutes later

08:28 Swindon to Westbury due 09:14
   - next train 17:36 - 668 minutes later

[Timmer]

We talked about GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)'s failings yesterday but XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) weren't exactly covering themselves in glory yesterday either with some services starting or terminating short. Between them the South West really got a raw deal yesterday.

[LiskeardRich]

The last direct train from London to Penzance, the 1457, will now start at Exeter. 

Things must have improved. I caught the delayed (roughly) 2030 from Exeter and it was going through to Penzance.

The only time I’ve ever been glad of a late train. We caught the 2006 from Axminster aiming for the 2120 (ish) to Plymouth. We pulled in at platform 3 at Exeter at 2042 as the delayed Penzance train was approaching.

My car was in Plymouth for the weekend as I was out of Liskeard earlier than the first train from Cornwall on Saturday morning, which would have been a contingency with all the cancellations