2019 - TransWilts cancellation and amendments log

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Morning, really sorry for the delays. This is due to a shortage of train crew. The next train service will be 1252. - Celia

Oh no it won't ... scheduled at 12:52 maybe but

11:05 Weymouth to Swindon due 13:18
11:05 Weymouth to Swindon due 13:18 has been delayed at Maiden Newton and is now 9 minutes late.
This is due to passengers causing a disturbance on this train.

[snip]
Due          Station      Status
12:52   Melksham   13:01

We'll forgive passenger disturbance - outside GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)'s control.  Lack of all morning service because they don't have enough staff 5 years into the service  is very, very hard to forgive.

[grahame]

The first "up" train of the day 16 late at Melksham in the end.   Held to let the London train it should have connected with at Swindon through ahead of it, 21 late into Swindon - so it arrived there after it was due to start on the journey back.   As a result ...

13:38 Swindon to Weymouth due 15:54
13:38 Swindon to Weymouth due 15:54 has been delayed at Swindon and is now 12 minutes late.
This is due to passengers causing a disturbance on a train earlier today.

[bobm]

...and just to round off the day.  The later services ran with a unit lacking a working toilet. 

[grahame]

...and just to round off the day.  The later services ran with a unit lacking a working toilet. 

And to round off the month, a summary of performance for the last 28 days (I have chosen that rather than 30 days to get an equal number of each day of the week, and to have same period length as the railway)

Melksham stats - trains scheduled to call but not calling at Melksham. Compiled from the running log at http://www.mrug.org.uk/record.html on the Melksham Rail User Group web site which is compiled from Tiger feeds.

day   lost   reason given
30   4   A shortage of train crew
29   1   A fault on this train
27   2   A shortage of train crew
27   1   no reason given, 13:55
25   4   a fault with the signalling system
22   2   A shortage of train crew
19   1   A fault on this train
14   2   a fault with the signalling system
10   2   A fault on this train
9   4   A shortage of train crew
6   1   Animals on the railway earlier today
6   1   a fault with the signalling system
6   1   A shortage of train crew
6   2   no raason given, 09:18 and 11:12
5   2   a broken down train
5   1   A shortage of train crew

31 cancellations in 28 days over 16 different incidents
Trains (or planned replacement buses) scheduled 476
Cancellation rate 6.5%

14   A shortage of train crew
7   A signalling fault
6   A train fault
3   Reason not logged (at least 2 are congestion, train ran but via Bathampton rather than Melksham)
1   Animals on the railway

Note - the stats are kind - i.e. could be worse
* "23   13   Bus   " Recording systems do not log running of planned rail replacement buses.
* Cancellation that are notified but then trains re-instated loose confidence and business but are not logged
* Delays not analysed in detail; worst was 22 minutes , most just a few minutes. 283 trains "On Time".


Comment - if GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) had its own house in order (enough crews and trains that routinely worked when out in service), two thirds of the problem would be cured.  We do get train faults on other operator's trains, but in June I believe none of the cancellations were due to freights "sitting down".

[grahame]

05:17 Gloucester to Southampton Central due 08:09
05:17 Gloucester to Southampton Central due 08:09 will be terminated at Westbury.
It will no longer call at Dilton Marsh, Warminster, Salisbury, Romsey and Southampton Central.
This is due to a broken down train.

[JayMac]

grahame, your 1st July summary of the previous four weeks said that no delays/cancellations to TW services were due to freights 'sitting down'.

You tempted fate by saying that. This morning's cancellation was for precisely that reason.

[bobm]

14:10 Frome to Swindon due 15:07

14:10 Frome to Swindon due 15:07 will be terminated at Westbury.
It will no longer call at Trowbridge, Melksham, Chippenham and Swindon.
This is due to a fault on this train.

15:19 Swindon to Westbury due 16:00

15:19 Swindon to Westbury due 16:00 will be cancelled.
This is due to a fault on this train.

16:21 Westbury to Swindon due 17:03

16:21 Westbury to Swindon due 17:03 will be cancelled.
This is due to a fault on this train.

17:36 Swindon to Westbury due 18:18

17:36 Swindon to Westbury due 18:18 will be cancelled.
This is due to a fault on this train.

[grahame]

14:10 Frome to Swindon due 15:07

14:10 Frome to Swindon due 15:07 will be terminated at Westbury.
It will no longer call at Trowbridge, Melksham, Chippenham and Swindon.
This is due to a fault on this train.

15:19 Swindon to Westbury due 16:00

15:19 Swindon to Westbury due 16:00 will be cancelled.
This is due to a fault on this train.

16:21 Westbury to Swindon due 17:03

16:21 Westbury to Swindon due 17:03 will be cancelled.
This is due to a fault on this train.

17:36 Swindon to Westbury due 18:18

17:36 Swindon to Westbury due 18:18 will be cancelled.
This is due to a fault on this train.

At the risk of becoming too much of a "Crayonista", I do wonder why the mid-afternoon TransWilts diagram, leaving a gaping hole in services, was the one to be canned.  A quick comb through Real Time Trains and informed by a bit of local knowledge, suggests that the 13:29 off Swindon, 14:10 into Westbury, could have turned around and left at 14:24, picking up the path of the 14:10 ex Frome to Swindon - service re-instated.

The 13:29 ex Swindon, though, does not sit idle at Westbury and the following alternatives would be lost:
14:38 Westbury to Bristol Parkway (but there's another train 14 minutes later)
15:44 Bristol Parkway to Bath Spa (but there's another train 12 to 14 minutes later)
16:45 Bath Spa to Bristol Parkway (but there's another train 10 earlier and one 16 later)
17:44 Bristol Parkway to Westbury (but there's another train 13 minutes later).
Not quite that simple - a slightly different stopping pattern and a couple of special stop notices needed, and in the case of the 15:44 passengers from Parkway a need to change at Temple Meads as the alternative train comes from Cardiff.

As a TransWilts user, we usually just shrug off delays of quarter of an hour - seems a bit harsh to run nothing on our line just so that others don't have a delay we would shrug off!

[TaplowGreen]

It's a pretty awful day all round to be honest with this morning's major signalling problems, more this afternoon & broken down trains.  I think everyone is feeling the pain, I know I was! 🙂

You make some perfectly reasonable suggestions but the railways lack agility......fragility however they have by the bucketload!

[bobm]

The 16:21 from Westbury and 17:36 from Swindon have been reinstated.

The 16:21 will leave late due to waiting for a unit from an incoming service to form the train.

Edit to add: 16:21 eventually left 19 minutes late.

[grahame]

Been distributing leaflets and encouraging people to use the train at the Semington Village Fete.  Then I get home to ...

16:32 Westbury to Swindon due 17:22
16:32 Westbury to Swindon due 17:22 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

17:36 Swindon to Westbury due 18:20
17:36 Swindon to Westbury due 18:20 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

This should be so rare that I am surprised.  Sadly, I am not surprised.

[bradshaw]

This might be worse than cancellations
Passenger anger as trains miss last stops to Rugeley
(https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-48887425?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/england&link_location=live-reporting-story)

[bobm]

Been distributing leaflets and encouraging people to use the train at the Semington Village Fete.  Then I get home to ...

16:32 Westbury to Swindon due 17:22
16:32 Westbury to Swindon due 17:22 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

17:36 Swindon to Westbury due 18:20
17:36 Swindon to Westbury due 18:20 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

This should be so rare that I am surprised.  Sadly, I am not surprised.

Trains subsequently revised to run to and from Chippenham.
Manual announcements at Swindon telling people to catch the Taunton train and change.
Automatic announcements saying the next direct service is 21:06.

[grahame]

Trains subsequently revised to run to and from Chippenham.
Manual announcements at Swindon telling people to catch the Taunton train and change.
Automatic announcements saying the next direct service is 21:06.

Yes - after the 17:36 cancelled ("due to a planning error" says Real Time Trains), the 19:36 started from Chippenham - the 18:32 from Westbury to Swindon running three quarters of an hour late so wouldn't have had the time to do the complete trip

19:36 Swindon to Westbury due 20:20
19:36 Swindon to Westbury due 20:20 will be started from Chippenham.
It will no longer call at Swindon.
This is due to a problem currently under investigation.

[grahame]

This might be worse than cancellations
Passenger anger as trains miss last stops to Rugeley
(https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-48887425?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/england&link_location=live-reporting-story)

Ironically, Bradshaw - after you posted that yesterday the 18:32 Westbury to Swindon left Westbury at 19:18 and was terminated at Chippenham at 19:52 - that was 52 minutes late.  The return journey started form Chippenham at 19:56 - 3 minutes late from there. 

Most passengers for the train FROM Swindon would have caught it - they were being directed to the 19:30 train from there which left on time, to change at Chippenham; only those who arrived at Swindon Station in the final 5 minutes would have been diappoited - next train to Melksham, Trowbridge and Westbury not until 21:06.

Passengers TO Swindon would have had a wait of around 50 minutes at Chippenham as the late running train from Westbury followed the Swindon and London express into the only platform practically available at that time and the next one wasn't for an hour by that time of the evening.

"If only there was a bay platform at Chippenham" ... but there isn't any longer.  And in the circumstances of the train being 45 minutes late of Westbury, the decision made and what was done were the best that could be achieved. The major Swindon flow on that train would be FROM Swindon not TO Swindon, and (in theory at least) passengers from Westbury and Trowbridge to Chippenham and Swindon would have been re-directed to the 18:46 Cheltenham Spa train, change at Bath Spa and with ticket acceptable for "via Melksham" journeys in place to allow that.

Having said that the best that could be achieved was achieved, we should also look back at the root cause of the problems with one round trip cancelled and the next 50 minutes late in the "up" direction.  Journey check told us lack of train crew for the first trip, and real time trains told us "planning error".  The delay and curtailment was due to "problem under investigation" and it remains under investigation this morning.  Reading what we are told and seeing how it can all fit, I suspect that the was a crew shortage because no crew was rostered for the journeys in the first place!   Sounds like an own goal ...


Right. Hednesford and Rugeley.

The train from Birmingham to Rugeley (Trent Valley) runs every 30 minutes, with a 5 minute turn around at
Rugeley (TV).  At the May timetable change, this has become a through train from London (Euston) and knock on delays have meant that Birmingham departures have become less reliable.  Where a train has been (significantly ?) late on its way towards Rugeley it has been turned around 2 stops short at Hednesford.   There was an example yesterday morning where the train was 20 minutes late and it turned round at Hednesford, picking up the return journey on time, but "dumping" passengers wanting Rugeley Town or Rugeley Trent Valley there at Hednesford.  Reason given - getting the inbound train back on time, dumping a few for the greater good of the many on the ongoing diagram.

Sound harsh and unfair?   Yes - except that on a 30 minute service, if you turn around one train because it's 20 late to get back on timetable, you only impose an extra 10 minute delay on the "dumped" passengers.  My first thought looking at this was "have buses and taxis ready to mitigate" but there would have been no point - by the time people transferred, it would have been slower waiting for the next train.

Incoming passengers from Rugeley?  If the delayed train has carried on its full trip they would still have been 15 minutes late even on an "instant" turn around ... so an extra 15 minutes - well, on the TransWilts we would just shrug our shoulders unless a connection was lost at Westbury. Buses and taxis at the time the train was due would not have helped for they would have taken longer than the train and missed the ongoing rail link at Hednesford.

The reason this issue has come up in Staffordshire is the joining of the London - Birmingham and Birmingham - Rugeley services which has coupled together two sets of reliability issues on a new timetable that's just bedding in.