2021 - TransWilts cancellation and amendment log

[whole diary]

[grahame]

20:06 Westbury to Cheltenham Spa due 22:05
20:06 Westbury to Cheltenham Spa due 22:05 will be started from Swindon.
It will no longer call at Westbury, Trowbridge, Melksham and Chippenham.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

[grahame]

07:37 Westbury to Swindon due 08:24
08:34 Swindon to Westbury due 09:18
10:33 Westbury to Swindon due 11:17

10:33 Westbury to Swindon due 11:17 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

[TaplowGreen]

15:03 Westbury to Swindon due 15:49
16:03 Swindon to Westbury due 16:45

Cancelled.

This is due to a points failure.

[grahame]

21:13 Swindon to Westbury due 22:00
21:13 Swindon to Westbury due 22:00 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

[grahame]

Missed one ...

20:20 Westbury to Swindon due 21:04
20:20 Westbury to Swindon due 21:04 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

Further Information

If you hold a valid single, return, or weekly ticket, you will be able to claim compensation for delays of 15 minutes or more. Please keep your ticket and visit GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway).com/DelayRepay

[bobm]

20:20 ex Westbury and 21:13 ex Swindon both re-instated.

[grahame]

20:20 ex Westbury and 21:13 ex Swindon both re-instated.

A cheer - but not three.  I wonder how many people are put off their day's plans by such cancellations and re-instatements.  People are recommended to check their trains ahead of their trips - good advice. For day returns (which most of our Melksham journeys are), a check in the morning revealing problems in the evening will cause many to abandon their day out before it starts.

[grahame]

I am trying - desperately hard at the moment - to avoid this thread becoming like the old Hogrider which may have been effective in South Hampshire, but I felt was an uncomfortable approach for the TransWilts line.  Hogrider in days gone by was a listing of SWT^▸ (South West Trains) operational reductions example (just a typical day) from ((here))

Monday 01/07/13 06.08 Salisbury-Exeter 24 MINUTES LATE DUE TO DUFF STOCK. Signalling problems on Alton line. 06.12 Alton-Waterloo AXED. 06.44/07.14/07.44/08.14/ 09.14/09.44/10.14/10.44/11.15/11.44 Alton-Waterloo AXED between Alton and Farnham. Passengers on the 06.58 Woking-Alton DUMPED at Farnham. 07.00 Aldershot-Waterloo AXED between Aldershot and Ascot; all intermediate stops before Staines AXED. 07.22 Yeovil-Waterloo AXED between Yeovil and Salisbury and REDUCED TO 3 COACHES DUE TO DUFF STOCK. Passengers on the 07.23/07.53/08.23/08.53/09.23/09.53 Waterloo-Alton DUMPED at Farnham. 10.20 Waterloo-Exeter REDUCED TO 3 COACHES DUE TO DUFF STOCK. 11.03 Weymouth-Waterloo 11 MINUTES LATE. 14.50 Poole-Waterloo 12 MINUTES LATE DUE TO NO CREW IN PLACE; Parkstone and Branksome stops AXED DUE TO OPERATIONAL CONVENIENCE. Bridge hit by road vehicle. Passengers on the 15.15 Portsmouth-Waterloo DUMPED at Haslemere. 15.24 Portsmouth-Waterloo 32 MINUTES LATE and AXED between Portsmouth and Haslemere. 15.30 Waterloo-Portsmouth DIVERTED via Eastleigh. All intermediate stops, after Guildford, of the 15.45 Portsmouth-Waterloo AXED. 15.54 Havant-Waterloo 13 MINUTES LATE; all intermediate stops between Haslemere and Guildford AXED DUE TO OPERATIONAL CONVENIENCE. 15.56 Salisbury-Romsey AXED DUE TO NO CREW IN PLACE. 16.00 Waterloo-Portsmouth 33 MINUTES LATE and DIVERTED via Eastleigh. 16.35 Waterloo-Reading 13 MINUTES LATE DUE TO DUFF STOCK. 16.44 Fareham-Waterloo AXED. 17.07 Romsey-Salisbury AXED DUE TO NO CREW IN PLACE. 17.15 Waterloo-Fratton AXED. 17.19 Portsmouth-Waterloo 16 MINUTES LATE and AXED between Portsmouth and Fratton; all intermediate stops, after Haslemere, except Guildford, AXED DUE TO OPERATIONAL CONVENIENCE. 17.26 Exeter-Waterloo 12 MINUTES LATE DUE TO NO CREW IN PLACE. 17.30 Waterloo-Portsmouth 18 MINUTES LATE. 18.00 Waterloo-Portsmouth 19 MINUTES LATE. 18.09 Waterloo-Portsmouth 12 MINUTES LATE. From 19.30, services from Hampton Court TEMPORARILY RETIMED TO DEPART 5 MINUTES EARLIER DUE TO OPERATIONAL CONVENIENCE. Passengers on the 20.23 Waterloo-Alton DUMPED at Farnham. Millbrook stop of the 21.56 Salisbury-Romsey AXED. 22.15 Alton-Waterloo AXED between Alton and Farnham.

We ain't that bad ... but then we ain't got a timetable anything like as big either.

From this morning

06:11 Swindon to Southampton Central due 08:08

06:11 Swindon to Southampton Central due 08:08 will be terminated at Westbury.
It will no longer call at Dilton Marsh, Warminster, Salisbury, Romsey and Southampton Central.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

Further Information

If you hold a valid single, return, or weekly ticket, you will be able to claim compensation for delays of 15 minutes or more. Please keep your ticket and visit GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway).com/DelayRepay

Last Updated:19/07/2021 02:46

Thank goodness it's running from Swindon to Westbury.
From Swindon - if not at 06:11, next train would be at 08:45 - 154 minutes later

But then ... from Westbury to Salisbury
From Westbury - not at 06:54 but 08:03 - 69 minutes later

And from Salisbury to Southampton
From Salisbury - not at 07:35 but 07:50 - 15 minutes later

There is a heavy "turnover" of passengers at both Westbury and Salisbury on this train - some from Swindon, Chippenham and Melksham are inconvenienced by the cancellation south of Westbury.  There is a significant Trowbridge to South of Westbury flow, and there's a lot of folks who join the train at Warminster - which should be staffed at this time of day - ticket sales at least?

South of Salisbury, the train provides an extra peak service into Southampton and has a heavy school flow on it. Probably holidays by now, and in any case "wait - another one will be along in quarter of an hour" - which IMHO^▸ (in my humble opinion) makes cancelling this leg of the journey much better than cancelling the Swindon to Westbury leg. 

Missing?   Advice for passengers at Westbury, Dilton Marsh and Warminster about their alternative travel options and suggestions.  Such things take time to enter on "the system" no doubt ... but I note the message has been there unaltered for four hours, so that should be time enough?  If the staff who provide customer advice are self-isolating and working from home, they should be able to VPN in and do it from there, surely?

[grahame]

I am trying - desperately hard at the moment - to avoid this thread becoming like the old Hogrider ....

But GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) make it really hard ...

14:16 Westbury to Swindon due 15:02
15:14 Swindon to Westbury due 15:55

15:14 Swindon to Westbury due 15:55 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

Further Information

If you hold a valid single, return, or weekly ticket, you will be able to claim compensation for delays of 15 minutes or more. Please keep your ticket and visit GWR.com/DelayRepay

Last Updated:21/07/2021 12:13

In Melksham terms
... 14:32 to Swindon cancelled, next train 16:41 - 129 minutes later
... 15:39 to Westbury cancelled, next train 18:01 - 142 minutes later
There may be alternatives planned for passengers, but nothing about that on JourneyCheck!

[Phil]

In Melksham terms
... 14:32 to Swindon cancelled, next train 16:41 - 129 minutes later
... 15:39 to Westbury cancelled, next train 18:01 - 142 minutes later
There may be alternatives planned for passengers, but nothing about that on JourneyCheck!

Have to admit, I chose to drive from Melksham to work in Westbury today. I've normally commuted by train for the past 3 years, but it's become so ridiculously unreliable of late that if I have anything planned that I need to get home for before 7.30pm I am forced to take the car. I finish work at 3.30 so in theory I could get the 18:39 even if the 16:25 is cancelled, but I just daren't now.

[grahame]

14:16 Westbury to Swindon due 15:02
14:16 Westbury to Swindon due 15:02 will be cancelled.

This is due to a shortage of train crew.

Additional Information

Replacement road transport has been arranged to run in lieu of this train service. Please check station signs and wait for the replacement road transport at the designated stop. The replacement road transport may run later than the advertised train times owing to the additional time taken by road between stations and the time required for loading and unloading at each stop.

THANK YOU ...

Has the display screen at Melksham Station (the only one that shows replacement buses) been fixed?  Reported out of order several months ago, conventional requests have failed to get if fixed, so I'm asking unconventionally (and in public) here.  Extreme measures, but then extreme measures are needed when even the most faithful like Phil daren't use the train ...

[grahame]

Replacement road transport has been arranged to run in lieu of this train service. Please check station signs and wait for the replacement road transport at the designated stop. ...

Has the display screen at Melksham Station (the only one that shows replacement buses) been fixed?  Reported out of order several months ago, ....

Though I had better check ... just popped down to the station

Here's the display screen where I expect to see all trains and replacement buses listed. Still bust.


Here's the platform screen which shows trains from that platform only - so don't expect the buses there.

With just a two line display (no scrolling to 3rd and 4th trains), no clue as to next train (nor any buses).
Pedant in me chuckles at "Calling at Chippenham and Swindon" when the whole point of a train being cancelled is that it will not be calling at Chippenham or Swindon!


Did a quick rubbish check while I was at the station. Since I replaced one of the bags on Sunday (when the station was a real mess - looked like there had been a wine and cider party the day before!), there HAS been a lot more rubbish left - but  thank you everyone - in the proper place this time!

[grahame]

20:06 Westbury to Cheltenham Spa due 22:05
20:06 Westbury to Cheltenham Spa due 22:05 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

Further Information

If you hold a valid single, return, or weekly ticket, you will be able to claim compensation for delays of 15 minutes or more. Please keep your ticket and visit GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway).com/DelayRepay
Last Updated:21/07/2021 16:51

17:50 Gloucester to Southampton Central due 20:36
17:50 Gloucester to Southampton Central due 20:36 will be started from Westbury.
It will no longer call at Gloucester, Stonehouse, Stroud, Kemble, Swindon, Chippenham, Melksham and Trowbridge.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

Further Information

If you hold a valid single, return, or weekly ticket, you will be able to claim compensation for delays of 15 minutes or more. Please keep your ticket and visit GWR.com/DelayRepay

Last Updated:21/07/2021 16:27

[Lee]

grahame - What kind of impact would you say this is having on passenger numbers, and how are the (un)reliability/cancellation stats looking compared to the years leading up to December 2006?

[bobm]

17:50 Gloucester to Southampton Central due 20:36
17:50 Gloucester to Southampton Central due 20:36 will be started from Westbury.
It will no longer call at Gloucester, Stonehouse, Stroud, Kemble, Swindon, Chippenham, Melksham and Trowbridge.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

Further Information

If you hold a valid single, return, or weekly ticket, you will be able to claim compensation for delays of 15 minutes or more. Please keep your ticket and visit GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway).com/DelayRepay

Last Updated:21/07/2021 16:27

Slight compensation - the diverted 17:36 London Paddington to Paignton called at Swindon at 19:04 and Westbury at 19:40.