Delay Repay 15 comes in on GWR on 1st April 2019

[whole diary]

[ChrisB]

AS most performance issues weren't caused by GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) but the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about), I can understand that.

[grahame]

At what point does it move from "advertised" and "pre-planned" to something on which compensation is payable?

At the point of service. The timetable scheduled to run on any particular day at start of service.

So heavy snowfall blocks the Bedwyn turn back at lunchtime and it's announce that it's unlikely to open for 36 hours - then compensation due for that afternoon's delays but not on the following day?   I guess you just fight through as best you can on that following day, or don't travel and ask for your ticket to be refunded.

Example also applies to incidents such as the sea wall at Dawlish, or when that stone train got derailed near Witham and wasn't put back for a couple of days.

[ChrisB]

Indeed, assuming that modification to following day's timetable is announced before close of service.

I'm suspecting that a "advise is not to travel" disruption might cover their a*ses too.

[a-driver]

Mark Hopwood has started emailing their customers. Something not yet mentioned elsewhere is

We are continuing discussions about compensation arrangements for monthly or longer season tickets holders. The current arrangements will continue for the time being and season ticket holders will retain their existing renewal discounts.

We will then move season ticket holders to Delay Repay as performance improves, and I will keep you informed

And if performance doesn't improve...?

Performance will improve.  You do one of two things......
1.  Pad out the timetable of the worst performing services, or
2.  Remove the service. 

[IndustryInsider]

Performance will improve.  You do one of two things......
1.  Pad out the timetable of the worst performing services, or
2.  Remove the service. 

Neither of which are generally allowed under the terms of the SLC^▸ (Service Level Commitment).

[JayMac]

Now, I can be as cynical as the next man, but slowing services or removing them isn't straightforward.

The vast majority of timetabled services are prescribed by the franchise agreement's Service Level Commitment. That includes the number of services that must run, their stopping pattern, and the maximum time they are allowed for their journey.

Edit: II beat me to it, and more succinctly.

[rogerw]

The "advertised timetable" raises an issue in respect of when this applies.  I am booked to travel from Waterloo to Trowbridge on 7 April on the 1215 departure.  At the time of booking (31/01) this was advertised as a through train.  I have checked today (26 days in advance) and it is still advertised as a through train.  Now many of you know that the line through Bath is closed that day with no trains from Westbury but this is still not reflected on this service.  I don't know what the arrangements will be for my train and can only guess at this stage.  Whatever happens my journey will be delayed.  Can the railways really cop out by changing the advertised timetable this late in the day.  Do they really expect members of the public to continually check the times of the trains that they are booked on?

[ChrisB]

Valid point.

THere is a good argument that any delay should be measured against the timetabled service at the time of your booking - this is what you have in effect contracted for. Whether processes exist for the TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) to know this at the time of delay? If there does, then that ought to be the way it is calculated - unless they advise you in advance & allow a change/cancellation to your booking.

Of course, you get nothing if a flight gets its scheduled changed, so the argument could be, why trains?

[stuving]

The "advertised timetable" raises an issue in respect of when this applies.  I am booked to travel from Waterloo to Trowbridge on 7 April on the 1215 departure.  At the time of booking (31/01) this was advertised as a through train.  I have checked today (26 days in advance) and it is still advertised as a through train.  Now many of you know that the line through Bath is closed that day with no trains from Westbury but this is still not reflected on this service.  I don't know what the arrangements will be for my train and can only guess at this stage.  Whatever happens my journey will be delayed.  Can the railways really cop out by changing the advertised timetable this late in the day.  Do they really expect members of the public to continually check the times of the trains that they are booked on?

If you go to the disruptions summary page (for which I gave a link yesterday elsewhere), it says this for 7th April under SWR^» (South Western Railway - about):

Saturday 9 March to Friday 3 May

We can confirm that the timetable will be running as shown in the journey planner. To view these services, you can use the National Rail Enquiries Journey Planner

And in NRE^‡(resolve)'s Future engineering work page for SWR on 7th April it says nothing about work between Westbury and Bristol. For GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway), however, the work is listed and the summary page says it is correctly being shown. The EAS is pretty clear too:

GWR SERVICES BETWEEN PADDINGTON AND BRISTOL AND EAST-WEST FREIGHT SERVICES TO RUN VIA BADMINTON. GWR AND SWR SERVICES BETWEEN BRISTOL AND WEYMOUTH / PORTMOUTH / WATERLOO TO TERMINATE AT / START FROM WESTBURY. NO ACCESS TO / FROM SPM^▸ (St Philip's Marsh (Bristol depot)) VIA NORTH SOMERSET JCN^▸ (Junction). TRAINS MUST NOT BE STABLED OVER, AND NO TRAIN MOVEMENTS PAST, PM632 AND PM343.

NO ACCESS TO BRISTOL EAST DEPOT BETWEEN 0001 SATURDAY AND 0500 MONDAY. FREIGHT SERVICES AMENDED AND RETIMED.

WORK = PLTR RIVER AVON VIADUCT, PLTR TROWBRIDGE.

That looks like a rather serious system failure, in whatever bit of the system is supposed to spot that SWR use that stretch of track. It's quite a thorough failure - the OJP^▸ (Online Journey Planner) shows SWR trains running (as trains) while GWR ones in between them are buses. You probably should complain to SWR - it may not have been their fault initially, but the should have twigged by now (and it is their train). 

[grahame]

Consumers Association on delay repay:

Which? responds as GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) and Greater Anglia passengers set to get Delay Repay 15

12 March 2019

Alex Hayman, Which? Managing Director of Public Markets, said:

“It is good to see Great Western Railway and Greater Anglia passengers have improved rights of getting compensation after suffering train delays, however many passengers will still find themselves facing a time-consuming and complicated process to get the money they are owed and some may not claim at all.

“All train companies should offer Delay Repay 15 and make compensation automatic for all passengers so they no longer have to jump through hoops to get what they are owed.”

[eXPassenger]

“All train companies should offer Delay Repay 15 and make compensation automatic for all passengers so they no longer have to jump through hoops to get what they are owed.”

How does he propose to identify the passengers on that service for an automatic payment?

[Surrey 455]

“All train companies should offer Delay Repay 15 and make compensation automatic for all passengers so they no longer have to jump through hoops to get what they are owed.”

How does he propose to identify the passengers on that service for an automatic payment?

SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) want you to use a smartcard to tap in and out. Later this year they will bring in automatic delay repay based on when you tapped in and out. I don't know how it will work because if my train is delayed, I will not tap in. I will go for a coffee or beer instead until one of my apps tells me that my delayed train will soon arrive or depart.

[ChrisB]

What he said! Would work for Advances on any type of ticket/smartcard, but I don't think it's being thought through very well otherwise

[eXPassenger]

What he said! Would work for Advances on any type of ticket/smartcard, but I don't think it's being thought through very well otherwise

Even on advances it would not work if the passenger had bought the ticket over the counter and the TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) would only know that it had sold the ticket, not that the passenger had travelled on the train.

[a-driver]

Now, I can be as cynical as the next man, but slowing services or removing them isn't straightforward.

The vast majority of timetabled services are prescribed by the franchise agreement's Service Level Commitment. That includes the number of services that must run, their stopping pattern, and the maximum time they are allowed for their journey.

Edit: II beat me to it, and more succinctly.

But we are still running on HST^▸ (High Speed Train) timings so I would have thought they could.... and they did admit to it happening on an undercover TV program