2021 - TransWilts cancellation and amendment log

[whole diary]

[rogerw]

No problem there. Just catch the Cardiff - Birmingham service at Gloucester

[bobm]

16:25 Westbury to Swindon due 17:08
16:25 Westbury to Swindon due 17:08 will be cancelled.
This is due to a member of on-train staff being taken ill.
Additional Information
Customers at Westbury and Trowbridge travelling to Chippenham or Swindon should travel on the 16:40 Gloucester service (16:46 from Trowbridge) and change at Bath Spa for the 17:45 service to London Paddington which calls at Chippenham (17:56) and Swindon at 18:10.

Road transport has been requested to run in place of this train service from Westbury to Chippenham, calling at Trowbridge and Melksham. Details will be provided here once confirmed.

17:36 Swindon to Westbury due 18:17
17:36 Swindon to Westbury due 18:17 will be cancelled.
This is due to a member of on-train staff being taken ill.
Additional Information
Customers at Swindon and Chippenham travelling to Trowbridge or Westbury should travel on the 17:33 Taunton service from Swindon (17:45 from Chippenham) and change at Bath Spa for the 18:03 service towards Weymouth which calls at Trowbridge (18:25) and Westbury (18:32). Tickets routed via Melksham will be accepted via Bath Spa.

Customers travelling to Melksham should change at Chippenham.

Road transport has been requested to run from Chippenham to Westbury calling at Melksham and Trowbridge. Details will be provided here once confirmed.

[grahame]

Road transport has been requested to run from Chippenham to Westbury calling at Melksham and Trowbridge. Details will be provided here once confirmed.

Thanks, Bob ... updated a few minutes ago:

A Chandlers Coach Travel coach has been arranged to run from Chippenham to Westbury calling at Melksham and Trowbridge.

I'm actually headed home and was booked onto that train ...

[Phil]

A Chandlers Coach Travel coach has been arranged to run from Chippenham to Westbury calling at Melksham and Trowbridge.

I was on the reverse of that - scheduled 16:25 service Chandlers coach from Westbury through to Swindon. Interesting chat with the coach driver. Coach just back from its only trip of the last 16 months - all the way to Spain for a compulsory wheelchair lift to be fitted, cost the company £30k per coach. All of its drivers furloughed, no other income. He had no idea how Chandlers are still going - they have no school contracts either. Our driver was cutting his hedge in Chapmanslade when he got the call at 3:45 to go to Westbury. Got to Melksham at around 10 past 5 (half an hour late) so it's probably not reached Swindon yet.

[grahame]

A Chandlers Coach Travel coach has been arranged to run from Chippenham to Westbury calling at Melksham and Trowbridge.

I was on the reverse of that - scheduled 16:25 service Chandlers coach from Westbury through to Swindon. Interesting chat with the coach driver. Coach just back from its only trip of the last 16 months - all the way to Spain for a compulsory wheelchair lift to be fitted, cost the company £30k per coach. All of its drivers furloughed, no other income. He had no idea how Chandlers are still going - they have no school contracts either. Our driver was cutting his hedge in Chapmanslade when he got the call at 3:45 to go to Westbury. Got to Melksham at around 10 past 5 (half an hour late) so it's probably not reached Swindon yet.

I had a much briefer chat with him at Chippenham, where he arrived at around 17:30 and dropped off a good handful of people ... asked him if he was headed back to Melksham - "yes, eventually, after I've been to Swindon"; Chippenham Station staff had told me 18:10 for the coach, which I think was distinctly optimistic - probably more like 18:30 after his round trip to Swindon. So that would have been 18:50 rather than 18:01 at Melksham.  Real Time Trains doesn't track Rail Replacement Buses, so that's just an educated guess.

My plan had been to arrive in Swindon at 16:57 (from Cheltenham Spa) and catch the 17:36 to Melksham for 18:01.   Warned of the cancellation ahead of time, I connect at Swindon into the 16:58 Bristol train (very tight!!!) and got to Chippenham for 17:15, on via the last Faresaver bus of the day at 17:36, 18:04 into Melksham Market Place.   Warned by the barrier staff at Chippenham that my rail ticket would not be accepted on the bus (stupid restriction as both trains and buses are essentially government contracts now!) I swiped my old foggies pass and contributed an extra shekel to the Pickfords.

Nine trains, three buses and two taxi journeys today.   Only the last leg went wrong; sadly, had I been asked to bet on which leg wouldn't work before the day started, that's would have been my first choice.

[bobm]

The only full departure screen at Melksham Station has been switched off for months. 

Just to clarify.  It hasn’t been “switched off” - which suggests a deliberate act - it has failed.  Various departments are looking at it to establish why it isn’t working but none have yet come up with a fix which is frustrating and it should have been fixed by now.  However it hasn’t - and won’t be - forgotten.

[eightonedee]

Quote from: grahame on Today at 06:41:17 am
The only full departure screen at Melksham Station has been switched off for months.

Just to clarify.  It hasn’t been “switched off” - which suggests a deliberate act - it has failed.  Various departments are looking at it to establish why it isn’t working but none have yet come up with a fix which is frustrating and it should have been fixed by now.  However it hasn’t - and won’t be - forgotten.

Dare I suggest that this would not have happened at one of the main stations on the network, and certainly not at Paddington?

[grahame]

The only full departure screen at Melksham Station has been switched off for months. 

Just to clarify.  It hasn’t been “switched off” - which suggests a deliberate act - it has failed.  Various departments are looking at it to establish why it isn’t working but none have yet come up with a fix which is frustrating and it should have been fixed by now.  However it hasn’t - and won’t be - forgotten.

Thank you, Bob.   But I do have to suggest that the person who wrote the advice to "check the station signs" was not aware, or perhaps had forgotten, or felt that Melksham wasn't important enough to offer correct information and wrote just for everywhere else. 

Information on why it's not working had not been previously provided - just "thank you for letting us know - [we'll look at it / we're working on it]" (edit - pm sent with details / "back after software upgrade" hinted). The WebTIS screen - which used to provide the information to people by the station gate - has been covered by a notice common to many (all?) such screens across the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) area. That switch off is - judging by that pattern of behaviour by the TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) - a deliberate act.  Without any feedback, I and passengers really knew no better "why" when the other screen went off, while the other display on the same pole still works ... and does it really matter why ... there has been no live information about rail replacement buses, other alternative arrangement, or longer view beyond next two scheduled trains, for months ...

Dare I suggest that this would not have happened at one of the main stations on the network, and certainly not at Paddington?

You took words out of my mouth as I wrote!

[grahame]

08:48 Westbury to Swindon due 09:30
09:40 Swindon to Weymouth due 11:55

Facilities on the 09:40 Swindon to Weymouth due 11:55.
This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.
Will be formed of 2 coaches instead of 3.

Do you remember the days when summer weekend day trips trains into Weymouth were 5 carriages, or even an HST^▸ (High Speed Train)?

[grahame]

July summary

520 trains scheduled to call at Melksham in July
- 46 of them were cancelled
- 54 of them were "significantly late" using GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) definition - 5 minutes or more
- 340 of them were on time
- the remaining 80 were late, but less than 5 minutes late

Of the 474 that ran, around 10 (pairs we logged on 7th, 15th, 18th, 23rd and 27th July) were announced online as cancelled, but were later re-instated.

This performance is significantly below industry targets, and makes it hard to promote public transport use where one of the key things people are looking for is reliability.

Further detail, analysis, and outcomes at http://www.passenger.chat/25297 in our "Transport Scholars" area.  If you wish to be added to the Transport Scholars area, please send me a personal message or "like" this post, which I will monitor for the next 3 days.

[bobm]

16:25 Westbury to Swindon due 17:08

16:25 Westbury to Swindon due 17:08 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

17:36 Swindon to Westbury due 18:17

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

18:39 Westbury to Swindon due 19:21

18:39 Westbury to Swindon due 19:21 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

20:47 Swindon to Westbury due 21:28

20:47 Swindon to Westbury due 21:28 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

[grahame]

Deja Vu ... looking back through some very old threads!

As requested in another thread, here is a log of the running of the 06:19 from Swindon since the timetable changes of last December.  ...

Note that you'll find occasional gaps in the log, and they are typically when there were problems with the trains and / or reporting system - for example for 22nd July when the whole system was in chaos and (of course) the train failed to run.  I also know there are instances where trains due to call at Melksham show up with "false positives" on this system - in other words, they are recorded as running a few minutes before they are due, but then get cancelled or just disappear off the radar.

What does this mean?  Well - the week commencing 22nd July.  I believe it didn't run on 22nd.  Another thread tells me it was cancelled on 25th.   This system admits it was cancelled on 26th .... so as far as I'm aware, it ran just twice that week and was cancelled three times.    The system claims it ran three times, was cancelled once, and didn't know once.

[bobm]

16:25 Westbury to Swindon due 17:08
16:25 Westbury to Swindon due 17:08 will be cancelled.

This is due to a shortage of train crew.

Additional Information
Customers at Westbury and Trowbridge travelling to Chippenham or Swindon should travel on the 16:40 Gloucester service (16:46 from Trowbridge) and change at Bath Spa for the 17:45 service to London Paddington which calls at Chippenham (17:56) and Swindon at 18:10.

A Pewsey Vale coach has been arranged to run in place of this train service from Westbury to Chippenham, calling at Trowbridge and Melksham. Please check the stations Onward Travel Information poster and wait for the replacement road transport at the designated stop.

17:36 Swindon to Westbury due 18:17
17:36 Swindon to Westbury due 18:17 will be cancelled.

This is due to a shortage of train crew.

Additional Information
Customers at Swindon and Chippenham travelling to Trowbridge or Westbury should travel on the 17:33 Taunton service from Swindon (17:45 from Chippenham) and change at Bath Spa for the 18:03 service towards Weymouth which calls at Trowbridge (18:25) and Westbury (18:32). Tickets routed via Melksham will be accepted via Bath Spa.

Customers travelling to Melksham should change at Chippenham.

A Pewsey Vale coach has been arranged to run from Chippenham to Westbury calling at Melksham and Trowbridge. Please check the stations Onward Travel Information poster and wait for the replacement road transport at the designated stop.

[bobm]

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.

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.

[bobm]

18:39 Westbury to Swindon due 19:21

18:39 Westbury to Swindon due 19:21 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

20:47 Swindon to Westbury due 21:28

20:47 Swindon to Westbury due 21:28 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.